Babyland

An electronic junk punk band, founded by Dan (electronics & vocals) and Smith (percussion & noise) in 1989. Babyland's main focus is powerful live performance which integrates electronic noise with primitive percussion; "performance based low-end technology". Examples of their attraction to juxtaposition are contained in the use of electronica and emotive vocals outlining humanity's inherent fallibility and also in the layered instrumentals: a complex cacophony built on a clear, rhythmic baseline.

Babyland has flirted with on-stage theatrics involving predominant experimentation with pyrotechnics. Referring to a tour of the US West Coast in 1996, Smith stated, "we came down with a bad case of smoke inhalation every single night." The pyrotechnics were canned; their presence "detracted from the audience's acknowledgement of Babyland's musical presence".

Babyland now release their music through their label, Mattress Records; a coming of age of sorts, as it has increased the control that they are adamant to retain over their own music. Babyland never held any contracts between themselves and a record label. However, their earlier CDs were released through Flipside Records, whose focus subsequently switched away from music resulting in their inability to further support Babyland. Thus, Mattress was born; Babyland hold no animosity towards Flipside. Their music can now be ordered through Amazon. Samples of Babyland's music are also available through MP3.com.

Discography: LPs/EPs:
The Finger, Mattress Records, 2004
Past Lives (EP), Mattress Records, 2004
2002 (EP), Mattress Records, 2002
Outlive Your Enemies, Mattress Records, 1998
Who's Sorry Now?, Flipside Records, 1995
A Total Let-Down Flipside Records, 1993
You Suck Crap, Flipside Records, 1992

Non-CD Releases:
B-component, Mattress Records, 1998
Half Hearted, Flipside Records, 1993
Stomach, 1993
The Dogsnatcher EP, 1993
Reality Under Smrow-Toh, 1992
1991, 1991

Babyland has also contributed to a multitude of compilation releases.

Reference:
http://www.babyland.info/ (official site)
http://www.babyland2000.com/
http://home.earthlink.net/~smith568/
http://members.tripod.com/~Smith568/
http://www.sonic-boom.com/interview/babyland-2.interview.html
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/17/babyland.html
Calast (e2 user)

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"We will not go away!"

Babyland is an "electro-junk-punk" band from Los Angeles that formed in 1989.

Until recently, Dan (their singer/programmer) toured with a Macintosh SE as his MIDI sequencer. This doesn't really make sense, until you remember how old Babyland is; his system was pretty cutting edge in 1989. He got used to the interface and it stuck. He now tours with a shiny new Powerbook, which cuts down the amount of stuff he has to lug around by a good deal (it has enough power for software synthesizers!). However, he still composes on the SE.

The Mac SE really incorporates well into their "performance based low-end technology" theme, at least, it does these days. My first experience with Babyland was running sound for them at 924 Gilman, and when I saw them bust out the SE, I creamed my geek jeans. That's technological savagery at its best.

It should also be mentioned that Babyland is louder than god; they tour with their own JBL PA, which they use even in venues with good PAs for onstage monitoring. This leads to an arms race with the poor sound man (me) who's charged with getting the vocals and Smith's junk percussion mixed up to the same volume as the electronics from the PA onstage. Since they also want an ungodly amount of their electronics from the onstage monitors the venue had, I had to run the whole system as loud as I possibly could to get the vocals and percussion through. Which is much louder than I normally mix, but whatever; I love these guys. (I should get an SPL meter...)

Their shows are gothic/industrial dance parties, and it's AWESOME. Finally, you get to see those goth kids get excited about something! But really, it's about dancing around to really loud, good music with a bunch of cool, likeminded people for about an hour and twenty minutes. Because Babyland likes playing long sets.

Also, they haven't totally abandoned the pyrotechnics; they usually play their song "Don't you feel lost?" from "You Suck Crap", which includes Smith playing the grinder, showering the audience with sparks. (Incidentally, Smith does not use an angle grinder for that song, he uses a circular saw with a grinding pad.)

It's an impressive sight, Dan screaming in a football helmet with a microphone grafted onto the grill and drumming, and Smith right next to him grinding the barrel in rhythm, throwing sparks 40 feet into the audience. Intensity, they got.