Gustavo Turner[UPDATE: Disregard original headline: The Melvins' Own 'Brian Eno' Back at the Echo Curio
Grant says:
well, the part of David Scott Stone will be played by Seamus tonight. DSS is away in NYC working on some dance guy's record.
NEW MUSIC MONDAYS are curated by David. He brings all the artists and groups together and sets the flow. He also plays most of the nights (except for example, tonight)
but he is back on March 22nd with OSCILLATOR (ben wolcott from To Live and Shave in LA). and SLEEPWALKERS LOCAL MEETS THE FARADAY TRIPPERS (voice on dueling theremins)]
Sir DSS: Modulators! Mount Up!
Sound modulation is very “in” these days, but David Scott Stone has been experimenting with the form for years, so much so that he has famously been called “the Eno of our band” by Melvins' drummer Dale Crover.
A 2008 LA Weekly profile for the release of his album David Scott Stone Plays the Modular Synthesizer describes The Melvins collaborations and Stone's musical path:
A master of musical cross-pollination, Stone's longest tenure thus far has been with Northwest-bred masters of density the Melvins, with whom he started working in the 1990s doing “noise and soundscape things with bowed cymbals, contact mikes, wire, oscillators and circuit bent stuff” on their albums Stag, Honky, Hostile Ambient Takeover and Pigs of the Roman Empire, a collaboration with veteran noise artist Lustmord. He was asked to tour with the L.A. band by lead singer Buzz Osborne on a ferry back from Alcatraz on New Year's Day 2000. Stone agreed, and traveled with them for a few years. He then played bass with the group from 2004 to 2006.
While touring with the Melvins, Stone began creating his own instruments. “Buzz would have me play before the rest of the guys, to get the audience riled up for the big drop “D” string,” he explains. “It was a three-month tour, so every night I would try to find different things around the club or in the town to play. Since I used contact mikes with a huge amp, I could 'play' and get to feedback, everything from paper cups and tennis shoes to beer bottles. One Easter in Ohio, I played an unused toilet bowl cleaner. From there, I got an idea of what did and didn't work.”
Stone (aka Sir DSS) will be performing tonight at the Echo Curio as part of a series of collaborations with other musicians called New Music Mondays. Also on the bill “one half of The High Places playing as his thrash alter-ego The Urxed! and Mirror to Mirror giving “new meaning to the word 'chill' as he explores worlds inside worlds for the ultimate tonal relaxation.”
Mysterious “official” clip from DSS' (No Age-sponsored) album Plays the Modular Synthethizer:
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.