Issue #2

by Emily Lebetzis

A portion of the interview was published in the paper zine version of Pretty Ugly. The Full interview will be online soon.

Totimoshi are a slow, sludgy metallic and heavy as fuck three-piece out of the Bay Area, California. They have contributed a song on the Noise For Deaf compilation (Volume IV) and independently released their debut self titled EP in 1999. With their new CD due out on Berserker Records this coming April, I sent fouding members, Meg and Antonio, some questions about the band, their music and upcoming shows.

Emily - Firstly, could you tell us a bit about Totimoshi - who is in the band, how long you’ve been together and what instruments you play?

Antonio - Totimoshi is Antonio Aguilar on guitar and vocals, Meg Castellanos on bass and Don Voss on drums. We’ve (Totimoshi) been together since Nov. of ‘97 and started playing shows the summer of ‘98. Me and Meg have been in the group throughout. We’re on our fifth drummer - Don, who in my opinion is the best suited for what we have creatively set out to do. Don joined in August of 2001 and has toured with us already.

E - The ‘Noise Offering Interest in Support Education For Deaf’ compilation (2000) features 16 songs from South American bands and 15 from North American and European bands. All the liner notes are in Portugese and the lyrics are in various languages. Could you tell us a bit about how you became involved in that project and what the benefit aims to achieve?

Meg - Yah - a guy by the name of Silvio contacted us first off about sending him a cd of ours to play on an internet radio station he runs called “Star Trips Show” out of Sao Paulo Brazil. We sent him a cd and he played it. From that we were later contacted by him to take part in an on-going benefit cd he does called Noise for the Deaf which he said the proceeds would go to helping educating deaf people in Brazil. We thought it a worthy cause as well as a good way to get our music heard in Brazil which has so many incredible heavy bands.

E - There is a good mix of various styles of heavy music on that comp. - ranging from metal and hardcore to a bit of ska and various forms of punk. Some of the lyrics are straightforwardly about political issues while others address their themes symbolically. How do you go about writing lyrics for Totimoshi songs and how important are they to the complete song writing process?

Antonio - Lyrics to me are incredibly important, but in a song ( at least in my songs) the lyrics are secondary to the melody. To me a strong melody says more than anything any poetry could say. Meaning music in my opinion speaks more to the soul than a word could ever do.

E - Do you see the lyrics as a way of drawing listeners into a song or is the music really the focus of what you do in this band (as implied by the “eat, fuck, drink, shit and most importantly: ROCK ON” ethos)?

Antonio - Yah the ethos is more of what we set out to accomplish in a live setting. When you play live and no-one’s heard the music before it has to be the music that draws you in. People can’t understand what I’m singing half the time anyways. Rock and Roll to me is carnal feeling, or a carnal moment - if you don’t make them move like monkey’s they aren’t going to smile like monkey’s. And if you don’t make them smile and move then you didn’t do your job as a rock and roll band. Music (Rock and Roll) after all is a celebration, a venting.

E- My copy of Mysterioso? doesn’t have a lyric sheet, so could you just briefly touch on the themes covered on the record?

Antonio - Yah, unfortunately I think you got the special edition price slashing cd we had for selling on the road. The April release rendition will have lyric sheets. But - basically there isn’t a real theme to the album. Each song is different. “Float” is about an idea I had while day dreaming about the constant regeneration of cells in every thing in the universe - the idea of being a cell floating in the world. “Screwed” is a song about frustration - just raw frustration - it’s train of thought. “Cellophane”, and the “Bleed” are about the unfortunate unconscious pain we all tuck in our brain that comes out at time’s unwanted to screw our live’s up. Let’s see “Oblivion” is about the constant pre-occupation of death I have. Basically it’s intention was to try to soothe myself. And “Horselaugh” is a chronicle of a relationship I had with two friends and the process of the friendship being severed.

E - The cover artwork for the album is bizarre to say the least. Who did the artwork and what drew you to working with this person/these people? Can their work be found elsewhere?

Antonio - The cover art was done by Liz Mcgrath, an artist from Los Angeles who is a good friend of ours. She does mini shrines for dolls and sculptings of hers. Her work is incredible - in fact the title of the album “Mysterioso” is about the feeling I had while looking at one of her pieces. I felt as if I were hovering. It hypnotized me. Her work can be found at ElizabethMcgrath.com - she has frequent shows in LA.

E - You’ve also got new band publicity photos by Lyn Gaza on your website at www.totimoshi.com. Can you tell us a little about your decision to wear bondage gear? Did you have fun dressing up, or is that how the three of you walk around in your day-to-day lives?

Meg - I definitely get into dressing up. I have a pretty good collection of latex and leather now and have modelled in the past for fetish artist Michael Manning. I thought it would be a good idea to have a scenario where the band was dressed up in fetish ware in a bondage scenario as apposed to most band photo’s I see where their all standing there looking pretty stupid. I think the idea of BDSM is quite sexy and I’m incredibly turned on by knives - which is why I chose to use them as a prop in the photo’s. We normally don’t dress up when we play shows, or walk around town. — Antonio interjects - The whole thing was Meg’s conception, Don and I just smiled and did as we were told. However - we enjoyed it!!!

E - When I saw you live at Emo’s in Austin for Halloween last year, Don was a lovely Catholic nun, Meg was a cheerleader gone wrong and Tony was a hippie (I think). Do you save the stage dress-ups for special occasions or do you like to dress for shock value throughout your calendar of shows?

Antonio - We don’t really dress up. I wasn’t really dressed as a hippy by the way but more as an awkward country boy who feels like an ass when he’s forced to dress up. Meg and Don seem to be very good at it. Meg interjects - I was actually a raped and beaten cheerleader. Hence the blood coming down the thighs. Antonio interjects - It’s hard dressing up too when your living out of a tiny little van travelling the country. Not much room for wardrobe. Smile

E - Good luck with your touring and keep rockin’!

Official site: www.totimoshi.com

Photographs by Lyn Gaza