Jimo

Music:

Member Since: 6/19/2006
Band Members:Jimo:guitars and vocals, Ron Applin:Guitars, percussion and backup vocals. Michael Sims:synthesizer and percussion and vocals, Tara Horvath:bass and vocals, David Lister:synthesizer, guitar....and this film is from Tara just recently made...
Influences: Allen Ginsberg "ballad of the skeletons" video by gus van santMARIANNE FAITHFUL'S "BROKEN ENGLISH"“And so I say, Were anti mother earth” a quote from a song by michael sims.In the course of digitizing these songs, I realized what an extraordinary amount of the work dealt with war, the government, the environment, sexual orientation and economic realities. All of the extended family of the Music For Pets” clan, were/are a passionate bunch of people, that made music/art/poetry/film as a way to process the influences of contemporary American society. Living out in Bolinas, California at a time when aids had started ravaging the gay community and President Reagan did virtually nothing (in fact contributed through negligence of duty in my opinion) and then also witnessing the transition to the “Bush One” years that shoved on us the first Iraq war and the human/natural disaster it created, gave us a lot to think about. We were shocked that such stupidity could come after so few years from the horrors of Viet Nam. As children we watched the Vietnam war on television, with it’s images of murdered children and napalm destruction before the u.s. government got so adept at controlling media coverage of such atrocities. We also witnessed the beginnings of the overwhelming increase in homelessness in the United States. We were old enough to remember a time before Ronald Reagan, when our cities weren't plagued with abundant visible poverty, and before programs to treat mental illness and drug addicted people were still in place, and poverty was still considered a problem to be solved, and not some sort of sick byproduct of capitalism. We would have thought the conditions we now have gotten accustomed too, were more like images we had of poverty in India. The gradual eliminating of much of the middle class and the disappearing “safety nets” that had been in place for the mentally ill, were taken away quickly, with no regard to the reality that would impose on all of us (including the wealthy) At the same time, Northern California real estate prices had begun to soar at an amazing rate, and we watched how, in a few short years, it seemed we were "priced out" of the potential of owning our own homes. Being from here, we had no inexpensive home towns to return too. It was the end of a time when a blue collar working person could buy a home in the san francisco bay area.As a young gay man, I was in a personal retreat mode, and getting my bearings. Trying to carefully navigate the uncertainties of the aids epidemic, as the safe sex/no sex, but what is safe sex messages filtered through the media, and come to my own conclusions. Without allowing all the negativity that was/had been being pressed onto any gay kid or adult who lived in this time. It was a constant pushing of the dominant societal contemporary mores, in favor of a more inclusive humanist view of the continuum of gender constructs and an intuitive trust of what seemed right, loving, safe, and fun too that I was striving for. We were at a funny age. Not quite baby boomers, but then not quite gen x'ers either. Although, I think like others of our generation (X, Sonic Youth, Camper Van Beethoven) we were kind of progenitors of that mind set. In one of the original articles on Grunge, where they were talking about "Grunge" fashion, the author pointed to Bolinas as the originator of that style. We only had to look at Hasci (our bandmate in "music for pets") to know who they were referring too. Maybe it's the perspective of living on what almost feels like an island, but an island that looks out onto San Francisco. Often we didn’t leave West Marin for long periods of time, though in reality it was a short ride "over the hill" to the city. The Bolinas community itself often felt more like an open university with so many people engaged in various forms of study, meditation, art, writing etc. and the influence of the beats who had moved there years before. (Joanne Kyger, Bob Creeley, Bobbi Louise Hawkins, etc.) We were the little punks who came into town a little less to get "back to the land" (though that was really much of the reality) and a little more, to get some space to create art, live in nature, surf, bike, and have a yard for pets and be able to play some louder music. Some didn't like or understand the punk sensibility, but we found allies with the beat poets. In some of the songs, Michael Sims and I dealt with our very complicated relationship to each other as well as to our lovers and friends. We were not lovers but very close friends (like brothers really). A straight boy and a queer boy who loved each other and worked together in a variety of ways. These songs were a part of our navigation through our personal relationship and through the world view we shared largely in common. We called it therapy. Hope you get something out of it too.jimo
Sounds Like: the boy who made you mix tapes, because he couldn't talk to you.............. and from the inimitable Owen Pallett of "Final Fantasy" from his fine record "he poos clouds" check it out!
Type of Label: Indie