Bug presents a collabarative album release between artists Dave Muller and DJ EUPHORBIA OBESA entitled ‘Remixes for Solo Wheelbarrow’. This interview features the two artists in dialogue about their album, histories, and individual studio practices.
Dave Muller (b. 1964, San Francisco, CA) creates paintings and installations that are grounded in his admiration for music, how it sculpts our identities, and the mutual dialogue it generates across cultures. He focuses on the collectivism and connection found in musical obsessions—album covers and spines, vinyl records, tapes, CDs, bootlegs, B-sides, disco balls, record labels, set lists, rare and popular instruments- sounds of all stripes, musicians, and singers, both beloved and unknown. These paintings portray idiosyncratic stories of politics, subculture, and atmosphere that have mutated through eras and cultures. Dave Muller lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. His work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions in the United States and abroad.
DJ EUPHORBIA OBESA (b. 1978, Jacksonville, FL) is one of a number of monikers for artist Daniel Newman. His work often takes the form of collages, drawings, paintings, books, and video. His work has been exhibited nationally and abroad. His most recent solo exhibition, 52 PICKUP at General Projects in Los Angeles, mined the history and overlap of tarot/playing/and baseball cards. More recently he has been utilizing A.I. based software to create disturbingly bizarre reflections of our current times. A portfolio of these works will be featured in the coming months by BUG. He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
Bug presents a collabarative album release between artists Dave Muller and DJ EUPHORBIA OBESA entitled ‘Remixes for Solo Wheelbarrow’. This interview features the two artists in dialogue about their album, histories, and individual studio practices.
Dave Muller (b. 1964, San Francisco, CA) creates paintings and installations that are grounded in his admiration for music, how it sculpts our identities, and the mutual dialogue it generates across cultures. He focuses on the collectivism and connection found in musical obsessions—album covers and spines, vinyl records, tapes, CDs, bootlegs, B-sides, disco balls, record labels, set lists, rare and popular instruments- sounds of all stripes, musicians, and singers, both beloved and unknown. These paintings portray idiosyncratic stories of politics, subculture, and atmosphere that have mutated through eras and cultures. Dave Muller lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. His work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions in the United States and abroad.
DJ EUPHORBIA OBESA (b. 1978, Jacksonville, FL) is one of a number of monikers for artist Daniel Newman. His work often takes the form of collages, drawings, paintings, books, and video. His work has been exhibited nationally and abroad. His most recent solo exhibition, 52 PICKUP at General Projects in Los Angeles, mined the history and overlap of tarot/playing/and baseball cards. More recently he has been utilizing A.I. based software to create disturbingly bizarre reflections of our current times. A portfolio of these works will be featured in the coming months by BUG. He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
Dave Muller (b. 1964, San Francisco, CA) creates paintings and installations that are grounded in his admiration for music, how it sculpts our identities, and the mutual dialogue it generates across cultures. He focuses on the collectivism and connection found in musical obsessions—album covers and spines, vinyl records, tapes, CDs, bootlegs, B-sides, disco balls, record labels, set lists, rare and popular instruments- sounds of all stripes, musicians, and singers, both beloved and unknown. These paintings portray idiosyncratic stories of politics, subculture, and atmosphere that have mutated through eras and cultures. Dave Muller lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. His work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions in the United States and abroad.
DJ EUPHORBIA OBESA (b. 1978, Jacksonville, FL) is one of a number of monikers for artist Daniel Newman. His work often takes the form of collages, drawings, paintings, books, and video. His work has been exhibited nationally and abroad. His most recent solo exhibition, 52 PICKUP at General Projects in Los Angeles, mined the history and overlap of tarot/playing/and baseball cards. More recently he has been utilizing A.I. based software to create disturbingly bizarre reflections of our current times. A portfolio of these works will be featured in the coming months by BUG. He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
DJ EUPHORBIA OBESA - Hi Dave! What are you up to these days in the studio? What sounds are keeping you company in there?
Dave Muller - Just made these:
Dave Muller - Just made these:
...and I'm listening to Steve Lacy, Frantics, Jako Maron, Lucas Trouble, The Method Actors, Serge Gainsbourg to name a few.
DJEO - Any chance you have some images of your childhood drawings handy?
DM -
DJEO - Any chance you have some images of your childhood drawings handy?
DM -
(Dave Muller, early 1970's)
(Dave Muller, 1969)
(Dave Muller, undated)
DJEO - I love seeing these Dave! Is there a particular work (or works) of yours that stands out in your mind as an absolute failure? Perhaps an exhibition that didn't materialize to your liking, or a piece that has been sitting around your studio half unfinished for years, or a work that you wish was not out in the world?
DM - I have loads of things that sit around, unfinished, forever. For the longest time all my work was on paper, which made failures and apparent dead ends pretty easy to stow away. Flat files and rolls. Pull out another piece and start again. Lately I’ve been working on multi-ply panels, which have a noticeable third dimension but are generally flat. So still somewhat easy to stow. At this point maybe 5-10% of all that stuff ever gets brought back out to be completed. If/when that happens, most often my attitude has shifted enough that whatever my initial intentions were when I started long ago, the finished piece shifts away toward something else.
Works and shows have different meanings to me as time passes. To paraphrase The Butthole Surfers, “It’s better to regret something you did do, as opposed to something you didn’t."
DJEO - What was the name of the first band you ever played in and what'd you sound like?
DM - The first real band I was in was called Shep's Faithful Head. In Davis, 86'-89' or so.
DJEO - In the mid-90's or so you ended up playing in Destroy All Monsters---how'd that come about?
DM - I was friends with Sam Durant and Art Byington, both of whom had graduated just before I had from Cal Arts. Sam was working as Mike Kelley’s assistant, and Art was in bands with Mike. Sam left for a teaching position at Cal Arts, and there was an opening in the band. So it became a kind of package deal: art assistant/bass player.
DJEO - That sounds like an absolute dream job---- Do you remember any albums in particular that were in high rotation at the studio? Were there any albums/bands/songs that were absolutely off-limits on account of Mike's tastes?
DM - Mike had a 6-cd changer boombox that we listened to all day. When I say we, I generally mean me, as Mike was in his house office. The studio, when I started in ’95, was a three-car garage behind his house in Highland Park. of cds were in the house, but there would be maybe 50-100 in stacks out in the studio. So I listened through most everything that was out there. Lotsa noisy rock, lotsa stuff from Michigan, lotsa Sun Ra…I learned about all sorts of stuff. The piles would get freshened up every few months.
DJEO - Did you have actual band practices when you were playing with D.A.M., or was it more of an exclusively freeform live project?
DM - We did have practices. A week or so before a show or tour everyone would convene at Mike’s to practice a whole bunch.
DJEO - I saw you playing sousaphone somewhat recently with the Bread and Puppet Theater Band---do you have any other ongoing side music projects that people may not know about? Also, what's new with Three Day Weekend/75 Records?---do you have anything planned for the near future?
DM - I occasionally get asked to play in one thing or another. Very occasionally. 75 Records is slow, but I still want to put out the Solo Wheelbarrow 12”. I play sousaphone every Summer with Bread and Puppet in Glover, VT.
DM - I have loads of things that sit around, unfinished, forever. For the longest time all my work was on paper, which made failures and apparent dead ends pretty easy to stow away. Flat files and rolls. Pull out another piece and start again. Lately I’ve been working on multi-ply panels, which have a noticeable third dimension but are generally flat. So still somewhat easy to stow. At this point maybe 5-10% of all that stuff ever gets brought back out to be completed. If/when that happens, most often my attitude has shifted enough that whatever my initial intentions were when I started long ago, the finished piece shifts away toward something else.
Works and shows have different meanings to me as time passes. To paraphrase The Butthole Surfers, “It’s better to regret something you did do, as opposed to something you didn’t."
DJEO - What was the name of the first band you ever played in and what'd you sound like?
DM - The first real band I was in was called Shep's Faithful Head. In Davis, 86'-89' or so.
DJEO - In the mid-90's or so you ended up playing in Destroy All Monsters---how'd that come about?
DM - I was friends with Sam Durant and Art Byington, both of whom had graduated just before I had from Cal Arts. Sam was working as Mike Kelley’s assistant, and Art was in bands with Mike. Sam left for a teaching position at Cal Arts, and there was an opening in the band. So it became a kind of package deal: art assistant/bass player.
DJEO - That sounds like an absolute dream job---- Do you remember any albums in particular that were in high rotation at the studio? Were there any albums/bands/songs that were absolutely off-limits on account of Mike's tastes?
DM - Mike had a 6-cd changer boombox that we listened to all day. When I say we, I generally mean me, as Mike was in his house office. The studio, when I started in ’95, was a three-car garage behind his house in Highland Park. of cds were in the house, but there would be maybe 50-100 in stacks out in the studio. So I listened through most everything that was out there. Lotsa noisy rock, lotsa stuff from Michigan, lotsa Sun Ra…I learned about all sorts of stuff. The piles would get freshened up every few months.
DJEO - Did you have actual band practices when you were playing with D.A.M., or was it more of an exclusively freeform live project?
DM - We did have practices. A week or so before a show or tour everyone would convene at Mike’s to practice a whole bunch.
DJEO - I saw you playing sousaphone somewhat recently with the Bread and Puppet Theater Band---do you have any other ongoing side music projects that people may not know about? Also, what's new with Three Day Weekend/75 Records?---do you have anything planned for the near future?
DM - I occasionally get asked to play in one thing or another. Very occasionally. 75 Records is slow, but I still want to put out the Solo Wheelbarrow 12”. I play sousaphone every Summer with Bread and Puppet in Glover, VT.
Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, VT
DJEO - Yeah, the genesis of this project was you telling me about the wheelbarrow recordings, which you had actually made at a Bread And Puppet event, right? What was the event and how did you end up playing a squeaky wheelbarrow? When I finally heard the recordings I immediately thought about the Derek Bailey album Guitar, Drums 'n' Bass and thought It'd be fun to do some dancefloor remixes of Solo for Wheelbarrow. I made them using a variety of cell phone apps, to and from work, during what happened to be the last week before Covid shutdowns in mid-March of 2020. I was then furloughed from my day job which ended up being some strange blessing in disguise and I got 6 months or so of uninterrupted studio time in. How have you been holding up during the past year and a half or so? Has it changed your approach to work at all? Are you listening to less or more music these days?
DM - So I started playing in the Bread and Puppet Theater band in 2007. On Sundays B and P performs a circus, followed by a pageant. The circus is a series of skits and performances, held in a natural amphitheater which used to be a gravel pit. The pageant is held in a neighboring pine forest and a huge field, incorporating all the surroundings. Because the rehearsals for the pageant are held during the week (when I’m generally working at home) I usually only take part if they have something specific for me to do. In this case, they noticed the incredible noises one of their wheelbarrows made when in motion. Serious squeaky wheel. My role was to follow a puppeteer (who was on stilts and in costume) on a journey clear across the field to a large group of performers. I realized I could turn on the voice memo app on my phone and drop it in the wheelbarrow (loaded with logs) to get a recording. The sound from the unamplified wheelbarrow carried easily across the entire field.
I love the idea of invoking Derek Bailey! Never thought of that. But I was impressed that such a range of sounds could come out of a wheelbarrow, just as Bailey could get so many sounds out of a guitar.
I like that both of our works came into being through phones. My studio is in a garage behind my house, and I’ve got no assistants, so in principle my practice didn’t change much. How did it change for you?
DJEO - Loss of job equaled more time in the studio. And with civilization in mid-screeching halt there were less distractions in general. I started making some large scale works but it didn't feel quite right. I started thinking alot about the lost art of hobbies and began exploring the history of philately, coin collecting, etc…I made stacks and stacks of small collages and paintings on junk wax baseball cards. I was able to purchase them by the thousands on eBay for damn near just the cost of shipping. The scale became intimate and the materials were cheap and quick. Much of the collage material I used was found on long daily walks through the empty, quiet city. Here's an example---
DM - So I started playing in the Bread and Puppet Theater band in 2007. On Sundays B and P performs a circus, followed by a pageant. The circus is a series of skits and performances, held in a natural amphitheater which used to be a gravel pit. The pageant is held in a neighboring pine forest and a huge field, incorporating all the surroundings. Because the rehearsals for the pageant are held during the week (when I’m generally working at home) I usually only take part if they have something specific for me to do. In this case, they noticed the incredible noises one of their wheelbarrows made when in motion. Serious squeaky wheel. My role was to follow a puppeteer (who was on stilts and in costume) on a journey clear across the field to a large group of performers. I realized I could turn on the voice memo app on my phone and drop it in the wheelbarrow (loaded with logs) to get a recording. The sound from the unamplified wheelbarrow carried easily across the entire field.
I love the idea of invoking Derek Bailey! Never thought of that. But I was impressed that such a range of sounds could come out of a wheelbarrow, just as Bailey could get so many sounds out of a guitar.
I like that both of our works came into being through phones. My studio is in a garage behind my house, and I’ve got no assistants, so in principle my practice didn’t change much. How did it change for you?
DJEO - Loss of job equaled more time in the studio. And with civilization in mid-screeching halt there were less distractions in general. I started making some large scale works but it didn't feel quite right. I started thinking alot about the lost art of hobbies and began exploring the history of philately, coin collecting, etc…I made stacks and stacks of small collages and paintings on junk wax baseball cards. I was able to purchase them by the thousands on eBay for damn near just the cost of shipping. The scale became intimate and the materials were cheap and quick. Much of the collage material I used was found on long daily walks through the empty, quiet city. Here's an example---
And I also spent much more time making music, which was something I had always done but previously more as just a passion project/happy hobby.
DM - Cool! Do you have boxes of bits to use in the collages?
DJEO - Boxes on boxes on boxes of bits, Dave! I take a similar approach with drawing also---I let them sit around for a couple of years and continue adding to them, as if they are palimpsests or whatnot. So they are a bit like accumulative collages/collaborations with myself from yesteryear. And I also have an audio equivalent of boxes of bits too. That’s how I've made my last few albums is that I'll typically record hours of improvisation every day for a couple of months, and with that material will make some kind of collage or tapestry with all of the material.
DM - Any plans for what’s next?
DJEO - I have absolutely no idea what comes next, but that's the exciting part.
DM - Cool! Do you have boxes of bits to use in the collages?
DJEO - Boxes on boxes on boxes of bits, Dave! I take a similar approach with drawing also---I let them sit around for a couple of years and continue adding to them, as if they are palimpsests or whatnot. So they are a bit like accumulative collages/collaborations with myself from yesteryear. And I also have an audio equivalent of boxes of bits too. That’s how I've made my last few albums is that I'll typically record hours of improvisation every day for a couple of months, and with that material will make some kind of collage or tapestry with all of the material.
DM - Any plans for what’s next?
DJEO - I have absolutely no idea what comes next, but that's the exciting part.
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