Murray Moments
Emil Beaulieau
I’m talking about that pink-shirt wearin’ Master of Disaster, RRRRRRRRRooooonnnnn Lleesssaaaarrrddd!!
If you are involved in the noise scene, chances are that you’ve bought a record or tape from Ron Lessard. If you are involved in the noise scene, it is likely that you own a release from the RRR catalog, or perhaps have visited the landmark RRR record store in downtown Lowell, Massachusetts. Needless to say, “America’s Greatest Living Noise Artist” has most likely affected you personally and you may not even be aware of it.
Ron Lessard has produced countless mind blowing and awe-inducing Noise (and other equally, obscurely weird) releases on his *RRR imprint since 1984. Emil Beaulieau (Lessard’s creative personality), had been performing visceral and conceptual Noise spectacles almost ceaselessly until an unexpected sabbatical. The recorded output of Emil is a lengthy, respectable discography, but hey, what did you expect?
* Find out what “RRR” stands for by the end of this interview.
(interview conducted in the early part of 2010)
m[m]So I understand that you served in the Militray, what is it that you specialized in? I don't imagine you were the guy peeling potatoes... Ron oh man, you dont know how close I came to being a fulltime potato peeler.......... Air Force 1977~81 - my original assignment was Voice Processing Specialist, which is military speak for linguist - my job was to fly in one of those spy planes, intercept military transmissions and translate them into
English when I joined I fully expected to learn Russian or Chinese but they assigned me Special Arabic, which is military speak for Hebrew - and since there's only 1 country in the world that speaks Hebrew and they are our
allies, my job was considered top secret special intelligence - to learn the language, they sent me to an annex of the NSA (Ft Meade, MD) for a year,and then down to Texas to learn about the hardware/technicalities/etc - there was six guys in the entire class and 2 weeks before we were set to graduate, five of us got busted for pot!! - big scandal, they were pissed and decided to make examples of us - 2 of the guys got dishonorable discharges immediately, one guy spent the rest of his career stuffing chocolate bars and band-aids into survival kits and another guy became a
garbageman.
Ron me? - I got assigned to The Recreation Center, my job was to hand out decks of cards and pool cues and organise chess tournaments and bingo nite - pretty exciting stuff, lemme tell ya - but I took it upon myself to start visiting the 1st Sgt, the commander, the chaplain,etc and said "Geez, I really fucked-up, what am I gonna do? How can I make things right?" - since I showed some semblance of remorse and responsibility, they decided to give me a second chance and sent me tocomputer school - I then spent the rest of my career running the base supply computer for Hanscom AFB - a Univac system, the kind that used punch cards and giant spools of tape, my job was to change the giant spools of tape - I became a sergeant (Sgt Lessard!!) and got an honorable discharge-moral of the story - JUST SAY NO!
m[m]How did you first establish contact with other people doing experimental and or noise music?
Ron The old fashioned way, I would write them a letter and ask for a catalog.
The 1st band I ever wrote was The Residents and I became obsessed with mail-order/direct contact ever since, not sure when that was, maybe around 1978? - but at that time it was strictly as a fan and merchandise whore, allI wanted was the records, lots and lots of records and mail-order was the way to go - it wasnt till '81. after I left the service, that I really began to contact artists and labels in earnest and found myself hooking up
with cassette culture.
m[m]What did the first Emil Beaulieau performance consist of? How much thought was invested before the first performance?
Ron For the life of me I cant remember the 1st Emil show - it was probably in Lowell around '85? but I cant recall the event or circumstance - however My 1st ever show was with Due Process in Lowell '84? - the concept of doing a live show never occurred to us, we were concerned with hanging out and recording, not performance - but we had an opportunity to play at the local museum and man, were we terrible - I think there was maybe 12 people in the place when we started, 2 people when we finished - I'l always have the memory of those 2 guys sitting on the floor cross-legged, their heads bowed and their hands pressed firmly over their ears - good times.
m[m]What is the "crown jewel" of your record collection? Ron 1) JAN AND DEAN MEET BATMAN LP - my very 1st record, I think I was 8 in a department store with my mom and I made her buy it for me - I still got it
2) HOWARD MENGER - Authentic Music From Another Planet LP - he was one of those early UFO abductee nutcases, after he got back from his trip to Saturn, he transcribed the music he heard there and recorded this LP -
Its terrible keyboard music but the psychosis shines - my copy is the only
One I've ever seen and its beat to hell, I'd love to score a clean copy.
m[m]What were the earliest noise performances for you? Under what conditions did these take place? Ron Sometime in the late 70's, I went to a barn show in southern NH - it was the usual assortment of rock and folk music when this respectable looking gentleman set up a table with little boxes that had wires sticking out of them and proceeded to create a racket of squeels and fizzles - I have no idea who that guy was, it was probably someone like Gordon Mumma or Alvin Lucier, but his set was the 1st live electronics I ever saw...
Ron I think the 1st "underground noise" performance I saw was Jonathan Briley somewhere in Boston around 1983? - I was already in contact with the Sleep Chamber crew and would go to their shows but they were more like cult/ritual events than actual noise shows - anyways, Jon played a short set of 3 or 4 songs, I remember him doing "Site Ov Pain/Site Ov Pleasure" and "Street Gods/Street Violence" - his instrumentation was a Korg synth, a reel to reel tapedeck and voice, his sister did vocals with him on Street Gods/Street Violence - sonically and compositionally, I remember it being an excellent performance and somewhat inspirational, I was impressed by the big sound from minimal equipment.
m[m]Which release on the RRR catalog was the most difficult to realize? Ron probably the God Bless America 3LP box - it was my 1st vinyl comp and I had to go thru the entire learning process, how to get the original masters from the artists, compile and sequence the sides, make the masters for production, where to get them pressed, how to make the covers, where to get the inserts made, etc etc etc - GBA was supposed to be the very 1st LP on RRR but it took me so long to figure out whats what that it became the 4th release on RRR
m[m] Is there something in your life that (if given the one time oppurtunity of time travel) you would do differently?Ron there's a couple women I wish I'd never met-
m[m]Speaking of Korg synthesizers, you own an MS-20 don't you? I don't really think of your noise as being very synthy... Was there a period when you were making synthesizer music?
Ron yeah, its Jon Briley's Korg - when he stopped his actvities, he sold me his gear, I got the synth, his 4-track reel and a mixer - no, I don’t use the synth at all, it's collecting dust at my house - when I 1st got it I would play around with it but I didnt like any of the sounds I was
getting, I quickly lost interest - I did get a lot of use from the mixer, not so much the reel to reel - I ended up letting Jessica Rylan borrow them, I hope she's getting good use out of them.
m[m]What did the cassette culture consist of circa 1981? Was it simply tape trading or was it more underground to release music straight to cassette?
Ron I was never much in the tape trading scene, for me cassette culture was original DIY activity, people making their own music/noise at home - I'm not sure when or how I fell into it, I'm not even sure if it was acknowledged
as cassette culture at the time, I was on a quest for the freakiest sounds by the freakiest people and I found them.
m[m]I know you're a fan of sound poetry and earlier experimental records, at what point did you see the scene (if there even was a "scene" at that time) shifting from those types of records to what we now know as "Noise"?RonThe scene at the time was strictly academic, or at least that was all I was aware of - and as such, I was merely an observer, a guy who bought the records - I think the noise scene as we know it today is a direct result
of cassette culture, when people started making it at home instead of the university.
m[m]In regards to your first Due Process gig, how long was it before further shows happened? Was there a gestation period, or did you guys start running with the Live angle? Ron I dont remember but it was probably a few months before our 2nd gig -performance wasnt a priority with us, basically because we knew we were fumblers, we didnt have our shit together - we used to get together for
practice practically every day and we eventually found confidence in ourselves - finding shows was rare, sympathetic audiences more so - as luck would have it, we got offered a monthly radio show at the local college station WJUL and then WZBC in Boston gave us the same arrangement – that’s where we honed our skillz
m[m]I was intrigued by the Luigi Russolo "Noise Manifesto" when I read it decades ago... Is there such a declaration for you? Ron Famous as it is, I never read that manifesto - I think the book that changed everything for me was "Silence" by John Cage, it taught me how to listen. Generally I dont care too much for theory and philosophy, if the recording/performance doesnt appeal to me, then all the text in the world aint gonna make it any better
m[m]What would you consider "bad noise"? Like when you're listening to something and you go "Oh, there's THAT sound again" (insert eyes rolling)... Or something that really just rubs you the wrong way? Ron HA HA!!! - yeah, I have pet peeves just like anybody, I think my least favorite sounds would be flange, lazer and video arcade sounds - whenever I hear them pop in, I'm done - but I dont hear them as much as I used to, I think everyone kinda figured out those sounds blow - and generally I dont like Noise made by musical instruments, if it sounds like a guitar or a synth, chances are I wont like it too much
m[m]Do you feel that there is a place for violence in Noise? Ron I mean, this type of music is so savage and devoid of civility...of course, noise is capable of expressing a wide range of emotions and ideas - but its all taste and perspective, I hear people describe things as brutal and disgusting but to me its beautiful and exhilerating - I
like to refer to noise as The True Sound Of Love
m[m]Has there been an instance/time when you just wanted to say "fuck it" I'm through with all this..? Ron I say that to myself almost every day, my lust and enthusiasm for Noise is not what it used to be - what keeps me going is a sense of committment and devotion to duty - what can I say, even though I rarely listen to it anymore, I'm still obsessed and dedicated to it, my life revolves around it however I did put Emil on a sabbatical, I havent done a show or touched my gear since March '06 - once I felt the focus slipping, I knew it was time t o take a break - this doesnt mean I'm out for good, I'm just waiting for the day when inspiration demands action, till then I intend to remain quiet - however long it takes is how long it takes
m[m]When did you first open up your record store? How did this come about?
Ron I met a guy who owned a record store that was going out of business and asked if I wanted to buy it - his inventory was the worst used record store crap you ever saw (Andy Williams, Lawrence Welk, etc) but the price was right, I bought him out and moved right in - that was in June '82 and the shop was a 3-way co-op called Star Collectables (such a terrible name!) - I sold records, Hal sold comic books and Dick sold baseball cards – after about a year and a half I decided to go on my own and rented a little Space around the corner, RRRecords officially opened Jan 3, 1984
m[m]I heard there is an RRR series that can ONLY be obtained by visiting the store...What do you have to say about this? Ron If you're ever in Lowell, please feel free to swing by the shop and I will give you all the details on The RRR In-Store Series - otherwise I really dont want to talk about these records except to say they are not intended for record collectors or people who read magazines and the internet, they are strictly for the people who come to my shop looking for Noise - there is absolutely no mail-order so dont even ask, the answer is NO
m[m]Are there any artists who you'd like to work with that you haven't yet?
Ron no, not really - I've pretty much done what I wanted to do, I dont have a wishlist - because of the enormous glut of artists and labels within Noise, somewhere around 2002 I made a couple of major decisions concerning
my label...
1) I won't release any of the artists I did in the 80s & 90s
2) I'll only put out someones 1st LP
and aside from the occassional special project (a TNB here, a GX there), I've been pretty good about maintaining this policy
m[m]Noise music has certainly amassed a much larger audience than say 15-20 years ago. What do you think is the future of Noise?
RonI hate this question and refuse to answer it and please dont ask me who are my influences
m[m]Why/how is the bulk of the United Dairies catalog appear in cassette format on the RRR catalog?
Ron United Dairies released those tapes back in the day, when Steve decided to discontinue releasing cassettes I asked him if I could buy the masters and keep them in print on a permanent basis - he quoted his price and I agreed, it was a simple business transaction
m[m]What is the mythology/origin of "Emil Beaulieau?
Ron EMIL BEAULIEAU (pronounced E-meal Bolio, rhymes with polio) is named after Emile Beaulieu, the former mayor of my hometown, Manchester NH - when it came time to start releasing my own material, I knew I didnt want to do it under my real name - I dont know how or why but for some reason his name popped into my head and I decided to go with it - when I wrote it down I accidentally misspelled it, I noticed the extra A also changed the pronounciation, giving it that double O sound - when I 1st started Emil I used to actively promote myself as the former mayor but it didnt take long for everyone to figure out its just me
m[m]Could you retell that funny story about Killer Bug and Merzbow?
Ron HA!! - that really is a great story but the joy is in the telling, not the punchline - its one of those things I have to do in person, its the nuances and inflections that give it life - if I write it out, it wont be funny - If anyone wants to hear the story, just ask the next time you see me and
I'll perform it for you - that story was one of the staples in my spoken word routine, it always got a positive response.
m[m]I am led to believe that you are single-handedly responsible for popularizing Anti-Records. What was the initial appeal of the the Anti-Record for you?
Ron well, anti-records existed long before I was around, thats for certain -however I will accept credit for coining the term "Anti-Record" - used to be they were called conceptual or art records, even GX and Non didnt call
them anti-records - when I started putting them out, I called them anti-records and the term caught on, now everyone calls them anti-records – LAYLAH Records used to call their releases anti-records but they used it as a Cult reference to Alistair Crowley, I thought it was kinda weird that they would release high quality vinyl/packaging and refer to it as anti...
Ron The 1st Anti I put out was by Andrew Smith, who worked under the name Billboard Combat and was also a member of Due Process - I was visiting one day when he showed me these records he made for his personal pleasure, he took existing records and altered them with gobs of paint and grit and embedded them with razor blades and needles, he even made covers for them - I was immediately struck by their visual beauty and their potent noise qualities, just by looking at it I knew these things were infinately noisier than any record ever pressed - I told Andy if he made 100 copies, I would put it out as an official release and VOILA!!! the 1st RRR Anti-Record was born
- BILLBOARD COMBAT - Metastasis - I was so happy with it that I started contacting the more conceptual artists I knew and asked if they would like to do their own anti-records
m[m]Who is Charlie Ward?
Ron A good friend from high-school who started The Stomach Ache label - he was visiting one day when I showed him the work I was doing with RRR, once he realized how easy it was for me to run a label he decided to start his own . Unfortunately Charlie aint too swift so I did most of the work, I put him in contact with the bands he liked and showed him how to get things pressed, etc - after an initial burst of enthusiasm, he sorta lost interest and asked if I'd like to take over the label - unbeknownst to me, he also asked other people if they'd like to take it over and before anyone knew it Stomach Ache became a floating label with no owner, anyone who wanted to put out a record on Stomach Ache could do so - Stomach Ache became the Alan Smithee of underground DIY activity
m[m]What kind of music (if any at all) are you currently listening to if noise is no longer your mistress?
Ron My most recent fixation was Cowboy Music of the get along little doggie variety, for a few years that was just about all I listened to - Sons Of the Pioneers became a big personal favorite, I learned a lot of their songs and would try to figure out a way of incorporating it into noise - I made a few attempts at Cowboy Noise but the results were less than spectacular, I never issued any of that material
m[m]Is this feud with Grux and yourself just another gag? What was your original connection with him?
Ron I didnt know Grux and I had a feud going, yeah it must be a gag - I became aware of Caroliner when they put out their 1st cassette, I thought it was great and put word out to my SF connections I was trying to track down
This guy and the next thing I know I get a phone call from Grux - we had a lovely chat and I mentioned I would be interetsed in hearing any new material he is working on and possibly put out an LP but Grux said he was gonna do his own records - I always look upon that as one of the great missed opportunities, I wanted to put out the 1st Caroliner LP but it didnt happen.
m[m]How did you first meet G-X?
Ron He was touring with The Haters and came to Lowell for a show, back in those days it was near impossible to set up noise shows in regular venues so they did a private perfomance at my house - on that tour The Haters were a
4-man project and when they 1st walked into my shop, GX introduced himself as Paul Dickerson and Paul said he was GX - I didnt fall for it though, I knew in advance what GX was supposed to look like - back in those days he had long-hair and dressed like a biker dude, a friend who was at the show said he was a scary looking guy but once he started talking, she knew he was a pussycat.
m[m]Humor seems to be inherently infused with a lot of your work. Are there any releases that are just dead serious?
Ron well, RRR the label can be serious, depending on the artist I am releasing of course - but my own work with Emil and Due Process can be humorous, I guess its because thats the way I am in real life and can appreciate the overt absurdity of Noise and noise activity
m[m]What's the story with RRR 88?
Ron what's RRR 88, I dont remember
m[m]RRR 88 is listed as Bustmonsters / Xper Xr Whitehouse / You Don't Have To Say Please 7" (1987). Ron Bustmonsters was a 1-off Japanese project with members of Aube, Merzbow, CCCC, Nimrod and others - Xper.Xr is a guy named Christopher (I forget his last name), originally from Hong Kong, now living in London – independent of each other, they mentioned they made some recordings of Whitehouse covers. After hearing the material, I decided a split 7" of Whitehouse covers by Japanese and Chinese artists would make for an interesting record – they sent me the masters and the record was pressed, I think we made 300 copies
m[m]What's the story with RRR 333?
Ron isn't that the Billboard Combat - Metastasis anti-record?
m[m]What was all the controversy about the Deathkey LP? (I still have never heard DK myself...)
Ron DK is from Ohio and his sound is old-school synth driven power electronics with black metal sensibilities - the so-called controversy revolved around a group of PC dudes who hated his politics and philosophy, they expressed their displeasure by shouting out on internet messageboards – thankfully no one told them the worst fate that could befall any artist is to be completely ignored, so the more they ranted and raved, the faster it moved - after everything was said and done, our biggest problem was having
pressed only 200 copies, righteous indignation is now my favorite indignation – I had the pleasure of hearing the new material and its noisier and uglier than his 1st LP, it is scheduled to come out on Freak Animal soon.......moral of the story = if you're gonna get involved with noise activity,
make sure everything you do is safe and acceptable so you dont freak-out anyone
m[m]Is there some discretion when deciding what to stock in the RRR catalog? What makes you say I'll stock "this", but not "that"?
Ron sure, of course - artists/labels fall in and out of favor fast so it basically comes down to sales potential, whether or not I think my clientel would care about it - generally I'm more inclined to take a chance with new people than the same old big names, the more famous the artist is the less I'm inclined to stock it because those are the easiest titles to come by, you can find them anywhere - I see no sense in stocking the same things as everyone else
m[m]Where do you find inspiration these days?
Ron well, my personal inspiration is on vacation so I get my thrills by actively supporting other peoples inspiration.
m[m]I was blown away when I first saw the inside of your condo/apartment...Could you talk about some of your favorite noise artifacts you havethere? Ron HA!!! - yeah, my home is noise-centric, I know lots of noise people and have accumulated original artworks by many of them - its kinda weird but I no longer have my favorite artifact which would be The Minutoli, my customized 4-arm turntable - I stopped using it years ago and had it on display in my home when I decided to loan it to Dom so he can show it in his shop, Hospital Productions - the last time I talked to him he mentioned its still not on display, he wants to build a special case for it so his visitors can check it out.
Ron Several years ago the local newspaper, The Lowell Sun, did a big story about my home - it was super fucken gay, the kind of thing you see in Better Homes and Gardens with pictures of me standing around showing off my stuff - unfortunately the only people who saw the article were the old ladies who care about that sort of thing, for the next several weeks they would walk into my shop just to tell me how beautiful my place is = HA!!
m[m]What are some of your favorite things about living in Lowell?
Ron the old ladies think I'm cute
m[m] I remember playing a show in Chicago in 2000 where you showed up late, played your set (which incidentally destroyed the PA), and still managed to collect your guarantee. Can you recall how many PA's Emil has laid waste to over the years? Any good stories therein?
Ron off the top of my head, I can think of 3 different shows in Chicago where the PA blew-out, I think the one you are talking about is from the tour mwith Zipper Spy and Hecate - but I didnt blow the PA, it was already blown
when we got there, I remember doing my spoken word routine because the PA was useless - but the promotor still gave us our guarantee so that was cool
Ron I know I've blown PA's over the years but none that jump out at me as being memorable, its all just par for the course - too many times I would show up for a show and the PA would be sub-standard or just plain useless – that’s one of the main reasons why I developed a spoken word routine, if I'm not able to properly perform Noise then I can at least tell the audience stories and whatnot.
m[m]That Asmus Tietchens 3LP on RRR, that was made from the RRR-100 7" right?I saw that in a record store and wondered what it sounded like... So what's up with that?
Ron right, Asmus used RRR-100 as the sound source for Ptomaine 3LP - 48 tracks in total, each track ends in a lock goove - at the beginning of each piece, there is a sample of the original groove so you can hear how Asmus uses it, its really a great showcase for his compositional techniques - but we weren't too happy with it when it came out, the clear vinyl had too much surface noise and too many of the lock grooves werent as seamless as they should have been - despite the flaws, it holds up as a good record because the compositions themselves are strong
m[m]Do you feel that downloading/filesharing of noise music is a good thing or a bad thing?
Ron a good thing, I like the whole concept - I dont do it myself but thats because I'm a jaded old crank, if I was a kid again I'd be all over that shit - it doesnt bother me when people do it with my releases, I'm happy to know they are checking it out - and I dont think it hurts sales in any major way,Noise by its very nature is obsessive and fetishistic, possession of the physical object is still the objective for most of us - files only remind the noisehead that there is something else he needs to get
m[m]What was the last vehicle you had?
Ron It was a station wagon, it got stolen Aug 2000 - actually, Aug '00 was a hell of a month, the car got stolen, I lost the lease to my store and the wife and I decided to get divorced - its a damn good thing our dog didn’t die or I probably would have started drinking.
m[m]Are you interested/entertained by other forms of media? Films,radio,books...? Ron I cant remember the last time I listened to the radio, its been years -The most reading I do are the daily newspapers, I watch way too much TV and movies, right now as I'm typing this answer I'm watching a movie called Unearthed - generally I like anything sci-fi and monster related but I cant stand gore and slasher films
m[m]Is there much ground that still needs to be explored in the realm of Noise?
Ron probably, but dont ask me what they are though, my idea of breaking ground is Cowboy Noise
m[m]Are you for the use of new technology when it comes to producing sound?
Ron Its great for those who understand the technology, but I'm one of those guys who doesnt - my analog brain cant process this new fangled digital wizardry, it only serves to confuse and frustrate me - I try to keep it out of my life, I've never even owned a cellphone
m[m]Do you think it's morally wrong to use Noise as a weapon?
Ron I not sure I understand the question, are you asking about sonic cannons Or Noise that makes babies ears bleed? - either way, I think its a moral imperative = HA!! - here's hoping its not an exaggeration the next time someone says "That new LP on RRR kills!"
m[m]What do you think should be done to the "druggies" of Noise? Ron Depends on the drugs - like Neil Young, I've seen the needle and the damage done, I've lost friends and watched others turn into a shell of their former selves thanks to certain drugs - some folks can handle it a lot better than others, I cant blame anyone for wanting to get high but Ihate seeing someone turn into an addict - generally I try to avoid drunks, druggies and junkies in my life, I dont need that shit around me. There seems to be a big influx of drugs within Noise at the moment, I hope those indulging can handle it - generally I dont like Noise made by these people, it can be too sloppy and unfocused
m[m]Do you see yourself ever living somewhere other than Lowell? Ron Every once in a while I think about moving but its always to a smaller community, not some big city - sometimes I think Lowell is too big for me, especially when I look out my window and see red brick and concrete
everywhere, I'd rather be surrounded by trees and greenery
m[m]Do you feel that the Noise Artist has "any" responsibility to their audience? Whomever that audience might be?
Ron Thats the kind of thing everyone needs to decide for themselves, for me I know its a big consideration - first and foremost I try to follow my own muse and do the best work I can but ultimately I want others to appreciate
it - though the audience (people in general) may not be a factor in the recording process, they are certainly important for live performance - I feed off their energy and I want to give them something special, I try to make my performances as intimate and personal as possible - when it comes to Noise, I will gladly accept responsibility
m[m]What in your opinion do you think would make Noise "uncool"?
Ron wait a minute.........Noise is cool?
m[m]Are you aware of anyone ever have doing Emil covers? (parodies don't count!)
Ron hmmm, I cant think of any - I know there's been remixes and tributes and I ocassionally hear Emil fragments pop into others material but I cant think of any outright covers - I remember this one time Crank Sturgeon and I decided to swap sets, we were opening for Genesis P-Orridge in NYC and figured the crowd would be all new faces, so for the night he was Emil Beaulieau and I was Crank Sturgeon - those who knew us loved it but the industrial crowd were somewhat confused, I dont think they ever experienced our type of Noise before - I was happy with my version of Crank, I built myself a fish costume and that was the 1st time I ever performed Rey Poo (a Crank Sturgeon cover) - but Crank stole the show with his Emil impersonation, he didnt do any covers, instead he composed all new material in the Emil style - I have both sets on video and long considered releasing it as a follow-up to the Americas Greatest Living VHS, but I kept putting it off - there have been other Emil impersonators over the years but Crank was the best
m[m] If a movie were to be made about your life, who would you like to seeplay you? Ron Bill Murray, he'd make a great Emil
Thanks to Ron for his time and effort with the interview....for more info on Emil Beaulieau or RRR record pop over to here http://www.rrrecords.com/ . The pictures used through-out the interview are from Emil Beaulieau performance at DeStijl/Freedom fest in 2003 held in Minneapolis- the pictures were taken by Seth Tisue and are kindly used with his permission.