Little Fyodor-An Interview with the Misfit of Madness
by Tim Wenger
Little Fyodor has been blazing his trail across the mile high musical spectrum for a good two decades now, and the misfit madness is beginning to pay off. A tribute album has been released in his honor, with artists from across the country putting in their two cents on his mad riffs to compile one of the most outrageous records ever to come across the desk here at CMB. With only minor setbacks, we caught up with Little Fyodor to get the low down on this high note in his musical journey.
CMB: Elaborate on the process of the tribute CD. How were the artists selected?
LF: The idea grew out of a conversation I had with Lasse Jensen of Denmark. He’s this totally DIY guy who makes crazy weird-ass music of all types; a lot of quirky goofy songs, plus some noisier more experimental stuff. One song calls Greenland the Dixie of Denmark and makes fun of Greenlander rednecks for eating tons of shrimp! Who’d a known in these parts?!? Then on one CDR he did one of my songs, “Everybody’s F***ing.” He found out about me through my association with Boyd Rice but he eventually told me, “You’re better than Boyd cause Boyd just does hate, and you do hate and so much more!” Anyway, we decided there should be a Little Fyodor tribute album and he put out the word, mostly on Facebook. The Inactivists were the first to respond because they’d already covered “You Give Me Hard-On”! Lasse was most anxious to get Boyd (who also had already covered one of my songs, “The Blackness”) and Ralph Gean, the original rockabilly cat who lives in assisted living in Broomfield. I think we asked a few of the others specifically, but most of them just volunteered when they heard about it. Lasse collected and chose the contributions and assembled them, and then he suffered a mental breakdown and was institutionalized (where he attacked a nurse with a fork!) for a while, and I completed the project with the help of Brian Clark of Discriminate Audio. It finally got released on Public Eyesore, the label that put out my most recent CD of original material, Peace Is Boring.
CMB: How did you get started in music?
LF: I took up guitar as a kid in junior high but gave it up in high school when I got into progressive rock, ‘cause those guys were too good and I could never be that good. I took it up again after college when I started listening to punk rock and writing songs about my dilemmas facing the big ol’ world as an alienated college graduate. Then I became a radio deejay on KGNU playing the weirdest most anti-social music I could find (my show’s called Under The Floorboards on Saturday nights). Then I became part of Walls Of Genius, a cassette-networking band, which was the first project I was part of that “released” stuff. We released 30 cassettes (mostly 90 minutes long!) in 3 years! (1983-1986). Then I went solo.
CMB: You claim punk rock as your genre-who are some of your influences, if any? Have you heard of the Asbestos Tampons?
LF: Listening to side one of The Ramones Leave Home real stoned changed my life. That’s their second record. I’d already heard their first and third records and thought they were pretty good, but listening to their second record (real stoned) changed my life. Then there was the Buzzcocks and Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, Pere Ubu. Other influences who maybe aren’t so punk are Hawkwind, Neil Young, JJ Cale, Velvet Underground, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Woody Allen, Nathaniel West, Kurt Vonnegut, Iggy Pop, MX-80 Sound. My tastes are pretty eclectic, so even though it’s based in punk, I might take on almost anything as an influence. No, I never heard of Abestos Tampons, but this being the 21st century I’ll have to check them out right now….
CMB: Generally speaking, what frame of mind are you in when you write these songs? What are you doing before and after?
LF: I’m usually working out some personal problem. Like “Maybe, Maybe not, That’s all I Know” I wrote after leaving a party without hitting on a chick I thought maybe I should have hit on.” Nobody Loves me and They got Good Reason” I wrote after feeling guilty for taking a “finder’s fee” on a bag I sold to a friend (not something I generally do btw – that I felt guilty about taking a finder’s fee being a good indication it wasn’t my thing!). “I Thought People Liked Fools” I wrote while taking a walk while on break at work. “You Give Me Hard-On,” heh, well that’s kinda obvious, I saw some pretty girl (at work!) and…. Well maybe it’s not so obvious cause it just kinda occurred to me how automatic it was, like this is just how it is. But it was some girl I never even talked to, so that’s kind of all she meant to me. “That Was a Mistake” I wrote the day after I felt like I said some stupid shit at a party. “Happy People” I wrote on a break at work thinking of another hometaper who was taking classes to get a serious career, unlike me. “Small Talk” I wrote when I was a front desk clerk and this guy came up to me and asked me “Are you working hard or are you hardly working?” and it was the first time I’d ever heard that, and I tried to answer him seriously (it was somewhere in between) only to realize he wasn’t listening. I wrote parts of “The Blackness” while driving out to enjoy the mountains, but realizing the car I was driving in was polluting them. “Peace is Boring” I wrote on a walk when I saw a sign saying “Peace” in someone’s yard and I thought, oh c’mon, peace is boring! So shit like that. I guess a lot of walks and parties and work…. Heh, those Abestos Tampons are pretty crude! Not entirely my thing, but okay.
CMB: What do you have coming up this summer?
LF: Well the big thing of course is the tribute release at the Walnut Room July 13!! My band, Little Fyodor & Babushka, will be headlining a festival-sized lineup of folks who are on the tribute and who are gonna play the song they contributed! The Inactivists, Ralph Gean, Us From the SuperFuture, Gregory Ego, Gort Vs. Goom, nervesandgel and Diablo Montalban! Also got a show on Aug 3 at 3 Kings with M. Pacman and TBA. And, well, we’ll just see what else turns up….
CMB: Where should new fans head to find your music/videos? Do you have anything that only a certain crowd might find appealing, such as inappropriate videos?
LF: littlefyoder.com is the place to go. Local record stores, too. My “inappropriateness” is mixed in throughout my material, not segregated out like it’s a separate thing. Kinda like how Neil Young mixed folk and rock together early in his career, not like he separated them out on Rust Never Sleeps (which I hated).
CMB: Who were some of the first clubs/promoters to give you a shot as a performer?
LF: The first place I played solo was called The Art House and Auction Gallery or something like that in Boulder. They’d just take anyone who wanted to book it! I played that one all by my lonesome (along with the Warlock Pinchers). Then I joined forces with Babushka and played a bunch of shows at Penny Lane Coffeehouse, also in Boulder. (Neither of those places are there anymore!) The Lion’s Lair was the first place I played in Denver. I sent them a demo (first time I did that) and Tony said it cracked him up! This was back before they had a PA or stage! Haven’t played there in a while, though, maybe the current booker don’t like me, or something….
Well thank you for this chance to speak my piece! Shout outs to Amadeus Tonguefingers and Tricky Dick Wicket, the other members of my band and Claudia, who helps me book shows!
Online: littlefyodor.com
Category: Local News
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