ORCHIDxMANTIS
OrchidxMantis was hatched on the corner of 30th & Thorn Streets, at the intersection of where operatic vocal stylings and jungle drum n’ bass borrow from 3rd stream and avant pop.
Sunglasses, Dancing, and Counterpoint with Vocoders - Nina Deering of OrchidxMantis
- (Bottom Feeders Quarterly Interview)
It's my sixth meeting with Nina Deering, and somehow, what was supposed to be a simple interview has covered Gucci, Shostakovich, the nature of creative ownership in a group setting, Methodists, live-work spaces, teaching, Die Antwoord, and sharp eleven chords.
Nina rolls on our hardwood floor, playing with my kitten Marcus Aurelius, complaining about how much her ass hurts from roller skating. Issac and Caitlin Crow sit on my couch looking at her with grins on their faces. Isaac is sporting a mohawk, an orange nylon jacket, a Slayer tee shirt, floral print sweat pants, and green sneakers that look like they were designed to be in a comic book. His wife Caitlin, who goes by the moniker Shiksa Baiul, is in a low cut red striped shirt, and blue spandex that seems like the 80s version of what spandex 75 years in the future might look like. There's an aroma of post roller skating sweats mixed with the Kikori whiskey I spoil myself with a few times a year.
It's my sixth meeting, because talking to Nina Deering is the human equivalent of talking to a collage. You will not necessarily get a straight answer, but you will receive select cut outs of vibrant thoughts that may be off the cuff or carefully arranged. Somehow, there manages to be a sense of organization and intent in the chaos which pervades her communications. Fronting one of the most musically demanding projects in San Diego, she is at home in OrchidxMantis; composer Issac Crow's brainchild of demented pop music that he approaches with an anthropologist's fervor and an archaeologist's method.