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Friday, March 29, 2024

Steam Punk – Professor Elemental Interview

profwm

Being an avid Steampunk fan and a Photographer of an alternative geeky disposition I was lucky enough to be invited along as the official photographer for a Cornish Steampunk festival, On seeing Professor Elemental perform for the first time his stage presence, skills and wit intrigued me enough to seek out his stuff after the festival! I was hooked!  

We got to chat at the next event we both attended! As well as get some shots with him and the Zombies in attendance………..
It went a little like this!

 

 

 

 

Hello there Professor, How the devil are you?

Bloody marvelous thanks for asking sir. I have a fresh brew and am full of vim and vigor.

So the Steampunks have spoken and have some musings! 

When did an inventor of your caliber realise you had the skills to take on the Chap hop world?

It was about five years ago, when I was a ‘regular’ emcee, I bought the pith helmet on a whim and did a show as a one off joke… then before I knew it, I was immersed in this delightful world of steampunk, whimsy and cake.

How did you go about letting your fellow Steampunks in on your rhyming skills?

 I was lucky really, I started getting steampunks getting in touch with me before I knew what it even meant. Then, after my first steampunk convention, I realized had found my tribe. 

Did it take a while to get some ‘steam’ behind your act?Grill

Definitely. I like the theory that it takes 10000 hours to get good at something. About ten years at anything and you can excel I reckon- and indeed, it’s taken a good ten years of rhyming and freestyling to get to do it full time. 

Does the Prof ever get nervous before a performance?

 I get nervous before every performance. If you don’t, you are not doing it right. That’s part of the fun- the adrenaline rush and the risk that it could all go wrong. And of course it sometimes does, which makes the good gigs all the sweeter!

Do you have a favorite or most memorable performance to date?

 I have a bundle- but the Steampunk worlds fair, my first American con changed my whole life and in the UK, my shows at the lass o Gowrie have been favourites too. Particularly when there is a mix of friends, steampunks and the hip hop crowd. Those gigs feel like ambitions achieved.

Most Splendid ditty to perform?

 ‘You remind me of a car’ is always fun, partly because you never quite know how the audience member is going to react to my dubious charms. Plus I wrote it with lots of space between lines, so there are obvious punchlines which makes it (hopefully) easier to get laughs.

Any track with audience participation is fun to do. I want to get to the stage where the audience do all the songs, and I stand and watch. Or have a nice sit down.

There is another Gent on the Chap Hop circuit going by the name of Mr B – The Gentleman Rhymer, he claimed during a ‘Chap off’ you are not a chap at all and mocks you saying you have no shirt, half a beard and a dress up box!

What would you say back to such rot?

Well, there was a time when I would have made threats about battenburg duels or loading up my blunderbuss- but Mr B and I reached an accord during a brandy and opium laced evening. Can a chap so well dressed be as bad as all that?

Is there much chance of a blunderbuss drive by in the chap hop world, or do you play nicely in comparison to gansta rap?

Oh goodness. Much nicer. Although ‘fighting trousers’ was a genuine call to arms, you can’t make your living in a shorts and pith helmet and take yourself too seriously?

How doth one define a chap?

Manners

Are you working on any new inventions?

All the time. At the moment I am partially through production of the first weasel powered generator, which aims to solve the world’s energy crisis. Or the world’s weasel crisis. I forget which

VS

We see you had a recent run in with some Zombie’s what is your chosen apocalypse weapon?

I have always favoured running away and hiding somewhere cosy. It has served me well over the years. Speaking of which, here’s a link to a free song I recorded with my group ‘special school’ regarding the zombie apocalypse. Hope you chaps like it: http://www.mediafire.com/?fjn4zynqwyboxhu

And if during an apocalypse you were given only one choice of tea, and biscuit to take with you what would they be?

Mmm, good question. A nice cup of cosy tea and a custard cream. I like the pattern on a custard cream. Also, cosy tea gave me a massive crate of tea a while back and I now mention them at every opportunity in the hope that they will do it again?

We hear the professor is a comic fan, care to indulge us?

I love comics, just slightly less than I love my own children. Thanks to the mastery of writer and editor Chris Mole and a host of artists from around the world, there is a splendid Professor Elemental comic, that one could pick up from www.professorelemental.com. One can read about it in the SFX review here too: http://www.sfx.co.uk/2012/12/14/blog-professor-elemental-review/

Hurrah!

Queen Elizabeth or Kato?

I don’t know, but I’d love to see them fight.

Is there anything you would like to tell your fans?

Just to say thanks for being so universally lovely. Without good people at my shows, I am just a man in hat shouting at himself.

As far as promoting stuff, I guess if people just pop along to www.professorelemental.com really. All the exciting news about the new album & the web series is on there…. and there’s lots of free music for all!

Photographer/Writer – Rick @ Smiff-ease-Shots.
http://www.facebook.com/SmiffeaseShots.Rick.Smith.Photography

SmiffeaseShots
SmiffeaseShotshttp://www.facebook.com/SmiffeaseShots.Rick.Smith.Photography
Well I guess the immediate thing would be that I'm a Cornish Photographer who doesn't like to run with the crowd! If there is an edge an angle a spin on things that deter the trendy ones, I'm in, my work although varied, speaks for me. Oh and I love Lego games, Comics, Steampunk............................. Ahhhhh jeez I could say so much more, maybe I will one day, but for now how about come and check my stuff, drop me a line and we'll yarn Skyrim Dragon Shouts! Oh and I named my son after Jimi Hendrix!!! woooooohoooo, next one to be called Han Solo?? hmmmm

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