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| Bio of the Artist |
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Though the lineup in this band changes quite frequently, ZWERG is primarily the domain of a peculiar Eldon Thiele. Thiele was born Jason Willis Betts, in Moncton, New Brunswick, on October 4th, 1977, to a Canadian music teacher father and an American art teacher mother. He adopted the name 'Eldon Thiele' as a tribute to his two beloved, deceased grandfathers, Eldon R. Betts Sr. and John L. Thiele Sr. This moniker apparently represents but one of his 6 named personalities. Says Thiele: "ZWERG is the name of the man AND the band, simultaneously. I'm drawn to the intangibility of that; the concrete doesn't fascinate me like the mystification inherent in the enigmatic. Logic can be an enemy to creativity. ZWERG and Eldon are definitely the showmen of the bunch. Having the folks within me all named is, to me, imperative as it assists in appropriating the Self to whatever situation the Self finds itself in at a given time. I call upon whoever's needed at the time. Jason will always be the driving force of this whole ordeal, having been such a disturbed, insecure and emotionally fragile youth. The rest of us surround him like musk oxen, butts in, heads out, ready to ram! NO ONE will hurt that kid! And you better believe it. Jason, in his weakness, is ironically the strength of the posse, because his pain fuels the fire. ZWERG will burn down an adversary with his staring eyes. But only in defense. It's a war for Love, not against fellow humans, but against the principalities of evil opressing or indwelling the adversary." And it is in this light that the ZWERG concept is best understood. The name ZWERG, which is German for 'dwarf,' was selected as a metaphor for any victim of social injustice, the potentially opressed and misunderstood misfit, debilitated by a lie of his or her own frailty, but in reality, in possession of great vigor, of venomous vengeance, of vitality and virility. The dwarves of myth and legend, though diminutive in stature, are notorious for their unmatched constitution, their determined and disciplined dispositions, and their warring capabilities. A German word was selected so as to incorporate the conceptions of harshness, of hardness, associated with the formerly barbaric Northern-European cultures and languages. As well, the family name Thiele is itself German, having originated near Minden, in Lower Saxony, North-West Germany. Thiele says that another strong European link within ZWERG concerns his bandmates, past and present, many of whom are Finnish-Canadian; others have Swedish-French, Ukranian, Germanic, and Celtic roots. "This whole North American deal of having to be pin-pointed as a certain type of musical entity, within a certain genre, so that you have a specific target market just makes me wanna toss my cooks. Europeans seem to be much more interested in creativity and innovation than Americans. Perhaps the love and lure of money is too powerful in the West.. I don't know. When a producer or a manager tells me that I can't do something musically, that just makes me want to do it all the more. It makes me want to laugh in their faces when they laud certain established musicians as being the pioneers of a certain genre. 'HELLO! Don't you see that these musicians had to go against the grain of the time and not listen to close-minded morons like you in order go ahead and, say, fuse two seemingly incompatible musical styles to create the "new" music you love?!' Musicians that excite me take risks! I don't wanna hear the same old shite on the radio for five more years until it's not trendy anymore. That bores the hell out of me. And, at least in my experience, young people usually express the same sentiment. Times have changed and will keep changing; we have to keep experimenting or we won't have new, more effective medications... and I am very much a mad scientist in his musical laboratory. The big head cheeses in the industry don't seem to be open to this. So, you have to ask yourself, 'how much am I willing to compromise my artistic vision in order to make a buck?' Most every artist who has influenced me has had to war with old school thought within the industry somehow, in some fashion. I think that this is because the industry is run by people who are primarily interested in money, personal reputation, and power, while the artists, and I mean the REAL artists, are more interested in CREATING ART! Do these artists want to pay the rent? Of course they do! But there is always a crowd ready to appreciate any type of artistic concoction. I mean, it's a big world out there, with a LOTTA peops in it! ...To 'create' means to make something that HASN'T ALREADY EXISTED. So it's no wonder that so many creative people are open to trying new things, artistically. That only makes sense. Even I see the logic in that." Passionate, resolute, and intense, musically AND emotionally... but unafraid of exploration and further mental and spiritual expansion. ZWERG is a musical force to be reckoned with. At present, ZWERG is primarily based in Toronto, Ontario, and is hard at work on a new album entitled "Into The 4th Dimension," a spiritual sojourn. |
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