MEDUSA
Medusa is a UK Punk Band that's notoriously known as the guys who stole Russell Brand's garden gnome after a private performance, and when invited on to his show as a peace offering, snuck a goat in to his dressing room which proceeded to eat his clothes and poo in his shoes.
They have also worn as a badge of pride the ability to be banned from almost every venue they played at when first starting out. But if you want further details on all of that you will be able to do a Google search and I'm sure you can find it quickly. Alternatively you can visit their army of sites and pages for further details and listen to their music at;
http://www.myspace.com/medusauk
http://www.facebook.com/medusauk
http://www.medusaworld.co.uk
http://www.twitter.com/medusaworld
http://www.medusauk.bigcartel.com
However, in the middle of promoting their latest album "Can't Fucking Win", I was able to steal a few moments of frontman Julian Molinero's time to ask questions that I hoped would not place him in a coma from boredom.
They have also worn as a badge of pride the ability to be banned from almost every venue they played at when first starting out. But if you want further details on all of that you will be able to do a Google search and I'm sure you can find it quickly. Alternatively you can visit their army of sites and pages for further details and listen to their music at;
http://www.myspace.com/medusauk
http://www.facebook.com/medusauk
http://www.medusaworld.co.uk
http://www.twitter.com/medusaworld
http://www.medusauk.bigcartel.com
However, in the middle of promoting their latest album "Can't Fucking Win", I was able to steal a few moments of frontman Julian Molinero's time to ask questions that I hoped would not place him in a coma from boredom.
The Interview
After reading your bio I see that the band was started in 1998, and then you played around for a few years but resurrected the band in 2006. Why was there such a huge break before you got back in to it? Actually it was going from '98 to 2004, only gaining a drummer and playing a first gig in 2000, then around summer 2004 after only playing gigs, never making any proper recordings, when that line up dissolved I had become bored of the punk style that we were playing and was obsessed with developing on guitar. Particularly with solos, so I tried several times to put a new line up together but I was more interested in progressing. Also during this time I managed to aquire my rare guitar modelled on the tailfin of a '57 Chevy Bel Air and amp which I still use now, so this time wasn't wasted, it was spent developing ideas for what would become Medusa when I put together a new band to record the first album, which happened in September 2006.
Everything that I have read about your band indicates that you are the driving force at making it a success. From writing and recording the songs, to taking over the direction of the videos; does all that responsibility ever get too much? And how do you stay motivated to continue pushing the band forth? I just have a strong vision of the band and know how I want things and my desire to get things done isn't stoppable or something even I, can control. It's music done for the right reasons and I
believe in it. No matter what forces are against me, I would rather live in a cave and be doing exactly what I want than sell my freedom to be a slave to something else.
Your plans for Medusa started when you were 14 years of age, what was it about music that made you choose it as your creative outlet? Was it the only option you had at the time or were you in to other creative pursuits? Before I discovered bands I liked, I didn't particularly care for music but I liked movies and TV... entertainment in general. I loved Beavis and Butt-head and thought I perhaps wanted to get into animation. But when I discovered music, I was torn.
Animation or learning guitar... I read Mike Judge who made Beavis and Butt-head also was a guitarist, so that settled it for me. That confirmed guitar was something I should do too.
Then, at the end of last year I found some independently made Ramones cartoons on youtube that were really cool and started wondering, what would have appened if I had chosen animation instead, because it was close for a while. So for the Tinkerbell music video I bought some art tools, figured out a way to animate and
made a cartoon of the band for it. It took me six weeks and I will not be making another animation! I found it a painfully slow, boring and horrible process, but
at least now I know!
Given society’s ‘need’ to watch reality shows, do you feel that programs such as ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ can be a springboard for musicians, or the death of their dreams, based on the fact that after the show has finished most artists will never be heard from again? I think those shows are unforgivable. Exploiting vulnerable people's dreams for cheap entertainment, giving the illusion that they can offer stardom and the full package, just to manipulate embarracing behaviour from them. Not only is it the death of art, it's nasty fast-buck making. It's just one example of the culture becoming more and more dumbed down when we should be advancing. I believe facebook is the same, basing the business model on what the masses want which is instant gratification of simple indulgence of the individual because this will
make more money quickly, no matter what it does to the culture. At least myspace placed focus on bands and comedians. On facebook, a person can gain more
attention from taking a photograph of their drink than releasing an album, book or DVD, so it encourages and rewards people more for basically doing nothing,
certainly with regards to art. I have nothing to do with such things. Rock 'n' roll cannot exist in a world like this.
Has there ever been a time when you have just wanted to give up and walk away from what you are doing? If so, what motivated you to push through those barriers and get on with it? When you're in a band with other people and it's your band, the other members are sooner or later going to get fed up with it all, especially if they're not becoming rich off it. So often it is me fighting against all sorts of forces to continue, including from inside the band. But I feel like this is what I need to be doing, it gives me self respect, fulfilment of creative desires and the most important thing which is art, which lasts forever. I consider myself an artist and ultimately, moreso than anything else this is possibly the only thing that allows me to be content.
So what does the future hold for Medusa at this point, is there anything in the works? I have just started planning a Medusa movie. It will contain the 3 music videos that have been made so far plus unseen footage, new interviews, dramatic reconstructions and science fiction! It's going to be really crazy and over the next few months, I plan to focus on both the third album and this simultaneously, although the movie won't be released for a few years.
Finally, is there any advice or insight that you can offer readers in relation to having the courage to chase their chosen creative field? What I would say is, if you're having doubts of any kind, you're simply thinking about it in the wrong way. You just need to do it and follow the aspect of it that most excites you. I put off ever
recording an album for a long time because I thought recording an album was such a holy thing and it had to be perfect, then I realised I would put it off
forever and may never do it if I didn't just go for it. So in 2006, during that haitus period, despite only having one and a half songs written and no band I
phoned up a studio and booked five days in it for about 2 months in the future and that was the first Medusa album. I don't think the first thing you do needs
to be perfect because alot of its charm can be the innocence and excited energy of it being an early work. Then for the second album I spent three and a half
years on it, mainly on songwriting because I wanted it to be perfect, so I kind of went the other way.
With the music videos I've been working on recently, no hesitation was involved, I just went for it.
Just focus on making good art that won't become old. And also, life is short, so do it now.
Everything that I have read about your band indicates that you are the driving force at making it a success. From writing and recording the songs, to taking over the direction of the videos; does all that responsibility ever get too much? And how do you stay motivated to continue pushing the band forth? I just have a strong vision of the band and know how I want things and my desire to get things done isn't stoppable or something even I, can control. It's music done for the right reasons and I
believe in it. No matter what forces are against me, I would rather live in a cave and be doing exactly what I want than sell my freedom to be a slave to something else.
Your plans for Medusa started when you were 14 years of age, what was it about music that made you choose it as your creative outlet? Was it the only option you had at the time or were you in to other creative pursuits? Before I discovered bands I liked, I didn't particularly care for music but I liked movies and TV... entertainment in general. I loved Beavis and Butt-head and thought I perhaps wanted to get into animation. But when I discovered music, I was torn.
Animation or learning guitar... I read Mike Judge who made Beavis and Butt-head also was a guitarist, so that settled it for me. That confirmed guitar was something I should do too.
Then, at the end of last year I found some independently made Ramones cartoons on youtube that were really cool and started wondering, what would have appened if I had chosen animation instead, because it was close for a while. So for the Tinkerbell music video I bought some art tools, figured out a way to animate and
made a cartoon of the band for it. It took me six weeks and I will not be making another animation! I found it a painfully slow, boring and horrible process, but
at least now I know!
Given society’s ‘need’ to watch reality shows, do you feel that programs such as ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ can be a springboard for musicians, or the death of their dreams, based on the fact that after the show has finished most artists will never be heard from again? I think those shows are unforgivable. Exploiting vulnerable people's dreams for cheap entertainment, giving the illusion that they can offer stardom and the full package, just to manipulate embarracing behaviour from them. Not only is it the death of art, it's nasty fast-buck making. It's just one example of the culture becoming more and more dumbed down when we should be advancing. I believe facebook is the same, basing the business model on what the masses want which is instant gratification of simple indulgence of the individual because this will
make more money quickly, no matter what it does to the culture. At least myspace placed focus on bands and comedians. On facebook, a person can gain more
attention from taking a photograph of their drink than releasing an album, book or DVD, so it encourages and rewards people more for basically doing nothing,
certainly with regards to art. I have nothing to do with such things. Rock 'n' roll cannot exist in a world like this.
Has there ever been a time when you have just wanted to give up and walk away from what you are doing? If so, what motivated you to push through those barriers and get on with it? When you're in a band with other people and it's your band, the other members are sooner or later going to get fed up with it all, especially if they're not becoming rich off it. So often it is me fighting against all sorts of forces to continue, including from inside the band. But I feel like this is what I need to be doing, it gives me self respect, fulfilment of creative desires and the most important thing which is art, which lasts forever. I consider myself an artist and ultimately, moreso than anything else this is possibly the only thing that allows me to be content.
So what does the future hold for Medusa at this point, is there anything in the works? I have just started planning a Medusa movie. It will contain the 3 music videos that have been made so far plus unseen footage, new interviews, dramatic reconstructions and science fiction! It's going to be really crazy and over the next few months, I plan to focus on both the third album and this simultaneously, although the movie won't be released for a few years.
Finally, is there any advice or insight that you can offer readers in relation to having the courage to chase their chosen creative field? What I would say is, if you're having doubts of any kind, you're simply thinking about it in the wrong way. You just need to do it and follow the aspect of it that most excites you. I put off ever
recording an album for a long time because I thought recording an album was such a holy thing and it had to be perfect, then I realised I would put it off
forever and may never do it if I didn't just go for it. So in 2006, during that haitus period, despite only having one and a half songs written and no band I
phoned up a studio and booked five days in it for about 2 months in the future and that was the first Medusa album. I don't think the first thing you do needs
to be perfect because alot of its charm can be the innocence and excited energy of it being an early work. Then for the second album I spent three and a half
years on it, mainly on songwriting because I wanted it to be perfect, so I kind of went the other way.
With the music videos I've been working on recently, no hesitation was involved, I just went for it.
Just focus on making good art that won't become old. And also, life is short, so do it now.
The Music
Latest Clip
She's Venusian
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MP3 Madness
Venomous |
She's Venusian |
Sugarlips |
Tinkerbell |
Luck |
You're So Lucid |
Donna Marie |
Pollen |