by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

"We want to be accepted by the music industry and the hip hop world, but not necessarily in any conventional way," says Jerome Saibil, aka Bushman, of Montreal's Gräfenberg All-Stars. No fear of that. Between them, Saibil and his partner in rhyme Eli Batalion, aka VowelMovement, have played in klezmer, rock and reggae bands, snagged fancy Ivy league diplomas, busted bar mitzvah magic shows and DJed on Chinese radio - hardly your industry-standard homeboys.

The pair are best known for Job: The Hip-Hop Musical and Job II: The Demon of the Eternal Recurrence, plays that brought comedic hip hop to the theatre via a rap retelling of the tale of the Bible's biggest patsy. Earning hype, hoopla and hoorays across the continent, Job looks likely to follow the footsteps of Cats and Blue Man Group.

"The show is still on tour," says Saibil. "We're going to Scotland, and the Edinburgh Fringe is a big industry showcase. A lot of people - HBO, William Morris - are there. We've had offers to buy the show and turn it into a miniseries for TV or a bigger play, and so far we've decided to hold on to the rights. It's a matter of, will someone take Job and totally destroy it, making it into some cheesy affair it wasn't meant to be? It has to be done the right way, and we like to incubate our art."

In the key of G

In the meantime, Saibil and Batalion have revived their pre-Job project, a (slightly) more traditional rap unit. "Although we're resurrecting the Gräfenberg All-Stars and keeping the name, there's a conceptual distinction between back then and now. Back then, it was largely based around the interest we had in wordplay and rhyming about things that MCs don't normally rhyme about. What was not focused on was creating incredible music - or what we think, or hope, is awesome music."

"We come at music from different perspectives," adds Batalion. "Jerome did the full classical training in the conservatory, 10 years of piano. I did that for a little bit and taught myself bass. I think we're pretty unique in that we're making all our own beats and we're doing it with analog instruments. We get a particular sound, and that's part of the satisfaction. I wouldn't want to just buy someone's beat, I don't care how def it is. It's much more fun for us, the whole process of putting it together."

"The word Gräfenberg," says Saibil, "is about really hitting the aural pleasure centre."

Oh, that's right - GAS take their tag from the scientist who discovered the G-spot, which is why one can expect the pair to cough up horndog silliness, delivered with clinically precise wit.

"Some might compare us to Frank Zappa in the sense that it's zany, but there's an attention to musicality. It's an apt comparison for a certain kind of song we do - like ‘Gidget the Midget.' We're not actually in relationships with porn midgets. There are other songs that have different moods and approaches that may not be as Zappa-esque. But definitely, there's a lot of mask-wearing, a lot of histrionics and seemingly ridiculous concepts. Like ‘Gidget the Midget,' which is less about porn midgets than the addiction of the "-idget" rhyme and how much fun you can have with it."

Fool disclosure

Now, in a musical genre morbidly obsessed with "keeping it real," playing the clown might invite frowns. GAS, as they ready their album aimed for September, are up to the challenge. "There's this big distinction between the theatre and music industries. In theatre, clowning around is a generally accepted thing," explains Saibil. "We do Job and people understand that while we don't wear red noses, we're putting on masks, so to speak. In music, people often want to go see an actual person up there on stage. They want to see Ben Harper and who he really is, sitting there with his guitar.

"The thing about our act is that it isn't that, or rather that it is, but in a more elastic sense. Who we really are is clowns. What we really enjoy doing and feel passionate about is wearing masks and getting crazy. That's our gig. We need to embrace that and make it clear in the music-industry context. Okay, don't be alarmed - we're gonna get crazy now."

With DJ Mana and Blues Underdog
at le Swimming on Friday, April 9, 9pm, $7

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