10 Septmeber 26. 1989 Other Press Deja Voodoo Loves Music -- And Mud by Tim Crumley ‘Tm sitting in the Rai- way Club in a section that hasn’t been opened yet. Gerard Van Herk is sitting in front of me, Tony De-— wald is to my right. Together they form Deja Voodoo, a two piece band that has cre- ated it’s own special place in the independent music scene. Everything looked normal - until I realized that Van Herk’s tie was actually a huge rubber spider. — Forming out of a band called the Halftones in the early 80’s, guitarist Van Herk and drummer Dewald de- cided some very important things when they formed in 1981. They decided they didn’t — need or want anyone else in the band, they didn’t need any more than four strings on a guitar, and they didn’t need or wan't cymbals. “We had this old blaster and when we recorded the cymbals, they kind of made this HHHHK- > KKK noise, so we took them out,” Dewald said. They ripped off odd chunks of various songs from the surf, rockabilly, and blues . eras, mashed ‘em all together, turned it up, and called it sludgeabilly. It’s pretty well recognized that nobody had done anything like it before, and it caught on in Mon- treal, their hometown. It was time to take that magic leap forward. “In “83 or’84 we started to get serious, so we bought the Sludgemobile and started touring,” said Van Herk. “This is the twelfth time we've been across Canada now.” ; In the process, they started their own record company, Og Records, which has turned into quite a productive label (if not prosperous) in the Canadian ‘ indie ‘scene. Og’s latest release, It Came From Canada 5, offers 20 inde- pendent bands from across Canada, including Vancou- ver’s Hardrock Miners and - Victoria’s 64 Funnycars. Yet it still doesn’t cut into their heavy touring schedule. Says Van Herk, “It could be bigger than it is and still be a part- time job.” Deja -Voodoo started touring overseas and found success in Europe. They sent a record to a fanzine in Fin- land, and it became very popular, outselling a record by the Pet Shop Boys. “They're really short guys - I think we'd be bigger than them anywhere,” quipped Van Herk. When asked about the borrowed nature of their work, an animated Dewald said “T.S. Eliot and us are like this.” His fingers were just nanometers apart. Van Herk continued. “We're a lot like T.S. Eliot except that when we rip stuff off from other groups, people can still dance to it and understand. IfyoureadT.S.Eliotand you ~ haven't read the people he ripped off, it’s just stupid Deja Voodoo's Gerard Van Herk sludges it out nonsense.” However, they aren’t worried that their ‘borrowing’ habits will get them in trouble. “We're not famous enough to get in trouble for ANYTHING,” Van Herk said. Deja Voodoo are on the western leg of their cross- Canada tour, then they head to Europe. But not before they host their famous Deja Voodoo Barbeque in Montreal (and one in Toronto as well). It’s an annual event where lots of food, lots of music (by handson the Oo lahel). lots of danemg, and lots of fun happen in the same place. They'd like to have one in Vancouver, but don’t count on it. “I don’t think we could have one here. We do every- thing ourselves, so it would be hard to do one here unless we moved here for three months.” Even without the bar- beque, Deja Voodoo still en- tertains, and as they ride across the prairie plain on that mystical Greyhound (the Sludgemobile died - the uni- versal joint fell out), we know they'll: be holding that big bucket of mud high in the sky, championing the cause of sludgeabilly everywhere. God bless them. Private Lives Not So Private by John Santics Nobody is really nor- mal in their privete hives are they? “Private Lives”, Pres- entation House’s debut play as a bonafide theatre com- pany and not just a “rental facility” for local groups, played a sucessful first night for a responsive audience Thusday, Sept. 21. As the lights fade and the 1930’s era jazz back- ground music dwindles the first scene opens with a pleas- ant enough scenario: French Riviera style Hotel veranda, Low Student Rates (Student Card Must Be Shown) FITNESS 522-2744 ROYAL TOWERS HOTEL Corner of 6th Street and Royal Avenue Workout Between Classes At TOTAL FITNESS Located right across the street from Douglas College in the Royal Towers Hotel HOURS: Mon. — Friday 7:00 a.m. — 10:00 p.m. Saturday 9:00 a.m. — 6 p.m. Sunday = 10:00 a.m.— 6:00 p.m. [ee v early 30’s nouveau- riche props and two finely-bred impeccably attiredeutesy honeymoon couples. As the plot thickens, this polite scene is transformed into that of jealousy, petti- ness, bickering, lies, adul- terous excursions, “rampag- ing gasbags” and “pompous asses”. The two mismatched honeymooning couples resort to a sort of 30’s style wife swapping. The cast keeps the audience roaring with their vaudvillian slapstick, like highly energetic, well re- hearsed roles. Forbes Angus plays Elyot Chase, the con- ceited womanizer, superbly, and Tanja Dixon-Warren plays Amanda Prynne, the pretentious wannabe sophis- ticate, with flair and pizazz. (These two were previously married and rekindled their tumltous love affair while on separte honeymoons.) Sarah - Anne Dafoe takes on Sibyle Chase,the squeaky - clean, crybaby, clingon,naive, newleywed wife of Elyot Chase,with perfect sickly- sweetness. Cavan Cunningham playing the pompous- assed,rampaging gasbag, Victor Prynne,also delivers with his spoof of the puri- tanical but well-meaning protective newlywed. Also, a plus, Reno Dikaios, gradu- ate of Douglas College’s per- forming arts program plays an exquisite bit part as Photo by John Santics Forbes Angus and Tanja Dixon-Warren of "Private Lives" “Louise”, the manic depressive,chronicaly- clumsy French maid who stumbles into the squalid affair. Her part helps to pro- vide an extra dose of comic relief into the high-tension argument scenes. Reno Dikaios also helps direct “Private LIves” along with Michael Vairo, who makes his professional directing debut at the newly formed Presentation House Theatre Company. The play runs from Sept 21st to October 14th at the Presentation House The- atre, 3rd and Chestefield, in North Vancouver, and is highly recommended for anyone tired of the current “politically aware” type play.