If you're in search of artistic chameleons, look no further than Sinister Minister Underground Theatre (aka SMUT). This versatile group led by Robbert J. Bricker (The Undeniable) includes four Gather members who contribute outstanding film, music, photography, and poetry to the site.
SMUT's work, produced in the bleak urban landscape of Pittsburgh, explores themes of personal alienation amidst urban and global decay. Much of their art is about being caged, whether one is stuck in a crumbling inner city neighbo
rhood or born into a body with the "wrong" sexual orientation.
I met The Undeniable, an internationally-known musician, director and editor, when he was a finalist in Gather's music video competition (here's his entry, Rock-N-Roll Star). This video, the first professional multimedia I found on Gather, sent my inner art critic into ecstacy.
Equally talented is D. Gauss, SMUT's esteemed 
cinematographer and photographer (his photos are at the bottom of this article).
What impresses me most about SMUT's films and videos is their ability to take images from an ordinary urban landscape-- a dog walk, a couple of geese by a river, a friend who lingers, depressed, on a fire escape-- and transform them into universal art. Click here to watch Gauss' film Walking Jake, a visit with a very gifted canine. The Undeniable's dancetrack makes it hard to sit still!
The mood of SMUT's film Dead Dolls River Club (produced for Nine Inch Nails) is completely different. Consisting of little more than a pair of geese hanging out by a river, this film easily matches Blair Witch Project in its eerie simplicity. Images of the paired geese are layered over brief glimpses of mutilated dolls as sirens sound in the background-- a tribute to murder victims whose bodies were dumped in the Allegheny river.
My favorite SMUT film is No Man No One Sees, which received one of their three Pill Award nominations (NYC). This tale of personal metamorphosis starts out looking like a Michael Jackson tribute, then slowly peels back the layers of its characters . The accursed somehow come to rest in a rainy Garden of Eden, while the accusers land in their own apocalyptic Hell.
Being raised a Catholic, I'm no stranger to sexual repression, and this movie strikes an emotional chord in me. Especially powerful is the film's switch to full color at its climax:
Flagged for language and adult content.
But SMUT's newest short film Burn That Closet Down goes beyond their earlier work. In addition to escaping their cage, SMUT members are bent on destroying it.
Burn That Closet Down is a chilling allegorical tale of Bricker's coming out (he's a former evangelical preacher). This ode to the pain of releasing a hidden inner self is largely symbolic, but the kicky soundtrack by the Undeniable and Judas Dean supplies the rant (review and film trailer here).
Perhaps the most surprising art emerging from SMUT is the poetry of actor/musician John Kimball and director Tom Bradley. In contrast to The Undeniable's straightforward emotional lyrics, the poetry of Kimball and Bradley is complex and multi-layered, and their narrators seem continuously astonished at their world (more on Kimball's poetry here).
SMUT's work is an eye-opening treat with a universal message: destroy the cages and boxes in which you find yourself, whether self-imposed or society-imposed. Then reach for the stars.
SMUT members are endless-motion machines-- they never rest and they never stop creating. The androgynous divinity in Bradley's poem Lunar 98 seems to speak for SMUT as they restlessly seek new creative territory:
Oh but I feel it growing in us. The husky voice of the goddess in my ear, "Honey, move on. There's nothing more to see here."
Catch SMUT here at Gather before they move on. This talented group is going places.
(Kudos also to SMUT members Szelc and Barb Magee. Both are production asssistants and actresses who appear in Man No One Sees. To follow the work of SMUT, join The Surreal Circus.).
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Comments: 72
first, let me just say that i am so undeniably appreciative of this amazing article. ann, you have made me feel like such a "rock star" and god knows, i could use that feeling again.
secondly, i am so very thankful for the gather users that have wrote such awesome comments.
i feel so warm and fuzzy inside!
Thanks for the informative article, Ann.
platform. They inspire and feed off each other's creativity. There is a common thread of rebellion against the status quo that ignites their fire. Thank you for shining light on this last bastion of human freedom...that of speech and all of its derivities. When we give this freedom up to censorship, we have lost our souls!
I've noticed that in countries where people are regaining their speech during or after an oppressive regime, it's often the artists who speak out first, via their work.
*any douche with a microphone and plastic pants can stick a microphone to their lips and commence making loud noises, while dry-humping for the crowd. The Undeniable's intense performance, in contrast, is clearly a reflection of the intensity he feels about what he's sharing, and the intensity of his desire (need) to share it. Again, I really respect that.
I wonder if he has a plan for the unavoidable evolution of his instrument (his voice), and how that will play out in the evolution of his music.
Concerning his voice-- are you referring to the inevitable changes that time will bring? I see some of my favorite musicians struggling with this, usually by the time they hit 60 or so.
That's a ways away for TU, so I'll ask him to answer your question, if I can catch him. I suspect he'll enjoy talking to another vocalist.
My question was kind of vague, mostly because I'm not entirely sure what I meant by it. I only know that many people have some kind of vision of who they are becoming, so I always wonder if a singer has integrated his or her instrument into that vision in some way.
seriously, t really warmed my heart that you said so many wonderful things about my abilities. thank you!
as to the "unavoidable evolution of my instrument", well, i am a little on the "not-so-young-side" and have already seen a deterioration of my vox, however, i am kind of liking it.
my vox have more of a lower end and more gravel than before- which i really do like. i don't sound like such a whiney fag anymore. heh-heh. while i have lost some of my upper range, i have gained lower range. it's like getting a new guitar or keyboard and learning "new tricks" with it.
as ann mentioned, i have moved into folk music and even more... the blues. i loooooooove the blues. when i used to sing the blues i sounded so nasally and girly, now i sound like a rough and tumble man. don't get me wrong, i can still hit me notes, but i am enjoying that lower range a whole lot!
thank you so very much for the kind words and vote of confidence in both me and the sinister minister crew!!!
I think you can put that worry behind you.
I saw in your music a desire to share a feeling with the listener. It frustrates me to hear artists who seem to be deeply focused on something/anything other than that. If they want me to connect with their music, I wish they'd just decide how they feel about it and then make me feel that too.
Time may change both the musician and the music, but as long as evoking something in the listener remains the goal, the changes are just details.
I like folk and blues, too, so link away when you have some of it on the web for us to hear.
This reminds me of my favorite part of Alice in Wonderland-- the underwater school that teaches "reeling, writhing, and washing." (The washing is "extra.")
(as an Author, I have experienced the same. And relate totally to the Wow, and am now in the process of promoting my book. if interested, click my name, then my one and only featured article)
Kudos to The Undeniable and SMUT and their team.
for those of you in the pittsburgh area...
Will Judas be reading any of John Kimball's poetry?
Ann, it is always exciting to find new art. Thank you.
I like my visual art live. I don't care all that much for photo or movie visuals. I prefer writing as my favorite art form. These men do sound very creative and talented.