Tuesday, October 19, 2010

MOSE GIGANTICUS AND THE KEYTAR

It is no secret that Illogical Contraption is a friend to the keytar. Shelby has posted about it a few times, others have used the keytar label in their posts, and I've even referenced it in a Sun Ra post some time ago. With this in mind I decided to ask Matt Garfield, the keytar wielding superhero behind Philadelphia's synth-punk outfit Mose Giganticus, about his love for the awesomeness of the keytar. Garfield's story is a bit legendary. He has gained a small amount of fame for touring his band to Alaska in a vegetable oil powered van named "IZ". Here is a video:

But while his tree hugging tour practices may be admirable, for our purposes it is his prowess as a master keytarist which is most interesting. Here is a video of Mose Giganticus covering the Styx classic "Mr Roboto":

And here is a track from their latest album, Gift Horse, Mose's second full-length, released on Relapse in July:

I recently interviewed Mr Garfield in advance of a show Mose Giganticus was set to play in my area and I reserved a special question for IC readers. You can read the full interview here, but here is the important part:
Me: You're an obvious proponent of the keytar? Any personal keytar heroes?

Matt Garfield: You know, for all the attention I get for playing the keytar, I'm not much of a keytar buff. Especially not in the genres of music I listen to most frequently. Hell, I'm not even sure there are many keytarists out there to begin with. Most keyboardists that can play worth a damn (unlike me) would opt for a keyboard on a stand so they could have full accessibility to the instrument. Playing a keyboard as a keytar is actually pretty restrictive. It works OK for playing basslines, which is how I use it in most of my songs, but to do anything intricate, you'd really be better off putting the keyboard on a stand.

"The best example I can give of a great keytar performance would be the Edgar Winter Group playing Frankenstein in 1973. But it's really just a keyboard slung over his shoulder with a strap."

"There's also this pretty sweet video of Rick Wakeman, cape clad, and his son Adam Wakeman rocking out a dueling keytar solo."

Mose Giganticus is touring through the midwest and the south until the end of November.

Myspace

9 comments:

Helm said...

That Edward Winter Group video rocked

Shelby Cobras said...

If I was in Mose Giganticus, I would write an album called Mental Keytardation.

Fittingly, my captcha is "FAILO".

The Thing That Should Not Be said...

Hey jack, did you think to ask him if hijacking the Melvins old sound was part of the Relapse contract?

Steven said...

Norway's Atrox wields a keytar live..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltClx6X_DrY

...although the idiot camera man fails to focus on it during the fiery parts.

Jack said...

what's a "the melvins"?

Shelby Cobras said...

Um, I don't think you guys heard me. I said MENTAL KEYTARDATION.

Shelby Cobras said...

MENTAL KEYTARDATION!!!

The Thing That Should Not Be said...

YOU'RE mentally keytarded.

Helm said...

Atrox used to be really good.