Milwaukee Orbit Interview (August 2000 Issue) (interview by Trent Hanson) "The microcosmic beginnings of the group known as AluminumKnotEye occurred in 1990 when founding member Keith Vercauteren heard a cluster of sounds echoing from a rusty pipe on the edge of an alfalfa field on the north side of Chilton, WI while he was peeing on a nearby stump..." - from the A.K.E. website. Many of you dear readers probably haven't heard of AluminumKnotEye although they are one of the most productive and persistent of all Milwaukee bands. They've been playing shows since 1994 and have been releasing material several years before that (error note: A.K.E. played their first show in December of 1996. The first cassette was released in 1994 as a one-man basement recording. Oh well...). While their sound has gone through a variety of re-arrangments, they have blossomed into one of Milwaukee's most unique groups and their live shows are definitely some of the best damn performances you'll see ever. Here's a band that reminds me of The Fall or Wire -- quite mechanical and hypnotic. AluminumKnotEye has existed through several line-up changes. Is it a result of personal or musical differences? How for the better and worse have these changes effected your band? KEITH: The only changes have been in the 2nd guitar/keyboard spot. Maciek (#1) quit because he didn't feel like he had the time for it anymore and was spending a summer in Paris to study architecture. He was always kind of distracted anyway and I was somewhat relieved when he left the band. Dan (#2)left because he went back to school and had no time for the band. He didn't play guitar at all, and I wanted to start doing some 2 guitar stuff again. In both these cases, I'm sure there was some degree of personal or musical differences, but they weren't the overlying factor in their departures. It was mainly that they were busy with other stuff. The main problem with changes in membership is that we are slowed down for a couple of months integrating a new member. This time the integration was a lot quicker, because Mark was actually familiar with his instrument before joing AluminumKnotEye! I feel we've gotten more aggressive musically with each membership change and I must say that I think we sound better now than ever. This question is for the new guitarist: What about A.K.E. made want to join their band? What is your name? MARK: I am Brian Jones and I heard these guys won't drown me in a pool like my last band, the Rolling Stones... Back to Keith: What frustrates you the most about the band? KEITH: We don't practice enough. We never have any money. We have too many distractions. We don't play enough shows. We don't have an actual record out yet. What do you love the most about the band? KEITH: We can hop on any stage with our cheap, shitty equipment and create a loud racket, all while sticking out like a gangrenous toe on the underbelly of underground rock music. William Vollriede (bass guitar) has been with the band from the start. You and Keith seem to be the "core" of the band -- do the the two of you collaborate on the songs or does Keith march into practice and tell everybody what to do? WILLIAM: Everybody contributes their own part. That's the only sensible way since they are the individual parts that each of us is going to play over and over so it has to be in one's nature to play this or that. The hope that I always have is that everyone will be doing something completely different that eventually meshes together into a whole. Songwriting is more or less done as a group, therefore... As far as practices, Keith does tend to set an itinerary often for organization's sake, someone has to... KEITH: Our songs come together in many ways. Sometimes, we are all just playing our instruments, something interesting comes about, and we build upon that. Other times, I may come in with a guitar part and everyone builds upon that. Also, since I'm the only guy who owns a 4-track recording device, I sometimes present entire songs in "demo" form for the other guys to fuck with. Very rearely do I come in and say "play this" or "play that." It's more about everyone figuring out a part for themselves. Does Keith ever throw temper-tantrums? What about? WILLIAM It seems that Keith and I are primarily the ones with tempers, but in the end it's just to make things work out favorably, really. If someone's temper NEVER flares it sometimes makes me sort of suspicious of them. Generally speaking, I think we all know each other well enough to be honest with eachother. Hope is that it is done without clashes. Sometimes it's uncomfortable, but that's life... %99 of all disagreements have to do with being disgruntled about expectations and moods, I think. The remaing %1 generally pertains to stock car racing. What frustrates you most about the band? WILLIAM: The climate for bands in general doesn't seem conductive to new ideas. There's so much that's already been done, of course, but there's so much to do. Yet it's the same song people play and want played for them in different ways. Retro trends are a perfect example... There are more pigeonholes to choose from, but less of them seem to contain anything new that seems fresh because no-one seems to sink enough effort into doing what they do and how relates to what they actually are. "What kind of band is it?" or "what do they sound like?" even. The classifications seem to take over in importance in lieu of quality or at least honesty. Dont get me wrong; nothing is completely original, even going back to the origins of music... Like I said, there's much to be done, though not without the pressure placed by the past. Therein lies the frustration, I believe -- how ideas relate to me in this band. That kind of frustration can either make the prospects of playing in a band futile or sometimes it can be a great motivator. Does A.K.E. have any "evil arch-rival" band that you do battle against? KEITH: I've regularly made fun of Milwaukee-area "emo" bands both onstage and on the fucking internet. Essentially, I find emo to be dismal, dry, generic, putrid bullshit. It's been a fairly popular thing around here for a number of years, so it became an easy target. Those clones are so easy to antagonize. But really, we don't have any real battles with these bands. I just find it healthy for a band such as ours to have a firm disapproval of such a boring form of music. Describe your most memorable show. KEITH: I'd have to say the cancer benefit show at the Riverwest Commons back in June. Our new line-up was comfortably solidified and we were ready to strike. Also, we played in a living room in Madison in near 100 degree weather last summer and the cops showed up for a noise complaint 6 songs into our set. It was almost a relief for me, because I was ready to pass out from the heat and heavy beer intake. But lots of them have been memorable. Desribe your most pathetic show. KEITH: In July of 1997, shortly after being burglarized(Bill's bass was taken) we played a gig in Green Bay with a bunch of emo-type bands. The audience was a bunch of sad zombies and our burglary inspired rage couldn't be taken out on them because they all hid in the back. Our previous gig had been a fun one in a Milwaukee basement, where we taunted some mohicans/skinheads and got into the idea of antagonizing the audience. Thus, the fucking emo show was a disappointment, because we didn't have a chance to pick and prod. For the drummer: Does being a comp conflict with all the sex, drugs and rock n' roll? Have you ever busted anyone from any noteable bands? What's your name? JON: My name is Jon Richardson, but I am not going to answer these questions! Fill in the blank -- say whatever you wanna (I don't give a shit). KEITH: We've been around for several years now and I think we've lasted because we are not straight-jacketed into any "music scene", local or otherwise. This may have made it harder to "gain an audience", but I personally don't mind. Lots of people bug us about when we are going to put a record out. We've come close to making an intended-for-CD/LP recording, but have always run into some snag with membership or money. Maybe we're just waiting for the right time to attack. Let's face it, there are far too many shitty records out there and I don't want to add to THAT pile. When we put something out, it'll have to be really, really stellar. Until then, people can buy our budget cassettes and burn their own fucking CD's with them, I don't care! KEITH(again): One of the main influences on me musically was going to the stock car races a lot when I was a kid: the roar of the cars going round and round, the sheet metal scraping against the wall, the drunk hicks in the crowd, and the echoey voice of the announcer above it all -- it was always a loud, invigorating noise and that's what I try to do in AluminumKnotEye. THE END BACK TO MAIN PAGE