Eric Beaumont a/k/a "Eric Blowtorch"
of Milwaukee, WI, has put music to two Pynchon songs
from Gravity's Rainbow, one of which appears
as the second of three ghost tracks at the end of a
compilation CD called Workman's Comp.
tracks
001 babyhead - beaver song
002 ka - gossamer
003 competitorr - why keep them happy?
004 the blue tips - untouchable
005 bamm bamm - surf song
006 the stranjah and dr. dig - the stranjah and
dr. dig
007 eracism - big guy
008 killingtheoldman - idle handed
009 g13 - trolling for olives
010 box car - she thinks I hate her
011 tinker - chanukah begins at sundown
012 jeffrobinson starship - stacie on the stage
013 the no - flowers
014 dan hanrahan - life's a lonely feeling
015 igloo - eternal grey
016 ablo diablos - shiphand
017 eric blowtorch and the revelation rockers -
save your tears
018 the rev kings - instrumental #10
019 the virgins - hockey
020 highball holiday - ignorance
021 lee - instrumental
Describing the Pynchon sources of the songs, Eric says:
"The one on Workman's Comp I call 'Now and
Then.' It's the one that starts 'Last week I threw a
pie at someone's momma, last night I threw a party for
my mind...' The one that's not yet published I call
'Song from the Saturation Zone.' It starts, 'Oh, don't
let it get you, it will if they let you, but there's
something I'll bet you can't see...'"
Opening his song 'Now and Then,' Eric sings in an almost
childlike vocal style reminiscent of David Byrne at
his most satirical, but his range of influences is broad
and the song sounds almost like The Cure near the end
of the first verse. The first verse does stand apart
from the second one, but both end with similar guitar
sounds. They are separated by what can only be described
as a musical 'crash,' with Eric's voice sounding quite
sad before the transition occurs. As the second verse
begins, there is a heavy discordant guitar backbeat
which echoes a slightly out of tune vocal stylization
at the start of the first verse. In the second verse,
Eric's vocal style is much warmer, and the guitar sounds
remain consistent. Throughout the song they are vaguely
Latin acoustic-electric and reminded me of some strains
wafting out from a lost nightclub in a David Lynch film.
And I mean that as a compliment... But in the end, Eric's
Pynchon song is stylistically unique and almost impossible
to peg to one musical style. It shows great compositional
skill and a tremendous sensitivity to what Pynchon was
trying to say. It amplifies his meaning to a far
greater extent than what one gets from just reading
some printed words on a page.
Pynchon
Sources
Last week I threw a pie at someone's Momma,
Last night I threw a party for my mind,
Last thing I knew that 6:02 was screamin' over my head,
Or it might've been th' 11:59...
[Refrain]:
Too many chain-link fences in the evening,
Too many people shiverin' in the rain,
They tell me that you finally got around to have your
baby,
And it don't look like I'll see your face again.
Sometimes I wanna go back north, to Humboldt County--
Sometimes I think I'll go back to east, to see my kin...
There's times I think I almost could be happy,
If I knew you thought about me, now and then...
(p. 862, Bantam)
Oh don't let it get you,
It will if they let you, but there's
Something I'll bet you can't see-
It's big and it's nasty and its right over there,
It's waiting to get its sticky claws in your hair!
Oh, the greengrocer's wishing on a rainbow today
And the dustman is tying his tie…
And it all goes along to the same jolly song,
With a peppermint face in the sky!
With a peppermint face in the sky-y.
And a withered old dream in your heart,
You'll get hit with a piece of the pie-ie,
With the pantomime ready to start!
Oh, the Tommy is sleeping in a snowbank tonight,
And the Jerries are learning to fly-
We can fly to the moon, we'll be higher than noon,
In our polythene home in the sky….
Pretty polythene home in the sky,
Pretty platinum pins in your hand-
Oh your mother's a big fat machine gun,
And your father's a dreary young man….
(Whispered and staccato):
Oh, the, man-a-ger's suck-ing on a corn-cob pipe,
And the bank-ers are, eat-ing their, wives,
All the world's in a daze, while the orchestra plays,
So turn your pockets and get your surprise-
Turn your pockets and get-your surpri-ise,
There was nobody there af-ter all!
And the lamps up the stairways are dying,
It's the season just after the ball…
Oh the palm-trees whisper on the beach somewhere,
And the lifesaver's heaving a sigh,
And those voices you hear, Boy and Girl of the Year,
Are of children who are learning to die….
(p. 204, Bantam)
Career
Describing his career, Eric says: "I've played
in Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York,
San Francisco, and London. Leading various bands I've
opened for Billy Bragg, Paul Cebar and the Milwaukeeans,
del amitri, Diblo Dibala and Matchatcha, Dr. Madd Vibe,
and The Skatalites.
Solo I've opened for Alternative TV, Dan Hicks,
the Jazz Butcher, and, uh, the U.K. Subs, among
others.
In my recordings I've collaborated with Jamaican musicians
like Duckie Simpson (Black Uhuru), Bagga Walker
(Studio 1, Sound Dimension), Marcus 'Rangatan'
Smith (Black Uhuru) Keith Sterling (everybody),
Clement 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd (Studio 1), and the
late Roland Alphonso (Skatalites), and Milwaukee
musicians including Shahanna McKinney (Highball Holiday),
the Blue Tips, Dan Hanrahan, Paul Cebar, Paul Finger
(Wild Kingdom), Danny Dan Fernandez (International
Jet Set), the Thousandaires, Recycled
Future, and others."
Works
"I play solo and with a band. Solo it's Eric Blowtorch,
with a band it's Eric Blowtorch and the Inflammables."
"I have two albums out:"
Eric Blowtorch - Shame a Politician (Bopaganda!
LP, 1990) Eric Blowtorch and his Superpowers: Flame On!! (Farewell
Music LP, Simmerdown Productions CD, 2000)
I also have a 7" single with Robyn Pluer:
Flash Flood b/w version (Bopaganda!,
1994)
and a cassette single:
"God's Will Be Done" (Bopaganda!,
1993)
Review
of Flame On!
"You could search the states of Wisconsin and
Minnesota and not find a musician as talented as Milwaukee's
Eric Blowtorch. "Flame On!!" is about as good
as non-techno dance music can get, an energetic, positive,
upbeat record that has more musicians in it than an
Irish bar in Amsterdam. Blowtorch leads his orchestra
that's half Vegas and half Jamaican shantytown into
a stylistically superb force, that could make many a
musician scratch their head and hang up their instrument
and go to work at General Motors. From the Motown inspired
"She's The Most," to the beautiful ballad
"I Am The Voice," to the opening dub instrumental
"Code 66 At Register 6," "Flame On!!"
is a well written and arranged CD. My pick for the best
CD of the year."
Excerpt: "Singer, guitarist, dj, songwriter, and
svengali, Eric Blowtorch has been involved in the Milwaukee
music scene for two decades, going back to his days
as drummer for the heavily Clash-influenced punks
The Laytons. He has been one of the most tireless
proponents of Jamaican music in the city and his honest
approach has counteracted the trend of performing only
static covers of popular reggae tunes. His new record
has hit the shops and he took some time to tell us about
the songs, and the musicians and legendary producer
who contributed to it…"
