Mankind has just begun to explore the endless realm of sonic possibilities made available by ever advancing synthetic music technology.  At the forefront of our local scene's journey into uncharted musical territory is 51 Peg.  They blend elements of a myriad of forms of popular music with, well, weird sounds.  Their plethora of musical machines combined with traditional instruments, give these pioneers the tools to capture every heavy and somber mood from their tortured psyches and share it with the world in musical form.  Sometimes you have to be in a certain mood to listen to a band.  51 Peg puts you in a mood.  Their mood...

 Jeff Sargent- Vocals/Synth

Jaime Nish- Keyboards

Joe Barowy- Guitar/Synth

Carlo Pizarro- Guitar

Brian Fasani- Vdrums

 

I was given the pleasure of sitting down with Jeff and Jaime and I took the liberty of recording the conversation and then typing it up, so you, the Shadow Reader, could obtain a unique insight into the mind of 51 Peg.  You're welcome...

 How do you describe your music?

 Jeff- Heavy electronic music.  We don't really fit into a musical genre, we just do what we do.  Some people say Tool meets Depeche Mode.

Jaime-  We are a rock band, just happen to use different kinds of equipment.

 What got you into music?

 Jeff- When I was fourteen I lived overseas in Guam and there wasn't much to do.  A bunch of my friends all ended up with instruments and started playing music together and I was the only one who didn't have an instrument, so they asked me if I wanted to sing. 

 You guys a very visual band.   How does this enhance the music?

 Jaime-  Everybody wants a show.  They don't want to see me up there in khakis.  They want to see you up there in costumes, it's entertainment.  It's an extension of ourselves.  We actually dress like that when we're not on stage.  We'll go downtown in vinyl, spiking our hair up.  It's an enhanced version of ourselves.

 It didn't look like you guys had a bass player the last time I saw you.

 Jeff- We don't have a bass player.

 How do you freak this?

 Jeff- We have magic machines.  We had a bass player but it didn't work out.  It's nice that we didn't have to incorporate a whole other personality. Everybody in this band has kind of found a way to take their instrument, their part of what we do, and add what's missing without having a bass player.

Jaime-  We're each one fifth of the bass player. 

 What's your song writing process like?  Are you guys into musical theory?

 Jaime-  I'm a classically trained musician.  Literally we'll start playing and somebody will come up with something that starts off with somebody else and I'll try to delve into the theory but I usually get ignored. 

Jeff- We just make noises.

 What do you think of the DC scene?

 Jaime-  It seems like clubs that are out of this area are a lot more open to having you in there.  A lot of people around here are big fans of RapCore, which I like personally but we're not.  And we might not get the same draw around here as a RapCore band and obviously they're going to go with that before they go with us.  Jeff- I have a really good way to dodge that question without answering it.  We don't really participate in the DC scene.  We tried to but we weren't really well received and we started playing other places like Pennsylvania, Baltimore, and New York. When we play at home, we play here (T.T. Reynolds) for our friends.

 

 

 

 

 

Why would you try to dodge that question?  If there's something wrong with the scene we need to fix it.

 Jeff-  It's my job to be judicious and politically correct.  I think the DC scene is a little bit elitist and a little bit self serving.  There are a lot of people involved in the DC scene that aren't ready to accept new things.  Everyone's still hung up on that whole Dischord thing, which I thought was great.  It was a major movement and it meant a lot but they got to let that go and do something new.

 What do you guys offer people that's new?

 Jeff-  We don't adhere to a genre.  We don't feel like it's necessary to sound like we're an Industrial band or a Techno band or a Pop band or a Rock band.  We're noises man.  We're making music that I like to listen to.