Altered Zones

(img credit= James Ferraro)

By Samantha Cornwell

James Ferraro: "Leather High School"

On a gray December afternoon, I caught the 780 bus at the corner of Colorado Blvd. and Figueroa and headed West toward the neon lights of Hollywood. The purpose of this journey? An in-depth look into the bizarre world of James Ferraro. I’d arranged to meet the enigmatic star at the Hard Rock Cafe, located right on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I got off the bus and made my way past drifters in Batman costumes and out-of-work actors offering “free” admission to a variety of late-night shows; I stood guard outside the entrance as an elderly Chinese man posed for a picture next to Jackie Chan’s star. At last, the radiant orb of James Ferraro’s afro appeared in the distance. We made our way through the glass doors, and sat down to dine in the belly of the glamorous beast.

Ferraro, who divides his time between New York and Hollywood, just released the phenomenal Night Dolls With Hairspray, which is possibly his poppiest effort to date. Since his days as one half of The Skaters, James has produced a hefty catalogue of tapes and CD-Rs, ranging from New Age drone to bizzaro collagist power-pop. Here is some of what we discussed.

AZ: So what brings you to Los Angeles?

James: I’m out here mainly to become an action movie star. I don’t have that much experience and I’ve never acted before, but I’ve been informed by certain movies. I’m interested in it for a lot of different reasons. That’s the main reason why I’m here.

AZ: What are some of your favorite action movies?

James: I mainly try to focus on action stars. I’m more infatuated with that part of it-- the acting part of it, and the aesthetic, and certain directors. [My favorites are] probably Van Damme and Stallone. I like the hyperreality of it, the fantasy of it. The aesthetic is something I’m really interested in, and the heroism of it all. It's pretty deep I think. There’s one movie called Stranglehold. It’s pretty good.

Night Dolls With Hairspray artwork

AZ: What were some of your influences while recording the new album?

James: I think when I wanted to make that record I was more influenced by weird street fashion. That put me in a mind frame to absorb glammy stuff, and power-pop. I was recording this record called Wild World a year ago, and someone heard that record and told me that I should check out Sigue Sigue Sputnik. I was familiar with the name, but never really knew who they were. They sort of influenced Night Dolls in a way. I didn’t really think about it when I was recording it, but it was brought to my attention after the fact.

AZ: If you could do a soundtrack for any movie, what would it be?

James: I think I would be most interested in a movie like Avatar. I don’t feel like I completely understand it-- just the technology behind it, the way it looks visually. Really IMAX-level production. Something that was like Avatar in terms of the computer graphics, maybe sliced in with something like Speed, or Hard To Kill, or some sort of action aesthetic, or some sort of John Woo movie.

AZ: Would you say that many of your songs are autobiographical?

James: Definitely more fantasy-based than autobiographical. Some stuff would be more autobiographical and some stuff would be more fantasy. Like something from Night Dolls, like “Leather High School”: I would say the thoughts in that song are definitely things I would think about when I was in high school, like sitting in class. In some sense, I’m trying to make a general statement about that whole experience, about what it's like to be in high school. It’s not really about high school, but it was a perfect formula for something I wanted to convey. Like, repressed sexual fantasies, and being repressed by things that don’t make that much sense.

AZ: If you could have your own TV show, what would it be?

James: If I could have a TV show that was not limited to the technology we have available today, I would create something where people are able to go into other people’s lives-- something like Wife Swap, but more realistic. Like an interactive television show where people can experience fictitious profiles. There’d be a menu screen with profiles and photos of people’s faces. Like Maria. She’s a housewife in Pasadena and today she’s going to Whole Foods. Pretty much the whole episode is you being in a virtual reality world of her just going to Whole Foods, or picking her kids up.

iAsia 2 Raver artwork

AZ: A lot of your music sounds sample-based, but I've heard that you compose everything on your own. How do you achieve that effect?

James: I use samplers, but I make everything from scratch. I’ll sample my voice-- anything-- to create a certain texture. I love sample-based music, but I think that in the post-sample world, people automatically register certain sounds as samples. Because they’ve never worked with a sampler, they don’t realize that using sampling doesn’t mean that you’re sampling someone else’s work. Achieving that effect is about spending a lot of time on the details, wanting to have a specific texture. If you were to look at my studio, I'd have my 8-track and keyboards and guitars [on one side], and the other side would be an effects portion where I have this thing… It’s like a bucket that you carry dishes in, with water in it, or microphones, or different things like hair gel-- different things to create certain textures

A lot of people are confused. They feel like I’m sampling other people’s works. Not to say that I wont in the future, but as of now I’ve never done any sampling that was from other people’s works.

AZ: Why do you go back and forth between LA and New York so often?

James: I have family in New York, and also friends out there, and label engagements and stuff that I’ve had to do, but it also gives me a bit of perspective about what I want to capture about this reality. Its funny how magical LA is in the sense that there are so many interesting parts of it. A lot of the hyper-reality that it generates is sort of concentrated in Hollywood. I’ll be here and I’ll get burnt out by the simulacra, but then I’ll go hang out with my friends who live in like Eagle Rock or something, and it feels like I’m in some sort of peaceful place before jumping back into the movie screen.

The waiter appeared with a tray of brightly colored edibles. We consumed them with caution. Suddenly, a petite blonde sashayed through the glass doors and sat at our table.

Stay tuned for a second Hard Rock Cafe interview with Piper Kaplan of Los Angeles' Puro Instinct

James Ferraro: iAsia 2 Raver

Night Dolls With Hairspray LP is out now via Olde English Spelling Bee. iAsia CD-R, an alternate e-version of which is posted above, is available via Volcanic Tongue