Article featured in Uptown Magazine By Chris Kalani Woo "Obey the Laws of Physics," reads a red and black stained poster that John Goff, a chief contributor to the San Diego band Physics, hands me at his midtown home. The poster centers on a sun icon, designed by Goff, that loiters above a rigid silhouette skyline. The face of the sun, however, seems all too familiar as it is the stencilwork of Shepard Fairey, who's Andre the Giant graffiti art has appeared in major metropolis' from Providence to Charleston to here in San Diego. Conceptually, Goff's brand of music isn't far from Fairey's urban propaganda-it sparks curiosity, it's redundant (which is, positively, the objective) and it's fairly twisted for those who look deep enough. "I want to make a shirt that says, 'Diversity Through Monotony,'" Goff jokes, half serious. On their first CD (cut for local fledgling label Flapping Jet), Physics ebbs and flows, massaging your darkest secrets with its contemplative elation and restrained drone. The album, titled Physics1 in light of the elementary namesakes of the first two records by Kraftwerk and also by Neu! (only, for Physics, acting as an exponential number instead of a whole number), draws primarily from live performances and features members of Chune, Powerdresser (with some final recordings before the untimely death of Denver Lucas in late 1994), Heavy Vegetable, Thingy, Staccato Reeds, Rice and Optiganally Yours. Without a doubt, Goff is a total experimental music head with a soft spot for the Krautrock of Can, Klaus Schulze and Japanese noise bands (the latter of which he's released records by Hanatrash (featuring Eye Yamatsuka of the Boredoms), Gerogerogegege and Merzbow on his own Way Out Sound label). He likes to refer to Physics as "evil new age" for its undertones of Glenn Branca's no wave guitar symphony (which, at different points, featured members of Helmet and Sonic Youth) and aims to make his guitar sound more like a violin. Moreover, to avoid repeating history, Physics takes it a step beyond the "No New York" polished guitar orchestra by constructing a din of biorhythmic electronic sounds along the lines of Plastikman or From Within. "We wanted to do weird music, but have it be in a way where someone that is not really into weird music could listen to it and like it anyway," said Goff. "I like stuff like Merzbow and shit like that, but I think it's just too abrasive [for Physics]. So we wanted to make something that was kinda pleasant to listen to, but if you really listen to it, it's a lot more fucked up than you think it is." About four years ago, Physics materialized as an offshoot of Goff's former project Johnny Superbad and the Bulletcatchers which came in two forms. The first was totally wild improvisational bouts of rambling, noodling and sheer noise, and the second was Zeni Geva-esque with it's pristine powerhouse chords. "I got so sick of the Johnny Superbad thing-the first incarnation where it was just this fuckin' mess-that, for Physics, I said, 'okay, well, you guys can do anything you want. You can go as crazy as you want. But you have to play this one chord." The live experiment became an hour-long test of endurance to see how varied each player could actually become. The challenge was to unlearn, at least temporarily, what each musician had become accustomed to in other bands and bring their newfound revelation to the whole. "When we started Physics, it was kinda out of control. It kind of drove me crazy, but I liked it," said Goff who's initial seriousness eventually channeled the band's extended bouts of discord into a more cohesive and coherent movement. But despite his ability to give the band some direction, Goff isn't an autocrat for Physics. "It's definitely a democracy," says Goff without delay. "I've played in pipe bands for a long time-bagpipe bands-and maybe it's a reaction against it or something. If I'm willing to play in a band with someone, I think that they should be smart enough to be able to make decisions for themselves." Classically trained by way of the National Bagpipe Society in Balboa Park, Goff has won international bagpipe competitions and also piped with a host of top local bands over the years such as Three Mile Pilot, Crash Worship and Pitchfork. For Physics, though, he feels that the regimented nature of his pipe schooling shouldn't be part of its freeform edifice. Fortunately, this is a conscious effort and he occasionally gets a kick out of how much interest Physics has actually stirred up. "I'm so used to playing shows where twenty people show up over and over and over again," says Goff, "that when a lot of people show up, I kinda say, 'what's wrong?'" Notwithstanding Goff's sarcastic modesty, Physics has opened for the Japanoize speed grunt-rocking Ruins in Los Angeles recently and the Silver Wizards (another Goff project) shared the San Diego bill with the seminal late '60s band Silver Apples on last year's revival tour. "I am the Silver Wizard," he said with an unjustified tone while referring to a copy of the ambient, Tangerine Dream-like twelve-inch record (also on the Way Out Sound) that he collaborated with V from the Spacewürm. Physics is set to issue a second record, ostensibly titled Physics2, late this month on Gravity records. The album, previewed on Physics1 as the track "Delayed Drone," was recorded over three years ago at the Loft in downtown San Diego. It is a full-blown conceptual rig with amenities like actual titles (as opposed to the first CD's extremely practical titles; i.e. "Live at the Casbah" or "First 7" Side 2") and a computer illustrated booklet, designed by guitarist Jason Soares (who also has an excellent web site at www.theexperiment.com), that maps out each composition. Of course, there still isn't much of a premeditated song structure and no defining riffs, but also no boredom.