The Mile High Makeout: Cap’n Fresh keeps Denver clean
By Eryc Eyl | October 8th, 2010 | No Comments »
Cap'n Fresh (far right) and one incarnation of the Stay Fresh Seals. Photo by Tammy Shine.
“I ran into Denny’s to tell people my car was on fire, and there were some off-duty cops there. I was spitting blood on the floor, but I didn’t really realize that I’d been shot.”
This, in a way, was the birth of Cap’n Fresh. And if it seems a little cliché for a rapper’s back story to begin with a shooting, then you haven’t met the musical original that is Cap’n Fresh. With one foot firmly in the analog and un-gangsta sounds of ’80s hip-hop and another in the world of musique concrete and performance art, Mike Schleipfer – whose aliases include Mike McNutts, Cap’n Schleicolo, DJMC and, of course, Cap’n Fresh – is in a league of his own.
“I’m not big in the Denver hip-hop scene because I’m not trying to appeal to anybody in particular,” the 32-year-old musician explains. “It’s hard for me to keep a DJ because I wear a robe and a shower cap.”
That’s right. Schleipfer’s preferred garb is a bathrobe and shower cap, and his stage set has been known to include a shower curtain and a bathtub. Fleshed out with a DJ and hype man (or woman), Cap’n Fresh and the Stay Fresh Seals perform a cleanliness-obsessed version of old-school rap, filtered through a love for noise, with goofy enthusiasm and irreverence that is hilarious, infectious and captivating – even if it seems to come out of left field.
In a way, Schleipfer himself comes out of left field. Growing up in west Denver in the ’80s and ’90s, the man who would be Fresh ran away from his conservative Christian home more than once, was thrown out of several schools and even spent some time sleeping on the streets. It was a life that ultimately led to his being shot in the face at close range while his car was on fire. He was just 19 years old.
“I was a troubled youth,” Schleipfer says, looking back. “I never thought I’d do music. I didn’t really want to do anything.”
Not surprisingly, being shot was a wake-up call for Schleipfer. When he was introduced to John Rassmussen and John Gross of noise act Page 27 and the late ’90s scene at Monkey Mania– one of Denver’s legendary warehouse crash pads and performance spaces – he realized he had to make music.
“I started meeting people who were doing shit,” he observes of that time. “I was just excited to be alive and ready to do something with my life.”
After a few gigs with Page 27 – “we’d just smash things and make noise” – and a lot of karaoke, Schleipfer formed Bill Pickett’s Invitational Rodeo. Not to be confused with the groundbreaking African-American rodeo, BPIR was a loose collective of musicians and rotating guests who created noisy, hip-hop-influenced experimental music, using found sounds, cheap equipment and a Dadaist sense of humor.
Bill Pickett’s Invitational Rodeo released just one proper album – “FUG Life” – before disbanding in the late ’90s (Schleipfer promises a follow-up titled “GUF Strife” is forthcoming). No sooner was that project laid to rest than Schleipfer began working on the songs that would become the debut release from Cap’n Fresh and the Stay Fresh Seals.
Produced in collaboration with Jim Compton of Mr. Pacman, the “Soap” EP was a homemade CD-R that paired vocal delivery and beats copped from ’80s hip-hop with decidedly nerdy lyrical content and presentation. Explicit and implied nods to Run-DMC, UTFO and other early rap classics collided with rhymes about showering, taking baths and getting fresh – though in the hygienic sense, instead of the usual slang sense. Stuffed with rap revisionism, satire and performance art, the funny, freaky and frequently baffling record is now available as a free download via Last.fm. Schleipfer is currently working on a second disc, appropriately titled “Dirt.”
In spite of his industriousness, Schleipfer has yet to draw a strong following. Perhaps it’s song titles like “Don’t Invite the Baath Party to the Bath Time Party.” Perhaps it’s his nerdcore-meets-Slick Rick flow. Or perhaps it’s the bathrobe and shower cap.
In August, however, Cap’n Fresh was exposed to a much larger Denver audience when he opened for his old friends, Warlock Pinchers, during one of that legendary act’s sold-out reunion shows. This Monday’s show at Rockaway Tavern with New Orleans weird-hopper MC Trachiotomy – the venue’s first hip-hop show – is likely to further cement the act as a unique and creatively vital component of the Denver music scene.
But credibility, commercial success and a following aren’t that important to Schleipfer.
“I just want it to be fun,” he explains. “Too many times – even it’s a good band – if everybody’s dressed the same, nobody’s having fun because they’re all too worried about what everybody else thinks.” Ever since that horrific event when he was 19, Schleipfer believes that enjoying being yourself is more important that seeking the approval of others. In a way, his alter ego is the natural expression of that.
“If there’s a guy in a robe dancing around,” he says, “you’re just gonna have fun.”
Eryc Eyl is a veteran music journalist, critic and Colorado native who has been neck-deep in local music for many years. Check out Steal This Track every Tuesday for local music you can HEAR, and the Mile High Makeout every Friday. Against his mother’s advice, Eryc has also been known to tweet. You can also follow Steal This Track on Twitter. Sorry, Mom.
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