Cock rockers

>> Sane answers from Jim Baron of Crazy Penis

by KRISTA

Two guys performing live on stage under the moniker of Crazy Penis conjures up all kinds of really unsavoury images, not unlike the ones witnessed during that Puppetry of the Penis fiasco. Thankfully, Crazy Penis's Chris Todd and Jim Baron play instruments other than the ones biologically attached to their persons. In fact, the live house-music act from Manchester, who are signed to that city's premier house-music label Paper Recordings, swear the band's name is merely that. Crazy Penis's Jim Baron explained it all.



Mirror: I'm sorry, but the obvious first question is, where does the Crazy Penis name come from?

Jim Baron: It's actually not as exciting a story as you think. Before we got a record deal our band was called Loco Pinga, a name we borrowed from an old 7" funk record, which is of course Spanish for "crazy penis." When Paper got a hold of the translation they thought it would be funnier in English.

M: You're right, it's not as exciting as I imagined it would be. What kind of band are we talking about here--live instruments or just sequencers?

JB: Well normally we're a full five-piece band, but when we travel there's just three of us. Like for this weekend it will be myself, Chris and our singer Danielle. And I may do a DJ set as well.

M: How did you guys come to form the band?

JB: Chris and I met at school. We were both studying music and were into the same thing, like a mix of funk and house, so we took our common interests and decided to start a band. With Danielle, we were hanging out a friend's one night really late, smoking and drinking, and she did this fantastic Shirley Bassey impression. We were like, "Well, if she can sing like that at this hour, then she's in."

M: What is the extent of all of your musical training?

JB: I was actually studying classical structure in university and I started off as a trombonist. The keyboard was my second instrument. And Chris was studying sound engineering.

M: How did you go from being a classical trombonist to starting Crazy Penis?

JB: I actually went from being a lawyer to doing the Crazy Penis thing.

M: Now I'm confused. You're a lawyer? I thought you studied music.

JB: I did, but at the end of my degree opportunities for a classically trained trombonist were scarce, to say the least, and law was something to fall back on. It's not the same here--not as much schooling is involved once you have one degree.

M: So do you moonlight, doing any other odd jobs?

JB: I also have like a rock-funk band called the Late Risers, a kind of lo-fi guitar thing with the lead singer form Sweaty Machetti that just got signed to [Riton sublabel] Switch. I have also produced a couple of tunes for Paper under the name Ron Bassjam, and Chris does stuff on his own for Paper under the name Hot Toddy.

At Jingxi on Friday, Oct. 19, 10pm, $15