The three boys of the band Disgustitron and I are sitting in the back patio area of one of my favorite Portland bars, Plan B. DRUNK but still able to manage the interview, we chain smoke and talk about... well, whatever the hell we feel like! This was a fun interview and the guys are a riot to hang with. So this is Beauty Is Pain Publications featuring David Ian LiaBraaten (singer/keyboards/tambourine), Henry Montejano III (guitarist), and Danny Alexander Staton (Bassist/Other Randomness) of DISGUSTITRON.



BIPP: OK so... thanks to people like Dean (HeadHunterProductions Portland Oregon) I get to hear about bands that maybe I had not heard of before. I came to the last show you did here at Plan B where the power kept getting blown out... that was fun. I think you just turned it into some sort of Monty Python comedy show when that happened and I thought it was a riot. Sometimes things like that make a show ten times better... I had brought a girlfriend of mine with me to the show and she was bouncing in her seat which isn't really like her so needless to say she was really enjoying the show. She was like "THEY'RE AWESOME!"

David: We played a rave in Salem in October and we blacked out the sound system twice in our set.

BIPP: So you're used to it.

David: It's something about the disgustitron, it blows fuses. *laughs*

BIPP: What is the disgustitron?

David: It's the name of our drummer... it's kind of like Fleetwood Mac except uh... our drummer is a robot.

BIPP: And none of you are involved in a love triangle with each other.

David: In the band?

Henry: After a few drinks maybe.

David: The disgustitron is basically a pile of speakers and lights that run off of a cassette deck. The disgustitron is actually the devil's boom box.

BIPP: Sweet! I'm not the only one who still owns cassette tapes! YES!! I have a little box of cassettes that I open up... moths fly out...

*we laugh*

Danny: We've tried going digital sometimes but it just doesn't happen. We go back to the tapes and it works better.

BIPP: Danny, you play bass... I just took up bass this year. I have played piano and keyboard for over... 14 years??

Danny: Nice!

BIPP: Everyone was like "you'll pick right up on it" and maybe so... but I don't practice enough.

Danny: It's a different gear it's not just playing root notes.

BIPP: The first song I taught myself on it was Pump It Up by Elvis Costello.

Danny: Mine was either a mixture of Metallica cause I listened to them early on... or... oh God what is that song... not I Got You Babe but it was something like that. One of those cheesy songs...

David: My Girl?

Danny: It was My Girl, thank you!

BIPP: What is the craziest show you've ever played.

Danny: For me it would have to be our cd release show that we did at Dantes in August 7th. Crazy cause it was a birthday party and all of us were just a little too out of our realm but it was fun. The other was when we opened for Thrill Kill Kult... crazy cause we were in awe... it was just a mixture of things.

David: The Dead Wasps...

Danny: Yeah, we played with this band called The Dead Wasps from Manchester they were actually pretty good. Not dark necessarily but electronic and they've got a lot of synth elements... but that was great. Ummm... I don't know, it's been weird? We've done industrial shows, normal rock shows, we've played with indie bands...

David: We're playing at The Someday Lounge on January third to kick off the new year. We're playing with The Gentry and Android and Massive Moth which is a cool psychedelic rock band from Salem... Android is a DJ that comes with us a lot of the time and he produces his own music but he also DJ's. He usually plays between the bands and during the after party.

BIPP: The last time I spoke with you in person was after the show at Plan B and I remember you were on some weird liquid diet?

David: It was me and Henry! We were on the master cleanse! You party a lot and you gotta clean out so that you can do it again. We basically lived off a mixture of lemonade, maple syrup and cheyenne pepper for two weeks.

BIPP: I remember asking if you all wanted to get a drink and you were like "Nah, we're on this diet..." so I thought you were all super health freaks and I felt like I was this drunk going "Come on fellas! Let's all get BOOZED UP!"

*laughing*

David: No no... you party hard you gotta clean hard!

BIPP: I know, I do the same thing. I will be hungover and then eat nothing but huge salads with lemon and olive oil and take super vitamins... drink protein shakes... emergenCy.

David: The maple syrup gives you blood sugar, the cheyenne warms your body temperature and the lemon juice... just... takes care of business.

BIPP: Lemon juice is great... cleanses your body, clears out mucus, and works great as a laxative if your ever... you know... backed up. But really, I eat them all the time cause I just like them. They are my favorite fruit... well, that and tomatoes.

Danny: Bloody Mary's are the best.

BIPP: I love a good Bloody Mary. It's all about The Florida Room on North Killingsworth... The Church Of The Bloody Mary. Mmmmmm...

David: Sunday Bloody Sunday?

BIPP: Yeah! *laughs* So who are your influences?

Henry: The Cure, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Bauhaus...

BIPP: Is there one band that you like... you know, get drunk and listen to like your are them? lol! You hold yourself and cry...

Henry: Bauhaus... the guitar...

BIPP: I love telling goths that I don't like Bauhaus just cause their jaws drop and they look horrified. *laughing* But in all honesty I do love the band. What's your favorite Bauhaus song?

Henry: She's In Parties... thats a beautiful sexy song.

BIPP: Isn't that song supposed to be about David Bowie's ex wife... Angie?

Danny: Really?

BIPP: Thats what I heard anyway. How about the rest of you guys? Favorite bands?

Danny: Kind of the same but I am also from the world of indie rock. I like a lot of atmosphere like God Speed You Black Emperor, Explosions In The Sky, Sunny Day Real Estate...

David: As far as front men that inspire me I would have to say Micheal Stipe from REM just for his writing and David Bowie was a big influence as far as his flare for the dramatic and how he sort of makes his songs into movies. As far as live performance... Morrison, Iggy Pop... but I have a lot of past ties a long time ago with the rave scene so there is some Ephex Twins, Underworld, bass and drums stuff that musically inspires me. Modern stuff too. I have always been into theater, I took theater in high school which turned into being in rock bands... you can see a lot of the influences in our music with electronic drums and synths and real guitars, real bass, vocals and high energies on stage. Depeche Mode is like that... I know everyone says it but Nine Inch Nails is probably one of the most amazing bands in our life time... Pink Floyd, being able to create a world outside of the time and space that you are in.

BIPP: I think you should cover Young Lust and One Of My Turns personally.

Danny: Yeah, that would be fun.

David: Oh, another influence would be Bjork.

BIPP: I just put one of my favorite Bjork songs on my MP3 player, Play Dead.

Danny: Thats a good one.

David: Tricky. Massive Attack...

BIPP: I think Maxinquaye was the first Tricky album I heard... I was in high school and I was very stoned... I loved it. *laughs* I get a lot of flack sometimes from friends who don't understand my broad musical tastes... I listen to stuff like Eminem and they cringe or give me a look. But I have to have my variety or I will lose it. I can't just listen to the same genre and style of music all the time.

Danny: If you listen to industrial music you have to be able to listen to hip hop cause it's similar beat structure. It's just distorted... distorted vocals...

Henry: NWA is one of my favorites.

BIPP: OMG! I listen to NWA sometimes. I tend to rock out to Fuck Da Police when I get drunk with friends.

*we laugh*

BIPP: And it's like... funny to see these little gothies bouncing around singing along to NWA. lol!

Henry: Straight Outta Compton is like one of the greatest hip hop songs ever...

*Henry and I start to sing some of Straight Outta Compton together*

BIPP: Thats a great one.

Danny: Hip Hop beats are AWESOME. I guess the older you get the more you appreciate all different forms of art especially when it is something you do. If they come from the heart then it is a certain conviction for life I think? And an appreciation of beauty.

BIPP: Right, sometimes I want to listen to... Mozart! Other times it's Motorhead... or maybe... I don't know... Bootsy Collins! But I also like industrial, rock, punk... I mean, even some of the stuff that is poppy has it's moments with me.

David: It's a tradition for us while we are getting dressed and these guys are putting on their makeup...

*we laugh*

BIPP: You don't do makeup?

David: Well, we'll see. *laughs*

BIPP: You just need someone who's really good at doing makeup to do yours and then you'll be hooked.

David: Henry's a makeup artist...

BIPP: I noticed the perfect smokey eyes Henry has on tonight. Very nice. People don't appreciate the work it takes to look that good. *laugh* It took me years to get it right. Actually, I am not wearing any eye makeup tonight and people are like "There is something different about you... I can't put my finger on it?"

*we laugh*

David: So before every show when we are all getting ready, doing the makeup and having some wine...

BIPP: Red or white?

David: Oh red, or course.

BIPP: Thats right!

David: We put on the vinyl of Ocean Rain by Echo & The Bunnymen and when Killingtime comes on we all dance together...

Danny: And everyone watches shockingly.

BIPP: And then you make love and everyone is like "whats going on?"

Danny: Yes...

David: And then we make love to everyone on stage and the disgustitron makes painful love to all of us from behind...

Danny: Speaking of KY what were you saying?

*we laugh*

David: ... and then we leave for the show... load up the gear and pick up the disgustitron.

BIPP: How did you all meet?

David: New Years eve was becoming 2007 and we all worked at a music store together...

BIPP: Which one?

David: Should we say?

BIPP: Well, it is a free publication so I doubt anyone is gonna sue us.

*The boys laugh*

David: We all worked at Guitar Center together. I actually still work there, they don't though. Henry moved from Los Angeles, Danny moved from Miami and I have lived in Portland for about five years now. So Henry and I were at the new years party and we were talking about all the music we liked. I told him how I was working on some beats with some vocals but I didn't want to get on stage with a lap top and a wireless microphone and prance around in leg warmers and a diaper or anything like that... I wanted to make intense physical music and we were talking about how we like all these bands... and let me add to our mention that we also like My Bloody Valentine...

Danny: Oh yes...

David: because that was one of the major factors and we decided we would start some kind of band but we didn't know what. I had been working on hooking up my computer to a lot of speakers and guitar amps and running sounds through them and stuff like that which we have refined quite a bit... Henry and I had some very rough times at my house trying to get it going and it sounded pretty bad but we had some songs that sounded kinda cool... we played some shows and it started to go pretty good. I was trying to play the bass while I was singing but the only thing I really should be doing is singing. lol! Every single one of us are capable of programming drums, recording, playing bass guitar and singing but none of us are drummers. So we decided to ask Danny to go with the project and we asked the disgustitron if it was OK and she said it was so...

BIPP: Ah, it's a she!

David: Sometimes.

*we laugh*

David: It's complicated. But I guess I will turn it over to Danny from there.

Danny: Thats pretty much the present... I moved here from Miami about two and a half years ago to do about the same thing. It was a friend of mine and I and we were both playing what we called...

BIPP: Dualist guitars?

Danny: Yeah, and we were kind of playing like... Atari Teenage Riot...

David: ATARI TEENAGE RIOOOT!!!!

Danny: Aggressive electric drums but with a kind of Fugazi type guitars... another influence... anyway, that fell through and I started working at Guitar Center and that is how I met these guys.

David: We were the FREAKS of the Guitar Center!

*I notice a stray black cat running through the back patio area near us*

David: A black cat just crossed our paths...

BIPP: What does that mean?!

David: Everything.

*laughter*

BIPP: The one problem I have always had is that I am used to doing everything myself so when I play with other people it can be kind of hard for me. I don't read sheet music either so I have to rely on verbal communication to get my ideas across and same with the people trying to pass the ideas off to me. You get in there and it is just... not going anywhere. So you end up getting side tracked sometimes... drinking, making prank phone calls and going out... but when you guys first got together did things just sort of fall into place or did it take some time?

David: We meshed together right away.

Danny: David and I lived together at one point and we would jam a lot... a lot of ambient sounding stuff...

David: I like The Incredible Hulk and crack cocaine.

*laughter*

BIPP: I love film scores, that is one of my major influences as far as the way I play... I find myself writing these sort of epic sounding pieces that I can imagine done by a large orchestra. It just sorta pulled me in that way without me noticing.

Danny: There's a lot of movies... Michel Gondry...

BIPP: Also did a lot of the Bjork videos.

Danny: Yes, and then there are French films like Amelie.

BIPP: I love the soundtrack to Amelie! I have a few of the piano pieces on my MP3 as well.

Danny: Lynch films...

David: Angelo Badalamenti.. Lost Highway... Twin Peaks...

BIPP: Howard Shore is another of my favorites... he used to be very experimental with his film scores. He used to record sounds like bees in a hive mixed with sounds of traffic to create an orchestra and a lot of time you couldn't tell it wasn't a real orchestra. He did a lot of Cronenberg's films which were huge influences to me when I first started to direct in high school.

Danny: Speaking of soundtracks, Darren Aronofsky who did PI and Reqium For A Dream, mainly PI cause it was a lot more electronic, but both soundtracks were HUGE inspirations. The Spawn soundtrack back in the mid nineties was awesome. Mixing rock bands with electronic groups was really cool and innovative.

BIPP: So this is your first cd here that you just gave me?

David: This is our first cd and our first interview actually. We hand made about a hundred of them, we copied them on our own, created the inserts... we're going to make more with a jewel case and stuff but we hand made the first hundred.

BIPP: Gonna make some music videos?

David: We've been talking about that but when we get together we seemed to just want to make music instead.

BIPP: What you really need is a director and cinematographer to follow you around or someone who gets the band's concepts who can just work on their own to create you something.

David: All we need is a camera... we're just broke and we use whatever we've got. I think we will just go buy an old 80's VHS camera and shoot some footage and fuck around with it or something.

BIPP: Would you rather do live action or animation?

David: I don't think they really need to be separated?

BIPP: Thats true.

Danny: Yeah, they can be hand and hand. I like Spike Jonze videos.

BIPP: I LOVE SPIKE JONZE!!

David: Do you still make movies?

BIPP: I used to but it has been years since I picked up a camera. The last time I was working on a video project was with Cirkus Pandemonium, a circus I was involved with that I also lived with... and that was many years back. I was more excited about behind the scenes stuff like things that went wrong, fights, riots at the shows... and the creative process.

David: Do you have a camera?

BIPP: I don't... but I can suggest an idea to you guys on how to work that without having to pay for it? Just get a Sears card or some place like that, and buy a camera, in a month return it and say you want something different, and then get another one... and keep doing that until your project is done. Then return it and you won't be charged for any of it. I used to do that when I was in the circus. I would get digital camcorders, some fire wire and then find an editor to help me get it all stitched out before returning all the equipment to the store and getting my money back.

Danny: Thats a good idea!

David: What movie is everyone really rockin out to right now? Starting with you (Henry)...

Henry: What movie? I am really watching Faust a lot. It's fuckin great.

Danny: Lately I have been watching Six Feet Under with my girlfriend which was awesome and we're starting Dexter now. It's filmed in Miami about a guy that goes around killing people but it is more justified...

BIPP: Is that a series?

Danny: Yeah, it's a Showtime series.

BIPP: I know David is dying to tell us...

David: I'm not dying, no! I am just trying to inspire conversation. I have guilty pleasures. I like cheesy futuristic shit. Like Tron... right now I am freaking out on Dune and The Fifth Element. I like weird freaky beats, aliens, distopian shit... I don't know... weird stuff.

BIPP: Keep Portland weird.

Danny: Keep Portland weird, right!

BIPP: I go through movie phases like I do music phases... I go back and rewatch stuff like... Goonies... I watched that again the other night for the first time in a long time.

David: That was filmed in Astoria Oregon!

BIPP: I know... when I worked at Movie Madness one of my co-workers, Jamie, was putting together a documentary about Goonies. It was really funny actually... but it ended up turning into a weird movie about... bowling or something?

*we laugh*

BIPP: and I know this is super cheesy but I love the Anne Of Green Gables series...

David: Anne Of Green Gables is DEEP. It's good!

BIPP: Oh, and I am back to geeking out on this great mockumentary called "Drop Dead Gorgeous."

*I do a line from the movie and the guys cheer me on*

BIPP: Thank you thank you.

*I take a fake bow*

BIPP: But usually I quote it and few people know what I am talking about and probably just think I am losing it.

David: We like when people lose it! We lose it all the time!

Danny: It just makes life more interesting.

David: Wait! Wim Wenders! Wings Of Desire! Which featured another band we failed to mention...

BIPP: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.

David: Yes!! FUCK YEAH. That movie FLIPPED MY SCRIPT.

BIPP: Whats your favorite Nick Cave album?

Henry: Henry's Dream.

David: Oooh, appropriate!

*laughter*

Danny: Odd resemblance too? I like The Birthday Party stuff too. Grinderman is pretty cool.

David: GRINDERMAN! Tell your Nick Cave story!

Henry: Oh, yeah... I went and saw Nick Cave at The Crystal Ballroom...

BIPP: I was there!

Henry: Wasn't that fucking amazing?

BIPP: They were great. I could have done without some of the other shit that was going down at the show... but I won't go into that. But the band themselves were awesome.

Henry: What side were you on? Was it like, the grown up side or...

*laughter*

BIPP: Good question.

*more laughter*

BIPP: When they first started I was on the toilet.

*laughter*

BIPP: And I was like "Sweet!!"

*I start to sing Tupelo and mock myself pretending I am on the toilet*

David: Oh! The Nick Cave story!

Henry: Oh, right... So anyways... after the show I went to get some food at The Montage and no one was there and who walks in? Nick Cave and Warren Ellis... and their body guard. I got to talk to them and they were really sweet. He's such a... my idol.

BIPP: Did they get macaroni? (for those that don't know, The Montage has an extensive menu which consists of lots of macaroni plates).

*laughter*

Henry: I don't know but I was having red wine... it was like a dream.

*the rest of us are goofing off in the background and I can hear David laughing the cutest funniest laugh ever which sets me off laughing as well*

Henry: I had this great suit on that I got at Goodwill for like thirty dollars.

Danny: Yeah, thrift store glamor is the best.

BIPP: The bins (local Portland place to get bags full of used clothing for ten cents to a dollar a bag load)...

Danny: Yup, the bins are great!

BIPP: What did you talk about with them?

Henry: Nothing! I just told them I loved them and they were like "we love you too."

*David and Danny are whispering to one another*

BIPP: What are you whispering?! "Hey Danny, lets go like... sacrifice virgins or something."

David: EVIL KNIEVAL. Thats one of my idols too cause he used to jump over school buses and he was like a mafia person and would beat people up if they owed him money... and I always wanted to do that. That is what we will do.

Danny: What, will I be like... the sniper or something?

David: We'll just sick the disgustitron on them and then they'll be FUCKED.

BIPP: So, the disgustitron... is it like your God or Goddess or some entity... you guys are like "What the fuck are you talking about." lol!

David: No no no! We aren't what the fucking!

Henry: We are sending out subliminal messages and opening the door to make people... shake their bottoms.

Danny: A subliminal ass shake? Is that what it is?

*laughter*

BIPP: Henry is the quietest of the group and they say the quietest usually has the most to say.

Danny: And the biggest stink.

David: But the words that he says are spoken with the greatest volume. Henry is like the shaman... Danny is like the...

Danny: Necrophiliac.

*laughter*

David: Danny is like the warrior beast master...

BIPP: I can see that by your performance! You should wear a loin cloth and have a pet ferret on stage with you. lol!

Danny: I am NOT Richard Gere... I will not have a hampster coming out of my butt... sorry.

*laughter*

David: I'm like... the bard...

BIPP: Are we talking D&D now?

David: Yeah! But Henry is the necromancer but he is also like the... shaman.

Henry: I walk in both worlds.

David: And Danny is the beast master...

Danny: I'm the loose cannon.

David: Yeah watch out, the gun is LOADED. *David says "loaded" in a sassy voice*

BIPP: Danny's facial hair says that... you know, he spends a lot of time in the wild... or something.

David: I'm a bard and a low level wizard.

*I can't stop laughing*

David: and the disgustitron is our droid.

Danny: So it's Star Wars now?

David: Every good campaign team needs a droid... when thats appropriate. And the disgustitron is like the wizard of oz...

BIPP: Only none of you seem to want to go home. lol!

David: Henry is the tin man...

BIPP: Are you saying he doesn't have a heart? lol!

Henry: Not that works?

David: Danny is the lion.

Danny: It's the dreadlocks.

David: I'm the scarecrow. I'm a little whiley.

BIPP: You fall down a lot and they have to put you back together.

*laughter*

David: We like to think of the audience as Dorothy.

BIPP: Dorothy is the groupie. Do you get a lot of girls throwing themselves on you?

David: Just Henry. It's cause he's the pretty one.

BIPP: I don't think any of you are pretty... and I mean that in the best sense!

*laughter*

BIPP: Cause to me to say a guy is pretty is to take away some of his experience... unless the guy wants to be pretty. But it is like you are saying they are not manly or they are innocent...

Henry: I am innocent and pure.

BIPP: Riiiight.

David: Henry is innocent and pure in the most evil and sinister way possible.

*laughter*

Henry: I always make sure to take my vitamins and I always say my prayers at the end of the night.

*that statement seems to send David into hysterical laughter*

Henry: It's true!

Danny: We are working on some covers btw...

Henry: Devil Inside by INXS

Danny: Wish by NIN. Maybe Rebel Yell by Billy Idol?

David: Army Of Me by Bjork...

Henry: Some Tori...

BIPP: Ah!

Henry: I have a story.. I was on speed and up for a few days... this was in California... this was when From The Choir Girl Hotel album came out... and my girlfriend won tickets through KROCK and we got to meet her.

BIPP: I hate you!! Which Tori song would you do?

Henry: Professional Widow.

BIPP: That song is supposed to be about Courtney Love. Alright, lets close this up or we will never stop going on...

David: Into the spiraling pool of drunkness!!

BIPP: Last words guys? I mean, that wasn't a death sentence. lol!

Henry: Treble is the new bass. Like, if your head was in an aluminum trash can... and that was how everything was processed.

*laughter all around*

Danny: Enjoy every moment and build your life the way you want to. You get what you put out. I know that sounds kinda Buddhist and hippie but it's true.

David: Rock & Roll Mind Control.

BIPP: Thank you so much, I had so much fun with you guys. I can't wait to see your next show.

David: January 3rd at Someday Lounge! The first Saturday of the year. Five bucks. It's gonna be a great time.

BIPP: Will you put me on the list?

Danny: No... just kidding.

*laughter*

David: No seriously though, you're there. You're on it.

BIPP: I'm still laughing at Danny... "No." lol! Alright, drink and be merry boys! Thanks a lot!

*We kept talking about things from here... a painter that paints out of his ass... Jackson Pollock... it was just a good time.*

****************************************************************************************************

See the band perform at the Someday Lounge in Portland Oregon January 3rd at 9pm!! Only a $5 cover!!

Visit DISGUSTITRON on myspace as well!!!