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Behind The Mask: The Bloody Beetroots

August 20, 2012

Stills by Teaghan McGinnis (www.msmphotography.ca)

There is a different vibe when the Bloody Beetroots take to the stage, a dark imminence, in stark contrast to other performers seen over the course of Kelowna’s Center of Gravity. Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo and his FX man, Tommy Tea, had an insane performance sending the crowd into a frenzy, nearly having the fences torn right down, large event posters ripped clear off barricades and trees uprooted, sent sailing on their maiden voyage towards the stage. Sparklers were hurled towards the stage, causing security to panic in avoidance of a potential fire hazard. You could feel the punk stylings being adopted by the crowd and lending a hand to the chaotic nature of audience.

Still by Teaghan McGinnis (www.msmphotography.ca)

The crowd surfing wave cascading on the shores of the security barricade, revealed bloodied faces, minds blown and wardrobe malfunctions (do not crowd surf in a bikini top). To no surprise, the Kelowna crowd loved when AC Slater’s A little Chronic was dropped by Sir Bob and the shocking jolt of hearing The Isley Brother’s Shout was palpable. A friend standing beside me after just raging out to Warp, looked at me with dismay … unsure of what to do briefly, then fell into place, embracing the retro track.

Still by Teaghan McGinnis (www.msmphotography.ca)

Following The Bloody Beetroots Dj Set performance, we made a departure from the tanned and neon clad Kelowna crowds to meet with the masked man donning all black – Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo, better known as The Bloody Beetroots. He allowed us into his typically private sphere and shared his thoughts of music, anarchy and revolution. At his request, no video or recordings were allowed during this interview, throughout the course of which Sir Rifo watched me frantically write these answers down by hand.

Still by Teaghan McGinnis (www.msmphotography.ca)

How was your set? How do you like Kelowna?  

Great! It was awesome! And a bit of a big surprise.

How do you compare your Canadian crowds to other countries? 

I really love them. Every time I play in Canada, the reaction is noticeably bigger.

Rocksteady was released in June along with a music video shot by Wyatt Neumann. How was the concept for that video reached? 

There was no concept. I wanted to do something different and i got a call from Wyatt asking if I could fly to Palm Springs with a day’s notice because he had an idea. I said “Are you joking?”. We just wanted to do something really new, so we just started drinking and smoking and the rest happened.

Where did the people in the video come from? 

All the guys were from Phoenix and the girl is from New York. Wyatt was filming car racing, and he ended up finding a car and those 3 guys. He called me and asked if I wanted to join in.

Can you tell me of any upcoming projects or collaborations in the works?

There’s a new single being released in October. I spent one week in the studio with an amazing singer, Greta Svabo Bech (Female vocals from Raise your Weapon by Deadmau5). She’s so awesome. You can fall in love with her just by hearing her voice. The new song isn’t far from The Bloody Beetroots sound, but it is an experiment with another genre and has a bit of a Kate Bush feel.

The new album has tonnes of collaborations. I’ve been told  by my label not to say who, but I assure you it’s crazy and I never thought in my life I’d have the chance to work with these people and have this kind of an experience. I’m working with a producer recording lots of natural stuff like strings and multiple elements for the songs. I’m doing A LOT. I’m also working on the new Bloody Beetroots “Live” show being premiered in January in Australia for Big Day Out. It is going to be more theatrical and complete, musically speaking it is a large step forward.

Still by Teaghan McGinnis (www.msmphotography.ca)

Do you still work on your photography and other projects?

Yes, I’m still working on the photography exhibition (Black Sheep). It’s all about people who decided to live their life in a different way. When you walk around and see a person and say to yourself – “I need to fucking meet that person because they’ve given off a vibe. I don’t know you, but you’ve given me a vibe that makes me want to meet you”. When you meet someone special it’s because they aren’t part of the masses.

Some people wear masks to move away from personalities and towards symbols. What would be the symbol of the Bloody Beetroots?

The power of an icon can come instantly from meeting me with the mask. I really like my privacy. The new concept of the album is being really about this side of life. It’s all about hiding. Everybody wants to be famous before being musicians. It’s a reverse process.

Have you ever misplaced a mask prior to a performance or do you carry backups?

No, I don’t carry back ups, but one time in Dublin two and a half years ago i forgot it… I know people in Dublin are mad. They are crazy, like out of control … I remember I was just at the front of the stage, doing my thing, trying to get people involved. I didn’t want to stage dive but people just took me and one guy wanted to steal my mask and he did it … and when he was taking it, I tried as hard as I fucking could to keep it. That was my last time ever stage diving. We got the mask back but it was all stretched. After that experience, I won’t do it again.

The Russian masked punk band Pussy Riot’s songs are about their political standpoint in opposition of the current social structure. Some members were imprisoned for hooliganism due to their musical activism. They’re radicals, but share the common thread with the Church of Noise by using anarchist themes, while stressing freedom and equality. Would you ever go as far as they did to express yourself through your art, or do you prefer to leave your music as your revolt?

I’ve heard of Pussy Riot, they were incarcerated recently in Russia. I like those girls. One of the problems with punk, is that it isn’t there to liberate anymore. Punk music isn’t able to bring people or masses together anymore. Electronic music does. What I’m doing is trying to add content and substance in a world that doesn’t have it. I’m trying to bring people together like a tribal gathering and trying to be readable even in a scene that isn’t a revolution. I believe in what Pussy Riot are doing but if they want to achieve their goals they need to touch people on a different level. The mass media doesn’t even work anymore because they are fake. When they want you to read something, they make it up for you to read but when I’m on stage nobody needs to explain or force it. I’m not a commercial act, I can do whatever I want and I don’t care because my tracks aren’t made for the radio. I want Church of Noise to be a cultural movement. If you see what Refused did 15 years ago and what I did with Romborama, there’s a common theme. They understood that if they wanted to bring people together they needed to expand the limits of the music. Politics are politics and this is not a war, and most people don’t care. With little things we can change the world but it needs to be fun and readable. That’s the revolution. Revolution is about being able to communicate with people in a large way.

You’ve made references to Errico Malatesta as someone who inspires your political leanings. What about his social activism intrigues you? 

Are you sure you want to go that deep? (Laughs) … not for now.

You have said to have created Church of Noise due to not feeling able to align yourself with the beliefs of any other religion. Do you feel that reliance on a social institution is in conflict with the fundamental values of anarchist theory?

I don’t think anarchy can work anymore. Anarchy as a root can work, anarchy is a synonym of respect and freedom. I need to be a little bit extreme to make people act that way. But yes, I support anarchy but in a post-post-modern way.

MySpace is how you were originally connected to Steve Aoki. How has social media changed your relationship with your fans and the industry?

Now social media is the new black market. You have to pay for people. When MySpace got big, it was democratic in a way because if you sucked, you sucked. If you were great, people liked it and your fan base grew. Basically on Facebook you can pay for adding people. So social networks used to be good but are now messed up. When the market discovers the new viral thing of the moment, all the money goes there and it builds an economy around it so everything goes in a weird way that isn’t real at all. I understand that Facebook wants to make the difference between who’s making money with music and who isn’t but it goes bad for underground people who want to show their music. Its a shame because the world is covered in bullshit. We need to educate people who want to make a label to also make good music. Now there’s too much around you can’t really know what’s good and what’s not and there’s no concerts anymore that make you understand references. For example, I released Rocksteady and when I don’t explain the parts of the song, people don’t know what it takes to make a track. Music is not valued now. We need to bring back the music but it’s a long process because the music is having a cultural crisis. We need to start reading books again. If I ask a random in the crowd what they are going to do tomorrow, they will say they’re busy … Everybody is busy. But busy with what? Nothing. Busy checking MySpace 5 hours a day or to update your Facebook. We need to quiet down and go back to making volume into words. What does respect mean now? What does anarchy mean now? I don’t want to educate people, but I want to make them reflect. I do it with my music.

I see people say “I do music like the Bloody Beetroots” …really? If you wanna make music like The Bloody Beetroots then you need to go back to what was inspiring me at the time.

Still by Teaghan McGinnis (www.msmphotography.ca)

In order to collaborate with someone, you’ve said you need to find purity in them. How do you gauge that? Is it just a sense of authenticity?

I don’t want to preserve purity because I believe in revolution. When I collaborate with people, I need to understand what they did back in the day. I need to be readable to them. I need to go back on harmonies, melodies, and music in general, to understand what works. That’s the purity. I need to conserve it with something else. It’s more about the essence of the person.

Earlier this year, your first photographic novel was released entitled Black Sheep with an exhibit in Milan. Was there a specific emotion you were trying to evoke with each photographic subject? 

If you look at my photographs, people are really pissed off and uncomfortable. I like this though. (Richard) Avedon used to ask his subjects to picture the last moment of their life before they’re about to die and that makes them so uncomfortable but creates an amazing picture. It is all about the character and the vibe. You need to bring people where you want to see people. That is what I do; I make them pissed. I create a distance because I am serious and quiet.

 Many thanks to Bob for sharing his thoughts and time with us.

SBCR aka BB – photo by Chris Falvo

 

Be sure to check out the COG2012-OFFICIAL MAIN STAGE VIDEO by Teaghan McGinnis.

 

Words by Shalane Kerr

Photos and video by Teaghan McGinnis (live) & Chris Falvo (portrait)

Follow me on Twitter or email me at skerr@djmag.ca

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