Ian Parton, who plays a host of instruments in his English band, The Go! Team, riffs on what inspires him in pop culture.
DVD: “Six Feet Under” is one of the best TV shows of all time because it’s not trying to be. It seems like the characters have a life of their own and they’re just left to do their thing. We’ve worked our way through three series of the DVD box set, and I’ve never seen anything unrealistic or lame.
Internet: The National Film Board of Canada has a great website. I stumbled across this dynamite website for the government body that makes films. It has an online catalogue of all the films they’ve ever made going back to pretty much the start of the century, so there are loads of amazing ’70s public information films about growing up or super-slow documentaries about eagles, all with dreamy technicolour and warped keyboardy soundtracks.
TV: “Deal or No Deal.” Man this programme is for retards. As far as I can tell the action could be condensed into a few seconds – it boils my blood to see the way it’s implied that there is any skill involved. And people are lapping it up. There must be something better to do than watch people open boxes. If they were booby-trapped, it would be more interesting.
Music: The Shaggs were a bunch of ginger triplets in the late ’60s, and I think they were taught by their father at home. It seems like he pressured them to lay down some tracks in a studio in a Jacksons-esque, domineering-father kinda way. The best thing is that they were clearly unready, because technically their skills are all over the shop – drums are out of time, guitars out of tune – but what you hear is something pure because it’s uninfluenced by any idea of what music should sound like. Their approach to melody is unlike anyone else, and it rules. The Shaggs: I salute you.
Film: “Play It Again Sam” is one of my favourite films – early-’70s Woody Allen is the golden era. His hair was unruly, and the gags came thick and fast. This one’s about a bloke who is shadowed by an imaginary Humphrey Bogart figure, but the real laughs come on Woody Allen’s string of failed dates. Loser-based comedy is always the best. “If I’m not back in two minutes, sublet my apartment.”
Home video: I have an obsession with Super 8 and lament the passing of a certain filmstock called K40. There was a time (just last year) when you could buy a cartridge of film for about $20, which included developing. So you’d send off your cartridge, and one morning a delicious yellow envelope containing your developed film would drop on your doormat. Kodak stopped that, and those days are gone. Super 8 is still around but it’s more expensive and harder to find. It’s a big step towards the death of a divine medium. Don’t die Super 8!
Halloween: I don’t know where my interest in Halloween came from because it’s not very celebrated in the UK and I ain’t no goth. I think it’s the combination of autumn leaves, pumpkins, fancy dress and the film “Halloween,” which I dig. Maybe I should just grow up. This year The Go! Team are doing a special Halloween show with over 50 jack-o’-lanterns all over the stage. I can’t wait.
The Go! Team plays Red Rocks on Saturday. The show, also featuring The Flaming Lips and Ween, is sold out.
