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2009-07-15T20:58:00.001-07:00

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Spork Kills: Cross-Continental Fusion

2009-06-29T14:54:00.001-07:00

Copenhagen. The capital and largest city in Denmark. Home to the two oldest amusement parks in the World: Tivoli Gardens and Dyrehavsbakken. Birthplace of Carlsberg beer (1847). Stomping grounds of Hip Hop production team Beatman & Rockin’.

Brooklyn. Named after the Dutch town Breukelen. Home to Coney Island. Backdrop to Spike Lee’s classic "Do The Right Thing”. Birthplace of Hip Hop legend Louis Logic (aka Louis Dorley).

Residents of these two cities have come together to revolutionize Hip Hop music as we know it. Louis Dorley and Beatman & Rockin’ are: Spork Kills, Hip Hop’s premier Surf Rock fusion band!!

This musical monstrosity has recently laid claim to a studio in Copenhagen and are in the process of assembling a mixtape for the awaiting masses.

Louis Dorley recently took time out of his tour schedule (promoting Spork Kills’ debut ep “Beaches Love Us”), to graciously respond to some questions posed by members of the Spork Kills Street Team.

THE BAND

Jed I. Rosenberg (New York, NY): “So Louis, in the beginning of your career your subject matter was fairly shocking - even a bit aggressive at times. But as you've grown as an artist it seems you have found that you would rather challenge your audience by deviating from the musical conventions of hip-hop (production, samples, choruses) - while favoring innuendo and suggestion over straight-forward raunchy and vulgar lyricism. In fact, your current live show excludes some of the staples from your earlier career like "Between Her Legs" and "Coochie Coup." How do you deal with the fans who are still expecting a return to the 'old' louis logic?"

Louis Dorley: “Death by Christian Rap Song covers. Just kidding. That would be a terrible death though. It would take so long. I don’t want to punish the kids who are fond of my older self. I started doing some of those old songs again. After they sit for a while they seem fresh to me again. Also, I find new ways to do them and enjoy them. With regard to the updates I’ve made, I was initially trying to challenge myself. Consequently I ended up challenging my audience to open their minds to sample free hip hop that’s hybrid and has lots of singing or even me playing piano. I’m not worried about whether it was a good thing or a bad thing for them. I finally feel like a musician, so it’s a great thing for me.”

Grant MacEachern (Halifax, NS): “You have a friendship with Travis from Gym Class Heroes. Did he have any good advice for you when it came to fusing hip hop and rock?”

LD: “No. Travis doesn’t seem to want to do that anymore from what I can tell. We’re running in opposite directions, but I understand what it is to pursue what fulfills you even if I don’t agree with his choices. He’s a brave artist. He has to do his growing and decision making in front an astronomically larger audience. I respect him for that. “

Ron O’Brien (Los Angeles, CA): “This album has a huge surfer theme/vibe to it. Were you ever before or are you now a surfer? Or just a big fan of Gidget!?!”

LD: “Haha! This feels like a job interview. Are you now or have you ever been before an addict of a narcotic substance? I surfed as a kid on Long Island, if you can call that surfing. The water was dark brown and thick with medical waste. Grrrrrross. These days, I do a lot of couch surfing, web surfing, crowd surfing and many other varieties of surfing that don’t involve actual
surfing.“

Grant MacEachern (Halifax, NS): “Do you feel like some of your fans won’t get your new project? What do you have to say to those who feel like you will never be as good as you were in your Sin-A-Matic days?”

LD: “Sure. There are plenty of those kids. I didn’t have to learn to sing, play piano or make Surf Rap for that to happen though. A lot of people thought Misery Loves Comedy was so different from Sin-A-Matic that they couldn’t handle the transition. I don’t concern myself with that. I’m not running the race to keep pace with listener’s expectations. I wouldn’t run as fast that way. I wouldn’t be moving in any direction at all. People think they want you to stay the same. If you dare to try it, then you become predictable. A one trick pony. I’m trying to keep pace with my own ever-changing desires, not the opinion of the 10,000 kids who liked my first album! What do I say to the kids who don’t wanna come with me on the ride? Nothing. They write me from time to time and say “I used to love you and now you suck.” Hahaha! I don’t have to do anything to them. They’re already fucking themselves in a terrible way to miss the brilliance my bandmates Laust & Rolf’s writing and playing shines on my silly songs. Those boys are brilliant musicians and that’s the only thing that’s so different. I still rhyme the same way and in even more ways now, and I have the same mood and humor. I’m not gonna beg them to enjoy brilliance. A lot of them will probably end up liking it after everyone else has already thought it was cool for years or when the right person tells them that’s it’s what’s cool now, but I bet they won’t write to me to tell me that. No one likes the taste of their feet.”

Jed I. Rosenberg (New York, NY): “I read somewhere that your songwriting process is influenced by watching movies. Has this process changed any with this new project? Or in simpler terms, explain the song construction process with Spork Kills.”

Louis Dorley: “I’ve always done that, even before Spork Kills. I can’t write to beats. I find it distracting, which is ironic. It should be the other way around. If I put a beat on and try to write to it, I’ll just zone out and listen. If I put a movie on, especially something I’ve seen a million times, it sets my mind to the appropriate type of wandering.“

Grant MacEachern (Halifax, NS): “It seems that your music has changed quite a bit from Sin-A-Matic to Spork Kills. What would be the main reasons to which you would attribute this change?”

LD: “I was trying to get away from traditional construction. It's like in fight club when Tyler Durden makes soap out of the fat from liposuction clinics selling the rich women their own fat asses back to them! That's how most people make hip hop. I just got tired of that. I wanted to make something that people of the future would sample, rather than sampling the greats of the past.”

MUSIC APPRECIATION

Charles Nguyen (Hiram, GA): “Who’s your favorite musician?”

LD: “Rufus Wainwright”

Brandon Rheinart (Phoenix, AZ): “During a night out with friends, you decide to sing some karaoke. Which song do you choose and why?”

LD: “Simple Minds “Don’t Forget About Me” cause it rules and everyone always sings along. Either that or Styx “Come Sail Away” cause it’s hella long and fun to sing so I can irritate the shit outta all the Karaoke champs. There’s always a crowd of people who take that shit too seriously. I like to rub their noses in it, cause I’m mean.”

Brandon Rheinart (Phoenix, AZ): “Which one defunct band/group would you like to see reunite for a one time only tour? All members must still be living.”

LD: “If we’re talking rap, I’d say Pharcyde. Wait, did that already happen? If we’re talking rock, A proper Styx tour with the real lead singer Dennis DeYoung would be sick or a real Journey tour, not that the Filipino guy can’t sing cause he’s eerily good at imitating Steve Perry. I just don’t like imitation on any level. Imitation crab. Imitation big boobs. Imitation veggie meat products. Well wait, I do like those.”

THE EXTRAS

Charles Nguyen (Hiram, GA): “What's your favorite movie?”

LD: “The Exorcist”

Charles Nguyen (Hiram, GA): “Are you prepared for the zombie apocalypse?”

LD: “Sure. I’m just gonna dive in and be one. Zombies are pretty much fantastic.”

Hayley Heinrich (Adelaide, SA): "Are you a scruncher or a folder?"

LD: “I’m a folder. Big time. I have serious OCD related anxiety about neatness and organization. It makes me late to all appointments because I can’t stop straightening things. Consequently, it also makes me write really detailed records, so I guess you guys make out on my suffering in the end. At least someone’s reaping the benefit!”

TATTOOS, JOHN HUGHES & THE B-52’S

Brandon Rheinart (Phoenix, AZ): “Is there any movie you can quote line for line?”

LD: “I used to be able to slay The Breakfast Club. I still know a lot of it. It was on cable the other day and I did the whole Bender meltdown speech during the potsmoking scene.“

Brandon Rheinart (Phoenix, AZ): “In The B52's, who is, or was, hotter? The blonde or the red head? (Fred Schneider is not an acceptable answer)”

LD: “You jerk! I was gonna say Fred. Since you’re forcing me to keep this hetero, I’m going with the red head. Mmm… Don’t make me say it...Firebush.

Charles Nguyen (Hiram, GA): "What's the meaning behind your half sleeve you just received from Chris Sosa?"

LD: “It’s a memorial tattoo. The floral pattern comes from the print that was on the skirt my mother was buried in. She died of complications arising out of Chemotherapy side effects. She was fighting lung cancer for several years. I wanted the first tattoo I got to be something substantial in size and meaning. When Chris Sosa and I became such close friends, I knew the right situation was in place to begin. He reinterpreted the dress pattern to fit it to my forearm and make the colors more alive and tattoo friendly. I had him work a rose into the end of the design that extends just beyond the sleeve line at my wrist onto the back of my hand so that it can’t be hidden by clothes. My mother’s middle name was Rose. I also had him leave negative space with intentional complimentary purpose in mind. On the inside of my forearm I have a series of scars that I got in an accident in which my sister slammed a door on me and my fist went through the glass. My mother had a scar in the same place and she used to say that it made us twins. It always annoyed me since the scars didn’t look anything like each other and she would make a big deal out of it in front of anyone who would listen. Somehow these are the things you remember about someone who is gone. The half sleeve has since grown into a full sleeve in progress. Sosa added the flowers called Birds of Paradise to the top of the floral arrangement at the elbow and they begin to morph as you move up my bicep and trip toward the shoulder into a flock of actual birds in a wild array of colors. It’s very trippy and beautiful. I plan to extend it up the remainder of my arm, onto my shoulder, ending on my neck with a detailed close up of one of the birds.”

ON THE ROAD

Ryan Johnson (Baton Rouge, LA / Boston, MA): “What is your most embarrassing on stage moment?”

Louis Dorley: “The most embarrassing and most awesome moments ever were the same. I got harangued by a crowd of chubby kids in clown make-up while opening for Insane Clown Posse’s Dark Lotus tour. They were somewhat tolerant of my first few songs. By the time I got to Coochie Coup, which is funny cause I thought they’d like a song about fucking, they started booing. The boos became a “Fuck You” chant, which degenerated into a “Faggot” chant. I finished a whole song under that fire. When I left the stage, my old tour DJ, Equal, was trapped at the far right in a tucked away booth where the crowd couldn’t see him. The stage exit was a huge slow walk across the front of this snake pit. He waited 5 whole minutes to cross by these angsty little fuckers, hoping they wouldn’t notice him. When he finally tried to eek by, without losing a second, they started chanting in unison “Small Dick” as if they planned it and were waiting for him to pass! It was awesome!”

Grant MacEachern (Halifax, NS): “Your live shows have always been well received. Do you feel like being a triple threat (MC, keys, and singing) makes you a much better live performer?”

LD: “Absolutely, but it also spooks out artists I share the bill with and sometimes even the audience. They’re not accustomed to seeing a “rapper” do this sort of thing and it can be a little confusing for them. They often don’t know how to take it. The upside of that dynamic is that I’ve played to my small cult audience which generally ranges from 50-150 people a night and had people say that it was the best live show they’ve seen. I don’t think they’d feel that way about a traditional 50 person show. Sometimes when there aren’t a lot of people in the audience I feel very lucky that I have enough of a skill set to fill the venue with musicianship. It makes a cold, sparsely populated space warm instantly. There are a lot of successful artists out there whose show would suffer greatly if it weren’t stuffed with adoring fans. I may be not be as big as those guys, but I’m also not one of those artists who can only shine at sold out show of people who will eat up anything I do.”

Charles Nguyen (Hiram, GA): “When is the Spork Kills tour gonna kick off, or just a new Louis Logic tour with some Spork Kills material thrown in?”

LD: “Spork Kills is actually planning its first ever live presentation of the songs with the proper band this fall. Louis, that’s me, will be playing periodically between now and then, here and there.”

Thank you, Mr. Dorley, for taking the time to bless the readers of Freshness Prevails with your insights on your latest project and the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse.

Catch Spork Kills' debut video for "Night of the Hip N Dead"

Be sure to keep up with Spork Kills latest at:

Myspace
Facebook
Twitter (Louis Dorley)
Blog
Last.fm
imeem
Purevolume

Oddly enough, what I thought should be #1, actually is #1...

2009-06-20T02:48:00.001-07:00

This is a short post...and just something I think is worth sharing...

I used to read (and flip through) A LOT of Hip Hop magazines. The Source, Rappages, Murder Dog, Word Up, RapMasters...

I remember laughing at a lot of album cover art that I'd see advertised in these magazines. Independently released "artists" with horribly low budgets to work with.

One of these album covers has haunted me for years. After coming across a list of "Worst Hip Hop Album Covers", I've uncovered this gem again...it made #1 on the list.

May I present...

What the website had to say:

"We have made it to the number one Worst Hip Hop Album Cover of all time. What makes for the number one worst? It is a priceless combination of strangeness, abuse of Photoshop, overuse of set props with the plastic fruit, and present elements of gayness and bitchassness.

Big Bear, whose name is made out of honey, is depicted in a silk robe sitting at a table feasting with bears who also don silk robes and tiny little purple Shriner’s hats. They smoke cigars and drink from blinging goblets as Big Bear’s pinky ring blings at you as if it is winking the way the bear to his left who peers at you over its sunglasses is. For all its ridiculousness, Big Bear’s “Doin’ Thangs” is number one.

We proudly award our Strangeness Award."

My Summer Vacation

2009-06-19T23:24:00.000-07:00

Well Kiddies,

It's June 19th and my vacation has officially commenced!

A few quick notes before I get into my ramblings...

My daughter, Monroe Lenee Bargen, will be 3 months on June 21, 2009
This blog you are in the process of reading will soon be home to an exclusive interview with underground Hip Hop legend, Louis Logic aka Louis Dorley aka Spork Kills frontman!!!
Since my last blog entry, I have been diagnosed with GERD or Acid Reflux or both...I'm not sure...

For those of you who haven't seen Spork Kills debut music video, click here.

Now that we have the specifics out of the way, let me bring you up to speed in a little more detail.

Monroe is vocalizing almost constantly when she is awake. She plays with toys now, not just flailing her arms uncontrollably. She's up to size 2 diapers and in a month, we'll be starting her on Rice Cereal. Wow, this is going by so quickly...

I recently "spoke" with Louis on Facebook chat and there's a lot going on with Spork Kills. Since their video did so well on MTVu, Liquid Lightning Energy Drink has agreed to be their sponsor. This will hopefully mean a mixtape in the future and possibly a re-release of the EP? Ooo, and maybe a tour with the full band?

Apr 23, 2009

PIZZA HUT #3111

34.99

That's how the line appears in my banking statement. This was the last meal that the "old Sean" ate. After this meal, I had the worst indigestion I've ever had. Never felt 100% since.

I bought some Gaviscon, then moved onto London Drugs brand Acid Reducer. After I realized that wasn't working, I went to see my doctor. He declared me to be GERD-y and put me on Zantac (the brand name equivalent of the LD Acid Reducer).

Suffice it to say, that didn't work. But a woman from my work let me try one of her Pariet (it's a Proton Pump Inhibitor, the next step beyond acid reducers). I felt like it helped...a lot. So, I headed back to my doctor to get a Pariet prescription. 05/27/09 was when I had the prescription filled. It's not working. I still feel like my acid reflux is totally dictated by my diet.

I was scoping some Tums the other night at work and spoke to a pharmacist. She told me that I could take the Tums for relief until I see my doctor. She also told me to double up on my Pariet, one in the morning...one at night.

It's 2 in the morning now and I feel a little...discomfort. But I haven't had any crazy indigestion from dinner...which is good considering I had: Red Robin Jalepeno cheese stick, a Teriyaki Chicken burger with fries and their new peach lemonade. I feel like I should be feeling a lot worse.

Maybe the pharmacist was onto something?

Thursday, I go for a physical...we'll see how I feel. I might ask for a gallbladder ultrasound...or a scope. I really don't know at this point...

2009-03-21T06:32:00.000-07:00

For those that are smart enough to check my blog on a regular basis...

This is the pregnancy update...

Yesterday morning at 7:30am, we went in for an induction with a prostaglandin gel. Nicole was monitored for an hour, then we headed to her parents' house. We hung out for a bit, then Nicole, her mom Coleen, her sister Amber and Amber's daughter Mya, headed out for groceries.

I chilled out on the couch and did some catching up online. They came back with hot dogs for lunch, popsicles (at my request) and pepsi, of course!

We were told to head back to the hospital for 5pm, then Nicole was hooked up to a monitor again. The doctor finally arrived at about 20 after six, along with the specialist. They both performed "exams" then let us know that her cervix had moved, so the gel had made a difference.

Nicole was then gelled with a far less amount of the gel, monitored again for an hour (where we noticed minor contractions about every four minutes lasting for a minute). We then headed back to her parents' place and hung out for awhile, til Nicole decided she would be more comfortable at home.

It is now 6:37am and we are scheduled for an Oxytocin induction this morning. If all goes according to plans, she will be hooked up for an epidural, then the IV drip and we should be meeting our daughter later on today!!

Wish us luck...

Another Spork-stravaganza

2009-02-21T00:10:00.000-08:00

So, yesterday I spent a good couple of hours Skype-ing with Louis (Spork Kills' lead singer/rapper/pianist/artist extraordinaire), and he made it clear that he wanted me a lot more active with the street team thing...

In turn, you will see a lot more regular entries on this here blog! My goal is to send a daily email to the crew to keep them motivated and promoting, as I'll be doing the same!

I also created some faux videos on youtube for all the tracks off Spork Kills EP "Beaches Love Us" Head on over to youtube and search "Spork Kills", and marvel at my handiwork!

And now: Baby News...

Tonight, being friday night, was the first of three birthing classes...the woman teaching the classes acted out what a contraction is actually like. I'm frightened...honestly... I feel I have already learned a lot tonight, therefore feeling a little more prepared for what shall be occurring in approximately three weeks time.

Til we meet again...

S.K.A.

29 for 35 = A Big Baby?

2008-12-30T15:35:00.000-08:00

So, Nicole recently visited her doctor.

Doctor informed Nicole that she is measuring at 35 weeks.

Nicole is 29 weeks.

Big baby?

For those who haven't seen our baby yet...

This is our baby at 20 weeks...

Music for you Lucky People

2008-12-30T15:01:00.000-08:00

So, I'm about to drop a new track on your heads...

Spork Kills
Billy Valentine

If you dig, up-tempo, Hip Hop/Surf Rock...or you don't really know what the hell I'm talking about...you'll dig this!!!

Enjoy!!!

Blogadocious Beginnings - Baby, Birthday and Spork Kills

2008-12-30T14:45:00.000-08:00

Well, today is the day I've (I'm the bald guy on the left) decided to create my own blog...to join the land of the bloggers!

My 34th Birthday is in two weeks, my baby is due on March 15 and I've just volunteered to be a part of something destined to be huge...Spork Kills...

This blog will be regularly updated...keeping my "fans" current on all things Sean, Nicole, Baby, Spork Kills and anything else that I feel is fit for consumption!!

Let's keep this short and sweet for today:

1. Check out Spork Kills on myspace and add them up:

www.myspace.com/sporkkills

2. Check out Spork Kills on facebook and add them up:

http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Spork-Kills/29475779234?ref=ts

3. Pre-order their new EP "Beaches Love Us" through their myspace page:

www.myspace.com/sporkkills

So, today I spoke with Spork Kills' frontman, Louis Logic, on the phone...and was asked to be a part of the publicist team for the project...

Meaning: Everyone will be hearing everything there is to know about Spork Kills from me...A Lot!!

So, pay attention...you'll thank me for introducing you to their music...