“eohasn't: pushed .- it
: Canadian. market. He's in a hard

review

"THERE TS an art of darkness.
It’s a shout, a scream, a cry in
~the shadows.’

By Michael Becker
Music Reporter ;

“It’s an unhinging dispatch from
‘the other side. The other side of
what?’ Sanity, system, picket
‘fence, take your pick. The trip is to
the .unpleasant internal places
‘where most of us fear to tread.

John .Lennonsometimes took”.

“the ride ‘until those bullets. cut the

Bergmann rocks trenchantly

place. The guy should be riding the
damn rocket. He’s one of the best.

On July 12 Zulu. Records will
release No Escape, rare tracks
from his Young Canadians incarna-
tion.
' Bergmann recently talked to me
and here's some of what he had to
say:

Can you tel! me a bit about the
Zulu project?

Art: “Young — Canadians,
Pointed Sticks and Madernettes
will be on Zulu discs. Grant's
(McDonagh) got an almost patriot-
ic fervor for Vancouver bands.
Grant. got the idea to.do it and

air. Jim: Morrison: did before he -”

-perfected his embrace of the aes-
thetic and checked out. Lou Reed,

Iggy..Pop,’.Joy Division's. lan. :

Curtis, Nick Cave, Kurt Cobain, - :

Frank” Black, The Swans,’ Art
Bergmann: are, have been, will
“never come, back from there. .

“It’s a super-bad bummer and a
real fine melancholy all crunched
‘up. Get lost lock-step with the uni-
. versal. entropic’ imperative, . pal.
: Nothing worth holding holds at the

7 ' center, right?:.

The art of darkness is not pat.

t's, compulsive. processing and
When,
boundaries ‘dissolve ‘and structure

rudely. direct. “It rocks.:

‘falls apart,.. sparks. blow.’ Poke

* through the mess. Sharp truth may
“be found in the cooling:

‘ “1 think Art’ Bergmann: knows

“this well, this friction:

: “There is accretion. of legend
__- attached to Bergmann. It is etched
:.upon him: the’ skewed -recording
‘Ideals; the drugs and lubricants. In

February he released What: Fresh

Hell Is. This?; arguably his best

«disc to date, and yet his label ‘Sony
beyond | the

ART . BERGMANN’S What
Fresh Hell Is This? is rock with
brilliant raw edge. Buy it. Now.

thought he wouldn't. have too
much of a problem but tracking
down Young Canadian stuff was
really hard. :

« “We'd only really done the two
six-song EPs and a single. It took -

him half a year to find stuff and
some of itwas too bad to even
press. The’ he. found-.some’ good
(live) reel to reel stuff from some
high school. gigs and 1 think one
was even from here in North Van.
“Some of the songs | don’t even
remember writing or’ hearing or
playing.”
How did it sound to hear them
with fresh ears? — ~
“Art:
weird,’ it almost sounds ‘like prog-
rock.”
What Fresh Hell Is This? came

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“L don't know, it sounds

out in February. How are you
feeling about it?

Art: “Once Im done and the
songs are recorded and [ve per-
formed them a few ‘times it’s like
they're not mine anymore. Playing
live for me is it. The fans some-
times know every single word and
that’s pretty weird. It's their inter-
pretation of what’s happening now
as Opposed to my interpretation of

‘what was going on when | wrote

the song. It's moved to a different
level.”

Do they start off as little frozen
bits of yourself at that moment
in time?

Art: “Ya, very frozen bits. I

don't know how some of the bits
get together in one song. They’re
written on grocery lists: milk,
cheese and the Beatles © in
Hollywood.”
Chris Wardman has been a con-
stant with you as the labels have
changed. Can you talk a bit
about him? ;

Art: “He was an in-house pro-
ducer with Duke Street when I
made my first album with John
Cale. I should have gone with him
(Chris) immediately,

“We have the same kind of atti-
tude in the studio, which is push
the machinery right until it’s ready
to blow up and then record it.

“Have the sounds eating their
way on to the tape and eating their
way out of the speakers, just to the
point where things are humming
and at their breaking point.”

Since [ve been aware of your’

music, you’ve always gone to a
certain threshold with a label
and then it’s all dissipated.

Art: “I’m just going to go to
Europe and if they (Sony) want me
to do something they can send
money over and I'll record over
there. If Nick Cave can make it
over there, I figure I can.”

You guys are soul spirits. Your
music. is uncompromising.
You’ve got this reputation of

See Art page 31

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