I Like That Old Time Rock 'n' Roll

For the majority of musicians — and for that matter, artists in general — their artistic output represents a sublimation of sorts; a creative outlet for their inner demons and desires. However, for an inspired few, their art and their life somehow seem to blend together into a seamless union. Their art seems to be not just a reflection of life, but a literal depiction of it. For Arrington De Dionyso, the aptly monikered twisted musical genius and frontman for Olympia trio Old Time Relijun, the latter is most certainly the case.
The music of Old Time Relijun — exhibited most recently by their 2001 release Witchcraft Rebellion on Olympia indie label K Records — is a strange blend of swampy gospel and maniac garage jazz, incorporating everything from clarinets and Jew’s harps to throat singing and speaking in tongues into their vaguely lo-fi rock sound. Even more menacingly divergent are Dionyso’s vocals, which range from free-form word associations to incoherent exorcisms of half-finished thoughts. Dionyso credits this, in part, to a rather diverse range of early influences.
“I was inspired by music that doesn't even sound remotely similar to Old Time Relijun. Of course I love all the greats such as Captain Beefheart, Albert Ayler and Jad Fair, but I was also really into Bob Dylan and Jefferson Airplane as a kid — but you would never have guessed that, right? More important is the process in which I devoured stacks and stacks of Folkways records from the Spokane Public Library — music from every part of Africa, Asia, Indonesia, etc., and lots of Native music. This was all I listened to for awhile in high school,” says the frontman. But he also admits to a bit of youthful rebellion. “I saw hardcore bands play every weekend, but I was trying to find sounds that were not so predictable to my ears.”
These sounds would eventually become the basis for Old Time Relijun, which began to take shape as a band around 1995 in the gray confines of Olympia, WA, when Dionyso, who had been producing self-released solo four-track recordings for some time, met up with bassist Aaron Hartman and now deposed drummer Phil Elvum and began gigging around town. According to Dionyso, the local scene was a very comfortable place to hatch a project as musically ambitious as Old Time Relijun.
“The environment that Old Time Relijun first emerged from was one of a small group of very supportive and devoted friends who made all of our early shows into ‘events’ that took the participant far beyond the expectations of a typical rock show,” says Dionyso.
This idea of the live show as an event has seemingly become the standard for Old Time Relijun, whose live performances are renowned for their revival-like fervor and theatrics. “There is always a theatrical element to it, and an artistic element, but it isn't divided neatly half and half in any literal sense,” explains Dionyso. “Because there is also a cinematic element as well as a musical element, and of course the ritual element, you would have to split the equation at least into fifths to be completely accurate mathematically.” However, Dionyso seems to prefer the permanence of recording to the transience of live performance. “In the studio you get to freeze a moment in time that you can experience over and over again,” declares Dionyso. “Playing a show is just being in the moment, being alive. Not that the studio experience is all that different, though...but there is a conscious striving for the creation of something for posterity.”
Aside from his work with Old Time Relijun, Dionyso has also continued his early experimentations as a solo artist, recently performing a now infamous solo set at a non-descript local house party. However, the majority of this solo work, explains Dionyso, eventually becomes fodder for Old Time Relijun songs.
“At that solo show I was working on some new material and working out new arrangements of some older songs as well. Since that time, some of the new material has been incorporated into Old Time Relijun songs, which will be recorded for our next album.” Dionyso elaborates, “I think playing solo is a way of trying to free myself up to experiment with a little bit more risk-taking, trying new things that don't always work. Playing with the whole band involves just as much risk, but because it is a collective creation rather than an individual creation, the stakes are a little bit higher, and we are all equally responsible for the results. I like playing solo once in a while, but I think the band is where it's at, in terms of best focusing the energy of the music.”
As for the future of Old Time Relijun, Dionyso is vague, if not somewhat optimistic. “I want our music to always contain a certain element of danger, I want Old Time Relijun to grow in popular appeal while never quite becoming ‘containable’ as an element within pop culture. ‘To be in the world, but not of the world.’”
There is most assuredly little danger of that, as the very nature of both Old Time Relijun, as well as its frontman, seem to be predicated on being anything but “of this world.”
“It is a very very exciting time to be alive, so many things are ripe for change!” proclaims the frontman, adding, “Around and around we go, where we stop nobody knows!” Indeed.

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