Given the sheer volume frenetic and varied tirades, poems, songs and... tirades you've witnessed spilling from the lips of Doc Pickles as Wavelength's MC, it's no surprise that he's managed to put together a full-length album of quirky and challenging music. On "No Fire Day", the Doc offers earnest advice on everything from shitty jobs to teaching your pets to smoke. Bunk Bedouin and Doc Pickles got together decided to play Scrabble during the interview. Each turn was either a question or an answer, and the word laid down had to be used. The irony of using such rigid stipulations for an exercise in randomness is not lost on anyone, smarty-pants. Doc Pickles appears at Wavelength on July 17th to launch No Fire Day.

WHAT BEHAVIOUR OR ACTIONS, IF ANY, ARE YOU HOPING YOUR MUSIC WILL ENTICE(16) YOUR LISTENERS INTO EXHIBITING?
I used to go out to every NECK(16) show before started putting music to my poetry. I had a zine called "Fluff" that was a free lit. zine - only ran 7, 8 issues. It was my main outlet until I saw NECK. I hope my music ENTICEs listeners to get out there and make their own record, and stop playing that shell game of waiting to be entertained. I actually met Dave Newfeld'”who produced a track on the album'”through Neck. He was producing one of their records'”the one Hydrofield Of Myth was on, I think, but I can't remember the album name.

YOUR MUSIC, AND FOR THAT MATTER, YOUR GENERAL PERSONA COMES ACROSS AS VERY SINCERE, AND WITHOUT PRETENSE. DO YOU EVER WORRY THAT BARING THIS MUCH OF YOURSELF WILL MEET WITH SNEERS(7) FROM AN UNCARING AUDIENCE?
People can take it however they want. GUIDE(14)d By Voices put out 5 confessional albums in a row to a listenership of ten, and that was their most creative period. When people aren't paying attention to you, it frees you up to be more open to yourself about yourself, because nobody is listening to your songs but you. In the decade it's taken to go through the stages of completing this album, I've had a lot of honest people around me to inspire and GUIDE me through the songwriting process. I've never actually moved beyond my circle of confidence.

NOW THAT YOU'VE GOT YOUR FIX(26) AS FAR AS GETTING AN ALBUM OUT, IS THAT IT? WAS THIS A ONE-TIME EVENT?
I never recorded anything with any of my other projects. Maybe it was never meant to be. In all these years, I've had all these talented people around me, to inspire and help me HONE(14) my modest musical skills. My dream is to bill myself as "The Ultimate Opening Act". I'm portable, and I don't drink anymore. I opened for Wesley Willis once, and we got along famously. The long and short of it is that I now know how to finish an album. I'd like to release an album a year and keep playing as long as I can.

POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC TIRADES FIGURE HEAVILY IN THE SONGS ON NO FIRE DAY. ARE YOU JUST WAXING THE POLE, ARE YOU WAXIN' POLEMIC, OR ARE YOU TRYING TO INCITE RIOT(5)S?
I have a real TAO(4)ist approach to writing lyrics, and try my best to simply write sincerely about what I'm thinking about at that time. If I happen to be thinking anti-corporate thoughts at the time, I write them down. I'm definitely not trying to start a RIOT. Politically, I'm pretty naive. My songs don't pack the wallop of someone more educated in those matters. I'm just a guy who reads the newspaper. Oooh... I took the everyman escape on that question.

FOR A GOY(15), YOU'VE MANAGED TO CAPTURE A VERY KLEZMER-ESQUE SOUND ON SOME OF THESE TRACKS. WHAT GIVES, GENTILE?
OY(5) vey! That's a tough one. I've always felt an affinity for Jewish culture. I think it's because there are Jewish communities throughout the world, and have been for all of recorded time. When you have the soil of the whole world to HOE(5), you have a broad point of view, and can see the forest for the trees. When you live in Toronto, you're bombarded by all sorts of music from around the world, and that might have shaped my music in some way. I've never listened to much Klezemer music, however. Hey, write this down: Maybe I Mother Earth will cover one of my songs and make it more accessible. I wouldn't consider that being co-opted.

POPEYE'S CORN COB(13) IS UHM.. A BIG PART OF HIS IDENTITY. YEAH! IS THE QUIRKINESS OF YOUR MUSIC AND LYRICS MERELY A STAGE PROP, OR A CORE PART OF YOUR IDENTITY THAT JUST HAPPENS TO MAKE FOR AN INTERESTING SHOW?
I think the quirkiness of the lyrics are so engrained in my creative process that I'll be writing the wry and dry songs into my GRAVE(18).

Final Score:
Bunk Beduin - 82
Doc Pickles - 76