(2010 Jul 26) Pendu Magazine publishes interview with Blissed Out

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(2010 Jul 26) Pendu Magazine publishes interview with Blissed Out

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Blissed Out: The Pendu Magazine Interview Pendu Magazine
Jul 26th 2010

[Outside the club, Glasslands Gallery, Johnny Sagan of PENDU interviews Sasha and Alex of BLISSED OUT after their live performance for PENDU DISCO at Glasslands Gallery]

Johnny Sagan: Okay, so I’m here with my PEOPLES, Blissed Out. SO glad I didn’t miss your performance.

Blissed Out 1: Chill.

Blissed Out 2: Dark.

Johnny Sagan: Yeah…”a lickle darkah!” You guys killed it.

Blissed Out 1: Dark!

Blissed Out 2: Dark!

Johnny Sagan: Love it that you had sequencers and drum machines on stage! There was not a laptop screen in sight.

Blissed Out 1: Fuck that shit.

Blissed Out 2: I don’t own one! At this point, I wish I did.

Blissed Out 1: Hahaha.

Johnny Sagan: It would make things easier, to like organize all the files?

Blissed Out 2: In my home life, it would make things…more easy.

Blissed Out 1: Fucking touring on smartphones is hard.

Blissed Out 2: But it’s doable…

Blissed Out 1: You can’t listen to Myspace songs.

Blissed Out 2: It’s hard, though…

Johnny Sagan: No, that’s true! Like, someone’s like, “Listen to my shit…” Yeah.

Blissed Out 1: But yeah, we want a laptop for other stuff, but not for making music.

Blissed Out 2: For porn!

Johnny Sagan: Communication.

Blissed Out 1: It’s all about, like…it’s really important to have things that are, like, special…

Johnny Sagan: Dedicated to different…

Blissed Out 1: Dedicated to music!

Johnny Sagan: …functions, yeah.

Blissed Out 1: It’s like the idea that, like, someone could be on their, like, laptop talking to their friends on AIM, you know…

Blissed Out 2: And they could also be on…oh, on AIM, yeah!

Blissed Out 1: Yeah, and, like Tweeting, or whatever, while they’re making music. It’s like, no: it’s like you have these special objects that you use sort of ritualistically to come back and, like, Do That Thing. Which is music, you know?



Johnny Sagan: So, I mean…I was so glad I got to hear the New York State Of Mind remix.

Blissed Out 1: Oh, chill.

Blissed Out 2: That’s been very important to us, ‘cause we’ve been traveling for the past four weeks, and like…nowhere, except for Los Angeles, can come anywhere close to New York City, so it’d be like, at the end of every night, it’s like… “Hey guys! We’re in your town…but we gotta go to the Market Hotel really fast: Broadway & Myrtle!” Those kids are like…they have no idea what we’re talking about!

Blissed Out 1: We’re gonna…go hang out in Brooklyn. We’re gonna show you what’s playing in Brooklyn.

Blissed Out 2: [a little unintelligible stuff, something about...] 24/7…

Blissed Out 1: Or, it was…there was a time when you’d turn that on, and in within fifteen minutes you’d definitely hear that song without a doubt.

Johnny Sagan: Oh, no, last summer it was insane!

Blissed Out 2: [something unintelligible...] Oh, last summer it was…

Johnny Sagan: It was the jam of the summer! The jam of this summer has not quite emerged…

Blissed Out 2: No, it has! It came out this week: it’s “Salute” by the Dipset.

Blissed Out 1: Yeah.

Johnny Sagan: Oh, really?

Blissed Out 2: Yeah. It’s only been out for like two days, but it is THE jam…it’s like the early summer jam.

Johnny Sagan: Is it, like, chipmunk soul?

Blissed Out 2: No, no, no, it’s not! They have this dude, Araab Muzik…

Johnny Sagan: Oh yeah, Araab Muzik is siiiiiiiiick! Have you been watching his videos?

Blissed Out 1: So much time studying, like, Semitic Melodies

Johnny Sagan: On the MPC-2500…

Blissed Out 2: He KILLS it…it’s almost unreal.

One Miss Lelia: Sasha! What’s up?!?

Johnny Sagan: Yeah, I know, he’s amazing.

One Miss Leila: Where the fuck have you been, motherfucker? How’s your tour been, darling? I saw you here last night! How was it? It was an experience, was it a good experience?

Blissed Out 1: It was an experience, it was a good experience.

One Miss Leila: It was an experience.

Blissed Out 1: Yeah, totally.

One Miss Leila: As long as it’s a good experience. Hi, I’m Leila.

Johnny Sagan: Hey. Johnny Sagan, nice to meet you.

Blissed Out 2: Hey. I’m Alex.

Leila: Alex?

Johnny Sagan: Johnny Sagan.

Joshua: Joshua.

Johnny Sagan: What up, man, how you doin’? So yeah, so…so glad to get to see you guys at Pendu Disco. This is my…personal nightclubbing church in New York City right now.

Blissed Out 1: Oh, cool.

Blissed Out 2: It’s a good church.

One Miss Leila: Were you here for Other Crimes?

Johnny Sagan: Unfortunately, no.

One Miss Leila: It was SO good. Dalila has a fuckin’ set of…brilliant pipes on her.

Johnny Sagan: Really? She’s on that Light Asylum level of the game?

One Miss Leila: She’s on, like…she’s like a more Italian, metal Nina Hagen. It’s brilliant. And she’s hot as fuck so it doesn’t really matter.

Johnny Sagan: So yeah, I mean…everything’s going the way you guys want it to go? Like, what’s your summer look like?

Blissed Out 2: I wanna do the Sasha Grey remix…for Pendu.

Johnny Sagan: Whaaaaaaat?!? (Blissed Out laughs) Sasha Grey, like…

Blissed Out 2: Supposedly, he’s putting out her record. Like…

Johnny Sagan: Really?

Blissed Out 1: He put her seven-inch out already.

Blissed Out 2: He already did two of ‘em!

Blissed Out 1: And it sold out. So he’s putting out a…twelve inch is coming out really soon, and [sadly unintelligible] like a limited tape.

Johnny Sagan: What was her seven-inch…was it like electro, talking over the beat, or was it like…

Blissed Out 2: I don’t know…

Johnny Sagan: …Stars Are Blind?

One Miss Leila: Hohohoho!

Blissed Out 2: I hear she’s good, I don’t know!

Blissed Out 1: Apparently she’s been into, like, ritualistic noise for a long time.

Johnny Sagan: I’m just asking if she’s heading in that direction with it, or if she’s keeping it real.

Blissed Out 2: I think she’s keeping it real…she’s keeping it real.

Blissed Out 1: It’s more like industrial noise, like…it’s her and Pablo Saint Francis.

Johnny Sagan: Who’s he, where’s he from?

Blissed Out 1: He’s another porn star, who’s also her, like, significant other. He’s cool.

Johnny: Oh really, and makes music?

Blissed Out 1: It’s just, you know…knowing how to make stuff. You know, it’s like, “I know how to make good porn because I know arcs of porn, or I know how to make good music because I know the arc of music, or…I know how to make good paintings because I know how to make good stuff, or…”

Blissed Out 2: Once you know how to MAKE STUFF, right?

Blissed Out 1: Yeah, she’s a creative person, obviously, and that’s…her…her canvas is, you know…

Blissed Out 2: [in the background] Sasha Grey is like an athlete with the dick, man.

One Miss Leila: [in the background] I know, it’s like fuckin’ Special Olympics right there. The best…

Blissed Out 2: [in the background] She could deep-throat a fuckin’ tree, man.

Johnny Sagan: Whatever it needs to be. Fundamentally, whatever can captivate people for…one minute, three minutes, five minutes, and beyond.

Blissed Out 1: And if you’re…eighteen, probably what’s going to captivate people the most is…your body?! You know? And she’s done that, so now she’s gonna use her…

Blissed Out 2: I wanna do Faye Reagan’s records!

Blissed Out 1: Yeah, Faye Reagan, that’s the vibe, too.

Blissed Out 2: Untapped territory.

Blissed Out 1: Yup, untapped literally…not quite!

Blissed Out 2: Ohhhhhhhhh!

One Miss Leila: Well, that’s vile.

Blissed Out 2: Hey, is that [name redacted] right there?

Blissed Out 1: Our weed just got here.

Johnny Sagan: Haaaay!

Blissed Out 2: Don’t say who it is.

One Miss Leila: Satan?

Blissed Out 2: So yeah, Pendu Disco?

Blissed Out 1: Pendu Disco.

Blissed Out 2: A pretty good weekly party, I’d say.

Blissed Out 1: They Salem’s show here, that was fun.

Johnny Sagan: Oh hellll yeah.

Blissed Out 1: One of their only videos on YouTube…well, I mean for a while…was this. It was really cool. I’ve been looking forward to doing something with Pendu for a while, so this is nice, to have him ask us to do it.

Johnny Sagan: No, absolutely. And, I mean, you guys seem like people who know to live and have fun. So, I mean…for me, like…I, too, love partying, love dancing to amazing music, preferably music that’s being mixed live, like you guys do.

Blissed Out 1: Cool.

Johnny Sagan: Um, and I’m always looking for the perfect beat, and the perfect…show.

[some people come walking by]

Blissed Out 2: Hey guys!

Blissed Out 1: It’s…it’s free, guys! It’s free!

Guys: It’s free, but I’m not 21!

Blissed Out 1: Sorry.

Johnny Sagan: Yeah, no…so my big question is: you know, obviously, when you have a show, you can come out and connect with people who are looking for the same thing…like, just vibing out together. But like, do you feel like perfect parties are few and far between, or do you feel like you get…your fix…

Blissed Out 1: When we’re playing?

Johnny Sagan: …of dancing and partying…yeah.

Blissed Out 1: Oh, yeah, no. Definitely. I mean, it’s like…it’s not that I wouldn’t like it to be…every night…

Johnny Sagan: Yeah. That, that…that’s what I’m getting at, is like…where are you with that quest?

Blissed Out 1: We’re always having a party, regardless.

Johnny Sagan: Yeah.

Blissed Out 1: You know? But like, actually getting people to come out…I mean, and…not just come out, but to, like, THROW DOWN.

Johnny Sagan: YES!

Blissed Out 1: That’s the idea, it’s throwing down. We have found that, like, KIDS often throw down…you know, we play, like, house parties…like, everyone throws down.

Blissed Out 2: Everywhere you go, there’s someone who wants to have a party!

Blissed Out 1: Exactly! So, like, you know…you just gotta find those people who want to have a party, you know?

Blissed Out 2: We were in Saint Louis, and this kid contacted us over Twitter! And he was like, “Yo, come play my house.” So we get there…

Blissed Out 2: And so we’re like, alright, it’s a house party in Saint Louis, right?

Blissed Out 1: House party!

Blissed Out 2: It’s gonna be, like, really…it’s gonna be a house party. We get there, and it’s this kid who’s in high school, and it was in his parents’ living room. This was like seven days ago, five days ago.

Blissed Out 1: His mom was there.

Blissed Out 2: And his mom was there!

Johnny Sagan: Whaaat?!

Blissed Out 1: She got us falafel. (laughs)

Blissed Out 2: And no one…no one drank, and no one smoked weed, and it was still a party. And we watched the World Cup. It was really wholesome. So…

Blissed Out 1: It was really weird.

Blissed Out 2: It just goes to show you that, you know…anyone’s down.

Blissed Out 1: But definitely, like, you know…the second you get someone doing live electronics in the room, you know…it changes the environment, and it’s like, “Someone is making a party active in here.”

Johnny Sagan: Yeah.

Blissed Out 1: So…it’s fertile ground. Um, honestly, like, what I would really like to see is, um…like, a resurgence of that sort of, like rave culture, where people actually respected the live aspect of it?

Johnny Sagan: Yes.

Blissed Out 1: [And it wasn’t] just, like, people with orange vinyl, you know, and stuff? Um…so…you know…

Blissed Out 2: Well, I…yeah. I think one of the funniest things that we’ve come across is, like, bands that I love that can’t play live.

Blissed Out 1: Yeah, it’s so saaaad.

Johnny Sagan: I knooow!

Blissed Out 1: It’s really…it’s really sad.

Blissed Out 2: Or that do play live, and then…and sort of…muss it up.

Blissed Out 1: Yeah.

Johnny Sagan: Well, one difficulty, I think, is that to really equip yourself to play live, you have to have the patience and persistence to, like, chop all of your stuff up and learn the technology.

Blissed Out 2: Yeah! Which, luckily for us, I think that’s one thing…the fact that neither of us own a computer has really benefited us in the long run. ‘Cause we could never be like, “Oh, we’ll just multi-track it.” “We’ll just overdub it, and make our recordings sound great!”…

Blissed Out 1: Every recording is live!

Blissed Out 2: …we’ve never done that. So…this is our 102nd show, in like…ten months. You know? Where we play live! (laughs) ‘Cause why…why…that’s, that’s fun! Playing and hanging out is fun. Sitting in your bedroom, that’s…okay, but, like…we wanna have fun.

Blissed Out 1: And it gets, like, molded with every show, also. So it’s like, we’re having fun, and we’re making our music live for you, and…noticing things, and, you know…changing it…

Blissed Out 2: And now we’re trying to put together a show for the end of the summer in the Hamptons. That’s the vibe, a DIY show in the Hamptons.

Johnny Sagan: Yessss…

Blissed Out 2: I don’t know if there’s been one lately, but I…to my knowledge, there hasn’t been, and that’s…that’s the new venture.

Blissed Out 1: There’s kids that wanna throw down there in a DIFFERENT WAY.

Blissed Out 2: In a VERY different way…

Blissed Out 1: But we want to tap into it…

Blissed Out 2: …But there’s still the bottom line, dude…

Blissed Out 1: …I mean, Diddy goes to…for the summer. He has parties in the Hamptons now.

Blissed Out 2: …There are kids who wanna get drunk and have fun.

Blissed Out 1: Yeah. Exactly.

Blissed Out 2: So let’s go find them. And go swimming.

Blissed Out 1: ‘Cause they could pay five dollars!

Johnny Sagan: No, absolutely. Ab-sah-lutely.

Blissed Out 2: Five dollar donation! [Sadly Unintelligible]

Blissed Out 1: And also, you might sell some mersh!

Johnny Sagan: Do you guys…do you guys get into designing crazy merchandise?

9m41s

Blissed Out 2: These t-shirts!

Blissed Out 1: Yeah, we have these t-shirts that we made.

Johnny Sagan: Okay, you guys made these?

Blissed Out 1: Yeah.

Blissed Out 2: Yeah, they’re…these are like grey shirts we bought. We tie-dyed them black, but they turned out purple. And then painted them, um…well, like our new release is called White Triangle. So we painted a white triangle, and then offset a glow-in-the-dark one. So they…they’re tie-dye, but it’s a dark tie-dye.

Blissed Out 1: Dark Tie-Dye.

Blissed Out 2: No, that’s amazing.

Blissed Out 1: And I made…I made a white-on-white v-neck? And it’s like…sorta too cool for school? Ahhh…

Johnny Sagan: But under black light, does it go crazy?

Blissed Out 2: It looks all white…but under black light it’s like, “Ugggggggggh, sick!”

Blissed Out 1: It’s like…a smoky triangle.

Johnny Sagan: Whoooooah!

Blissed Out 2: Hugo Boss… [sadly unintelligible].

Blissed Out 1: And then, I also made these rings for the show tonight.

Johnny Sagan: Oh, I was wondering about those rings. I saw the pile of them.

Blissed Out 2: You should grab one!

Blissed Out 1: Yeah, you should grab one.

Johnny Sagan: Oh, I’d love to.

Blissed Out 1: Yeah, they’re sort of, like, crack rock-inspired diamond rings.

Johnny Sagan: Yes.

Blissed Out 1: You know, that’s the idea.

Johnny Sagan: Yes.

Blissed Out 2: [We know when to stay in the kitchen.] (laughs)

Johnny Sagan: Yes! Diamonds & Rust! Did you guys see that crazy installation that somebody did at Deitch projects?

Blissed Out 2: The meth lab?

Johnny Sagan: The meth lab.

Blissed Out 2: We were in Marfa, Texas, recently. And that meth lab…that whole thing came outta Marfa. This dude [D’Almjad] paid for the Black Acid Co-op to build the meth lab. So we were there…ah, we passed it, we played up…in Marfa, the notable thing is, like, the Marfa Prada store, which is an art installation…like, art piece.

Johnny Sagan: Yeah, yeah, right.

Blissed Out 2: So we went there to play there, just, like, for the hell of it. But on the way…

Blissed Out 1: But we got there early.

Blissed Out 2: We got there early, so we went to…just, like, Marfa proper. And went to the bookstore. And…Sasha stole a copy of the…of that meth lab book.

Blissed Out 1: Yeah, Hello Meth Lab In The Sun!

Johnny Sagan: Oh, you gotta have it.

Blissed Out 1: Yeah, I stole it, man…[sadly unintelligible].

Blissed Out 2: And that…that kept us…you know, during long car rides this trip, we were just, like, reading the meth lab book, so…yeah.

Johnny Sagan: And…is the book just, like, a catalog of the exhibition, or is it, like…did they go into the minds of the people?

Blissed Out 1: They break it down, they do.

Blissed Out 2: See, honestly, I didn’t read the text. Just ‘cause my attention span sucks, but…

Blissed Out 1: They…I’ve been reading it little by little.

Blissed Out 2: …they do break it down…it’s amazing, the…dude, the way…that thing blew my mind at Deitch projects!

Blissed Out 1: It was so cool.

Blissed Out 2: That, and the nest that Dash Snow and Dan Colen did the summer before. Those two pieces are like…that’s the shit, because it’s art, and no one can buy it.

Johnny Sagan: Yeah.

Blissed Out 2: ‘Cause Jeffrey Deitch is fucked anyways. He already…he…looong knew that, and moved to California…that’s great…to work for, you know, the MOCA. That’s, like, not a commercial art market, but the art market’s fucked, so to see, like, those two pieces there? Especially the nest one, ‘cause like…A.R.E.’s weapons played, but they played with Alan Vega from Suicide, and Suicide’s the shit, so like…that’s the vibe. But the Meth Lab In The Sun…those dudes…supposedly they have a new project that, ah, is supposed to happen. But I guess the funding hasn’t picked up yet?

Blissed Out 1: Gotta contact Mountain Dew!

Johnny Sagan: Have you heard…have you heard of Assume Vivid Astral Focus?

Blissed Out 2: Oh yeah! Yep…those dudes. What was it, Peretz Projects? I know they all represented…them. Assume Vivid…yeah, those guys are tight, too. The um…the video they did for LCD Soundsystem, have you seen that? [JHS speaks, 12m25s] It’s like, from the first record, and it’s, like…pretty low budget. With like a lot of…colored neon lights. REALLY good. But Assume Vivid Astral Focus…those dudes are on point. I just think. Because if you come with, like…I come, at least, from an art background. I think of [this, of us,] as an art project. You know? It’s not like some band shit. It ended up…like, it’s kind of evolved into that, but it comes out just like…shit like that, you know? That’s what I wanna do. That’s what I’m gonna do.

Johnny Sagan: Wait, tell me, for the transcript. You, the blonde one, what’s your name?

Blissed Out 2: I’m Alex.

Johnny Sagan: Alex?

Blissed Out 2: Yeah.

Johnny Sagan: Alex what?

Blissed Out 2: Winter.

Johnny Sagan: Winter.

Johnny Sagan: Johnny Sagan. Alex Winter. Alex Winter, like my man from one of my favorite movies ever…

Blissed Out 1: [Oh God.]

Johnny Sagan: …Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure…

Alex Winter: Alex & Sasha’s Dark Adventures!

Johnny Sagan: …Part 2. Anyway. What’s his name?

Alex Winter: Sasha. Sasha Wynne.

Johnny Sagan: Sasha Wynne, w-y-n-n?

Alex Winter: What’s interesting is that Sasha is Russian for Alex, and my last name is Winter, and his is Wynne.

Sasha Wynne: So it’s weird…

Alex Winter: It was destined.

Sasha Wynne: Like, cosmically fated.

Johnny Sagan: Where’d you guys meet each other?

Alex Winter: At a High Places concert, like five years, four years ago.

Sasha Wynne: Yeah. At the Yard.

Johnny Sagan: Oh really? Brooklyn Yard?

Alex Winter: At a Todd P. show…

Johnny Sagan: Oh, a Todd P. show.

Alex Winter: Way back in the day.

Sasha Wynne: Yeah.

Alex Winter: It was like we’d see each other at the same shows. I don’t know. Yeah…High Places…?

Sasha: Just like, we liked the same music.

Alex Winter: Yeah.

Sasha Wynne: And then, like the next year, we met each other at a similar show. We were like, let’s go…like, what are you doing now?

Alex Winter: With Dan Deacon! Oh no, that was…[sadly unintelligible].

Sasha Wynne: We were like, let’s go, like…make some music. And we jammed, and then, like, it was a year later…

Alex Winter: YEARS ago! And we didn’t do anything after that…we jammed ONCE.

Sasha Wynne: …Until we started Blissed Out. And then…and I came to the first Blissed Out show with someone that I was in a band with, called Wonders.

Alex Winter: Blissed Out was a solo project for like three months, just me.

Sasha Wynne: It was heavily visual, right?

Alex Winter: It was like a visual projections, like sampler thing. Then we started jamming together…

Johnny Sagan: And then…where do you guys practice/compose/record?

Blissed Out: [together] Market Hotel.

Alex Winter: The Darkest Hotel.

Sasha Wynne: Yeah, that’s…in our house.

Johnny Sagan: Oh, you live there?

Sasha Wynne: Yeah.

Alex Winter: Mm-hmm.

Sasha Wynne: So, it’s like…it’s not being used now for shows…

Alex Winter: We actually kinda cashed in, because…we came back from South By Southwest. We played a show, like a secret show, with [Tearist], who are a band from Los Angeles that are on PPM. They’re amaaaazing…

Sasha Wynne: That was the last successful show at Market Hotel…that I [sadly unintelligible]…[“that I know of…actually, it is”?]

Alex Winter: That was the last successful show. It was this girl Isabel’s birthday, and it was us, and Tearist, who we had met the week before at South By Southwest, this amazing show that [Picture Plane] put together. It was like…it was in some dude’s house. It was because all those bands were supposed to go to Mexico?

Johnny Sagan: Oh yeah.

Alex Winter: And the Mexico thing, everyone’s like, “Ughhhh.” So…

Johnny Sagan: Right, ‘cause of the violent drug cartels at war?

Alex Winter: Yeah, that. And, also, it was kinda disorganized.

[Go back to this, fast and furious scene references…]

Sasha Wynne: So, lots of people that were supposed to play didn’t go.

Alex Winter: It was like the last night of South By Southwest, and all these dudes were like, “Well, we were gonna go, but we’re not, so like…let’s go have a party at this house!” And that’s where we met Tearist, yeah. And then we came here, and…yeah, it was great.

Johnny Sagan: Sweet, and so now that’s your recording space.

Alex Winter: That was the point, because after that, there were no more shows…we just like left our gear set up for, you know…a month.

Johnny Sagan: ‘Cause, couldn’t you guys do a crazy installation in there, and then, like, host tailor-made Blissed Out shows?

Alex Winter: Well, that’s the future!

Sasha Wynne: I mean, we could. Yeah, I mean…the question is [legal]…

[A mighty wind begins to blow, all but drowning out this part!]

Johnny Sagan: So you’re familiar with the legal repercussions of such things?

Alex Winter: We are…[sadly unintelligible, but the upshot is: they’re] applying for a Certificate Of Occupancy. Once that goes through, there can be events with seventy-five or fewer people, and that’s more…

Isul: Photo, photo, sorry!

Alex Winter: That’s alright…we’re just talking about the Market Hotel…

Alex Winter: So, that was the shit. The bummer is that every show that happens would be better there, but…at least we got to use the space to record. And that’s where…I guess we…starting, like, probably tomorrow, we’re gonna go work on new stuff. I think we have a tape coming out on September 11, so…

Johnny Sagan: Nice…

Alex Winter: …yeah, so we have to get to work.

—–

Interview Conducted, Recorded and Transcribed by Johnny Sagan. More photos, mp3s, videos, etc from BLISSED OUT can be found at http://www.pendu.org/events/past/06-29-10.

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