Bruce: Atlantic Interview (April 1995)

from Atlantic Records:

Admittedly, there's a big preoccupation with labels in our compartmentalized universe, but Bruce McCulloch just won't submit to it. Don't let that scare you, let that free you. On his Atlantic debut album, "SHAME-BASED MAN", The Kids In The Hall comedy trouper takes a rock- driven journey through the depths of dysfunctional, needy love and the lives of the trapped, inebriated, and out-of-shape. "is it rock?" wonders Bruce. "Kinda, but not really. Is it spoken word? Kinda, but that's a weird area. Is it comedy? Well, it's funny but no, it's not comedy." The album contains music, comedic essays, and even some stuff that sounds like poetry. They're sort of songs by a guy who doesn't exactly sing, with snippets of radio talk show fantasy filling the gaps.

As a writer and cast member of The Kids In The Hall, Bruce is best known for such cjaracters as the lovable Gavin, the genitally impared Cabbage Head, Kathy the secretary, the "my pen" guy, and Laura's guitar- wielding boyfriend, Bobby. After forming in '84, the monologue and sketch comedy troupe quickly earned a following through their energized Toronto club performances. The five Kids taped their first TV special in '87, which led to the creation of their widely-praised half hour comedy program. "The Kids In The Hall" ran for two seasons on CBS-TV and five seasons on Canada's CBC and cable's Comedy Central-where it is still broadcast twice daily. The group is the subject of much fan obsession, as evidenced by the high volume of daily messages they generate on the Internet and commercial networks like America Online.

Though the Kids have since stopped production of the show, they continue to perform to sell-out crowds and are now starting work with producer Lorne Michaels on their first feature film (due in late '95). "We're never gonna break up," says Bruce of the troupe. "But we just might be too busy to get together." Outside the troupe, Bruce has made his mark with his recent short film contributions to NBC-TV's "Saturday Night Live, " which include film versions of his album tracks "Stalking" and "Eraser Head." His first short film, "The Coleslaw Warehouse," aired on CBC and made the festival rounds in '92. "It's like 'Death Of A Salesman.' They like it a lot in Europe." He is also the author of three plays, which have been presented at theatres across Canada.

For McCulloch, recording an album is the natural culmination of years of rock fandom and drawing on rock subjects for his work with the Kids. "The rest of the troupe have all these TV influences like Carol Burnett and stuff," says Bruce. "But when I was growing up, TV wasn't an influence. I didn't watch Monty Python or Saturday Night Live. They didn't mean anything to me. It was always rock music. I think you can see that in the show. Music was my touchstone. Music is still much more important to me."

To write "SHAME-BASED MAN," Bruce joined with his longtime friend Brian Connelly, guitarist with the Toronto-based Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet. (The Shadowy Men are well known by Kids fans for their instrumental introduction to the TV show.) A Calgary native like Bruce, Brian who knows too well where the man is coming from. Much of the album emerged out of improvisation and extended jam sessions with Bruce, Brian, and producer Bob Wiseman (ex-Blue Rodeo member.) Prior to the album's recording sessions, the group sequestered themselves in a small demo studio and went to work. "For a week we just fucked around," says Bruce. "I'd bring in melodies or they'd just start jamming. It was like getting back to a cool kind of performance thing for me, combining my monologues and other stuff with music."

Listening to such tracks as "Our Love" or "Daddy's On The Drink," those inclined to psychoanalytical deconstruction may be moved to invent pet theories on the mind of Bruce McCulloch. Try it out on him and he'll probably just tell you about his love for the baby Jesus. "There's that whole fucking psychiatrist thing about people being funny just to avoid something in their lives," says McCulloch. "I think that's totally wrong. I'm not. I'm being funny just to splash myself in it."

The character sketch nature of "Al Miller" and "Daddy's On The Drink" reflect Bruce's fascination with the oddities of the human condition and intimate minutia of any person's daily routine. "I hate to sound like Julie the cruise director but it's people that I think about all the time, " says Bruce. "And I don't even mean that in a good way. It's about looking at a security guard and imagining him fucking his 17-year-old girlfriend. That's a constant dialogue in my head." This tendency for analysis of imagined lives continues on "Doors" with Bruce walking in the shoes of a Lizard King fanatic. "I was NEVER a Doors fan," says McCulloch. "L.A. Woman is amazing, but when I was growing up I was into the Who. To me, Doors fans were always the 16-year-old idiots at parties, getting stoned, and talking about how Morrison's lyrics were like poetry...like that was a deep thought."

Up-tempo tracks such as "Daves I Know" and "Answering Machine" will be readily familiar from their inclusion on the Kids' TV show. "They're part of my sense of humor, which is quirky and bouncy and stupid," says McCulloch. "I like being funny that way." Such moments are countered by the darker shades of the Kurt Cobain-inspired "Vigil" and "America," a series of Robert Frank-styled snapshots of the American myth. The more melancholy aspects of the record can be directly tied to Bruce's state of mind at the time the album was recorded. "'I'm Not Happy' was the perfect slogan for the album," says McCulloch. "That was the prevailing tone. Somehow 'SHAME-BASED MAN' just felt right for the title. Besides, shame is the master emotion."

For Bruce, real insight-both comedic and tragic-comes from the acknowledgment of one's failings and flaws. It's in those trait and events where real humor exists. Why try to escape it? "That's the great part about people," says McCulloch. "A friend of mine once told me how embarrassed she was of her fucked-up white trash past. And I said to her, 'You're here because of that. That's great.' I was a fuckin' asshole in high school. But if I didn't break people's windows or steal their mittens - or whatever pseudo-comedy nasty shit I pulled - I wouldn't be who I am. I was an evil young man who wrecked all his Toyotas. But in order to become a neat, cool person - to whatever extent I am a neat, cool person - you have to go through that. You can't think 'I wish I hadn't done that in grade 8.' That's why we all are who we are." Take it from the shame-based man. He knows.

Contributor

•  Edward Johnson-ott