VANCOUVER - BOGUS TOKUS PLAYS LIGHT TO MEDIUM THRASH MUSIC

Bogus Tokus are from Vancouver, and like many people in Vancouver they look like hippies from the 90s that play hacky sack and claim to be Deadheads but also really like Phish. You might know Mapee from STREETS and Pride Tiger, and he also plays on the new Children album. Actually, Mapee doesn’t dress like a hippie, but he wears his Fred Perry swim trunks as uniform. We talked to him and his bandmate Colin McKill the other day.

Vice: So what’s your idea of success?

Mapee: I’ve been to the top and back so I’m glad you asked me that question. My idea of success is writing songs with your friends and recording them and having fun doing that.

Colin: Successful is when you’re still excited to do what you’re doing and it’s never a drag and you may have beefs because someone drank two of your beers at your last jam and thinks that they didn’t and you’re in a bad mood because you had to work to fund this sort of ridiculous thing. But I’m never bummed about going to jam.

For me, personally, growing up in Toronto, ambition is a big thing.

Mapee: At the risk of sounding jaded, ambition is cute and all, but do you ever go to one of those CMJ-type things and go to sign up your band and you see those people that have the sparkle in their eyes: dudes with mascara and mohawks? 

Colin: But that’s just weird anyways.

Yep. So is your music skate thrash?

Colin: Thrash is a hard thing to latch on to. But we also venture off into areas as diverse as light thrash.

Mapee: That’s something that we were talking about when we were getting hamalamadingdonged in the park half an hour ago. We love the music we’re playing and I guess it’s considered thrash music but it’s not like we’re fucking heavy metal dudes. I love heavy metal music but it seems like people are so eager to call somebody a poser.

Colin: I’m unabashedly a poser. I’m gonna shout out the Beach Boys.

Well, you look like someone who sleeps on the beach.

Mapee: You look like you just got back from the first Lollapalooza with your fucking tribal sun tattoo and your rolled up sleeve.

Colin [To Mapee]: You should tell people about Stunt Rock.

Mapee: It’s a crazy film about this one dude, chilling out and doing stunts. Like jumping off cliffs on fire into smashed up car.

Colin: Stunts that involve the certainty that he’ll get hurt.

Mapee: It was influential for me. I do stunts because of this movie. It’s opened the door for me. I invented such tricks as the Balcony Bartacomous –

Colin: Which he does probably two Saturdays a month.

Explain.

Mapee: You get stoked and jump off a balcony onto your face.

So to sum up: You guys like to jam, and you don’t have any ambition to tour, or get signed, or have a worldwide following.

Mapee: We want to tour, we definitely don’t want to get signed.

Colin: You lost me at “You guys don’t have any ambition.”

ELIANNA LEV

To listen to an extended version of the interview and some Bogus Tokus tunes, go here. 

Comments

[fiyah]

so people from vancouver dress like trailer trash?

[zerotransphat]

god bless these underachievers. making williamsburg feel better about themselves one song at a time.

[lee harvey griswald]

he karate chopped a beer bottle. a motherfucking beer bottle! a death wish, at 130 decibels.

[poozer]

no shame in liking the dead. bob weir's short shorts on the other hand.. that's a different story.

[East Van Pride]

These boys kill. They McKill.

[Jammin' Mon]

So tell me what your tribal sun tattoo symbolizes...

[words for the birds]

it has been a while since the term hamalamadingdonged has been used but i for one and happy to see the resurgence in this special special term.

[pinkie]

that is an awesome pink elephant lamp where can i get my mits on one of those.

[mapee]

don't diss my swimtrunks

[Heidi]

If I remember correctly, you called them your yuppie trunks when asking if it was possible to get paint out of them.

[cranny]

love that table. those boys look good next to all that yellow.

[sky-alert]

mapee you peckersniff

[macman]

Mapee likes naked stage diving from the couch!

[mapee]

whos calling me a peckersniff? i'm 33 for fuckssakes