The Go! Team is coming to the Turner Ballroom tonight, touring in support of its new album, "Proof of Youth." The Brazilian dance-pop gig known as CSS will be co-headlining in support of the freshly released "Donkey." The show starts at 8 p.m. with openers Matt & Kim and Natalie Portman's Shaved Head.
The Go! Team leans heavily on samples and takes some juice out of the bass to create a bright sound with a vintage feel while the layers of horns, cheers, rapping, and other sonic elements (like sirens and maybe even pots and pans?) conjure the ultimate '60s football half-time party. We got a hold of Ian Parton, The Go! Team's frontman, to discuss how the sound moved from his bedroom to the big time.
OnMilwaukee.com: So set the stage. What were you doing before you started this whole endeavor?
Ian Parton: I used to be a documentary maker and used to travel the world making programs about mummies and stuff.
OMC: When you started envisioning your sound did you ever envision how far it would take you?
IP: Music was always a bedroom operation and I'm a fan of bedroom-core so I never had any stadium dreams and still don't. Give me a sweaty little venue any day. But I am super pleased at how we've managed to see the world in this band; we're talking China, Iceland, Brazil, Korea, Russia, Japan...
OMC: You have a general rule about no male vocals. Why is that?
IP: Just personal taste really. I've always loved female rappers like Roxanne Shante and '60s girl groups like the The Shangrilas and riot grrl stuff like Huggy Bear. I really wanted to mix all those things up. Britain is full of these bullsh*t indie bands with four blokes with guitars so it was a reaction against that, too.
OMC: So then what was your reasoning to break that rule and include Public Enemy's Chuck D?
IP: I'm such a fan of Chuck that I was more than happy to break the rule for him.
OMC: When your album "Thunder, Lightning, Strike" came out, you seemed pretty adamant about not playing the games of the music industry and you still seem to reject most commercial endeavors...even the big guys like McDonalds and iPod. How is the battle being fought these days?
IP: I'm still pretty militant about it and turned down a potential $200,000 for a US health insurance advert the other day. I've given in to a few ads on occasion but generally it's a no. I feel pretty strongly that music and big business shouldn't mix; I don't want people to think of a car or yogurt when they hear The Go! Team's music.
OMC: Many of your albums are supported by a heavy dose of sampling, which has been getting swirled up in the copyright revolution as far as free downloading, sampling, and remixes go. Where would you like to see thought patterns shift? What's your ideal musical rights landscape?
IP: Sampling can either be a genuine art form, which makes something new out of the stuff everyone else has forgotten about, or it can be a lazy cash in, a la Kanye West. The law can't recognize the difference. But I'm willing to pay anyone anything to keep the song as I want it and have given away 100 percent of the publishing rights on a few songs.
OMC: How do you get your albums on stage? What does it take to get that sound into a live setting?
IP: Its a bit more ballsy sounding on stage; we have all the samples plus two drum kits, two guitars, harmonics, banjo, glockenspiel, etc., so it's pretty much a sonic onslaught.
OMC: When you wrote your first songs it was essentially just you messing around on the computer. Now you have a full band. Has that changed the way you write music?
IP: No, not really. I still write music by hoarding ideas and sticking the best ones together. It's all about trial and error and persistence. Maybe we'll jam in the future but I'd still probably turn those jams into samples.
OMC: What are your hopes for the Milwaukee show? Will there be a visual component?
IP: I look forward to every show. We've played Milwaukee a couple of years ago, but only supporting Sonic Youth. I'm particularly looking forward to Milwaukee because it's the home of the Fonz.
OMC: One last question for the Brew City. What's your current drink of choice?
IP: I dig Sam Adams.
OMC: Okay, thanks! We'll see you at the show tonight.
Jason McDowell grew up in central Iowa and moved to Milwaukee in 2000 to attend the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.
In 2006 he began working with OnMilwaukee as an advertising designer, but has since taken on a variety of rolls as the Creative Director, tackling all kinds of design problems, from digital to print, advertising to branding, icons to programming.
In 2016 he picked up the 414 Digital Star of the Year award.
Most other times he can be found racing bicycles, playing board games, or petting dogs.
