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LH Written, Edited & Designed by JOCELYN MOYE and KEBA
Wonderful Cover Photo of Shannyn Sossamon by MIA KIRBY
Special Thanks to JESSICA LINKER, all the ARTISTS featured and BLONDE REDHEAD for being the SOUNDTRACK to the making of this issue. Visit us at
HOOKANDLINEMAG.COM or
Make us your friend at
FACEBOOK.COM/HOOKANDLINEMAG or
Send us a love note
HOOKANDLINEMAG@YAHOO.COM ▀
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SMITH WESTERNS DYE IT BLONDE #
OUT NOW! FAT POSSUM RECORDS
EDITO R
O T E S N
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KURT VILE SMOKE RING FOR MY HALO M A R C H 8, 2 0 1 1
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GIRLS BROKEN DREAMS CLUB OUT NOW
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BOOKSTORE WITH INDIE CRED
Words and Photos by JOCELYN MOYE A CARVED WOODEN SIGN PROTRUDES FROM ONE OF THE many brick buildings on Phoenixville‘s Bridge Street. The walkup to Wolfgang, an independent bookstore, may seem a bit daunting. The narrow flight of 26 stairs is lit by the guiding light of a banister covered in white Christmas lights. To the right of the second landing, a small foyer is filled with discount books ($2 each.) The main room is sizeable, but not overwhelming. Tables covered with books are islands of different literary adventures. Against the white east and west walls are floor-to-ceiling dark, wooden bookshelves categorized by genre. A reading loft filled with vintage and secondhand furniture faces Bridge Street. Here, customers can comfortably sample their books of choice. Photos of writers hang on the walls as if they were family: Franz Kafka at his desk while his dog crawls out from under it, Maya Angelou dancing and a portrait of Stephen King. Today, the loft is empty and the tall open windows allow city sounds to break the silence. ―I‘m trying to create a bookstore model that I can take other places,‖ says owner Jason Hafer. He sees Wolfgang as an incubator for his eventual vision of owning several independent bookstores in a city. It is a warm April day and a myriad of music from passing cars compete with Ryan Adams on the bookstore‘s radio. Hafer pauses now and then as a large, loud truck or bus disturbs the conversation. Today, Wolfgang feels especially homey. Hafer‘s mom, Karen, is sitting at the register bottle feeding a three week old litter of kittens.
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Wolfgang‘s home, at 237 Bridge St., was built in the 1850s. The later, a fraternity called first floor was an artillery factory, the second a literary club and the third a dance studio. About 100 years later, The Odd Fellow‘s moved in. ―They had literary club meetings,‖ Hafer says recounting what he‘s been told from elders around town, ―At times, they occupied the whole building.‖ Hafer, a man of average height and build with shaggy blonde hair, has preserved bits of their legacy. Over the counter hangs the Odd Fellow‘s symbol: three metal rings linked together around the letters F-L-P. ―It stands for friendship, love and peace. That was their motto.‖ Hafer doesn‘t know much about the group whose temple was on the fourth floor. The Odd Fellow‘s dwindled out after World War II. The legacy of Wolfgang began four years ago. Hafer‘s original business partner, who left in January of 2009, was the initial driving force. He told Hafer of an exciting discovery. At a yard sale he‘d found a first edition Henry David Thoreau book for just a few dollars. He wanted Hafer to join him and start a business in rare book dealing. Unlike most bookstores, Wolfgang serves no coffee. Hafer simply says, ―It‘s another business - not one I have experience in.‖ The windows of the loft overlook the Artisan Gallery and Cafe that opened around the same time as Wolfgang. Hafer has good relations with both the Artisan and Steel City Coffee House down the street. Steel City hosts Wolfgang‘s author events. Hafer has tried to have similar events in Wolfgang‘s
loft, but the space proved limiting. At the event, Hafer conducts an ―Inside the Actor‘s Studio‖-style interview with an author. A reading of the featured writer‘s work, an open discussion and book signing engage the audience. Although a gift-giver‘s hand-written forward lessens a book‘s value, Hafer loves them. ―It‘s one of my favorite things about second-hand books. You get a two sentence glimpse into people‘s lives...there are some inscriptions that have stuck with me.‖ This doesn‘t lessen a book‘s price by much, though Hafer does make exceptions for bad penmanship. ―If it is written in a crayon with a second grader‘s handwriting, then I‘ll take the price down.‖ Many people probably wonder why Hafer would stick with the book business during the digital age. His answer is interesting. ―Kindle cheapens a lot of things,‖ he says. ―They‘re marketing ‗environmentally friendly‘ but that‘s not the case.‖ On Wolfgang‘s Facebook page, Hafer posted an article about the damage done to the environment because of the digital age. Digital technology uses copious amounts of energy from coal-fired power plants that are wreaking havoc on the ozone. Without the demand of so much energy, there would be fewer people doing the dangerous job of coal mining he argues. Despite these advancing digital times, Wolfgang was voted the best bookstore in the Philadelphia area on MyFoxPhilly.com three years in a row. Hafer believes that ―books will always be around‖ and are better for the environment. He‘s always glad when there are books made from recycled paper in the shop. Aside from being a book advocate, Hafer is a lover of writing himself and a graduate from The University of Pittsburg. He wanted to be a writer, but has had his hands full with the shop. ―Now that I‘m 31, I don‘t feel the pressure to be a young published author.‖ As far as having a favorite book, Hafer found inspiration in Jack Kerouac‘s famous novel ―On the Road.‖ Hafer says, ―Kerouac was the one writer who set this course. ‗On The Road‘... showed me a lot of what you can do with writing.‖ ◊
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RECORD STORE MAUSOLEUM Words, Interview and Photo by KEBA
I STRETCHED MY IMAGINATION, and found it strange to contemplate what it would be like if I was not able to walk into a record store and physically buy music anymore; if our record stores were replaced by mere digital cafes, for us to sit and stare at snow white computer screens lacking in character and for us to click our way to musical satisfaction - no frustrating plastic packaging to brawl with and no tangible cover booklets to peruse. It isn‘t incredulous to say that record stores could die and find their remnants tumble weeding through a record store mausoleum of memories in the very near future.
By the same token, shouldn‘t music‘s significance be the same regardless of the vehicle that it uses to travel to your ear drum? Many consider the accompaniment of album artwork and the full track listing (in the order that the album was meant to be played) to be crucial aspects of the music listening experience. But is that just stubborn nostalgia? A music addict‘s reluctance to rid themselves of sentiment? An unwillingness to move into the future? The answers to these questions are convoluted and highly subjective – so I decided to give Mark Weinstein, the cofounder of California‘s Amoeba Records (the biggest independent record stores in the world and a mecca for any music collector), a call to see what he thinks. Visit Amoeba.com
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K: How do you feel about downloading music? Do you download at all? MW: I don‘t at all, personally. Never have. It‘s not really a stance that I‘m taking
it‘s just that I like, you know, I‘ve got enough CDs and records to keep me busy for the rest of my life. And the convenience factor is not such a big issue for me. It‘s really a convenience thing why people download files. I can see, on a convenience level why it‘s a good thing to have. But it‘s not the way I like to experience it myself. K: So, since the internet has become so popular and downloading music have
sales at Amoeba gone down at all? MW: Um…especially in this Berkeley store, they have gone down some. But in
San Francisco and especially in LA, they haven‘t gone down at all really. Like in LA, where whole families come into the store and spread out and shop in our store, but this [Berkeley] is a very student oriented area and students either want MP3s or they want vinyl. They don‘t even want CDs anymore. K: Do you think that record shops will ever go away? Kind of like how books
now – like, have you heard of the Kindle? MW: Yeah I know about it, it‘s like the iPod for books. K: Yeah, do you think record shops will ever totally disappear? MW: Well, I think most of them already have. I don‘t think it‘ll get any worse
than it is now. But, in that respect, I think that there is always going to be a market for record stores. Not only for, cool collectable things, but, you know, just a place to go hang out where people are into music. You know, hard copies will always be desired by people who are into an artist. So you know, I don‘t think that – I mean, I‘m sure we‘ll be some of the last one‘s standing. There just aren‘t that many left. I think 75% of all the record stores in the US are gone. K: Yeah, I know of two around were I live that have closed… MW: Where are you calling from? K: Philadelphia. MW: Yeah, I know, I noticed, I heard about stores that closed recently in Philly.
Yeah it‘s really sad, especially when the combination of a community not supporting a store and the store itself being in a rut or falling into holes financially, all those things can close a store. One of the iconic cultural resources that they grew up with. And that‘s brutal. But you know, it‘ll somewhat continue to happen and I think, unfortunately, bookstores will go the same way as record stores. What‘ll be left are a few good ones. That‘ll be it. K: Especially independent ones. MW: Yeah, oh, we‘re finding online – we‘re building a website ourselves. It has
to the process of listening to music?
been interesting to find out that the cost of building a significant digital downloading site is so vast that no independent store could even have a chance at it on their own; and that‘s really sad. It‘s all centralized, all the power, with the big corporations as usual. That‘s what‘s happening. It‘s pathetic.
MARK WEINSTEIN: Well, it‘s different for
K: So why did you start Amoeba in the first place?
KEBA: Do you think that records are important
everybody so it‘s hard to make a broad statement like that. But certainly for people who really care about an artist, it‘s the best way to experience their music for sure because it‘s sort of like the best hard copy or master copy you can have of a musician‘s art. So, you know, it kind of represents a real commitment to the artist to have the LP. And to experience the art of the music that way is the biggest commitment you can make to the artist compared to, obviously, MP3‘s.
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MW: Well, a lot of reasons. But mainly, I got a record store job when I was in
high school and it‘s all I‘ve ever done my whole life. The kind of passion that people have for their music and—I just felt like, you‘re going to have to live in society and sell something for a living. You know, that‘s something that you can really believe in. It‘s art and it‘s also affordable. It‘s not like working in an art gallery, you know. It‘s beautiful art and you can have it for ten bucks, and it‘s a great thing. I just love being in a place where people are getting stuff that‘s going to make them happy. ◊
Angeles Pe単a Interview by KEBA
ARGENTINEAN PHOTOGRAPHER MAKES BEAUTY OUT OF LIGHT.
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Where are you from? Angeles Peña: I‘m from Bariloche, its located in southern Argentina, in Patagonia. I'm guessing from your pictures that you travel - Where have you traveled to and where has been your favorite place and why? AP: I do travel, but most of my pictures are from where I live, and places nearby that I go with my friends. Bariloche - it‘s a small city surrounded by lakes, rivers, fields and mountains. My favorite places are the ones that are far away from big cities. How did you get into taking pictures? AP: Since I was little I always liked to take pictures just for fun, I never really knew what I was doing. I got my first snapshot camera when I was seven. I was always wishing that my dad would lend me his reflex camera, but he never did until I got older. I became more serious with photography when I turned eighteen, and I realized that it was something that I wanted to know more about. So I started studying and learning what it was all about. What do you think makes a good picture? AP: I don‘t know if there‘s a recipe of what makes a good picture. I guess
a good picture narrates something and it makes you feel it. It takes you to where the scene took place. Do you see yourself as more of a documenter of things or someone who has specific ideas that they want to project through pictures? AP: I have both. I document things for my personal work; this is what I enjoy most. The documenting of my surroundings, life and friends is permanent. But I also have specific ideas for projects that have a beginning and end.
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What's your preferred format? AP: I prefer film!!! I love film. But I do take digital too. What do you want to capture with your work?
relationship between the subject and space; how big this world is and how tiny we are. And I like to take pictures of how these AP: I‘m interested in the
subjects live, and the different stories they tell. In my personal work I like to capture my own story. How do you interact with your subjects? Are you a fly on a wall or do you give direction? AP: I‘m more like a fly on the wall, a spy. I like to hide so that people can‘t tell I‘m there. But sometimes I do tell them to stand somewhere, or to do something (in my personal work). In projects it depends on what the idea is, and what the best way to develop it is. If I work with models I always give direction.
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What was the last thing that you saw where you wished you had your camera on hand? AP: I‘ve never taken pictures of the moon, and I usually I don‘t like them very much when I see them. But a few days ago I saw a huge orange full moon at sunset that was stunning and I wished I had my camera. What is it about a landscape that attracts you?
power and strength they have, and how tiny we are upon them. The way they AP: The
always change, and turn into another shape. How does being a photographer affect the way you see the world? AP: Now I pay more attention on little things that before
I find beautiful things in moments that were previously meaningless, normal and usual. ☼ taking pictures I didn‘t see.
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Visit anpena.com.ar
YOURS TRULY Words and Interview by KEBA
TOO OFTEN, WITH THE HELP OF YOUTUBE, WE TRY TO SATISFY OUR ‗LACK OF LIVE MUSIC blues‘ with crappy, pixilated, cell phone recorded performances with drowned out vocals and dancing torsos taking up the foreground. And a lot of the time, these crappy videos never seem to cut it. So, my friends, I recommend to you the greatest solution to all of your YouTube pains: Yours Truly. Yours Truly is an amazing website crammed with tons of videos of your favorite bands playing your favorite songs in living rooms (Memoryhouse), parks (Tame Impala), or even with drum lines (Maps and Atlases) – that beats the Troubadour any night, right? Nate gave me an inside scoop on how it all started and what it was like to shoot Excuses [my favorite!] by The Morning Benders. Check them out, you will love it, truly.
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K: My favorite session is The Morning Benders' "Excuses" one where all the people are packed in the room singing and playing together - what was it like to shoot that and how did it end up coming together? The first time I watched it, it was flabbergastingly epic....I can imagine how awesomely LOUD it would have been in person. N: Chris Chu of The Morning Benders hit us up with an idea and we instantly fell in love with it. He basically arranged all his musician friends to meet at the studio and all we had to do was simply show up and capture what was taking place. Going in, we really had no idea what to expect. We had not heard the songs before hand and we really didn't know how many people would show up for the session. Once things started rolling though, the energy in that room
was indescribable, just completely magical and was one of those things 'where you had to be there' or 'can never be duplicated again' type of moments.
Keba: How did you come up with the name "Yours Truly"? Nate: The name has always been there as I remember, I think Babak made a video with Thao Nguyen once and called it a Yours Truly session years before we actually started developing the site. K: How do you select the bands that you want to shoot? N: We generally select the bands we love which we think would translate well across a live video. After that, we try to meet the band where they are at, so if they only have an hour to give, great! We‘ll try to film them at the venue or somewhere close to them. If the band has the whole day, maybe we'll bring them into a studio or some other location. The thing is, everything needs to be flexible, but that's the environment we prefer to work and thrive in.
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K: The Yours Truly concept is interesting because it's something between an official music video and a recording of a concert. I enjoy it because it has a live feeling but it's not in front of an audience or in a typical setting...it brings a new life to a song that you have heard a gazillion times. How do you feel when you are recording these things? Do you feel more like you're at a show, or does it feel more like you're on the set of job? N: Rather than being a spectator at a show, I feel like while I'm filming, I'm taking part in the music. Not that I‘m creating it or participating on stage or anything like that but just allowing the music flow and dictate the next movement. I try to treat the process of live filming and the results (the images recorded and edited) completely different. To me, they're not the same thing and often times, how I feel during filming and with the footage later spawns totally different responses. So it's important to keep them separate and allow each experience to speak for itself. â˜ź Visit Yourstru.ly
I ARRIVED AT THE WORLD CAFÉ LIVE, AND HEADED DOWN INTO ITS RUMBLING BELLY WHERE A BAND CALLED JUNIP STRUMMED AWAY DURING A SOUND CHECK, looking for the opening act, someone named Sharon Van Etten. I entered into a dark room, a room that, but for a few individuals hustling back and forth, holding leads and instruments, and the sound dude, was empty – though, in about two hours, it would be jampacked with people. But nowhere did I spot Sharon. So I caught someone in the midst of one of their speedy bee-lines, cupped my hand, and yelled into their ear, ―Do you know where I could find Sharon Van etten?!‖ Inaudible over the drum thumps and guitar tunage. This time, I squeezed my fingers a bit tighter, and cranked up the volume a couple notches and asked the same thing ―
DO YOU KNOW WHERE I COULD FIND SHARON VAN ETTEN?!‖ This time around, he heard me, but he said ―no‖, he didn‘t know where she was, and continued along his trajectory. Bummer. I stood around a little while longer, hoping to catch Sharon walking through the space – continuing to listen to Junip play and watch the roadies zip past me.
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SHARON V
Two minutes in, I decided it would probably be a better idea to roam around the venue and see if I could find her by chance. Lo and behold, the moment I exited the dimly lit room, there was someone standing immediately outside of the door wearing an oversized red, blue and white flannel on top of a black Teeshirt, black pants and capped with a dark brown (almost black) bob, cut in an obtuse curve right on the brow line, just enough so as to reveal the beginning of light brown irises. It was the one I was looking for, Sharon Van Etten herself.
AN ETTEN
I told her that we would probably have to find a quieter spot to chat so that my recorder, well, my cell phone actually, didn‘t pick up Junip playing in the background. So we headed upstairs, and it just so happened that on November 1st 2010, the quietest place in the World Café Live was a bathroom on the second floor. So for fifteen minutes, before she had to run off to do a sound check, where I also took pictures, we talked amongst the company of a toilet. WEEKS LATER: Keba‘s cell phone gets stolen and, in turn, she loses the yet-to-be -transcribed Sharon Van Etten bathroom interview. We conducted the following interview via e-mail. Sharon‘s new record, Epic, is just come out last October and she is currently on another North American tour. Be sure to catch her.
Words, Interview and Photos by KEBA
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Keba: How did you get into playing music? Sharon Van Etten: I was in musicals in high school and did choir. K: Who taught you how to play guitar? SVE: Perry Andrews & myself. K: What were the first songs you ever wrote? What were they about? SVE: “Damn Right” about being broken hearted. K: How and when did you decide that music was something that you wanted to do for a living? SVE: By accident. K: What were your first performances like? Did you ever have stage fright? SVE: scary. Nervous. Shaking. Yes. K: You used to work at Ba Da Bing records in NY…. What did you do there? Does your knowledge of the workings of record labels help you as a musician? SVE: Publicist. Yes. K: What was your favorite part of that job? SVE: Hearing new bands and learning that not all industry is sleazy. K: Who are some of your major musical influences? SVE: Meg Baird, She Keeps Bees, Vashti Bunyan, PJ Harvey. K: What sorts of things inspire you? SVE: Love. Honesty. Everything. K: What was the last concert that you went to? SVE: Nick Lowe. K: Can you tell me about the experience of making Epic? Who did the cover art? SVE: Flatland Kitchen (my friends based out of Indianapolis, IN) did the cover art. Recording was great. I got to invite and work with my friends. It was a musical sleepover party with lots of ideas shared. I got lucky! ☼
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MAdM PUT THE “OOOM” IN EXPIERIENCE Words by JOCELYN MOYE
A SOFT, PULSING BASE-LINE PULLS THE AUDIENCE'S
ATTENTION TO THE MOVIE SCREEN. IT GROWS LOUDER and fuller as a tale of Vikings and witchery evolves. "Out of Our Minds", or "OOOM" for short, is 1/3 of Melissa Auf der Maur‘s multi-media experience (the other thirds include an album and graphic novel.) The title song‘s chorus sums up her intention, which is to invite audiences to ―travel out of our minds/ and into our hearts.‖ This may sound purely romantic, but Auf der Maur‘s art possesses several facets. Listeners and critics have described her music as guttural and romantic, dark and delicate, and a particularly feminine expression of metal. ―Being here, in this place orbiting around women and art, is like heaven,‖ says Auf der Maur, a lean, feline, redhead, at the screening of her film. The place being Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, the nation‘s one and only women's fine art college. The atmosphere of the institution makes her miss her time spent studying photography at Concordia University in Montreal. While at Concordia, Auf der Maur was asked to join the internationally popular band Hole. It was an opportunity that she had turned down at first. ―It was a one in a million situation. I thought about how many people get to make it as a musician,‖ recalls Auf der Maur, 38, adding ―I never thought I‘d have a career in music.‖
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She calls her first bass guitar her magic carpet ride into the world of music. After five years with Hole plus a world tour playing bass with the Smashing Pumpkins, Auf der Maur went solo. Her multi-media project is all her. "OOOM", like all of Auf der Maur‘s art, has had a tie to a recurring concept: masculinity and femininity. ―Duality, or the ‗other‘ side, has been a recurring theme in my thoughts and work for as long as I can remember,‖ recounts Auf der Maur, ―As a twelve year old contemplating infinity on the other side of the night sky, or in art school contemplating the female perspective and the ‗other.‘‖ Duality is an ever evolving inspiration for Auf der Maur, and the use of multi-media has expanded it. "OOOM" began with the songwriting, which she describes as a hunt for the inner theme of the project. She then incorporated her experience with visual art. There is a graphic novel, illustrated by Jack Forbes, as well as the film directed by Tony Stone. Auf der Maur has an interest in Vikings that stems from their sophisticated societies, worship of an earth goddess, and ability to navigate the sea by charting the stars. She recruited Stone after seeing his Viking film ―Severed Ways: The Norse Discovery of America.‖ ―I was invited to watch a rough cut,‖ says Auf der Maur, ―My friend knew that all he had to say was, ‗Vikings and heavy metal‘ to get me anywhere.‖ The solar powered production of "OOOM" was filmed on Stone‘s 25 acre childhood stomping grounds in southern Vermont. The land his father purchased in anticipation of the Apocalypse four decades ago became the setting for the epic short film. The off-the-grid territory provided Auf der Maur and Stone the freedom to crash cars and bring to life the films bleeding trees, which are symbolic of the beating heart of nature.
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At first, Auf der Maur‘s didn‘t realize that her early studies in visual art would impact the film. When the curator of the Montreal Museum of Fine Art called the film a contemporary response to the Victorian painting movement, the pieces fell into place. The film was chosen to be included in an exhibition of J.W. Waterhouse paintings. Auf der Maur‘s graduate project in color photography was a translation of the artist‘s work. The Viking sequence and the witch in "OOOM" were both inspired by Waterhouse. Aside from J.W. Waterhouse, Auf der Maur is a longtime fan of Danzig, whose frontman appears on the album. ―He [Glenn Danzig] became my inner warrior totem, offering the shy red head girl some strength…for years and years I wished to meet him. But he is a man of mystery, and untouchable in many ways,‖ says Auf der Maur She wrote the song ―Father‘s Grave,‖ a duet, with him mind. Writing and recording the song became an exorcise of her own experience. Auf der Maur lost her father over a decade ago. Her warrior totem, Danzig, became her healing gravedigger. ―The duality of the duet represents the duality within most of my work, there‘s a healing gravedigger, and a girl in mourning in us all. The fair maiden and [the] mystical warrior live in each and every one of us.‖ When asked if she spends more time in her heart or her mind, Auf der Maur says things have changed. She‘d spent most of her life in a full-time daydream before becoming an independent artist a few years ago. Now, she is her own manager, travel agent, budget reviewer, and secretary. She credits "OOOM" for her transformation into a well-rounded grown up. Auf der maur says her heart was always pounding front and center, like her beloved Fender basses and 8 stringed Greco bass. Now, it is in a safe place, making room to balance with her mind. ☼
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IN A ROOM, ON A STAGE, TWO GIRLS AND A DUDE DANCE TO GAUZY, RHYTHMIC MUSIC, THEIR WILLOWY LIMBS GLIDING LIKE FALLEN LEAVES TO THE GROUND; made up like porcelain dolls, in fluid garments, with rosy cheeks, exaggerated eyelashes and pale anemic skin. Standing in the middle is a woman miming, as if playing a harp. This woman is actress, Shannyn Sossamon. This video, A Ballet, is a one minute and twenty second glimpse into Sossamon‘s ―world‖ and one of seven videos that she has released online under the moniker Maudegone. Though she is best known for her leading roles in movies like Wristcutters: A Love Story, Rules of Attraction and A Knight‘s Tale, Shannyn has got another knack up her sleeve, and that is directing moving pictures. I had the wonderful opportunity to speak with her more about the inverted experience of directing opposed to acting, her favorite filmmakers and our mutual appreciation for Blonde Redhead. Visit Maudegone.com Photos by MIA KIRBY Words and Interview by KEBA
SHANNYN SOSSAMON #
KEBA:
Why did you start Maudegone?
Why did I start Maudegone? Hmmm, no one‘s ever asked me about that before. I don‘t know…I guess so that I could have some sort of control and do creative things and feel like it was something that I started…I like the feeling of independence and freedom….and sometimes I do things and I don‘t have reasons for them. So, an idea will come to me, like Maudegone, and I didn‘t know exactly what it was and then you start to do more things and it all kind of lines up. Maudegone was sort of like that. I think eventually it‘ll just be like a business – a production company really – something that I can make and produce movies under. So it‘ll just end up being simple. But, you know…It‘s still up to open answer. SHANNYN SOSSAMON:
So, did you…were you always curious about making videos…directing videos or is it something new that you’ve just gotten into? K:
Yeah, I always wanted to do that eventually. But it doesn‘t come from a place of – it comes from a very strange place that‘s not necessarily based in story as much as it is atmosphere and feeling and images. So, the first things I did were – I used to dance – and I just kept seeing it and feeling it in my head but it‘s not necessarily like a real narrative in any event. But they‘re very full of life to me – or that world is full of life. But I don‘t understand it yet either. Sometimes I just want to get out whatever it is I‘m seeing and feeling, even if it doesn‘t make sense to me yet. So I imagine that the story will come later because I don‘ t think audiences like anything that doesn‘t have a strong story – it‘s not relatable. SS:
I think your videos are really interesting because when I watch them I always feel like the people in them are doing things that they’re kind of not in control of in a way - like subconscious movements or something. But do you have ideas in mind when you do them - like do you have specific ideas that you want to convey when you make them or are they just sort of images that you like? K:
You know, there‘s always a feeling – a strong feeling for sure. Like there‘s this one where it‘s me and two other dancers, Hunter and Izzy, it‘s called ‗A Ballet‘ - and there‘s this feeling of suffocation with the three of us dancing on stage and then the three of us watching ourselves in the audience. And then when we were on set, that happened spontaneously…sorry if I‘m not making sense…So I‘m still really free in going with the flow as it happens but then I‘m sure that everyone in front of the camera and behind the camera feels really clear about the feeling that we‘re going for. But it doesn‘t have to make sense to me; it doesn‘t have to - why it‘s happening or why we‘re going in that direction. If it feels right, that‘s all I care about; it doesn‘t have to make so much sense at that time SS:
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K:
And you used to dance right – or, do you still dance?
No, not professionally, I‘ve completely lost the technique and that strength. I could get it back in like four to six months of training but it‘s not something I do everyday, no. SS:
So where do your ideas start. Is it with a dance idea, or – I mean you make music for some of the videos too, right? K:
SS:
Yeah
Or is it like with the music or an image in your head – is there usually a place that you start? K:
I think that when I‘m making something, it‘s music it‘s music and listening to the music and seeing what naturally happens in my imagination and I guess my heart really. Like, when I made the videos that I ended up making music for, I still made those and wrote them to other music in my head…So I was being inspired by music. We danced to them and shot them to different music. So I made that music after I edited them. And then I edited them to my music later. SS:
I left for good and then I got my friend Daisy to be their drummer and then they found their real one, who‘s awesome, Stella [Mozgawa] , she‘s a sweetheart too. So yeah, no, I don‘t think I‘ll be in Warpaint again, which is good because time wise, I don‘t think I could do that right now. ago
Would you ever want to pursue music again though…not with Warpaint but a solo thing? K:
I think so, yeah, I think about that a lot…people ask me that a lot. I don‘t see why not. I write a lot of songs by myself. But it just requires focus and discipline in a way that I need to have for other things right now. So I‘m always torn – but it doesn‘t have to be that stressful - I could just do it. So, I don‘t know. SS:
You made a video for Warpaint, right? The Undertow video –what was the idea in that video…it was like they were sleeping or dreaming, the girls in the band – I don’t know, I was confused, but a good kind of confused [laughs]. K:
Well, I love not spoon feeding anything and some people make fun of me – my friends make fun of me because they‘re like ―don‘t worry, you‘ll never have a problem spoon feeding anything‖. No one ever understands, I‘m so worried something is going to be too obvious or cheesy and spoon-fed and I‘m so far from that with my video work, it‘s completely alienating and not relatable at all. It was really simple – to me it was simple, the girls in the band were infusing the areas that the boy and the girl were in with strengths and powers – leaving it for the kids when they need it so that they were able to connect. But that‘s not anything that I needed the viewer to know it‘s just what I told everybody working on it so that they had something to work with. I like it when you can‘t really figure out what‘s going on. SS:
K:
How long have you been playing music?
Since like right after I got pregnant – right after I had Audio, so 2003. I started to learn how to play guitar very seriously - like lessons four days a week. My sister had just started learning how to play the bass and we wanted to start playing music together and start and band and so we both just kind of got on it. She got on it quicker than I did - I was busy with the kid. But, I got on it quite quick and then I started to play drums the very first time I was in Warpaint. When we all started the band together, no one was playing drums, it was like all of us on guitars, I was on guitar with them, and we needed a drummer. We tried out a pool of drummers and then one day I was just practicing, I just decided to sit on the drum kit and it really worked and I had so much fun and Theresa [Wayman] was writing a song at that time along with the drum beat. Anyways, it just worked, and it was weird, it happened very quickly so then I started to focus more on drums but now I don‘t have a drum kit in my house so I play guitar more. SS:
Would you ever consider doing music – you’re not in Warpaint anymore right? K:
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SS:
No. What was it? Two years ago? Two and a half years
“BUT I THINK EVERYONE CAN MAKE GOOD PICTURES…YOU JUST DRAW LIKE YOU’RE LITTLE.”
Have you done any more videos for Warpaint or other artists in general? K:
Yeah, I‘m trying to – there are two bands that I‘m talking to right now. I don‘t want to say because I want to make sure it‘s real but I‘m sure I‘m going to be doing them a lot. As long as, it works financially and time wise. But I love it, it‘s practice, it‘s so much fun, I feel relaxed in that process, I really love it. I just wish that the scripts I was getting were way better and then I would love it even more. So it‘s just hard sometimes when it‘s not as good as you want it to be. SS:
Would you ever see yourself going completely behind the camera instead of in front of it? K:
Absolutely, later. But I think right now, there‘s still a lot of work in me as an actress. It‘s just – I don‘t know, it‘s just specific - what I should be doing as an actress. So sometimes I think that I should be making the movies that I should be in. As an actress, it‘s fun to be picky but it‘s hard to be when that‘s the only way that you‘re making your living. But as it gets fun, it‘s like you know what kind of stories you want to tell, what kind of stories you‘d be good at playing, what kind of characters you can play. You know that better than anybody knows that. So when they‘re not there and then you‘re doing things that are kind of like watered down versions of that, it‘s a little irritating. But when you‘re behind the camera, that just doesn‘t happen as much because you really do get to set the tone and the atmosphere and the visuals and feel so not dealing with - I mean, it‘s all your fault if it doesn‘t go well.
I saw the Eraserhead by David Lynch, but I didn’t watch the whole thing – I got to the part where the lady has the baby and it’s an alien. K:
SS: K:
That‘s the only David Lynch one you‘ve seen?
Yeah, it’s the only one I’ve seen.
Wow, you should see…yeah, that‘s really intense…You should see, Blue Velvet, I think you might like that. SS:
K:
Blue Velvet?
SS:
Yeah, and Mulholland Drive….start with those two.
SS:
Would you ever write screen plays or something – writing movies instead of directing them? K:
I‘ve written treatments with people. And I have a couple friends writing one for Maudegone right now. We‘ll see how that turns out. But no, I haven‘t written a screenplay yet, I‘m very curious though. SS:
K:
What movies are you working on now? Acting wise?
I‘m about to do a film that‘s being directed by Mark Webber – he‘s an actor. I‘m really excited about that – he‘s so special, and I‘m very excited to jump into this one…it‘s all kind of last minute but we‘re shooting that in LA after the New Year. And I just finished one in Ottawa Canada that was a post apocalyptic independent film, kind of a western slash thriller slash action movie and that should be out probably spring in 2011. Those are the two things that are happening right now. SS:
K:
Do you have favorite film makers??
I really love David Lynch, Woody Allen. I love Paul Thomas Anderson because I think that he‘s a – there‘s something so dangerous about him but he‘s unpredictable. Whereas maybe with David Lynch and Woody Allen you kind of know what world you‘re going to rest in, even if they do manage to somehow shock you. I also like Wes Anderson . The fox movie was my favorite movie of his because I think it had the most emotion, but it was really subtle. But I like anybody who‘s got a strong point of view, a strong world that they live in, you know that they‘re doing it for survival reasons, they can‘t live any other way unless they get this all out – I like to be able to feel that. SS:
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K:
Are they less intense? Less obscure?
Yeah, or maybe there‘s a little bit more femininity in the journeys. And also I haven‘t seen Eraserhead in so long and I remember that when I watched it I needed to watch it again with a new pair of glasses on. Not clean glasses…but I think when I watched it, I was very young and my eyes were popping out of my head….and that‘s definitely not when I fell in love with him, I think it was …it might have been Blue Velvet. SS:
K:
What’s Blue Velvet about?
SS: It‘s very mysterious really – slightly twisted. David Lynch is one of those filmmakers that you can‘t even describe his movies because they‘re so weird – they‘re so out there in the atmosphere. To try to explain it like it‘s a traditional narrative plot is….I never can. And I think that a lot of the people who love David Lynch would admit that they‘re comfortable in knowing that when you finish watching a David Lynch film, you have no idea what it‘s about, and you‘re okay with that because you felt like he was expressing his subconscious truthfully and with good intention and 100% only for that reason. Only to serve his imaginative subconscious self. So you‘re okay, when you leave his movies and you don‘t understand exactly what happened, you‘re okay with it because you know that someone didn‘t just try to make a weird movie to just be weird - you know that it‘s actually truth for him. And it‘s just a ride. But yeah, I couldn‘t explain to you what Mulholland Drive is about. Some people would say it‘s about a struggling actress and the seedy hokey things in Los Angeles, but that‘s just not what it‘s about.
Do you see that sort of filmmaker as something that you would like to portray when you make your own videos? K:
Yeah, sure. But I don‘t think you can force that though…if that‘s not there. SS:
K:
What music are you into lately?
Lately I‘ve been listening to – what is it? – Elmore James? I never read it, I just keep it on repeat. I keep it on repeat on my iTunes. And then, my friend the other day just introduced me to the new Ariel Pink album and I‘ve been listening to that a lot on repeat. Oh, and the new Blonde Redhead album….I love Blonde Redhead – every single album….I‘m a sucker. SS:
Oh, I still have to get that. Their latest one but I just bought two of their older ones – fake is better than real- I forget the title. But that and In an Expression of the Inexpressible. I just bought those. K:
Yeah, those are both really good I love them…There‘s some incredible drum beats on In an Expression of the Inexpressible…there‘s Led Zep and Missile – those are my favorite songs on that album. SS:
K:
I think the title track from that album is my favorite
SS:
Yeah, that one‘s good too.
Blonde Redhead is really awesome….I was going to see them play but it didn’t happen – have you ever seen them live before? K:
I have, about, maybe about three or four times. Yeah, I have seen them live a lot, it‘s dreamy, They‘re a great band they‘re very solid….but not too solid to where it doesn‘t feel raw.
idea so that they couldn‘t even get it wrong. But I should learn, I want to learn more. I start to learn about it as I do more videos, the dialogue opens up and I learn from the photographers, all kinds of things, out of necessity. I‘m learning all kinds of things whether I like it or not. But I‘m just not a photographer. I‘ve never been one of those people. Do you have a team of people that you work with in all of your videos or do you switch it up with every video that you make. K:
I‘ve switched it up a little bit…but only twice. So I‘ve worked with two different editors, two costume designers, and two different camera - well four actually, so that one moved quite a bit. Only two makeup artists. So not a lot…I haven‘t made that much so… SS:
SS:
K:
Do you have a favorite album?
I think the Damaged Lemon one is a great one and then Misery is a Butterfly That‘s a difficult question actually. I love all of them….they‘re all different. I listen to all of them from the beginning to end as a journey….which is – I don‘t do that with that many albums even though you‘re supposed to. It just never works out that way. I like basically everything they do. SS:
Do you, besides acting, music and making videos…do you do any other creative type things. K:
That‘s a good question…no, I don‘t. I just started drawing a little bit ago…but it‘s nothing awesome. I‘m really not good a t drawing and I‘m trying to enjoy it more because my son is enjoying it so much right now. So I‘m trying to get in on that with him. But it‘s a little challenging…but I think everyone can make good pictures…you just draw like you‘re little. But sometimes that‘s hard to do, to surrender and take the analytical part of your brain out of it.
Do you have a heavy hand in expressing your vision for each video that you make with the people that you work with? K:
Yeah…I think I do…and then sometimes I think that they have no idea what I‘m talking about. I mean, I‘ve very psycho when I‘m in the editing room and it drives the editor crazy…which is a bummer but….it‘s always a laughing fest as well. It‘s fun…I love editing. SS:
K:
What about it is fun for you?
SS:
It‘s musical, it‘s rhythmic, and I like that about it.
The videos that you have on line, do they work as a whole or are they separate…because they sort of seem like they’re in similar environments. K:
SS:
Yeah…cause kids are so uninhibited when they do stuff. It’s really special I think.
Yeah, all of the ones where the characters look the same…but if you’re on the page, it’s sort of self explanatory which ones are in the same world. But to me, when I watch them they all seem like they‘re all in the same world even though some are different…I don‘t know if that makes sense. But there‘s something similar going on in all of them to me that I don‘t know if I‘m necessarily doing on purpose.
K:
SS:
Yeah…exactly, that‘s what it is.
But what about photography…you seem like you’d be good at that because your videos are so photographic I think. K:
I‘ve never done that…I‘ve never been curious about the knobs on the camera and light and developing. I think you have to be curious about that stuff to be a really good photographer. Some people would disagree but I think to be a director, to make moving pictures, as long as you have an idea about what you want it to look like, then you let the cinematographer be that person. You know, what you want it to look like and feel like….you have to have a really good SS:
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K:
Did you make them around the same time?
SS: K:
Which ones?
Santa, A Ballet and Wall Dance…
Yes, those were all on the same weekend. That was supposed to be and it might still be one day because I‘ve got three of them on my computer that haven‘t been edited. That was supposed to be a part of a short film called Edit Pedestrian and I have to figure out how that‘s going to happen but I just decided to share them all as little pieces. I had to get them done for a film festival one year and me and the editor just decided to share them as little pieces…little vignettes…so we just kept it and then life took me somewhere else for a while and I just haven‘t been paying attention so much. But that‘s what it was supposed to end up being. SS:
And then you have that other video with that song and you’re playing, I think with your sister and another woman… K:
SS: K:
Jennifer Furches
Is that a band that you’re in or is that just kind of a one song thing?
It‘s kind of a one song thing for the three of us. But my sister and I, we always like to talk about how we have a band named Sissy. [laugh]..It‘s just very lazy, it‘s the laziest band in the world. SS:
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K:
I really like that song though. I like how each instrument is doing its own thing…
SS:
I like it too, thank you.
Yeah…I like songs where it’s like the guitars are playing something different from the base and then when they come together it’s like they fill in each other’s spaces instead of following each other. I always like that. ☼ K:
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The debut albums of most under twenty something’s tend to need a bit more work. A tweak here. Some development there, but The Like were more than ready. Z Berg, Charlotte Froom, and Tennessee Thomas were fresh out of high school with several EP’s and a film soundtrack under their belts. Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking’? is an album with just the right amount of structure and elusiveness that few musicians master around the age of 18. A fuzzy guitar solo breaks up the doe eyed sadness of “You Bring Me Down.” Thomas’ sharp, precise drumming tightens up My Bloody Valentine dreaminess, relieving the album from sounding lethargic. Berg’s weary, mature vocals are off-set nicely by her sharp lyrical delivery. The sweet melancholy is balanced some clever sarcasm and wit. The sharpest song on the album, “What I Say and What I Mean,” is a clever play on the male theory that women never say what they mean (“Never going back and forth/ I’m only going forward/ That’s what I keep saying/ Never going back and forth/ I’m only going back/ That’s what I mean”). Amidst the musical feats of Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking? is bassist Charlotte Froom’s skill. Her untrained ear naturally gravitates to grooves that complement Thomas’ drums. This power combo keeps a sober tone against the dreamy clean and acoustic guitar. After this album, The Like split with the magnificent Froom. The hazy California vibe with a cool, Spring breeze also changed. Their sophomore album is a sharper, 1960’s Beatlemania trip. Years later, Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking? still stands on its own as a musically complex record. -jocelyn
Its potency surpasses the faint waft of hippie store air incense, but harbors a sharper, pungent, rectangular smack in the face. It was around this time, last year, in the mall, that I decided to follow the scent trail. While corsets, neon hair extensions and tongue rings are not my garb of choice, Hot Topic is good, in my case, for two things: an amazing selection of band Tees and a decent sized array of Cds and vinyl. And there it was, a man standing precariously on his head – some stage stunt. Whoever took the picture, I’m sure, was a spilt second away from getting their eyes nose and mouth knocked into fragments – a concussion even. To join the tangled leads and cables on the floor. Framed in red, reading across the top, in something like Times New Roman, “F U G A Z I”. It was really the cover art that made me want to buy it – it just seemed to exude this crazy amount of energy and excitement, I thought maybe the music would be the same way, and it totally was. The record is fast paced, impatient, thumping and rhythmic, with driving base lines - guaranteed to make you tap a foot, sway your noggin, enter into what would resemble someone being shocked by a taser, become a pendulum, or sit in stillness, relishing in amazement - whichever sort of reaction towards drums fits you best. It has an aggressive, but still immensely groovy feel, starting with the lyrics “I am a Patient man, I wait, I wait, I wait, I wait” -keba
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We all have those songs, or those albums, where the weather or the season becomes part of its atmosphere, part of the world that the album creates. Neil Young’s “Harvest” is just that. This record has this undeniable warmth to it – like umbers rustling on the hearth whilst sipping on a hearty cup of chai tea – candle light as opposed to fluorescent, washed out strips of gas. His music enraptures me in a deciduous fort - so much so, that even the record’s saddest songs, like “The Needle and The Damage Done” (also my favorite track), are not weighed down into the blue hued doldrums that emerge out of the tragedy of having a friend who suffers from a drug addiction (“I watched the needle take another man”… “every junkie’s like a setting sun”), but they offer a feeling of intimacy, honesty, vulnerability and ultimately, from all of those things, hope (“I sing the song because I love the man, I know that some of you don’t understand”). -keba
SOUNDS FOR THE SEASON
Placeb0 – Twenty years J0hn Lenn0n – jeal0us Guy Melissa Auf Der Maur ~ Isis Speaks P0rcupine Tree – Trains The M0rning Benders – Stitches Warpaint – Shad0ws Grizzly Bear – Little Br0ther Kimya Daws0n – Beer Fleetw00d Mac – Dreams Bl0nde Redhead – Magic M0untain Helmet- milkt0ast Bar0ness –A H0rse Named G0lg0the Radi0head – Fitter, Happier, M0re Pr0dutive The Sw0rd – Freya The Strange B0ys – Be Brave The D00rs – Crystal Ship B0b Dylan – Masters 0f War Br00ke Fraser – Cr0ws & L0custs Pavement – Zurich is Stained Nine Inch Nails – Everyday is Exactly the Same Placeb0 – Because I Want Y0u (Ac0ustic) The Smashing Pumpkins – Daphne Descends Warpaint – Majesty Shiny T0y Guns – Stripped (Depeche M0de C0ver) Ambulance LTD – Heavy Lifting Anth0ny Green – She L0ves Me S0 Si0uxsie and The Banshees – Nightshift The Slits – Newt0wn The Stills – L0gical Break Y0ur Heart S0nic Y0uth – Ineffable Me T0ri Am0s – China Qui*0*Tic – An0nym0us Face Death Cab F0r Cutie – President 0f What; Champagne Fr0m a Paper Cup Marilyn Mans0n – Heart Shaped Glasses 0mar R0driguez-L0pez & J0hn Frusciante – 0 The Velvet undergr0und – Wh0 L0ves the Sun Weezer – Say it Ain’t S0 Neil Y0ung – 0ld Man The Mamas and the Papas – Calif0rnia Dreamin’ Jimi Hendrix – Red H0use Son Jarocho – La Caña Television – Marquee M00n
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