Curiosity, questions, and the super fun of the unknowable
Jesse | Jul 28, 2009 | Comments 0
by Jesse Gernigin
Superfun Yeah Yeah Rocketship is a cage Corey Goodman has created to contain the creative force he unleashes nightly in clubs, bars and other venues. It would be easy to write off Corey’s creation as bombastic and his show a collection of shocking and uncomfortably funny moments, but to do so would be a disservice, a surrendering to that same force that makes you cringe as Corey smells your hair during the middle of a song whilst drinking from an audience member’s glass. What Corey has done with Superfun Yeah Yeah Rocketship is bring together a high energy and highly unique performance that relies just as much on channeling his inner man child as it does on his Buster Keaton antics.
Superfun Yeah Yeah Rocketship is a one man band, with Corey creating the music and performing. His music is an eclectic smooshing of electronica, sound effects, and madness. The music is played in the same manner as bands like GirlTalk, with the main thrust of the sound coming from a laptop whilst Corey performs. His schedule is pretty full and if you click over to his band’s Myspace page you can not only get a look at his upcoming dates, but also read some posts, watch some vlogs (You have to check out the one where the Metro East High School dance team performs to one of Corey’s song) and listen to some mp3s.
What is interesting is meeting Corey outside of his show, dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, sneaks, and the occasional fanny pack. There is a lot I would like to know.
“Does he plan a show? Is it all impromptu? What comes first the music leading to the performance, or a performance demanding music to explain it?”
Not wanting to interrogate him, I instead take the chance to question him on the creation of his band, “It all started on a whim to do a one-off show with an old friend. He bailed at the last minute but since I had taken care to record the backing tracks, I played them and ran around singing. After that I started doing shows non-stop and named myself Superfun Yeah Yeah Rocketship. This all took place around October 2005 and hasn’t let up.” When I asked him about the future of SFYYRS he commented, “I am slowing down a bit…I don’t plan on getting big doing this…I’m slowly working on a new album, ‘O Yeah, O Baby, O Baby, O Yeah’ and redoing some older songs.”
Listening to Corey talk I can’t help but notice he emanates an underlying anxiety we all share, that one where you aren’t sure if you are saying to much or to little, speaking to fast or to slow, or generally boring the listener in the first place. This anxiety seems to possess Corey with its constant presence. I wonder if it is all an act, albeit an elaborate one. Perhaps, I muse, Corey is putting us all on. But I dismiss this idea and come to a deeper conclusion. Corey is battling his inner man child in a world condemning of such things. He battles his inner man child much the same way Will Ferrel does, the only difference being Will Ferrel does it on screen and Corey does it on stage.
And what do you see on stage? What lurks there beneath the surface of that elaborate name and that entirely too tight spandex outfit? I imagine there are a lot of answers I could give ranging from the one word descriptions, “Unknowable,” to the high-fructose laced descriptions of, “Towering titan talent works whimsical wonders,” and it would all be right, but no one entirely true. Instead I’ll say this. Seeing Superfun Yeah Yeah Rocketship is a choice to confront the unknowable. This sense of unknowable surrounds you as Corey looks around the stage, his eyes sharp. For a moment he plots out his madness and you feel a giddy tinge as he locks his gaze on you for a half moment, were you chosen, were you not? Only Corey knows what will happen next and this makes anticipation crawl cat-like up your back. Then the music starts and the anticipation rises, regardless of what happens next (whether it be Corey running a few laps around the stage, outside completely, or some other random things) you know it will be super fun.
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Filed Under: Bands
