What’s good Wednesday? How about the honor of premiering a brand new video from BK’s Madam Trashy? We’ll take it. So, sit back and enjoy, and after…please delight yourself in an interview with the gentleman of Madam Trashy and Director, Brian Walsh.
Who and what is Madam Trashy?
A three-piece stoner/prog/metal trio featuring Garth MacAleavey on drums, Jacob Luke on guitar and Brian Murphey on bass. We all share vocal duties.
How long has Madam Trashy been around the block?
We’ve been playing together on and off for 10 years, but Madam Trashy has been around about 2 years in it’s present form.
If Madam Trashy had a mascot, what would it be?
We originally came up with the name Madam Trash Heap in reference to the oracle character from Fraggle Rock, but shortened it when we discovered another band with the same name. That being said, I still think our mascot would be a Muppet, and probably Mahna Mahna If we could only pick one.
Favorite spots to play shows in Brooklyn?
We’ve had a blast playing Glasslands, Union Pool and Matchless in the past, and we’ve enjoyed doing some “no cover” nights at Spike Hill where we get to try out some of our new songs and staging ideas.
Favorite spots to hang with friends in the neighborhood?
Murph can usually be found at the Levee or Noorman’s Kil when he needs whiskey. Jake just started working at Main Drag but he used to spend most of his free time there anyway. Garth sticks with Noorman’s for the Bourbon, Ah Nhau for the pho and pretty bartenders, or at his music studio for hangs/jams/recording sessions.
Musical and other creative influences?
We all studied classical, jazz and New Music in college, but in terms of our day-to-day listening Murph tends to listen to mostly metal, Jake enjoys the experimental stuff like Magma, Tomahawk and the new Harvey Milk record. Garth writes from within and doesn’t really listen to much music. Though he does mix live music for a living so theres no telling what sticks.
Tell us about your new music video.
We had essentially no budget so we had to scrape together favors from all of the immensely talented people that we know. We wound up redecorating our practice space, which is basically a storage space under the stairs in Garth’s loft on Graham Ave. Everything else–time, talent, costuming, production–was donated to us by friends. We especially have to thank Brian Walsh, Rob Cerrato and Rudhraigh McGrath for creating the whole concept and seeing it through to the end. Those guys worked way harder than we did. We also have to thank our friends, Clowns About Town, for donating a huge amount of their time and energy–in particular the main actress Emily Lesser who must have gotten about 4 hours of sleep throughout the whole shoot.
Brian, you directed the video. Tell us a little bit about your background.
I have a background in motion picture production, but for the last 5 years I’ve been working in the motion graphics and design world. It was a little bit scary picking up the camera again, but working with the guys and our amazing crew made it into one big party. We shot everything in two and a half days. With all the beer and whiskey we drank it’s a miracle the video makes any sense at all. Or maybe it doesn’t.
What does 2012 have planned for Madam Trashy?
We’re trying to dig in and start writing a bunch more music. We released our first album last year which was basically a collection of songs that each of us had written separately. Now we’ve been writing music in a much more collaborative way and incorporating much more doom, stoner and classic prog influences, which is more of the direction we want our band to be headed in.
Where can we see Madam Trashy play?
We have a residency at Spike Hill for the next 3 weeks. There’s no cover, and Brian and Rob do live video projections while we perform, so it can get pretty psychedelic. The dates are: Thursday Feb 2nd, Thursday Feb. 9th and Friday Feb. 17th.
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