IN THIS PURPLE BRAIN

For as long as I can remember my friend Bumrocks has been into some “out-there” shit. I’d drop by his apartment and he’d say, “Listen to this!” and put on a record that sounded like it was made by aliens, and then he’d stand there snapping his fingers, nodding expectantly at me. Needless to say, I thought he was mad. But according to the multitude of vinyl geeks that have purchased his new 7-inch Purple Brain, he, and his partner-in-crime Jason Convict are not mad. In fact, they’re geniuses.

And, having heard the record several times myself, I have to agree. It’s brilliant. I called up Convict and Bumrocks the other day and asked them about their remarkable Purple Brain, and why Convict only just got his first cell phone last month.

VICE: Hey Bumrocks.
Bumrocks Hey.

Vice wants me to interview you.
Really?

Yeah, for this whole Purple Brain thing.
Oh yeah?

Can you talk now?
Yeah, let’s do it. Interview me.

All right. I’ll do it right now.
I got so much to say about it.

Well, what is it? What’s the Purple Brain?
It’s a mix that me and Jason Convict did. And it’s a reissue 7-inch as well.

What do you mean, “It’s a reissue”?
We just found two really great tracks and RVNG [Revenge] tracked down the license holders, and then we put it out on vinyl…

How many tracks are on the record?
Three. The first two are edits of these really old tracks, music people made a long, long time ago, and the third track is kinda like a sound-collage that we put together.

And how’s it going?
It’s going really well! People seem to dig it. You should talk to Jason too.

I don’t have to talk to Jason do I?
You have to. He did it too.

What’s his number?
Hang on… 646 *** ****. It’s the first time he ever used a cell phone!

What?
He just got a cell phone. He’s been using like a SkyPager for the last 15 years.

Fuck.
I know.

What else are you guys up to? Purple Brain has been an enormous success. Are you keeping the ball rolling?
Yeah, we’re gonna do a party with the RVNG dudes for Halloween…

Cool.
And we wanna do another mix… got some other bits and pieces.

How many Purple Brains did you make?
I think it was some weird number like 1212 or something.

And they’re all gone?
No. There’s some left, but we’re repressing soon.

The video is really cool! Who did that?
Yeah, the video is sick. I don’t know who did it… a friend of the RVNG guys did it. It’s pretty cool though, right?

Yeah. Do you think people can dance to the record?
Yeah, totally, you could dance to it. But there’s a lot of weird shit in there as well. We weren’t thinking about a club or anything when we made it.

What were you thinking about?
We were thinking about a cave, or like, a riot…

A cave?
Yeah, like, cavemen dancing around.

Huh. All right, I’m calling Convict now. Bye.
See ya.

(click, dial, ring-ring, ring-ring.)

Convict: Hello?

Vice: Jason? This is Jason.
Hi mate.

Hey, how are you feeling?
Good.

I just spoke to Bumrocks and he said this was your first cell phone?
Yeah.

How’d that happen?
I’m slow on the move. First cell phone. I got some furniture the other day as well. Things are shaping up.

Sounds like it’s