luckyPRICK

Birds Of A Different Feather

Scene Magazine, November 9-15, 1989
By Mark Holan
Transcribed by Robert Ferent

Scans:

When the Exotic Birds - Andy Kubiszewski, Doug Beck and Richard Carpenter - aren't playing out as the Exotic Birds, they're playing out as Kollaps, a band that plays what is knows as "Industrial Music." They used to wear wigs and disguises, but after opening for several touring Industrial bands at the Phantasy Nite Club and Peabody's Down Under, it became obvious that it was the Birds underneath all of the hair and behind all of that smoke.

"It's everybody in the Birds and some friends of ours," Kubiszewski explains. "Industrial music is so popular, and we like some of it, but we can't do it in the Birds.

"The Birds are so happy and pop that we didn't want to do Industrial music and have everybody go 'Oh, no. Is this the shape of things to come?' So we just do Kollaps for the fun of it."

Last week, Kollaps opened for Front Line Assembly at the Phantasy Nite Club, and it's interesting to note that as time goes on, Kollaps gets better and better. What began as a musician's inside joke has evolved into something that even the musicians involved find difficult to define.

"Originally." Kubiszewski continues, "it was a big satire. We were making fun of Industrial music, not because we didn't like it, but because we went to see it and said, 'Well, this is silly. There's just a lot of smoke and a lot of hair, and the computers are playing everything. We can do this, too.'"

Strangely enough, Kollaps has even developed a cult following among Industrial music fans. "The more we play, the bigger the following we get," Kubiszewski says.

"There's a group of kids in town that will actually come and see Kollaps but not come and see the Birds," Doug Beck adds with a laugh.

But above and beyond the lighthearted approach to Kollaps lies the three musicians' commitment to the Exotic Birds, one of the most respected names on Northeast Ohio's original music scene. Kubiszewski, the only original member of the Birds, has gone through several lineups since he first formed the group back in 1983 with two fellow Cleveland Institute of Music students, keyboardist Tim Adams and percussionist Tom Freer. The current lineup has been together now for nearly two years, and it's the longest any Exotic Birds lineup has ever stayed together. Though the original lineup got plenty of critical praise and even opened for the likes of Culture Club at the Coliseum, the band never really lived up to its potential.

"We didn't have the technology that we have today," Kubiszewski opines. "That was the same thing Kollaps is today. The Exotic Birds were just three guys playing together to have fun."

That's not to say that the Birds of today don't have fun, too. For instance, this Saturday, Nov. 11th, they will perform two shows at the Phantasy Nite Club, one at night and an earlier "all ages" performance in the afternoon. That's the way that group feels it will be able to reach the younger audience that they have been trying to reach since they first started.

The Birds have just released Equilibrium, its first CD and cassette recording, and already the word on the street is that it's the best material the group has ever recorded. Tracks like "Every Star Was You" and "Heartbeat Like A Drum" stand up well against anything currently on the charts and on the commercial airwaves. Recorded at Commercial Studios, Equilibrium is a tribute to the Birds longstanding belief in themselves as a recording and performing unit.

About a year ago, the Birds opened a few shows for the Information Society, and they struck up a friendship with InSoc's Kurt Valaquen, who offered to lend them a hand in the studio. Valaquen came to Cleveland earlier this year and worked on several tunes with the Birds, but surprisingly, nothing he touched made it onto the recording. Kubiszewski says they will probably do something else together in the near future.

Of Valaquen, Kubiszewski recalls, "He came in, and we did a song that basically was a demo. It was Kurt Valaquen produces the Exotic Birds. It sounds like the Information Society with us singing on top of it."

"It was weird working with Kurt," Beck chimes in. "He's more of a computer operator than a producer. When the Information Society write a song, it's completely different than the way the Birds do it. It was a great experience for us to just see how another songwriter and recording artist approaches a tune."

Although Kubiszewski majored in percussion at CIM, he plays the guitar and sings in the Exotic Birds. Many people in musical circles around town consider Kubiszewski to be the finest drummer in the area, but in the context of the Birds, he prefers to be a frontman.

"Playing drums in the studio is fine," Kubiszewski explains, "but it's not as much fun as hanging around at the front of the stage and yucking it up. I get bored sitting behind the drums."

The Birds' immediate plans call for a lot of college dates up and down the East Coast and throughout the Northeast. With the Greater Cleveland club scene turning slightly claustrophobic for original bands, it's logical that the Birds would go elsewhere for recognition. You can't keep playing the same half-dozen clubs week after week and expect to stay fresh musically. Still, they're in it for the long haul.

"This is the longest any of the lineups has held up," Kubiszewski states. "The first one went under because it was just too much too soon. This lineup has what it takes to make it happen."

EXOTIC BIRDS

Birds Of A Different Feather