Most musicians play on instruments, “After Cooking” plays on what he can make out of the trash. We talk Garbage Music , the strange looks he always gets and the best trash for making music. Then, we unveil a new Candle of the Month and Countdown the Top 5 Things you Always Mean to Do but Never Actually Do.
After Cooking: 01:41ish
Pointless: 23:52ish
Top 5: 43:40ish
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“After Cooking” Artist Interview
Nick VinZant 0:11
Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant. Coming up in this episode, garbage, music and things we should do. But don't,
After Cooking 0:22
it's kind of a challenge to make actually good music out of something that people throw away. A little bit of background, this thing is always played with a just regular flip flop.
And it's causing only problems. And the thing is, at the same time, it's the best thing I ever made.
Nick VinZant 0:48
I want to thank you so much for joining us, if you get a chance to subscribe, leave us a rating or review, we really appreciate it really helps out the show. If you're a new listener, welcome. If you're a longtime listener, thanks for all of your support. So our first guest is a different kind of musician. Instead of using instruments, he plays on garbage, and it's really good.
This is garbage musician. After cooking? Did you start out with kind of traditional musical instruments? Or was this always the path
After Cooking 1:47
both ways that are kind of true, I actually started with playing on pots and pans. That was the first thing I ever dropped on. After that, I stopped playing on pots and pans and I started playing on a normal drum set. And on Sunday, I just went back to the pots and pans again.
Nick VinZant 2:05
What is it about them though, right? Like why? Why are you drawn to this style of music? Why
After Cooking 2:11
I think it's all kind of started more or less, actually, because I needed some money, I needed a job. And while my passion is to play drums, that always has been my passion. I was thinking well, I can get like a halftime job somewhere in supermarkets or at a bar doing that. Or I could try making some music on the streets drawing. The thing with drumming on street is, for one, if you have a drum kits, it's really heavy to transport that through the city, I mean, who carries the whole drum set with them, especially when you're working around all day. So that's kind of a big, big problem there. And garbage actually solves that problem. Because now I just have a big backpack full of pots and pans, I have two buckets that I can just carry in my hand. And then I'm good to go, then I can just go into the streets. Another really good thing about good thing about that, too, is that as soon as you play on something that is not usual, to people, they don't see that often at someone plays on garbage. As soon as we do that, it's more interesting for them. Especially when you play on the streets on the streets, you always need to have something that catches the eye of of the audience, something that is interesting, something that they have never seen before. And someone who dropped some garbage is for them much more interesting than someone who just plays drums. People are so attracted to it because it's so new. So interesting. So unusual to do.
Nick VinZant 3:52
Is it a novelty kind of thing, though, right? Or is the music really good? Like, oh, this kind of actually, yeah, it's different. But it does resonate with people,
After Cooking 4:04
I think, a combination out of those two. Apparently, I started to play better. Because people pay way more attention now than they did five years ago. I think five years ago, I was just literally someone who bangs on garbage on the streets, just making some noise kind of they hear something that sounds kind of like for example, techno drums, but they see someone who plays on garbage. And I think that's like the the magical thing about it.
Nick VinZant 4:36
Is it just pots and pans are what other kinds of instruments for you are garbage. I
After Cooking 4:41
used to have a lot of pots of pots and pans and different tonalities so they actually fit to each other. It took me quite some time to find something in key. So for example now if I play with other musicians, I can actually tell them okay, let's play in, in the key of D, D sharp minor, because my pots fit to that. On the other hand, I have buckets. The bucket just work as a kind of bass like a kick drum, then I have also like, plastic. Jerry, can
Nick VinZant 5:19
I obviously, it's not hard to find garbage, right? Like you can find that kind of pretty much anywhere. But do you have to look for a certain type of garbage, right? You mentioned like, Alright, I gotta get a pan that plays in D minor. Most garbage
After Cooking 5:32
doesn't play in any key. More or less a noisy thing. It's not something that makes a tone where you can say, oh, that's an A, or that's a D. But yeah, this definitely difficult to find them. For example, the pots that are used, they are not all of them are actually playable. Because you need something that when you hit it, it needs to stay in, it needs to sound for a longer time. Otherwise, it's not just like, you need something that makes more like a sound, something like that, to imagine something that resonates. Yeah. And so for that, it was pretty hard to find something that actually resonates. And I found out that there is one special way they made pots, they don't do it anymore, which is kind of a problem for me now. Because if I need to find some new pots, it's getting harder and harder. They're like those. I don't know, I don't know how to describe them. They're like little pots, which look like my grandma would have them in, in their home like old pots with painted flowers on them or something. They have like, no sheetrock, they have like, material they're made with a Meyer, it may, I don't know how it's how it's pronounced are called. Which, which makes that sound. And now everything is made from stainless steel or anything like that. The pots nowadays don't sound that good anymore. So I've kind of a problem if I want to find some new? Well, I think you can still buy them some places, but they're more and more rarely.
Nick VinZant 7:17
So where do you get them?
After Cooking 7:18
Like a market where people sell their stuff secondhand? I went there with with the drumstick looked at all the pots they have. And then I hit on them and said, Oh, no, thank you. And went on to find other things. So I don't know what they were thinking. I didn't have time to explain it to everyone. But yeah,
Nick VinZant 7:40
that's what kind of looks where you get in when you're just walking around banging on people's pants.
After Cooking 7:46
I don't know, I don't even know, you know, all kinds of looks I, I trained myself not to care. Because otherwise it would it would be too much. People are always looking weirdly especially for example, also when I when I start making music in the street, the moment that I unpack my things, you know, I'm just walking around to the backpacks for the city really big backfit that backpack though. And then I start to unpack it. And I only have garbage inside, I only have pots and broken metallic things. I don't know things people wouldn't have used for anymore. And I really started to concentrate to just do my thing and to not look at the people because they're always like, What is he doing? Why is he unpacking garbage in the middle of the in the city center?
Nick VinZant 8:39
You make the money playing on the street? Can you like is this? Is this something where you could go into a recording studio and make an album?
After Cooking 8:49
Well, no, not yet. The thing is, like one year ago, I I realized that I want to do a little bit more with it. Because there were a lot of people who talked to me on the street and said, Hey, we have an event that would be nice if you could come to us and and have a gig on stage. But that also is something I couldn't give to those people. Because what I do is, it's not that that much of of like it's not really music what I do. I mean, I make a few nice beats now and then and that's what people like. But I think also the beautiful thing about it what what people can see in it is that kind of live performance. Just that kind of the randomness. It's not about the music. It's about the event itself, that people find so great at the moment. But to put it just for itself on stage. I think that's rather difficult. So what I did since last year I wanted to take it a step further. And I specialized on exactly doing that putting getting it on stage, making it interesting enough to play it on stage. And therefore also making it installation interesting enough to get it into a studio to record it. I'm thinking all the time about making new instruments, what I could do that still fits into my kind of garbage music. And now I can finally say that I have something that I could actually that I can actually present on stage and also in the studio to, yeah, to make songs to make an album. And I'm making a few songs right now. The first one should be available soon.
Nick VinZant 10:47
So if the pots and pans in the bucket kind of simulates drums, right? What did the other instruments simulate the PVC
After Cooking 10:57
pipes? They sound like a bass? Like a bass guitar? Something plucky. I mean, if you put a lot of effects on it with the software then maybe even could sound more or less like a guitar, for example.
Nick VinZant 11:12
I see you have some in the background is there? Could you give us like a quick example on one of the smaller ones? I'm interested to see how you do this. Oh, yeah, that's like, two meters, seven feet, whatever the metric you want to use there.
After Cooking 11:29
A little bit of background, this thing is always played with a just regular flip flop. Oh, I
Nick VinZant 11:35
thought you were just I thought you just dropped.
After Cooking 11:38
I didn't drop my shoe that my, my my stick blades. I love I don't know why. But that's, that's kind of the best thing you can you can get for this kind of instrument that gets it gets really warm sound. Let me give you an example.
Nick VinZant 11:54
And for anybody listening to this, right, like, this isn't hooked up to professional microphones and all that kind of stuff. So.
Okay, so you got the drums? You got the guitar, the bass guitar? Is there any other ones that you're working on?
After Cooking 12:16
Actually, yes, there are a few other ones. Right now I'm experimenting with. With the razor, like an electric razor. If you take that sound, put it to a microphone, and then just pitch the tone. So pitching it higher or lower, then you can get the sound that is really close to just electronic synthesizers, sounds absolutely like something you would hear in every electronic song. And I also have a sore. It's just like a normal sore, but you can use a bow, just like for a violin. And then you can bow the saw and get a really weird sound out of it.
Nick VinZant 13:03
You know, for people who maybe aren't musicians, right? Like I get the immediate like, Oh, that's cool, right? Like, it's interesting to see how you can make musical sounds with stuff that's not necessarily an instrument for other musicians. Are they like, Hey, man, go for it with this experimental stuff. Are they kind of like, what's this guy? Do?
After Cooking 13:24
I think till now I only got great response. Because even for them, it's something new challenge. I'm challenging. I'm challenging myself to do something that people haven't done that much before. It's kind of a challenge to make actually good music out of something that people throw away.
Nick VinZant 13:45
Do you? Are you testing it out? Or do you feel like no, I can do this,
After Cooking 13:51
I really, really, really want to. And I believe that there's definitely potential in this kind of thing. And the big idea for me behind this is that I want to integrate more live music into the electronic scene, like the electronic music scene. The thing is, with electronic music, everyone loves it. But for me, What I miss is that you cannot relate that much to the sound. When you're when you're watching it like live on stage, you cannot relate this much to what is happening there. Then you can watching regular bands. And that's why I want to create something where people can actually relate to the sound. They see, for example, that big bass tube and they think Hey, okay, that's the sound you make when you hit on that kind of instrument. I hope that people can relate in that way more to what is happening like electronic music. That makes
Nick VinZant 14:52
sense, right? I understand what you're saying in the sense that like, I'm a fan of that house, electronic techno, whatever you want to call it. Music But for all I know, it's somebody up there just pressing play on their iPhone, right? Like you're not seeing someone make that music in real time. Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Yeah, sure. What is a piece of trash? You've tried to make music on and was like, Oh, this, this is not going to work? Well,
After Cooking 15:20
that's a good question. Well, that's kind of a kind of struggle, I think it's, it's still the the big PVC pipe instrument, that's, that's more or less my greatest success right now, because that's what catches the eye the most at this moment. But at the same time, it's also kind of my biggest failure, because it's such a big instrument, it's nearly doesn't fit in my cart, it's actually I have one centimeter left. It's like, just by luck, I just close my doors of the car, just by luck, I didn't even try to calculate that before, it's like really big instrument really heavy to carry around the brakes all the time. And I need to put microphones on the end of that instrument. And if you have 12 of those pipes, ending at different spots, it's really hard to catch all the sounds at the same level. So it's with the same audio quality, live on stage, I'm getting a lot of problems because you have feedback, the sound from the speakers, or getting back into the microphone. It's just an instrument that is really, really hard to build to carry around to, to put mics on. And it's causing only problems. And the thing is, at the same time, it's the best thing I ever made
Nick VinZant 16:59
is is there any other example of this in like popular culture in the sense that like, some other musician has done something similar, or there's a sound effect in a movie, or anything like this, that maybe not like not to this level, but just like, oh, this person did this in this. And it's kind of the same thing that I'm doing.
After Cooking 17:25
Yeah, there are definitely a lot of people who are already doing something similar than I do. Especially as you said in, for example, effects for films for movies. I'm falling, I'm following a few people on Instagram. We're actually doing that and there are a lot of people in this world who already got really creative and made really crazy sounds out of naturalistic things. Just record it with a microphone. So yeah, there are definitely a lot of people doing that. But I haven't seen them I haven't seen any doing this kind of thing live on stage
Nick VinZant 18:06
so that you didn't then just like walk around banging on stuff all the time.
After Cooking 18:11
Not not as much as I would wish i It's definitely a good idea to just go around and experiment with things that are around you just to hear the sounds when I when I walk past like how to say it in English like a construction. Yeah, construction. When I see like a really long big pipe laying around. I would I would love it to just go there and hit on it. See how bass it sounds how sub bass that sound would be. But I don't do it since it's illegal. Most of the times they're working there, I guess. But yeah, I think it's a good thing to just experiment and find more things to make music with.
Nick VinZant 19:00
What is your overall favorite sound?
After Cooking 19:03
Doesn't have to be garbage. Just one instrument I'm cheating with and I love it.
Nick VinZant 19:07
Give me a garbage one and then a regular one. How about that? Yeah.
After Cooking 19:10
So garbage one. As I said, it's the one I love and hate the most the tube instrument. The other one that is not made out of garbage is a colomba Have you ever heard of a colomba? I don't it's like a little wooden block with metal things on it. If you if you let the metal thing vibrate, the block vibrates and that creates a sound this is one
Nick VinZant 19:41
oh I feel like can you strum it or play it or whatever real quick
is that is a cool sound. Now where's the From the like, what culture does that originate from?
After Cooking 20:04
I think original originally, it's somewhere from Africa. I don't know what count three to be exact.
Nick VinZant 20:11
Do you clean it off before you use it for everyone that we
After Cooking 20:15
are on the same page here, I'm not playing on things that are actually really, really dirty. So I mean, they're getting more dirty and the they are getting dirtier when I play on the street, for example. But I don't take something from from a garbage bell that is full of, I don't know, fungus.
Nick VinZant 20:39
Whatever you're saying, You're not digging out of the
After Cooking 20:41
drone. No, not at all. So and if I would do that, and yes, before I start playing it, I definitely cleaned. Clean it at least one time.
Nick VinZant 20:51
So now, can you explain the name after cooking after cooking? Yeah. Where did that come from?
After Cooking 20:56
Well, um, a few years ago, I think four or four years ago or something when I did the garbage drumming on the street thing for for a year. People asked asked me all the time, what my name is. So well, if they can find me on social media or, or anything. And I didn't have anything I didn't have a name. And then I started thinking about what I what I could do. And I don't know I didn't take it that serious. So I didn't think about a name that long. And at the end, I thought like, Okay, I'm banging on pots and pans. Normally, you cook on pots and pans. I do kind of a recycling thing with them. So I call myself after cooking. It's like, after you're done with cooking after you don't use this stuff anymore. I take them to draw on it. That's a good,
Nick VinZant 21:58
I like it, man. I like it. Um, that's all the questions that we have. Is there anything else that you think that we missed? Or? Well, there's
After Cooking 22:05
definitely one thing I would love to say. I just to let people know when when things will be happening. Because on my Instagram and Tiktok, a lot of people asked me when I will drop my first song or when I dropped something on Spotify. And just wanted to say that I've been working on it really, really hard. But it also takes a lot of time because I don't want to be my songs, just something that I have done in two days. I mean, I want to put effort in it, make it sound really, really good. And that's why it takes so long but my first one is finally ready. And now there are a lot of things that still need to be done. For example, music, making music video, thinking about our cover and anything, but my song should be out there on Spotify, Apple Music, or whatever you can think of. At the end of November, please support it because that's my dream. I would love to make more for for people. So yeah, I'm excited.