Eighty-seven years ago, German director F.W. Murnau unleashed the most horrifically realistic vampire film of all time: Nosferatu. Taking its cues from Bram Stoker‘s Dracula (ripping it off is probably the best term), the film’s menacing antagonist “Count Orlock” burned its image into the minds of impressionable kids and provided the moniker to one of the most interesting bands rioting just below your radar.
Justin Smith (assuming the name Jason Schmidt) formed Graf Orlock earlier this decade, breaking ground and noses with its unique brand of cinema-grind. Movie samples, script-dialogue lyrics, and spastic grindcore set the stage for a concept driven trilogy. This year’s Destination Time Today completed said trilogy, and Hearwax Media got a chance to catch up with Justin/Jason.
Let’s start with the basics: Who are you, what do you do in Graf Orlock?
I am Jason, I play guitar, sing, do samples, and dole out sarcastic comments.
What bands and music have influenced your likes and interests musically?
It is difficult to say, when it comes to heavy music, I have always been into thrashy stuff, but when it comes to operation of the band, I am more into punk bands as an idea, not an aesthetic. Between all of us, I would say a lot of our common interest rests in Propagandhi and other excellent bands of yore, as well as random metal bands and Black Flag.
Gorlock isn’t sheltered from the odd rumor or three. Now is your chance to set the record straight: How did this band come to exist and continue to this day? There are stories about UCLA expulsions, car accidents, and a genuine mystery about the band. Give us a rundown of your history.
Our history is too long to put here, but you are correct, we did emerge from the 2004 graduate class of cinematic theory in Los Angeles, a riot did occur, many worthless stains were injured, and our former “singer” died in a horrible car accident last September. It has been a real “rough” and emotional couple of years. Makes me want to end it all because it is just too hard to go on sometimes.
Let’s then spice things up a bit. Your history in Graf is the screenplay to a massive action blockbuster featuring Steven Seagal, Arnold, Bruce Willis, and Mark Wahlberg. In as much detail and elaboration as you’d like, how would the movie pan out? Give us the treatment.
We have a script running called “Destination Time Today” about a Canadian assassin going back through a wormhole controlled by the Israelis to change the geopolitical situation in North America. Although complicated, this script with more than likely be fleshed out in time for our 3 LP box set of the Destination Time Trilogy to be released in the near future on our own label Vitriol Records. This will have a full script of the action film we were working on upon school expulsion and also a grab bag of other worthless accoutrements.
The process of incorporating film dialogue and audio samples into your music is both rewarding and an intensive process. How do you write a song in Graf Orlock? What is the process from idea to recording?
Usually, the music starts with Alan and I doing whatever we feel like doing. For us it is playing something that we feel is fun to play, and something that keeps our interest. This probably would explain how the sound changed over the years from more grindy-hardcore stuff to more groovy-grindy hardcore stuff. We then choose a film we are interested in, and find the script to work out the lyrics, the scene, and who is what character. In the end it is just an extra step. Obviously the sample supports whatever shit scene in whatever shit movie we arbitrarily point at on a wall and watch.
I’ve found more depth in your songs than any other band. I take it upon myself to google the quotes I don’t recognize and I go out and watch the films. How important is the connection between your music and the visuals they represent on film?
Clearly an important connection, these things go hand in hand. At one time we were toying with a video montage to be played in the background, but it was just too much work and for the most part we play places where it would not facilitate using something like that. The imagery of film and whatnot also plays a large part in the band’s aesthetic, although the majority of the time the scene or image of the film is warped to our liking making it something of our own, which is usually amoral or insensitive.
I’m sure you bought Cinema Theory and Criticism texts while in university. Currently, Gorlock is the only “cinemagrind” band around. This gives you seniority and authority over the aesthetic qualities and specificities of the “movement.” What does cinemagrind entail? How does it differ from other movie-sampling grind? What are the rules surrounding it?
Cinemagrind is a lot more involved than one might think. It is a totality, of imagery, lyrics, samples, sound, etc. It is also a giant fucking mess I somehow created and can’t dig myself out of. Ugh.
Destination Time Today pulls from a lot more critically acclaimed films. I’m hearing Three Kings, Collateral, The Fugitive, and 12 Monkeys on top of the usual “Ahnuld” quote-pulling. Is this intentionally incorporated into the music? Are we going to see you incorporating Citizen Kane in the near future?
I don’t know if I would say those movies aren’t as lowbrow as any other. Just because some shithead reviewer happens to like it does not negate the “truth” that these films reflect the same cultural retardation as any other film from the 1980s or 1990s. It is a great thing to see them in the light of the reality that the general US public is as dimwitted and braindead as the rest of the world they think are lesser. So no, Citizen Kane and Xanadu must wait until someone makes a classicgrind band.
The album goes into a lot more territories than previous efforts. Songs like “Jamming In Traffic” and “Pre-Retirement Nerves; ‘Cop Killers’” use the lighter strings more generously than the other records. Was it a conscious decision to branch out a bit more on this album? I hate using the terms, but everything feels darker, more mature.
Well, as mentioned before, one would get tired of playing the same chug riff over a blast forever so it only makes sense to head towards the melodic, for instance without turning into a singy asshole nu-metal band. This was I guess as natural a progression as possible when you are playing a relatively conservative form of music that is rejected when it does branch out. For us, like I said, it comes down to playing whatever we feel like and throughout the records there has always been sprinklings of a lot of different genres and styles. This one is more apparent because of the general lack of breakdowns per say, in respect to heavy parts which are now more of a southern feel.
What was the recording process like for this one? Was it different from other recordings?
The recording process has always been the same, we record with Ronald Uruk at Backlot studios in studio city. We go there, do a record of one takes, go get burritos, and call it a year.
What was the inspiration behind the target artwork?
The trilogy is based on the screenplay Destination Time Yesterday, and the assassinations of the Canadian going into the past. In this way, he would assassinate key American historical and political figures for the Canadian future geopolitical primacy. That is the basis of this, each write up is about a historical figure who was assassinated, and each of them get their fair share of degradation. Check and mate.
With the Destination Time trilogy completed, what else can we expect in the future from you guys?
We are working on a split right now, which focuses on 1990s gangster films, there is a half and half between west and east coast gangster flicks. That should be about 6 songs which we are almost done with, and promises to be really really stupid.
Your live show opens with the THX audio-bumper. Have you guys experimented with any other aesthetic signifiers like costume or projected visuals?
We did do projection at one time, but it was too much of a hassle and ended up just being a 16mm film of an AA video where a dad was giving his infant drinks from his beer bottle. Some things just never change.
There are plenty of videos of you guys playing and… yeah, that shit’s insane. Do you prefer playing on the floor with the audience, interacting with the pit?
We play on the floor whenever we can. Stages are annoying, ruin interaction, and make the crowd think they are somehow “safe.” Wrong. People should be in as much danger as possible to reassert a visceral, life affirming violence into their boring, cookie cutter Christian lives.
I’m sitting here right now wrapping my head around [theorist] Kracauer, German Expressionism, and Soviet Montage. There’s also a lengthy section about Specificity Thesis… You’ve gone on record calling yourselves “filmies.” Do you find any use in this stuff?
When it comes to theory stuff, I think appropriation and reuse of things in a different way is important and clearly a theme with us. I don’t feel these things, as cultural iconography, are owned by anyone, and film is part of a collective unconscious, particularly with our generation. Film theory doesn’t matter much to me, but I think the overarching themes of recreation, hyperreality, etc, are intriguing and underneath a lot of imagistic/media shit.
Now, I’ve got a couple of film related questions:
Do you actively seek out the films you want to sample, or do you chance upon them? I watched Point Break for the first time the other day and that was… actually fuck it, it was amazing.
We always know what we want to use. I mean who hasn’t seen these movies, were you born in a vacuum in Chernobyl or something? These movies rule.
I’m imagining it’s almost twice the work finding dialogue that works with what you want to say in your lyrics. Do you find movies that correspond with what you want to say, or do you say what each film has to offer?
It is cut up to say what we want to say. That is the beauty of it, whether it is overtly anti-republican or something that is vehemently anti-human to push peoples’ buttons, it is there for a reason and says what we want. Boom.
The question was bound to come up: Are the MPAA really all up in your business?
No. Can’t you tell we are ridiculously below the radar, and bound to play for all of eternity in the bathroom sized practice space we built in my garage?
Favorite film and why?
Nope.
What was the last movie you saw? What did you think?
Casablanca, Chinatown. Great for historical purposes (although bastardized in a fictional sense.)
What’s currently exciting you in music? Have you given new Converge a listen?
The new Converge record is terrible. I never really liked them anyway, but this time they really have hit paydirt with complete bullshit. I have been excited as of late in more punk bands and some hardcore bands we are friends with, nothing on a huge scale but you can always appreciate stuff that is fun to play and presents a giant middle finger to the world.
And that’s about it. Closing credits.
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