Karen O's "Psycho Opera" And The Other Crazy Side Projects Of The Artists We Love

posted in: Music News • Pop • Rock

Karen O, Karen O, Karen O. We love your crazy fashion sense, we love your music, we even love saying your name. But how far will this love go? We’d love it if you put out another record with Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but a “psycho-opera”?

According to a release from The Creators Project via Twentyfourbit, the as-of-now untitled work will be about “an assault on the tragic joys of youth” and will be premiering in mid-October as part of the The Creators Project’s big homecoming after travelling the world (kind of) doing very artsy, very cool things. The opera will be presented alongside numerous other art installations and multimedia performances, so all in all in sounds like a pretty sweet shindig. But still, “psycho-opera”. What does that even mean? What could such a performance possible entail? Are we going to go crazy if we watch it more then three times or something?

Many of our favorite musicians are creative dynamos, unable to be bound by the limitations of one inspirational outlet, branch out into other mediums non-stop. Sometimes it’s amazing! And occasionally it’ll leave us more “innovatively-challenged” types scratching our heads. Like some Garth Brooks/Chris Gaines type stuff.

Weezer have made a career out of churning out endless amounts of good time, fun rock and they’re better at it then pretty much anybody else. So it must’ve been interesting for fans back in 2000 to see the group, performing under the moniker Goat Punishment and performing covers of Oasis and Nirvana tracks. And not just the obvious singles, but some deeper cuts as well. All that adds up to some sweet ’90s alt rock goodness.

Norah Jones, smoky jazz-pop chanteuse that she is, isn’t immune to wanting to try something a little new and different every now and then. In 2008, she and members of her backing band toured as El Madmo. For their live shows, the group donned gonzo wigs, smeared themselves with face paint, wore fishnet stockings and played oddball goof-punk rock that bore little resemblance to the work of Jones’ main project. What was the music like? Well, they have a song called “Rock Yer Balls Off”. Clearly the project is not meant to be super serious, but still Norah, don’t quit your day job. Please.

Finally, we come to Korn. The rap rock titans have never shied away from collaboration, having worked with Nas, Ice Cube and more recently, Skrillex. So it wasn’t too shocking when founding bassist Fieldy branched out in 2006 with his own rap metal project Stillwell. Now Fieldy isn’t rapping over these tracks”he already gave that a shot in an earlier outing, Fieldy’s Dreams. In a recent interview with Revolver Magazine, Fieldy admits to being embarassed about his earlier project. He was, however, excited with his Stillwell project and playing as the opening act for his bandmates in Korn. What nice things did the guys have to say about their friend’s side project?

[Fieldy’s bandmates in Korn] actually watch us almost every night, but they don’t seem very animated about things for some reason. They’re not coming up to me, like, Dude, that is sooo dope! But I’ll see Jonathan watching us from the side of the stage from time to time. I saw Munky watching us from the soundboard the other night.

Not exactly breathless praise but you can judge the merits of Fieldy’s group for yourself in the video for “Killing Myself To Live” below.

That’s not to say that all side projects are bad or weird per se. The major attribute for consideration in a “side project” is the nature of the investment of the performers in the group. Some “side projects” have taken on lives of their own (A Perfect Circle, The Raconteurs, Audioslave, to name a few) but most exist as just a one off curiosity. And like some of the examples above, it’s to everyone’s benefit. But there are a few that we wish had gone on for a little bit longer. Probot is one of those projects. In 2004 super drummer Dave Grohl released an album featuring collaborations with his favorite metal musicians including members of Motí¶rhead, Sepultura and Napalm Death. The result? Twelve tracks of heavy metal awesomeness. While the project only spawned one album and one single, the whole undertaking proves the old addage you shouldn’t judge a book, or a side project by it’s cover. Especially if that side project has Dave Grohl drumming on it.

Are there any side projects you love that we may have forgotten about or glossed over here? If so then let us know in the comments section below!