Wednesday 5 March 2014

Starkweather on Buller's Variety


Back in August of 1994, I became aware that there was a Rogers local access Cable 10 show in Oshawa called "Buller's Variety" booking local bands to perform. Starkweather* was of course very interested in the idea.

I called Ben Rotterman, the guy in charge, and he agreed to have us on, saying we'd be playing one song ("preferably unplugged. No swearing, and no acting like a schmuck") followed by a short interview with two members of the band. I asked if the whole band could be present for the interview, but he said the set wouldn't allow it.

The night of the taping, we had a short practise before making our way to the Rogers studio. I'd initially wanted to play our newest tune, "Teenage Sicko", but we decided to go with either "The Bushwhack" or "Aluminum Baseball Bat" and "High Octane Death". When we arrived at the studio however, they told us they wanted up to five minutes of music, so ultimately we wound up playing both "The Bushwhack" and "Aluminum Baseball Bat".

One song was about oral sex and the other featured the word fuck, but we hoped no one would notice (and no one did).  I tried not to act like a schmuck. Jay Matuschka and I were interviewed.

After we finished recording, we emphasized that we didn't want effects such as Shadwell's Jacket had had the previous week; Ben Rotterman showed us a whole bunch of possibilities, and we decided to go with grainy black and white with a slight strobe and some fake hair on the lens for that old timey look.

What follows is the two songs, recorded at the time on a VCR. The interview is missing, which is just as well.



* later changed to The Starkweather Fix