Medicinal Relevance For You

can you imagine what her family thinks

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 22:41:37 -0400

you won’t believe what this girl just broadcasted on her tumblr account, her family must be in shock: fuckyeahselfshooters.tumblr.com

this girl is completely nude on her tumblr

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 21:01:01 -0400

you won’t believe what this girl just broadcasted on her tumblr account, her family must be in shock: fuckyeahselfshooters.tumblr.com

I'd be ashamed of my daughter if she did this

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 14:01:22 -0400

you won’t believe what this girl just broadcasted on her tumblr account, her family must be in shock: fuckyeahselfshooters.tumblr.com

Wow Im REALLY wondering what this girls parents think about her right now...

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 09:11:18 -0400

wowwww this girl just accidently uplodaed nude pictures of herself all over her tumblr LOL…really appears like she did it on accident so I saved them girlsinthemirror.tumblr.com

boobs-and-sandwiches: Tuna Melt.

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 20:08:44 -0400

boobs-and-sandwiches:

Tuna Melt.

awesomepeoplehangingouttogether: Wayne Gretzky and Michael J....

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 20:08:29 -0400

awesomepeoplehangingouttogether:

Wayne Gretzky and Michael J. Fox

Update

Fri, 06 May 2011 08:31:46 -0400

Still working on some pieces for the summer. Hope to have something wrapped up with Donald Glover soon.

PropertyOfZack Interview : : The Movielife

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 17:29:22 -0400

propertyofzack:

The Movielife are a band that will forever have their own impression on this part of the music scene, and they will be reuniting for at least one day this weekend. Evan Baken, the drummer for The Movielife, was kind enough to do a great interview with PropertyOfZack to talk about the band. Evan and I discussed what finally got the band to reunite, general excitement for the show, the possibility of playing more shows, and more! Read up and enjoy!

It’s been eight years since The Movielife have played a show, and you’re two days away from changing that. How have the past few months since the announcement went live been for you in terms of general excitement?
It’s been good. We haven’t really been hanging out all that much up until this point, so it’s been good to hang out and spend time with the guys to get caught up on our lives and all that crap, and you know, to play, which is what we used to do all the time. It was relatively easy once we got together to do all that. That was good. No hiccups.

Fans obviously have been begging for a reunion since the day you broke up, but did it surprise you how overwhelmingly positive the feedback was?
At this point, yeah cause it’s been so long. I understand when like there are certain things that happen and people get reminded of us. We had an AP article come out a few years ago, and I figured well that makes sense that people are asking about it because we just had something released. After that we’ve basically gone completely off of the radar and have not done anything. It’s pretty surprising.

Read More

Interview I did with Yankees GM Brian Cashman

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 15:09:18 -0400

Interview I did with Yankees GM Brian Cashman

how do you get to interview these people?
pushiness?
inventiveness?
a combination of the both?

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 17:35:00 -0400

I like to think that I write very specifically worded emails to very specifically chosen people. I understand my spot at the moment and am very direct and to the point with broadcasting my intentions for these. I am simply building my portfolio and writing anywhere that will be published.

Coming Up

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 23:02:01 -0500

Interview with Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman, and Mia Farrows sister, Prudence Bruns, AKA the inspiration for Dear Prudence by the Beatles

Theophilus London Interview

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:51:00 -0500

It is my opinion that Hip/Hop is a genre where new ideas and methods aren’t easily found. When an artist comes around that isn’t necessarily trying to “change the game” but more so is truly exciting by making the music that he wants to hear, that is when it gets exciting. Whether success or fame follows is up to the listener, success and fame are two things that I am certain will continue to follow Brooklyn’s Theophilus London. This is a rough edit so pause a second with the grammar, enjoy.

1. Very simply, who are you and why are you making music?

Im Theophilus London. I make music because it is a healthy decision that I chose in high school. I make music because it heals myself and I’ve gotten through a lot making music and coming up with new stuff.

2. Last week you played Letterman, can you tell me a little about that? Where you happy how everything came out?

It was great man, it was exciting, good to be on such a big stage, guys like James Brown and Michael Jackson played that stage, some of my all time favorites. I was totally stoked.

3. Sara Quinn of Tegan and Sara fame plays on your new E.P “Lovers Holiday” how did that all come together? How did the song she appears on “Why Even Try” come together?

She is on my label so I knew her from that, we became friends, I go to see her shows, I really wanted her to be on my record. I wanted a couple girls to be on my record and I called her up and she was into it.

One night we were playing an art school college last year, and some girl kept dancing on the stage, and my security kept telling her to get off the stage and she wouldn’t. And my guy said to her “you think you’re special, you’re probably not bitch.” She cried. I heard about that and I wanted to write a song about it. I wanted to write a negative love song. Michael Jackson has “Billie Jean” and its an amazing song. In that song he is telling all the girls that the kid isn’t him, its an amazing love song, its negative but you can dance to it, and I wanted to do that with “Why Even Try.” We have amazing people on it, Sara is on that, my friend Ariel produced it, and we even have Diplo scratching at the end. It is a fun record man. I wrote the whole EP in Los Angeles, its got that summery vibe that people are always looking for. That LA vibe.

4. Is it difficult recording with someone who plays music in a totally different genre? How was laying that song down?

Music is a universal language man, its not broken up with genres, she got it, she loved it. I want everyone to be personally involved with the music, I like to do the collab, it came together really easily.

5. I’ve heard you say before that going forward you wanted to focus more on song composition and less on rhyming. For the next album was there any move to really go forward with that?

The next record is actually done, its an eleven song album, I’m mastering right now, a lot of good thought out records, a lot of amazing concepts, I have been taking singing lessons so my singing is definitely improving, and I am working with a lot of great musicians on those amazing concepts.

6. How would you describe your music to someone that hasn’t given you the chance before?

I’m a songwriter first. I am trying to write popular music, I AM writing popular music. Certainly a lot of electronic elements, a lot of fantasy, a lot stories thriving off the love theme whether its negative or positive. I guess it is very raw, people like to say “genre blending.”

7. This is your first time playing DC, for a new city what do you want to hear people saying when you leave the stage?

I want to hear they had a really good time, I am coming here playing the songs that they have been supporting and listening too. I am happy that we sold out tonight, its my first time here and it is a gorgeous way to start out the night. My birthday is tomorrow, its a gorgeous way to start my birthday.

8. I know you are big on Twitter, how important do you think it is for an artist to connect with his fans like that?

Oh its great! My fans are refreshing their pages every second, I wish that I could have talked to my favorite artists growing up, bored in class waiting to get out of school. Talking to an artist and having them get back to you, its real rad man.

9. I write for a college paper, what would be the best advice you can offer someone in college that doesn’t know what they want to do yet?

You gotta figure out. Maybe get a girlfriend, she could inspire you to do something. Find something that inspires you. Put yourself around really amazing people and good situations will follow. Good memories will happen. For the guys, making them laugh is cool, I am one to make a girl laugh.

10. What is in front of you on your bucket list?

A lot of stuff. I am designing my own shoes right now. Five years from now I want to design museums, I want to curate great art in great halls. I want to still be involved in music, making a lot of albums, collaborating with great artists.

11. Hip Hop is a really light term these days. You are hip/hop, Kanye is hip/hop, Odd Future is hip/hop. Is there a running element with all that?

Hip/hop is in all these records. It has really evolved, anything that hasn’t evolved should just be over and hip/hop HAS evolved. The guys you just named have their own unique take on it, but it has got to keep evolving. Everybody is such a huge character today, it is amazing to be in this era right now, huge characters everywhere, producing good shit always. It is fun.

12. What do you think is it about your songs that connects to people that may not be big into hip/hop?

I just focus on the songwriting, I don’t focus on how many bars I can spit, I don’t try and be the best rapper in the world. I try and compete with myself with every song I write. There are songs I scrap that you will never hear and there are reasons for that. There are different levels of being a songwriter and I think I am climbing up those steps.

13. One question I ask everyone I talk to is this. Plato has a theory that once an artist creates something he loses right to it. That once it is out there for consumption for people to interpret he no longer owns that song, do you agree?

Oh yeah man. I totally agree that is exactly it. I’m never mad if that happens. I do agree that once you let it out its out. I just finished the second record but some of those songs I haven’t touched in months and already to me, they have changed. It’s like giving your baby away for someone else to take care of. I never get mad at though, I never get mad at critics. If you don’t like this next one its my job to work on the next one. I’m not gonna tell em “fuck you!” If you don’t like it I am going to keep working hard and maybe you will like the next one. That is my approach, people have to grow. I know people that hated my first mix tape and now they fucking love it and play it for their dads. I wasn’t mad at them because they didn’t get it, but they grew with it and now they love it. It’s all about growing. The new record drops in May so all of that will come together soon, look out for it!

Quick Chat With Vinnie Caruana ( I am the Avalanche, Movielife)

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 17:08:00 -0500

I had the chance to ask Vinnie Caruana a few questions about his career and the much debated future of his current band I Am The Avalanche. Let me know if I made any huge grammar mistakes. I am also trying to fix some bugs with my layout so if the text appears a little funny, I am working on it.

1 . How does it feel being apart of something looked so highly upon (The Movielife) , when you are barely beyond your thirtieth birthday? Were those years, those shows, as awesome as everyone says they were?
I think it’s great that the Movielife means that much to people. You only live once, and you have got to make your mark; a good mark. I Am The Avalanche is about to record my favorite punk record of 2011. Gonna leave lots of marks on the planet.
(The shows had) Lots of young energy and sincerity. That will always be the way i do it.

2. Who came up with the idea for the Lennon infused video for Jamestown?
That was danny’s(Navetta) idea. He’s all about film and production. That company who did the video was sick. They had worked on “Six Feet Under”(HBO) and we convinced them to make their first music video.

3. Were the rest of the Movielife guys supportive of your shows with Set Your Goals?
It probably bugged them a bit….we cool.

4. What was the initial response like in Europe when Avalanche played their first shows?
Kids were stoked. We played our first shows in London and Manchester. Movielife had done well there so we had some fans from that. We probably sucked, but we were all just happy to be playing shows and traveling again.

5. Your lyrics are very personal, and when playing live you are pretty free in mentioning what girl such and such song is about etc. Is it tough going back and singing a song about a person you may now despise?
I dont despise anyone really. I am not as hate filled as i once was. Those songs all feel great to sing. I win, ya know?

6. What encouraged you guys to re-record “Brooklyn Dodgers” for your myspace?
That’s just from a seperate demo session. Sounds alot better than the leaked one.

7. What is the bands current label status? Depending on what you read online, you are either still on Drive-Thru, unsigned….I have even read some places that you guys were going to sign to Decydence
There will be news about this soon. We are not signing to Decaydence tho.

8. By my count, either through the demos or live versions, you guys have played the following songs written after the self titled. Polar Beast, Holy Fuck, Thank You, Dodgers, Amsterdam, Youve Got Spiders, Is This Really Happening. Conan O Brien, Polar Beast, Drinking Song…and I know I am missing a couple…. Do all these songs have a home on the record?
No. some of them do. We are recording lots of songs for the record, not all will make it but will still be used for splits/b sides/ etc.

9. After five years I have to imagine you have kicked around a lot of titles for the record, any you would share?
No b/c next thing i know someone will read this, start a band called that, blow up, and ask us to open for them haha.

10. I imagine it must get frustrating when you read things online about people doubting the future of the band. Was there ever a point you thought it was over? And on the positive side of things, what does it feel like knowing, that despite however long it takes, you guys have such a loyal group of fans that come out and sing a long and wait on the record?
I honestly don’t pay attention at all. I can’t blame them for doubting. All we can do is make the record, blow everyone out of the water, and say,”see?.” We are VERY lucky people have been so loyal. I think it has something to do with us being a rad band.

11. You have made reference a few times about a project with Steve Choi called PEACED OUT. How did that come about and what’s the status on those songs?
Me and choi are good bros. I go to cali like 3 times a year and always stay with him. We like each other. He said he’s writing hxc tunes and wants me to sing. Hxc can be many things, and this is Steve’s version. It’s nuts. We plan to release a 7’ at some point.

12. What do you find the most constant inspiration from?
Human energy , the sea, great lyricists, love and hate.

13. I will wrap it up now pretty simply. What can fans look forward to in the IATA world?
A record in 2011 100% . Tours to follow.

14. If you and Anthony from Bayside were a superhero team, who would you be?
The Duff Man and the Marlboro Man

Article I wrote about upcoming Fugazi screening.

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 19:42:29 -0500

http://www.cuatower.com/entertainment/a-filmmaker-s-vision-a-band-s-legend-1.1923270

Ian McKaye Interview Part Two.

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 17:33:07 -0500

Im writing an article for my school paper about Fugazi and the upcoming screening of Instrument, a film about Fugazi at the National Gallery of Art. I spoke to Ian for a few minutes today about his thoughts on the film, how Fugazi fits into DC music history and other things. Its short and sweet but enjoy and check out my other interviews.

…………The documentary came out in 1999, how involved were yourself and the other members of Fugazi in putting this together.

We think of it as a total collaboration. Jem and I went to high school together, he was one the central figures that got me into punk rock. He was around in my early days. Then he went to college and we stayed in contact. He actually never came back to DC, his family moved to New York.

Then he started making movies and would hang out at the Dischord House all the time. He just started filming, for no real reason, thats just what he did. But he is such a genius, such a brilliant film-maker. His work is really beautiful. At some point he realized he had this great pile of footage, all like silent super 8 footage. We started discussing in what capacity can this be used. We wanted to approach making a movie like making a record. Jem is the director of the film but we were all up there editing each individual piece to our approval. I cant even describe the amount of work that went into this. Each person had a different idea and vision at how the band should be presented.

We are very mindful of how we are represented if we have anything to do with it. In the interviews…theres a lot of scenes of Jem asking people about us. We were going through all of these video interviews with Jem. We at first only wanted negative stuff, negative comments, it was funny, to just have it be “oh this band sucks, fuck these guys they think they’re god.” And Jem came back saying that it wasn;t accurate, people do love your band. We didn’t want to make movie of people just saying nice things about us, it seemed too disingenuous.

…………….I wanted to clarify something that may be inaccurate on the National Gallery of Art’s website, they have the screening listed as all members of Fugazi appearing…….

I actually didn’t even know it was screening there until about a week ago. He is off in Europe, and set up the screening and forgot to tell us about it. I think he told them that the Fugazi guys would come over. I read about it probably on the same listing that you did. I sort of went “oh…I didn’t know that movie was showing….and I didn’t know that Im gonna be there.” Brendan is definitely out of town, Joe lives in Rome, Guy lives in New York, he would love to come down but isn’t sure if will come down. I think I will be there. I heard there was a little….blog excitement about it ” members of Fugazi here” Whats the big fucking deal? I live here. I guess I will go and answer some questions. Its no big deal though, its just a movie. We do really love that theatre and that whole place, we are quite pleased have it showing there.

I really like that movie, it is quite the piece of work. Its not a documentary but its true, its not a narrative but its a story, theres not a concert film but there is music. Its a true meditation of the band. I think a lot of the bands humor comes through. There is some good evidence of what we were really focused on which was just quite simply, making music.

……………..Why do you think that of all the bands that came out of DC in that time period, Fugazi seems to stand tallest amongst them.

I think it would be questionable for me to really try and take a stab at that. All those questions, how do you make a great record, how do you make people come to your shows. Its the same answer, we worked hard and minded our own business. I mean exactly what I just said, we minded our business, we looked after our affairs. I think a lot of bands don’t look after their business or they sell it to somebody else to look after. We stayed focused of what we wanted to do, play music, be together. Music is a living art, a common point of gathering and a common point of celebration. Gatherings and celebrations of that nature I think are sorely needed today.

Why people think about Fugazi over other bands I really do not know. I have said it before and I will gladly say it again, music kicked my ass, and I just intended to return the favor. Fugazi as a band affected people and I understand that because I have been affected by bands as well.

………Is there such a thing as a quintessential Fugazi record or sound?

Im not an observer….my relationship to the music….take for example “Waiting Room.” You hear that song first on record or cd and thats the definitive version. The one thats on the record may be the most identifiable version but…I played that song thousands of times. There are versions of that song done live that completely dwarf the version on the record. Those songs were living songs and they evolved. We played ” Waiting Room” the first show we ever played on September 3rd 1987 and at the last one which was in November of 2002. That is a long time for a song to evolve and change, but I was there for EVERY version of it.

……….How do you feel about how Fugazi has been filtered through pop culture, and its influence on other bands?

Music is a phenomenon, how people come to us doesn’t make much of a difference to me. Along with the movie we put out a soundtrack for the film. Over the years, Fugazi was recording all the time in our practice space. We recorded all these instrumental versions of songs and we loved the way they sounded, but couldn’t find any useful medium to put it out in. When we started talking to Jem about using the super8 footage, we realized we had the whole soundtrack. We had been recording everything, shows, practices whatever since the beginning of the band. We constructed a soundtrack, almost entirely of recordings that we had done in the years before. We went back into our archives and pulled music out that we liked. We did a record of these recordings, a soundtrack record.

We were doing a show in England and afterwords a guy came up to me said he enjoyed the show etc. And he said he was really surprised that there was so much singing. I didn’t know what he meant. He thought we were an instrumental band! He had only picked up the soundtrack on a whim, hadn’t seen the movie hadn’t heard anything else. I thought that was quite beautiful, to realize that a band is multi-faceted, people come at different times. Some people knew us before we ever played a show and others are still finding out about the band, anything in between, whatever record they came in on became the defining record for them. Their relationship with the band has to do with the context of what happened when they first heard us. There is no difference to me between making something better or worse, rather its just interesting.I appreciate other musicians who have said that they like our work. It means a lot, that was sort of the point.

The Ship Still Floats

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 17:38:33 -0500

Haven’t stopped this. Interviewing Ian again next week for an article I am writing about Fugazi.

Vic Ruggiero Interview.

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:02:49 -0500

Reblogging this and the previous post with Dustin Kensrue would be appreciated.

Approaching your 20^th year as a band, how have you guys stayed together so long and would you say your mindset has stayed the same?

Its just a matter of not stopping…its like being stuck in an unimaginative. You cant imagine doing anything else you just stick with it. Keeping the same characters has helped, it adds to the vibe. We all learned how to play better, but I’m not sure if that helped. Sometimes if you don’t know how to play, just simple, you play practical material, when you learn how to play better its worsen. Then you have more choices, you only get one take because thats all anyone can do. Its gotta be real good so you reach that magical moment of “oh wow you got it” When you know how to play better you know what you can do better. It makes it hard though because you can lose the magic of things.

Have you seen any changes in your audience over the years? A change in scene if you will?

Its always been real good. New York in particular has never been a big ska or reggae crowd for us. We just get people that like music, just straight music fans. Jersey is more scene oriented. The jersey scene is definitely like an actual “scene” The punk thing comes into it, and kids get into a specific type of scene. Right now its getting cool because I see a whole bunch of different types of kids getting into the music. One guy that plays with us has been playing shows since the sixties, and he says to me. “ Damn you guys have the cutest girls coming to your shows.” And I said to him he must have had cute girls coming to your shows in the seventies and he goes “nah man, in the seventies it was just good because they all put out.” (laughs)

So does that age gap help?

Every time you play you try and make a connection to people, you cant expect, you don’t really expect anything. Like in Jersey for example, if we go play the Asbury Lanes or the Stone Pony, those are always like really great shows for us. The vibe down there, is a lot more fun than you might get at a New York show, its like a different world down there. Even if you get the same kids they aren’t going to act like they do in Asbury Park when they come to Manhattan. They are gonna come to Manhattan and they are going to dress up, maybe they are a little intimidated by the whole Metropolitan atmosphere. The Jersey kids really dress differently when they come to New York.

Is there any one constant source of inspiration you will always be able to draw from or pattern to composing a song?

I don’t know, same old stuff. People always say you gotta go with what you know. There is nothing in particular. We got lucky over the years because everybody became writers, they don’t depend on one or two guys to write the songs, everybody writes tunes now. Its good that everyone can take criticism or someone will always be there to say, “hey that word doesn’t work or this part could sound differently.” Its a chaotic process.

Does that make the music better, having more input?

Yeah, yeah, chaotic is better, if you get into a system thats when shit gets boring. If you get into a process or a system you write the same shit over and over again. The more chaotic it can be, the better. What young bands do when they are writing a song nobody knows how to explain the part they want to hear to the other person. More is left up to chaotic interpretation thats when things are cool. Thats why people like bands when they make their first records better. But if you listen to like a Rolling Stones record or something, they kept that vibe for so long. Only in the 80s they learned how to communicate better and thats when their shit starts to fall off. Thats why reggae is great because nobody knows how to play properly its just all vibe.

Would you say you are more influenced by reggae now than when you were younger?

Music is music so you keep your ears open. If you get stuck in one thing…they talk about the first generation reggae musicians against the ones the followed. Those guys didn’t listen to reggae, they didn’t try and play reggae, they played everything. These guys that learn how play by playing reggae, it starts to get into a rut.

In terms of a record or a tour, whats the status of your solo work, and whats ahead for the band?

Oh yeah, always, there’s just a matter of time, there is only so much time to do shit. We’ve got a little time off right now. We do some cool holiday shows, so there are some gigs around the holidays. We’ve got some of the Aggrolites guys stopping in to do some tunes. We are doing New Years in San Francisco and have some California dates around that. Then in January everything goes to hell. You work as far up to the holidays as you can, because after that everyone is broke and nobody goes out for a while.

How do you make a set list when working off such a wide range of music.

There’s no rhyme or reason, it just comes up as it comes up. Thats the magic of things. Maybe with me I am more of like an anarchist. I don’t ever want to have a process. I just want to be inspired and just do it. If you think too much about it that usually means you don’t really wanna do it. Its like you’re lazy, you don’t want to come up with short-cuts and trick yourselves.

How important is it for someone to identify as a ska fan and be familiar with the origins. What were you into when younger?

Oh yeah, anybody that likes the genre you gotta always go backwards. That’s a good part of it, there is such a wealth of stuff that proceeds you,and everyone. If you ask the old blues guys why they were doing it, its because they want to keep the old tunes alive. Pre-record stuff. I was into fifties stuff, Motown, rock n roll. I had a moment with the Beach Boys but I could never go after that music one hundred percent.

On your website you have a section called surrealist theorems, little one-liners about authors or thinkers. I was wondering if you could elaborate a little further on what kind of literature really influenced both your music and yourself.

Ah interesting, the fifties is it man, not to say that stuff before that wasn’t great. The fifties were the coolest for writing in America and stuff like that. Everybody, not just the beat guys, Richard Wright all the black writers. The fifties is suddenly like everything being inspired at the same time. You may have had all these great influence. Suddenly there are all these writers that are like “we get it, we get it!” I’ll read short-story compilations or be reading a book and really like it and wonder when it was written. Almost always its the fifties. Right in the middle of everything. They say that writing is always ahead of music, and painting is ahead of writing,so you look to see where everything is going. If painters are doing something, writers will do it ten,fifteen years after that, and music picks it up ten fifteen years after that! It’s all combined, all apart of the same dynamic, sometimes you feel like a jerk. I don’t want to associate myself to too many fucking props by going. Oh Picasso did this, or Mingus did this, you start feeling like a jerk comparing yourself to these guys that are so great. But its all about following the legacy, to try and do something yourself that will matter to somebody as much as it did to you.

Is there any one lasting memory you have of Washington D.C where I am located?

We played this one gig with the Pietasters really early in our careers, at some place…it had a cat in the named. Not the Blackcat. Man, the kids were so crazy, it was the first time we really saw kids go crazy and dance. It was the first time I saw the floor turn into that rubber look. When we went to the bar downstairs, you could actually see the ceiling buckling. The fire department came and they closed the place down that night.

One question I try and ask everyone deals with Plato’s theory that once an artist creates something, he no longer owns it and it almost must be assumed he must feel a disconnect with it, what are your thoughts on that?

Not disconnect, its more that like what people say, that as soon as the art goes into a museum its dead, even Dylan says that. Dylan would say that records are like a cemetery, thats not where the song is living. The song is living in the performance, so you can never stop performing it. It’s definitely true, you don’t get like a final version of the song. As far as not owning it anymore I totally agree with that. As soon as you put it out there its not yours anymore. People will tell me their interpretation of a song, and they will tell me how a song really means so much to me and it perfectly describes this part of my life, and I think to myself “shit, thats not at all what I was writing about.” I could write about politics and somebody will tell me its about their girlfriend. But then I think what right do I have to tell them what to think of my tune. I’m flattered that someone thought long and hard enough about my work. You can’t tell somebody what a painting is about, they just look at it.

On the topic of interpretation of lyrics, I was wondering if you could talk about what the song “Soldier” is about.

Oh thats just running from the cops, when I was a teenager your pissed off at the cops, and they are always pissed off at you, and it just gets in a hassle. Its also slightly about, when they changed the uniforms. The cop uniforms used to be real loose, and then sometime in the nineties they made them real tight. It looks real gestapo, like great we’ve got gestapo in New York now. Someone explained it to me once, the cops used to almost dress like door-men, because New York had class. Almost like, oh welcome to New York kind of thing, the NYPD will open the door for you. Guns were covered. It wasn’t about being intimidating it was about being friendly. When you approach things like that, and intimidate people they react un-kind. If you want violence act violent. If you expect intimidation acting intimidating.

Dustin Kensrue Interview.

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 01:26:00 -0500

Just wrapped up an interview Dustin in Baltimore. Reblogging to your friends would be greatly appreciated. Also I have no idea what my bold or italicized words wont appear as such.

***Jan 26 2011. I re-edited this piece as it was pretty brutal with grammar errors etc. When I originally transcribed it I rushed to get it up and by no means did a final proof read. Thank you to everyone who pointed this out. Enjoy.******

Thrice has played a lot of varied spaces, be it small clubs or 20,000 seat arenas. Does the mindset change depending on where you play? Is there a quintessential environment to see Thrice?

I would say mid-size clubs, there are benefits to everything. Its fun playing those big places in terms of having more space on the stage but a lot of times it ends up having a disconnect between the band and the audience. Small rooms, it gets very overly chaotic and smooshed we are aware of that sense of lost intimacy though.

What about playing a festival, does that change your mindset at all?

Our mindset doesn’t really change much going into anything, there are certain weird situations like playing a TV show that is a little more disconnected…the people are faraway, being filmed, its just weird. We try and approach it all the same.

You have said before that earlier in your career Thrice didn’t start off with the thought of making music their full time thing, at one point did that change?

It really just kind of happened over time. We all of a sudden were gone all the time. Touring constantly trying to get our name out there. I had been working part time when I was home, and then I wasn’t home at all to ever work. When you stop going to school and working you make that call to try and make it your career.

A lot has been said about the punk scene of the beginning of the decade. How already it is a time and place that is lost to a new fan. I don’t know if you agree with that but I was curious to get your take.

I’m not really sure. We’ve been thrown into various things over time, groups, names, I never really felt an affinity for any of them. We have always been on the outside at least in our own opinion. Coming up in Orange County playing with any type of band you can think of, from pop/punk to hardcore to whatever. We just played the shows but never really felt like we fit in with any of them. There has never really been a sweet spot in our heart for anything emo or screamo or whatever that thing kind of evolved into. So never really anything that we felt good from that, though there was a lot negative because we didn’t like being associated with it.

Each one of your records has a very distinct sound to it, is that at all deliberate?

I guess partially, the actual sound it ends up being is not necessarily deliberate but there is a deliberate drive to challenge ourselves and do something we are excited about doing at that time. We never wanted to be constrained by what we would guess to be popular or what might appease certain people, be it fans, or..radio,TV. That has been the driving force just to express differently at different times, sometimes its a response to response to what we did previously, whether we liked it. Beggars is very much a response to The Alchemy Index, though we liked Alchemy, I don’t want to do anything like that right now. So we decided to do something totally different, and made a completely different record.

Going forward do you see yourself following that kind of pattern?

I think coming out of Beggars we had a ton of fun making that record and playing those songs live. So I think the next record will have the least jarring change that we have had between records for a long time. There will be definitely have its own sound as well but it will definitely be a less jarring experience.

You started covering Helter Skelter a while back, did you always intend to record that as a b-side?

We had talked about it and then busted it out really quick…the record leaked so early that we had to scramble to figured out ways to salvage that. Even covering that sound was very influential to how Beggars ended up feeling, the way that song feels to play live, it definitely had some influence on the way we wrote that record.

You have talked a lot about how you felt about the leak, I’m curious as to if there are any preventative measures you can make as a band to further insure that, that doesn’t happen again.

There is absolutely nothing we could have personally done. It was deliberately stolen from the website. Not like at the plant that makes the records like it usually happened. We didn’t even have the record in our hands by the time that it leaked so there really is nothing more we can do.

What literature has had an impact on both your music and as a person?

Outside of the Bible I would say C.S Lewis probably the most formative for me. I like G.K Chesterton a lot. I try and read a bunch of different things, be it fiction or non-fiction. I draw a lot of ideas from non-fiction though I think reading fiction, even if you don’t connect to the lines directly its feeding your brain with images and things to draw from.

In terms of inspiration is there any one thing you will always be able to draw from?

Definitely the Bible I draw from that a lot. Usually not as the starting point for things, but it is very much where I am rooted. I feel like it speaks to a lot of things, thats where I naturally gravitate from. I constantly inspired and challenged by reading it.

I know you have an interest in Philosophy. Plato holds a theory, and I paraphrase here, that once an artist creates something, be it a drawing, a song or whatever, as soon as it reaches the consumption of others it is no longer his. Do you think that is valid, is there a disconnect from your work once its out there for people to pick apart.

I think there is definitely a life that it takes on that is beyond what you have put into it. There is actually a song on The Alchemy Index that is basically about that, “ As The Crow Flies.” Its this metaphor for finding this big bird that is speaking to the idea of a muse, that already you are discovering something more so than you are actually creating it. You attend to it for a while and help it develop and then, “oh” its out of your hands. I don’t think that that implies that there shouldn’t be lasting meaning to what you have put into something. You should at least intend for it to be something, you definitely don’t have the control over it to a certain degree.

Is there added pressure knowing that your work will always be picked apart.

Well that is going to happen no matter what, even if you do try and avoid it. Even if you dropped any kind of poetic license, people will still mangle it. My pressure more comes from wanting to do something that isn’t lazy. It is very easy to write a lot of lyrics that are very….I don’t want to say that you shouldn’t write lyrics that are cryptic because I certainly do it at times, but there is a way to do it that is very lazy and easy, I strive to stay away from that.

Is there any one set scenario you find you get your best work out of, or do you just write as you go?

I spend a lot of time like playing with puzzle pieces in my head, I have this image that I can make but I don’t know what it is yet. So I kind of look at them next to each other and shuffle them around. Its like you have a bunch of puzzle pieces from different puzzles and some of them are for a puzzle you aren’t making so its like “ah this one isn’t for this puzzle, but it can work over here.” Thats how my brain sort of approaches it. In terms of making the songs work, aside from the lyrics its a rather democratic process as a band.

How do you separate ideas for Thrice material and what will be on your solo work?

I am taking down snippets of things all the time and try to categorize them to see where they are going and slowly develop little bits of things. The solo stuff comes out of things I am needling around with that don’t seem to work for Thrice they slowly develop as I pick up a guitar and mess around with.

How do you approach making your set lists? As you acknowledged before, your records all have very distinct sounds. How do you make them all flow live?

There is definitely no easy way to do it, that kind of sucks(laughs) You are always bumming someone out if you don’t play there favorite song. You play songs that may not really be your favorites but you try and keep the balance to things that you enjoy and you know the people enjoy. You try and balance the flow the mood the shift in tempo. Its extremely hard, at least for us. I think our catalogue is pretty varied and it makes it more difficult than for a lot of other bands.

Anything specific played for the fans and not so much yourself anymore?

Nobody likes playing “ Artist and the Ambulance” I don’t mind playing it but everyone else kind of hates it. Ed has always hated that song(laughs) thats just Ed’s taste. We have been playing a lot of Beggars stuff, the older songs we are not especially excited to play.

Does having a personal relationship with someone who’s music you admire change how you go about listening to it?

Well, if they are a sucky human that kind of ruins the music. Though there are cases where the music is so good that you kind of have to deal with knowing that they aren’t a good human. For like Matt’s(Pryor of The Get Up Kids) music, or Chris’s(Conley of Saves The Day) music… I didn’t grow up listening to Anthony so thats a bit of a different category. I grew up with The Get Up Kids and Saves The Day, it makes me excited for them, I just heard their new records in the car-ride down here, it’s cool to have that opportunity, its very different being around your peers, but its good to always encourage. It is a different vantage point from consuming it on a personal level than consuming it on another level.

What’s next for both your work and the band’s work for the next year?

Thrice is writing a record right now and that should be out next year. I make no promises on my stuff because every-time I do I end up being wrong. God willing there will be more solo material in the future, soon.

Is there an attempt to separate yourself from some of the other bands that you are sometimes lumped in with. As an example, I saw Thrice at Bamboozle a few years back, and at this point, there aren’t really a lot of bands in your vain playing a festival like that or Warped Tour.

There are not a bunch of bands that we really relate to that came out of the same place as we did. Glassjaw, Brand New, Saves The Day, bands that have continued to push themselves and seem to care more about the music than about being successful. All of those bands sound very different, but they came from a solid place and are pushing forward and are trying to be the kings of this little pack. I don’t have an affinity one way or another…I have more a negative feel for a lot of this stuff, because there are so many copy cat, shallow bands, making poor music that is unimaginative. As something develops it tends to generally turns into that and that kind of movement you see now. We just play shows and its not always easy. For us we wish we could move out into a larger realm but we have also a stigma about us because we have people that will go “oh thats that band from 2003 that put out Artist and The Ambulance or Illusion of Safety.” So that band is put into this category with all of these other bands, and we would never tour with those other bands. We are a completely different band from even a couple records ago, and we will continue to be. So we are kind of between a rock and a hard place in terms of that.

How did this all happen? How did you get from Middletown, New Jersey to where you are today? What inspired you to actually enjoy your life? Because from the looks of it, it seems like you're having a blast.

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 01:25:07 -0500

Having a blast is exactly what I am doing, though I try not to be personal on this tumblr, solely for my interviews. If you want answers to what you said contact me IRL.

Dustin Kensrue Interview.

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 23:07:00 -0500

Just wrapped up an interview Dustin in Baltimore. Reblogging to your friends would be greatly appreciated. Also I have no idea what my bold or italicized words wont appear as such.

Thrice has played a lot of varied spaces, be it small clubs or 20,000 seat arenas. Does the mindset change depending on where you play? Is there a quintessential environment to see Thrice?

What about playing a festival, does that change your mindset at all?

You have said before that earlier in your career Thrice didn’t start off with the thought of making music their full time thing, at one point did that change?

A lot has been said about the punk scene of the beginning of the decade. How already, it is a time and place that is lost to a new fan. I don’t know if you agree with that but I was curious to get your take.

Each one of your records has a very distinct sound to it, is that at all deliberate?

I guess partially, the actual sound it ends up being is not necessarily deliberate but there is a deliberate drive to challenge ourselves and do something we are excited about doing at that time. We never wanted to be constrained by what we would guess to be popular or what might appease certain people, be it fans, or radio, or TV. That has been the driving force just to express differently at different times, sometimes its a response to what we did previously, whether we liked it. Beggars is very much a response to The Alchemy Index, though we liked Alchemy, I don’t want to do anything like that right now. So we decided to do something totally different, and made a completely different record.

Going forward do you see yourself following that kind of pattern?

I think coming out of Beggars we had a ton of fun making that record and playing those songs live. So I think the next record will have the least jarring change that we have had between records for a long time. There will be definitely be its own sound as well but it will definitely be a less jarring experience.

You started covering Helter Skelter a while back. Did you always intend to record that as a b-side?

You have talked a lot about how you felt about the leak. I’m curious as to if there are any preventative measures you can make as a band to further insure that, that doesn’t happen again.

What literature has had an impact on both your music and as a person?

Outside of the Bible I would say C.S Lewis is probably the most formative for me. I like G.K Chesterton a lot. I try and read a bunch of different things, be it fiction or non-fiction. I draw a lot of ideas from non-fiction though I think reading fiction, even if you don’t connect to the lines directly it’s feeding your brain with images and things to draw from.

In terms of inspiration is there any one thing you will always be able to draw from?

I know you have an interest in Philosophy. Plato holds a theory, and I paraphrase here, that once an artist creates something, be it a drawing, a song or whatever, as soon as it reaches the consumption of others it is no longer his. Do you think that is valid? Is there a disconnect from your work once its out there for people to pick apart.

I think there is definitely a life that it takes on that is beyond what you have put into it. There is actually a song on The Alchemy Index that is basically about that, “ As The Crow Flies.” It is this metaphor for finding this big bird that is speaking to the idea of a muse. That already you are discovering something more so than you are actually creating it. You attend to it for a while and help it develop and then, “oh” its out of your hands. I don’t think that implies that there shouldn’t be lasting meaning to what you have put into something. You should at least intend for it to be something; you definitely don’t have the control over it to a certain degree.

Is there added pressure knowing that your work will always be picked apart.

Is there any one set scenario you find you get your best work out of, or do you just write as you go?

I spend a lot of time like playing with puzzle pieces in my head. I have this image that I can make but I don’t know what it is yet. So I kind of look at them next to each other and shuffle them around. It is like you have a bunch of puzzle pieces from different puzzles and some of them are for a puzzle you aren’t making so it’s like “ah this one isn’t for this puzzle, but it can work over here.” Thats how my brain sort of approaches it. In terms of making the songs work, aside from the lyrics its a rather democratic process as a band.

How do you separate ideas for Thrice material and what will be on your solo work?

I am taking down snippets of things all the time and try to categorize them to see where they are going and slowly develop little bits of things. The solo stuff comes out of things I am needling around with that don’t seem to work for Thrice. They slowly develop as I pick up a guitar and mess around with it.

How do you approach making your set lists? As you acknowledged before, your records all have very distinct sounds. How do you make them all flow live?

There is definitely no easy way to do it, that kind of sucks(laughs) You are always bumming someone out if you don’t play their favorite song. You play songs that may not really be your favorites but you try and keep the balance to things that you enjoy and you know the people enjoy. You try and balance the flow, the mood, the shift in tempo. Its extremely hard, at least for us. I think our catalogue is pretty varied and it makes it more difficult than for a lot of other bands.

Anything specific played for the fans and not so much yourself anymore?

Does having a personal relationship with someone whose music you admire change how you go about listening to it?

Well, if they are a sucky human that kind of ruins the music. Though there are cases where the music is so good that you kind of have to deal with knowing that they aren’t a good human. For like Matt’s(Pryor of The Get Up Kids) music, or Chris’s(Conley of Saves The Day) music… I didn’t grow up listening to Anthony(Raneri of Bayside) so that’s a bit of a different category. I grew up with The Get Up Kids and Saves The Day, it makes me excited for them. I just heard their new records in the car ride down here, it’s cool to have that opportunity, it’s very different being around your peers, but it’s good to always encourage. It is a different vantage point from consuming it on a personal level than consuming it on another level.

What’s next for both your work and the band’s work for the next year?

Thrice is writing a record right now and that should be out next year(2011). I make no promises on my stuff because every-time I do I end up being wrong. God willing there will be more solo material in the future, soon.

There are not a bunch of bands that we really relate to that came out of the same place as we did. Glassjaw, Brand New, Saves The Day, bands that have continued to push themselves and seem to care more about the music than about being successful. All of those bands sound very different, but they came from a solid place and are pushing forward and are trying to be the kings of this little pack. I don’t have an affinity one way or another. I have more a negative feel for a lot of this stuff, because there are so many copy cat, shallow bands, making poor music that is unimaginative. As something develops it tends to generally turn into that, and that kind of movement you see now. We just play shows and its not always easy. For us we wish we could move out into a larger realm but we have also a stigma about us because we have people that will go “oh thats that band from 2003 that put out Artist and The Ambulance or Illusion of Safety.” So that band is put into this category with all of these other bands, and we would never tour with those other bands. We are a completely different band from even a couple records ago, and we will continue to be. So we are kind of between a rock and a hard place in terms of that.

Medicinal Relevance For You

can you imagine what her family thinks

this girl is completely nude on her tumblr

I'd be ashamed of my daughter if she did this

Wow Im REALLY wondering what this girls parents think about her right now...

boobs-and-sandwiches: Tuna Melt.

awesomepeoplehangingouttogether: Wayne Gretzky and Michael J....

Update

PropertyOfZack Interview : : The Movielife

Interview I did with Yankees GM Brian Cashman

how do you get to interview these people? pushiness? inventiveness? a combination of the both?

Coming Up

Theophilus London Interview

Quick Chat With Vinnie Caruana ( I am the Avalanche, Movielife)

Article I wrote about upcoming Fugazi screening.

Ian McKaye Interview Part Two.

The Ship Still Floats

Vic Ruggiero Interview.

Dustin Kensrue Interview.

How did this all happen? How did you get from Middletown, New Jersey to where you are today? What inspired you to actually enjoy your life? Because from the looks of it, it seems like you're having a blast.

Dustin Kensrue Interview.

how do you get to interview these people?
pushiness?
inventiveness?
a combination of the both?