01Profile
A The Wants Photo
The Wants
Musicians — USA
03Interview
Name, where are you from?
JG: Jason Gates, NYC.
HE: Heather Elle, Virginia
MVV: Madison Velding-VanDam, Michigan
What do you do?
JG: Work on music, drum, manipulate sounds, engineer, etc.
MVV: I make records and perform music live. I also work in video, specialising in post-production.
HE: Low end and mouth noises.
Describe your style in three words.
HE: Communist Business Woman.
MVV: Cheesecake Factory Middle-Management.
JG: Big black boots.
What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
HE: Recently it was Combo Chimbita, a Cumbia-inspired tropical futurism four-piece. I could feel the ancestral magic they were conjuring. By the end of the show I was crying. They’re a truly visionary and powerful group.
MVV: Black MIDI live blew me away.
If you could be on the line up with any two bands in history?
HE: The Cure. I can’t choose a second one; it’s too difficult.
MVV: Talking Heads because they could put together 'Stop Making Sense', the greatest concert performance theatre ever, and Sonic Youth because they never stopped evolving artistically.
Which subcultures have influenced you?
JG: Dark electronic music: R. Rose, Surgeon, Karenn, Carter, Tutti, Void. They stimulate my thinking and hypnotize me.
HE: Objectum Sexuals, those who have romantic or sexual feelings towards inanimate objects, have always fascinated me. Many make fun of them or pity them, but when I’m feeling particularly hopeless about humanity, I empathize with them. After living in NYC for so long, I always say that one day I’ll become a hermit in the woods, and who knows what I’d fall in love with if my boyfriend weren’t here. Probably a tree or a huge rock. Definitely my bass.
MVV: Biopunk — transhumanism is the future.
If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
JG: Elon Musk or Richard Dawkins. Hell, I don’t know. That’s a tough question.
MVV: Malcolm X
Of all the independent venues you’ve played, which is your favourite?
JG: I don’t think I’ve ever played a bad show at the Mercury Lounge in the city.
MVV: Brudenell Social Club in Leeds for its rich musical history.
Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
HE: No one talks about these women enough: Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Godmother of Rock n’ Roll, and Suzanne Ciani, an incredibly innovative electronic musician, composer, and sound designer who’s been going since the ’70s.
JG: Adrian Utley. I like most of what he does to records he produces. Same with John Parish. I’m not sure they are that unsung though. I also love Dasha Rush.
02Playlist
04Playlist Notes
The first track you played on repeat?
JG: David Bowie - 'Sound and Vision'. Alternatively: Soft Cell - 'Tainted Love' but that was at a Halloween party and everyone was on mushrooms so really it could have been anything.
HE: Queen - 'Radio Ga Ga'.
MVV: Green Day - 'Burnout'.
A song that defines the teenage you?
JG: Bauhaus - 'Kick In The Eye'.
HE: 'Sex and Candy' by Marcy Playground comes to mind for a few reasons. One, it stood out to me on mainstream '90s radio for its dissonance and simplicity, and I’d always blush when it came on in the car with my parents. Two, when I was 15 and saw Jimmy Fallon cover it for his first musical impressions on 'Saturday Night Live', it inspired me to pick up a guitar.
MVV: Offspring - 'Beheaded'.
One record you would keep forever?
JG: David Bowie - 'Low'. Everything I look for and try to absorb from music—and the way I like to play—is inside this album.
HE: The Caretaker’s - 'Empty Bliss Beyond This World'.
MVV: Steve Reich - 'Music For 18 Musicians'.
A song lyric that has inspired you?
HE: “We can be heroes / Just for one day” - David Bowie.
MVV: “To have ambitions was my ambition” - Jon King of Gang of Four.
JG: “This kind disease - won’t kill me yet. The chimes will ring - with or without wind” from 'Perpetual Village' by Liars.
A song you wished you had written?
HE: Interpol’s 'Specialist'. An incredibly beautiful b-side I’m not sure if many people know about.
JG: Liars - 'Perpetual Village'. The lyrics are brilliant, they hover somewhere between Westworld and The Selfish Gene.
MVV: Gang of Four - 'I Love a Man in Uniform'. A crossover dance floor hit with raw unbridled teenage Marxist critique.
Best song to turn up loud?
JG: LeiKeli47’s - 'F**k the Summer up' usually gets a reaction.
HE: Pixies - 'Rock Music'.
MVV: Swans - 'Big Strong Boss'.
A song people wouldn’t expect you to like?
JG: Madonna’s 'Hung up'.
HE: Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guébrou - 'The Homeless Wanderer'. She’s an Ethiopian nun known for her piano playing and compositions.
MVV: Avril Lavigne - 'Things I’ll Never Say'.
The song that would get you straight on the dance floor?
HE: Madonna - 'Into the Groove'.
MVV: DAF - 'Der Mussolini'.
Best song to end an all-nighter?
JG: PJ Harvey - 'The Devil'.
HE: William Basinski’s 'Watermusic II' while having a bath.
MVV: Zvuki Mu - 'Katenka'.
Any new bands you are into at the moment?
JG: Talk Show.
HE: Euternase from Mannheim, Germany and B Boys from Brooklyn, NY. Very powerful live shows.
MVV: Scalping and Smerz.
03Interview
Name, where are you from?
JG: Jason Gates, NYC.
HE: Heather Elle, Virginia
MVV: Madison Velding-VanDam, Michigan
What do you do?
JG: Work on music, drum, manipulate sounds, engineer, etc.
MVV: I make records and perform music live. I also work in video, specialising in post-production.
HE: Low end and mouth noises.
Describe your style in three words.
HE: Communist Business Woman.
MVV: Cheesecake Factory Middle-Management.
JG: Big black boots.
What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
HE: Recently it was Combo Chimbita, a Cumbia-inspired tropical futurism four-piece. I could feel the ancestral magic they were conjuring. By the end of the show I was crying. They’re a truly visionary and powerful group.
MVV: Black MIDI live blew me away.
If you could be on the line up with any two bands in history?
HE: The Cure. I can’t choose a second one; it’s too difficult.
MVV: Talking Heads because they could put together 'Stop Making Sense', the greatest concert performance theatre ever, and Sonic Youth because they never stopped evolving artistically.
Which subcultures have influenced you?
JG: Dark electronic music: R. Rose, Surgeon, Karenn, Carter, Tutti, Void. They stimulate my thinking and hypnotize me.
HE: Objectum Sexuals, those who have romantic or sexual feelings towards inanimate objects, have always fascinated me. Many make fun of them or pity them, but when I’m feeling particularly hopeless about humanity, I empathize with them. After living in NYC for so long, I always say that one day I’ll become a hermit in the woods, and who knows what I’d fall in love with if my boyfriend weren’t here. Probably a tree or a huge rock. Definitely my bass.
MVV: Biopunk — transhumanism is the future.
If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
JG: Elon Musk or Richard Dawkins. Hell, I don’t know. That’s a tough question.
MVV: Malcolm X
Of all the independent venues you’ve played, which is your favourite?
JG: I don’t think I’ve ever played a bad show at the Mercury Lounge in the city.
MVV: Brudenell Social Club in Leeds for its rich musical history.
Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
HE: No one talks about these women enough: Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Godmother of Rock n’ Roll, and Suzanne Ciani, an incredibly innovative electronic musician, composer, and sound designer who’s been going since the ’70s.
JG: Adrian Utley. I like most of what he does to records he produces. Same with John Parish. I’m not sure they are that unsung though. I also love Dasha Rush.
04Playlist Notes
The first track you played on repeat?
JG: David Bowie - 'Sound and Vision'. Alternatively: Soft Cell - 'Tainted Love' but that was at a Halloween party and everyone was on mushrooms so really it could have been anything.
HE: Queen - 'Radio Ga Ga'.
MVV: Green Day - 'Burnout'.
A song that defines the teenage you?
JG: Bauhaus - 'Kick In The Eye'.
HE: 'Sex and Candy' by Marcy Playground comes to mind for a few reasons. One, it stood out to me on mainstream '90s radio for its dissonance and simplicity, and I’d always blush when it came on in the car with my parents. Two, when I was 15 and saw Jimmy Fallon cover it for his first musical impressions on 'Saturday Night Live', it inspired me to pick up a guitar.
MVV: Offspring - 'Beheaded'.
One record you would keep forever?
JG: David Bowie - 'Low'. Everything I look for and try to absorb from music—and the way I like to play—is inside this album.
HE: The Caretaker’s - 'Empty Bliss Beyond This World'.
MVV: Steve Reich - 'Music For 18 Musicians'.
A song lyric that has inspired you?
HE: “We can be heroes / Just for one day” - David Bowie.
MVV: “To have ambitions was my ambition” - Jon King of Gang of Four.
JG: “This kind disease - won’t kill me yet. The chimes will ring - with or without wind” from 'Perpetual Village' by Liars.
A song you wished you had written?
HE: Interpol’s 'Specialist'. An incredibly beautiful b-side I’m not sure if many people know about.
JG: Liars - 'Perpetual Village'. The lyrics are brilliant, they hover somewhere between Westworld and The Selfish Gene.
MVV: Gang of Four - 'I Love a Man in Uniform'. A crossover dance floor hit with raw unbridled teenage Marxist critique.
Best song to turn up loud?
JG: LeiKeli47’s - 'F**k the Summer up' usually gets a reaction.
HE: Pixies - 'Rock Music'.
MVV: Swans - 'Big Strong Boss'.
A song people wouldn’t expect you to like?
JG: Madonna’s 'Hung up'.
HE: Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guébrou - 'The Homeless Wanderer'. She’s an Ethiopian nun known for her piano playing and compositions.
MVV: Avril Lavigne - 'Things I’ll Never Say'.
The song that would get you straight on the dance floor?
HE: Madonna - 'Into the Groove'.
MVV: DAF - 'Der Mussolini'.
Best song to end an all-nighter?
JG: PJ Harvey - 'The Devil'.
HE: William Basinski’s 'Watermusic II' while having a bath.
MVV: Zvuki Mu - 'Katenka'.
Any new bands you are into at the moment?
JG: Talk Show.
HE: Euternase from Mannheim, Germany and B Boys from Brooklyn, NY. Very powerful live shows.
MVV: Scalping and Smerz.