Boyd Rice
|
Boyd Rice in Portugal, 2004. |
Boyd Rice (born
1956) is an
American experimental sound artist,
archivist,
actor,
photographer,
prankster and
writer best known for his pioneering
industrial noise music under the name NON.
Rice started creating experimental noise recordings in
1975, drawing on his interest in
tape machines and
bubblegum pop sung by female vocalists such as
Little Peggy March and
Ginny Arnel. One of his earliest efforts consisted entirely of a loop of every time
Lesley Gore sang the word "cry". After initially creating recordings simply for his own listening, he later started to give performances, and eventually make records. His musical project NON grew out of these early experiments; he reportedly selected the name because "it implies everything and nothing."
Techniques and implementations
From his earliest recordings, Rice has experimented with both sound and the medium through which that sound is conveyed. His methods of expanding upon the listening possibilities for recorded music were simple. On his second seven-inch, he had 2-4 extra holes punched into the record for "multi axial rotation". While working exclusively with vinyl, he employed locked grooves that allowed listeners to create their own music. He was one of the first artists, after John Cage, to treat
turntables as instruments and developed various techniques for
scratching. It is difficult to prove that Rice's
turntablism preceded its connection to rap music. He was treating sounds from vinyl recordings as early as 1975.
Under the name NON, originally with second member Robert Turman, Rice has recorded several seminal
noise music albums, and collaborated with
experimental music/
dark folk artists like
Current 93,
Death In June and
Rose McDowall. Most of his music has been released on the
Mute Records label. Rice has also collaborated with
Foetus,
Tony Wakeford of
Sol Invictus and
Michael Moynihan of
Blood Axis. His later albums have often been explicitly
conceptual. On
Might! (1995), Rice layers portions of "
Ragnar Redbeard"'s
Social Darwinist harangue,
Might is Right over sound beds of looped noise and manipulated frequencies. 1997's
God and Beast explores the intersection in the soul of man's physical and spiritual natures over the course of an album that alternates abrasive
soundscapes with passages of tranquility. In 2006 Rice returned to the studio to record raw vocal sound sources for a collaboration with Industrial percussionist/
ethnomusicologist Z'ev. In addition he and long time friend
Giddle Partridge are recording an album titled
LOVE/LOVE-BANG/BANG!, under the band name of
Giddle & Boyd.
Giddle & Boyd have had much airplay in 2006 on The World Famous KROQ 106.7 FM, thanks to legendary DJ
Rodney Bingenheimer being a big fan of their work together. The release date is set for early 2007.
Crowd control
Early NON performances were designed to offer choice to audience members who might otherwise expect only a prefabricated and totally passive
entertainment experience. He has stated that he considers his performances to be "de-
indoctrination rites". Rice has performed using a shoe polisher, the "rotoguitar" - an
electric guitar with an
electric fan on it - and other homemade instruments. He has also used
found sounds, played at a volume just below the threshold of pain, to entice his audiences to endure his high decibel sound experiments. Rice coupled his aural assaults with
psychological torture on audiences in
Den Haag, the
Netherlands by shining exceedingly bright lights in their faces that were deliberately placed just out of reach. As their frustration mounted, Rice said that he "continued to be friendly to the audience, which made them even madder, because they were so mad and I didn't care! They were shaking their fists at me, and I thought that at any minute there'd be a riot. So I took it as far as I thought I could, and then thanked them and left."
He became widely known through his involvement in
RE/Search Books. He is profiled in
Industrial Cultural Handbook, which provides lengthy profiles, pictures, and reference pages for all its entries. In
Pranks! [
1], a collection featuring the raucous antics of such notables as
John Waters,
Joe Coleman,
Mark Mothersbaugh,
Mark Pauline, and
Timothy Leary, Rice described his experience in
1976 when he tried to give
President Ford's wife,
Betty Ford, a skinned
sheep's head on a silver platter. In this interview, he emphasized the consensus nature of reality and the havoc that can be wreaked by refusing to play by the collective rules that dictate most people's perception of the external world.
In the mid-
1980s Rice became close friends with
Anton LaVey, founder and
High Priest of the
Church of Satan, and was made a
Priest, then later a
Magister in the
Council of Nine of the Church. The two mutually admired much of the same music and shared a similar
misanthropic outlook. Each had been inspired by
Might is Right in fashioning various works: LaVey in his seminal
Satanic Bible and Rice in several recordings.Rice's involvement with the Church of Satan largely diminished after
LaVey's death in
1997. Recently, when asked how much contact he has with the CoS, he replied, "Virtually none." He has been a member of
The Partridge Family Temple for over ten years which he is much more involved in. He maintains occasional contact with current CoS High Priest
Peter H. Gilmore, and still speaks fondly of LaVey.
Recently, Rice has done extensive research into
Gnosticism as well as
Grail legends and
Merovingian lore, sharing this research in
Dagobert's Revenge [
2], and The Vessel of God[
3].In
2000, along with
Tracy Twyman, editor of
Dagobert's Revenge, Rice filmed a special on the
Rennes-le-Chateau for the program
In Search of... on
FOX television.
Boyd Rice's Social Darwinist outlook eventually led to him founding the Social Darwinist
think tank called
The Abraxas Foundation, named after the ancient god
Abraxas.
The organization promotes
authoritarianism,
totalitarianism,
misanthropism,
elitism, is antidemocratic, and has some philosophical overlap with the
Church of Satan. During an interview with
Christian talk show host
Bob Larson, Boyd Rice described the basic philosophy of the foundation as being "The strong rule the weak, and the clever rule the strong". The organization generally feels that any action leading to human depopulation, regardless of scale, is good in that humans are a dangerous strain on the environment. They maintain that large scale violence is inevitable, and to be strong, humans should succumb to their animal instincts to survive.
Racism is not necessarily promoted, but fully acceptable in that it promotes these ends. The organization does not consider itself good or evil, and sees its philosophy as transcending these dualities. Followers of this philosophy are enlightened, and in so being are elite.
Rice says he's a fascist, not a Nazi. In
1989, Rice and
Bob Heick of the
American Front were photographed for
Sassy Magazine wearing Nazi-like uniforms and brandishing knives. Done mostly as an in-your-face prank, the photo has caused boycotts and protests at many of Rice's appearances. When asked if he regrets the photo, Rice stated, "I don't care. I don't think I ever made a wrong move. The bad stuff is just good. America loves its villains."
Rice has documented the writings of
Charles Manson in his role as contributing editor of
The Manson File. Rice was a featured guest on
Talk Back, a radio program hosted by the
Evangelical Christian Bob Larson [
4]. In total, Rice made three appearances on Larson's program.
He began a romantic relationship (now defunct) with
Lisa Crystal Carver, editor of
Rollerderby fame, resulting in several recordings, performances and a son named Wolfgang. Although Rice was sometimes reported to possess the world's largest
Barbie collection, he recently confessed in an interview with
Brian M. Clark to owning only a few.
Boyd Rice was recently involved in creating a Tiki Lounge in Denver, Colorado. Rice decorated the entire establishment out of his own pocket due to his fondness of
Tiki Culture, asking an open tab at the bar in return. Boyd has long expressed a love of Tiki culture, in somewhat sharp contrast to the other elements of his public persona. Tiki Boyd's was given it's name in his honor.
Tiki Boyds Due to the bar owners treating Rice's friends poorly and not holding up their end of certain agreements, Rice recently pulled out of the deal and reclaimed all of his Tiki decorations. The future of the bar as it remains now is uncertain. Rice plans to re-establish another Tiki Bar elsewhere.
*
Pranks! TV! directed by
V. Vale, RE/Search Publications,
1986 (VHS)
*
Charles Manson Superstar 1989*
Speak of the Devil--about
Anton LaVey directed by
Nick Bougas 1995*
Pearls Before Swine directed by
Richard Wolstencroft 1999*
The Many Moods of Boyd Rice, Predatory Instinct Productions,
2002*
Nixing The Twist directed by Frank Rich,
2000 (DVD)
*
Live in Osaka (
DVD) --Features concert performance from
Osaka,
Japan, in
1989, with
Michael Moynihan,
Tony Wakeford,
Douglas P., and
Rose McDowall. Also includes films
Invocation (One) and
Black Sun*
RE/Search No. 6: Industrial Cultural Handbook RE/Search Publications
1983, ISBN 0940642077
*
RE/Search No. 10: Incredibly Strange Films: A Guide to Deviant Films.
RE/Search Publications
1986, ISBN 0940642093
*
RE/Search No. 11: Pranks!.
RE/Search Publications,
1986, ISBN 0965046982
*
The Manson File edited by
Nikolas Schreck (
Amok Press,
1988, ISBN 094169304X)
*
Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity (Chapters 10-11) by
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, 2001, ISBN 0814731554
*
Dreamer of the Day: Francis Parker Yockey and the postwar fascist international (Appendix I:
The Devil and Francis Parker Yockey) by
Kevin Coogan (Autonomedia,
Brooklyn, NY,
1998 ISBN 1570270392)
*
Lucifer Rising: A Book of Sin, Devil Worship and Rock 'n' Roll by Gavin Baddeley, Paul Woods (Plexus Publishing,
UK,
1999 ISBN 0859652807)
*
Rollerderby: The Book by
Lisa Crystal Carver (
Feral House, ISBN 0922915385)
*
Drugs Are Nice by
Lisa Crystal Carver (
Soft Skull Press, ISBN 1932360948)
*
The Abraxas FoundationOfficial
*
Biography Of Boyd Rice on the
Official Boyd Rice site (many interviews, articles, ect.)
*
Boyd Rice/Non bio from the
Mute Liberation Technologies site.
Unofficial
*
Profile and Releases*
The UNPOP ART Movement's Official Website*
The Black Pimp Speaks Revelatory interview with Brian M. Clark
*
Interview Regarding Stealing Mussolini's Brain*
Interview with Boyd from Modern Drunkard*
Boyd Rice, Lord and Conqueror, interview by
Tracy Twyman*
Boyd's reading list as of 2004
