To the fullest

Jared Ellingson is the token fag in one of Vancouver’s most up and coming snazzy, jazzy, funky, dunky house bands-Evolution. He stays true to his punk-rock roots while pioneering new sounds and having a blast trying to change the face of music. We gab like old sissies while munching down some breakfast in the Davie village.

Michael Venus: What have you been doing?

Jared Ellingson: Well, I’m a musician.

MV: How long have you had the music in you?

JE: Probably since I was five and my mom bought me a drum set. So I was banging on the drums since I was this big (he gestures two feet off the floor). Now I play a little bit of everything; I can play drums, guitar, bass, piano, not really any strings.

MV: Okay, tell me about the band.

JE: We’re Evolution and we’re doing house music, but we’re doing it live through instrumentation and it’s myself, Max Murphy and Danny of Dub Vibe Studios. Lady Precise and Curtis are our vocalists. Curtis is based in Edmonton but comes here and sings with us. I put the band together with Max because there was a lack of realness to music in the clubs in the mid to late ’90s. We realized that the technology was there that enabled us to do what we wanted live. We are basically doing exactly what a DJ does, just live and with a band. There is also more of a visual-seeing people actually making the music, it creates huge atmosphere and great vibes.

MV: What sort of music were you into before this project?

JE: Punk rock, my whole life. I started played in bands back in San Diego when I was about 12 or 13 years old. Minor Threat was one of my favourite live acts. I also saw the Subhumans (from Vancouver) and so on. I really got into the punk thing there. Then I really got into the whole skinhead thing, the San Diego skinhead movement, not at all Nazi but definitely SHARP (Skin Heads Against Racial Prejudice) till I was about 19. I played music back then but really only knew three chords. Once I learned four I guess I finally graduated from punk rock; I moved on to rock and roll. It’s weird!

MV: In that scene, as much as there can be tolerance, a lot of people are sometimes just the opposite.

JE: Not as much anymore but back in the day every punk rocker

MV: Was a homo (we both giggle).

JE: In denial.

MV: What do you think of the whole fetishism of skinheads and punks?

JE: I guess because the image is so butch and masculine and straight actinglooking. and they are all nellies (chuckle chuckle). . .

MV:So where did you grow up?

JE: I grew up in Singapore but was born in Calgary. We lived in Singapore for about 10 years, then California for about four, then finally to Vancouver.

MV: You had a very tragic thing that happened to you a few years ago, didn’t you?

JE: Yes, to be blunt I was just walking across the street with a friend of mine and got hit by a car. We were just crossing the street near the Lougheed Mall and we just got smoked, neither of us saw it coming. It was very harsh. I woke up in the hospital and he died. The car hit us at 102km per hour. When I woke up all my family was there. I was out for a few days and everything except my back was broken.

MV: So you’re really lucky to be alive! Thank God!

JE: Ya, I’m totally lucky to be alive. I definitely have a new look on life and try to live my life more and to the fullest. It’s strange; I think anyone who goes through something like that has a real eye opener-everything could just end like that. You don’t even know that it’s going to happen. I didn’t know that it happened, my brain must have shut off.

MV: To change the subject to boys now: What kind of male specimen do you enjoy?

JE: Straight boys, silly!

MV: Oh yeah? You luck out?

JE: Oh yeah, especially when I go to other towns. Smaller towns seem to have a lot of straight boys who like to play (giggling). I don’t want to name the town because then everyone will run to it (laughing harder).

MV: Well what do you like to do … with these boys?

JE: (Laughing like he can’t believe I asked that question) I like to hug and love them, and do them in the bum. I like big dicks.

MV: In the pooper, eh? What else do you like, Mary? Or actually is there anything about gay sex that you don’t like or that grosses you out?

JE: I don’t like swallowing cum, but I like getting mine swallowed.

MV: Where do you like to go out in Vancouver?

JE: The Lotus on Saturdays (Deepen at Honey). The PumpJack-no, just kidding!

MV: No you’re not, Mary! And I know you love to cruise at the all-new Sugar Daddy! (He then loses concentration staring at some twink.)

JE: He’s beautiful. He looks really familiar for some reason. I don’t think I’m much of a cruiser, I think I’m more of a predator.

MV: Alright, mister, what does the future hold for you?

JE: Me and Max want to go in a more deeper techno vibe and a little bit more punk-rock. Right now, we’re a little more jazzy and loungey which works good in certain elements, but I do see a fusion of techno and punk. I’m going to be bigger than Kylie.