by RAF KATIGBAK

Here’s a joke—how do you make a Venetian blind? Poke him in the eye.

Now, how do you make a Venetian Snare? Apparently, you stick a plastic chicken in his ear.

At least, that’s the impression one gets from Winnipeg’s Aaron Funk, aka Venetian Snares. Responsible for some of the most fucked-up and extremely funky experimental breakcore music around, Funk’s name is often uttered in the same breath as such experimental luminaries as Aphex Twin and Squarepusher. But while the recent efforts of his peers have been critiqued as sounding watered down and over-complacent, Funk’s music continues to push the envelope while at the same time injecting a sense of humanity and humour. His last effort, Winter in the Belly of a Snake (his third on fellow experimental legend Mike “U-ziq” Paradinas’ imprint Planet-Mu), is a masterpiece of brutally calculated drill & bass programming combined with ill, Clive-Barker-esque atmospherics and quirky, twisted melodies. The Mirror recently caught up with Mr. Funk and discovered all kinds of ways to have fun in Winnipeg.

Mirror: Your last show in Montreal was insane! I mean that literally. Do you enjoy freaking people out?

Aaron Funk: Yes I do. I like to look in the paper under “room for rent” then, at 4 a.m., I call and ask them questions about the rooms. Like, “How many paces is the toilet from the room?” and, “Do you mind if I keep an ice cream pail in my room and once in awhile use it to go in if I don’t think I can make it?”

M: Yummy. What else floats your boat?

AF: Sometimes I like to go into McDonald’s, order a Big Mac and then open it right at the counter and smear the sauce all over my legs and chest. Also, sometimes, during a close moment with someone, I like to give them “the shocker.”

M: Since I’m sort of scared to find out what “the shocker” is, I’ll ask you what your childhood was like instead.

AF: When I was really small my parents had to keep taking me to emergency to get things I’d stuck in my ears dislodged. I guess I wanted to hear them.

M: What kind of stuff?

AF: It was mostly stuff I’d find in the yard, but one time I remember it was a little plastic chicken.

M: Sounds like you liked to live dangerously.

AF: Sometimes me and my friend would fight each other with snow shovels or throw darts at each other. It was hardcore.

M: Whoa. Winnipeg sounds fucked up. My friend just moved from there, I think it was just too darn cold for her. You ever consider leaving the ’Peg?

AF: Your friend is a sissy. Maybe I will move away from here, maybe I will come live at your place in Montreal. How far is the toilet from my room, then?

M: Ummm… never mind. :

With Black Market, Baracuda and DJ Fishead
at Casa del Popolo on Friday, Dec. 6, 9pm, $10

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