Waves Crashing Piano Chords, the, gasp, Juggalo power-electronics oddity, is a bit of a polarizing figure. Either people love him and his feedback driven, sex-crazed loco noise, or they decry him as a basic, artless, show-crasher. Both camps make fun of him for being a Juggalo. I for one, couldn’t care less about his musical taste. What matters to me is his intense, dynamic live show and the eardrum-shredding records he prolifically puts out. With many noise artists slowly becoming more and more melodic, it’s great to put on a WCPC record, or eight track tape, or Atari cardridge (?) and turn my brain into mush. I interviewed Sean Beard, main man behind Waves Crashing Piano Chords, about his brand of brutality and how his image is at odds with the music he creates.
Your music, at least to me, revolves thematically around deviant sexuality. Is this an attempt to shock or is this a sexual release?
Yes, but more than that, I’ve found it’s the arousal from letting all the “skeletons out of the closet” through it that turns me on the most – to the point where the project has almost become about itself.
You often use vocals in your music. Is this solely to aid your live show?
I have a few releases without vocals that are more focused on room placement and just creating a shrill atmosphere, but I have to leave it at that, because it’s not representative of the live show, which is what’s most important to me. In my opinion, the live show would be boring and lose energy without the vocals.
As a Juggalo in the noise scene, do you feel that you are a breath of levity in comparison to your contemporaries?
Yes.
What was your entrance into experimental music?
“Cambridge 1969”
You have a history of crashing shows. Is this something you still do?
It was easier when I started, but at this point I am banned from just about every local venue between Rochester and Buffalo for one reason or another, so it’s near impossible for me to ever get in the door of most places putting on shows, even if I’m not trying to crash them.
Tell me about H8 track stereo. Is it your label?
I started the label in May of 2013.
You put out music on some esoteric formats – an Atari cartridge for instance – why did you choose that route?
Most of the dead formats I release I actually have big collections of, so to me it’s just releasing something that I already collect that makes me want to do it.
What music are you currently enjoying?
Crash Test Dummies God Shuffled His Feet LP
Can you cue us in on any projects or releases?
The “Young Mouth/It wasn’t Even Worth My Back Seat” 1-sided 7″ single should be available next month. I just approved the test pressing today actually. The “Tunes From The Toilet. 2-57 band” 7″ compilation that I helped put together for David Voelkl of CONTINUUM should be coming in right after that, and there will be a 30-second-long WCPC track on that.
Final Words?
Thank you for contacting me. MMFWCL whoop whoop.
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