Armed Fauxes Radio

It’s not really true. We’ve seen him. He really has eyes.

What happens when you play Polyphonic Spree, Magma and then have the nerve to smash it into Tom Waits and They Might Be Giants, then try to whimsically take the edge off with some Sleepytime Guerrilla Museum?

Faux is often mouthy, irreverent and usually… well not usually… all the time has something to say. He’s just plain funny. One of the more engaging personalities, maybe.

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Get to Know Your WMSE DJ Profile

How do you spend your days and nights when not hosting your radio show?

I work two jobs and have a number of ridiculous and time-consuming hobbies and pursuits. What little free time I manage, is spent with my lovely lady Kate and handsome miniature schnauzer, Iggy.

Do you remember what band, album or song took you from being a casual music listener to a passionate music lover?

First Clash record, Elvis Costello and DEVO.

Is there a memory associated with that experience?

It’s a toss-up between the first Clash cassette my friend Chris Harenda picked up when it was first released. We listened to it over and over on his hand-held tape recorder. It wasn’t like anything QFM or LPX were spinning. The other thing that sent me on my path was going to a film festival at The Oriental with Chris and our friend Mickey. I wasn’t supposed to be riding around with my friends because I was only thirteen and they were a couple years older than me, but Mickey’s ’65 Impala may have been a spaceship as far as how it expanded our world. Anyway, the program featured all the (this is BEFORE there was such a thing as ‘videos’) films that DEVO made for the first record along with promotional films of Elvis Costello performing songs off of My Aim Is True. There was also a Suicide Commandos short for their song “Burn It Down”.

Blew

My

Mind

What band have you heard or discovered in the past six months that reminded you why you want to continue being a WMSE DJ.

The Milwaukee band Head On Electric released a one-sided 7″ single this year called Ghost Hunter. In addition, a propulsive punk gem, I was struck by the whole seeming futility of releasing a one-sided 7″ into an mpeg world. The cover is handmade and hand painted and there is a screen print on the B-side. Even if the music were subpar (IT ISN’T), it would still strike me as a Herculean statement of art. There was obviously a lot of love and passion put into that single statement.

I also had a front row seat in watching the Burning Sons record an EP and then work with the 80+ year-old Doug Moody (Mystic Records label owner) to revive the iconic but moribund label from my younger days. Pretty inspirational watching an octogenarian still swimming in the punk rock sea.

Finally, gotta give props to the Kings Go Forth and De La Buena for producing records that stand amongst the best releases in the country for 2011. It’s also super cool, as a DJ, to walk into a business like Ben’s Cycles or Jamo’s or any restaurant/kitchen in the city and hear MSE playing. It’s nice to see the practical application of radio.

Who is your favorite non-you WMSE DJ and why?

Yikes, this is a terrible question. I love Cebar when he decides to show up, Cosmo was a real gem, Joe and Pete have been having one of the all-time great love affairs on the radio forever (will they or won’t they?). I love the fact that MSE gives (Mark) Krueger an outlet to do his thing, Hal Rammel is always interesting even when I feel like he is personally assaulting my ears, I’m inspired by Von Munz lugging 30-40 pounds of records in every week on his bike, Shopkeeper Ken/Grasscutter Andy are consistently rad and I love the psych freaky wonder of Wanderer. The Girlina Show, the Rockleidoscope, (Paul) Host of course, and anytime Crawford does a show, it takes me right back to when I was a pup. But, if you put a gun to my head, I guess I’d choose Alien Andre. I’ve spent many a night for many, many years listening to him do his thing.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Skinny.