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The Exclaim! Questionnaire

BY None NonePublished Nov 17, 2016

Who are you?
I am the little fella Robin Rimbaud, aka Scanner.

What are you up to?
Oh lots of things, the more eccentric being - recording ghosts and collaborating with L.A. artist Mike Kelley and the late Jim Morrison of the Doors (really!), amplifying the tram/bus stops in Gothenberg Sweden for their summer Biennale exhibition so you can speak to the bus stop and hear others at other stops, altering the light and sound in Metro stations in Washington DC for a project called Needle Cut where I shall make the stations underwater. I am also trying to escape constant jet lag!

Hometown and current HQ:
A place called London in quaint UK.

Current fixations:
Listening to Grandaddy, "The Sophtware Slump" (V2), reading Marcel Duchamp, "Affectionately," Marcel (Ludion) - his letters and watching kittens play outside my window.

Mind altering work of art:
The entire art work of Matthew Barney and/or the sounds of John Cage.

Most memorable/inspirational gig and why?
Most recently John Zorn's Masada which blew my head off with its Jewish traditional songs cut and pasted into a modernist aesthetic. Amazing!

What should everyone shut up about?
Rappers and guns. You couldn't buy publicity like this!

Your greatest strength/weakness:
Greatest: I can balance three spoons on my nose all at once.
Weakness: I can only do it for two seconds.

Your vital daily ritual:
Drink water. Check email. Eat fresh bread. Check email. Drink water. Check email. Sleep.

Guilty pleasures:
I sometimes like to eat a whole loaf of white sliced bread and drink a pint of milk. If time allows ice skating is my naughty pleasure.

If I wasn't playing music I would be:
A happy baker serving the community with the freshest loaves.

Your most memorable day job:
As an extra in a body building advertising company. I was the "Before."

Best/worst advice received:
Best: Always carry automatic shoe cleaner.
Worst: Smile and the world smiles with you. Huh!

I would drop everything to play a benefit for:
Research into Cystic Fibrosis.

What makes you want to take it off and get it on?
Are you trying to get "jiggy" with me then? Almost anything unique and ground breaking (and I don't mean road builders here) - right now it could be the films of Chris Marker, the new Destiny's Child single or the sexy fashions of H & M.

What personal trait would make you kick someone out of your band and/or bed? And have you?
Any musician who could play Chris DeBurgh songs well. Any bedroom partner who found the cameras unsettling or eats during sex.

When I think of Canada I think:
The most amazing breakfasts ever in my life in Montreal cafes, Plastikman and the most encouraging customs officers who last time extended my work visa so I could "experience" the most beautiful girls and restaurants in the world! Really!!

Music and sex: Is there a difference? Why?
Both are about shuffling the parts to produce a succulent resolution but sex is sometimes louder than music but I like to keep practising to keep in tune.

Strangest brush with celebrity:
I was once introduced to Lou Reed and asked him "What he did"!

What does your mom wish you were doing instead?
Growing my hair a little longer so I didn't, according to her, look like a prisoner! :-)

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