Peter Bagge, creator of the world-famous comic, HATE, has made a career
from the foibles of his local rock scene (Bagge lives in the Ballard sector of
Seattle).
But, since Halloween 1996, an up and coming band have had him in their drumseat. In the way of these things in Seattle, it was a spare drumkit borrowed from Bagge's near neighbor: Mudhoney's Dan Peters, who briefly drummed with Nirvana.
Like that last ensemble, Bagge's current group - The Action Suits - has seen a number of names. They were founded by three employees of his publisher (Fantagraphic Comics): Eric Reynolds, Andy Schmidt and cartoonist Al Columbia. "We had lots of names," says Reynolds, who originally founded the band. "We were Black Christmas, Wormland, The Snobs and State Home For the Ugly."
Things changed after one Halloween gig, where Bagge "sat in" with the trio - then each hidden underneath a sheet. Just before Columbia moved to Portland, leaving a de facto vacancy, he was drawing a strip called "Action Suit Blues". Under this new name, The Action Suits (and with Peter's secondary drumkit), Bagge debuted at his own birthday party. It took place at a Tiki Hut in Seattle (the "Lava Lounge") and attracted head reps from four indie labels.
Unfortunately, most of these headhunters arrived for the second set. By this time, Bagge was tired and emotional and the set was abandoned three songs in.
This proved nothing but a career advantage. Within weeks, the band had a producer (Seattle's semi-legend Steve Fisk) and was being sought by separate labels: from Sub/Pop Warners to Kill Rock Stars. One agreement they have made is for a UK- Euro deal with Wiiija Records.
For stunned fans who saw the combo live, Fisk has worked some poppy production miracles. He has added everything in the book - and played seemly keyboards on several cuts.
Says Bagge, "It's a set-up! Steve's made us sound like the Beatles! He used every gizmo in the studio - and he usedhis own personal Theremin."
The Theremin has been one of history's secrets. But it gave the cheesy-scary sounds to many old movies. Action Suits' songs do not fit that bill; they have titles such as Your Soft Light, Fun Flies (200k .au) and Visualize Ballard (200k .au). The latter refers to the group's home turf: an old, highly Norwegian precinct of Seattle.
Reynolds; "It is just the weirdest place. A mixture of America's most elderly and slowest drivers with occasional drive-by shootings."
Each Action Suit describes the sound differently: Bagge; "It's just so goddamn poppy. When I sing, it's like wearing a dress in public."
Reynolds:"Well it's bubblegummy pop."
Schmidt: "It's goofy, wussy, cartoony pop."
Meanwhile, Bagge's cartoon career has prospered. He has done an animated
trailer for "HYPE!", a movie documentary of Seattle's music scene ("HYPE!" will
be seen in Europe before America). And he may be following this with a Saturday
series.
"That's an option to Lorne Michael's company; he's the guy behind Saturday Night Live. It's based on my old character, Girly Girl. I don't know if it'll ever happen. But I had some fun with the piece for HYPE. It was produced by Marge Dean, who worked on Ren & Stimpy."
The Action Suits single on Wiiija is now out, as is a Fluffer single (1912 Franklin Ave E, Seattle, WA 98102 USA) containing the tracks "4-Track Mind" and "My Janeane"
The Suits still accept select bookings; for example, they played to admiring hordes at the San Diego Comics Convention in California on July 4.
You may write Peter Bagge direct at emailbag@scn.org.
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