Princess DragonMom is a ten million year-old princess in lurid latex, psychedelic and sexy, who attempts to conquer the earth with her mutant army. She’s the arch-enemy of Super Inframan – 'the man beyond bionics’ – protagonist of the 1975 Hong-Kong sci-fi action movie, Zhong Guo Chao Ren.
Motor City locals Davin Brainard and Warren Defever borrowed the name and the aesthetic from the film, and Princess DragonMom – the band – was born. Formed in Detroit in 1993, the group started out as a
'jamming noise project', and later developed into a fully blown concept-noise-performance spectacle that feeds off surrealism, performance art, animation and kung-fu sci-fi films.
For their
high volume spectacles, Princess DragonMom use harsh electronics and weird installations to jolt both audience and bystanders into an altered consciousness. Cutting through avant-garde, noise, rock and techno, their sound is abrasive, but always good-humoured. Their live shows are often billed as tabloid events: “PDM found an alien corpse in the DETROIT RIVER!!! They’re set to perform an autopsy LIVE at ALVIN'S in Detroit!!”. The first PDM album, The Real Folk Blues (1993), was a cassette release on Japanese noise label G.R.O.S.S., run by
Akifumi Nakajima. Fourteen subsequent productions, including videos and DVDs, have been released on Brainard and Defever’s own independent label, Time Stereo.
Since 1994 the group has organised an annual summer noise festival,
NOISE CAMP, in Detroit. Past line-ups have included Aaron Dilloway of Wolf Eyes, Cotton Museum, Tovah Olson, Hive Mind and Odd Cloud at venues like the CPOP Gallery in Michigan and the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit.
Founding member Warren Defever is better known for his ‘His Name is Alive’ project, an experimental rock band active since the 80s.
His Name is Alive is part of the British 4AD Records roster with past label mates including the
Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Pixies and
The Breeders.
PDM has performed in galleries, museums, clubs and festivals across the US, Holland, Belgium, Germany and Japan. The line-up for CTM will be: Davin Brainard, Warren Defever and Dion Fischer with Dutch visual artist Ronald Cornelissen.
> www.princessdragonmom.com
> www.myspace.com/princessdragonmomm
Appearances:
> CTM.09 > O TANNENBAUM PRESENTS