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L-R: Richard, Joe, Gregg
- The Joysticks, formerly
Battling the Clip-On Expressway to your Skull, have now
waged a new war against the Scan Feed Relay to your
Skull. These Joysticks are the leading noise force behind
OOBS Records. The trio of teenage sound terrorists behind
this operation also run the entire OOBS Records
Organization. With an unbelievable lineup of keyboards,
synthesizers, noise gadgets, and other home-altered
electronics, The Joysticks create
a barrage of noise unparalleled by any other. They
sound like velociraptors tearing apart metal
structures, says Chris Walker, and made Matt Dorn
want to punch through his computer monitor after 5
minutes because he couldnt take it. With
descriptions such as these its no surprise that The
Joysticks have become infamous throughout the Pittsburgh
area for their unique brand of noise, pyrotechnics,
destruction, and bizarre behavior.
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- The Joysticks began as a two-man sound team with Joe
Scalise and Gregg Gillis. Lacking necessary equipment and
inspiration to record new material for their band, Static
Probe Pioneers, Joe and Gregg decided to do some
experimental noise recordings one evening in early 1997.
By the end of the night, they put together an entire 60
minute cassette. This first release included
the infamous How to Make Your Ears Bleed II,
which was 20 minutes of the synthesizing tone
on the Casio SK-1 Sampling Keyboard. Gregg and Joe
decided that they wanted to send this cassette to the
local radio station WRCT to see if it could earn air time
on one of the many experimental music shows. Basically,
The Joysticks were created as an experiment, to see if a
cassette they produced in one evening could get played on
the radio. This experiment later proved to be a failure.
The Joysticks, who were battling the Clip-On
Expressway to Your Skull at the time, did some random
recordings over the next few months but didnt
really progress. The project was almost like a joke, just
created for that one radio experiment. In October of
1997, however, Gregg and Joe were looking to put on a
show to celebrate their back-to-back birthdays, and since
Static Probe Pioneers were not prepared at this time
to
perform at another show, they decided to revive The
Joysticks and perform an improv-noise set on
Greggs roof. They were also looking to recruit
another member for the sound team because as a duo, their
live sound was lacking. The new member would also make it
clear that The Joysticks were not Static Probe Pioneers,
and provide a solution to the publics prior
questioning, Why do the same two people have two
different band names?
After some brief field tests and laboratory work,
Richard Saporito was selected as the final member. The
first live show of The Joysticks was a complete success.
They truly developed their trademark sound and found
their love for alienation of an audience through this
monumental event. Richard, Joe, and Gregg continued
creating sound as a trio, and The Joysticks became the
primary musical focus of each member of the sound
team.
By the summer of 1998, they decided it was their time
to invade the Pittsburgh electronic and noise scene.
Richard and Gregg put together an audio cassette that
consisted of 3 tracks and gave it to Pittsburgh scenester
and venue owner Manny Theiner. These 3 tracks later
spawned their first release, TRACKS. This
release was more calm than recent works. Most of it was
recorded live, and contains excellent sampling from the
classic Weird Al Yankovic movie UHF. Their
latest release, The Only Way to Synthetically
Prepare Sound, is a much better representation of
the overall Joysticks sound. Each composition is
extremely varied in style, featuring hardcore, harsh
noise to The Joysticks #1 dance hit, Wannabe
(An Astronaut). With these two releases under their
belt, The Joysticks easily became superstars within the
Pittsburgh music underground and played with artists such
as Solex, Operation Re-Information, Lockweld, Bob
Marinelli, and Evolution Control Committee.
It
was not just these recordings that popularized The
Joysticks; their theatrics in performance contributed
greatly, as well. They have been known to smash machines
and electronics such as computers, televisions, VCRs,
printers, clock radios, boomboxes, and Nintendos during
their live show. They have also thrown fireworks into the
crowd, got kicked out of their high schools talent
show for lighting the stage on fire with fireworks,
contacted neighbors telephonically and projected the call
throughout the neighborhood using a makeshift PA system,
and put on a 3.2 minute performance in which they solely
used handheld tape recorders. The Joysticks are also
known for an intense cover of Salt N Pepas
Push It. Back in June of '98, the Joysticks
Battle the Scan Feed Relay to Your Skull were unknowns
around town, even in their own school, but now they're
legends throughout universe.
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- Contact The
Joysticks:
- Gregg
Gillis
- Richard
Saporito
- Joe
Scalise
- Questions? Comments. OOBS
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