4. Letter From the Editor 8. Born Without Bones at My Local VFW 10. Slumbers, Boyscott, and the Adventure in Providence 12. Your Local Forecast With The Front Bottoms 14. When Music Dies 18. B-A-B-Y BABY 20. All Bark and No Bite 22. The Everlasting Power of Ferris Bueller
Everyone has a right to have a favorite season and a most hated color of the rainbow. Opinions will be censored and opinions will be burned at the stake, but no matter how much they will be vandalized, opinions will always be a part of humanity. It is the opinions acquired through life that make up how the world is seen. Opinions set the stage for morality and opinions create our values. Welcome to the first issue of Manikill Magazine. I am Skylar and I am the sole creator of the Manikill. In its most simplistic form, Manikill is a magazine. Manikill is also my path to sanity. I swear if I didn’t have a creative outlet such as this, it would have been like a balloon violently deflating. The ability to put everything into a zine is the reason I started these projects in the first place. I would like to take this time to thank you, beloved reader, for taking the time to read Manikill and supporting the spread of art and opinions.
I’ve mentioned this before and I will mention it again; I was itching to go to shows all winter and into the summer. This had led me to go to a couple underground shows in crowded rooms just to go to a show. This was another one of those shows. I had gone with two of my friends from school, neither knew too much about any of the bands playing. I knew a couple of Born Without Bones songs off of their album “Baby”, and I was able to recognize a few of their other songs. Everything about this show was not what I had expected. There were three local openers that were all decent, but not good enough for me to remember the names or actively pursue afterwards, except for Secret Stuff. They played better than the other bands and played with a much better sound quality. I have learned through reading music memoirs and personal experience that a new band is only as good as their sound quality on stage. It is every man for themselves when it comes to setting up equipment, so that no one in the crowd’s ears bleed. I also only remember Secret Stuff because my friend Christian bought their record. Most of my time at the VFW consisted of staying close to the back, sitting on the floor, and talking to my friends about their summers so far. When Born Without Bones came on, I moved up to the front and was able to get front row. Born Without Bones played very well and drew in the biggest crowd (which is to be expected). However, they didn’t play almost any songs off of “Baby” which was a little disappointing. I was waiting the whole night to hear “Stone”, which is definitely my favorite song by them. It incorporates both the BWB sound and the sounds of bands like The Frights, who are all the rage right now. “Stone” was also the song that had gotten the most out of the crowd. A small excuse for a pit opened up with minimal shoving and about five kids went up to the mic to help the lead singer sing the chorus. It was all very sweet and added a different feel to the song. The song now fills me with the joy and tenderness of all of the white college boys singing at the top of their lungs, in a small suburban VFW, with a giant fish taxidermy on the wall.
Sweet sixteens’ are overrated. My best friend Hannah had invited me to see Slumbers and Boyscott to celebrate her’s. At this time, I had been itching to go to a show. I had introduced Boyscott and Slumbers to Hannah with the sole intention of going to see them in the coming months. Her monumental birthday just so happened to be three days before the event. This was one of my favorite days of this year’s summer and it was also the day I had seen my first city rat (it was the size of a rabbit).
Slumbers
This is a group of three talented musicians that embody that of a diy band and the culture of pop music. When the group of girls took the stage at the AS220, I was pleasantly surprised. Garnished in satin robes and sleep masks, the girls started to play. I always appreciate when musicians sound the same live as they do on the record, Slumbers did this and more. The three girls’ voices and personalities seem to congeal together like they were made for each other. Each of the girls has a soft voice that work together with their heartfelt lyrics that create the feeling of wistfulness and peaceful anxiety. They write real and raw lyrics that are ultimately disguised by their sound. My favorite part of the show is definitely hard to choose; however, their commitment of show costume is at the top.
Boyscott
I had listened to Boyscott first and they were the ones I had originally gone to the show for. I had listened to them for quite a while before the actual show, yet I still had no idea what they were actually saying in their songs. It is the feeling their songs give me that I value of the band. Both covers for their album “Sleepwalk” are creative and distinct (however, the lake boat cover gives me strong the first Friday the 13th movie vibes). It all plays into this feeling of being away at a camp with some good friends and a fire going. Although the sound is enjoyable and serene, all of the Boyscott songs sound the same. This could be a considered a
pro or a con depending on how you look at it; sounding good with consistency is something a band should strive for, but being consistent to a point where all the songs sound like a continuation of the later is something most bands should avoid. This band sounded as good live as they do on the album, and it’s outstanding. The bassist is the lead in Slumbers. The lead singer was very friendly and kind; his personality matched that of the very big comfy sweatshirt he was wearing. My only disappointment with the show was how short it was.
I had started listening to the Front Bottoms freshman year of high school. I was obsessed with Back on Top as well as the hits from their previous albums, but I was not nearly as obsessed as my best friend at the time who had introduced me to them. I will always associate the song Cough it Out with her. One snowy night, she had gone up to my window, put her hand delicately on the glass, and sang “its snowing right now I wish it was summer,”. The Front Bottoms are notorious for essentially being every emo kids’ rebound into semi normal music. They always hit just the right balance of morose without over doing it. I haven’t listened to The Front Bottoms or general pop punk seriously since freshman year, but when the music video for “Raining” premiered I jumped ship and haven’t looked back. In wake of my emo phase, I had gotten really into the surf punk scene in California. This was probably one of my favorite phases. So when I saw that the director of most of FIDLAR’s music videoes also directed “Raining” with a Super 8 camera, I knew I would love it. The video made the song a good song. The visual accompaniment gives the song more of a story and something for me to see when I close my eyes. I didn’t love the song at first. It definitely isn’t anything special compared to the early Front Bottoms, but it isn’t a bad song. My fondness of it grew the more I had listened to it and the hurdle of boring lyrics eventually got smaller. I appreciate the Front Bottoms for being able to stay consistent in sound, but still finding slightly different paths to achieve the same feel that defines them. It’s a happy sad song to say the least and that is what the Front Bottoms do best. However, the song is definitely does not compare to their earlier songs. It really isn’t a good habit for a band to make music that is passable, rather than experimenting to exceed expectations. Is it really music if it has already been done before?
When musician Buddy Holly died in a tragic plane crash in 1959, the day was known to the public as the day that music died. Two days ago from writing this essay, Tom Petty died from a heart attack. He was 66 years old and just finished up what was supposed to be his last tour. He stopped touring to spend more time with his family and more specifically his grandchildren. In July, Chester Benningfield committed suicide. About five months ago, lead singer of Soundgarden and Audioslave, Chris Cornell committed suicide. In January of last year, David Bowie passed. In April of last year, the musician, Prince passed. And in June of 2009, Michael Jackson passed. I remember watching the fourth of July fireworks after his death. My dad said “no one is oohing and ahhing because Michael Jackson is dead”. He meant it as a joke, but after all of these deaths it’s hard to laugh at it because it’s true. No matter who you are or what your background is, music has a place in everyone. Much like how a certain smell can trigger an oddly specific memory, music does the same. Whether it was the song of your first slow dance or the song that played on your way to your grandparent’s funeral, music has a place. So when music dies, what do we do? We mourn the memory. We mourn the feeling we had when we listened to their music. My mom loved Tom Petty. She had just saw him in concert August of this year at his last tour. When he passed, she was devastated. She had told me that she remembers listening to him on records when she was thirteen. It was just her in her room and the Heartbreakers. It makes me think of when my music will die. When artists like All Time Low and Blink 182 pass, and my formative years disappear with them. It is a reminder that we are growing up and the world is changing. When musicians die, it is a cold reminder of time.
Reservoir Dogs Dir. Quentin Tarantino When I was thirteen, I had first seen the Clint Eastwood movie Dirty Harry. It was this movie that sparked my interest in movies such as Reservoir Dogs and turned me onto Tarantino’s work as a whole. I loved Reservoir Dogs after I had learned to appreciate it. I do believe that the whole movie was a bit short to really develop a strong plot. I had gone the whole movie thinking that there was more (actually I was just waiting for Michael Madsen to cut the ear off). However, I love how the movie addresses multiple moral standpoints through each of the misters. My favorite character is Mr. White. I related to him most due to his compassion for Mr. Orange on his deathbed. Mr. Orange is another one of my favorite characters due to his moral compass. He had put his life at risk to go undercover and in the heat of the moment kills someone. It is made crystal clear that he feels instant regret. He is a cop, but now he’s a murderer. Mr. Blonde is the extreme end of the spectrum of morality. He literally kidnaps a cop and cuts his ear off, but he does it so calmly and remorseless that it just seems like another day at the office. Reservoir Dogs is visually interesting with its use of wide shots and leaving just enough to the imagination to make the viewer actually think. Tarantino is the king of the imagination to make the viewer actually think. Tarantino is the king of “did he really just do that?”.
B-A-B-Y
BABY
Baby Driver Dir. Edgar Wright, 2017
Baby Driver is hands down my favorite movie of this year and maybe my favorite movie ever. I saw this movie the day after I had gotten my driver’s license. On a bright and sunny day, I was in an empty theatre wide eyed at the big screen car chase. I had been interested in films before this movie, but Baby Driver was my gateway drug into a world I had only previously dipped my toe into. I know I am not the only one who feels this way about Baby Driver and the evidence is in the countless video essays on YouTube praising every aspect of the movie. This movie is visually stunning and all to a killer soundtrack of various songs that have all grown into being my favorite songs. The soundtrack is the only thing I drive to. Will I one day get into a high speed car chase to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion song “Bellbottoms” just like Baby? At this point it isn’t a matter of if but when. Edgar Wright had had the idea for this movie in his head for about twenty years. All that thinking made a movie with just as many hidden eggs as Easter Sunday and more. From the words to “Harlem Shuffle” spray painted into the backgrounds, the red palmed gloves to show the blood on Baby’s hands, the music video that inspired the movie playing on a TV, and the Dolly Parton reference to foreshadow the ending the list goes on about how deep this film is. In a summer of franchise films, Baby Driver is the saving grace of cinema.
THE EVERLASTING POWER OF
FERRIS BUELLER Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Dir. John Hughs As if I do not say it enough, I love John Hughs. Hughs is one of the most influential directors in my life. He might not use fancy techniques or special effects, but he understands teenagers more than teenagers understand themselves (that actually isn’t saying much because what teenager actually understands themselves?). Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is a prime example of this. I saw this movie for the first time in fifth grade. I’ve seen it approximately a thousand times since. It is and will remain one of my favorite movies of all time. While being a prime 80s movie, the film remains timeless in its theme and execution. Three kids take on the world while it is still their’s for just one day. At first the movie was not seen to be an iconic masterpiece of a film, but it takes time to age like fine wine. Ferris embodies every teenager’s need to simply get out. Get out of their head. Get out of the house. Get out of school. Get out of a mundane life. Cameron embodies every teenager’s fears. Fear of disappointment. Fear of the future. Fear of your parents. Sloane represents the teenager’s desire of peace. The ability to find peace in the unknown future. To find peace through someone else’s insanity. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off manages to achieve the teenage existentialism in a humorous way. I think that truly defines the teenage way of thinking. We are far too young to ignore fun and we are far too old to ignore the future. I watched this movie on my first sick day from school in four years. It did more for me than any cough syrup ever had and taught me more than any guidance counselor ever will about life.