PRISONFOOD is the noise project by Abraham Moses from Everett, WA. He has been making noise in some form or another since 1999. I’m excited to have him here on the blog for an interview.
SEATTLE NOISE:
Good morning. We are conducting this interview while you’re on tour, so it may be interesting to see how your perception may change as you make your way down the road and back home.
PRISONFOOD:
Good afternoon Seattle Noise and thank you for reaching out during this adventure. Luckily I discovered my flip phone has a hotspot so I am able to internet a tad out here. It’s wild to me that I am on a tour, something I have actively resisted doing ever since touring as the noiser in a metal band ages ago.
SEATTLE NOISE:
Can you give us an introduction to your project? How do you describe PRISONFOOD?
PRISONFOOD:
My project is mostly just me scratching whatever audio video itch tickles my fancy. I have always found it difficult to learn an instrument and play music but I still enjoy the process of creating textures and honing in on subtle minutia detected within the waves.
PRISONFOOD is just the moniker I give myself when I am experimenting alone. If someone collaborates then usually that would earn its own project name. I used a couple of names for my solo recordings before eventually locking it down.
Back then I wanted my tracks to sound good like Locust Abortion Technician and when they didn’t I would be so discouraged it prevented me from creating. Keeping expectations low and giving myself a license to create sounds that sucked was the key to ensuring momentum, an inertia free of discouraging deprecations. Surely no one would check out a project called PRISONFOOD and expect it not to suck.
SEATTLE NOISE:
There is such a diverse group of noise artists and musicians in the Seattle / Cascadia region. Is there a memorable show where you first connected?
PRISONFOOD:
The Wooden Octopus Musick Pfestival in 2005 was a pivotal event for me. After years of incessantly searching for the PNW noise sect, I had finally found my fold. Seemingly everyone in attendance had a noise project and I could not wait to hear them all. Trading releases was the social media of the day. Thankfully I was able to break the ice, meet all the locals, and bring home some of the most treasured releases in my collection. That Pfest audience was packed with so many local noise acts, I decided that day forward to focus my ears on local experimental sounds because the ocean of Euro and japanoise was insurmountable in my eyes.
A highlight from that show was during The Haters set I kept checking my ears for blood, it felt like liquid was streaming down my neck. Surprisingly there was no blood but it was so loud I was concerned about my hearing safety for the first time at any live show. I noticed the person next to me pull out a fist full of individually wrapped ear plugs which they were happy to pass around. Thoughtful generosities such as these, no matter how small, are what I’ve come to admire most about Seattle’s noise contingent.
SEATTLE NOISE:
Building community is what I find exciting about noise. [I fell into the noise community in 2018]. I first heard about you from the AnaRchYinBedRoK Twitch streams. How did that start and have you been able to connect with people from Twitch while on tour?
PRISONFOOD:
In 2017 I entered into hermit noiser mode and after some time had passed my curiosity about the current state of noise had piqued once again. I began looking for the places where people get their noise but it’s not like there is any centralized noise hub that I could find. Falling down some rabbit hole that I discovered on Hollow Earth Radio, I found myself checking out a new social media messaging site called Discord which I didn’t really like but there I met a young media specialist who turned me onto Twitch as sort of a free and easy platform to build a channel kind of like MTV for noisers. The word “twitch” reminded me of a song where the lyrics say “Anarchy in bedrock, twitch twitch” AnaRchYinBedRoK came from the song. It was just a spur of the moment thing, it said I could change the name later but I guess I just left it there and that’s what my online Twitch persona became.
It’s been real hard to stay connected to anyone on the tour with my flip phone and limited internet, but I know they are fine. I have built a strong community of leaders there for keeping noise events thriving on Twitch even after I am gone. I have created a Discord server I can keep an eye on that is a staging ground for twitch noise events as well as sharing news and tips about gear, releases, irl shows, everything and nothing, really. It’s very autonomous the way pretty much anyone can set up events there, anarchy at its best.
SEATTLE NOISE:
Looking to the future, do you have any goals for PRISONFOOD? (other than of course completing this tour)
PRISONFOOD:
Tour is almost over and I feel like I’m not ready to hang up the reigns just yet but who knows? The future of PRISONFOOD is always uncertain and that is what keeps me interested. Collaborations, fun shows, freeing minds and interacting with fellow noise enthusiasts are the only real goals that drive my happy ass to keep living the dream.
Thanks for the interest, I enjoyed the Q&A sesh here on the road.
SEATTLE NOISE:
Where can people best follow you and keep up with what you’re doing?
PRISONFOOD:
I am terrible at keeping up with all the latest social media trends but if I ever figure out what I’m doing then I’ll try to drop some breadcrumbs for those who wish to follow on Instagram @anarchyinbedrok or on my Anarchy In BedRoK Discord Server. Listen to noise on Soundcloud and also tune in to the AnaRchYinBedRoK Twitch stream, as well as on YouTube.
While out on tour, PRISONFOOD also performed at the Sacramento Audio Waffle on April 21, 2024. Watch his set below.