Bright Diaries

Ashley Smith, Harmony Korine, Dirty Beaches, Todd Jordan, Ted Pushinsky, Margaret Durow, Will Sweeney, Minh Tran, Team MachO

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Civilist/ Nike SB Brunnenstrasse 13 Berlin • Mitte July, 4th • 1600h

BRIGH T IN T RO Madames and Monsieurs,

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Welcome to edition XVII of the Bright tradeshow. Major apologies that we didn’t speak too much over the last half year, still I trust that things are A-Ok at your end.

The original method of the literary technique aside, a stream of consciousness is basically a succession of ideas and images constantly moving forward in time. Things start to get a little tricky when aforementioned process is based on quite a personal interpretation of what should be part of this stream – and what shouldn’t. But then again that’s actually what we did for this issue. It has a little bit of this and then some more of that, all perfectly tied together through a complex system of values whose main coordinates will eventually be decoded as time and space carries us to a brandnew chapter of Bright history in mid January.

In the meantime: enjoy. And have the best of all summers.

Yours truly, Bright BRIGHT IMPRINT creative direction – Marco Aslim / Thomas martini editor in chief /production – Sven Fortmann editor – Renko Heuer contributing editor – Sir David Michael / Lisa Schmidt proofreading – Leanne MacKay art direction – Tobias Friedberg / Paale Lüdcke / www.aokimatsumoto.com cover photography – Keegan Gibbs / Todd Jordan printing – BluePrint AG / Lindberghstraße 17 / 80939 München publisher – Bright GmbH & Co KG / Hohenstaufenstraße 13-27 / 60327 Frankfurt www.brighttradeshow.com

special shootouts to all artists involved; thank you all so much for your contribution and patience … we’re very proud to have you on board for this one.

Ted Pushinsky / Minh Tran / Todd Jordan / Brassai / Margaret Durow / Nicolas Karakatsanis / John Divola / Scott Pommier / Alison Scarpulla / Amy Stein / Gray Malin / Melodie McDaniel / Nick Jensen / Matt Leines / Cleon Peterson / Rebecca Morgan / San Poggio / Alex Roulette / David Lyle / Kirk Fanelly / Team Macho / Michael Johansson / Niall McClelland / Will Sweeney / Chad Eaton / Kim Hiorthøy / Pae White / Llyn Foulkes / Jocko Weyland / Alessandro Formenti / Benjamin Marra / Harmony Korine / Ashley Smith / Alex Zhang Hungtai

B R A S S A Ï is the alias of painter, sculptor and photographer gyula haláz (09.09.1899 − 07.07.1984), who rose to international acclaim through his portraits of the parisian (night)life in the 1920s and 1930s. www.galerie-karsten-greve.com

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“Graffiti de la Série III, La Naissance de l'Homme” 1935, 12″ x 15 3/ 4 ″, Silbergelatine -Abzug Verso bezeichnet : “Cahier 4bis” Verso gestempelt : Brassaï 81, Rue Du Faubg St Jacques, Paris 14eme, Port Royal 23-41 Brassaï Archives : A.1520

“Graffiti de la Série VI, L'Amour” 1935 – 1950, 11 1/4 ″ x 8 2/3 ″, Silbergelatine-Abzug Verso gestempelt: Brassaï 81, Rue Du Faubg St Jacques, Paris 14eme, Port Royal 23-41 Brassaï Archives: A.1404. W+1

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A L I S O N S C A R P U L L A IS A PHOTOGRAPHER FROM CLEVELAND/OHIO, WHOSE SURREAL IMAGERY CREATES a new kind of dark americana. her first book is aiming for a delivery date in early 2014. www.shuttermade.com/alisonscarpulla

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C H A D E A T O N is an L.A.-based artist and the creator of TIMBER! Clothing.

He obviously loves lumberjacks, long-distance bike rides, and other outdoorsy things. Check more of his great stuff over at www.timberps.com

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N I C K J E N S E N IS A PROFESSIONAL SKATEBOARDER FROM LONDON WHO SKATES FOR COMPANIES SUCH AS LAKAI AND THUNDER. HE RECENTLY STARTED HIS OWN BOARD COMPANY ISLE skateboards with paul shier and paints not only as a pastime (like churchill did). www.twelvearoundone.com

A L E X R O U L E T T E IS AN ARTIST LIVING AND WORKING IN NEW YORK, WHOSE PHOTOREALISTIC PAINTINGS EXPLORE THE WORLD OF NOSTALGIA AND MACHISMO THROUGH A KIND OF BLURRED SENSE OF TIME AND SPACE. www.alexroulette.com

“Smoke Bomb”, 2012, 33 ″ x 44 ″, Oil on Panel

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“Airborne”, 2010, 26 ″ x 37 ″, Oil on Panel

“west coast (inside car)”, 2009, 9.5 ″ x 15 ″, Oil on Panel

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“Badlands”, 2010, 30 ″ x 38 ″, Oil on Panel

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Peri, Outside Lexington, Kentucky, 2005.

I have spent the past five plus years driving across America photographing stranded motorists.

Finding subjects is a matter of chance and every encounter is tense because of the unusual circumstances of our interaction and the inherent danger of the roadside environment.

Most of the photographs from this series can be found on a Google Map that documents my travels across the US.

A M Y S T E I N IS A PHOTOGRAPHER AND TEACHER BASED IN NYC. HER WORK GENERALLY EXPLORES MAN’S EVOLVING ISOLATION FROM COMMUNITY, CULTURE, AND THE ENVIRONMENT. STEIN’S SECOND MONOGRAPH, “TALL POPPY SYNDROME”, RELEASED WITH STACY AREZOU MEHRFAR, WAS PUBLISHED BY DECODE BOOKS IN 2012. www.amystein.com

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N I C O L A S K A R A K A T S A N I S IS A BELGIAN CINEMATOGRAPHER AND ONE OF EUROPE’S MOST OUTSTANDING VISUAL TALENTS WITH A SOFT SPOT FOR PUNK ROCK, HORSE POWER AND DARK IMAGERY. www.skeletonyouth.com / www.theskeletonherald.blogspot.de

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S U E K W O N BEGAN HER CAREER AS A PHOTOGRAPHER FOR THE “VILLAGE VOICE”, SHOOTING ANYTHING FROM N.W.A. TO THE UNDERGROUND CLUBS IN QUEENS. HAVING WORKED FOR LABELS AND COMPANIES SUCH AS DEF JAM, SONY, GRAVIS AND BURTON, THE NEW YORKBASED PHOTOGRAPHER RELEASED A BOOK ENTITLED “STREET LEVEL” IN 2009. www.suekwon.com

P A E W H I T E IS AN INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED GRAPHIC DESIGNER AND ARTIST BASED IN LOS ANGELES, WHOSE INSTALLATIONS AND SCULPTURES WERE EXHIBITED WORLDWIDE TO GREAT SUCCESS. THE DISPLAYED IMAGES HERE SHOWCASE HER LATEST AMAZING INSTALLATION AT SOUTH LONDON gallery, a kind of 3d textile supergraphic.

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M I C H A E L J O H A N S S O N IS A RENOWNED CONCEPTUAL ARTIST FROM SWEDEN WHOSE INSTALLATIONS EITHER RESEMBLE A GAME OF REAL-LIFE TETRIS OR OVERSIZED EXAMPLES OF MODEL MAKING. SEE MORE OF HIS MIND-BLOWING INSTALLATIONS AT www.michaeljohansson.com

Aurevoir mon visage, c’est juste une image

Interview by Forty Intro by Lisa Schmidt

D irt y Be aches After the release of “Badlands“ in 2011, followed by several EPs and split 7‘s, Dirty Beaches is back with a new double album complete with a new image. With “Drifters/Love is the Devil“ (Zoo Music) Alex Zhang Hungtai is breaking down the walls of his project. The whole myth that he so carefully constructed around his persona and his sound, this dark musical twin brother of a Lynchian universe, finally revealed itself as a perfectly arranged cinematic production. This character is falling apart now within his new album, which is baring a grave new soul exposed through the most tragic blues, waves of rockabilly, disturbing techno and ambient textures. Bright Magazine hooked up with Alex Zhang Hungtai over a whiskey in his beloved Neukölln apartment in late April.

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I was really pleased to see that seemingly from out of nowhere you suddenly became a household name on all the major digital music platforms like Pitchfork or Stereogum … even though your music is definitely very unique.

Yeah, I was very lucky with this one, and I actually know a lot of people who aren’t too keen about getting mentioned in the context of these kind of websites. You know how it is, there’s a certain kind of danger when a media outlet becomes really influential all of a sudden, because it can easily come to a certain point when they almost dictate your career to a degree. Like a Roman emperor who’s either giving you the thumb up or down, so you either live or are probably facing a more stressful time in your career. I can’t complain, really, because before Pitchfork I was washing dishes. I was turning thirty and things seemed to be a dead end street for me, which made me almost quit for the second time. But then things happened and I was able to quit my day job to focus entirely on music.

So Dirty Beaches isn’t your first project then ?

I played in a lot of different bands since 1999, I was the guy playing guitar or bass in the background, helping to arrange the songs.

To be honest, I have a hard time picturing you in a band context …

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(Laughs) Yeah, but Dirty Beaches – well, at least live – is a trio now. It’s funny, we’ve just been on an Asian Pacific tour, and I met a lot of my old friends from Hawaii who are living in Japan these days. They told me how great it is that I haven’t changed at all, and it was very delightful for me to hear that because they’re the ones that know me best. It made me feel as if I’m doing the right thing right now, as if I’m finally putting my past and present into the right context. You know, all the people I know in Montreal, they hardly have an idea about the life I lived before, they don’t know about the life I lived ten years ago.

I’ve always felt that Montreal has a great sense of community …

Well, there is a vivid music scene thanks to the cheap rent. It’s possible to only work three or four days and then just fuck off for the rest of the week.

To get things into the right order here, you were born in Taiwan but basically grew up in Montreal ?

Oh no, that actually is a much longer story. My family immigrated to Toronto where we became Canadians. Unfortunately, my family then went through a split-up and lots of drama, so I ended up living with my cousin in New York for one year before I moved to Hawaii to live with my sister for ten years. I then moved onto lots of places, like San Francisco for example … I was

already making music back then but had to quit because I was losing my working status in the States. So I moved to Shanghai to work in the real estate business for one year. My dad moved to Shanghai earlier and he was working in that field, so I joined and did mainly translations for a real estate company. I already knew that I wasn’t really built for this 9–5 job routine, but after having worked there for a year I was 100% certain about this. I felt really suicidal in the end, so I quit my job and moved to Montreal … and that was the beginning of Dirty Beaches.

So would you say that having moved from one place to another your whole life has been benefitting your musical vision of Dirty Beaches ?

It’s a subconscious influence, I’d say. It’s not that I want to live my life like this, but at this point I feel as if I don’t have any other choice, really. I’m so used to dropping everything and starting anew. It just doesn’t bother me too much anymore, even though it is often is very painful as well. Not having any belongings and saying goodbye to friends. It’s not a good thing to not have a support system, to not being familiar with anything at all … but I’m just so used to it that it actually doesn’t even scare me anymore.

I talk to my dad quite a lot and when he asked me if I’m happy with what I’m doing, I realized that I’m not. I’m singing the same songs over and over again and people like me too because that’s the only thing they know me for. They don’t know anything I did before and they don’t care about anything after, because alI they know is what’s in the songs and what other people write about me. So my dad said, well, if you’re so unhappy being free then why don’t you just quit? You’ll probably still be unhappy but at least you can find a job where you’re earning some good money on a regular basis. And that’s when I was having this kind of special moment of awareness, you know, if you really wanna be free then just be free! Do what you wanna do! And so I left Montreal behind and came to Berlin.

Which kind of implies that Dirty Beaches could be history from one day to the next ?

Absolutely. Again, my father told me that it’s as if you’re standing on top of a plateau and see another higher plateau in the distance.

You really want to get there but obviously you have to leave your comfort zone to get there. And not too many people are willing to do this because it’s painful and arduous and you have to start from zero again. But I don’t mind, really.

You could also fire off an arrow and brachiate through the dale …

Haha, true. Or go by catapult … but that would be cheating.

But seriously, isn’t it a weird way to choose how to live? On the one hand you make new friends and hopefully feel a connection to the place you’re staying with, but on the other hand you can’t help but feel like a tourist at the same time because you already

know that you’ll leave at any time again in the future. I could never do that …

was just caving in. It’s that typical male frustration thing about responsibilities and whatnot.

I know exactly what you mean. But for me it doesn’t matter where I live because I don’t truly feel like I belong there anyway.

Maybe the only place where I really felt secure was in Hawaii. No one ever asked me where I was from because they automatically assumed that I was born there. It’s the only place where I truly felt that I could live there forever. Ironically I left because of visa issues. I’m not allowed to live there anymore.

So it’s safe to say that music for you is a heavily cathartic process?

I already had the chance to listen to your forthcoming and absolutely exquisite album, I think even more than with “Badlands“ it slingshots you into a completely different state of mind immediately.

I think I have to thank Berlin for that. Berlin and a few cities in Eastern Europe kinda warped my head, they definitely got me out of my little comfort zone and placed me into this whole new world. I was at the end of my relationship with my now ex-girlfriend, it was a “be careful what you wish for“ kind of thing. All the dreams that I had when I was teenager came true, all the fantasies that I had as a kid, this irresponsible hedonistic lifestyle suddenly became true. All those fucking parties and MDMApersonal hell moments, it made me kinda burn to the ground and turn into ash. But luckily I survived and climbed out of that.

These were two insanely intense years, man.

You once said that you’re much more influenced by filmmakers than by other musicians, would you say that “Drifters“ then could be seen as your new feature film while “Love Is The Devil“ is a documentary ?

Hm, that’s an interesting thought. For me this double album feels more like two sides of the same coin and not necessarily like a feature film and a documentary. They’re both one film with a linear storyline. “Drifters“ is the surface world, how you perceive the musician and the lifestyle you assume he’s living. While “Love Is The Devil“ reflects on the inner world. They both tell the story of the same life. It’s what I was going through at that time contrasted with the all the crazy night drives and places I’ve actually been to. For me it feels like walking on air … there’s nothing concrete and it was important for me to tell the story like that, because there’s always two sides to the very same story, depending on how you look at it, right !?

I was surprised to find the track “Woman“ being the most brutal and almost cacophonical one since I was expecting something more delicate.

It’s like totally demonizing women, I know. It was at a point where basically every woman who was close to me; my mother, my girlfriend at the time- each played a negative role in my life. I mean obviously I love them to death but at that time everything

You know, in the past I was really shy, I was scared of expressing too much about myself. The danger of putting too much of yourself in the wrong hands and being judged. Things so personal that any kind of comment to it felt as if it could destroy me. With the new album, I think it’s the first time when I really didn’t care.

“Badlands“ for example is half fiction, it’s this character, it’s this shield I can hide behind even though there’s obviously is a lot of myself in this persona. Comments on my hair or the way I dress didn’t affect me because I was in character. But with the new one I’m finally ready to take all the punches alone as myself.

I was wondering why you chose that super raw lo-fi aesthetic for your music when by now it’s really easy to make things sound crisp …

Well, in the beginning it was more so about a matter of money, really. Recording in a nice studio is just so much more expensive than recording it by yourself. The funny thing about the new album though is that it’s all recorded digitally with the mics going straight into the computer. The entire “Love Is The Devil“ was recorded here in Berlin with my friend Anton Newcombe from The Brian Jonestown Massacre. When I moved here I didn’t know anyone and he was so nice to offer me to let me sleep in his studio, which is located in Prenzlauer Berg. He allowed me to record in his studio as well, since he is using it mainly in the daytime only. So I started to record when he left for the night, which gave me enough time to try things between midnight and the morning. I did that for a month and was able to finish the album there. Even though I’m using Pro Tools now as well, a lot of the secret of my sound lies in the microphones I use and positioning them the right way. Anton works together with a brilliant French sound engineer, who helped me a lot with that.

Where does this love of yours for that specific sound come from?

You know, Alan Vega, vintage garage rock, rockabilly. What’s the secret in making it sounding as authentic as it was on your last album ?

“Badlands“ is a conceptually rich album. It’s a researched project with a lot of reference points which were super important to me. The new one wasn’t researched at all … it’s me letting all these influences happen because I kinda digested them already.

These influences are very personal and some of them go back to my high school days, like electronic drum beats from early hip-hop productions and combining them with all the bands I was listening to when I was younger or dirty old man literature like Bukowski. “Badlands“ also was for my father, so it became almost academic to a certain point because I wanted to prove

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something. I wanted to nail it, I wanted to do it right, because obviously it’s not the 50s anymore so how am I going to make this concept work without turning it into a kitsch-retro-fest?

So I built this character and tried to make him as believable and honest and dangerous as possible. (Laughs.) And it’s true, a lot of DIY-touring actually is pretty dangerous, you’re driving for like, 12 hours every night just to make it to the next town where you have to try your best to trust complete strangers. Anyway, getting all these influences to work in your favor, all you have to do is to be – for lack of a better word – real, and that’s where a lot of people fail. They don’t have a story to tell that is important to them. For them it’s the surface that’s the most interesting part, the image, the aesthetics. I was very aware of that and I knew that it’s not the leather jacket that makes the man, it’s always the other way around. Anyone can wear a leather jacket, it’s disposable, you have to be the one to fill it with your life. If the insight is true, if it’s real, then it will fit perfectly. And that’s what I was trying to do with “Badlands“. I mean in the end the concept of it can be nailed to one essential statement: it’s me trying to have a conversation with my father. He always hated the music I was making, for him it was too weird and experimental. But when he listened to the album, he understood what I was trying to say to him. He felt that he was appreciated as a father. It’s not about him, it’s about doing something for him. As you know, I even used old photographs of him for certain covers.

Did it work out? Did it bring you two closer ?

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I think it made him understand why this is so important to me, playing music, and not having a real job for instance. When he saw his own photos on the 7”s, it reminded him about when he was a teenager and it reminded him of all the dreams that he had and how they quickly they had died.

With the new album you left this scenario, there is no fictional character to hide behind and you deliver yourself on a plate this time around. You said earlier that you’re finally ready to do this, but I was wondering if you already recognized that you’re getting a bit more nervous the closer you come to the official release date and the more you have to talk to the press about it ?

Yeah, I’m actually quite nervous. We only played the new songs during the last show and I think I pissed off a lot of the old fans.

Luckily I believe that we make a lot of new fans at the same time.

Now that we’re a three-piece when it comes to playing live shows, I kinda feel reborn again. It’s like a new band that starts from zero. When we played the first shows in Asia, all these fashion girls were almost in shock, because they came to see this rock’n roll guy with the pompadour and the leather jacket … but they got this shy guy with a shaved head and a shitty bomber jacket.

I really enjoyed all the shows we played there, it was amazing, but I knew before that it would be a bi-polar experience. Some were totally disappointed to just hear the new material, others were emotionally responding to it immediately. I mean I get why

they want to hear the hits, so to speak, but I’ve been around on a professional level for the last two years and I need to evolve and I’m not a jukebox or crooner for hire that plays all your favorite songs. I mean, it’s 2013, right ? People should know better by now.

I’m actually surprised that people really think that I’m going out with a pompadour every day, pretending that it’s 1953.

Would you say that it’s differently perceived in Asia than in Europe, for example ?

Absolutely. As you know, image is very prominent over there, it’s basically everything. It’s more than just a part of the packaging.

Still it’s weird that the first question I got asked is about what happened to my hair. But then these people outed themselves as the guys that just know a song or two and haven’t heard anything I did before. A lot of the people who became fans of the new material told me that they did some research before the show and they can see that the musical transition actually isn’t such a major one. They responded super positively to this new direction, because for them it’s about the music and not the hype or fashion aspect of it all.

I was wondering if it feels a bit weird for you that you basically made your musical breakthrough via a character you were playing, irrespective of the fact that the music is just great ?

I know what you mean, but I think I really don’t care too much about that. I think I would always choose that over working in a restaurant. If people only know me as a character that I play, I’m okay with that. But as a matter of fact, that’s what I’m trying to fix right now with my new album.

Do you actually think that a lot of people got your number?

Were they able to see through that act ?

I thought it was pretty easy to see through that. It’s not the 1950s anymore. I was born in 1980. I didn’t come through a time machine. There’s no way that people would think this is real, right? In actuality though, there’s a lot of people that were kinda shocked when they found out. Obviously, I put a lot of my emotions in it to make it believable and to portrait of this character kind of like in a film, and there’s a lot of myself in that character, too. I find it really funny that people found it so shocking, whereas others were just like “Yeah, cool man! It’s cool, you’re gonna do your thing, maybe you will have new personas in the future.”

But then again people should not have been too surprised since you’ve released this heartbreakingly beautiful instrumental as the first teaser for “Drifters/Love Is The Devil“ in January already, which obviously wasn’t a sequel to songs like “Lone Runner,“ but a totally different story all together.

I wasn’t even thinking when I released that track, to be honest.

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At that time I was really depressed and in a bad headspace, to say the least. I was in Berlin and went to all those crazy parties where I lost myself for a few weeks. I was then coming down with a really heavy depression afterwards. I remember staring at the computer and feeling the need to get this one track out. But it helped me to feel even more proud of the new album, because when people will listen to it they certainly can’t dissect it in terms of getting the influences right. They won’t hear the references, instead they just hear me and they will hopefully feel and hear the content. You know, I’m so tired of the surface and being superficial. There’s a reason why one track is called “Aurevoir Mon Visage“.

Which is a fairly weird sounding track, by the way.

(Laughs.) Yes, I know. Unlike “Badlands“ this is not me meticulously researching things, but an almost childlike take on dance music. I basically went out partying and digested that special mood, you know, talking bullshit and dancing with strangers in a basement until 2pm. For me this ended in a kind of cathartic explosion, which made me realize that I don’t really need this. I went back to the studio and immediately started programming beats, trying to copy that impression I got of electronic music, which I don’t know anything about. It is a really free piece of music because I definitely had no reference system for “Aurevoir Mon Visage“. It was a very liberating process.

After “Badlands“ you’ve released quite a lot of split EPs – with Ela Orleans, Xiu Xiu and Tonstartssbandht, to name just a few.

Are these the result of touring with aforementioned artists ?

Yeah, it’s because I know them personally. I don’t think I would be able to do a split or collaboration with someone I’ve never met.

It wouldn’t matter how much I like their music, for me it would just feel awkward. I see splits as a kind of a friendship thing, if we’re doing this together it’s not about fucking business, it’s not about selling units because that’s boring. With every split that I do, we always talk about a general theme before we start writing.

It’s not about releasing material you’ve already recorded … that would be lazy.

By listening to your post “Badlands” material, chronologically you can see a lot of changes … for me it starts with “Tu Ne Dis Rien“, the Françoise Hardy cover you did, it seems to be a lot closer to your heart and a lot more sensual than the stuff you’ve released before. So is this a pre-curser to “Drifters/Love with the Devil” ?

I agree, and that’s because it’s also the first time I recorded with Shub, and the first time I let anyone touch anything of Dirty Beaches. It’s definitely the beginning of a trust I developed with Shub. He helped out so much on “Drifters” and I became more and more comfortable with the idea of having my bandmates playing on the record.

The line-up of Dirty Beaches officially is a three-piece now. You on guitar and vocals …

Yeah, then there’s Shub playing guitar and sometimes electronic trumpets and then Bernadino who’s taking care of drum machines and synthesizers.

On your forthcoming album there is also quite a bit of saxophone involved …

That was actually when I was working with a saxophonist, but he is not part of the line-up anymore. To be honest with you, I really wanna make a jazz record at some point. But not like academic jazz. I like the drift and the romance of it. Because jazz used to be really dangerous music, you know, for hustlers and gamblers. People who played jazz and listened to jazz where drug dealers, people who are shooting heroine and stuff. But somewhere along the line the dangerous aspect kind of got lost … and the romance of it. It just became technique, very mathematic.

Or even worse, it became this mushy definition of a new kind of cool. Anyway, as a matter of fact your music already is super free and the next step to jazz wouldn’t be such a big one.

You might be right. I think it would be really interesting to try to do something like that. But it wouldn’t be like the real thing, it would be kind of fake jazz. (Laughs) I know a lot of people that are jazz purists, and they would never accept that kind of music as jazz.

What made you choose the song from Françoise Hardy in the first place ?

Well, they actually gave me a list of her songs that would be available for doing a cover, and “Tu Ne Dis Rien“ immediately spoke to me because it basically is about not being able to explain how you feel to your loved one. It’s a really sad topic, you know, so I tried to reinterpret it in my own way.

Let’s talk about film a bit, if you don’t mind. In the past you always mentioned in interviews that Jarmusch, Lynch and Wong Kar-Wai are major influences. Do they still matter as much to you in 2013 than a couple of years ago ?

They’ve always mattered to me, because I discovered them when I was 16. I’m 32 now. Why would they’ve been relevant for me two years ago and not now?

Because maybe some of their later material isn’t as good as the stuff they did 20 years ago.

For me, when you’re a true fan, you would watch any movie they make. From now until they die … or until I die. I trust them as artists and I know that it’s hard to please your fans, but I also

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know that there is a good reason why they influenced me so much. I’m just saying that maybe the reason why other people dislike their newer material is not because it’s not as good, it’s more about it’s not what we’re familiar with. Maybe it doesn’t live up to your expectations because you have this image of how it should be. And when an artist ruins those kinds of expectations, sometimes the result can be a disappointment.

But I think this goes for all three directors we just mentioned.

There was always this kind of extremely well executed synergy with another person … you know, for Wong Kar-Wai it was Chris Doyle, with Jim Jarmusch it might have been John Lurie or Robby Müller, and with Lynch it is maybe Badalamenti. So when these chains break it doesn’t necessarily imply that the new stuff is bad … but sometimes the magic has gone.

Yeah, I agree with you actually. It’s definitely a team effort but in the majority of cases the directors get all the credit for it.

It’s the same with bands, right ? Sometimes you like a certain band because the second guitarist has such a unique way of playing, but then all of a sudden the line-up changes …

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True. I think the best example is the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I love John Frusciante so much. When he left the first time, I immediately stopped being interested in the band, until he returned a few years later. Even though a lot of people don’t like Red Hot Chili Peppers, I always thought they were great because of John Frusciante. I just love his style and his compositions.

He’s a total genius.

Yeah, he really is. I read so many things about him. One was about him being so dedicated to music that he can’t function as a regular human being. He doesn’t have a driver’s license and he doesn’t know how to use an ATM and stuff like that. He’s only just studying and playing and recording music. Every day is completely dedicated to his craft and his art.

Remember when he was releasing a new album almost every second month ?

That was amazing. I think I bought three of them but wasn’t able to catch up then. That was a little bit too extreme, even for me.

than a band. I never had a band that changed my life, but I had movies that did. I’ve hardly ever listened to music and been like “Oh my god, this is fucking amazing“. But I’ve seen a lot of movies that made me cry and maybe even changed the way I look at certain things. Obviously, I’ve heard songs that made me cry … but with movies, the sound, the visual, it’s like a whole other experience.

So how did it feel to actually meet a guy like David Lynch 15 years later ?

Seriously, when I met David I almost cried. Deep inside I just knew that I should not try to play cool or pretend that nothing special is happening. (Laughs) But at the same time I didn’t want to freak him out so I controlled myself, but I also told him deeply and honestly how I felt. I said something like “Sir, I’ve been watching your movies since I was 16, and this is amazing and I really wanna cry right now.” And he just looked at me and was like, “Oh no, you don’t want that right now. Don’t cry, please don’t cry.” He is such a nice guy … we had a long conversation and he gave me a lot of good advice. So, yeah, that was an amazing experience. And that was also the first time I really realized that your idols are also just human. They’re just like you. After that I’ve never gotten star struck again.

Does he like your music ?

I think journalists mention his name so much when they’re describing my album that it eventually got back to him, and I’m glad he didn’t dislike it. I think he definitely finds it really interesting. I was having coffee with him – obviously – and he was telling me about this story and this idea he had about Elvis Presley. So right there I could see why he was so interested in “Badlands“.

You did a couple of scores for smaller films and shorties in the past. What if he’d ask you to do the soundtrack for his next movie ?

Man! I would love to do it. Of course, it would be a lot of pressure because I’ve never done a proper film score. Everything I’ve done so far is independent. But I’m willing to learn and step it up, go to the next level if need be. If this opportunity came, I know I could handle it.

But back to the movie thing. Do you have a favorite film from these directors or is it more about their complete work ?

I think it’s a cohesive thing. I’ve digested their influences and you can see it’s reflecting throughout my music. Sometimes it’s very free, sometimes a bit more specific. It’s not about ripping a certain movie off, it’s more about interpreting the feeling of it. You know, these directors changed how I live my life. They changed how I see things. For me a film is way more important

Badlands (album) Zoo Music Drifters/Love Is The Devil (album) Zoo Music dirtybeaches.blogspot.de

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K I M H I O R T H O Y IS A BUSY RENAISSANCE MAN WHO SPENDS MOST OF HIS TIME BETWEEN OSLO AND BERLIN, WORKING ON ART, MUSIC, DESIGNS, FILMS, AND TOO MANY OTHER GREAT THINGS TO LIST HERE. HE IS REPRESENTED BY STANDARD OSLO. www.standardoslo.no

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R E B E C C A M O R G A N LOVES TO PAINT YOUNG COUNTRYSIDE GIRLS WHO EMBODY A DIONYSIAN, FANTASTICAL, FARMER’SDAUGHTER ARCHETYPE, SOWING THEIR WILD OATS AND OFTEN FOUND FROLICKING NUDE IN FLOWERY MEADOWS. SHE IS REPRESENTED BY ASYA GEISBERG GALLERY IN NEW YORK. www.asyageisberggallery.com

A L E S S A N D R O F O R M E N T I IS A BERLIN-BASED PHOTOGRAPHER. HE STARTED OUT WITH SKATEBOARD PHOTOGRAPHY FOR AN ITALIAN SKATE MAG BACK IN 1991 AND CAN NOWADAYS BE FOUND AT www.zmbtwn.blogspot.com

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B E N J A M I N M A R R A LIVES IN BROOKLYN AND IS THE MASTERMIND BEHIND A WHOLE BUNCH OF CONTROVERSIAL COMICS SUCH AS “GANGSTA RAP POSSE“ AND “NIGHT BUSINESS“. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE VERY UNIQUE ILLUSTRATIVE WORLDS HE̕S CREATED AT www.benjaminmarra.com

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K I R K F A N E L L Y IS A PAINTER FROM CHARLOTTE/ USA WITH AN UNRIVALED EYE FOR THE ABSURDITIES OF SUBURBAN LIFE, WHO OFTEN USES PEOPLE AND PLACES HE KNOWS AS A STARTING POINT FOR HIS OIL PAINTINGS AND COLLAGES. FEEL THE MAGIC AT www.kirkfanelly.com

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left : “Tough Times: No, No, No Tough Times Here. It’s Not What It Looks Like!”

2012, 76 x 56 cm, oil on canvas right : “Tough Times: Drunk (again)” 2012, 76 x 56 cm, oil on canvas

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C L E O N P E T E R S O N IS AN LA BASED ARTIST, WHOSE PAINTINGS DEAL WITH AN ANXIETY RIDDEN WORLD WHERE THE RELATION BETWEEN POWER AND SUBMISSION HAS GOTTEN OUT OF CONTROL FOR GOOD. www.cleonpeterson.com

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G R A Y M A L I N IS A LA BASED PHOTOGRAPHER WHO IS DELIVERING UNCONVENTIONAL VIEWS ON THE BELOVED SUMMER-RESORTS OF THIS PLANET. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HIS UNIQUE APPROACH TO THE BIRD̕S EYE VIEW AT www.maisongray.com

Texas is the reason

Interview by Renko Heuer

Ashle y S m ith Ashley Smith’s bucket list is so incredibly long, it’s actually barrel-sized: instead of taking it easy and cashing in on her successful modeling career, the fun-loving, gap-toothed bombshell from Austin, TX is pretty much into trying everything from acting, to rocking guitars, from designing clothes to DJing and then some. Yet she somehow still finds the time to write some good ol’ postcards to her friends: “Good friends send postcards, that’s why,” says the latest member of the RVCA family who is going to present her first collection for the brand next year. In fact, she even found some time to practice kickflips on a recent trip to Australia. Blame it on her Texas upbringing, but Ash is just fearless and confident like that: “Why not? I’ve never broken an arm or leg before, and I don’t intend to start now.”

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IT’S BEEN ONLY FOUR YEARS SINCE A S H L E Y S M I T H WAS

DISCOVERED AT SXSW, AND LIFE’S CLEARLY BEEN A WHIRLWIND

(and quite often: a beach) ever since: ash spent a year IN FRANCE, DRANK SOME OF LAGERFELD’S WINE, HAD RUNWAY JOBS FOR CHANEL AND BALENCIAGA, DID INCREDIBLE PHOTO SESSIONS WITH SOME OF YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPHERS, TRAVELED THE ENTIRE WORLD, APPEARED IN MUSIC VIDEOS, AND YET SHE HAS NO WIKI PAGE: “GOTTA KEEP SOMEWHAT OF AN UNDERGROUND STATUS, Y’ KNOW ?”

SHE OFFERS. TRYING TO FILL THAT BLANK PAGE WITH SOME FIRST-HAND INFORMATION, BRIGHT MAGAZINE GOT HER TO TALK ABOUT THOSE TEXAS ROOTS, YELLING SHIT AT STRANGERS, HER DREAM HUSBAND, HORSEBACK RIDING IN BAVARIA, AND WHY SOME OF HER CLASSMATES IN HIGH SCHOOL CALLED HER CAPITAL P.

ashley, how’s life in 2013 ? what’s exciting right now ?

Well, 2013 has been a great year so far. I made a few promises to myself in January that I, for once, have actually been able to stick to, and I think they have made big changes in my life.

What kind of promises ? And what’s the big change ?

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Mostly creative stuff. I have a big imagination, and feel like I’m only truly happy when I’m making stuff or creating things. So, at the beginning of this year I started two big projects for myself: I joined acting classes and started this amazing project with the clothing company RVCA. First off let me start by explaining the class I’m taking isn’t any ordinary class. I quote my teachers Denna Levy and Chris Santangelo as saying, “it’s not therapy, but it’s therapeutic” and “everyone’s a dork”, so you can imagine how much self-exploration and just outright acting goofy and having fun I have in that class. I’m not saying that my end-all goal here is to be some blockbuster actress but to be honest, that once a week class is my favorite time of the week. In my new scene that I just received I’m playing a twisted comedic version of Cinderella.

Sounds awesome, but let’s go back in time for a second: do you sometimes miss Texas, or rather, that lifestyle ? And did you ever say things like “Djeet” instead of “Did you eat” while growing up ?

Oh, of course I miss Texas, or maybe it’s just the fact that as soon as I decided to leave Texas and move to New York by myself, my life changed so much in what seemed like a split second. I miss my high school friends like you wouldn’t believe ! I especially miss Caroline, my best friend from Austin- we used to drive around her neighborhood screaming things from her car window at people on the street !

What kind of things are we talking here ?

Mostly funny quotes we would pick up from our favorite TV show Tim and Eric or any show on Adult Swim. It’s just that everything was so chill in Texas, not like New York – with all the honking and the cursing at strangers. And, no – I never said “Djeet”. I think I always knew I wanted to travel the world so I’ve accommodated my accent to be understood around the world.

But I can say my vowels in words like “liiiiiiight” and “Allriight”; I stretch them out a lot more when I’m tired.

Nice.

Yeah, but this is all just class. Not some Broadway production.

But it makes me happy, and isn’t that what we are searching for anyway ?

I guess so, yeah. What about your new friendship with RVCA ?

My project with RVCA is only beginning to bloom. I’ll be a big part of the family in many ways, modeling, of course, but also designing ! I’ll be producing my own capsule collection with them for women. I believe the first line is Fall 2014.

What else are some of the things that come to mind when you think about Texas now ? Spiders ? Wal-Marts ? Cars ? Heat ?

Snakes ? Tabasco ?

When I hear someone mention Texas it seems like the first subject we approach is food ! There are a lot of stereotypes about Texas, and having great BBQ and Tex-Mex food is one that we accept proudly. Texas is an interesting place, each corner of the state seems to be different from its neighbor. And smack dab in the middle of it is Austin, Texas: The place I like to call home, and whose motto is “keep Austin weird”. It’s actually hard to

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not list off a thousand things that Texas represents: kind people, great colleges, and yes, four-hour Wal-Mart visits. Most of all it’s where I believe I got my hard-working, open minded, strong and unstoppable attitude and personality from.

Well, that kind of statement would make any Texan proud, I guess. Have you ever thought of going into politics ? I mean, maybe after RVCA and Hollywood blockbusting and all that other stuff ? Or is that the one thing on this planet you’re not the right girl for ?

I don’t know if I’m a girl for politics. Truth be known, I’m actually one of those girls with a slight case of verbal diarrhea. I hate feeling like I have to be careful how I say things or be careful I’m not kissing the wrong person’s ass. Politics just feels a bit too grown-up for me. Not to say that I don’t approach my acting and modeling in a professional grown-up matter- it’s just that I’m lucky I can get away with acting like a goof ball and breaking out in random song and dance. People want to work with others that enjoy themselves. And I believe that contributes to part of my success ! I realize what a lucky girl I am ! I fucking love my job !

Haha, that makes me curious about your earlier life: What did an average day in the life of, say, 14-year-old ashley smith look like ? What were some of the things you were into ?

Ha ! It’s funny to think of me as 14 years old. I was one of those girls who had a bedroom where the entire walls to ceiling were covered in magazine collages, band posters, and pictures of my friends. After school I would tell my mom I was going to this “teen church” program, and would just skip it with the rest of my friends to hang at the park across the street. I wouldn’t say that I was a “goth kid” but that’s what the other kids in school called me. I was mostly into music and my friends and pizza, I mean, I was into the same things as everyone else. My family didn’t have a lot of money growing up, so I spent most of my time as a mallrat or just listening to music with friends. I was an average girl !

So what did you want to see at SXSW Festival that year when you were discovered ? Did you come for a particular band ?

I was hanging out in Waterloo Park for the “Don’t mess with Texas” Fest that was on during SXSW. I like what they do there because they have a different genre for each stage, and I think there were five stages or so. So I was walking with my friend Orlando, from a Kid Sister show at one stage to go see Circle Jerks at another one, and that’s when I was approached by my mother agency Foreman Management. They asked if I was interested in modeling. Little did I know that three months later I would be on a plane to NYC for two weeks. And in those two weeks I decided to stay in NYC, I had fallen in love, found a modeling agency, and had a crazy night or two on the town.

And so back then you still went to Taco Bell every now and then ?

Back then ? ! I still go to Taco Bell every once in a while ! You have to enjoy yourself ! And I enjoy Taco Bell ! Sue me !

Okay, I see, enough about food and Texas then … so you’ve been working on your ollie skills and you take these classes and such; all these are very social, physical and hands-on ways of learning and broadening your horizons, yet, do you also enjoy the other, more reclusive type: to sit back and read, to study and sink your teeth into theories and such ?

Oh, of course ! I love any new experience ! That’s how to get high in life ! I once lived in France for a year and learned French. I also spend most of my time on the computer trying to find new music. Maybe I’ll start to DJ soon. A friend of mine is teaching me the software and how to mix. I get off on learning and will take any opportunity to try something new. I spend a lot of time biking around the city. And this summer I want to start a disco roller group and dress up kinda crazy and go skating through Central Park ! That’s what life is all about, experiencing and enjoying ! Of course ! And as for those ollies, I’ve skated since I was in high school, so on the RVCA trip to Australia I already had a trick or two up my sleeve, but I was my first time surfing ! I caught three waves ! But my teacher was also Makua Rothman.

That’s true – he would make it a lot easier for sure ! So as a DJ, would you play some Circle Jerks in a set, or rather something like Fly Lo ?

I’m into a lot of things, music-wise. It’s hard to lump my love for music into one genre. Let’s say I’ll listen to anything I can dance to. But I feel like I always gravitate towards electronic rock ‘n’ roll and psychedelic. Like Of Montreal and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

But growing up, like during my high school days, I listened to a lot more punk. I’m not sure if it was my favorite, but it was a fabulous excuse to scream and shout and push people about. I kind of dropped out of the punk shows when I saw NOFX one year. Two seconds into the first song some big guy stepped on the back of my leg, and down I went !

And that was it for you then …

I’m still a punk at heart. Just not in the mosh pit kinda way anymore.

I see, so you want to DJ, but you don’t play any actual instruments, do you ?

I’ve owned a guitar since I was seven. Oh man, I wish I had a picture of my first guitar. It looked like I was playing a bright red flame- it was so metal ! So yes, I can play guitar and I took

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music theory in high school, so I can translate guitar into piano pretty easily. Not to say I’m an expert, but I can jam ! I had a band once, for like six months. But I realized that if you create a band with your girlfriends they don’t take it seriously and they would never show up for practice. Plus the lead singer called us the “Chocolate Bunnies”, so I knew we were doomed to fail. But it’s on my bucket list to “play one full-on Rock & Roll show in front of a live audience” before I die. Which includes jumping off 15-foot speakers and playing the guitar with various body parts.

I can’t wait to see that ! Do you still go back to SXSW every year ?

And is there a musician who could make even you feel a little starstruck ?

Yeah, I try to go back every year to SXSW. But I don’t make it every year. And yes, there is one man who can makes me feel starstruck … and that’s because one day we will marry. I’m a total creep, so I don’t know how to tell this man this. Ever heard of Howlin’ Pelle from The Hives ? Yes ? Well, back off ! He’s mine !

Well, who knows, maybe he’ll read this ? But seriously, about your guitar and such, I guess the RVCA family might be the right place to go back and pick-up that old guitar, and jam with some of the skaters or people like Aaron Rose, don’t you think ?

Hell yes ! I’ve got a lot going on in my life right now, with classes and such, but I’ll definitely be picking up the guitar this summer !

I was born to be on the stage. Whether it’s as a rock star or an actress … am I bragging too much ? Just stating that I love the fear that the stage gives me-I live to conquer that anxiety.

What else do you fear ? And at the same time, what about love ?

Do you love the stage just as much as you and fear it ?

Hmm, that’s a good question, my relationship with the stage is a strange one. I guess traveling is comparable: on one side you have the freedom to explore and try new things and even maybe pretend you’re someone you’re not ! But then it can become a crazy fucked up world sometimes. And when you are traveling alone, you often find yourself in situations giving over trust to people you hardly know. Maybe in a city you’ve never been to, that speaks a language you’ve never heard before. So, of course, you may need help, or just want a little company at dinner, what if you ask for help from the wrong person ? And especially me !

I’m one of those girls that just immediately trusts others and believes in you from the get-go, until you prove me otherwise.

Stop me if I’m sounding paranoid ! I’m just saying, you gotta be careful !

Well, at least nothing happened while you were in France … tell me some more about that year abroad. Must have been a culture shock coming from your Texas background …

Well, my favorite French adventure involved escaping outside of Paris to go to a friend’s parent’s house. My friend was in a family of Russian clowns and all the family gathered for a festival at this small castle-like place right outside of Paris. They called it the Festival of Colors, on the land they owned- it was so magical !

Each Head Clown had their own sanctuary on the land. One did their magic show in a beehive built in a tree, a few of them dressed up as a huge inflatable caterpillar that lived inside this huge inflatable igloo that changed colors inside and had balls flying all around inside ! Another one was a chicken inside a pen with a huge golden egg in the middle of it. It was such a magical land, and it inspired me to let myself be however I want, because anything is possible. Slava is an amazing head to this family. He has a show called Slava’s Snowshow, and he’s encouraged many of his family members to join the life of clownery, and you’d be convinced to do the same if you saw how inspiring this land and family was !

Wow ! Your old dream was actually to sing in musicals, so that one’s on the back burner for now ?

Oh no, it’s not on the back burner at all. Those acting classes I’m in are mainly focused on theatre, so in fact I’m closer to that dream than I am to being the next Jennifer Lawrence – haha !

Okay, let’s talk names then, and go back to that blockbuster film you don’t necessarily want to do … who’d you like to star alongside in this movie ?

65 I’m not saying that I wouldn’t do a blockbuster movie, but I’d like to start with more artsy-fartsy indie films first, I love that stuff.

I’d love to work with Robert Downey Jr. – only with him as a villain though. I extremely respect Charlize Theron, especially her role in Monster but really most of her films- they inspire me a lot. Of course I’m dreaming here, but I’d love to have a role like Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids, she’s just f ’ing hilarious. It’s hard to say, I enjoy so many genres of movies. but comedy is probably what I’d love to start with. I could imagine myself as a sort of Aubrey Plaza … I’m totally over qualifying myself, I mean I just started. I guess in the beginning all your looking for is authenticity.

What kinds of stories are you most drawn to anyway ? And what about literature in general ? Still lovin’ the Catcher in the Rye a lot ?

I like to read a lot. I just picked up The Great Gatsby for the fourth time. And growing up in high school it was Chuck Palahniuk, his stuff was really obscure and just out of this world.

I love being transported into another worlds through my books.

Kurt Vonnegut is still one of my favorite authors. And Pimp is still one of my favorite books. I’m a good girl, but I’m a dirty reader. I like to read about robbers and hookers and self-indulgent behavior, but then again who doesn’t ?

That’s right, but it doesn’t stop there for you, does it ? What about drawing and painting ? Do you still have time for that ?

I don’t really talk about my drawing much because, yes, it’s true, I don’t have much time for it anymore. But when I do get inspired I mostly draw portraits in my own slightly disfigured way.

People are my inspiration, and when I really fall for someone, I’m desperate to draw them.

Sounds like it must get increasingly difficult to manage your time ? You want to learn and experience all these new things, get creative in all kinds of new ways, but then you have things like RVCA and other clients who want to work with you – and even build long-term relationships … how do you manage ? Or maybe it isn’t so difficult after all ?

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fun ! I’ve worked with her a hundred times. My favorite shoot was for her private book project. We went to Bavaria, to the top of these crazy mountains, wearing typical German beer maiden outfits, running around having fake weddings and posing topless on horses drinking Schnapps – that was really, really fun !

Ha, I guess I’d spend more time in Bavaria if women were still riding around topless on horseback drinking Schnapps – it must have gone out of style somehow. So you enjoyed Bavaria ?

Bavaria is like a fairy tale ! The whole experience was exactly how you would expect a typical small-town in Germany would be like. Though I guess maybe that’s because I only saw it from a touristic point of view … but it was simply magical. And who else better to experience it with than a quirky German woman like Ellen !

It could be difficult if my life philosophy wasn’t to “take life day by day”, but I enjoy my life and I’m only 22, I have plenty of time to be frustrated about things later.

That’s true. I also saw your photo on Cass Bird’s blog, you and her together – what kind of project was that ?

We didn’t speak about one of the biggest things in your life yet: modeling. How do you feel on runways, say for Balenciaga or Chanel, especially since you seem to be all about great photo sessions with great people – and not about the rather stiff catwalk thing ? Or is it interesting and challenging in other ways ?

That was probably during our Hawaii trip for Urban Outfitters, that was one of my favorite jobs as well- we rented an entire water park ! Imagine huge slides and no lines ! Not to mention that Urban Outfitters became like a second family, kind of like the relationship I’m starting to develop with RVCA.

No ! Not at all ! I love doing runway. It’s fun ! Just like being on stage ! You get your 15 seconds where everyone in the room is staring at you and it’s all about you and your attitude while your walk ! It’s very exciting ! Plus the backstage environment and vibe is super exciting. Everyone running around and pinning a dress or finishing a curl two seconds before walking out on the runway, it’s super fun !

Apart from Lauren Hutton, who were some of the people you met along the way who had some great lessons for you ?

Have there been moments when modeling felt weird ? Or even just moments when it wasn’t something you had expected ?

I’m a pretty open-minded person ! Of course there have been days when I show up at 10 a.m. for a portrait shoot and don’t end up leaving till 2 a.m. But that’s just something you get used to after you start working a lot. I remember I was working with Karl Lagerfeld once, and he was taking portraits of some of the girls in his show at his apartment in Paris. When I showed up he was shooting another girl, then afterwards he left for a two-hour dinner. Ha ! A bunch of us girls just stayed around while he was at dinner with Madonna or someone important. But he was super hospitable. He had his chef make us food and opened a couple bottles of wine … so I wasn’t really complaining.

What was it like to work with Ellen von Unwerth ?

Ellen von Unwerth is pretty much my favorite photographer to work with. She is so fun and playful. She lives for the Girl Power kind of shots ! A woman just being herself, strong and sexy and

Lauren Hutton was pretty much the only one, there aren’t a lot of celebrities handing out life lessons these days.

What about Tim and Eric ? Ever met them in NYC, since you mentioned being a fan of the show earlier ?

No, I haven’t met Tim or Eric, do they even live in NYC ? I’m not much of a celebrity fanatic. I mean they are just people, people with a shit ton of friends, haha.

Let’s wrap this up: Apart from conquering all kinds of stages and bringing femininity back, what are your main goals for the upcoming years ?

To be a full-on renaissance woman ! That means everything you think it means, and more !

Cool. Wait- there’s one more thing- is it true you slept on your boobs back in school ?

Haha ! That was really just a joke I would tell people about having big boobs. I guess you wouldn’t understand unless you had them yourself – plain and simple – they just get in the way sometimes. Some of my classmates in high school would call me Capital P … y’ know ?

J O C K O W E Y L A N D IS A ZINE LOVER, PHOTOGRAPHER, PUBLISHER, ARTIST, WRITER, TRAVELER AND SKATEBOARDER FROM THE US. BORN IN HELSINKI, FINLAND, AND BRED IN COLORADO, HE RECENTLY LEFT NYC AFTER SANDY TRASHED HIS FORMER APARTMENT. www.elkzine.com

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M A R G A R E T D U R O W IS A PHOTOGRAPHER FROM LAKE MILLS/ WISCONSIN, WHO IS SPOILING HER AUDIENCE WITH A HIGHLY INTIMATE VIEW OF HER LONGINGS, HOPES AND FEARS THROUGH HER PSYCH- INFORMED IMAGERY. www.margaretdurow.com

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Shanalorm

W I L L S W E E N E Y IS A LONDON BASED ILLUSTRATOR AND GRAPHIC ARTIST THAT DIVIDES HIS TIME BETWEEN DELIVERING MAGIC IN THE FORM OF COMICS FOR BRANDS LIKE STÜSSY OR AMOS, AND BY PLAYING MUSIC AND MAKING EXCEPTIONALLY ANIMATED VIDEOS FOR HIS COMPANY ALAKAZAM. BROADEN YOUR HORIZON AT www.alakazamlabel.com

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Purposemaker

L L Y N F O U L K E S IS AN AMERICAN ARTIST LIVING AND WORKING IN LOS ANGELES. FOULKES, WHO IS GOING TO TURN 80 NEXT YEAR, HAS BEEN SHOWING IN GALLERIES SINCE 1959; HIS MOST RECENT SHOW WAS AN EXTENSIVE RETROSPECTIVE AT LA’S HAMMER MUSEUM. HE IS REPRESENTED BY KENT FINE ART, NYC. www.kentfineart.net

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J O H N D I V O L A IS AN ACCLAIMED VISUAL ARTIST AND PROFESSOR IN THE ART DEPARTMENT AT U.C. RIVERSIDE IN LOS ANGELES. THE IMAGES SHOWN ARE FROM HIS “ZUMA” project from 1977 where he juxtaposed romantic SUNSETS AT THE SEASIDE WITH VANDALISM. www.divola.com

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S C O T T P O M M I E R IS A PHOTOGRAPHER BASED IN L.A. AND PARIS WHO LOVES SKATEBOARDING AND MOTORCYCLES AND ISN’T QUITE SURE ABOUT HIS JOB TITLE: “I DON’T FEEL LIKE I’M AN ACTION SPORT PHOTOGRAPHER, A COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHER, A LIFESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHER OR A FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER EXACTLY, BUT A LITTLE BIT OF ALL OF THOSE THINGS.” www.scottpommier.com

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S A N P O G G I O IS A LA PLATA-BASED ARTIST WHO CREATES IMAGINARY WORLDS AND RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT HUMAN ACTIVITIES IN SAID SURROUNDINGS: CHECK OUT MORE OF THOSE MASSES AND SPECTACLES HE DREAMS UP AT www.cargocollective.com/sanpoggio

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Low Priced Casuals, Loaded With Style

T E A M M A C H O IS AN ARTIST COLLECTIVE FROM TORONTO/CANADA THAT SPLITS ITS TIME BETWEEN ILLUSTRATING FOR HANDPICKED CLIENTS AND PREPARING GROSS QUANTITIES OF HIGHLY STIMULATING WORK FOR GALLERIES. CHECK OUT THEIR TWISTED STUFF AT www.teammacho.com

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Earlier That Morning...

World´s Grayest Dad

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M E L O D I E M C D A N I E L IS A PHOTOGRAPHER AND DIRECTOR FROM LOS ANGELES AND PART OF THE DIRECTORS BUREAU. SHE’S KNOWN FOR WORKING WITH MUSICIANS SUCH AS CAT POWER AND PHARRELL, AS WELL AS DIRECTING MUSIC VIDEOS FOR MADONNA, CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG, OR ANNIE LENNOX. www.melodiemcdaniel.com

The evolution has been televised

Interview by Sir David Michael

H a r m on y K orin e “I just wanted to make sense out of disaster,” narrates Harmony Korine in the voice over for his high school film, A Bundle A Minute.

“I’m the world’s most stupid genius.” The two lines early on in the narrative monologue of the film, in a sense, epitomize the nature of the body of work that was to come from Korine. Screening after his latest film Spring Breakers at SXSW this year, the five-and-a- half minute short finally got its world premiere; 25-years after, a then 15-year-old Korine, actually made it. “I was like a teenage Jewish W.C. Fields or something,” said Korine at the festival, of his first venture into film.

The short also featured his brother and dad, as well as a cameo by Korine. Legend has it that Larry Clark saw the film and then called Korine, asking him to write Kids (1995) for him to direct.

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“KIDS” HIT THE ZEITGEIST OF YOUTH CULTURE, AS THE SPECTRA OF HIV CLOUDED TEENAGE SEX AT THE TIME. THE FILM MADE H A R M O N Y K O R I N E AN UNLIKELY FACE OF

HIS GENERATION, AND WHILE THE FILM ALSO DISCOVERED TWO OF AMERICA’S CURRENT LEADING ACTRESSES IN

I saw the Spring Breakers SXSW press conference on youtube, where you showed your largely unseen first ever film “A Bundle a Minute”. How was that ? Was that the first time you had watched it in awhile ?

CHLOË SEVIGNY AND ROSARIO DAWSON, IT’S HARD TO RECALL A SCREENWRITER RECEIVING MORE ATTENTION THAN THE DIRECTOR AND ACTORS OF A FILM, AS HE DID. THEN CAME KORINE’S QUICK ONE-TWO FILM LEGACY AS A DIRECTOR – “GUMMO” (1997) AND “JULIEN DONKEY BOY” (1999). TWO FILMS THAT ARE BETTER WATCHED THAN DESCRIBED IN WORDS HERE. “[I] WENT UP TO THE MOUNTAINS, AND FOR SIX WEEKS I DID CRYSTAL METH AND TRIED TO WRITE NOVELS. IT’S A REAL MIDDLE AMERICA SHIT REDNECK DRUG. I WENT SO CRAZY I TRIED TO INVENT A DIFFERENT KIND OF LANGUAGE.” HIS ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS LED TO THE FILMING OF 90 HOURS OF footage (inspired by his mad uncle eddie) that would

Yeah. They actually showed the wrong version – it had visible time codes and no music on it. It was kind of hilarious as I made it when I was around 15-years-old. I was squirming a little bit, but what are you going to do ?

I was surprised how the monologue narrative and humor was so Woody Allen-esque. Was he an influence at the time ?

Yeah, definitely. I think at that point, I was into Woody Allen movies, John Cassavetes movies and even, like, Spike Lee films.

BECOME JULIEN DONKEY BOY, THE FIRST AMERICAN DOGMA FILM. THE DECISION TO MAKE THE FILM UNDER THE DANISH FILMMAKERS’ CLASSIFICATION OF DOGMA, CAME ABOUT WITH AN INFAMOUS MEETING BETWEEN KORINE AND LARS VON TRIER. “I FLEW TO DENMARK AND AS SOON AS I MET LARS HE ASKED ME TO PULL OUT MY COCK TO SEE WHOSE WAS BIGGER. SO I DID, THEN HE PULLED OUT HIS, AND HE IMMEDIATELY STARTED URINATING ON ME, AND FOR SOME REASON THE WARMTH OF HIS PISS MADE ME START TO PISS. HE WAS WEARING SHORTS, AND I PISSED ALL OVER HIS LEG AND HIS SANDALS. THEN WE BOTH STARTED LAUGHING AND WENT TO HIS OFFICE AND PLAYED PINBALL ON HIS INDIANA JONES PINBALL MACHINE AND I DECIDED TO MAKE A DOGMA FILM.” IN THE LATE-NINETIES, THE EX-SKATE RAT WAS THE TALK OF

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NEW YORK’S LOWER EAST SIDE, BUT KORINE GOT CAUGHT UP in the hype (and drugs). he left for europe, and then HE KIND OF DISAPPEARED. ALMOST A DECADE LATER, HE RETURNED WITH “MISTER LONELY”. A FILM ABOUT A MICHAEL JACKSON IMPERSONATOR, WHO AFTER MEETING A MARILYN MONROE IMPERSONATOR IN PARIS, ENDS UP IN A COMMUNE OF IMPERSONATORS IN SCOTLAND – A VIVID PREMISE THAT WAS ALWAYS GOING TO STRUGGLE TO FIND A FILM TO MATCH. NOW LIVING A SETTLED LIFE IN NASHVILLE, WITH HIS WIFE RACHEL AND THEIR DAUGHTER, KORINE HAS BEEN AT HIS MOST PRODUCTIVE. “TRASH HUMPERS” (2009), WAS AN UNCOMMERCIAL,

When you initially moved to New York from Nashville, at the start of the 1990’s, did you live rough day-to-day, or is that like mythology ?

A lot of my life was like that, I just lived where I lived and never really paid attention. I had a dream at one point of living my life as a criminal and then I kind of just did that with the movies.

Everyone wanted to be a hustler in New York in those days.

Even before, when I was living in Nashville, I never wanted to have a regular job.

How do you look back on the decade you spent in NYC in the 90’s ?

I had good times there and I had terrible times. I look back on it as I look back on life – there were great days and bad days, but I wouldn’t trade any of it.

I remember first speaking to you in Cannes for Mr. Lonely in 2007, and you were excited about bumping into rosario dawson at the festival, who was also there for Death Proof.

LOW-FI THROWBACK TO HIS EARLY FILMS, AS WAS HIS SHORT FILM WITH THE FREAKY SOUTH AFRICAN HOUSE-RAP BAND DUO DIE ANTWOORD, WHO WHEEL AROUND IN WHEELCHAIRS, SMOKE HUGE JOINTS AND FIRE MACHINE GUNS IN “UMSHINI WAM” (2011).

THE BIGGEST EVOLUTION IN HIS WORK WAS SEEN THOUGH IN VAL KILMER’S BMX-RIDING MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKING VERSION OF HIMSELF IN “LOTUS COMMUNITY WORKSHOP” (2012), PART OF THE GROLSCH FOURTH DIMENSION THREE DIRECTOR PROJECT. THE FILM SHOWCASED THE DIRECTOR’S EXPLORATION OF SOUND DESIGN AND STYLISTIC CHOICES THAT PROVIDED A BLUEPRINT TO KORINE’S ENDEAVOR TO SUBVERT THE MAINSTREAM WITH “SPRING BREAKERS” (2012), A FILM HE FIRST PITCHED TO

It was incredible, because god’s honest truth, I discovered Rosario Dawson. I was walking down the street, two days before casting the movie [Kids], with Larry [Clark] and I looked up and there was this beautiful laughing girl on a fire escape. And I just said, “That’s her.” She was 16-years-old. She came in and auditioned for us, and they cast her, and the rest is history. So, for me it’s incredible to watch her success.

Would she work with you again ?

ACTOR JAMES FRANCO AS SOMETHING THAT FELT LIKE “A BRITNEY SPEARS MUSIC VIDEO MEETING A GASPAR NOÉ FILM”. they say life begins at 40. reaching that birthday LANDMARK THIS YEAR, CREATIVE LIFE HAS BEEN PRETTY RADICAL FOR HARMONY KORINE THUS FAR. SO, FROM NOW, THINGS SHOULD GET REALLY INTERESTING.

I don’t know. You’d have to ask her. I don’t know if I could pay her what she earns now !

How do you look at the movie Kids, now ? Have you watched it in recent years ?

Honestly, I haven’t watched that movie in so long. I don’t watch my own movies. I’d rather watch somebody else’s movies. I make the movie and once it’s done, for me, it’s healthy just to let it go.

I’m happy knowing other people own it. I don’t own my movies, my books, my posters, or have anything that reminds me of them.

Kids allowed me to make my own movies – that was the thing.

Yeah, I pretty much just ate McDonalds which was downstairs from where I was living, and sweets. It was crazy. I’m in Paris, which is a beautiful place with great food, and I’m staying in and my teeth started falling out.

Obviously a lot of interest in you and your work has derived from that period in New York. You may have moved on personally, but there is still this cache you have from that time that interests people to your work. How do you block this expectation out of your head ?

Yeah, but I wasn’t really trying to be subversive. I was just flipping out.

Honestly, the only time I think about myself in those terms is when I do things like this [interview], otherwise, I live in a place that no one cares about it or it’s not an issue. I’m a type of personality that doesn’t have a need to figure myself out. It’s not important for me to know why I do the type of things I do, or where I fit in, or what the perception of me is. I’m just not interested in that. I would rather live my life away from that and not know. I’m not even looking for answers, I’m just enjoying the journey.

I was just living and growing up. I pretty much didn’t do anything creative.

Subversive !

It was quite a hiatus from Julien Donkey Boy to Mr. Lonely, you’re talking almost a decade.

They’re two drastically different films. Do you think if Mr Lonely came out a couple years after Julien Donkey Boy – it would have flipped people out ?

I could have never made the movie at that point. Maybe I’m just really delusional, but [with Mr. Lonely] I was trying to make a commercial film. Or to me, what a commercial film should be.

With that being said, in a nutshell, why did you leave New York ?

I felt disconnected and I was very unhappy with where I was. The people that were around me, that were my friends and would associate with me, I started to realize for the most part were full of shit and were all phonies. I started to think, “Well, if these are my friends, there must be something wrong with me too ? I must be like them.” So I wanted to disappear, I wanted to leave. I wanted to go somewhere and do something different.

After your disillusionment with life in New York, why did you end up in London ? You were regarded in a similar manner there, especially by magazines like Face and ID. Wasn’t it just more of the same ?

That’s exactly right, because it wasn’t what I wanted, that’s what I was trying to escape from. I was just confused. ‘What the fuck ?’ you know. I was around all these phonies, so I began to feel I was a total phony. I was running away from America, but I realized when I got to London, what I was really running away from was myself. My experiences there weren’t so far off from my experiences back home.

Then you moved to Paris, didn’t you ?

Yeah. I guess Paris was strange because I couldn’t speak the language and I didn’t know many people which made me withdraw even further, and it was bizarre being in a place so pretty.

Didn’t you live like a hermit ?

A lot of filmmakers though tend to continue making similar films in context to their place in the industry.

Definitely. There is a side of people in the film business that they want to fit in and want everyone to understand what they’re doing. Also, I think a lot of it comes from fear, the fear, that if they do try things that are outside the realm of traditional film-making, they will be cast aside and wont be allowed to make movies again. Sometimes you see directors start out really well, then end up turning their backs on it because it’s too difficult and the money is too much of an obstacle.

Do you feel that’s the case now ? I mean there’s only a handful of directors that have established a foothold in the industry, that keep endeavoring to try their own ideas.

It’s a confusing time. I look around and I don’t see that many people around making movies that are that exciting. I also understand why, because the economics of making a film are set up against you. At least in the states, there isn’t a sense of encouragement. In some regards, it’s looked down upon, so people don’t want to do it anymore.

You said you were making a commercial movie with Mr. Lonely, but then you seemed to go back to your lo-fi roots with Trash Humpers. I’ve read that was partly because you were a little frustrated with the production of Mr. Lonely ?

It wasn’t anything in particular; it just felt like it was made according to an old model. There were so many rules. The pro-

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duction of it was fine, I had a terrific time and loved making it. It was just that it had taken me so long to put that together. It had been so kind of involved – one day, it was going to happen, one day, it wasn’t. One day, we had the money, the next day we didn’t.

I realized at a certain point life’s just too short. The way movies are set up, the bureaucracy involved goes against what you want to do. It’s not a new thing, I’m sure it’s been going on forever. I just think for someone like me and with my personality, it’s difficult for me to stay interested and to also stay enthusiastic. It’s like cutting your own head off in many ways. It’s like spending all your life on a single idea.

When your mind has already moved on ?

Yes, of course, and when you write a script, it could take three years to get the money, then another year before it comes out.

Your mind is then in a different place from when you wrote it. I wanted to try to get to a place wherein making a film you work as quickly as you can to fix them up.

Spring Breakers was obviously a continuation of the visual and sonic style of lotus community workshop (with val kilmer), which you shot before it [as part of the Fourth Dimension project].

It’s something I’ve been trying to develop for a while, this idea of micro scenes with looped dialogue – a kind of liquid narrative. I wanted to work with a language that was more experiential, something that veers into almost a drug or trance experience.

You worked again with Gaspar Noe’s cinematographer Benoît debie (irreversible and enter the void) who certainly helps create that experience …

The reason he’s good is he’s inventive. I would say, “I want you to make this movie feel like it’s lit with candy, using Skittles for lights and Starburst chews for lenses.” For me it was like making a painting, where the colors become characters and that’s where the movie takes off for me.

You can see Trash Humpers was a reaction to that.

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Yes. Maybe it’s not even a movie. It’s very easy to talk about it not being a film, it’s something else maybe. I’m not really interested in labels anymore or how it fits in, or how something is going to be distributed. You just sometimes want to make things.

Something like that just worked on its own logic. The only thing I was trying to stay true to was this idea of a found artifact or an old VHS tape that had been thrown into a ditch somewhere and had been unearthed.

Did you see the film as a love letter to sadism ?

It really was. [Laughing] I wanted to make something that was an ode to vandalism. In some ways the process of making Trash Humpers was the most important creative process, film-wise, that I’ve ever done, because I learned to make something without much involvement of other people, which was a watershed moment.

In total contrast, Spring Breakers has enjoyed both more mainstream promotion and cinema success. In the USA and in Europe you had great screen averages for a limited screen release film. Such a reaction was very different to your previous work.

How have you received it personally ?

An unlikely choice for you, perhaps at first glance is Skrillex’s music, but it certainly leaves its mark on the film.

Again, he was connected culturally and I liked his music. Him and Cliff [Martinez], their music is very much about a specific energy and I wanted the film to be unrelenting, beautiful and bombastic, and almost be this intersection between sound design, sound effects and classic musical composition. To almost have this continuous piece of sound working in a very similar way to how the images work. That was it because both of them have a musical energy that I thought related very much to the story.

Talking about the Fourth Dimension project, how did you get Val Kilmer involved and was it a case of dropping him in a room of people who didn’t know who he was and just capturing the moment ?

I’d written this monologue and I kind of thought, if I could have anyone to say this, who would it be ? And I thought ‘Val Kilmer’, it would be hilarious. That was it. Then I thought, let’s do it in a roller-skating ring. I don’t know, you just start to dream things up and they just happen. I just dream things up – that’s how I kind of do everything.

Was it easy to convince him ?

It’s been kind of amazing, the reaction has been pretty big and spectacular. Considering my films normally take a while to kind of measure the reaction of, which is normally cumulative over like a decade, this one has been a bit different.

It’s like instant gratification!

Yeah, and I’ll take it.

Yeah, I’d known him from before.

Do you like hanging out with people who are ‘characters’ ?

I just like people who do their own thing. I always admire people, that when you say something is impossible, they look at you and laugh, and then they do it anyway. Those are the people that as a

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Image by CĂŠcile Burban

child I looked up to. I always hated when I had authority figures telling me I couldn’t do things, what I should look at, or places I shouldn’t see or go to. Those were always the things I wanted to do, just by virtue of them telling me not to. I always had a respect and admiration for people, whatever they do, that defy that sense of authority.

You’ve worked with David Blaine many times on various things, what’s he meant to you over the years ?

David is the most insane as anybody I’ve ever met. You could truly say he’s one of the most fucked-up individuals – in a good way. He pushes himself to his limits. He does things that laughs in the face of death and he’s a maniac, so how could you not like a character like that ?

A different kind of crazy – also in a good way – is Werner Herzog, who you also became friends with over the years. Is he a kindred spirit ?

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From an early age I identified with his characters and his mode of thinking. He just taught me to be bold. He always impressed upon me the importance of being bold and doing things the way that you see them. He first told me I was the last foot soldier in the army. He said that to me at a young age, and it’s as much a duty as anything. Not just me, that would be my advice to young filmmakers, if you see things and want to express a thought or image a certain way, just be bold and true to yourself and don’t back down.

You seem to have a good track record of becoming friends with directors you like and having them star in your films.

Leos Carax, is another notable one with him appearing in Mr. Lonely …

Leos is one of my favorite filmmakers, and I’ve known since I was 20 years old.

Your wife, Rachel seems to be a nice girl, but after starring in Spring Breakers and Trash Humpers, are you discovering new things about her ? !

Yeah, she became very evil. It’s actually scary how well she took to it.

In many ways, the other girls in Spring Breakers are perhaps the most unlikely people to appear in one of your films. So who were the first girls to come onboard ?

Rachel was the first girl, but she’s my wife. After Rachel, it was Selena, then Vanessa, then Ashley.

Did you pick any of them because of their Disney connections, or was it done through casting agents ?

It was through ordinary casting agents. As I was writing it, I was talking to the casting agents and said, wouldn’t it be amazing if we could get girls that were representative of that kind of pop mythology, or somehow connected to that world in some way, as it adds another layer.

Regarding the girls’ Disney backgrounds and their normal audiences, were there any concerns from the girls or their agents/ managers ? It’s a big leap of faith …

The thing is people know the films I make. I go hard, I like to do it for real. I’m like naked. I don’t hide things, I’m out there trying to make magic happen and I’m trying to do it in a different way. I have a body of work that they can watch easily and see what I’m trying to get at. I’m trying to get at something that is just more than just simple narrative filmmaking. It’s something that’s more like a physical experience, so as they understand that, I almost don’t have to say anything. It’s like, you either go for it, or you don’t. It’s pretty much like I don’t know how it happened, but I was lucky all the actresses were kind of at a point in their life where they were ready to try something like this.

Even so, the girls were in there filming some pretty upfront party scenes …

Yeah, all these thick-neck jocks trying to rub up on the girls all the time, especially grinding on Selena (Gomez), it was pretty awesome. Of course, you’re thinking her Disney fans are going to love this shit!

We’ve mentioned you not being completely happy about the production of Mr. Lonely, but Spring Breakers is probably your biggest scale production. What kind of things did you avoid due to your Mr. Lonely experience ?

It’s always tough, it’s never easy. Every film has its own set of hardships. For me at least, it’s never been easy. I’ve never allowed myself to cope before on set, I’m greedy and I always want more.

I wouldn’t know what that was like anyway. This one was really tough but for different reasons, technical reasons and the chaos that surrounded the whole thing, but at the same time, it was relative to Mr. Lonely, as it happened pretty quickly and turned out ok.

Normally your films have dealt with pockets of rural America or disenfranchised society, while Spring Breakers deals with the universal theme of a globalized fusion of culture, where kids into Disney and Taylor Swift, also listen to Drake, have tattoos and dress-up gangster style.

Exactly. It’s like a cultural mash-up. That was what I started to notice – that in some ways there was no underground culture left, or there was no cultural hierarchy. It’s been obliterated.

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That whole idea [of cultural hierarchy] is completely outdated; it’s an old person’s stance. There’s a new vernacular that has arisen, and we’re just making sense of it. There are things that are either interesting and not interesting, that either have merit or don’t, and so the film is kind of a refiltering of all those things. It’s a creative reinterpretation of that kind of zeitgeist spirit.

Another difference from the period you did Gummo and Julien Donkey Boy is the influence of social media. Some of the actresses in Spring Breakers have millions of twitter followers, and for example, Britney Spears sees what happened at SXSW [Selena Gomez sang ‘Baby, One More Time’ at the film’s press conference) and she tweets she wants to go to the film and the tweet goes out to 25 million people.

Now, it’s all become the same thing – for this movie, you could say that Britney Spears tweeting about the film is actually part of the film. It’s a sub-narrative to the film. It’s like a micro-pop wormhole.

If this film was made in the 1960’s, it would live up to Godard’s prophecy that all you need to make a film is a gun and a girl, but now there’s so many levels to it.

At the same time though, maybe it is that simple too. It’s like everything and nothing.

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When you wrote the film didn’t you stay in the same hotel where Hulk Hogan’s reality show was being filmed ?

What happened was I went to Daytona Beach to write the film and nobody was there. So, I then went to Panama City and it was like Ground Zero. People were tearing the hotel up, lighting things on fire, having sex on chandeliers and vomiting everywhere, and I was like, “Fuck it, I’ve got to get out of here.”

Then I ended up at the Marriot Hotel about 20 miles away, where they were filming the Hulk Hogan show with dwarves.

For me, that was actually a much calmer environment to work in.

The whole ‘Fight Harm’ project [where Korine would provoke bigger people into fighting him and record it for a film], seems like a perfect example of this …

Right.

What was the artistic idea behind that project ?

I wanted to make the great American comedy. I thought there would be nothing funnier than watching people beat me up.

How much footage did you end up with ?

The fights were short, as I was getting injured really quickly.

Once they were edited together, maybe they only had about ten minutes in total.

Did you laugh ?

I can laugh about it now, but at the time, I was getting arrested and hurt, and things like that. Again, I think that was a dark time.

People thought, you’d flipped out …

I guess I did a little bit. Here’s the thing, there was this idea that I’d flipped out and lost a sense of reality. That’s not the truth; I always knew what I was doing. I was a willing participant. I was stepping outside of myself and wanted to put myself in these positions. The real answer is I don’t know why I was doing it.

There wasn’t necessarily a point. I knew I wanted to test myself and put myself through these situations. I was never so delusional that I was walking down the streets looking to get beat up for the sake of getting beat up, out of my mind to the extent where I was happy getting punched out.

How did you live with people thinking this ?

I don’t care. I mean you don’t want your family to be hurt, or the people who loved and cared about me – they were concerned obviously. But also, I wasn’t going to let that stop me. There are things I wanted to do and experiences I wanted to have. I just wanted to go through that stuff.

You’re home life with Rachel and your daughter seems a calmer environment for you too. You’ve seemed to embrace your return to Nashville. Is it the case of having a settled family life at home allows you to be more violent in your creativity ?

Was there a moment when you started to go a different way ?

Yeah, that’s actually true. I think that when was when I was young, I had a similar aggression, but I didn’t know how to tame it so well, so I lived life in a way that was pretty unhealthy in some ways and out there. I didn’t really know how to shut it off.

For me, at that point, it was all the same thing, my life was all a piece of artwork. Do you know what I mean ? The whole thing, my life was all for one purpose, to create things. I couldn’t tell the difference between making movies and life.

I think it just took its toll. I lived in fields, on rooftops and in the jungle, I had just gone as far out as you can go, and at some point, I didn’t even want to make films. I just wanted to live life separately and be left alone. Then at some point, I was just sitting out there in the wilderness, starring out at the water, and I thought, “Holy Shit, what am I doing ? I have to make movies.” And that was it. I just kind of packed my bag up, got a plane ticket, and hustled and crawled my way back to where I am now.

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N I A L L M C C L E L L A N D IS AN ARTIST AND FORMER 50% OF THE ART-COLLECTIVE “FIGHTING” LOCATED IN TORONTO/CANADA, FROM WHERE HE’S EXPERIMENTING WITH THE IDEA OF MINIMALISM VIA PHOTOCOPY INK AND OTHER RESOURCEFUL AND AFFORDABLE MATERIALS. TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HIS AMAZING WORK GO TO www.niallmcclelland.tumblr.com

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T O D D J O R D A N IS A PHOTOGRAPHER AND SKATEBOARDER BASED IN NEW YORK CITY, WHO HAS DELIVERED FANTASTIC WORK FOR CLIENTS SUCH AS SUPREME, CASIO AND NIKE IN THE PAST, BUT MIGHT BE BEST KNOWN FOR TAKING PICTURES OF HIS SKATEBOARD-BUDDIES AND HIS GIRLFRIEND KATHERINE. www.todd-jordan.com / www.toddjordan.tumblr.com

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T E D P U S H I N S K Y IS A SAN FRANCISCO-BASED PHOTOGRAPHER. A LONGTIME MEMBER OF THE CITY’S INFAMOUS HAMBURGER EYES COLLECTIVE, HE RECENTLY COMPILED SOME OF HIS CLASSIC BLACK-AND-WHITE PHOTOGRAPHS FOR A NEW BOOK ENTITLED “FACING IT”. www.hamburgereyes.com / www.tedpushinsky.com

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“Art Stars” 2011 / 30″ x 36″, oil on panel

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D A V I D L Y L E IS A PAINTER LIVING IN NEW YORK CITY WHOSE WORK IS INSPIRED

BY FOUND VINTAGE PHOTOS, DISCARDED MEMORIES AND BYGONE TIMES OF cultural innocence that heʼs re-imagining into the here and now. www.davidlylepaintings.com

“Buyers Remorse” 2012 / 31″ x 38 ″, oil on panel

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“The Dealer” 2013 / 36″ x 40″, oil on panel

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M I N H T R A N IS A PHOTOGRAPHER BASED IN PORTLAND/OREGON, WHO HAS A SERIOUS KNACK FOR COVERING CONCERTS, FASHION EVENTS AND WHAT NOT FOR CLIENTS SUCH AS PITCHFORK AND DAZED & CONFUSED. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HIM AT www.minhternet.com

M A T T L E I N E S is a New Jersey-born painter who recently returned to the NY area. His incredible first monograph, “You Are Forgiven”, was published

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