Wayne Butane
Wayne Butane is a very, very hard person to convince to be interviewed. I’ve been sending him emails for at least a couple of years now. We'll have little conversations from time to time, until I bring up the Q&A and then… silence. Several months later, another little conversation, another, “hey, have you given any more thought to my questionnaire?” Answer: No. Finally, after badgering him repeatedly, over the course of, well, much much longer than most, he has relented. His response below!
So why did I try so hard? Well, in spite of the often rude (and alternately crude) nature of this Underground/Outsider artist's output, I honestly do count his best work among my very favorite sound collages ever. It’s raw, it’s out there, and it’s often hilarious. It's also some of the least pretentious stuff you'll hear on this show, and that's saying quite a bit.
Wayne Butane has released numerous albums, many of which are exceedingly long-form, so if you've heard him on the show, you've probably only (often) heard segments. I'd recommend buying them, individually, one by one, and listening to them from beginning to end, for the full effect. His work is characterized by countless (literally hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of) snippets of dialogue and sound effects, strung together in a linear, never ending, stream of consciousness blast of nonsense. I want to call it improvisational, but I can't imagine truly improvising this kind of thing. I'm sure there's a lot of method behind this madness...
He calls himself an audio absurdist, if that puts it into perspective for you. There's rarely any really sincere message being communicated, certainly no moral lesson, but there is always SOMETHING being communicated. You're just not always completely sure what it is you're listening to. Confused yet? Don't be - just check out some of the tracks and you'll also hear just how beautifully simple it all is (or at least seems to be).
(Check out Episode 77 HERE, featuring his track, titled "Sicksicksicks").There is a new website in the making, but in the meantime you can find more info at his myspace page
HERE. Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with Wayne Butane...
*Name: Wayne Butane*Are there any additional names used to describe this project: I did a one-off project under the name "Lindsay Lohan's Bicycle Seat" several years ago which remains unreleased. It's probably best that way.*Do you use a pseudonym? See above.*Members: It's just me.
*Founding Members: n/a*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: I do a mix of all three. *Another genre descriptor: I'm not that clever. It's just sound collage.*Location: The Arizona desert
*Original Location: n/a
*What is your creative/artistic background: I used to draw a lot until I realized that I hated drawing. I hate painting too, and one of my paintings was recently used in a feature film, "Netherbeast Incorporated.” Thankfully, I LOVE editing.*History: I put out my first full length tape for public consumption back in 1992, but I've been doing sound collages since about 1974.
*Born: n/a*Motivations: I create everything for my own amusement. If anyone else finds it entertaining, then that's a bonus.*Philosophy: See previous answer.*How would you like to be remembered: I would love for future generations to discover my work and wonder "What the hell was THIS all about?" Maybe have college courses taught on trying to figure out my work and all the references.
*Web address: Flamingcanine.com is currently out of commission. I'm working on a Wayne Butane website.www.some-assembly-required.net
