Document and Eyewitness: A conversation with Joey Casio on 5-23-03 in Olympia, WA

My connection with Joey was electric and dynamic from our very first conversation.

In early 2003 I was involved in anti-war organizing and going to a lot of events in support of Rachel Corrie and trying to find a way to connect that with punk in the local music scene. I deliberately sought Joey out because after I saw him at a bunch of political events/protests alone in the rain, I saw him play a show in the basement of the Red House and I was intrigued - like, woah - there's not only a new generation of punk kids doing something completely creative and intense, but they are also maybe radical politically.

I was propelled to get to know him. I tried to "interview" him for a magazine I was writing for in England. That "interview" turned into a conversation that lasted for four or five years, up-all-night style that expanded and enriched both of our lives immensely.

Joey is one of the best friends I have ever had and one of my favorite punk artists of all time. Like many of you, I miss him so fucking much. I hope to give back some of what he gave to me by sharing some of our conversation even if it's only a few sketches here and there and continuing to make and share my own work (something that is hard for me).

Here is how our first conversation started, via email:

TOBI VAIL: Hi. I saw your show at the red house and was intrigued. Do you have any records or tapes out? I would like to review it, maybe.

JOEY CASIO: I’m flattered, really. I don’t have anything out right now.

TV: Ok. You really don’t have anything recorded? I’m writing for this magazine in the U.K. and they probably won’t let me do a feature unless there is a record or something, not sure. I thought it would be cool to write about your group, along with some other ‘bands without acoustic instruments’ in light of electro-clash hype. When I was in D.C. recently, there was a WIT show that cost $17.50. There were DJ’s and some groups that were mostly karaoke or whatever it is (singing along to pre-recorded songs). We couldn’t get in but a friend was on the guest list. There was a VIP area roped off. He was ushered back there and set on a red velvet couch, which was then, itself, roped off as “special red velvet couch in the special VIP area” and given a bottle of very expensive champagne - funny, because he is straight edge! While this was happening, another friend was being thrown out of the backstage area because she didn’t have the proper “credentials”. When I got back from D.C., friends here were talking about your show with Anna Oxygen last weekend. It made me appreciate Olympia even more and think about how things are different here than they are in New York or London, or,whatever. I'm wondering how Joey Casio fits in to this trend? Also, you have a good punk singing style and there are elements of chaos to what you do! What are some of the ideas behind the work? 

JC: hi....

No one ever asks me these kinds of questions. I guess what I do is the intersection of several things.For a long time I had this idea that kept stirring: a guitar-less, drummer-less punk band. I grew up listening to punk but the only “instrument” I played was electronics and a little keyboard. If punk is supposed to be such progressive music, why do bands keep using the same tired old sounds? After a few timid incarnations, I started my dream “band”. I began to, if nothing else, play the exact kind of music I would want to listen to, regardless of whether anybody else liked it. But that’s just aesthetics.

TV: Sorry if that is too much analysis, I want to sort of explain how I'm viewing your work in hope that you'd have a response to some of these ideas. Perhaps you just do your band the way you do it because you enjoy working with synthetic sounds and that's all there is to it.

JC: I’m fascinated by the concept of subversive dance and pop music. In contrast to the singer/songwriter mold, people rarely stop to process the words they are hearing or even singing along to. This puts the person singing in an interesting place. The ideas put forth may (in theory) go directly to the subconscious. or, if the song is more catchy, even become stuck in the listener’s head. Of course, Kathleen Hanna spoke of {this} at length in regards to Julie Ruin/ Le Tigre and it was the impetus for Gang of Four.

TV: I’m interested in solo work made by feminists in the one-'man'-band format that utilizes multi tracking, samples, keyboards/fake drums - such as tracy and the plastics, anna oxygen, nomy lamm, julie ruin, the blow etc. and contrasting this mode of solo work with a male singer/songwriter tradition that equates authenticity with the stripping away of layers to get the 'real self' via confessional autobiography. Right now, in the underground, feminists are rejecting this mode of expression and replacing it with work that focuses on the negotiation of many 'selves' via persona (julie ruin, tracy and the plastics), found objects via samples/appropriation of pop forms and lyrics (nomy lamm, anna oxygen) and that this works to expose and possibly subvert socially constructed narratives of traditional femininity... I’m wondering where this leaves “male” artists. will they explore masculinity as part of their work or will they continue to be drawn to the lone wolf blues man/folk hero myth that bare bones acoustic music seems to represent?

JC: I have a lot of ideas/philosophies I would like to share but the question arises - how? I could write them out, but nobody reads essays and manifestos except people that write essays and manifestos. If the music was simpler and less distracting people would stop listening due to lack of subtlety. Therefore, dance music becomes the perfect medium.

{On} the nature of solo work - one of the things I like most about this newish solo medium is that the individual can occupy the same space as a group. This contrasts both with the old singer/songwriter model, where the performer is seen as somewhat alone and incomplete, as well as the band model where the front person is elevated to a hierarchical leader position. But the “new” solo performer can present a project that has been constructed from beginning to end, that is complete and full, but comes from the mind of one individual. This allows, as you said, the performer to create/present multiple selfs or - multiple sides of one self.

So…does my calculated attempt at juxtaposing a slow, vulnerable sounding song with a cold, analytical noisy song really challenge the culturally construed concepts of masculinity? I can’t really say for sure but it’s worth a try.I think my favorite single lyric out of any song I’ve written is “what you create defines the boundary of your identity”. That pretty much sums it up.