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Welcome to Vas Llegas press kit
Author: Shira Berk, Beggars Banquet Records
Date: c. September 1992
CARNIVAL ART
WELCOME TO VAS LLEGAS
Being that Vas Llegas boasts the largest assortment of fast food chains in the free world and tax evasion is the preffered [sic] local pastime. It seemed natural that Carnival Art would eventually drift there. With their debut album Thrumdrone (1991) and their brilliant EP Holy Smokes (Spring 1992) already under their belt, Carnival Art decided to pull a Bono and head out beyond the Joshua Trees. The end result is the most twisted desert trip since Moses lead the Jews from Egypt. The music rumbles like a westbound freight train through a desert enclave where the natives are fixing to get out and the newcomers are getting out of a fix.
Conceived in 1989, this L.A. outfit define themselves as "not alternative rock but Refugee Rock." They regard their new album, Welcome To Vas Llegas, as their most mature and cohesive collection of songs to date. The album is produced By [sic] Nick Sansano (Sonic Youth, Public Enemy, The Bats, Ice-Cube), who played the curate to Carnival Art's manifesto. Michael P. Tak, lead singer/songwiter describes Welcome To Vas Llegas as "the first real record we've ever made. Thrumdrone was made all over the place, stealing studio time whenever we could get in. This time we spent two months with Nick in L.A. and N.Y. doing nothing but recording, breathing and living Vas Llegas."
Carnival Art churn out heavy, twisted, guitar driven psycho-pop with time and tempo changes that will blur your vision, and mega-heavy riffs that will snap it right back into focus. Brian Bell's chunky bass lines and Keith Fallis's thundering drums are the anchor holding it all together. Guitarist Ed (yeah, just Ed) throws in a mountain of power-chords and no small amount of feedback. Michael P. Tak tops it all off with a wailing, cathartic vocal that will crumble the plaster off the walls and rearrange the wreckage into a cacophony that we call Welcome To Vas Llegas.
Working with the idea of Vas Llegas as both a place and concept helped link all of the songs together. The listener is sequentially pummelled with the most basic human emotions from abandonement [sic] and despair to love and addiction. Michael explains: "Vas Llegas exists more as a state of mind than a state on the map. Each track gives a little more insight into this place in your mind which we've all experienced. The characters in the songs are not just permanent residents of Vas Llegas, they exist all over the world."
The songs tell the story: "'Bullet Surprise' is purely about depression and desperation which is expressed through this guy who locks himself in his room and speaks to no one. He just lives off booze, T.V., comic books and real life murder mysteries. He waits for himself to die, and hopes he will, but he's too chicken-shit to actally [sic] do it himself. He's kind of won the prize for being the biggest loser on the face of the earth." The chorus of 'Bullet Surprise (Pulitzer?) spells it out pretty clear. "So pick up your bullet sir, and push in the black part of your eye, then a speech would be in order sir, for you have won the bullet surprise."
"Which is Wig' addresses the idea that there is a Jeckyl [sic] and Hyde inside all of us. Tak says "It's based on a question that you have to ask yourself: who is really evil, you or them? Everybody is evil at one time or another, whether it manifests itself through stupidity or in premediated execution. You're pissed off because you think that you're being taken advantage of as a result of someone elses evil streak. But, are you actually the source of evil?"
'Crepitus' is the medical term for the sounds your joints make when they squeek. "I gave that name to a whole group of people who are too tight to really live. It's sort of a spin off of "Bullet Surprise" but not quite a desperate. It's about these super anal retentives who are so narrow minded that they don't see anything around them. They can't see water to spite the ocean."
'Sucker Punch' combines two concepts. It's primarily about a drink called Sucker Punch but it also refers to being "sucker punched", or punched without knowing you're going to be hit. "'Shit Thick' is literally about one of my friends who I found in bed with my girlfriend," says Michael. 'Gold Plated Crazy' is about gold diggers: "I know this girl who is heavily into finding a man that will just watch over her and give her tons of money to feed her heroine addiction. She just wats [sic] someone who will take care of her who she can fuck every now and again. It's all about a person who is too afraid to run away from what's destroying her."
Basically, the album is about the underbelly of life. Vas Llegas lies between here and there, next door to nowhere, just outside of town, it's that place where 'you go' and 'you get' to at the same time. Not for a visit or a vacation, you just sort of end up there and realize that you've been there before. Carnival Art visitations occuring [sic] soon in a Vas Llegas near you.
For More Information contact us At: (212) 889-9595
Shira Berk: Press/Video
Mike Stuto: Radio
Donna Marcus: Retail
Daniel Makagon: Radio/Retail
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