Effortless Records

9 / 2004 Sky-Indian Weekly
Not so long ago, an often overlooked album was released entitled "Experience the Thinking Captain's Dementia" featuring a mysterious lo-fi underground group called Captain Zapoleon and the Blue Milkstars. The album swirled and dripped with toy noise makers and acoustic hum, the sound of bare steel on bare metal, and spacey echo's of space echoes, and then disappeared as quickly as it appeared. It is a great surprise to find it is to be re-released, re-mastered, re-titled, re-sequenced, and another track to be added.
Captain Zapoleon is of course Craig Robinson, who is currently studying Philosophy in Belgium and making music in the cafe's and clubs there at night. Despite a busy schedule, I was able to get a quick word from him via email.

Craig, my questions are few and simple...
1. The reasons for a re-release of this album are obvious, but why change the album's name ?
By the time of the album's re-release, I just felt that the old title didn't suit the mood of the album. A title with the word dementia in it emphasizes something like insanity too much. I don't think that the album is about that so much as it is about some of the rough and confusing times I had in my late teens. This album was my way of dealing with the troubles I encountered in relationships and religion. So I think that a title like "Heartaches and Heartbreaks" cuts straight to the heart of the matter.
2. The new track added to the album is really great, is that an Eric's trip influence ?
Maybe I was influenced by those guys indirectly. Eric's Trip is cool. But, when I put together "The Angelus Sings", I was listening to a lot of Matt Workman's solo stuff. He wrote this really interesting song called "We Should Run". Originally, I was just trying to create something like that with the backwards lyrics, but my song ended up sounding nothing like Matt's. Actually there is another version of this song that has female vocals on it, but I scrapped that one because it was too weird.
3. Lastly, what now? Any new Captain Zap releases in the works ?
Most definitely! There is already enough new material for another album. Right now it is a matter of finding enough time to record it all. It is also a matter of getting all the Bluemilkstars together at once to record.

Jon Show, SurrealSpiel Inc. c/o Sky Indian Weekly

Effortless Records
is an independent Indie Pop/Rock record label, located in South Western Ontario, Canada. Started by a group of friends in 2003, Effortless has been slowly, but steadily working on securing a talented and diverse group of bands from the South Western Ontario region, while at the same time, developing a studio space and production area in which to produce and record music, as well as manufacture the physical product, being CD's.
Our goal has always been simple: To produce the kind of music we as fans would enjoy listening to. Most of us here are fans of The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, The Beach Boys, Elvis, and more modern groups such as Square Root of Margaret, Bong Water, Apples in Stereo, Guided by Voices, Ween, Belle and Sebastian.
Having the word 'Effortless' in our company name is to be taken mostly tongue-in-cheek, as the reality is, running a studio, producing music, and trying to keep the quality of the art at a high standard actually requires much effort. Having said all that, we still strive to remain in the DIY realm of Indie music."You've gotta always remember the name of the game is 'What does it sound like?'…I don't care if you got 90 tracks…what does it sound like, baby?"—Ray Charles

photo by: Cynthia Lockrey
A local band from the Dresden area is busy working on releasing it's debut album. Craig Robinson, Charlie Miller, Matt Workman and Steve Bellan make up the group titled pseudo star. Robinson provides guitar, bass and vocals. Miller plays the bass and piano. Guitar, vocals, harmonica and drums are all played by Workman, and Bellan provides drums, vocals and guitar.

Pseudo Star began in Feb. 1997, on a day when school was cancelled due to snow. A bunch of musicians ended up at Craig Robinson's house and Pseudo Star began from there, throwing together "the best of the best." Though they've been through a variety of drummers, three of the four members have been there from the start.

So what does Pseudo Star mean? A fake star. The name is to "make fun of people who aren't real stars." - people who don't write their own music and don't really care about the music. An example they mentioned a few times was Celine Dion. The band has a wide variety of influences including such groups as the Beatles, Sonic Youth, Pink Floyd, Square Root Of Margaret, smashing Pumpkins, Sloan, Led Zeppelin, Blink 182 and David Bowie.

Pseudo Star has played in such events as Lambton-Kent Composite School's ArtsFest, Wallaceburg's Groundstock, in Meme's Pantry, in the Dresden Arena and in the Gazebo across from the Knechtel store. The group claims that they would like "more support from Dresden." Meme's Pantry has been very generous with giving them time and space to play, and they would like to thank Vanessa for that. "If you ever need good food go to Meme's." said Miller.

Lately, the group has been in the studio recording their first CD. The CD is to be called "Sunday With The Empty..." They have been recording at the House Of Bleen Studio in Chatham. All 10 tracks on the CD are originals by the group. The producer of the CD is Square Root Of Margaret's bass player, Dennis. They hope to have the CD out in April and have been thinking of producing t-shirts and stickers.

When asked how they describe themselves, Charlie Miller said that he thinks of them as a "love child between Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Sloan, and Weezer." When questioned about the reasons they began to play music, Miller said it was "for the women." Robinson claims "my mom made me," and Matt said "it's cheaper than hockey."

February 13 is the date of Bellan's Stag and Doe which will feature the music of Pseudo Star. The group has also been booked for 1999's Groundstock which will be held in Wallaceburg, March 12. This is a very exclusive event, with only two local bands, Pseudo Star from Dresden and Grounded from Wallaceburg, the rest being from larger cities such as Toronto and Windsor. Groundstock raises money to donate to a different charity each year. Pseudo Star also hopes to play at this year's ArtsFest at LKCS.

The band is also working on a side project producing a demo for the Dresden area band Merge. Robinson also plays in a band named Ruptured Spleen. One time while playing a gig Bellan said to Workman "hey, rock 'n' roll," and that has been Pseudo Star's motto ever since. Workman says the band can "entertain any crowd," and will play at any event.

By Bethany McIntyre