Pop Quiz: Are These Chillwave Bands or ’80s Toys with William Reed

Welcome to Pop Quiz, a new recurring series where we sit down notable folks about town and force them to take a geeky pop culture test. Today we feature electronic maven William Fucking Reed.

Look out First Friday — Sticky Fingers, the weekly electronic bash that goes down every Friday night, is looking to get spooky tonight.

The night’s resident DJs, William “Fucking” Reed, Prince$$, Pickster One, J-Paul, Bigie, Borisimo, Hunnycut, and Hoodwink will have some special guests tonight, L.A.’s Fabian, and DJ NOIZ.FKR, known for his parties at goth-y club Sanctum. And though the night certainly will feature plenty of the erudite dance music it’s known for, party instigator Reed states that tonight’s festivities will be a little darker.

“I’m really excited about tonight. The night is themed with a doom disco/witch house kind of vibe,” Reed says. “One of my favorite DJs, NOIZ.FKR (pronounced “noise fucker,” duh) is helping out. It’s exciting for me because a lot of my electronic musical roots stem from EDM, industrial, darkwave, and goth. I was really into it 15 years ago, and I still am, but as a DJ, that’s not what I do regularly.”

Not familiar with witch house? It’s one of the dozen insane blogger-created names that describes a spooky, goth take on lo-fi pop. It’s difficult to describe but shares a certain woozy character with another hazily defined term: chillwave. We thought it would be fun to put Reed through the ringer, and challenge him to a little contest: Could he correctly tell the difference between the names of a couple of chillwave bands and action figures/children’s toys from the ’80s?

Read on to see whether Reed “fucking” nails our quiz or blows it…

Friday, February 3: Sticky Fingers feat. Fabian, Noiz.Fkr, William Fucking Reed, Prince $$, Pickster One, J. Paul, Bigie, Borisimo, Hunnycut, & Hoodwink @ Bar Smith

Up on the Sun: All right, let’s get started: Brothertiger. Chillwave band or 1980s toy/action figure?

Reed: I’m going to say band on that one. That would be kind of a weird toy. Not that there isn’t any better kind of toy than a weird one.

You’re right. Brothertiger is a chillwave band.

How about Glow Worm?

Oh, that’s a toy, dude.

Correct, Glow Worm is a toy from the 1980s. One of the creepiest toys from the ’80s, I must say.

Okay, so is Glow Bug a band or toy?

Oh. That’s tough. That’s 50/50. Oh, Jeremiah Gratza [of Stateside Presents] just showed up. [To Jeremiah Gratza] Is Glow Bug a band or a toy?”

Gratza: It’s a toy.

Not Glow Worm, Glow Bug. I’m going to say band.

Correct. Glow Bug is indeed a chillwave band.

Try this one on for size: StarCom?

That sounds like a toy.

You’re correct. Starcom is a line of space-themed children’s toys. You’re doing pretty good. Much better than I would have done if I hadn’t stayed up late looking at this stuff.

Okay, here’s a good one: Crystar.

Band.

Wrong. It is a toy. And it’s totally awesome-looking.

Aw, man . . .

That’s a pretty tough one, though, because even this toy’s package looks a lot like a chillwave album cover.

Okay, how about Warm Ghost?

Oh, jeez . . . Man, this is going to be a tough one. Can I phone a friend? [Speaking to a friend: Warm Ghost — is that a band name or a 1980s children’s toy?] It sounds like a band name. I’m going with band.

Correct. Doing pretty well, man . . .

This one should be easy. Viewmaster — toy or band?

[Laughs] That’s a toy, but I think there might be a DJ remix duo or whatever named View Master.

You’re right, and technically, it wasn’t a strictly ’80s toy line, but it was popular in the ’80s. As for a DJ duo, I’m not sure, but it sounds plausible to me.

Okay, here’s a good one: Tiger Sharks.

Tigershark? Shark as in “Shark Week” or “Shart?” [laughs] Do they have a Shart Week on Comedy Central? They should. They should run it the same time as Shark Week. But, no, that’s a toy.

Right again. You’re killing it, man! And I hope Comedy Central is reading.

How about Bravestarr?

Toy or chillwave band. That’s tough. I’m not familiar with a band called that. It sounds like an ’80s arcade game.

If it helps, “star” has two Rs.

Definitely a band.

Nope, that’s a toy!

Ah, dammit!

Score: 8 out of 10. Excellent game, William “Fucking” Reed.

Sticky Fingers (Doom Disco/Witch House Party) featuring NOIZ.FKR, Fabian, and William “Fucking” Reed and the Sticky Fingers resident DJs goes down tonight at Bar Smith.

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