Zodiac Digital: Interview

Zodiac Digital is the manager/keyboard player for Raw Public, a young thrash jazz outfit out of the nation's capital, Washington DC. They've managed to attract quite the following at MySpace, including no small amount of hot, young white chicks - though I'm told that these are actually mostly old Asian men pretending to be hot, young white chicks. Damn.

For starters, I know a lot of people aren't familiar with Raw Public, so I was wondering how would you describe yourselves?
Imagine the soundtrack to a movie about Gary Coleman skullfucking your mom.

Wow. Any possibility of working with the man himself?
Gary?

Yes, Mr. Coleman.
Well, now that you mention it...I met someone online who said something about knowing him.

See, MySpace really is good for something.
Meeting man-children (nh)?

If that's your thing... Was Diff'rent Strokes a major influence?
Not really for me. For me it was the A-Team and the TMNT.

Oh, OK. What about the theme song?
Which theme song? Cause now that you mention it, I - out of boredom - remade the TMNT theme song on my borrowed laptop, 9th Wonder-style.

http://geocities.com/spam_me_1974/tmnt.mp3

No, Diff'rent Strokes. It dealt with more social issues than the actual show. You could say it was "The Message" of TV theme songs. But then the themes to Bosom Buddies and The Greatest American Hero were like actual songs. That whole era in general was the golden age of TV theme songs.
See - me being younger - I barely remember early 90's shows, let alone any 80's shows. My exposure to 80's shows comes from reruns I saw in the 90's

Yeah, I was actually born in the 80s, too. But I guess I've had more time to do my hmwk. Anyhoo, there was a lot of rivalry between Gary Coleman and Emmanuel Lewis back in the day. Which side did you come down on?
Wasnt Emmanuel raped by Jacko?

No, I'm pretty sure it was consensual - as much as sex between a grown man and a boy could be considered consensual anyway.
Yeah, I guess I'm on Gary's side cause he didnt have sex with Jacko. And for clarification, I only lived for 4 months in the 80's

Oh, OK. And yeah, I think that's the side to be on. Moving on, how much would you say drug abuse is part of your songwriting process?
Is Count Chocula considered a drug?

Maybe for kids. You'd have to eat a lot of it though.
So for me, its Count Chocula. For one of my bandmates, its Coricidin.

What's that, acne medicine?
Seriously, Coricidin is the new crack-cocaine for suburban white boys.

You don't say?
It's like cough pills or something. I forget. Some sort of OTC medicine that if you use alot of it, you, um, hallucinate or something.

That's hilarious. I'm glad I'm not that desperate. What effect if any would you say Count Chocula and Coricidin has had on the music?
According to my Coricidin-using friend, Coricidin helps creativity, much like pot. But I suspect thats just an excuse to go buy alot of it and get high.

I see. So how many members are in the group?
Seven. A lot of these basic details can be found at our official page.

http://www.myspace.com/rawpublic

Why so many people? Is this a Wings-like situation?
Well, to cover so many musical styles as we do, you need a lot of people. Unless youre going to have a lot of guest musicians.

So then some members of the group are more important than others?
Of course! Theres more important members in every group. Like, RZA is alot more important than, motherfucking U-God.

What do the ancillary members do when just the main guys are playing?
Stand around and look gully. Or do Triple C's (Coricidin Cough & Cold). Both, maybe, if it was possible.

Sort of like white S1Ws?
Yeah, but with red pills instead of fake uzis

As far as the visual element, do you all wear matching outfits?
No. Wouldnt that be a little teh ghey?

Probably, unless it was like a Devo sort of thing.
Yeah, but mostly it would be a Backstreet Boys sort of thing.

Do all of the members carry around their own Coricidin or is there a special designated holder?
I think they just go out and get it when they need it. Or maybe its in a lot of medicine cabinets.

Let's play a little word association. I'll throw out a word and you say the first thing that comes to mind.
Yeah, OK.

Mandy Moore
Mario Bros world 1-2. The one with the gloombas.

Basketball
Prince

Texas
George Foreman and his sons

Swordfish
Halle Berry

Mama Cass
Ham sandwich

Delta Burke
Hannibal Lector

Kathy Bates
The one in the hot tub scene in About Schdmit?

Yes
Probably wanting to stab my eyeballs out, houston-stlye, after that.

Rosie O'Donell
Your mom. Why so many fat, old white ladies?

Shits and giggles. OK, fine. What record label is Raw Public signed to?
PenceFo/Happy Fetus Records, a joint venture between The Happy Fetus abortion clinic in Southeast DC and PenceFo Records, a division of PenceFo Industries.

How is the abortion clinic related to this? Are they trying to diversify into the music biz?
The owner shares my vision of bringing Thrash-Jazz to a larger audience.

Are there any perks for recording for a record label that's also an abortion clinic?
You can fuck the groupies with no worries about having to deal with a child. Plus abortion clinics are a good place to find slutty girls. I mean, no one is at an abortion clinic for being a nun.

Yeah, at $300 a pop that could start to add up.
Yeah, but if you know the owner, you get a discount.

What about if you just bring a lot of chicks in to get the procedure. Is there some kind of punch card system?
There's 2-for-1 Wednesdays.

I guess if you could coordinate it so that both of your bitches come in on the same day. You know how jealous girls get.
I guess the punch card system is more convenient. I'll suggest that to him next time I see him, no homo. But I havent seen him in a bit. Again, no homo.

I guess when you're in a band though chicks understand you're gonna have more than one girlfriend.
Yeah, but I'm suggesting that punch card for the regular folk.

Zodiac Digital blogs at http://djxplicit.blogspot.com