Author Archives: Jonathan Williams

An Evening with Corey Taylor offers sinfully intimate interaction with the Slipknot/Stone Sour front man

By Jonathan Williams

Best known as the monster mask-wearing singer for metal band Slipknot, as well as the singer for the more hard rock oriented Stone Sour, Corey Taylor has recently shown his more studious side. First he was a guest lecturer at Oxford University this past June, then he released his first book, Seven Deadly Sins, in July. For the past couple of weeks he’s been on a solo tour that features spoken word and acoustic performances, as well as more intimate interaction with his fans than anything he’s done previously. With the tour continuing through Dec. 13, Taylor took a moment to talk to Wrestling with Pop Culture about the shows, the book and the wrestling-style promo he did to promote the tour.

So you’re about a week or so into your first spoken word and solo acoustic tour. How’s it going so far?

It’s going really well. Unless I say something stupid onstage, like make fun of the Pope or something, I think we’re doing alright.

This is obviously not your first time performing without your Slipknot mask, but it is a more revealing and intimate look at who you are as a performer than anything you’ve done previously. That being said, what can people expect from these shows?

I wasn’t really sure how the audience would respond to it and they have responded so wonderfully. Basically the show is me running my mouth for the first hour, then I take a quick pee break, then I play for, like, an hour and a half. It’s anywhere from two-and-a-half to three hours every night. It’s been a lot of fun. I come out and I rant in the vein of whatever chapter I’m going to read from that night, so every night is different. Then I read from the book, we do a Q&A, then we play some songs. It’s been really fun for me specifically because I love to have one foot in the structured side and one foot in the extemporaneous side. I love being spontaneous and if something’s feeling a certain way you just run with that. The audience has been so into it it’s really been awesome. Basically it’s like if [Henry] Rollins, [George] Carlin and Dave Grohl were the same person. That’s really been the response we’ve gotten.

I just got a copy of the book a few days ago, so I haven’t had a chance to spend much time with it yet.

Well, I apologize in advance.

I’m sure it’s not that bad. Tell me a little bit about the concept behind the book and why you decided to write a book.

I’ve been threatening to write a book for a long time. It’s one of those things I’ve always wanted to do since I was a kid. I’ve been a voracious reader since I was young and once I developed a taste for writing I knew that someday, if I ever got the chance, I’d want to write a book. When the chance came along, I jumped for it.

The concept of the book was originally just going to be about philosophy and me taking the piss out of philosophy in general. Luckily my agent talked me out of that and was like, “Dude, that will be 5,000 pages, it’ll weigh as much as a Volkswagen Beetle, we can’t do that.” I was like, “What do you suggest?” We kind of shot some ideas back and forth and he’s actually the one that said, “Why don’t you write about the Seven Deadly Sins?” At first, I was like, “That’s kind of a hackneyed premise when you get down to it. Why don’t I write it from the standpoint that they’re not sins, they’re just part of being human?” The more I thought about it, the more I truly believed that. So I basically used the book to make that argument that the Seven Deadly Sins are not sins at all; they’re part of being human and making mistakes. They can lead to sin, but the emotion itself is not the sin. I think in this modern literal world, we break it down into what is literal. There’s no room for esoteric mistakes anymore, so for me it made more sense to make that argument and balance it with stories from when I was growing up or being on the road and whatnot and basically say, “Look, I went through all of these ‘sins’ and I came out the other side and I’m a better husband, better father, better person for it. So how can you call that sin?” The reaction has actually been really good.

Did you have to do a lot of re-reading of The Canterbury Tales, John Milton and all that?

I read that stuff a long time ago. I studied it in school and read it on my own and whatnot, but I didn’t want to get too ensconced in the original material. I really wanted to make it feel a little more fresh. That’s one of the reasons I left out the Seven Golden Virtues. I wanted to concentrate on the sins themselves and really pick them apart like that. I knew that if I got too deep into the original material, I would start to quote too much. I brushed up on it briefly, but for the most part I just kind of ran with it. I did my best to make sure everything I was writing was as original as I could make it.

Was the spoken word tour part of the plan the entire time or did that come about after you finished the book?

That came out of nowhere. It came from two things, honestly. It came from my speaking engagement at Oxford and the two gigs I booked after the book had come out in England. I was doing a signing tour in England anyway and I thought, “Let’s just go into a club and do a show.” Those two shows were so much fun that I was like, “We’ve got to do this in the States. There’s no way I would not want to do this in the States.”

The Oxford engagement was really where I came up with the idea for the Q&A. At the end of my speech, I could tell no one wanted to leave. So I was like, “We’ve got a little more time, you got any questions you want to ask me?” It was so much fun. With every question, I had a weird little story I could tell. So it was really cool to be able to kind of incorporate those two ideas into the American tour. One of the reasons the show is different every night is because not only is my rant at the beginning a little different, but the questions allow me to tell different stories and really break it up and give something to people so that specific show is completely different.

How did the Oxford engagement come about?

They had been trying to get me to do that for about three years. I was always on the road or in the studio and I just never had any time to go and do it. So I was really lucky that they came to me every year for three years and finally that last year I was actually going to be in London anyway for the Kerrang Awards and for Slipknot rehearsals. So I was like, “Absolutely! Let’s do it. If I don’t do it this year I’m never going to get to do it.” I’m so glad I did. It was just fantastic and so much fun.

The tour announcement video you did featured you cutting a wrestling promo for a fictitious promotion called the IBWF (I Be Wrestling Federation). What was the inspiration for that?

We were sitting at my kitchen table trying to think of a different way to promote the tour. I hate doing the same crap over and over. It drives me nuts after a while, so I wanted to do something different. And I went, “Oh my God. A wrestling promo!” Everyone around me was like, “That’s amazing!” It was right around the time that the Halloween shops had sprouted up everywhere, so I was able to find everything I needed in one day. We went back to the house, I put on my ridiculous outfit and we shot it in 10, 15 minutes. It was great. I knew people would take that and run with it. The weirder I get, the more the fans are into it for some damn reason. It was a perfect way to set the tour up. Plus it gave us a chance to put Chicken Cow Cow back out there. Search for Chicken Cow Cow on YouTube and it’s the first thing that comes up. It’s my little dance remix thing that I do with my keyboard.

Were there certain wrestlers you drew from stylistically when cutting that promo?

Obviously there’s Hulk Hogan in there somewhere. I’ve been a wrestling fan since I was a kid. If you embrace it for what it is, which is entertainment, I have no illusions about the fact of if it’s real or not. But I know it’s physically taxing and it takes great skill to make it look good and no skill to make it look crappy. I know the people who rise to the top are the best in the business and it’s almost a metaphor for the music business. People come and go, but legends stay forever. My all-time favorite wrestler is Stone Cold, but I also love the Rock, Triple H, Shawn Michaels and the wrestlers I grew up with, which is Hogan, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, Tito Santana, Andre [the Giant], even “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan. I got to meet him and Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake and I was, like, freaking out. I was losing my shit, I was like, “Oh my God. You guys are awesome.” I’m still a fan.

Do you still follow it much these days?

I try to. But it’s like getting to watch football on Sundays, it’s hit or miss. I know the Rock is back. I was actually at the Anaheim show when he came out and they announced him as the guest host for WrestleMania this year. I lost it. I jumped up out of my chair and was losing my mind, so much so that I scared an entire family sitting behind me. They were like, “Excuse me, sir. Could you just sit down? I’ve got kids here and they’re trying to see.” I was like, “No. I won’t sit down. I don’t care. It’s the Rock. Get out of my face.” Then I sat down and was like, “Sorry, I’m just really hopped up on sugar.”

Were you there as a guest of WWE or as a paying fan?

I was there as a fan. It’s very rare that I go to anything as a guest. I’m just like everybody else, I buy my ticket. There’s not a lot of shows that I go to, whether it’s wrestling or music or whatnot. But at the end of the day, I can buy a ticket like anybody else. With the rare exception of if I’m friends with the band I’m going to see, then I’ll call them. But that’s really because I want to hang out with them, catch up with them, see if they’re doing OK and whatnot. But when it’s band’s like Van Halen or Nine Inch Nails or whatever, I buy my tickets, I go and I sit, watch the show, love the show and if I don’t get close seats, so be it.

Now that you’ve done spoken words, acoustic performances and various other musical projects, do you think you’ll be branching out into more mediums in the future?

Maybe. People ask me all the time if I want to get into acting and whatnot. I don’t want to be the star of a movie or anything, but I would love to do some supporting stuff and just be the guy that walks by in the background and you’re like, “Did I just see Corey Taylor in that movie?” I want to be the body on CSI so bad I can’t even breathe.

Me and Clown [Slipknot’s Shawn Crahan] are actually starting our own film production company where we’re going to start making crazy, twisted, weird movies. Movies that everyone can enjoy, but also movies that look great, feel great, that are different. We want to make movies that look fantastic, but also scare the crap out of you or make you think. So that’s something we’re working on right now.

For more information, go to www.thecoreytaylor.com.

The Blu-ray/DVD release of “On Stranger Tides” includes a few extra treasures

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Captain Jack Sparrow is back in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth installment in the Pirates franchise. And now the swashbuckling adventure that was a hit on the big screen is available in this Blu-ray & DVD combo pack.

This entry in the saga takes Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and his lovable crew of miscreants on a journey to find the long lost Fountain of Youth. Along the way, Sparrow meets up with the dreaded Blackbeard (portayed wonderfully by Ian McShane), and becomes a prisoner of sorts aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge.

Penelope Cruz stars opposite Johnny Depp as Angelica, Jack Sparrow’s long lost love interest. While the chemistry between these two actors is undeniable, there’s still something missing that existed in the previous trilogy between Depp and his former co-star, Keira Knightley.

The rest of the film consists of everything you’d expect out of a Pirates film by this point: people being thrown into the water, people running in the jungle, sword fights in low lit areas, and Keith Richards portaying himself while dressed like a pirate (well, he’s technically playing Captain Teague) .

The standard Blu-ray/DVD release doesn’t really have a treasure chest of extras, but the extras (limited as they are) are still quite entertaining. The DVD features a traditional blooper reel, which does admittedly make one chuckle out loud a few times, while also showcasing just how talented many of these performers really are. There’s also a series of 3-D LEGO animated shorts, likely to promote the LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game that was released earlier this year. But these are some of the funniest animated shorts I’ve ever seen as they portray key points from the film with humor, intelligence and silliness, making for an entertaining addition to this release.

Another thing worth noting about this Blu-Ray is its compatibility with the Disney Second Screen iPad app, which enables you to watch the movie simultaneously on both your television and your iPad (or computer). While this may not seem very interesting, it allows you to interact with the film while watching it by giving you access to behind-the-scenes material in relation to what is playing at certain points in the movie. For example, there’s a gruesome scene where a mermaid is about to attack a hopeless pirate during which you’re able to see that scene without the special effects, and read a bit about what went into making the scene. So far this is one of the few titles for which Disney has added this feature, but it’s a fun feature that will likely be further explored in the future.

While it may not be the best entry in the Pirates series it’s always fun to watch Johnny Depp saunter around as Jack Sparrow. Plus, the action is thrilling, the special effects are engrossing and the story is predictably fun.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Directed by Rob Marshall. Starring Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush and Ian McShane. Rated PG-13. www.disney.go.com/pirates.

Review by Dan Kemp

Go to Wrestling with Pop Culture‘s Facebook page to find out how to enter to win a copy of the On Stranger Tides Blu-ray/DVD.

Scorsese explores childlike adventure and early cinema in “Hugo”

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In his new visually stunning film Hugo, Martin Scorsese has produced a movie that seamlessly incorporates 3-D technology with compelling storytelling in order to pay homage to childhood and the pioneers of special effects films. Part Harry Potter, part Little Orphan Annie, part Journey to the Center of the Earth, part A.I. Artificial Intelligence (including an appearance by Jude Law) and part film history lesson, Hugo (like the bestselling Brian Selznick book on which it’s based) creates a world where imagination, dreams and invention intertwine to tell the story of a young boy, left on his own after the death of his parents, trying to connect with his father through a shared love of clockwork and gears.

Hugo (Asa Butterfield) and Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz) have the coolest toy ever!

Left with his drunk uncle after his father’s death, Hugo (Asa Butterfield) lives in a Paris train station where he dutifully continues his uncle’s work of winding the station clocks after his uncle disappears. Afraid of being sent to an orphanage, Hugo hides in the walls and does his best to avoid being noticed by the station’s resident inspector, played by Sacha Baron Cohen. When he is caught stealing parts for an automaton left behind by his father from a toy shop in the station, Hugo becomes involved with the shop owner, Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley) and his family, particularly goddaughter Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz). Together, Hugo and Isabelle uncover a connection between the two families that forces Georges to face his past. As it turns out, Papa Georges is the Georges Méliès, director of the ground-breaking French films of the early 20^th Century. One of the first directors to incorporate special effects into films, Méliès is known for creating dream-like cinemagraphic experiences, mirrored by Scorsese in Hugo. Through the innocent eyes of children, Méliès is able to recapture his own imagination and innocence that was destroyed, along with the majority of his films, by the first World War.

With scenes that reference other early films, such as the Lumiere brothers’ L’arrivée d’un train en gare de La Ciotat and Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last!, Hugo is very self aware and a touch self indulgent, heralding the magic of film. It also features clips from other early films such as Méliès’ A Trip to the Moon and Edison Studios’ The Kiss.

Although the novelty of the groundbreaking 3-D may float this film at the box office, it may struggle to find an audience for its thoughtful and complex message. Theoretically a children’s film, it runs a little long for short attention spans (the two little girls sitting next to me were both asleep with more than an hour left in the film). Plus, an appreciation for this film requires a sense of nostalgia for childhood (and knowledge o cinema history) that is impossible for those with fewer than ten years under their belts.

Hugo. Directed by Martin Scorsese. Starring Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen and Chloë Grace Moretz. Rated PG. www.hugomovie.com.

Review by Jennifer Waller Sibley

The Muppets return to the big screen in “The Muppets”

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It’s been 12 years since the Muppets were last seen on the big screen, and apparently many people have forgotten all about the puppeteered music and comedy numbers that once made The Muppet Show a hit for children and adults alike in the late ’70s and early ’80s. At least that’s the case in The Muppets, the new movie that is (thankfully) not a revamping of any kind and mirrors reality in a slightly more surreal version of a world that has not seen the Muppets in all these years.

Kermit the Frog (Steve Whitmire), Mary (Amy Adams), Gary (Jason Segel) and Walter (Peter Linz) invite Rowlf the Dog (Bill Barretta) to rejoin the gang in “The Muppets.” Photo by Patrick Wymore

Their recent appearance on WWE Raw (and other promotional ploys) notwithstanding, it’s entirely plausible that there’s an entire generation or two that has completely missed out on the madcap mayhem that the Muppets were once known for. But in The Muppets, Gary (Jason Segel) is a small-town goodie-goodie who grew up watching The Muppet Show and continues watching old episodes with his little brother Walter (Peter Linz) into adulthood. Despite their lifelong brotherly bond, Walter, being a Muppet and all, is clearly adopted or something, which explains his undying fascination with the Muppets he watches on TV.

When Gary and his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) plan a romantic getaway to Los Angeles, Gary can’t help but let Walter tag along so they can visit the old Muppet Theater together. But it appears that that old Muppet magic is long gone as all the historic Muppet landmarks have fallen into disrepair and not a single Muppet is anywhere in sight. And when Walter unwittingly uncovers a plot to tear it all down so oil tycoon Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) can drill for oil, the news is so devastating to his innocent little mind that he vows to track down the old Muppet gang and stage a telethon to save the theater and get the show back on the air.

Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) and his henchmen, Uncle Deadly (Matt Vogel) and Bobo the Bear (Bill Barretta). Photo by Scott Garfield

From there, it’s one satirical song-and-dance number after another as the trio teams up with Kermit to drive cross country (and, in Miss Piggy‘s case, they even find a way to drive a station wagon to Paris) to track down the old gang and try to get them back together again. In keeping with Muppet tradition, the adventure is filled with celebrity cameos including Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters (as Animohl, the drummer for a Muppet tribute band called the Moopets), Jack Black (who is in an anger management program with the real Animal), Selena Gomez, Whoopi Goldberg, Mickey Rooney and Zach Galifianakis as a hobo.

As the Muppets rally more and more support, it appears that they just might overcome the odds and save the theater from the tyranical Tex, a hapless villain played to the hilarious hilt by Cooper, who even breaks out into a hip-hop number at one point. Once the Muppet gang is back together, everything seems to fall into place despite minimal rehearsal, ramshackle planning and other setbacks.

The Muppet gang is back in “The Muppets.” Photo by Scott Garfield

In the end, life lessons are learned, relationships are mended and the Muppets (as well as the rest of the world) realize that they are meant to be together. Whether or not the theater is saved becomes almost inconsequential, and it seems that the unique satire and cleverness of the Muppets is here to stay. Let’s just hope that such a fantasy carries over to the real world, because even those who are just being introduced to the silliniess of the Muppets will likely agree that the pop culture landscape is a better place with Jim Henson‘s felt-and-fur covered guys around.

The Muppets. Directed by James Bobin. Starring Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper and the Muppets. Rated PG. www.disney.com/muppets.

Review by Jonathan Williams

“WWE ’12 ” takes wrestling gaming to slamming new levels

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THQ and Yuke’s have set a new standard for a fun professional wrestling game with WWE ’12, which gives the SmackDown vs. Raw series a much needed update. FINALLY…a wrestling game that’s fun and addictive to play without too much repetition.

WWE ’12 is the 13th game in the series and looking back, they’ve come a long way. Who would

The Undertaker and Edge are two of many superstars avaialable in "WWE '12"

have known way back when, with the release of the inaugural WWF SmackDown! that we would one day be able to fully customize our wrestling game experience? With the aid of the ever-popular Create-a-Superstar, Create-an-Entrance, custom soundtracks, Create-a-Finisher, Create-a-Brand and the brand new Create-an-Arena options, users can now completely immerse themselves in the WWE Universe and put their own unique spin on things.

The first obvious difference between WWE ’12 and its predecessors is the extreme fluidity in the core gameplay. Going from one move to another is easy, fast and looks fantastic. They’ve done away with the choppy and awkward animations from years past and replaced them with the most fluid, authentic-looking gameplay in a wrestling game to date. And to go along with this, the folks at THQ have also gone to great lengths to make sure that every in-game shot is nearly identical to one you might see through a WWE camera lens. Combine that with new gameplay features, such as wake-up taunts, move interruption, and comeback moments, and you become entirely immersed. These little things really add to the overall ambience that WWE ’12 is able to provide.

The reason many of the people buy these games every year is to put their own creative touch to the series. Whether it’s creating a character, a logo or even an entire wrestling brand, WWE ’12’s creative features really help keep the game fresh for a long time to come.

You can give your opponents the patented DDT off the second rope as Randy Orton in "WWE '12"

Create-a-Wrestler, a staple in the series, is virtually unchanged from previous years, apart from a new hair choice here and new boots there. You can still create custom logos in the paint tool and place them on your custom superstar as a tattoo, tights logo, face paint, mask design or anything in between.

One new feature this year is an all-new Create-a-Titantron. This is a completely unique feature that uses various templates with B-roll footage, combined with in-game footage of your custom superstar to give you a pretty decent looking entrance video. Whether you want to make one for a Canadian Patriot, a demonic hellbeast or even Mr. Perfect himself, you can do it.

Another long-awaited feature added this year is Create-an-Arena mode, which is literally what it sounds like. You take control over nearly every aspect of a wrestling venue, from the aprons, the mat, the turnbuckles, the barricades and even the electronic billboard that scrolls around the arena inconspicuously. You can add your own logos or use one of the preset ones they were nice enough to include for you. Among these included logos are every single WrestleMania logo ever, multiple Royal Rumble logos, old World Championship Wrestling pay-per-view logos and many more. Having created a decent looking Ring of Honor arena myself, I can say that although this new feature is not perfect, it’s off to an impressive start, and the potential is unlimited.

Triple H gives Kevin Nash a sledgehammer to the gut in "WWE '12"

Last year we were introduced to WWE Universe mode. This was essentially a hybrid between story mode and exhibition mode. While you didn’t play out linear storylines like Road to WrestleMania, each match had significance. You could start feuds or feuds could be started for you. You could form new tag teams or be betrayed by your tag team partner. The WWE Universe literally crafted itself around your every move.

So what have they done this year? Made it 100 times better, with the ability to completely make the WWE Universe your own. Don’t want to wrestle on Raw, SmackDown or Superstars? No problem! You can make your own brand, complete with it’s own roster, show name, brand logo and arena, and swap them out with the Monday, Thursday, and Friday shows. For many fans, this is a dream come true.

Speaking of Road to WrestleMania, to say that it’s been overhauled is an understatement. Unlike previous years, where you could choose one of several WWE superstars and take them on a several month journey towards the spotlight of WrestleMania, WWE ’12 takes a different approach. This year’s Road to WrestleMania is a much more linear experience, with a much better storyline. You take control of multiple characters, including Sheamus, Triple H and even your own custom superstar (voiced, ironically enough, by current Total Nonstop Action X Division Champion Austin Aries). Each character’s story arc segues into the next playable character quite smoothly, and the overall story is quite impressive. And, not to spoil anything, but be ready for a lot of WCW.

Kevin Nash gives C.M. Punk a big boot in "WWE '12"

Another thing that should be noted is this year’s massive roster. Not only are there more than 50 playable current WWE Superstars, but there’s also a plethora of unlockable characters, including the Rock, Booker T, Kevin Nash, Arn Anderson, and more on the way in the form of downloadable content. Perhaps the highlight of this expanded roster is the introduction of a character who hasn’t graced a WWE video game ring in quite some time (apart from WWE All Stars): the “Macho Man” Randy Savage! Expect to see Savage available for download in the near future.

WWE ’12 has set a new standard for fun wrestling games. With the fluid gameplay, the vast array of customization options, the incredibly impressive roster and the overall authentic feel that WWE ’12 brings, it’s no wonder it’s already won several awards. It’s a near-perfect embodiment of a wrestling game. WWF No Mercy, eat your heart out.

WWE ’12 is available for PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. Rated T. www.wwe.thq.com.

Review by Dan Kemp

VNV Nation brings its retro-futuristic “Automatic” tour to the U.S.

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By Jonathan Williams

With its latest album Automatic, electro-industrial act VNV Nation has created one of its most successful and forward-thinking works to date. Heavily inspired by the sleek art deco minimalism and optimistic spirit of the American ’30s, Automatic is a stylistic and thematic departure from previous albums while maintaining the signature sounds that singer Ronan Harris and drummer Mark Jackson have established for VNV Nation. Having just finished a massive European tour in support of the album, the band’s United States tour kicks off tomorrow with German electronic dance act Straftanz opening each show. Just before departing Ireland for the tour, Harris talks to Wrestling with Pop Culture about Automatic.

Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson of VNV Nation. Photo by Ben Wolf

You just finished a European tour in support of Automatic and you begin your U.S. tour tomorrow. How have the shows been going so far?

I’m not lying when I say they’ve been going phenomenally well. The album came out at the beginning of September while we were on tour and we really put a lot into this tour. We started doing an extended set, so we’ve been playing anywhere from two-and-a-half to three hours, which really seemed to fly by. We played all over Europe and the reactions from fans and reviews have said this is the best tour we’ve done so far. We have a set that we think really kicks and we just played in Scandinavia last week and people were blown away, saying this was the best show ever. That’s not something you can intend to do, that’s not something you can plan to do, you just hope it works out. It seems to have paid off in spades. People are going nuts about it. It’s a very energetic show with ups and downs and it just keeps people going.

I understand you recorded this album a little differently than you’ve recorded previous albums. How did the Automatic process differ from other albums and how have you translated that to these live shows?

There are a lot of computers in our setup. We have two computers on stage, which are operated by the keyboardists, and they’re using sounds that are on the album. Sometimes it’s loops, sometimes it’s sounds and melodies, but we try to have as much playback live as is possible. There’s a computer system at the front of the house that has all the multi-tracks and all the other bits and pieces. This isn’t like playing a guitar and a bass, there’s a lot of weird little sequences, effects and loops. The drummer is playing a lot of the sounds from the album as well, so the whole thing together is as much as we can split off the actual recording and recreate live as is possible. Then there are a ton of videos and all kinds of fun stuff.

As far as the album production is concerned, there were things with the last album that I really wished I had done differently. That didn’t make it a bad album, I think it was one of our best albums. But I wanted to do something much, much bigger. I went for a very vibe-y sound on this album. There’s a lot of distortion and sort of harmonic overdrive being used on this album. I didn’t want it to saturate the whole thing down to sound like mud, so I spent a lot of time pre-thinking about how we do things, using a lot of state-of-the-art plug-ins. So I would predominantly concentrate on writing the songs and creating the sounds that I thought were fitting for this sound. It started to become very cohesive and everything I was creating for the album all seemed to fit together. There wasn’t going to be something that would stand out on the album and sound like it came from a completely different place. I wanted it to be everything from heavily energetic to soulful, but it always comes from the same space.

There are a lot of new sounds on the album, a lot of new styles that we would never use before. And we’ve basically taken a break from a lot of things we’ve used in the past to really give it new flavors. I guess a lot of underground electronic music has had an influence on me. There was a lot of sort of punky electronic music that had an influence on me as well. I wanted a very analog feel to this album, even though I’m using a computer, so everything was mixed through an analog device. The one thing that is always going to be there for every single album is the vocals, and it’s always going to be me singing, so we really concentrated on that. We’re not a band with massive amounts of equipment, so we concentrate on what’s important. I got the best microphones I could get for this. A lot of people might not understand why that’s really important, but when you hear the results on the album, that basically says it right there. This was leaps and bounds from what we did before as far as recording quality is concerned, and also the ability to mix things without having problems. We started out from the same point, I had a very strong idea of how I wanted the whole thing to feel and sound, then we concentrated on certain things in the right places.

Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson of VNV Nation look to the past for a better future on "Automatic." Photo by Ben Wolf

This album was also inspired by other pop cultural and historical sources. How would you say this album compares thematically to previous albums?

It was heavily influenced and inspired by the American ’30s. I do graphic design for people under another company name so it’s never tied to the band, but I do a ton of other work that I ended up involving in this project. The spirit of the American ’30s, which is something I’ve read vast amounts on and collected books and paraphernalia on, was a very unique period. Even though it was a period of only ten years, the world changed dramatically technologically and in the spirit of wanting to achieve. It was a period, as well, of economic crisis, which I found ironic as I started to reread a ton of books about two years ago. I really got back into this and have really immersed myself, and I found out that they were dealing with a lot of things that we’re dealing with today. What they had that we don’t have was the amazing sense of vision because they were trying to change the world to make it a better place. There were huge fairs and shows and a sense of naivete about the future. But the spirit of it was to make the world a better place, to make it easier for people, and it was all about individual effort. It wasn’t about being part of some massive organization or something like that, it really was about the individual’s creative output and expression.

As far as design is concerned, the ’30s was an incredible period because everything looks sexy. Any retro-futurist film is always going to borrow a huge amount from that era. A lot of the things I was writing were from a retro-futurist point of view and imagining everything within the look and feel of that era. I wasn’t going to do swing music or anything like that. But there’s a track on the album called “Streamline,” which encapsulates a lot of the philosophy of designers who were saying, “This is how the world could be and this is how we should approach it.” I wanted to express it’s naivete and style-wise the song is based on ’70s electronic futurist music, which was all about how great and automated this sci-fi world will be in 20 years. I wanted to combine the two because electronic music really began its commercial use in the ’70s. Before that it was pretty much test equipment or the toys of the very, very rich. People like the Beach Boys and the Beatles could use it, but they didn’t really know what they were doing with it aside from creating some neat weird noises. But the ’70s produced this ton of great artists who were writing cerebral and trippy music, and they invented ambient music and a ton of other things that are still evolving today. I wanted to capture a bit of that ’70s electronic futurism and marry it to this ’30s American futurism.

How that differs from previous albums is that I view this as an incredibly positive album. I think the last album I did that was roughly in this vein would have been Futureperfect in 2001, and that was about “Here we are 100 years later, what is different between the world at the turn of the 20th century and the turn of the 21st century?”. It was a very dark album, a very bittersweet album, in saying, “Where are all the visions? Where’s our get-up-and-go in wanting to make the future a better place?” This album is really about immersing yourself in that spirit and writing as though that were the vision of today.

You’re also heavily involved in the visual aspects of VNV Nation, which are always a big part of the shows. What have you been doing visually on this tour?

A couple of years ago we started to experiment with LED systems, but using them in a clever way. A lot of people will just build a wall and show an image. What we were doing was splitting the panels up in different places around the stage and using them all independent of one another, and using them both as visual media and as a groovy light show. It’s been honed and maximized, so I think it’s a very energetic stage show that doesn’t dominate the art that’s on stage. Some people have shows where they’re trying to push everything at the same time at the same level, but I want everything to fit in it’s right place. But I think we’ve really taken it up a notch.

For more information, go to www.vnvnation.com.

“Happy Feet Two” spreads its wings for snow-covered fun

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Happy Feet Two has everything you likely loved about the original Happy Feet (singing and dancing penguins) and nothing you may have hated (environmentalist propaganda). After reading up on the first Happy Feet, I went into the sequel expecting a propaganda film in the tradition of pre-World War II German director Leni Riefenstahl. After all, my go-to children’s film experts (my sister and her 10-year-old daughter) described the first film as “preachy” and “long,” respectively. But it seems writer/director George Miller, who won an Academy Award for the first installment, learned from his heavy-handed mistakes and instead presented us with an inspiring tale of using your unique talents to contribute to society.

The Mighty Sven (Hank Azaria) teaches Erik (Ava Acres) life lessons in "Happy Feet Two." Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

The hero of Happy Feet, Mumble (Elijah Wood), is back and this time he is struggling with helping his son, Erik (Ava Acres), find his place in the Emperor Penguin society. Unable to dance like his father, Erik feels out of place and seeks out his own path, meeting a cast of characters each with his own unique strength, including a penguin named Sven (Hank Azaria) who can fly! With elements of children’s fable Jonathan Livingston Seagull, the flying penguin encourages Erik to look within himself to find how he can find his place in penguin society. Sadly, it turns out that Sven is actually a con artist puffin, but the truth of his message is not lost on Erik, who eventually recognizes the strengths of his father and finds his inspiration there.

Will the Krill (Brad Pitt) and Bill the Krill (Matt Damon) in "Happy Feet Two." Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

The main plot is mirrored in a subplot involving two krill, Will (Brad Pitt) and Bill (Matt Damon), who break away from their own swarm in order to become individuals. Ultimately, each character finds himself and returns back to the society from which he came, with a new understanding of his unique purpose. And all unite to save the penguins from a perilous situation, involving habitat destruction as a result of global warming (although I read that into the film and it wasn’t overtly stated). In fact, the humans in the film are portrayed as benefactors and although they aren’t able to save the penguins, the relationship between the two societies is portrayed as one of respect.

The 3-D gimmick is well done here, and if there’s any place for a gimmick, it’s a children’s film. It helps create a sense of immersion in the Antarctic world, but isn’t distracting. Strangely, if the film has a weakness, it’s the music. The original songs aren’t catchy or memorable and the songs go on a little too long. The audience clapped at the end of the film and while I, personally, didn’t feel that it was clap worthy, it’s a good way to spend an evening with the kids. Happy Feet Two is fun, clever, cute and has a positive message for the little ones.

Happy Feet Two. Directed by George Miller. Starring Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Alecia Moore (P!nk), Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. Rated PG. www.happyfeettwo.warnerbros.com.

Review by Jennifer Waller Sibley