Carrying your own coffin on your back Full of ashes from your sin Carrying it down, to the gates of hell Through the darkness Aside from day
„The end has never been so close, from Earth to the dark empty space, there's a black sun” www.facebook.com/ASIDEFROMADAY
http://asidefromaday.bandcamp.com/
This is ARCHIV HATE two year anniversary issue with some amazing stories by bands and people doing amazing stuff. ARCHIV HATE supports legally downloadable music and underground music scene. We do this to spread a word about the bands we love and adore, to share their achievements and beliefs. ARCHIV HATE will be here for you for another year. Btw, I need a job.. Support the bands and artists - visit their shows & talk to them, buy their merch, cd's, vinyl's and everything else. -ARCHIV HATE, February 2013
LIISI PÜSS (EE) JASON CANTU (US) ARTURS VILMANIS (LV)
TATTOO PARLOR RIGAS TINTE
www.rigastinte.lv
After long time of waiting, for more than a half of year, an amazing meeting took place with most valuable Latvian band - TESA. Since 2008, highly rated record "Hearbeatsfromthesky“ and returning from hiatus, TESA released brand-new stuff, which was premiered after European fall tour with Soundarcade, in late November of 2012. Most significant release of the year 2012 – TESA "IV". A meeting place for all well-known, TESA rehearsal room. Cool place and f*king cold. But soon everything began to warm up, as TESA members started to show up. As the first of the TESA dudes I met Kārlis, who was sitting on the floor, fitting the new Lemmy Kilmister strings for his bass. Jānis (drums) and Dāvis (guitar) showed up with little delay but immediately began setting up and tuning the equipment.Will not tell you much about the stuff they played that day, but I can promise, you will be pleasantly surprised and blown away by TESA’s new material! I've always been a fan of TESA short songs, from band first two releases "Tagad" and "Nekad" and I can say that dudes have a song lasting about 2 minutes. Such songs as PART47 is total masterpiece! Btw, I was convinced that recorded short clips of band performance on my phone that day.. yeah, fuck you too sound recorder app! TESA’s apparent return of nowhere for 2012 ended with lots of success. On December 29, Riga Old Town pub “Aptieka” held their first Award event "Aptiekas Gada balva", conceived as a thanksgiving to pub regular visitors and musicians who was playing gigs there. So, TESA was nominated as the "Best Heavy Band", with such local bands as Soundarcade and Židrūns, and TESA won. Congrats dudes!
THE ATMOSPHERE THAT TESA MAKES PERFORMING LIVE IS INCREDIBLE AND I’M CONFUSED WHY THE BAND HAS NOT WON ANY AWARD FOR THE BEST PERFORMANCE. OK, YOU CAN FIND THAT THE BAND RELEASES ARE UNEQUALLY ASSESSED, BUT PROBABLY EVERYONE ADMITS THAT TESA GIGS ARE MOST EXCITING.
Jānis: It’s unimaginably hard to get into the record that sounding what you playing live. Release only serves as a reference point for things we done and it’s only a very small part of how it’s all happens live. Kārlis: Probably we could try to record that feeling of “live”, but it takes far more time than we are usually able to devote. Dāvis: In addition, it is what we usually have played live for so many times. Therefore, recording and live performance should be rated differently. Jānis: Bands trying to make their releases vivid as possible, but you can not record the feel and atmosphere of the gig, as a result recording sounds pretty weird. We had an idea to record TESA "IV" material live in order to create a vivid sense, but for technical reasons were not able to realize this idea. Kārlis: We were not able to actually play it, because of so many themes and volume changes. Jānis: Heavy music gig and heavy music recording will always be different things, and they never will not sound alike. Perhaps the record has its own pluses that often can’t be hear in the noise of venue. Kārlis: To record sounds too sterile, they require a lot of time and resources referring to the study rent.
TOTALBODŽE AS "IV" CONCERT PRESENTATION VENUE WAS CHOSEN DELIBERATELY? WHAT BAND DID THERE WAS UNFORGETTABLE! HONESTLY, I FELT LIKE I’M A PART OF THE HISTORICAL EVENT. THIS WAS YOUR BEST PERFORMANCE!!
Jānis: We always want to perform gigs in that special way, so that they may be as special events, especially if it's an album presentation gig. Kārlis: Yes, and at that point, presentation gig always must be for free. Dāvis: Sometimes it seems strange that band presents their record and you still have to pay for the gig. Jānis: "We want to represent, but you pay us for it", so it seems strange. But Totalbodže was chosen accidentally. It lasted a long time and we had a lot of options, but one by one they fell. Now it’s difficult to imagine what would been a more appropriate place instead of Totalbodže. Thanks to involved people! SOMEWHERE AROUND 500 PEOPLE SHOWED UP!
Dāvis: It was very nice that gathered a lot of people that you normally do not see at gig. And the fact that people were interested, because it's different to play in clubs, where people come to drink and there's maybe someone playing live. Jānis: That you realize that people have come directly to this event, because they're interested. Kārlis: And the concert venue was not in the city centre, which means that some people need to figure out how to get there. It’s a honor and pride that so many people showed up! Jānis: There was a similar feeling as when we played at Soundarcade’s first album presentation. Climb up on the stage and you have incredible stress. Kārlis: I was late to "IV" presentation, had to do some stuff before the gig and came a little later to the venue .. and there was no one outside! I thought that there will be a lot of people. AS GUEST ARTISTS WERE INVITED EDGARS RUBENIS AND BROTHERS LAURIS AND RAITIS ĀBELES OF SOUNDARCADE.
Dāvis: They are musically close people to us and we started to work with them a long time ago. Jānis: Since we play these songs for years, we wanted to make the program that’s more special. We have so much in common with these dudes and it was a great pleasure and honor to play together. Dāvis: That is sort of tradition that TESA play at Soundarcade album presentation and vice versa. But in this show, it was a little different. Jānis: Disrupted the tradition we have, however, retained. In any case, there is a feeling that TESA has completed another phase and starting a new stage for the band. Everything is sent to people and we can get on to other things. I WAS HOPING TO SEE THE BIGBAND.
Jānis: Bigband needs a time! Just week before the “IV” presentation we finished European tour with Soundarcade and during this week we all had to prepare everything to "IV" presentation gig. Dāvis: It was already kind of Bigband. BIGBAND SONG “CIRVIS” (AXE - ENGLISH TRANSLATION), AS I REMEMBER, WAS MADE VERY FAST (GUYS START TO LAUGH).
Dāvis: As usual, everything was made in one night! Kārlis: One or two nights before the gig!
HOW MANY NEW SONGS ARE WRITTEN BY TESA AND WHEN THEY COULD GET RECORDED?
Kārlis: 4, and the fifth is the one we still working on. Jānis: Can’t promise anything, it can work out similar as the "IV", which we recorded two years ago and said that it should be out by the beginning of 2012. Dāvis: We had a lot to redo. WHAT WAS THE REASON FOR THE PAUSE THAT MADE YOU STOP WORKING ON THE ALBUM, BACK IN 2008?
Dāvis: There was too much of everything, we burned out. Kārlis: I read an interview with one actor, where he talks about the tricks developed to keep the audience's attention. I listened to TESA material, back then, and felt that it is full of tricks, what we had developed to hold the audience's attention. Basically that record was full of such tricks - there's a heavy part, there's the easy part, the melodic part. Music creation process happened constrainedly, it was invented. Songs created now are live and can’t be compared with that material. Dāvis: There was a lot of work! Performances with Edgars Rubenis, other gigs and working on the new record. Jānis: Disappears pleasure when you had to work hard. We did not play for half a year, later gathered for rehearsal. Approached things with a new perspective, it was pretty valuable! Now we have the same feeling as we started the band just come and play. You come to rehearsal, there’s silence, someone starts to play, you play, and it’s resulting in songs. Kārlis: Without a plan, just come and try. Jānis: Maybe it will sound cliché, but you come, you do not think about it, just play. It is not that each one comes with its own ready "super riffs". Now all of this is a creative process. ARE YOU PLANNING TO GO ON A WIDER EUROPEAN TOUR? SOME PEOPLE WOULD LIKE TO SEE YOU AROUND IRELAND AND UK.
Jānis: The primary plan that we have now is Scandinavia. Unfortunately, it is clear that there are things that should be done firstly, say such as work. We'll see how much we can afford to. Apart from latest tour with Soundarcade, we have not been anywhere in a long time. Kārlis: This tour was pretty cool, could tour continuously. Dāvis: Beside, you play all the time. Kārlis: Maximum interplay. Jānis: I think we will find some time or opportunity to go on tour. Going on tour is one of the best gifts for musicians. I well remember a conversation with my father, when just started my musician carrier, he said - what is the point you have to do this? You pay for yourselves in order to play, you buy gear and it will never payoff. After we made our first European tour, father admitted that thanks to the music, we have travelled to more countries in two weeks, than he in his lifetime. There's no more questions! Of course, can’t deny that the heavy underground music will never be prone to pay-off and even members of bands like Neurosis are employed. I think ISIS were making money out of playing music for some period. Davis: When starting to make music for a living, then it will go in a completely different level and you have to think about it on a regular basis. It may be that a larger band can do it but they often refuse to do so. Jānis: Yeah, have that feeling that you've got to do something. Money involvement in any creative occupations are limiting you.
Kārlis: It's weird, because most musicians play not in order to find some kind of pay-off, but because they can’t not to play. Jānis: I have known people who say that they’re on pause now and will not be playing because there’s a lot other things to do. For me it’s incomprehensible, how you can stop playing if you've spent the time on that already?! I can’t imagine how I could be without the music playing. It’s inconceivable the fact that people listen to music and do not know how to play it. Probably, it's kind of musician thing. OTHER ACTIVE PROJECTS IN WHICH YOU PARTICIPATE?
Dāvis: I’m in a 9horizon for a long time already. We’re moving forward slowly, there's no rush. Similar like TESA, we spent a lot of time thinking on new song structure. Now just trying something else, new approach. FOR THE FIRST TIME I SAW 9HORIZON PLAYING LIVE AT ZVERA FEST 2012. THE PERFORMANCE WAS QUITE IMPRESSIVE AND IT SEEMED AS IF TIME STOPPED.
Dāvis: It’s tuff, because people have some sort of expectations as a result the gig is switched off. People expect that the band will play songs you've got, and if you go to a such thing, it’s quite different. Kārlis: You wait for a song, you already have a ready opinion on it and you crave to hear it. Davis: With the 9horizon we tried to experiment more we can do with our own ideas. ANY FUTURE PLANS?
No.
Thanks TESA dudes for making this happening. Not all conversation was included in these pages, but definitely each one who reads this should go and see TESA performing live, great people with whom to hang out. Will see you at the gigs! TESA TESA.BANDCAMP.COM TESABAND@GMAIL.COM
Jason Cantu Haiku Reviews COUGH/WOUNDED KINGS "AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BLACK ARTS“ HUGE DEVASTATION, MAKES THE DARK LORD SHIT HIMSELF, GRINS WITH APPROVAL. WAR INJUN/ DOOMDOGS 7" SPLIT (SPECIFICALLY FOR WAR INJUN) REAL AMERICANS, TRADED HORSES FOR CHOPPERS, JUST TO TAKE BACK ROCK. LOW LIFE "EMPIRE OF SHIT“ JUST UNRELENTING, PERMANENT SCOLD ON MY FACE, MUST MEAN MUG STRANGERS. DREAM DEATH "SOMNIUM EXCESSUM“ A CRUSHING RETURN, DEATH'S GRIPPING HIS PILLOW TIGHT, TO SANDMAN'S NIGHTMARE. CRYPTIC EDIFICE "KING'S LAMENT“ CONAN ON HIS THRONE, PONDERS IF HE'S BORN TOO LATE, DECIDES TO WITCH HUNT. SLUDGELORD PRESENTS "PARALYSIS VOL #1“ SO MUCH FREE MUSIC, YOU'LL DIE BEFORE YOU FINISH, GIVE THIS TO SATAN. MOTHERSHIP "S/T“ SOUTHERN FRIED COWBOYS, WHO ABDUCTED ALIENS, DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS.
Photos by Mikko Salonen
GENTLEMAN, IT’S A REAL PLEASURE TO HAVE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE AN INTERVIEW WITH YOU! WHAT’S UP? WHAT’S GOING ON IN TAMPERE? Exciting times, we’re getting ready to release our album on CD, working on our next release and so on. INTRODUCE TO YOURSELF! TELL US ABOUT THE BAND, WHY DID YOU CHOOSE “ENEMIES” AS A BAND NAME? Hi, I’m Vesa, the vocalist/lyricist for Enemies. We are a four-piece hardcore band from Tampere, Finland. We formed in fall 2011 and released our debut album Framing Choices To Silence Our Voices digitally last July. The name originally started as a joke alluding to a song by the Finnish thrash band Mokoma but we decided to stick with it because we thought it was a really cool, fitting name for an aggressive band. It’s short when most bands today have long names, it’s antagonistic and it automatically suggests confrontation without being too constricting. YOU ARE POSITIONING YOURSELF AS A DIY. WHAT DOES THIS MEANS TO YOU? To us, DIY is a tool that allows us the maintain
WHAT DO YOU DO FOR LIVING? At the moment our guitarist Risto is the only one with an actual job. He works at a factory that manufactures mining equipment. As for the rest of us, we’re currently studying; Hermanni (drums) is doing IT-stuff, I’m in construction management and Veli (bass, artwork) is studying art, design and media stuff. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT DISTRIBUTING YOUR MUSIC FOR FREE? WHETHER IT WILL ALWAYS BE FREE? We’re a young band. We don’t have any ties to any “scene”. We don’t have label backing or a marketing budget. We haven’t built a name for ourselves yet. So the only thing we want, the only thing we can do is to try to be heard. And the only way to do that is to make our music as available to as many people as possible. That’s why we’re also on Spotify and iTunes and all these places. To make listening to our music as easy as possible. On whether our music will always be available for free, that’s the plan. The main reason we didn’t even try to shop the record to labels but released it ourselves was to make sure we could share it freely. Not too many labels would have been okay with that.
order and hope something’ll stick. And we’re not into that. It’s a kind of a balancing act. WHAT'S THE FIRST THING THAT COMES TO MIND WHEN YOU THINK OF THE LYRICS FOR THE NEW SONGS? I have a couple of different methods for writing lyrics. Sometimes I listen to Risto’s demos and try to figure out how to best complement the song and sometimes I’ll write the lyrics first and come up with how to tie them into a song second. So I’ve got lots unused lyrics just waiting for the right song to come by. But as for the lyrical content itself, it usually starts with a single line or a concept or an image that just hits me and I’ll start building upon that. I try to make sure that every song would have at least one really good line I can be proud of, although I’m not sure how well I’ve succeeded. SHARE YOUR DAILY PLAYLIST! Lately I’ve been getting my vibrations from Wiccans, End of a Year/Self Defense Family, Blacklisted, Gaza, this German band called VYST I found from bandcamp, the Hotline Miami-soundtrack and most importantly the Finnish hip hop group Ruger Hauer. They’re
”DIY is a tool that allows us the maintain control over our music and everything control over our music and everything related to it. In a way, we’re forced to be selfsufficient because we couldn’t afford to “outsource” even if we wanted to but ultimately it’s about self-expression. The idea is to craft instead of produce. Selling something as ours when we’d just bought something like the artwork from someone we have no personal relationship with just doesn’t sound right to us. That’s why we do everything we possibly can by ourselves, and when we need outside help, we work with friends. Like with our album; the only thing we had to hire an outsider to do was the mastering. THERE ARE A LOT OF SELF-PROCLAIMED DIY BANDS, WHO ARE USING “KICKSTARTER” TO ATTRACT FUNDING FOR THEIR AUDIO/VIDEO PROJECTS. WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ABOUT THESE BANDS AND DO YOU SUPPORT “KICKSTARTER” OR ANY OTHER FUNDING PLATFORM? Now, I’m only kind of familiar with the funding model Kickstarter uses (and had to do some Googling to read up on it just now) and don’t think I’ve come across any bands using it but I don’t really like it at all. I find the basic premise of pre-ordering anything you haven’t gotten to take for a test drive at least a little suspicious. So to ask people for money, however small the sum may be, in advance for an album you haven’t even recorded or perhaps even written yet is kind of fucked in my opinion. Then again, I would imagine that if a band were seeking funding to do something like a repress of an earlier album where the investors could be 100% sure of what their money is buying it would be okay. But mostly, I’m not into it.
related to it”
It starts genuinely, with the spit “Under a blue sky, blindfolded we run in circles. Hypnotized en masse by bad tv, porn and iphones” – these are the first two lines for the title song of “Framing Choices To Silence Our Voices”. The opening song, “Collar”. The title song comes later. But yeah.
amazing, too bad the lyrics are in Finnish, because they’re borderline genius. Also I just listened to the new Cult of Luna and Tomahawk records a couple of days back and both sounded very promising. THANKS!
WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF INSPIRATION? No thank you, keep up the good work. The song, as well as most of the album was written in fall 2011, and I was just so tired and frustrated about everything around me at the ENEMIES time. The economy was sliding downhill and yourenemies.bandcamp.com you could sense what was to come later on, www.facebook.com/VihollisetHc our domestic xenophobic right wing dumfuck enemiesofficial@gmail.com political party The True Finns had had a big win in the parliament elections and I was just fed up with all of it. On a more personal level, I was pretty blitzed on alcohol at the time, so there’s definitely a good measure of projected self-loathing seething under the surface. AND WHAT ABOUT SONGWRITING? YOU ALL GET TOGETHER AND JAM FOR THE WEEKS OR IT COMES EASIER? The way we work is, our guitarist Risto basically writes the core structure of the songs by himself and when he feels they’re ready, he’ll present them to the rest of the band and we’ll start jamming. Together we’ll figure out how to approach the song and if something needs to be changed. Then Veli and Hermanni write their own parts and I’ll write the lyrics. The dynamics of a song are really important to us. We don’t want to do the verse-chorus-verse-chorus thing but we don’t want to be a spazz band either. So many bands seem to write songs with a “progression for the sake of progression”mentality where they’ll just throw a dozen riffs in a 3-minute song in a seemingly random
Second part of the “Enemies” interview with bass player and digital artist Veli ”Vablo” Nyström on the following pages.
HI, VELI! TO CONTINUE OUR INTERVIEW, WHICH IS LINKED TO THE "ENEMIES", YOU DID THE COVER ART FOR THE „FRAMING CHOICES TO SILENCE OUR VOICES”. IT’S OBVIOUS THAT IT’S STRONGLY LINKED TO „ENEMIES” LYRICS. CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THE CONCEPT OF THE ARTWORK FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW? It was a challenge from the beginning, as I didn't have as much clue about the subject matter or ideas behind the songs as our vocalist Vesa did, I mean some idea of course, but not a complete one. We discussed the cover a lot with the band all the way during the process and I started to go through the lyrics, which made my thoughts clearer and gave me a much better base to start work on. There were many sketches which ended up scrapped, and the final form of the cover was a sort of accident, something that just sticked to the canvas and looked fitting.
imagination and create your own worlds. CAN YOU NAME YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS AND WORKS BY THEM? Ah, there are and have been so many great artists out there, so this is really difficult. It would be a really long list if I started to think about it more, so I'll just mention some artists that I like: Akseli Gallen Kallela, Albert Edelfelt, Caravaggio, Frank Frazetta, Todd Lockwood, Brad Rigney, Ralph Horsley, Kekai Kotaki, H.R. Giger, John Howe, Dan LuVisi, Justin Sweet, Craig Mullins, Dave Rapoza, Donato Giancola, Andree Wallin, Alan Lee.
WHAT PROMPTED YOU TO START GUITAR? WHY BASS? My dad had been playing guitar since he was a teenager, so it was kind of an easy route to take equipment and learning wise, as we had a couple of guitars already in the household. I started to play guitar when I was about 10-11 The main goal was to make the cover reflect years old and my brother started at the same the style of the music: simple, crude, powerful time, so we practiced together quite much and grim with a hint of complexity, and the and listened to the same music which was booklet is more about the subject matter, mostly hardrock and heavymetal from 70's basically things that are wrong or could be and 80's. Deep Purple, AC/DC and Judas better in this world. I'll leave the further Priest were probably the first bands whose
GRAPHIC DESIGNER SKILLS AFFECT THE DEVELOPMENT OF MUSICAL SKILLS AND VICE VERSA? I think it helps me understand all creative activities and people more, the basics are the same, be it music, art, acting, dancing or whatever. There might be so called talent around, but if you want to be really good, there are no shortcuts and practicing is 99% of the process. Also what comes to the actual content, music and visual art are not too different from each other. There must be a focus and a good structure, adding details or instruments does not make a piece better if the structure is flawed. Technical skills can't really be learned any other way than just practicing, but what comes to composing and creating music I believe practicing other arts helps. WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU? I MEAN, YOU’RE OBVIOUSLY HAVE TALENT IN SCI-FI, YOU DEFINITELY SHOULD TRY TO MAKE AN ANIMATION OR A MOVIE FOR SURE! Yes! Making an animation is a sort of dream to me, it would enable me to tell a full story and show the motion between and in different scenes. For example battlescenes
”Simple, crude, powerful and grim with a hint of complexity, and the booklet is more
about the subject matter, basically things that are wrong or could be better in this world” interpretation for the viewer.
music we played. Later the music got a bit heavier and I was LOOKING TROUGH THE AMAZING WORK introduced to powermetal, thrashmetal and OF VABLOART, THERE’S A LOT OF RIDLEY melodic metal, and in junior high I played in a SCOTT’S ALIEN STYLE LANDSCAPES AND band. At one point I even composed quite a ALLMIGHTY STARCRAFT GAME lot of songs and recorded them by and for NOTICABLE INSPIRATION. I HOPE I’M myself, pretty shitty quality, but it was fun and WRONG WITH THE ALIENS... SO WHY SCI- great experience. FI? Haha, Alien is a great movie in my opinion. Bass... I'm a bassist? Damn, how did this Especially from the point of lighting, happen. Actually, my bass playing started composition and how it endures time, just when our guitarist Risto, who was playing in a amazing. Well, I guess I have always been different band at that point, asked me if I drawn into fictional setups somehow, might could stand in for their bassist for a while. be partly because I have played videogames They were going to have a gig soon, but their since I was very little due to the influence of bassist was doing his military service at that my big brother Ville, I also read quite a lot of point so they needed a replacement as they books concerning fantasy and mythologies. I were not sure if he'd make it there or not. did a lot of fantasy and medieval art before I That band got separated quite soon after the started to paint digitally, so I guess at some gig, some people moved away for college and point I got a bit fed up with it and switched to so on, the usual case at that point of life. more futuristic stuff, just for change. Not to say that great science fiction movies and Well, a couple of years later, I don't actually games didn't affect at all, of course they were remember where and how, but Risto and are a huge source of inspiration. contacted me and told me about this project they were trying to put up, and asked if I THERE’S A LOT OF GOBLIN STYLE AS WELL. would be interested. I joined them, enjoyed I'm still a big fan of fantasy, and I think it's the whole thing and here I am. I have to say I getting a firmer hold of me again. For some have learned to appreciate bass as an reason, I don't really know why, particularly instrument in a whole different way during goblins are precious to me. In elementary and this time I've played it, and as I don't really highschool I was among the shortest guys have to compose songs, I can have fun and I still am, maybe I can relate to those little applying my own ideas in them and use my green bastards in that way. I have always sparetime for painting. Also, the guys and believed strenght doesn't ask for physical size gals playing bass without a plectrum, I salute nor power, that might explain why I'm so keen you. I found it way too difficult and to fantasy, mythologies and those "David and troublesome to start learning to play bass Goliath" kind of scenarios. with fingers, especially when playing with a plectrum was comparably easy for me, having Be it whatever kind of fiction, you set your the experience with guitar as a base. own limits and that's one of the most relaxing and fun things to do, just dive deep into your DOES YOUR DIGITAL ARTIST AND
would be really fun to design and execute. At first I will need to figure out a good idea, write it down and plan the whole thing properly. I have some ideas already, but no bigger plans yet. At the moment I'm studying interactive media in Tampere University of Applied Sciences, we have practiced animation so I have a little experience of it already and maybe one day I'll have a story and the resources to tell it.
Still, my biggest goal is to make it into games industry, get a job in a game company and work there as a graphic artist/concept artist. Preferably in a fantasy, science fiction or otherwise cool project, haha. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? This is a difficult one, but maybe something like: ”Do what you love doing.” It might be pretty self-evident as a phrase, but still really important. And by loving I mean really and truly wanting to do whatever it might be you want to do. Even if it's not easy, even if people say you can't do it or it's not reasonable, just keep at it, believe in it, try to find a way to make it possible and be ready to sacrifice some not as important things. Of course sometimes compromises need to be made, but as long as you are happy and work everyday to get a bit closer to that dream you are doing good. VELI ”VABLO” NYSTRÖM vablo.daportfolio.com velinystrom@gmail.com www.facebook.com/VihollisetHc
VELI ”VABLO” NYSTRÖM
”DARK TEMPLAR GUARDIAN” One personal milestone was met with this piece, as it was chosen as the winning entry for Blizzard's ”Guardian of Accounts” contest.
VELI ”VABLO” NYSTRÖM
”FRESH LOOT” At one point I realized I didn't have a drow (a dark elf) in my portfolio, so I decided to fix that.
VELI ”VABLO” NYSTRÖM
”THE LICH” More traditional fantasy, an evil skeleton mage casting a spell. I tried to practice dynamic character posing in this piece.
VELI ”VABLO” NYSTRÖM
”ENTER THE PIT” A sort of mix between traditional fantasy and modern setting, I used to watch wrestling as a kid so inspired greatly by that.
VELI ”VABLO” NYSTRÖM
”JOURNEY” I had so much fun doing this, as it just... happened, and everything worked together nicely.
VELI ”VABLO” NYSTRÖM
”ROOFTOPS” An environment piece inspired by all those great movies like Blade Runner and Akira.
VELI ”VABLO” NYSTRÖM
”THE LAST PALADIN” Fanart of Gabriel, the main character of Dan LuVisi's amazing project Last Man Standing.
VELI ”VABLO” NYSTRÖM http://vablo.daportfolio.com velinystrom@gmail.com www.facebook.com/VihollisetHc
MONOTONSTUDIO RECORDS STARTED IN YEAR 2000. WHAT MADE YOU GET INTO THE RECORDING BUSINESS?
Back in 1998 me and the boys gave birth to band Kobra Khan, we couldn’t play shit but we had a lot of fun playing shit. We just did what bands do: argue, play live and record our stuff. We saw all these fine record labels around and two friends of mine, Dragan and Stefan, decided to start their own little music imprint. First thing you need is money to release stuff and I was in need for money, meant no label work for me so the two better-off named above released the awesome lookin' Kobra Khan "Pleure Qui Peut Rit Qui Veut" on 10inch Vinyl.
THE PARTY OF HELICOPTERS, THE (Mono018 & Mono019). 1985 and even HOT HOT HEAT but in 2002 they decided to call it WHAT BANDS INSPIRED YOU OR REALLY HAD AN IMPACT ON YOUR quit. LIFE?
After 6 years (Year 2008) of dust The biggest band ever was my little father. He got a real good and dirt in the basement or the attic, I (very spontaneously) got the collection of 60/70s rock and his obsession to breathe some life into #1 instrument was Frank Zappa. Later a loserfriend of my mother, a this old Monotonstudio. I asked the guys if I could get all their old saxplayer/teacher, got me into John Coltrane without even records/releases and try to sell them again because there were so knowing. This schmock always leaving his Impulse CDs at our many CDs and vinyl’s left from their old catalogue and I got the home. So, not surprisingly not a lot of them made it back to his shelf. idea to start releasing new stuff In the early 90s I discovered again. I don’t think they were Desperate Fight Records (from taking me serious but they were Umea, Sweden) in my favorite very happy to get rid of all the store in Dortmund and some other stuff and to get more space for some other shit then. In 2009, I got harsh stuff. From Slap-A-Ham to Ebullition to Gravity to 31G to my own first release out In 2 years the boys got some great (Mono009) and right now I'm Donut Friends to Skin Graft to releases out by RACEBANNON, Monotonstudio. working on two new releases
MONOTONSTUDIO RECORDS' RELEASES CAN BE BOUGHT EVERYWHERE - BELGIUM, FINLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, ITALY, JAPAN, MALAYSIA, NETHERLANDS, NORWAY, RUSSIA, SPAIN, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, UK, USA. HOW HAVE YOU DEVELOPED SUCH A WIDE NETWORK?
My first idea was to trade a lot of the old records to people around the whole world. I overspammed all the continents with my shit and it was very hard in the (second) beginning but I had a lot of good feedback and got my first own release in the making in 2009. I remember my Asian connections started with TRISTAN TZARA, my 2nd short-lived band (2000-2002), cause there was/is something like a fanbase out there and I cultivated contacts. After a while I traded so much stuff that I could start my own little Mailorder and that’s how it worked.
WHAT HAVE BEEN YOUR FAVORITE RELEASES THAT YOU'VE PUT OUT SO FAR?
New ones: Hexis 7", This Gift Is A Curse LP, Medusa CD & Tristan Tzara 12". Old ones: The 1985 7", Hot Hot Heat 7", The Party of Helicopters 12" & Racebannon/The Disease 7". TOP FIVE OF ALL TIME?
Oh, boy! Thats a hard question. Impossible for me to list only 5, sorry - John Coltrane, Frank Zappa, Cap'n Jazz, Honeywell, Charles Bronson, Uranus, Portraits of Past, Pulp, GG Allin, Sarlo Akrobata, Harriet the Spy,
Unbroken, Schleimkeim & a lot of TABLE will release their 4 track EP Tennessee & Texas Rap. on cassette via Monotonstudio very soon and I got 4 or 5 other WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON DIGITAL ideas regarding releases in 2013 VERSUS PHYSICAL FORMATS LIKE but I can’t say more right now. VINYL AND CD? DOES I will make a 3rd edition of MONOTOSTUDIO RECORDS HAVE A TRISTAN TZARA shirts and maybe PREFERRED FORMAT? some MONOTONSTUDIO shirts, Since the Hexis & This Gift Is A too. There hopefully will be a Curse releases in 2012 I decided to discography LP by TRISTAN put out only vinyl’s and tapes. I TZARA but I don’t know if that will don’t like CDs, never liked them. ever happen. The good thing about producing a CD is money and that’s it, vinyl is WHAT DO YOU THINK THE FUTURE way more expensive. That was the HOLDS FOR RECORD LABELS? only reason why I released CDs, Future? That shit edible? money. Seems like my last name is "gettin my hustle on", but fuck it, a broke aging boy is shining, tho. In LINKS: the end, holding a CD in your MONOTONSTUDIO RECORDS hands aint got shit on the good ol' monotonstudiorecords.bandcamp. 7inch. Must be completely out com your fucken mind to doubt that. Right Right? MAILORDER www.monotonstudio-records.de My first tape will be released very soon, BLACK TABLE, an FACEFUCK experimental metal band from www.facebook.com/MONOTONST NY/NJ with female vocals and a UDIORECORDS superb 5 string bass that hits your brain like a train. A masterpiece.. TRISTAN TZARA tristantzara.bandcamp.com DO YOU HAVE A BUSINESS MODEL www.facebook.com/TRISTANTZAR OR PLAN FOR THE FUTURE? ABAND Absolutely NO. My experience told me not to plan too much. Or, like Agent Olivia says: Ima be a scumbag until im a hundred and four. Sure is: There will be definitively a repress by THIS GIFT IS A CURSE in April/May 2013 with some different wax effects. As I said, BLACK
Set of 26 unique artwork collection, made in a limited edition zine by MONSTER ALPHABET. Pictures are placed in alphabetical order. Comes in brown, hand-painted and old-looking, in an envelope with a MONSTER ALPHABET label in the front. Totally DIY and awaiting to get to your hands. artworks | t-shirt designs | cover arts | posters | tapes MONSTER ALPHABET
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One Eyed Morse - moustache wax and custom designed t-shirts, hoodies, hats etc. Also vintage western and biker apparel.
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Jānis Zaķis, a Latvian skateboarding legend, dude who can deal with one pint of beer less than 17 seconds and he knows how to copy 36 megabytes into twelve floppy disks. He broke every single bone he ever broke - twice! I asked Jānis to share some facts about his passion to skateboarding, tattoos and music..
HOW IT ALL STARTED? WHY AND WHEN DID YOU DECIDED TO BECOME A SKATER? I started when I was 16. I think I bought my first board with the money I got for my birthday. Me and my friend from school Marcis started by just cruising around. Of course we were influenced by Tony Hawk’s video games a lot. There were only a handful of skaters around that time mostly in Riga. The community itself was really small the first real skate shop was opened just a year later. So to meet a guy who could show you an ollie was quite something. It was never a decision to be a skater. That was just something that was fun and interesting, so I kept doing it. I never actually aspired to be good at it and never really was, it was more about hanging out and meeting new people. I WOULD LIKE TO BELIEVE THAT SKATEBOARDING CULTURE IN JŪRMALA STARTED WITH YOU!? No, I don’t think it started with me. There were people skating in Jurmala before me and Marcis. When most of us who skated in Jurmala at that time got together, that was the time when the culture thing kind of started. I definitely was a part of it, but to say that someone started it by himself wouldn’t be true. YOU WERE A PART OF A SKATER COMMUNITY CALLED SEASIDE SKATERS. WHAT’S GOING ON WITH SSS NOW? Seaside started the whole ‘crew’ thing in Latvian skateboarding. As there were not many skaters around at the time, most of us from Jurmala who were skating and hanging out together a lot became good friends. It was 2002 and were all teenagers back then and to be a part of a crew or a gang of some sort felt like a cool idea. Most of us are really good friends now for more than ten years now, even if we don’t skate together that much anymore we still hang out a lot. THERE WAS A MOVIE DEVOTED TO SKATEBOARDING MADE BY MEMBERS OF THE SEASIDE SKATERS, RIGHT? IT WAS A DOCUMENTARY MOVIE? We actually made four. Big part of skating is to get it on film and show it to others. The first skate video we made was just of us skating. Back then to get a good camera was a huge deal. It was not like you had a HD recorder in your phone or point-and-shoot camera. Lucky for us one of the guys parents were loaded and they bought him a good camera. By the time I got my first car we were going to more skate spots and getting better at filming and editing the stuff. Also we were adding more artistic quality to the skateboarding material so the third and fourth films were a reflection of
not just skating, but the whole Latvian skateboard scene at the time. We even had the premieres of them in a movie theatre. EXPERIENCE COMES WITH PAIN! HOW MANY BONES DID YOU BREAK WHILE MAKING SOME SERIOUS PROGRESS WITH SKATING? Actually I have never broken a bone while skating. The worst injury I had is a badly sprained ankle, which was not pleasant at all, since I could not walk for a month. But all the little injuries build up over time and each time the recovery even from smaller bruises takes longer. So now I have badly fucked up knees. If I go skating for three days straight, it hurts to walk for a week. That’s why I don’t skate as much these days. But snowboarding injuries are a different story... WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIVE STUNT? HOW MANY BONES YOU BROKE THEN? The first time I hit the slopes in Alps I fractured a rib while doing a boardslide on a rail. A couple of years back I had a really close call. The day I learned the backflip I was quite happy about it and got careless on another jump and landed on an icy slope on my back. I think I got lucky as I only broke off a small fragment of my backbone, but it could have been much worse. HAVE YOU EVER PARTICIPATED IN COMPETITIONS? I have. Maybe once or twice, but competitions are not my idea of skating. I kind of never felt the need to contend. SKATEBOARDING IS CERTAINLY NOT LIMITED, AND THE LIMIT WILL NEVER BE REACHED. WHICH PLACES ARE THE BEST FOR “SKATEBOARDING TOURISM”? One thing about skateboarding is that you are always on the move. The further you go the more interesting it gets. Latvia is not a particularly skate friendly country partly because of our counties geographical disabilities (mostly flat) and our nation's fascination with cobblestone. So to find a good skate spot in Latvia is hard. The closest city we started to go once I got a car was Vilnius - city on hills and with large granite plazas is definitely more skateboard friendly. I've also visited the European skate capitals - Prague with the legendary Stalin park (and decriminalized weed) and world skateboard mecca - Barcelona. Most of the famous skate spots are grinded down, but to skate there is pretty legendary. The furthest place I’ve skated is China. It was a really cool experience, since all the huge new cities are full with huge plazas and skate spots, security guards don’t kick you out, but come and watch you skate. IT ALWAYS GOES IN HAND WITH THE MUSIC. SKATE PUNK - THE MIX OF HARDCORE, PUNK AND TRASH WAS A BEGINNING OF A SKATEBOARDING MUSIC CULTURE, WHICH STARTED TO DEVELOP IN CALIFORNIA, IN 80’S. HOW HAS IT BEEN CHANGED THROUGH AGES? DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, DIFFERENT GENRES/BANDS? For me “skate music” has never been about bands or genres. I don't think you can associate any one band or genre with skateboarding as maybe you can associate surf rock with surfing. I think it has always been the music from skate videos that is the sound of skateboarding. Every skater knows music from epic video parts, even if they don’t know the name of the song or the artist. It is anything from hardcore to rap. For me classic skate music is
something like Paranoid by Black Sabbath or Ace of Spades by Motorhead, but there are lots more. I’ve discovered a lot of bands by watching skate videos. ANOTHER INTEGRAL PART OF THIS SKATER, HARDCORE & PUNK CULTURE ARE TATTOOS. HOW MANY AND WHAT STYLE TATTOOS DO YOU HAVE? It has certainly picked up in recent years, but I think it is more to do with tattoos becoming more socially acceptable than being a part of the skateboard culture. The unifying part is the kind of “fuck you” attitude and letting loose the part of the soul that craves for destruction. So if you are into hardcore, punk or skating, you are likely to have tattoos, because the reasons for picking up these things are for similar reasons of self-expression. It’s hard to say how many tattoos I have, my leg is inked from the knee down and I have one on my arm as well and I don’t think it will be the end of it. I’m not sure about the style, but they are all black. The first one I got was in China and we actually skated down to the tattoo parlor. The guy we were staying with and whose idea it was to go get tattoos got a silhouette of a skater. BTW, YOU RECENTLY DID ANOTHER CRAZY THING WITH YOUR BODY – YOU HAVE A MAGNETIC IMPLANT. That’s just something I read about on the internet. A friend of mine who is a piercer had one himself and told me that he has one magnet left, so I kind of went for it. It’s actually not a big deal. The magnet itself is small and you just get a tiny incision in your finger. With the anesthetic you almost don't feel a thing. When it’s fully healed I will be able to feel magnetic fields around me. WHAT HURTS THE MOST – GETTING A TATTOO, MAGNETIC IMPLANTS OR SKATEBOARDING? Definitely skateboarding. Tattoos and implants hurt just when they are done, maybe a day after. But with skateboarding you get hurt all the time and the potential of pain is much greater. And if you get some serious injuries they can hurt for the rest of your life.
YOUR MOTTO? Don’t really have one, but if I had to choose some common theme from my recent life I would say something by the lines of “do the best you can, get the best you can and if you cannot, don't even bother”.
10 TIPS FOR SKATEBOARDING BEGINNERS. For beginners it is enough
with three.
First, skateboarding is supposed to be fun. You don't have to be good or do crazy tricks to enjoy skating. Second, find some friends to skate with, skating is more social than it may look and you will progress faster if you have someone to motivate you. Third, if you decide to do it, be patient. As it is one of the most technical sports in the world, you will have to spend a lot of time to master it. Just take it one step at a time and you will be ok.
POW WOWS “Shock Corridor/First World Rag”, 7IN. The band continues to draw on their garage punk roots, blending these elements with post-punk and surf overtones to come up with something that sounds different from their previous releases, but still has the sound that Pow Wows is becoming known for. Recorded by Cameron Harding at Chemical Sound Mixed and Mastered by Jon Drew Produced by Pow Wows All songs written by Pow Wows.
BIPOLAROID “Supernatural Beauty/Beautiful (in the morning)”, 7IN. Emerging from the swampy depths of the Louisiana bayou, this New Orleans group plays delta psychedelic music influenced by Dr. John the Night Tripper to Syd Barrett/Pink Floyd and the 13th Floor Elevators, delivering odes to time machines, looking glasses, vampires, on both space rockers and more orchestrated poppsychedelia.
RIPE, THE “INTO YOUR EARS”, 180-Gram VINYL, LP "Into Your Ears" is The Ripe's debut full-length album; a record which is colorful in sound and blends into many shades of power pop, folk, and psychedelic rock. The recordings were actualized at Circo Perrotti studios in Gijon, Spain with vintage Abbey Road/BBC gear where the band indulged in free musical fantasy and wild expression. Please turn it up! With boundless musical imagination, The Ripe has sprung forth from it's roots in power-pop, folk, garage, and psychedelia while still being nurtured by contemporary sounds and influences.
AUTHORITIES “KUNG PAO AU GO GO”, 180 gram LP Studio album by Stockton, California Punk Rock legends! Recorded in 2010/11 at 3110 Studios in Vancouver, BC and produced by Brian Barr. Mixed by David Carswell (New Pornographers, Destroyer, the Evaporators). Featuring guest appearance by Joe Shithead Keithley of DOA.
CYNICS “SPINNING WHEEL MOTEL”, 180-GRAM VINYL LP w/FREE DOWNLOAD CARD. Studio album by Pittsburgh Garage Rock legends! Recorded in October 2010 at Ghetto Recorders in Detroit and produced by Jim Diamond. Featuring rhythm section extraordinaire of Asturianborn Pibli Gonzalez (drums) and Angel Kaplan (bass). The New lp by The CYNICS is a spinning, whirling, joyous dance into rock n’ roll’s traditions and contradictions and has the immediacy of a singular, impromptu performance.
POW WOWS “NIGHTMARE SODA”, 180-gram VINYL w/FREE DOWNLOAD CARD Debut full-length album from Toronto's up-andcoming garage rock band! Pow Wows' Nightmare Soda was recorded and produced at The House of Secrets in Toronto in 2010. From the ashes of a number of Toronto, London and Ottawa garage and punk bands rises Pow Wows – a rock n roll creature with one foot in the swamp and the other at the sock hop.
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