Mad Marv's Music Den: Making their move

A standout in the list of stellar bands playing this weekend’s Punk Palouse Fest in Moscow is Moscow’s own Ideomotor, opening the late show Saturday at Mikey’s Gyros (see schedule).

Ideomotor’s first release, “Shiny New Bolts,” came out in March of last year, and  Punk Palouse described the band’s music as noisy DIY. punk. I would throw the word post-punk into the description as well. The one band that pops into my music nerd brain when listening to them is Fugazi.

The band was formed by Dylan Champagne, guitars/vocals; Jon Melcher, drums; and Porter Fitch, bass guitar. I visited with Champagne to get to know him and the band a bit before this Palouse Punk Fest swings into action.

Marvin Lee: What got you into playing music?

Dylan Champagne: Music was always around growing up, but I didn’t try playing it until high school. My first instrument was a 4-track (recorder) and an SM58 (vocal microphone). I’d make these elaborate noise collages out of whatever I could find.
Then we inherited my grandfather’s piano, and I spent a summer noodling around on that. I sang in a couple of terrible bands in high school as well. I think they were mostly terrible because of my contribution. Eventually, I picked up a guitar.


ML: Why did you pick the guitar?

DC: Well it’s more mobile than piano, plus most of the music I was into growing up featured guitar prominently, so it just made sense.

In 10th grade or so, a friend of mine gave me a dubbed tape hand-labeled “Suicidal,” and I remember being blown away by the energy of the music. I was so stoked about this band that I went around  for days asking other friends if they were into “Suicidal,” not realizing that the band was called Suicidal Tendencies. I only found out when I got corrected and laughed at for being such an idiot. Haha. Anyway, that made me want to play guitar.


ML: Where did you get your band name, and what does it mean?

DC: The ideomotor phenomenon is how Ouija boards and dowsing rods work. It’s an involuntary muscular movement that’s not a reflex. It’s a movement based on a thought or idea. The name just seemed to fit when we first encountered it after stumbling down some rabbit hole researching phantom limbs, “Dr. Strangelove” and the occult. Plus after we’d discarded about 100 other possible names over several weeks we were tired of trying to think of something.

We released an EP before we realized there was another band with the same name. They’re a Finnish electro-pop duo, so we’ll probably never cross paths, but I want to play a show with them. Maybe we can combine forces and become an Ideomotor super-group.


ML: How did you link up with Jon Melcher and Porter Fitch to start Ideomotor?

DC: I met Porter through academic circles, and we wanted to start a project together. Then the pandemic hit, and we sat on the idea for a while. Then he suggested getting together with a buddy he worked with who played drums — that was Jon.

It ended up working out, but then Porter found out he was moving away ’cuz his partner got into a Ph.D. program in Ohio, so the band played one show and were going to call it quits, but as luck would have it, a series of other bass players jumped on board. We’re currently on our third bass player and about to transition to our fourth. They keep spontaneously combusting. They keep moving away. I guess it’s the nature of playing music in a college town.

Joe Proud is the current bass player. He will be playing Punk Palouse with us and then one more show in June before we transition to Oscar Oswald. Before Joe was Liam Marchant, and before Liam was Porter.


ML: What are the band’s main influences?

DC: Haha. Everyone’s least favorite question to try to answer. There are so many bands that come to mind, but some at the top of the list — at least for me — are Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu, Nomeansno, Devo, Brainiac, Dag Nasty, Bad Brains, Ex Models, Idles, Flying Luttenbachers, The Ex, Unwound, Hoover, Minor Threat, Minutemen, Jesus Lizard, Kaija Saariaho, The Damned, Talking Heads, Operation Ivy, Pixies … .


ML: How would you best describe the music Ideomotor creates?

DC: Angular, noisy, loud.


ML: I super dig the first track on “Shiny New Bolts” called “Can’t Afford A Ticket.” It gets me pumpt. What is it about?

DC: F-yeah, cool. Well, the short answer is, it’s about being poor — something I’ve done a lot of. But it’s a critique of modern industrial-capitalist structures.


ML: I see you guys do a cover of “Moscow, ID” by the electronic rock group Cassandra Complex. It’s fire. How did that come about?

DC: Thanks. Yeah, I’ve thought for a long time that a Moscow band needed to cover that song. I first heard it when I moved here about 13 years ago. I was doing some online research about the town, trying to vibe things out and prepare myself since I was moving from Oakland, Calif., and had spent my whole life basically in the orbit of the Bay Area.

I was stoked to discover the song, and though it wasn’t very charitable to Moscow, I have to say playing that song on repeat helped with some of the culture shock I experienced when I first arrived.

Years later, now that Moscow is my beloved adopted home, I feel like it only makes sense to sort of claim that song as our own and inhabit it in a way that only someone who has lived in Moscow could.


ML: Does the band have any new sounds percolating as of late?

DC: Yes. We have two new singles that will be dropping soon. The first one is called “Centipede,” and the other one is called “Worms.” Don’t ask why they are both creepy crawlies; it just worked out that way.

Also, we’ve got a bunch of new tunes we’re working on and have been adding to the set as they are ready. Those will probably culminate in an EP or a full-length.


ML: Where can a person purchase your music?

DC: We’re on Bandcamp: ideomotorband.bandcamp.com. Or you’ll have to come to a show.


ML: One last question, I have to ask: If you had to morph into a fruit what would it be?

DC: Durian.

Lee is a self-professed music nerd and part-time artist. He can be reached at marvin.lee@live.com.