Ashley Bueno
Surreal psychedelic band Powdered Wig Machine fuses sketch comedy, drag and punk rock.
San Antonio’s Powdered Wig Machine is much from a traditional rock act.
Over the previous yr, the trio has emerged as one of many metropolis’s foremost purveyors of performance-art, surreal multimedia and psychedelic punk — a cheerful collision of skewed art-world antics and storage rock power.
Is sensible then that group’s origins are additionally removed from standard. It was initially conceived as an online video sequence of the identical identify, which primarily centered on sketch comedy and interviews. The sequence’ intent was to mix offbeat comedy with the sensibilities of impartial movie — and with David Lynch’s surreal masterpiece Mulholland Drive as a significant touchpoint.
As a part of the present, creators Brandon Pittman and visible artist Mauro De La Tierra conceived of a drag character named Patricia, who wears a roach-infested wig. Pittman now inhabits that character as singer-guitarist for Powdered Wig Machine — the band, not the net sequence, after all.
“I initially pictured the Powdered Wig Machine as a conveyor belt with all these wigs being spit out, after which on to the following one,” Pittman defined. “I believed Patricia can be simply one among them, however individuals wished me to maintain doing it. I mentioned, ‘OK, but when I do, I am gonna play music.'”
With San Antonio garage-rock luminary The Wizard aka Vincent Garlisi on bass and Daniel Raigoza on drums the band varieties a platform for Pittman to discover the musical aspect of Patricia’s character. As the following step on that journey, the group lately accomplished its first full size album, It is What I’ve At all times Needed.
Powdered Wig Machine will play a present this Friday at Slab Cinema Artwork Home within the Blue Star Arts Complicated to have a good time the LP’s launch. Company together with Bridgette Norris-Sanchez of native pop act HoneyBunny, Amanda Vega of “disco punk” quartet Lloronas and Kra of horn-driven BexarBrass will increase the band. Guitar-driven indie-rockers Grrrltoy will open the festivities.
It is What I’ve At all times Needed
Reworking the video sequence Powdered Wig Machine might not seem to be an apparent segue, however Pittman mentioned it allowed him an entry again into music, his past love.
“It is one thing I’ve all the time wished to do,” he mentioned. “In my early 20s, I simply wished to tour and make data.”
Throughout that point, Pittman moved from the Alamo Metropolis to Rhode Island. Whereas he wrote loads of songs throughout that several-year stretch, he did not precisely handle to get the touring and making data factor off the bottom.
“I had an web girlfriend,” he mentioned, laughing. “Labored at a gasoline station, lived in a basement.”
Returning to San Antonio gave him a renewed appreciation for Texas and the neighborhood the place he’d grown up.
“This city is bizarre nevertheless it’s charming,” Pittman mentioned. “Like an excellent Ella Fitzgerald track … she’s going nutty, however she’s in on the joke, and you’ll be in on it too if you wish to be.”
The identical could possibly be mentioned of Powdered Wig Machine itself. The members’ wild appearances and outlandish antics invite within the viewers somewhat than flip it away. Mixed with raucous storage punk, the group delivers a compelling package deal — one Pittman hopes is embodied on It is What I’ve At all times Needed.
“[The name] has a twin that means,” he mentioned. “Its sarcastic, its unhappy however its additionally self-effacing. However what if there was a 3rd that means? A recreation present we’re all enjoying referred to as It is What I’ve At all times Needed. I like repurposing it but once more.”
In fusing sketch comedy, drag and punk rock, Pittman has additionally sees his stage persona as bringing a number of dimensions to bear.
“I like the juxtaposition — the female high quality, however we’re enjoying actually pummeling rock,” he mentioned. “I like drag. For me, all of it begins with laughter. I do not know easy methods to put it right into a field or a label, and I needn’t. I can really feel it, and it feels good.”
‘Unusual locations’
Regardless of Texas right-wing politicians’ efforts to focus on drag performances, Pittman mentioned he is discovered ample assist in San Antonio. That features an invite to carry out on the Fiesta’s Cornyation, a festive mashup of drag and satire that Pittman described as “an attention-grabbing intermingling of execs with newcomers.”
“Makes you’re feeling small in some methods,” he added. “Flattering to be requested, however intimidating.”
Aided by members of San Antonio’s thriving visible arts scene, Powdered Wig Machine has shaped a cohort. That features not simply early collaborator De La Tierra, who helped conceive the Patricia character, but in addition tattoo artist Azure Sky, who offered visible artwork for each album observe, and visible artist and Not For You Gallery proprietor Ursula Zavala, who directed movies for the band.
“All of us exist inside the notion that … we’re not too cool for one thing,” Pittman mentioned. “Arising via the artwork and music scene, you all the time have these individuals which are too cool … and so they simply type of bore me.”
Shifting ahead, the band desires to proceed pushing the envelope, in response to Pittman, and that features searching for out unconventional venues.
“I wish to play all over the place. Unusual locations,” he mentioned. “I might like to do one thing weirder at Fiesta. I’ve this imaginative and prescient of enjoying at a intercourse toy retailer.”
For Pittman, odd venue selections are all a part of a package deal that creates transcendent experiences.
“The most important aim for me is to cease time for individuals,” he says. “The most effective artwork makes all the things cease. Create the second that every one of us exist in collectively. How can I cease time for myself and for you? As a result of different individuals did that for me.”
$10, 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20, Slab Cinema Arthouse at Blue Star, 134 Blue Star, (210) 212-9373, slabcinemaarthouse.com.
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