RVA #4 SPRING 2011 by RVA MAGAZINE

NICKELUS F RVA MAGAZINE ISSUE 4

...actual tweets FEB/2011

ProudOneBrew

nolan bradshaw Just crushed yet another caramelized bacon pizza from @Bellytimber, always a good time with amazing beer selections 3 minutes ago

amsmith34

Allison Smith

This tempeh sandwch from bellytimber is rockin my world right now. daily

RVAmag

Richmond, VA Big night at the Belly tonight/Friday! Dj Drew from stedy sounds and Mau spinning Rudys going away party#rva could be tonight

Bellytimber

1501 W. Main Street, RVA Meats, Pizzas, Seafood and Vegan options! Something for everyone! Check our daily specials! http://bellytimbertavern.com

every night

LUNCH | DINNER | TOGO BRUNCH 10:30am | SAT/SUN BLOODY MARY BAR 1501 W. Main Street, RVA (804) 592-5592 4

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RVA #4 / SPRING 2011 / RICHMOND, VA USA IN THIS ISSUE

10 RJD2 14 Nickelus F 17 New Brow! 24 Girl Talk 28 The Trillions 32 Simply Human 36 Conditions 40 Dirty Richmond 44 Futuristic Soul 48 Mike Watt 52 You’re Going to Die. 54 Record Reviews RVA MAGAZINE ARTICLES ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT RVAMAG.COM. cover art by ANGRY WOEBOTS

RJD2 is probably best known for, well, a lot of random great songs. From the theme song for Mad Men to the unforgettable crutch dance from his “Work It Out” video, his music has made it into almost everyone’s subconscious playlist at one time or another. He’s one of a diminishing amount of DJs who actually takes the time to work four turntables live, juggling corners of countless vinyl LP covers with his fingertips. When performing, he never seems to come up for air, and the momentum doesn’t stop when he says goodnight at the end of his set. He then proceeds to become an equally skilled merchandise dispenser. “I don’t have roadies,” he tells me with a smile, packing up his merchandise and equipment by himself. He really is a one man army, but that also makes him extremely humble. People were giving him compliments and handshakes all the way to his car. “I have to be in Athens, GA tomorrow for a show, and then Tallahassee, FL after that,” he tellls me as he leaves. “Is it cool if we skype this interview later so I can give you more of my attention?” We caught up later to talk about his new album, the project known as The Insane Warrior, and the lost art of live DJing. Describe the album The Colossus. RJ: The record before that [The Third Hand], the agenda behind it was to restrict myself to whatever I could do on my own. Whatever parts I could write by myself and perform by myself--it was supposed to be a one man band type of endeavor. So when it came time to do a followup record, I thought it would be fun to do the exact opposite, and collaborate as much as possible. Draw on the talented people around me, or that I knew that I wanted to work with. So that was the general ethos behind the making of [The Colossus]. That also changed the writing of it, to a certain degree. When I was making The Third Hand, I would actually rewrite portions of the song to fit my ability as either a player or singer. With this record being a collaborative thing, I was freed from that. I was more focusing on trying to follow the vision of the songs and let them unfold in their most natural state, whether or not I would be playing the primary role as vocalist. I would demo up every song, and then if I wasn’t happy with the execution--I felt like the song was in [the] form it wanted to be, I just didn’t sound good singing it or playing a specific part on it--I would look for people to perform those parts. What was the reasoning behind you opening up your own label? RJ: I had three things on my agenda. Starting my own label would be a silver bullet that would provide solutions for all three of those issues. One of those was I had gotten the masters back from my Definitive Jux catalog, and I needed a way to reissue those and keep them in print. The second was I had finished The Colossus and I needed a way to put that record out. The third ties in with the Insane Warrior record that just came out. With my deal with XL, doing side project records was not impossible, but I would have to run through them and get it verified. The Insane Warrior record was done before The Colossus. At the time, when I was trying to find out what to do, I had brought the Insane Warrior up to them. They were noncommittal in terms of whether or not they wanted to put it out or [whether] they were fine with me doing it as a side project on my own. With Insane Warrior, I know its a freeform version of you, but what came about that inspired you to come out with a different “version” of you? RJ:It was a combination of two things. One was that I went through this phase... Netflix brought up my ability to dig up all these pretty obscure sci-fi, horror, thriller films. I was kind of hip to Blade Runner and Tron and some of the more famous John Carpenter stuff. Basically, (laughs) Netflix allowed me to completely go balls deep on this stuff. I watched every Carpenter movie up to the mid-eighties. There were a lot of movies that were happening in that period; the lines were kind of blurred in terms of genre. You look at The Shining, and I feel like its a hard movie to classify--is it a horror movie? Fantasy? Thriller? It encompasses all those things, and there were a lot of movies like that around that time. I was obsessed with that stuff, and also the scores became very interesting to me. The reason I gravitated towards them was because they were the opposite of how I go about RJD2 13

records. With these scores, a big thing that was drawing me to them was that sometimes they are very atonal. Sometimes they are very long and almost monotonous. The arrangements are the opposite of pop songs. My shtick from day one was to make instrumental music that was formatted and arranged like a pop song. Even if it wasn’t vocal oriented, it was supposed to be short, concise and oriented like pop music, and be appealing to you in that sense. So this other type of stuff... I mean, you listen to Tangerine Dream soundtracks from that era, and a song will be fifteen minutes. And it’s a super-monotonous synth line for the first four minutes. All these things were very appealing and refreshing to me, partly because I had been knee deep in trying to make good pop music for so long. That was one side of it, going along with that from a musical standpoint. When I was making RJD2 records, I’ve always tried to put as much content into the songs as possible. So whenever possible, I’m cramming horns, basslines, guitar, and then an organ breakdown, and then a bridge (laughter). So making an album where I was actually restricting myself instrumentally was very appealing. Conceptually, almost all of the songs are supposed to be a restriction to one tonal instrument plus drums. I don’t want to say that I kept that as a steadfast rule, because there are a couple of songs where I deviated. But for the most part, I think about seven or eight of the songs, it’s really just one tonal instrument. Restricting myself and seeing how far I can get with one instrument was refreshing, fun and interesting. So as you can see, this record in a lot of ways is about me getting away from the habits and expectations from when I make an RJD2 record. Have you started mixing Insane Warrior into your shows? RJ: Not yet. In the sense [that] the record was primarily live, I feel like I need to put a band together and properly tour it, and be dedicated to that project. I want to do it justice. With the stuff that originated as live instrumentation, it’s really hard for me, with what I want to do with the shows, to dumb it down to a turntable/sampler format. Stuff that started as sample-based music, I can pull it apart and utilize some of the sound sources that went into making the song, but then recontextualize them. It’s very easy, organic and natural to do, in that turntable/ sampler environment. It’s harder to do when something started out from a live perspective, so by and large I just let them be, and touch on them when I am touring with a band.

Can you describe your latest videos for Insane Warrior? Because I know for one of them, the fans get to contribute. RJ: None of my videos in the history of my career have ever had anything to do with me conceptually. They have always been visions of the directors, and this one was no different. There was a proper video [that] I participated [in], commissioned, and all that kind of stuff. It was for a song called “The Water Wheel,” which was made by a local kid that goes to Drexel University. I had reached out to one of the teachers at Drexel, asked him for some references to some people, and that’s how it came about. I told [the director], “It’s your concept,” and to run with it. The other thing we are doing with the record is, because the record is so largely inspired by film scores, I got this idea at a point--how cool it would be if people did their own videos to songs? Hopefully what will happen is we will have multiple submissions for each song, and people can see each one, then go in and make their own video playlist. We will see how many people submit stuff. Over the years people have gotten a chance to really see your work in the commercial realm, like the Mad Men intro, HBO, commercial spots, etc. Have you had people question you about selling out? RJ: Not one person has ever come up to me and mentioned, “You’re a sellout for doing the Mad Men theme,” and I am happy about that. Trust me, people are not shy. They will say some cold shit to your face if they are not happy with your music. I have always been friendly with licensing my music to commercials and stuff. I have never made a song or recording with the intention of saying, “Oh let me make something that’s going to be perfect for Victoria’s Secret,” or some bullshit like that. I just do whatever I want, and if it comes out to be super super weird, and people hate it, that’s fine with me. I don’t really give a shit. Once the record is done, I have already maintained the element of artistic integrity that I care to maintain. As long as it’s not being used to sell little kids cigarettes, then I don’t care, because this is how I am going to pay the bills. I went through that sellout thing during 2002 through 2005. I think the fans that were going to call me a sellout called me that then. Now, they either bailed on me, and I have firmly established myself as a sellout in their minds, or they are OK with it. By and large, I feel like that dialogue is old hat.

What inspired the horns in “Ghostwriter”?

Can you think back on one of your most memorable shows?

RJ: I can’t say anything inspired anything (laughs). The ugly truth about samplebased music is it’s an exploratory process. Tonally, sometimes you are looking for something that will fill a role or be complimentary. If anyone tells you otherwise, I personally just think they are lying. You can’t go out and look for an emotion. You can look for textural and harmonic qualities in a record. You are at the whim of what you find, basically.

RJ: The first one that comes to my mind took place last year actually. Last year I toured with a band, and we were doing a show for Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. It was this student union type of room, and it had a really weird vibe. It was a college show so they weren’t allowed to drink on premises, so these kids would rush outside, pound vodka and rush back in and rage. It made for a really bizarre dynamic, and the show went great. There was this little person in the front row and right when we started the show, he jumped up on one of the monitors. After he did that, he was like two feet taller than everyone else, and he pulled his pants all the way down. He started going crazy, and everyone who was in his four-foot circumference was getting their face jammed by this guy’s ass, because it was face level (laughter). The weird thing, though, was no one was freaking out. They were just like, “Oh that’s just Freddy up to his old antics,” or something like that. I was like, “This is fucking weird, what the hell is going on?” (laughs)

Where do you think the art of live performance and DJing stands these days? RJ: I don’t know what to think, to be honest with you. I don’t know what fans are thinking. Most of what I see in the live performance world is a dude with a laptop. They are hidden behind it and pressing play, and it’s inherently divorced from a performance element in my opinion. You don’t know what they’re doing. They could just be checking their email, or doing something amazingly complex that took them years to develop.

rjselectricalconnections.com

I think that’s what is amazing about going to your show. Four turntables, a crate of records in the back, constantly changing records--you are never in the same space for more than three seconds. RJ: Thank you so much. Not only do I appreciate that, but I am glad that it comes across. I have worked very hard to develop the show to make it more and more live and kinetic. I understand that it’s on the border of what you would consider performance and DJing. I try to push it to make it look like a performance as much as I can. When I go back ten years ago, and I was just starting to make solo records, go out on tour, and get booked as a solo artist, I was thrown into this gauntlet that I had to run, of trying to figure out how to come up with a show. How to present what I do in a studio in a live manner that is not boring as shit. By then, I had already been DJing for 5 years or so, and going to see DJs for longer than that. I thought it was a boring thing. There were the super-fast battle scratch DJ guys, but they got boring after five minutes when you went to see them. In the late nineties we were already at this bar where the scratch DJ had developed so far--those guys were super-talented. So when it came time for me to figure out what I was going to do live, I felt this very high level of expectation. I thought back then that people’s expectations were only going to go up from there. The reason that I am kind of perplexed in how I fit in the landscape of electronic performers is [that] the exact opposite happened. I feel like crowds nowadays will go see a guy with a laptop and consider that a performance. I am not trying to hate on anyone. Maybe my perspective of a performance is antiquated. Maybe young kids don’t see it on the same paradigm that I am assessing things. I don’t know, and this is why I just gotta do it. I put the show together as close as [possible] to what I feel good about doing, and that’s that (laughs).

NICKELUS F INTERVIEW BY ISAAC RAMSEY PHOTOS BY KENNETH HOWARD JR.

ickelus F is not your run-of-the-mill rapper walking around Richmond with insufficient creative output and too much ego. He’s far from it. Articulate in his lyrical delivery and humble about his achievements, Nick F is the rapper you actually do want showing up at your next get-together, freestyling with a drink in his hand. Maybe it’s possible to imagine this happening years back when he was supposed to be studying Chemical Engineering at VCU, but these days, it is less than likely. Nick has been staying busy for the last few years, and 2010 was no exception. His sophomore album Season Premiere dropped last spring, along with RARE, a compilation of Portishead remixes that has since led to original collaborations with the group. His music has attracted the attention of ears at Def Jam, and his successful run battling rappers on BET certainly captivated a much larger audience across the country. Mainstream hip-hop oddity Drake has even cited him as an important influence. So why hasn’t Nickelus F blown the F up yet? It seems like it’s only a matter of time before his hard work and patience pay off in a much bigger way. However, despite all of his close encounters with mainstream success, Nick hasn’t lost touch with the city he calls home. As 2011 arrives, he’s getting ready to drop a mixtape with local producer Brad Oh that specifically reflects on the Richmond experience, and he’s working diligently and independently to make sure you get a chance to hear it. I sat down with Nick to talk about his past accomplishments as an artist and where he’s headed now.

So you’re a Richmond native? NF: No, not a native. I’ve been in Richmond twelve or thirteen years. I just call Richmond my hometown because that’s where all my biggest memories are from. Learn how to drive, lose your virginity, all that important stuff was here in this city. (laughter) Yeah, Richmond took my virginity.

“Wow I can really take this seriously now.” After I won that was when my first manager came along, producers started coming along, and people wanted to take me places and show me things. On 106th & Park’s Freestyle Fridays, you did exceedingly well with a really big opportunity when you won seven weeks in a row and entered their Hall of Fame. How did you do it? What state of mind were you in when you were battling?

How has the city shaped you as an artist? NF: It helped me to be versatile. There are so many different styles of music that influence the city. There’s the southern music crunk scene that is big out here. When I was younger, it was heavily influenced by east coast music--even the rock aspect of the city. You know, we birthed Gwar! That hardcoreness of the city, all of that helped influence my style. I view [Richmond] as a real raw, dirt and nail type city. That mindset influences a lot of my music. What’s your involvement with Rayni Day Entertainment, and what you are trying to accomplish with this? NF: I am a fan of rainy weather. That’s what puts me in my creative zone. I like the sun and everything, but it’s the rain and clouds that really inspire me. It just embodies that soul and that feeling that I want to convey and connect with people on... So we’re still trying to pull it together. It’s more or less our flag at this point, as opposed to an actual label. Are you trying to stay independent or are you looking possibly to move into a bigger home? NF: I definitely am looking to go major. I have a band [Silverust], and we’re working on music that is for the majors. But I definitely like the independent route, because I like to be able to have control over the music, and to give myself completely. Sometimes I feel like when you go major, you can only truly get but so much of yourself in there and have but so much control over it.

“

NF: I was crazy, because it wasn’t something that I even necessarily aspired to do. My manager just called me randomly one night and was like, “Yo, you gotta come up to New York. You gotta battle tomorrow on 106th & Park.” I had just started this new job, just moved into this apartment, and I wanted to be on good terms. So, it was like, “How you gonna ask me to leave?” I talked to my roommate at the time and he was like, “Nah, man, you gotta do it. You can’t miss these types of opportunities.” So we just went for it. And it was crazy, because it was kinda stressful. I knew if I lose on TV, everyone’s gonna see it. So when I started, I was like, “I gotta make it all the way through.” I would have hated to have gone five or six weeks, and have somebody be like, “Yeah, you had a good one, but” [snaps fingers] “homeboy said that one line that just knocked you out the box.” So all week I would be racking my brain, trying to come up with things, just to remember to say. It was good, but I was glad when it was over. I don’t regret it, because for one, the belt is really cool. I like to rock it in the club. (Laughter) No, I don’t really rock the belt in the club. But it was good. It exposed me to a lot of people, made me more confident in what I’m doing. When you do something like that and you come out on top, it makes you feel good.

LEARN HOW TO DRIVE, LOSE YOUR VIRGINITY, ALL THAT IMPORTANT STUFF WAS HERE IN THIS CITY.

What’s up with your new music? You’ve got some stuff for upcoming release? NF: Yeah, there’s a new tape that we’re going to put out at the top of the year called Yellow Gold, and that’s produced completely by Brad Oh. It’s real soulful, abstract and, like, visual. It’s audio visual. We’re gonna drop that in January with some videos. And then February or March, I’m going to drop another tape that’s already recorded called Faces, and that has a more rounded sound. Not saying that the project with Brad Oh isn’t well rounded--it’s a niche sound. The other project goes in a few different directions. We should drop that by March. At age 17 you had a pretty nice introduction to the music industry when you placed 2nd among 300 in the regional Source Unsigned Hype Emcee Battle-NF: Well, in the regional I won. They had the battle here, and then all the winners from different regions met up in New York and we had a battle there. I got to the quarterfinals there. I lost in that round. How did you get that opportunity? What did it mean to you as a really young artist? NF: It kinda just fell in my lap. I wasn’t old enough to be in the battle. I went up there with a friend. The guy who was running it, I knew him from church. He was a friend of my parents, so he just got me in it. It was 300, and they cut that 300 down to 16 people. [makes swooping sword sound] Then they pit us all against each other in the battles. It was interesting, because that was my first real thing where I was like,

”

While I was watching the Freestyle Friday videos from BET, I came across one between you and Inkredible, where he got disqualified for explicit language. The host cited his use of the N-word as being against network policy. I want to know what you think of that policy. Do you think it’s a progressive attitude, or is it unfair to artists that want to use that word?

NF: Um, that’s a good question. [pause] Personally, I feel like in a battle, it should be no holds. No real rules or stipulations on it. Because…[snapping fingers] It’s quick thinking and you gotta spit it out. Your job is to dismember the person in front of you. I understand the censorship thing. Until they change it for all networks, that this word no longer has to be censored, then I understand it. But I think we should start moving past it, because it’s a regular part of people’s lives. That word doesn’t mean as much to my generation and the generation after me as it does to the generation before us. For them, that’s very sensitive, very touchy. We were raised to be like, “No, that’s a touchy subject.” But as I’ve grown, our world, although it’s not perfect, it’s a lot more integrated. So with us, it’s not as serious. I feel like a few years down the line, maybe when my kids are grown, it won’t be as big of a deal. And you know, you can differentiate. You can tell when it’s being used in a derogatory way, and that’s even regardless of color. There will be times when I’ll be kicking it with my homie and he has a white friend who uses the word. Naturally, I look over. But he’s cool, so I’m like, oh, ok, this is cool then. You can tell by context clues. After receiving such attention for your accomplishments freestyling, do you find it hard promoting yourself as a songwriter? NF: There is a stigma to it. And people do put that on you. My thing is, though, you just gotta show and prove. There are a lot of battlers who say people don’t take ‘em seriously as songwriters, but that’s because they’re not approaching it right. They’re still approaching it like a battle rapper trying to do a song. When I’m in artist mode, I grow my hair out. I grow my facial hair out. I get into artist mode for real. I try to articulate myself in a poetic way, as opposed to just, “Setup--punchline.” When I make a song I wanna draw a picture with the words and study different ways to get that across. It’s not necessarily hard to make a switch.

NICKELUS F RVA MAGAZINE ISSUE 4 I wanna talk about RARE (Reliving a Real Experience). Where did the idea come from? Are you a big Portishead fan? NF: Yes. I was working on the Heathen tape, and the producer, Ivory Snow, sampled them. I was like, “Yo, this is like heaven to me.” It was dark and it was beautiful, because of the girl singing on it, her voice and the hardness of the beat. That night I downloaded all their albums--I bought them from iTunes, in fact. I listened to them for a month straight. And I realized that they had a lot of instrumental areas, where it’s like 16 bars, 24 bars of music with no words. So I just started filling in parts and making the song kind of fit my life, without changing what she was saying. So you’ve been in touch with Portishead directly? NF: Yeah, a close friend of mine hit [Geoff Barrow] up on Myspace, and sent them some of the records. He really liked them, so he ended up sending some production over. We haven’t even put it out. We’re saving it for the project with Silverust. The record’s already been recorded for awhile now. I think they’re using it for something, not a Portishead project, but a project with a lot of different artists. Your song “Not Like This” is about the VA Tech massacre that happened in 2007. Is that song simply an outsider’s reaction to a tragic event or is it more personal than that to you? NF: Just hearing about being trapped in a room with a madman with a gun plucking people off--I put myself in that room. That song means a lot to me. I didn’t personally know anybody in that class [but] I do know a lot of people that went to school there at that time, and it could have been any one of them. When something like that happens, your mind goes, and that’s the result. Who would you consider your influences to be? What rappers did you listen to mostly when you were growing up and finding your style? NF: Well, I’m a big Jay-Z fan. But I didn’t really get onto him ‘til high school. I was a big Bone Thugs n Harmony fan. I used to rap fast, sing-songy. I was listening to Nas before I was listening to Jay-Z. I listened to a lot of Busta Rhymes. I was into Wu Tang and then all the little Wu Tang subgroups that went along with ‘em. It was like a big hodgepodge of artists. I studied Snoop. I wouldn’t even say I just listened to these guys, I actually studied these people’s music. As I got older, I started seeking music from different regions. That was how I traveled. If you can get a person who knows how to really describe or articulate the thoughts and paint the picture of a city or a region, that’s what I was looking for. That’s what I’m planning on doing with this tape with Brad Oh, just kind of explaining the city. What’s new and good about your most recent album, Season Premiere? NF: I think Season Premiere was a good step in a more well-rounded direction. A lot of the projects I put out previously were conceptual projects. Heathen is pretty much a story project beginning to end. The Portishead project is a conceptual project. And a lot of the stuff before that I consider exhibition music. It was heavy on the punchlines, just technical rapper stuff. Another rapper would listen to it and be like, “Wow, yo, he’s killin’ it.” But it didn’t have an agenda. Season Premiere was more songs than exhibition rapping. Even still, I feel like, with what I am doing now, I’ve progressed far beyond Season Premiere. I feel like the new music is going to lap that music multiple times. What is your message? NF: The main message is inspiration. I’m one of those people that looks for inspiration, and it’s everywhere. Inspiration is the spark that drives humanity. It’s the reason why we have all these sweet things. I don’t necessarily want to inspire people to rap or do music, but I want to inspire people to contribute. Our music is about: you’ve got an idea, you’ve got a vision, you feel something--stick with it.

NICKELUS F RVA MAGAZINE ISSUE 4

“

I’M ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE THAT LOOKS FOR INSPIRATION, AND IT’S EVERYWHERE. INSPIRATION IS THE SPARK THAT DRIVES HUMANITY.

”

There’s gonna be a lot of roadblocks, but if you really have something that’s worth offering this Earth, don’t stop. Get it. And then use your story and what you’ve been through to inspire somebody else to do something great to contribute. I have a gift, I have a talent and it’s my job to give it out and share it with people, so that they’ll use their gifts and their talents to inspire other people to not just waste away. What do your kids think of your music? NF: They’re young. They don’t really understand at all. But I do know they like it because when it comes on, I catch them singing the melodies and dancing to it. But they did actually inspire me. I want to do a children’s CD, but I want it to be dope. I don’t want it to be corny. I want it to be effective. Because I noticed they picked up on a lot of the things that they heard in my music. So I had this idea, like, I could teach them through song. And it’s not like this grand idea that nobody else knows--we got our ABCs through that, we got everything through music and rhythm. But I feel like I can do that real well. I’m going to watch them, I’m going to study what makes them catch onto things, and then I’m going to create this CD. And hopefully I can make millions and millions and millions off of it. I’d be happy making millions off of a children’s CD and then just putting out my deep abstract projects independently for a cult following. I don’t gotta be plastered on the radio all day long. Is there anything you want to mention before we end? NF: I love my city. I love Richmond. And I want to give Richmond something to hold onto. I feel like what makes it so hard for artists out here is that there are no big buildings, there are no celebrities, there are no sports teams really. You’re not just going to be going to your local Martin’s and bump into an executive or a celebrity who could give you a shot and change your life necessarily. If you want something from here you got to go and get it. I want to give [Richmond] that spark of hope that there’s somebody here that might be able to help. Something for the city to really be proud of. Like the Arthur Ashe Center. The guy’s gone, but there’s a center in his name; everyone’s gonna remember him and what he did for the city. We have intelligent people out here in our city. It’s not what a lot of people look at as country bumpkins out here. A lot of people have a tainted view on what Richmond really is. So I really want to give the city some pride, something to stand behind. www.myspace.com/nickelusf

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RICH SALCIDO 20

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MELISSA COLLIER

Not to be confused with graffiti, street art has blown up and grown into the cultural statement of our generation. Street art is the secret handshake, the open diary, the language of a frustrated people expressed in a full range of emotions and human experience, written on the walls of your local neighborhood sketchy alleyway. “I was here. I had something to say.” A raw, direct connection from artist to audience. It was unavoidable that this pure expression would find an audience, and that galleries the world over would come calling. DC gallery ART WHINO has been one of the best in presenting the work and dealing legitimately with their artists. Both an equal partner and an encouraging big brother, ART WHINO is the East Coast cog needed to bring this amazing art to the masses. The shows are so good, it kinda makes you wonder why, in a region of over 8 million people, there isn’t another gallery like it. I had an opportunity to ask owner and curator Shane Pomajambo a few questions that were on my mind. 21

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JUSTIN LOVATATO 22

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ANGRY WOEBOTS 23

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CAIA KOOPMAN

NICKELUS F W h a t w a s t h e i n s p i r a t i o n f o r t h e g a l l e r y, S h a n e ?

RVA MAGAZINE ISSUE 4

SP: The inspiration for Art Whino is to put DC on the map for t h e N e w A r t S c e n e . B e i n g t h e n a t i o n ’ s c a p i t a l , i t ’s u n c o n s t i t u tional for it not to be! As the scene has grown, what have you seen as positive t re n d s t owa rd s t h e p e rce p t i o n o f s t re e t a r t? A ny n e g a t i ve s? S P : S t r e e t a r t s i n c e t h e 8 0 ’s h a s a l w a y s b e e n s e e n a s v a n d a l ism by mainstream America. As America sinks deeper and deeper into [the] numbness of everyday schedules and routines, street artists are aiming their art more and more at these schedules, routines and propaganda, [and] snapping s o m e p e o p l e o u t o f i t . I b e l i e v e n o w m o r e t h a n e v e r, t h e r e i s a revolution where people understand and appreciate what these artists are doing. Do you make a distinction between street art and graffiti? S P : Fo r m e p e r s o n a l l y t h e r e i s a H U G E d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n street art and graffiti. Graffiti been around since civilization h a s b e e n . A t i t s e s s e n c e , i t ’s a n i n d i v i d u a l ’s m a r k i n g , s a y i n g , “ I e x i s t e d a n d I w a s h e r e .” S t r e e t a r t ’s a i m , o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , i s less on the individual, and more about activating the space it inhabits. How was your time down at Art Basel this year?

CHARLIE OWENS

NICK MORRIS

S P : We d i d t h e TA K E O V E R a t A r t B a s e l i n D e c 2 0 1 0 a n d i t w a s a g r e a t s u c c e s s . We b r o u g h t l a r g e s c a l e i n s t a l l a t i o n s i n t o a a 8000 sq. ft. enclosed courtyard, and had 20 artists exhibit 8’ [tall] x 16’ wide pieces. With over 2000 people at the opening alone, it was more that we had expected, and a good sign people like what we do! Having been there a few times, how big has Art Basel been in p ro m o t i n g t h e g a l l e r y? I s i t wo r t h t h e ex p e n s e? SP: Art Basel is the Super Bowl of the art world. With over 60 a r t o p e n i n g s i n 4 d a y s , a n d o v e r 4 0 , 0 0 0 a r t c o l l e c t o r s , i t ’s a g r e a t p l a c e t o g o a s a v i s i t o r, a n d a g r e a t p l a c e f o r a g a l l e r y t o m e e t n e w c o l l e c t o r s . I f y o u c a n p a y t o p l a y, t h e n [ i t ’ s ] w o r t h i t for sure. Yo u h a v e a g r o u p o f a r t i s t s y o u w o r k w i t h a l l t h e t i m e . W h o are part of the Art Whino family? S P : U n b e l i e v a b l y, i n o v e r 4 y e a r s , w e ’ v e w o r k e d w i t h o v e r 1200 artists worldwide. It really has been an amazing experience to meet so many artists, and see so many perspectives on the art scene. Out of 1200 artists, though, some stand out by their professionalism, passion and drive, and have become Art W h i n o Fa m i l y f o r s u r e . Yo u c a n s e e o u r s t a b l e o f a r t i s t s o n o u r website. Going forward, where would you like to see the gallery? Any b i g t h i n g s co m i n g u p? SP: The goal for Art Whino continues to be to unify the New Brow world, where you can see artists worldwide in one place. With that said, we have 3 epic shows coming up this year: the G 4 0 A r t S u m m i t i n t h e s p r i n g , A r t s Fe s t i v a l s i n t h e s u m m e r, a n d A r t B a s e l i n t h e w i n t e r. w w w. A RT W H I N O.co m

GIRL TALK INTERVIEW BY ALEX ROSE / PHOTOS BY CHRIS LACROIX

The sad truth for those seeking jobs today is that we will take anything we can get our hands on. However, despite his experienced background in biomedical engineering, Gregg Gillis chose to leave his career opportunities behind in order to pursue something that he loved. And it worked. Several albums and tours later, his musical project, Girl Talk, is going stronger than ever. With his current tour selling out shows months in advance, it’s easy to see why he is one of the most soughtafter live acts in the country. If you’ve never listened to Girl Talk before, one way to describe the music would be: a few seconds of music from your favorite band, say Led Zeppelin, with a 16 bar freestyle from Soulja Boy overtop of it, plus several additional instrumental layers. It’s a guilty pleasure many have been fascinated with since Girl Talk first started making his rounds. His outspoken opinions and views on the current state of media and more particularly, Fair Use and Open Source, demonstrate that Gillis is one of the few trying to educate people about the realities of the music he makes. I was able to chat with him a little over a month before his Richmond appearance at The National. The following interview provides an in-depth look into the mind of one of the most creative artists we’ve seen in recent years. 26

First off let me say congratulations for your recent success with your latest studio album, All Day! Are you still running off a post-release high? GG: Yeah. Going into the album; I literally put it out a few days after I had finished it up. That whole process was really a lot of work. I put in a little over two years into it. I stopped leaving my house and was working 12+ hours a day on it. When I finished up, the hype started building up and the next thing I knew I had to leave for a South American tour. When I got home from that, I had some local hometown Pittsburgh shows. I wrapped all that up last weekend, so with the touring and the release, it’s really been kind of an awesome month for me. I’m happy it’s over now, and I can actually kick back for a week or two and chill out. I was reading that your hometown shows in Pittsburgh sold out in record time. That has to be a great feeling to know that you have so much support and respect from the city you came from. They even renamed December 7th to be “Official Gregg Gillis Day” in Pittsburgh. GG: That was insane and absolutely an honor. I was born in raised in Pittsburgh and live here now. It’s definitely a city I love and try to represent as much as possible. The Pittsburgh shows were by far the best shows I’ve had in years. The Gregg Gillis Day thing came as a huge surprise. For the city council to give me that recognition really meant a lot. My family and friends from Pittsburgh were very excited as well. How does that even come about? GG: A city councilman, Bill Peduto, emailed me. He thought I was doing a

lot for the city of Pittsburgh, travelling and boosting Pittsburgh’s name in articles and interviews and such. He asked me to come down to the city council building to be recognized. He didn’t really go into details as to what it would be, so I kind of went there unprepared. It wasn’t until I was inside then I realized they were voting whether it was going to be “Gregg Gillis Day” or not. I found out probably 10 minutes before they voted on it. Very exciting day.

the past it’s always been just me and a couple of friends. We show up and the lighting guy at the venue does his job and that’s it. This is the first time I’m touring with a set designed specifically for this tour. The shows are selling out so quickly, the venues are getting bigger. I don’t want to make any big departure from what you’d expect from a Girl Talk show, but I want it to grow. The Pittsburgh shows were the first shows with elements of the new set, and I thought it worked out great.

When you first started releasing your mashups, did you know you would eventually become the frontrunner of this style?

GG: I haven’t had any criticism. A lot of stuff I’ve heard is from magazines who have reached out to various artists, asking them what they thought of any samples I used. For instance, a publication reached out to Mike Patton [of Faith No More]. On Feed The Animals, I took a Faith No More sample and put it over a Busta Rhymes verse. They asked him how he felt about it, and Mike Patton said it was an honor to collaborate with Busta Rhymes. As a big fan of his work, I thought that was the sickest answer he could have possibly had. A lot of other people too, like Sophie B Hawkins, I remember reading her say she was a big fan of how I sampled her music. The Toadies have actually been promoting

GG: Not really. Back then, I was into a lot more experimental styles of electronic music. I wanted to do something that would embrace pop culture not only through the band name and the imagery,

The Toadies and Mr. Oizo have both interacted with you over Twitter concerning usage of their samples on your latest record, and both were very positive. Have any other artists kind of made it a point to either support or disapprove of your usage of them?

TO DO SOMETHING THAT WOULD EMBRACE “POPI WANTED CULTURE NOT ONLY THROUGH THE BAND NAME AND THE IMAGERY, BUT ALSO THE MUSIC.”

but also the music. I kind of wanted to apply that idea to a more avant-garde style of music. People I was looking up to, and [that] inspired my ideas, like John Oswald and Kid606, were already from the more experimental realm, and [they were] cutting up pop music and doing the pop culture thing. Back then, I would tour actively, sell records, push my friends, and even drive down to Richmond to play weird shows for like 10 people. The ultimate goal was to be able to drive to different cities and just make gas money. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be THAT into the music. So slowly it progressed and picked up, but there was no real goal behind it. There was no precedent for success as far as cutting up music exclusively, and doing live remixes on a laptop. There was no one to look up to and be like, “Oh I’m going to do it like that!” So when things started to take off, it all came as a surprise. When Night Ripper came out, that’s when shows started selling out and the press started covering me. From there, I had no idea how far I could go. It was just a matter of trying to ramp it up every step of the way, increase the stage show, make the music better. Even today, I’m still trying to outdo my last album, or the last show I played.

my album. If you go to their website, they have a link to a YouTube video that’s promoting it. If I’m able to sample something that the actual band can get behind, that’s great.

With the All Day tour, your itinerary is massive. You have a 2 day run here in Virginia at the NorVA and The National. Do you think this tour is going to one-up your past tours?

GG: I liked that too. With those articles up, my emails were probably cut down 10%, just because people were able to get answers from those pages. I think it was an issue with having original research posted. Someone can’t just hear something and put it up there; you have to have a source or reference. I guess it violated some sort of Wikipedia law. I have a sample list up on Illegal Art with all the samples I used for All Day, but it isn’t broken down into the tracks. I think I’m going to pick out a day before the tour and make an official sample list by track and time. I think a lot of people like to reference that, so I’m going to try and publish that before the end of the year, just to make it official.

GG: Every step of the way, I try to do a mutation of what’s existed before. I still think having people on stage, and that interaction, is something that’s just vital to the show. It’s something I can’t change or stop. It’s like having a mosh-pit at a rock show; it’s going to happen every time. [It] has become somewhat of a tradition and it allows the show to go someplace new. On top of that, I’ve been trying to build up the show more and more over the years. I have some friends that have been on tour with me for a while now that do stuff like confetti, toilet paper, balloons, etc. They’re coming along with me, and we’re trying to ramp up their ideas to do some more things with them. The big thing with this tour, though, is that it’s the first time I’ll be going out with set design, a lighting director, and a crew of 10 people coming along with me. I have a guy dedicated to video, and all these different things. In

With all the sampling, all the releases, some people might consider what you’re doing not only wrong, but in violation of existing laws. Have you ever come close to being sued or faced any lawsuits? GG: We’ve actually had zero problems so far. We’ve never had a ceaseand-desist or anything. A lot of people see this stuff at a surface level, and the New York Times even said, “A lawsuit waiting to happen,” but it is a grey area according to Fair Use and copyright laws. I don’t know if it’s officially legal or illegal. I feel it should be legal. If someone were to challenge me, I would cite Fair Use. Like you were saying before, a lot of people see the value of this. If you take a step back, it doesn’t create any competition for these artists. It’s not like someone is buying my CD instead of someone else’s. A lot of people are actually turned on to older artists through the sampling. I hear it from fans all the time-young fans getting into Fugazi or Aphex Twin because checking out samples from one of my records. I’ve done that as well and always was able to lookup the samples through Wikipedia. But now I saw the sample lists were taken down. What happened with that?

The day All Day was released, it seemed that the internet was just going crazy. The Illegal Art website seemed to have been overwhelmed. Twitter, Facebook and various news sites were all buzzing about it that day. It was even the #1 US search on Google for that day. That has to be an overwhelming feeling. 27

GIRL TALK RVA MAGAZINE ISSUE 4 GG: The day I released the record was probably one of the greatest days Girl Talk has ever had. It’s hard to articulate everything that was put into this album. I enjoyed putting it together, but it was very stressful. It didn’t seem like the excitement level was that different from when the other records were released. There were no advance copies, no press, and no ads. The day we released it, I knew there would be excitement from all the people who follow the project, but the level where it went was totally unexpected. The Illegal Art website had prepared enough server power for what they thought, but the release seemed to explode and the servers were overwhelmed. It was like Christmas morning when I actually released it. I had such a hard time going to sleep, knowing people were talking about it and writing about it. I woke up in the afternoon around 3 and when I checked out the internet, it just seemed like it had exploded. It’s hard to predict how far this can go, how big it can get. You’re always expecting it to plateau at some point, and it has to eventually. I was really happy to get it out there. I know in the past you had done a few remixes for a few artists, is there any future with that? Furthermore, have Girl Talk’s aspirations changed any? GG: Preparing for the tour has kind of become a full-time job. I love coming up with new Girl Talk and album material. A lot of people see me in the winter, and maybe [at] a festival in the summer. I actively try to stay fresh and have new material ready. That occupies almost all the time I have. I do have a side project with Frank Mussara (from Hearts of Darknesses) called Trey Told ‘Em. I made it a point to stop doing remixes under the name Girl Talk. We did a few remixes under Trey Told ‘Em, where I can incorporate some of the Girl Talk techniques like sampling and cutting up music. But with Trey Told ‘Em, I’m not opposed to adding original instrumentation and being able to do new sounds. Working with someone else, it kind of expands the musical palate. It’s a very rewarding experience, being able to work with Frank over the past year or two. I’m eventually hoping to do a more hip-hop production with him. That’s what we really enjoy listening to, and I think it would be fun to do some straight up beats, something a bit more traditional. I want to keep the Girl Talk thing going with what it is, and separate if possible. Are you playing any festivals this summer? GG: I’m not really allowed to talk about specifics, but I do have a festival-heavy summer. I put out an album every 2 years, and the summer after I put out a record is always exciting. I make it a point to get out there and play the festivals. I love doing that. A summer full of festivals is hard to beat. I love having 1 or 2 big shows a week. It’s a great chance for new gaining a new audience. In early 2008, you played at Toad’s Place (now The Hat Factory), and a friend and I went to see you. We had never been to any electronictype shows before and were just blown away by the intensity of your set. Having talked to others about that show, it seemed to set in motion a chain of events with regards to boosting Richmond’s electronic scene. How does it make you feel knowing that you were partly responsible for kind of boosting the music scene around here? GG: That’s great! When I was first playing like 10 years ago, I was playing with other people with laptops and they were often just like sitting there with a laptop--which was kind of boring, but it worked for them. I wanted to try and do something more engaging. It was all about making the show more “live,” and being able to share the stage with various types of genres. As the venues have increased in size and as the project has progressed, I’ve always tried to make sure to make it “live” and hold it down. I strive to break down walls with the live performances, and any way that I’m helping [to] usher in new music or boost an electronic community, that’s amazing to me. I’ve had so many different experiences that have allowed me to listen to new styles of music and as a result, helped shape my life. If I’m able to plant a seed for anyone else, that’s a wonderful thing.

At Toad’s Place, a hip-hop group opened up for you. At the NorVA, a noise-rock group opened up for you and at JMU, Three 6 Mafia opened up for you. It’s unusual to find an artist who you could book any opening act for, and have it work. GG: As far as support goes, sometimes it isn’t my pick. At the NorVA show for instance, I picked the noise-rock group, even though I knew it might piss some people off. I was hoping at least a few people would walk away who were digging it. I like being able to play with different types of acts. Keeps things interesting and refreshing. Keeps it from being monotonous. Naturally, with all the stuff I’m sampling, it’s hard to define what sound it is exactly. Ideally, rock fans, electronic fans, and hip-hop fans can all enjoy the shows. Of all the touring you’ve done, what’s a standout moment that you can reflect on? GG: One that pops into my head is in 2006, when things started to pick up. I was trying to figure out how to do this thing live. I had always been playing in smaller places, where I could always be right in the crowds face. When it started to pick up, I had to figure out how to do it on this larger level. One of the first things I was booked for was the BE THE RIOTTT! Festival in San Francisco and I had this nice slot right before The Rapture, who were headlining one of the stages. It was before I had a system for getting people on stage at bigger shows with barricades. I was used to just asking people to come up there. I went on this huge stage by myself and I was preparing myself to take it to the limits and do whatever it takes to get it crazy. I commanded the audience to get on stage with me and a few people did. Before I knew it, there was like a stampede of people and the whole audience was overtaking the stage. It was glorious for a minute. I didn’t think it would happen like that. Literally, 6 minutes after it started, they cut my set saying it was too chaotic. They kicked everyone offstage and I was expecting them to let me finish my set going solo, but they told me I was done. I was kind of bummed but then I realized that I had the sickest 6 minute set ever. You seem to be the go-to guy with regards to media rights, being featured in several documentaries (RiP!: A Remix Manifesto ‘http:// ripremix.com/’ and Good Copy Bad Copy ‘http://www.goodcopybadcopy.net/’) involving issues such as copyright laws and music piracy. Do you feel as a society, we’re going in the right direction? GG: As far as I can tell, the laws haven’t really changed much, but I feel we’re moving in the right direction as to how we perceive it. People have been cutting up music for a while now, but 15 years ago, the reaction to releasing a whole album of it would be a lot different. The concept would be a lot more radical. Now, with everyone having computers and access to the various medias, people enjoy being involved with music that they can feel. People enjoy buying a record and being able to remix it, or make a fan-made video for it and put it on Youtube. The idea of remixing what’s already out there is common. There are probably 10 year old children who remix their favorite Justin Beiber song and put it on Youtube. I don’t think you have to explain to people anymore

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“THE DAY I RELEASED THE RECORD WAS PROBABLY ONE OF THE GREATEST DAYS GIRL TALK HAS EVER HAD.” why something can be transformative when it’s based on something preexisting. They’ve seen it, they know it, and they’ve heard that remix that seems nothing like the original but has that element that makes it become something new. I think that we’re all witnessing it, and even 5-10 years ago, could have never predicted what is currently happening. The general idea behind [Girl Talk] was to take something that exists a n d m a ke s o m e t h i n g n e w o u t o f i t ; re - c o n t e x t u a l i ze i t , m a ke

transformative. Now there are so many more examples of that, and because of the technology, there is a change in how people perceive that art. www.illegal-art.net/allday/

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THE

TRILLIONS BY SHANNON CLEARY PHOTOs BY TODD RAVIOTTA

The lights reflect off the smoky corridors as I approach the Trillions’ practice space. The location is a warehouse that has become the stuff of legends. No one is quite sure what used to occupy the space, but there are remnants of bullet holes in the walls. As I proceed, I hear sounds emanating from ahead. It’s the subtle hums of the level themes from the original Super Mario Bros video game. As Charlie Glenn and Robbie King channel their childhood anthems into the rhythm of bass and guitar, one thing becomes incredibly clear--The Trillions are a band predicated on fun attitudes and an intelligent musical approach. The Trillions began in an apartment occupied by Charlie Glenn and guitarist Chris Smith. While Glenn was hard at work harnessing his songwriting prowess, both were also playing in Prabir and the Substitutes. When Glenn would approach a roadblock in the harmonies and melodies of his tunes, he’d ask Smith for a helping hand. It wasn’t until after months of hearing their creations that Smith considered investing himself in making these songs come to life. Things came to a head after a disastrous gig with the Substitutes at DC9. After a band called Tamany Hall proceeded to perform a stellar set that made the Substitutes performance pale in comparison, Smith joined Glenn at the bar for a couple rounds. This was the moment that changed everything. Glenn recalls Smith watching the other band finish their set, and looking over with resolute eyes. “Chris told me he wanted to work on the songs I had been writing,” Glenn reminisces. “It was then that the Trillions really became something more than bedroom fodder.” The Substitutes continued on while the two members contributed the little free time they had to working on this new material. When the Substitutes brought their career to a triumphant close, it provided an opportunity for Glenn and Smith to really consider how to make this new project work. After hearing a few demos, Substitutes bassist Robbie King was on board. He insisted on playing bass, and Smith relinquished the instrument in favor of his more familiar six-stringed guitar. King jokes, “I remember first joining the Trillions and looking at Charlie and going, I never play anyone else’s bass parts. I write my own. But for you, I’ll play your parts.” The room laughs as they recall a Polaroid that shows King manhandling Smith. Perhaps in this brief moment, the true story of how King became the bassist is revealed. King’s involvement in the group soon grew exponentially. While holding down bass duties, he also constructed a rig that allowed the band’s light show aspirations to come to life. The idea emerged from one of Glenn’s dreams. “I had this dream that the Substitutes played a gig with this punk band. When they played, 30

all of their amps and instruments lit up with each note. I remember seeing that and conceiving how wild it would be to rig something together that you could hook your Christmas lights up to and have it respond to sound. I told Robbie about this dream and we got to work.” In each amp, as well as in pieces of the drum kit, King has added several components that use sound transmissions as a way to signal flashes of light to the rhythm of the songs. With a presentation like this, the band engages the audience in a unique way. Although Glenn and Smith will acknowledge the past achievements of groups like Duchess of York with their extravagant stage shows, they were still hesitant when the idea was originally conceived. They feared that it would come across as too overt and a bit lame, for lack of better terminology. After going through the motions of working out the kinks in this lighting rig, though, they began to notice the enhanced energy the flashes of light provided. They found the added element, something that they once considered ridiculous, to be invigorating. The story continued as the Trillions tried out several drummers. Rehearsal after rehearsal after rehearsal, they could not find a suitable candidate for the job. That was when Glenn had a realization. “I always felt as if these songs needed to be played loud. It’s how it sounded in my head. Looking back, it always made perfect sense that Joe [Ferguson] should be the drummer for this band. We needed that energy to back up the sum of all parts, so to speak.” The original resistance to this idea was due to Ferguson’s active role in his other band (the Awesome Few, with Marshall Costan), as well as the fact that he was a full-time student. It didn’t seem like it would work. Then one drunken evening, Glenn popped the question and Ferguson accepted. As Ferguson put it, “All I remember is being really drunk the night before and waking up the next morning going, ‘Fuck, I’m in a band.’” With Ferguson behind the kit, Glenn declares, that was when the Trillions’ sound came about. The ferocity of his playing was the perfect backdrop for the songs Glenn had spinning around in his head. In fact, the more satisfied Ferguson was with the direction of the songs, the louder he would play them. There is an immediacy to the songs that Glenn acquired from lessons taught by Prabir Mehta. “When I worked with Prabir, he laid out the idea that the songs don’t really need to be longer than three minutes and thirty seconds. I would see how he constructed the tunes. From there, I noticed how you could tighten everything up and still have multiple parts in a song that helped retain its excitement. Also, Robbie won’t play anything that exceeds five minutes, isn’t that right?” King nods in approval. “I would just put my bass down and walk away.”

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NICKELUS F With the lineup complete, the first song the band finished was “For The Better.” As Glenn describes it, the song is about the increasing divorce rates throughout society as a whole. In his constant interactions with new and familiar faces, he has discovered how common it is for people to come from a broken family. Themes like this are frequent fodder for the Trillions. In other songs to be featured on an upcoming release, Glenn ponders social terror, the big bang theory, music critics missing the point, and a dream in which he discovered the ability to trade in his brain for a new one. One of the stronger aspects of the group is their desire to challenge the expectations set by most rock music. By incorporating dynamic arrangements and creative note manipulation, The Trillions create rare chord progressions that are more than just pleasant to listen to. They provide a level of excitement in nods to prog-rock, while still maintaining a strong pop sensibility. This is displayed exquisitely by their unforgettable melodies and harmonies. After practicing from August of 2009 until March of 2010, they all realized they were ready to start playing shows. Their first appearance was at Gallery 5, alongside Sports Bar and Duchess of York. Glenn still considers this possibly the best performance the group has had to date. “We put a lot of time into wanting to leave a really good first impression,” he says. “We didn’t want the first show to be at a smaller venue and have no one come out. Gallery 5 made sense. The lineup made sense.” Offers started to come their way and they took on any and all opportunities, even an ill-fated show where Glenn lost his voice, putting Smith into a one-time-only role as lead singer. Once they had achieved some name recognition within the scene, it was time to consider the priorities of the group. The former Substitutes considered the things they learned from their experiences in that band. They saw the benefits of playing out as much as possible, in that it enabled financially stable touring. The only issue was that it led to several lackluster shows, which inadvertently caused strains in the group. Smith notes that “we came to a point when it was about playing out as much as possible. [With The Trillions], it was more about realizing how important it could be to play the right shows for the right people. We wanted to better understand the opportunities that particular shows offered and use that as a catalyst for our decisions as a band.” There were also a few elements of recording that the Trillions wanted to approach differently. The Substitutes were known for their frequent touring, which resulted in many releases being fast tracked by the band so that they’d have something to sell to people on tour. Although Ferguson wasn’t involved in the Substitutes, he had experiences with being on the other side of this scenario. “If I see a band that I really dig the night before and pick up a record, half the battle has already been won. It’s just a shame when you wake up the next day, listen to the record and begin to question if alcohol had more to do with why you had fun the night before [than] the band playing.” To remedy this concern, the Trillions have taken their time with the recording process. Discovering a kindred spirit in Evan Bateman, the group has spent the majority of their time at RVA Studios. By spending as much time as they have, the songs have continued to grow. Ferguson acknowledges the benefits for the band of the time they spent preparing these songs. “I think that the biggest growth for us is not ust being a group of musicians spending three months together and seeing what works. We kept pushing through and making these songs work and make sense. As a result, there is a bond between us all that’s far greater than just a group of dudes playing music together.”

Smith was quick to commend Bateman for what he achieves in the studio space. “Evan just loves what he does. It shows in how he approaches each project. With us in particular, it made sense for us to work with him. He shows this level of respect for the music that he wants the recordings to represent the sound as genuinely as possible. I don’t think there is much more you can ask for.” Glenn further commended Bateman by saying, “He’s really adventurous... He will just be like, ‘Why don’t we record a vocal track with you singing through this tube?’ His genuine enthusiasm and adaptable recording styles really show up in the recording process that, fortunately for us, didn’t end up being too frustrating.” The Trillions also found the RVA Studio space to be incredible, in that everything is in house. They may have to leave to get a few things here and there, but the contents of the old theater allow the band to focus on recording and playing music. It’s a nice change of pace for all parties involved. With a release to be finished any day now, the Trillions only have the future to look forward to. “Now we have a van. I think we could feasibly take all of these recordings we’ve been working on and just move forward with them. We’ve spent a lot of time mastering the ideas behind the group and I think

I remember listening to it and hearing [the lyrics], ‘do what you can, when you can, where you are.’ That summed it up for me. I am so happy with what we have done as a band, and as far as I’m concerned,everything else can fuck off.” that really puts us in a more prioritized place,” Glenn remarks about what the coming year could mean for the Trillions. The Trillions is a band that makes sense for all the members. With future weddings, newborns, houses, college educations and such, they are all at a point in their lives where they need to prioritize the time they can focus on the group. Smith contrasts the current band to the dynamics of the Substitutes, which went through several member changes, with the group continuing to adapt. Glenn chimes in by stating, “It was rough to find that place where we fit in, because we jumped from this very poppy sound to rhythm and blues to Tom Petty-esque rock ’n’ roll. It’s a lot to ask of any fanbase, not to become confused, and to appreciate everything we are creating. Unless you’re Robbie, of course.” With a shrug, King says, “When it comes down to it, my dream job would be working as a producer. I find myself really excited by working with as many people as I can. For now though, The Trillions fit the bill fine.” There was a lot to take away from The Substitutes, as a learning experience. One of these lessons impacted Glenn’s approach to songwriting in general. “We do play pretty standard instruments (in the Trillions), but as far as the notes go, we don’t really play anything

that is pulled from any particular genre. At least, none 4 that I am aware of. I do RVA like toMAGAZINE think that we ISSUE could create some sort of which niche within musical notation that may not exist or be acknowledged quite yet. I try to write with that in mind. I might not be going far enough. Robbie really likes the challenge of playing all of this stuff. Joe really seems to like hearing what the three of us come up with, and contributing from his side of the kit with a hell of a lot of noise. To speak of all of us, Chris has learned some amazing things, as far as guitar playing is concerned, since I met him. The guitar parts that he is playing now are really fun. I don’t try to do it all the time, [but] I do think there are many moments where we all want to push ourselves as far as we can go. If anything, our music isn’t that meticulous that it demands to be played perfectly live. I think there is a lot to gain from that mode of excitement in our live performances.” Smith sees how the challenging nature of the songs has helped push the group to formulate what could be considered the Trillions sound. “These songs are quite a challenge. They have been a challenge for Charlie to write. And we’ve been able to wrap our heads around them. Now that we did it and we’ve kind of got it, I think it might put the ball back in Charlie’s court. All of the new ones that he is coming up with our more Trillions-esque. We have developed a sound I believe. What originally started as us conforming [to] a sound to compliment Charlie’s songs, I think we have now created something that allows the Trillions to exist as a creative component. This is a band that is actually happening.” When contemplating the nature of songwriting and how that defines him as a person, Glenn settles on being secluded from the world in a recording studio as a means of creating as much music as he possibly could. “I do have a lot of stuff in my head floating around. There are a lot of songs on piano, and a lot of them on guitar. They had origins on piano. I guess what I’m getting at is this--if we could stay here for three weeks straight, I think we could easily have twenty more songs. For anyone that has lots of money and a studio, you can lock us in there and we’ll just keep working and working on tunes. I might not be the best physics student or the best guitar teacher. I’m not even that great at washing dishes--you can ask my girlfriend. But I am good at writing songs that I am proud of. And I have so many left to create. It’s something I feel like I need to do before I get hit by a bus or something.” The Trillions feels like the band that the efforts of all four parties have led up to at this point. They have seen and realized that there are more than just two spectrums to the music world. The excitement in the challenge, and the comprehension of achieving something that can be considered different, is validating. When Smith thinks about all the opportunities that have passed, all of the stories unearthed this evening, and what this band means to him, he can only explain it this way: “We are all content to keep doing what we are doing on our time, and I think that’s OK. I made peace with the idea that I might never make a living off of doing this. As a result of that, it’s changed my attitude towards the music that we make. Charlie and I both stared at opportunities where we could have said yes to being in a somewhat big band. I think we both decided that we would be happier to push ourselves with what we are doing here. There was a time where I was propositioned and it looked like this could be my big chance. Charlie played me a song that very night, a song that he had written that will end up being on the record. I remember listening to it and hearing [the lyrics], ‘do what you can, when you can, where you are.’ That summed it up for me. I am so happy with what we have done as a band, and as far as I’m concerned, everything else can fuck off.” www.thetrillionsband.com

Simply Human: The Photographs of Matt Eich By Cheryl S. White Matt Eich, who was named one of Photo District News’s 30 Emerging Photographers to Watch in 2010, uses his work to explore the subtle and often harsh reality of contemporary American life. The first half of his ongoing project, Sin & Salvation In Baptist Town, is currently on view at Lorrie Saunders’s ArtGallery in Norfolk, Virginia. These firsthand, frank, and intimate images provoke a dialogue about the perpetual divisions of race and class in the South. According to Eich, “In a place like Baptist Town, Mississippi, there are two paths you can take in life, but the people I have encountered tread the line between the two, walking both in light and shadow. They are neither good nor evil--they are simply human.” Eich’s award-winning work has been exhibited internationally, and is in the permanent collection of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. His editorial clients are numerous and include National Geographic, TIME, Newsweek, Mother Jones, The FADER, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and GEO. Tell me how you got started in photography. ME: I was about 10 years old. I went on a road trip with my grandfather. It was about the time that my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. I kind of watched her regress into her childhood over a period of time, and watching her lose her memory really kicked off this desire to document life. So I picked up a camera and started making pictures. It evolved from there. I went to school at Ohio University and studied photojournalism. I moved to Norfolk, VA in 2009. How did the Sin & Salvation In Baptist Town project come about? ME: Earlier this year I got an assignment to go to down to Mississippi for AARP. We did a piece about rural health care. So we came into town for a few hours and just started meeting people. I realized how open the community was, and that spurred me to come back on my own a few times after that. How do you transition between your photojournalist work and working on your own projects? ME: There is a lot of crossover. Whenever I’m doing an assignment, I always try to be aware of what the editor’s needs are, but also try for myself to spend time with people. I am always trying, whether it is an assignment or a personal project, to get as close to people as I can. How big is Baptist Town? What’s the population? ME: Greenwood at large is bigger, but Baptist Town, the neighborhood shown in this exhibition in particular, has about 500 people. And you documented it over about 9 months? ME: The project began in April, and this is something I’ll continue into 2011. Do you have an idea of how many photos you have taken? ME: Not really. (laughs) Two thousand, probably, at this point. It has been about fourteen days over the course of five trips down there. Do you know pretty much everyone in town?

and things. That really helped me develop a certain aspect of the work. It gave me time to think about it, to write about it a little bit. That’s how other people engage with the work, which is really important in this stage, before the idea is completely formed. So you get some feedback and thoughts from people about the direction we’ve taken this year. There are a lot of intimate moments that you share in that blog. Baptist Town has a great deal of drugs and violence that you definitely put yourself in the middle of. Do you have any words of wisdom to photographers venturing into similar situations?

ME: I think just about everybody knows who I am when I come there now. Not everyone, of course, but the key players have all encountered me at some point or another. I feel like they have been supportive, and very encouraging to come back.

ME: Always trust your gut. And always know if there is a way out whenever you walk into a room. What’s really helped me there is having people that have my back and I know will look out for me. Otherwise I don’t know if I could move as freely as I do in that place.

I know a lot of images from the show are quite intimate--familiar scenes inside people’s homes, a series of images revolving around a funeral, etc. How do you engage your subjects? How do you get past the barrier that sometimes gets thrown up around photographers?

You share in your blog your concern about being considered “the white boy with a camera.” The population of Baptist Town is predominantly African American. How did your race affect the type of image you were able to get?

ME: I just try to be as vulnerable with people as I hope that they will be with me. I put myself on their turf and on their terms, and just try to get to know who they are. A lot of it has to do with how open you are with them, and not just expecting them to open up immediately. The more time I spend with them, and if I bring back photographs that show the way that I see them, then they can really start to understand the nature of the relationship. I’ve found that helps to break down barriers.

ME: I feel like maybe they viewed me as a little bit of a novelty coming in. Originally people would respond, “what do you want from us?” Well, I don’t want anything from you. I just want to spend time with you. That helped with the mistrust, I think, and over time they started to look at me more like a community photographer, coming and going. A lot of it is them showing me how they want to be portrayed visually. They might throw up a sign or they’d pose and show me what the picture is like to them. And I am bringing those images back to them, but I am also trying to make other images in between those posed pictures.

You wrote about the project while you were working on your blog In My Backyard. Was that always part of the project? ME: We do that regularly, just to keep our viewers up-to-date on things. I’m part of a cooperative of photographers. LUCEO?

Ultimately, after having this body of work, you must go through that process of determining what is good, and what is bad. What is it that you are really hoping to capture in these images, both for this exhibition and for publication? ME: Overall, if I can develop this project the way I‘d like, I want to document this community more in depth and, of course, I want to photograph the white side of

ME: Yes, LUCEO. So we are always updating with our projects and assignments 35

town. I hope to bring an exhibition to the community in that neighborhood. I also want to show commonalities between the two, that they are maybe not as separate as they might seem, even though they are geographically removed from one another, both in the segregation that still stands from what they remember a long time ago and by the barrier of the train tracks between the two places. So that’s the direction it’s heading. Once you go to the other side of town, which is actually Greenwood, do you have any foresight as to how the project might play out? You came into a very open community in Baptist Town. How do you think it’ll be on the other side of the tracks? ME: Well, it is definitely the South, and Southern hospitality goes a long way. I am hoping to just treat people with respect and find that they treat me the same way. Have you ever thought, considering your intention of bringing those communities together for the exhibition, of actually photographing them together physically? Have you found that any relationships cross those train tracks? ME: I’m looking for that. That would be a nice dialogue to show. ME: I think mostly the crossover happens in work. Very few people in Baptist Town are employed, but the catfish farms and things like that employ some. They’ve got white bosses, so that’s probably where most of that overlap happens. I haven’t accessed that quite yet. When you initially approach a project—you have done photojournalistic projects such as Carry Me Ohio, which was a four year project, and for this project you have put in about nine months—do you give yourself a cut-off point? How do you know when this is done? Or do you plan on revisiting it ten years later? ME: I try to set goals for the projects, have an outlet in mind, or kind of an endpoint. For the Carry Me Ohio project, that would be a book. And when I find a home for that, I’ll probably call it a day. For this project it’s going to be a little more in-depth. We are trying to have a multimedia piece with some video aspects. Also there is the exhibition that I want to bring to Greenwood, and a dual-sided book. So it is going to take a little longer to pull all the pieces together. When you look around the exhibition, there are some distinct storylines. There is definitely an overarching idea, with some images oriented to people, and ones that lend themselves to a larger narrative. Others are devoid of humans but contain the weight of human presence, and you have included a video installation. How do you decide which images to show, which ones you are going to put into a video, or in a specific location? ME: I guess it depends on the outlet. In terms of exhibitions, trying to get to know the space, how you can create a flow or an experience. When it’s the printed page, it is often dictated by an editor. But in book form, it is a little more free-flowing, as you try to create this cumulative track of your work. Then the video of course, I’m always looking for pictures that move. It’s sort of what that boils down to. Was this your first time using video? ME: It was. It is a transition you see pretty regularly, photographers moving into new media/video. How did it work out for you? ME: From the beginning, a fun start, and it has been pretty successful for the exhibition. It was able to show people what it felt like to be there in a way that pictures… Well, pictures only say so much, but when 36

you see someone move, or they look back at you, it can really take people there in a different way. It really does give life to the whole body of work. I have an ongoing debate with photographers about how to stay truthful. Photojournalistic work does have the ability to easily exploit someone. How do you stay true to your subject but also true to what you want to shoot and the story you want to tell? Do you have a way of balancing those two needs? ME: It is always a question of communicating with people. I try not to walk into situations and say, “I know what the story is. I’m here for this, this, and this,” and check it off the list. I’d rather just sit and talk with people and have them tell what the story is, what is important for them, what they are looking for. It is a very organic process. Truthfulness is something that’s always debated in photography. Especially now, the veracity of the image is always questionable. Photojournalists have certain ethical constraints and guidelines that we work within. But outside of that is trying to push the boundaries of what has been done, trying to push into an area that might be a little fresher. Tell me about LUCEO and how that came about. ME: Well, there are six of us in the group that formed about four years ago, and became a business in 2009. We are a cooperative of photographers. It is a photographer-owned and operated business. So we all divvy up the tasks within the group. Everyone’s got

“I just try to be as vulnerable with people as I hope that they will be with me. I put myself on their turf and on their terms, and just try to get to know who they are. A lot of it has to do with how open you are with them, and not just expecting them to open up immediately.” their own assignments and roles, and are responsible for reporting back to the group about what gets done. We manage to work on our own personal photography projects but we are always collaborating, trying to edit one another’s stuff, and in communication about how we can push the business. During this project you got to know the very intimate lives of many of Baptist Town residents, sometimes taking multiple images over a period of time. Are there any specific people that you have a special interest in or who helped you out along the way? ME: There are a few people that are very close to me at this point, and I think about them very fondly. And you get to the point that you miss them when you haven’t seen them in a while. One is Ellen. There is an image of her smoking a cigarette. Beautiful, beautiful image. ME: The guy Winky, with the lazy eye, he’s got my back. He’s the reason why I can work there. And Vicki, I’m looking forward to going back and hanging out with her and her kids. And there are all these people I could circulate between, if I’m not hanging out with one, I can go to another person’s house. That makes it a lot easier being there, when you have people that know you. How long is your typical work trip?

ME: The longest trip I’ve had so far was five days and that was funded by an editorial client. The trips I’ve done on my own are much shorter and more pointed. They’re usually about 48 to 72 hours a piece and I’ll drive from here [Norfolk] to Mississippi and right back. It’s about a day and a half to get there and a day and a half to get back. What type of advice do you have for young photographers? ME: Understand the business enough to sustain yourself. If you can’t eat, you can’t make pictures. Aside from that, try and find something that you really care about, run with it and make it yours. It’s really all about larger bodies of work when you are trying to make a statement or an impact. Single images can carry a certain amount of weight, and no one is discounting the weight of a strong photograph, but a series of images together really starts to be something. So what kind of camera do you use? ME: Canon digital for the most part. [On] certain other projects I shoot film, it depends on the outlet. But this work is all with a Canon 5D Mark II. Do you take a stand on the digital versus film world? ME: Not really. For the most part I shoot digital for a time or for certain projects. It is pretty cost-effective and I’ve managed to get it to a place where I am pretty pleased with colors. I’m trying to work within this color palette that’s actually akin to the film that I shoot. I do want to keep that kind of consistency. But there are certain projects where I need that flawed or human feeling that comes from film, when you never know exactly what you are going to get. You never know. It’s a surprise. ME: Yeah, but that is what matters. How much work do you put into the images after the shoot? Any cropping? Color correcting? ME: Very little. It is all digital darkroom, so some dodging, burning, contrasting, things like that. There is a little bit of color correction, just trying to keep it within my palette. Do you think you have a favorite image, or one of a particular subject that tells the story? I know it’s like asking a parent who your favorite child is. ME: Right, I’m afraid they can hear (laughs). But I really don’t know. I think that I’m still looking for the image that is going to define this project. And it changes over time. Of course, over time, and the further you go in this story, everything could shift. ME: Yeah, images that carried a lot of weight in the beginning start to fall down the stack and others come up from behind. It is just an interesting process, the whole evolution that started the body of work. Trying to continue to amass images that say something new without being repetitious, and trying to continue to push deeper and deeper into people’s lives until you get to a place where you can see it all come together. -----------------------------------------------------------Cheryl White is an art historian and art consultant currently living and working in Norfolk, VA. SIN & SALVATION IN BAPTIST TOWN – showing through March 10, 2011. Lorrie Saunders ArtGallery, 424 W 21st Street, Norfolk, VA FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT Lorrie Saunders at lsaunders@artgalleryls.net or 757-627-9808 / 757-635-1162 www.artgalleryls.net www.facebook.com/ArtGalleryLS www.luceoimages.com www.matteichphoto.com

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NICKELUS F BR: We definitely consider ourselves an indie band in that sense. And then also with RVA“baby” MAGAZINE 4 subject matter. We’re not gonna write a song that says 12 times inISSUE the chorus. Not because we feel that we’re better than those people, but just because... why not try and break that mold? It’s a shame that we’re saying “break that mold,” because in our eyes, that’s how music should be. It should always have something to say. AH: There’s more out there than just a love song. And I love love songs. Who doesn’t? Or heartbreak songs. But there are other things to talk about. Do you feel like you run into bands who are on the same level you’re on, but are secretly trying to be rock stars? BR: Oh yeah. You see that all the time. And it’s so easy to tell. AH: There are a lot of people out there who just have the attitude, that don’t have the numbers or whatever to back that. It’s like, “Dude! Come back down to earth.” BR: We just got off tour with a band like that. It was very frustrating to be around. AH: It bugged me. I was like, “Dude. Set up your amp. Do it yourself. Restring your own guitar.” BR: We were the first of four on that tour. We did everything ourselves. And then we see these guys, who have one guy aside from the band touring with them, who they made load in and out all of their gear by himself. They were never at their merch table, never meeting anybody, just huddling by themselves. It was bad. Getting back to the record, it seems like the song “Better Life” was written from the perspective of thinking back on difficult times. BR: Yeah. I’ve said in other interviews, that’s definitely the most honest and raw [song] I’ve ever written, because that’s all true. I actually did drink myself into the hospital once. It means the world to me to see so many people connecting with that song. That’s my favorite thing about being a lyricist. When I get those messages on the internet, or when kids come up to me after a show and say, “‘Better Life’ speaks to me. It says things I wish I could say.” That’s why I love what I do. But yeah, all those things really happened. So don’t take 24 shots of vodka. (laughs) Speaking of such things--you guys have a reputation on the internet for being a Christian band. BR: I know. I really have no idea how we got that. Personally, I’m a very faithful person, I believe in fate and all that, and I’m a very spiritual person as well. But organized religion, for lack of a better way of saying this, has pissed me off. I disagree with all of it. So... I’m not Christian. AH: Some of us are, some of us aren’t. I actually did an interview where a guy asked about it. On our second EP we have a song called “Born Again Question” that is somewhat against organized religion, or at least what it’s become. Not the faith itself, but the dollar signs. BR: Right. It’s geared towards the way the cross has taken the shape of a dollar sign. AH: I told him about that, and he said, “Are you guys anti-Christian?” And I said, “No, that’s not it at all.” BR: Yeah. I hate the boxes people try to put on things. We have a hard enough time trying to classify our music. We don’t want to put anything in a box. We don’t want to operate with something smaller than what it could be. And that label is ostracizing. AH: I just like keeping that as a personal thing. We don’t sing about that kind of stuff, so if someone’s personally a Christian, great. If they’re not, that’s fine too. We’re about to go on tour with two Christian bands, Haste The Day and Oh Sleeper. We think the world of them, and I support everything they do. But we’re just different. Do you guys notice that it seems like every band that comes along in the emo scene these days is Christian? AH: There’s a lot. BR: And I honestly think it’s sort of a business plan. If you claim Christian, you’re always going to have backing right off the bat. AH: A built-in audience. BR: Like that band The Devil Wears Prada. They claimed to be a Christian band, and they got skyrocketed up. I think it’s really contradictory when their last EP was called The Zombie EP. How are zombies Christian? But I don’t know. I’m gonna hold my tongue, because I’ll just go off and be inappropriate. myspace.com/conditionsband

rian McDaniel, who is a fan of knitted ties, button up shirts and 1950s television shows, does not claim to be an expert on fashion. After starting a fashion blog that has become an overnight sensation, however, McDaniel is emerging as a style icon in Richmond. The Richmond native studied Business Management Administration at Virginia Commonwealth University and is currently pursuing his graduate certificate in Nonprofit Organization Management. Surrounded at VCU by art majors and other creative types, the self-described “sometimes shy and awkward” McDaniel was in need of a hobby he could share. “While studying abroad in Hong Kong, I met a girl from Paris. I wanted to show her the way people dress back home but all I had were Facebook pictures. I thought maybe there is something here, something I can do when I get back.”

DIRTY RICHMOND BY MARY BONNEY / PHOTOS OF BRIAN BY BREE DAVIS

Nestled in a corner booth at Lamplighter Roasting Company, McDaniel proudly explains the beginnings of Dirty Richmond, a blog dedicated to documenting the collective fashion of Richmond. Inspired by The Sartorialist, a popular fashion blog from New York City, McDaniel decided to create a photographic blog that captured River City style. He is quick to justify the attention-grabbing name: “We wanted to have Richmond in the title so it’s easy to find but I didn’t want to have ‘fashion’ or ‘style’-that’s generic and boxes [the blog] into those categories. Richmond is really dirty, there’s no way around it. There are nice places, but point blank, Richmond is dirty, and the blog is about capturing the city.”

DIRTY RICHMOND RVA MAGAZINE ISSUE 4

“OVER THIRTY-SIX COUNTRIES HAVE VISITED DIRTY RICHMOND AS WELL, INCLUDING THE UNITED KINGDOM, FRANCE, TURKEY, INDIA AND MOROCCO.” Armed with a camera and a plan, McDaniel was ready to take aim. “My friend Betsy Bell and I would just sit in the Commons waiting for people. We were scared to go anywhere else. It was exciting explaining to people what we were doing.” If you’re unfamiliar with the Dirty Richmond Tumblr, an understandable recoil occurs when a stranger approaches asking to post your photo on a suggestively named website. Brian laughs, “I don’t get as many no’s now as I used to. The trick is to not be a creeper.” McDaniel has his spiel down to a brief description of the site that tries to make the Dirty Richmond blog seem more about documenting the residents of Richmond than their fashion, although fashion remains at the heart of his photographs. Dirty Richmond has skyrocketed in popularity since its inception in early September 2009. The blog was created through Tumblr, a micro blogging

website, and Dirty Richmond currently has over 1,600 fellow bloggers following its posts. In addition to these followers, Dirty Richmond garners hundreds of views a day, with some posts bringing well over a thousand daily views according to Google Analytics. All fifty states have perused the fashion of Richmond including large groups of visitors from major nearby cities, such as Washington, D.C., Baltimore and New York City. Over thirty-six countries have visited Dirty Richmond as well, including the United Kingdom, France, Turkey, India and Morocco. The photographs on Dirty Richmond have steadily become more professional. In the earliest posts, pictures are grainy and could easily pass as cell phone pictures. McDaniel, who has no photographic experience prior to Dirty Richmond, has slowly improved his skills. “I try to include a really good mix of lots of different photos. I just do photography as a hobby, I didn’t go to school 43

DIRTY RICHMOND RVA MAGAZINE ISSUE 4

go to school for it, so I’m trying to develop my skills and take better photos. The photos focus about what I like about the person’s wearing, so I’ll zoom in sometimes, since it’s easy to miss what I think they have going on.” The more McDaniel posts on Dirty Richmond, the easier it has become to approach others for photographs. “I think now people know Dirty Richmond and they’re kind of happy, kind of stoked [to be asked to pose for a photograph]. Sometimes I have to persuade people, like tell them what I like that they’re wearing.” Dirty Richmond is not a typical “judgmental fashion blog” as McDaniel puts it. He does not limit the photographs solely to high fashion or street wear, but rather intends to display an interesting mix of things he finds fashionable and what others might find appealing. Sometimes it’s not an entire outfit that catches McDaniel’s attention but rather a walk of confidence or a specific piece of an ensemble. “I try to be inclusive by having a mixture of people. I want readers to see real people, not stick-thin fashion models. I still get giddy when I take a picture of someone who I know will be unexpected.” And there is no shortage of unexpected fashion in Richmond. McDaniel believes that the city provides a supportive atmosphere for the creative, an environment where residents are unafraid to express themselves through the way they dress. AJ Lund, who has made several appearances on the fashion blog, agrees. “Brian has a really good way of representing all of 44

Richmond and fueling the notion that this city is filled with interesting and motivated people.” One of McDaniel’s close friends, Dekota Walker, is often featured on Dirty Richmond as well, and enjoys being part of the blog’s success. “I love Dirty Richmond and I’m so glad that I can be a part of something that brings people from all different walks of life together through what Brian’s doing… I’m still honored every time he asks to take my picture.”

Dirty Richmond, though, is evolving into more than an online record of the city’s collective style. McDaniel has slowly begun to incorporate spotlights on local businesses and promotes fundraisers that benefit Richmond, such as the Byrd Theater or riderichmond.net, an online forum for Richmond’s biking community. “I like to include things I do in my normal life, like when my friends and I are visiting Very Berry. I want to get these things out there--what’s going on in Richmond, places people can check out.”

“PEOPLE I PHOTOGRAPH ARE INTERESTING AND I THINK OTHER PEOPLE WOULD BE INTERESTED TOO.”

DIRTY RICHMOND RVA MAGAZINE ISSUE 4

“THAT’S PROBABLY THE BEST THING ABOUT DIRTY RICHMOND--MEETING PEOPLE I WOULD NEVER TALK TO OR EXPECT TO BE FRIENDS WITH.” The blog sometimes features interviews with the photo’s subject as well. “People I photograph are interesting and I think other people would be interested too.” McDaniel hopes the blog will help Richmonders meet others with common interests. “You can meet people through the blog, which I think is amazing.” Though interviews don’t receive as much attention as unaccompanied pictures, McDaniel maintains they are an integral part of capturing Richmond’s diverse population. McDaniel has also begun collaborating with local artists including photographer Ian Newell and sculptor Matt Wilson. Dirty Richmond also took part in First Fridays at Gallery 5 this past March. As Dirty Richmond continues to catch the attention of local and international followers alike, McDaniel plans to keep the blog as interesting as the fashion in Richmond. “I hope the way I photograph continues to develop. I want to features more people and continue incorporating places in Richmond. I think the blog has been successful because I post almost every day--it gives you a reason to come back,and that’s going to continue.” McDaniel has a deep personal investment in Dirty Richmond that goes beyond the pride in creating a popular, novel website. What started out as a fashion website has become his unintentional online diary. “I feel like I have a strong connection to the blog, because I didn’t expect to look through older pictures and remember things. I’ll remember how cold it was that day, or that I was late for class because I took a picture of someone I didn’t want to miss, or that’s the day I first met someone who ended up becoming a great friend. I can approach people now and talk to them. I can develop friendships [I might not have] if I wasn’t doing this. That’s probably the best thing about Dirty Richmond--meeting people I would never talk to or expect to be friends with.” McDaniel also admits that capturing the fashion in Richmond has influenced the way he dresses. “Sometimes I see things I think I can maybe pull off, or things I could never do. I think people get too focused on being comfortable though--you don’t have to sacrifice [fashion] for [comfort]. I keep that in mind when I dress.” While McDaniel believes he tries to stay well

dressed because he was raised to be presentable, he maintains a stylish outfit can do wonders for self-confidence. “When you have a good outfit on, you feel good about yourself, so why not have this feeling everyday? You’re ready to make impressions on people, and [dressing well] prepares me for that. I used to watch Nick at Nite when they showed classics like The Dick Van Dyke Show and I Love Lucy, and all the men wore suits. That really inspired me to be well dressed too.” So whether you’re dressing to impress or running late to work, don’t be surprised if Brian

McDaniel stops you for a quick photograph. With one picture, you’ll be adding your ensemble to the online archives of Richmond fashion and showing the world a snapshot of the eclectic style found in capital of Virginia. “The success of Dirty Richmond is unbelievable and surreal,” McDaniel says. “I encourage people to do what they love. I’m so happy I started it. I still love it, and I hope that comes across in the blog.” . dirtyrichmond.tumblr.com

FUTURISTIC SOUL by R.Anthony HarriS

With mystical, racial, and cultural identity issues dripping from each image, his work is a challenging catalog to categorize. Pulled from the deep folds of this VCU studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mind are photos reminiscent of Alejandro Jodorowskyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s EL TOPO. Each complex and disturbing piece is a lonely reflection of his inner self. Intrigued, I contacted Yussef, and we discussed religion, divine purpose, and the birthplace of a soul. No BIG DEAL.

Yussef, where are you from and how did you get into doing what you do?

What is the connection of those themes with you as a person?

YO: Manifested in Newport News Virginia, but honestly, I really don’t know where “from” is. Sounding sarcastic or complicated is my least concern when I say I have always believed that a specific location, with a changing climate and traditions, doesn’t determine the birthplace of a soul. It’s not about where you have lived, but where the ventures of your mind and imagination have taken you to call home. In essence, the genesis of my work and what I do all began from the thought of depicting the place my mind calls home.

YO: Every piece of me, which includes my work, my attitude, and even my daily thought process, is a part of my divine purpose. My mind is always in its purest form because I have complete faith that my soul is the art of perfection.

At what point did you start to incorporate your religious, mystical, and racial themes? YO: Knowing religion is the factor that creates people to only believe, and have full faith in what completely engulfs their fate, can mark the point of its importance in my work. Every person was completely manifested from a higher being that hasn’t evolved but has always been wherever our souls reside. This artist known as GOD created art pieces with different shades of colors, textures, voices, and dimensions that could create for themselves. That is the great perfection our minds reside in. So why not base my art off the mystical theory of life that we all question--the definition and purpose of creation itself.

What are you hoping the viewer pulls from your work? YO: Basically to let every being understand that art is RAW and is the very purpose of expression. My expressions are mirrors of my soul, and the tunnel to the most divine realm of my creation. Honestly there is no correlation [between] my art and the feelings or acceptance of people who see it upon completion. Who cares about what the viewer gets? They get whatever I give; my soul. Being a VCU student, you still have a lot of choices in front of you. Do you see yourself as a fine artist, maybe going into fashion photography or something else...? YO: Sure as creation inspires my spirit, I feel that all things are possible and those ventures can be accomplished and expanded. It’s hard to explain but my reality is what I lack in total, having faith that my inner me will take me to where I am destined to be. It may sound like there is not a plan of my success but in actuality there

is. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m confident my divine GPS system will order my steps in perfect alignment with opportunities that will take me to where I am destined to be. In your opinion, how do your teachers view your work? Do they encourage it? YO: Funny story is none of my professors have seen my work. So I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really know their opinions on it. But as I stated before their opinions will only reflect their life experiences that connect them to an editorial or art piece. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not God so the engineering of those relating life experiences that will cause them to encourage it, I have not control over. Basically, their gestures to my work are forces I cannot control or be affected by. How do you feel about Richmond? YO: I feel like Richmond has had a positive impact on my life as far as knowing where things are going for me in the future. This place has opened my eyes to many new arrays of art form that are now assets to my project and vision. But also, more than anything, it has made me more hungry to relocate and explore new creative places as it is. Photographer Yussef Agbo-Ola // allwe-have.com

PHOTO: MARTIN LYON

A legend in the hardcore punk scene, widely regarded as one of the greatest bass players ever to pick up the instrument, Mike Watt nonetheless still sees himself as a regular guy from San Pedro. Growing up in that Los Angeles county port town in the late 70s, Watt and his best friend D. Boon formed a band called The Minutemen, which became one of the most important bands in the American hardcore scene of the early 80s. Often associated with labelmates and touring buddies Black Flag, the Minutemen were more like the flipside of Flag’s primal rage. They wrote concise tunes that used little or no distortion, taking more influence from jazz and Creedence Clearwater Revival than they took from the punk bands around them. Then they overlaid those weird little tunes with unconventional but insightful lyrics. Their philosophy revolved around “jamming econo”--prizing thriftiness and simplicity, and disdaining pretension. The Minutemen are probably most famous today for their song “Corona,” which many of you will know as the theme song to the Jackass TV show. That song comes from their groundbreaking 1984 double album, Double Nickels On The Dime, listed in 2003 by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Tragically, the Minutemen story was brought to an end two years after the release of that album, when D. Boon was killed in a van accident. A grief-stricken Watt was left to pick up the pieces after the loss of his best friend and writing partner. Twenty-five years later, he still dedicates all of his albums to D. Boon. The Minutemen story is told in much greater detail in the 2005 documentary We Jam Econo--go see it.

MIKE WATT BY

ANDREW NECCI

After recovering from the loss of Boon, Watt formed fIREHOSE with Minutemen drummer George Hurley and exuberant young guitarist Ed Crawford. That band was active until 1994. Since then, Watt has divided his efforts between solo albums and collaborations with other alternative rock heavy hitters (Sonic Youth, Dave Grohl, Dinosaur Jr guitarist J Mascis, etc.). Today, he is busier than ever. He’s got a new group, The Missingmen, and a brand new album (which he calls his “third opera”). Hyphenated-Man, whose songs are all named after characters from Hieronymous Bosch paintings, comes out on March 1st on Watt’s own label, clenchedwrench. The tour for that album will bring he and The Missingmen to Richmond’s Canal Club on March 29, where they’ll play the entire album in sequence. But that’s not all Mike Watt is up to these days. He has two different bands with Wilco guitarist Nels Cline: Brother’s Sister’s Daughter and Floored By Four. He and George Hurley play together on occasion, both as a duo and in the five-piece improvisational combo The Unknown Instructors. He does irregular episodes of a podcast called The Watt From Pedro Show, and maintains a very active internet presence at Mike Watt’s Hoot Page. He recently played a show with notoriously reclusive experimental musician Jandek. He still plays occasional sets with The Secondmen, who were his backing band for his 2004 album The Secondman’s Middle Stand. On top of all that, Watt just got back from a tour with The Stooges, Iggy Pop’s late 60s/early 70s band. The Stooges, who broke up in 1974, reformed in 2003 and recruited Watt to replace their deceased original bass player. They’ve since recorded an album, 2007’s The Weirdness, and toured the entire world multiple times. We started the interview talking about the most recent Stooges tour. I tried to control my nerves and avoid asking stupid questions while having my first conversation with one of my all-time musical heroes. I think I did OK. 50

They tell me you just got back from Australia with The Stooges. How was that?

You can see the influence, definitely, but I almost feel like I hear more fIREHOSE in it than Minutemen.

Aw man, I love playing with The Stooges.

Yeah, I wrote some, especially on [fIREHOSE’s 1991 album] Flyin’ The Flannel. I think there are four or five songs on there I wrote on guitar. Which is strange, you know. That’s probably what you’re hearing. Stuff like the song “Flyin’ The Flannel.” I only know a few little idioms and motifs on guitar, so... (laughs) I can’t really hold a pick, so I just put my fingers together, tight.

So are you guys writing any new material? Well, [guitarist] James [Williamson] is always jamming with some licks and stuff. Maybe stuff is coming down the pipe, I don’t know. When we do practice, he’s always got some little tuneage he’s working on. So you’re playing with Tom Watson and Raul Morales these days. What drew you to form that group? Tom Watson, Raul Morales, the Missingmen. Tom was from a band called Slovenly that was around in the Minutemen days. And then Raul was from the 90s punk scene that developed here in San Pedro. So in a way they were linked to two different worlds that I thought were kinda important, because I was using some Minuteman things to do the third opera. The little-song format. Even though we got it from Wire. (laughs) I wanted a Minutemen link without--with respect to Georgie and D. Boon, not ripping off the Minutemen. (laughs) I don’t know if that’s clear enough... But they seemed like the guys to do this project. We took a couple of years to do some touring and stuff, but also I wanted them to play together a bunch. Even when I did the piece, I taught Tom the guitar, and then worked out the drums with Raul. I never let them hear the bass, and I never let them hear the singing. Even when they went to record it, it was just guitar and drums. I wrote the whole thing on D. Boon’s guitar. (laughs) And I’m not really much of a guitar player. What I know I learned from D. Boon. I did a little bit of it in fIREHOSE, I did a little bit of it in Minutemen. Sometimes I didn’t want to write the bass part first. But you know, mostly I write on the bass. Bass is such a strong element in all of your music, it almost seems strange to me to think of those guys not having heard the bass parts. Well, I thought I would get rid of the only Minuteman, you know? I thought it might pull them too far in the Minutemen direction. If they didn’t hear any Minutemen bass, you know, it wouldn’t have to be that way. (laughs) There’s one solo in the second part that Tom Watson wrote himself, but all the rest follows all my lines on my demos. I wanted to do something kind of different that way, because of this thing of using the Minutemen’s stuff. I didn’t want to rip off my own band.

What led you to Hieronymous Bosch’s artwork? Oh, I don’t know, as a kid... you know, I was into dinosaurs too. Strange creatures. I don’t know... (laughs) as a kid, what strikes you. But I got to see him at the Prado--we did Madrid on tour with The Stooges. I got to see him up close, and at the same time, I was helping with that We Jam Econo documentary. And it seemed like he did one big thing out of a bunch of little things, and that seemed to be like what the Minutemen did (laughs). The idea of the little men, too, fit my idea of middle age. And I mixed it with this Dorothy in the Wizard Of Oz thing, and her tripping on what guys do to be guys. That’s kind of my take on it. I don’t know if I’m right or not. I’ve heard something about there being a Buddy Rich connection, too? One of the tunes has a quote from him. You know about those tapes? It’s about 12 or 13 minutes of him on the bus just tearing the band an asshole. “Blowing-It-Out-Both-Ends-Man,” that’s Buddy Rich. It starts off with them playing really shitty, and then it works to the point where he don’t want anybody with beards in the band. (laughs) “This is the Buddy Rich band. Young men with faces, not the goddamn House Of David baseball team.” He’s enraged, it’s after the gig. He’s just raging on these guys. I guess by this point he’s playing with kids just out of college, not too competent, and he’s going off. And you know, people get in their rages... It’s all about different facets of persona, you know. Getting belligerent. You say “be old man punk” in “Antlered-Man.” Is that how you see yourself? As an old man punk? Yeah, or middle aged. Not too old to be punk. I don’t know if you can be too old to be punk. I hope not. Yeah, me too. I’m with you there (laughs). But yeah, it’s a little character builder thing I’m whispering to myself to get some confidence up. 51

It seems like there are a few things like that on the record.

town. It was kinda neat... they were the next shift. Or the next shift after. I saw videos online of different groups of Pedro musicians re-recording the Reactionaries songs. I know you played on one of the rerecordings. What was that like?

Well, with middle age, sometimes the reaction is to try to act like a young man, and you know, it’s kinda ridiculous. Because you’re in a different place in the journey. It’s a hard thing to reconcile it, accept it. That don’t mean you don’t have to try hard, you know? Do what you’re doing, working the basics, do expression, art. But you are in a different place on the journey. I still like the idea of... punk was like, for us, a state of mind, you know? Wasn’t really a style of music. So why can’t it be there when you’re less young? So that’s what I say to myself at that point.

One side [of the LP] is the rerecorded thing. The other side’s 1979 [the demo]. There’s two versions of every song. And I’m on two of [the rerecordings]. I played bass on one, and I sang on one. They asked me to. It was put together by Craig Ibarra--it was his main thing. I thought it was very kind of him, to give attention to this band.

The new album’s on clenchedwrench, which is your own label. What other stuff do you have planned for that?

Have you contemplated doing a big deluxe edition reissue of Double Nickels On The Dime?

I’ve got a whole bunch of shit. That’s why I started the label, because I’ve got like 12 or 13 things in the pipeline. Because I was doing a lot of gigs. Which, I love gigs and stuff, but I want to get a little more balance with the works. Because they’re here after you, and gigs kind of just go into the air or people’s memories. And they’re very important, but I think it’s good to have works too. If Bosch only talked about those little men instead of drawin’ em, I would have never saw ‘em. (laughs) Most of [the upcoming albums] are collaborations, so it’s not just the same Watt thing over and over. I try to really give myself to that proj, so they have lives of their own. The next thing coming out is the fourth Dos album. Dos, you know, I’ve had for 25 years. It’s my longest running band.

Mmm... no. It’d be good to have a CD version of the actual album. [Note: the current CD version is missing three songs from the original vinyl version of the album.] So I want to maybe work on that, but I like what it is for what it is. Probably the best record I ever played on (laughs). I tried remixing it once, and it was terrible.

Yeah, you and [former Black Flag bassist] Kira [Roessler].

Oh, really? Yeah, about 300 [remixed] CDs were sold. I didn’t know about that. I knew it was different on CD than it is on vinyl, but that’s about it.

Right. And I’ve got an album coming out with two Italian musicians, that I did in Italy. Il Sogno Del Marinaio. I went over there for six gigs, and just did an album. I’ve been getting more brave to do shit like that. Just go with it. And I got something called Spielgusher where I went to Tokyo with a husband and wife team. I made some pretty little pieces of music to go with Richard Meltzer spoken word. And that’s a trip. I got... (laughs) there’s a lot of stuff coming out. I wanna spread ‘em out, the releases, so they all have their own lives--they don’t just get lumped in like some Mike Watt vanity ego blast trip. (laughs)

Yeah. In those days, the format couldn’t hold enough time.

I think it’s good, though, because you haven’t put out many records in the last little while.

OK, I’ll have to play my best for you!

No. In the last ten years, there’s been two operas, and a couple of Banyan records with [Jane’s Addiction drummer Stephen] Perkins, and the Unknown Instructors--both of those things were kinda improvised. And then I was on the Stooges Weirdness album... But yeah, not a lot of stuff. And then in 2007, I started collaborating on this project called Funanori, and after that, I’m just more and more using the internet, a lot of it. Some of it is actually going and jamming with people at the studio and recording, but a lot of it is trading files. Something I never did when I was younger. Well, it’s not really been all that possible for that long. Right. It’s a different time. (laughs) Speaking of collaborations, you played with Jandek recently. What was that experience like? That was wild. One of the most intense gigs... a hundred-minute song, with very interesting players. His music is very... under his own person. I dug it much. I didn’t know where it was gonna go. I think he was interested in seeing where it would go, too. He didn’t give a lot of direction. He just wanted it to happen, I think. Very nice man. He talked to me for a few hours before the gig and he knew about the old days. He knew about the Minutemen and Black Flag. He wasn’t in a cave or anything. I didn’t talk to him about all the mysterioso things. In fact, he never even told me his name. I didn’t care. I just thought, “I get to play with him.” You know? I only knew him from those records. But it seemed like he wanted what was in the moment to happen, so that’s what I did. It was wild. It was fun. (laughs) It really was. That’s rad. He played in Richmond a few years ago, and I went to see it. It was... something else. He told me about other gigs he had been doing, and it seems like they’re all different. It depends on who he’s playing with. Yeah. The one I saw was very different from some of the other shows I’ve heard. It was cool. I feel glad I had the opportunity to get to see him play. Yeah. I remember telling him, “I feel a little bit scared here, about doing this. I’m into it, I’m very much into it, but I’m a little scared.” He says, “Don’t worry, man, it’s gonna be right up your alley.” (laughs) That’s what he told me. It was like, “All right!” (laughs) Yeah, he was a great cat. I saw that [pre-Minutemen band] The Reactionaries demo got put out recently on vinyl. Yeah! (laughs) By a Pedro label. Was that a surprise to hear from them after all that time? Sure. Those are the first songs I ever wrote. They were pretty bad. (laughs) It’s the people that Raul was from. That period. I was touring so much I didn’t even know there was a punk scene in Pedro. In our days, we were the only ones in 52

Well, that’s basically all I had to ask you. That’s good stuff, though. Thanks for talking with me, I’m a huge fan and I can’t wait to see you here in March.

www.hootpage.com www.theminutemen.com www.clenchedwrench.com www.sstsuperstore.com (order Minutemen and fIREHOSE records here)

RESTAURANT // VENUE // ARCADE

929 W. GRACE ST · (804) 447 - 4763 www.STRANGEMATTERRVA.com DINE IN, CARRY OUT, AND DELIVERY! LOG ONTO OUR WEBSITE TO VIEW OUR MENU “VEGAN FRIENDLY, CARNIVORE APPROVED” AND CHECK OUT OUR UPCOMING EVENTS! 53

YOU’RE GOING TO DIE. With DR. KEVIN WALEY By DAVID KENEDY

nless you are in a sweet vampire cult, or you’re The Simpsons (please die), or Liv Tyler in Lord of the Rings before she gave away her shiny elf necklace, or Larry King…Live (opportunity to say “no pun intended” but I HATE that so I won’t), or you are the universe because now they are saying that it just expands and contracts back and forth forever? Or does it explode again once it gets too big? What? Anyway, you’re going to die. Seriously. I really don’t want to get all existential on you right now and harsh on your weed vibes, but you are. Richmond has a pretty nasty homicide rate; at one point recently it was 3rd per capita in the whole country. And the suicide rate is sadly pretty high as well. And yet, people go about their busy, daily routines, wasting time and letting their lives evaporate into thin air. Thinking about this made me decide to have a talk with a guy who sees dead bodies in Richmond a lot. Like every day. Dr. Kevin Waley is the Assistant Chief Medical Examiner at the Richmond City Morgue. He has been doing this for many years and is the man who will crack open your skull to find out when your brain started to lose oxygen just before your soul jumped onto the next plane. He’s also a super nice guy. How did you get into this? Was this something that you jumped right into, like were you the kid on the playground cutting up frogs when you were a kid? KW: (Laughs) No, I actually started off as an orchestral musician. I played trombone in a symphony and worked at Disney World for a little while. Then I went back to school to do my pre-med, which I had decided [on] one day, because I had already been interested in science and math and medicine and that kind of stuff. I knew I wanted to do this when I went back to med school. Wow. So, Disney World to autopsies. KW: (laughs) Yeah.

What are some of the most common cases that you see here? KW: Probably some of the most common cases that we get here, like day in and day out, are suicides. I did my residency up in New York and I thought that we had a lot of suicide cases there, but actually if you average it out, [Richmond] probably has at least 2 to 1, suicides to homicides. So it’s pretty much a daily… it’s our bread and butter. If you don’t talk about motor vehicle accidents. I mean, we have more of those. Motor vehicle accidents don’t typically get a full autopsy, unless there’s something suspicious. Most disturbing /extreme cases? KW: (Heavy Sigh) Probably the most extreme cases are some of the occupational-related deaths. In New York, I had someone who was working on an elevator that got crushed. [They] didn’t know there was someone down there working in the shaft. I had a guy fixing a cardboard baler and thought it was off, and it wasn’t. That kind of stuff. As far as the cases that really get me torqued, my two main interests are post mortem identification--so, bones and “green people” and all that stuff--and kids’ cases. So I do a large number of the pediatrics, the child abuse cases. How does that make you feel? KW: Yeah those are… I mean, we get a lot of innocent adults, but ALL the kids are innocent. So those are the ones that annoy me the most, I guess, when its clear-cut that it’s a child abuse case. Because there are accidental child deaths and natural child deaths, but when you get the three year old in here that’s got 40 bruises on him with all the classic marks of child abuse, those are the more personal cases.

“SEVERAL YEARS BACK, I HAD A CASE WHERE THE MOTHER HAD DRUGGED THE CHILD AND STABBED HIM WITH A PAIR OF SCISSORS SEVERAL TIMES.” Any case that was particularly troubling?

horrible case, it’s horrible that that happens.”

KW: Several years back, I had a case where the mother had drugged the child and stabbed him with a pair of scissors several times. And like I said, kids are innocent. If it’s a drug deal gone bad, that’s still a bad thing if it’s someone’s kid that’s been shot; but you sort of put yourself in that situation. But when you are a two year old or a three year old, I mean what are you doing other than being a two or three year old?

I don’t think it would cut back on the homicides much, because most of those are a loss of temper kind of thing. You’re not stopping to think because it’s heat-of-the-moment. Some of them are premeditated, but I don’t know. It might cut down on some of the motor vehicle accidents for a while, you’d think, “Maybe I should put that seatbelt on,” or, “Maybe I shouldn’t get behind the wheel if I’ve been drinking some.” Because we see a lot of that

What happens when we die, Dr. Waley? KW: (Big laugh) People are always wanting to know what’s the time of death, it comes up all the time in court. And no one can ever say, “Oh, it was 5:20 last Friday,” [that] kind of thing. There’s two kinds of death: one is somatic death, which is usually what people are wanting to know. And it depends on your religious outlooks, like when the soul or the spirit leaves the body. But there’s nothing that closely or microscopically shows that. It’s not like the soul leaves a sign that says “out to lunch.” What I have to do is look at different cells in the body that break down and go away at different rates, so that’s what I’m looking at. And its always a range of time, so I can say that the person has been deceased, you know, less than 12 hours, or three days, or something like that. And that’s the decomposition process. There’s more we’re having to look at, but it’s always going to be a range of time, because we’re just not that precise. Do you think that if people were to see some of the more horrific things that you see, that it would cause them to appreciate their own lives more? KW: Probably so. I mean, at least for a little while. Pathologists can be the world’s worst... I mean, I lift weights and run and all that stuff, but I drink tons of diet soda, so we all have our bad habits. But I’ve got friends of mine who are forensic pathologists who will go back and diagnose the cause of death to be heart disease and then go out and have a hamburger. Like it’s never gonna be YOU. It’s like, “Oh that’s a

Do you think that people are desensitized by death in general by the media? People hear about a murder here, a murder there. It seems to go over people’s heads a little bit. Would you agree? KW: It’s gotten to where it’s taken for granted. I remember when I was a kid, things that you would see on T.V., things that were discussed and news footage and stuff. And now… it’s hard to shock. I go and give talks to forensic science students and med students. I’ll show some of the autopsy and crime photos, and really the Friday the 13th movies are worse than most of the stuff that I go to. So really, you are desensitized when you see that stuff. Whereas 30 years ago, you could have shown some of that stuff and they would have trouble sleeping, and would have to go see a doctor. Does that seem like a bad thing? Do you think that people should be thinking more about the people around them in their own city? KW: Yeah, because we get sort of calloused to it. It’s a job risk for us too, because I see the worst of mankind, the worst that people do to each other, and we just sort of get accustomed to it. And you have to just step back and think--each one of those is an individual person. Each death I have affects all of their family, and then if there is a perpetrator involved that’s convicted, then it affects THEIR family, so… I don’t know how to turn the clock back and get away from that. I think it was better 30 or 40 years ago. 55

RECORD REVIEWS BY ANDREW NECCI

AMATEUR PARTY

CUT COPY

DESTROYER

FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND

AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD

DANIELSON

DIDDY DIRTY MONEY

THE GET UP KIDS

THE CHARIOT

DEEP SLEEP

DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT

LEMURIA

Truncheons In The Manor (Rorschach) There are a bunch of disparate elements at work here--melodic postpunk song structures reminiscent of bands on Dischord in the mid-90s, jangly garage-rock guitars, pop-punk vocal harmonies, etc. The result is catnip for Ted Leo fans, so if that’s you, get your copy of this album ASAP.

Tao Of The Dead (Superball) These guys got weird a few albums ago, but they appear to have gotten it together again. They’ve got that same awesome guitar sound from their early albums, only applied to faster, more energetic rock n’ roll. Gets weird towards the end, but for the most part, this rocks.

Long Live (Good Fight) Holy fucking shit. I thought truly great metallic hardcore had been killed by the metalcore ouroboros. I thought nobody knew how to write chaotic, brutal riffs anymore. Then I heard this album. The Chariot resurrect everything I loved about Botch, while staying fresh and original. Extremely essential. Give me more. 56

Zonoscope (Modular) This is a total 80s New Wave album. In fact, it seems better than a lot of the records in that style that came out at the time, perhaps because it successfully integrates a modern sensibility. If you like Depeche Mode, The Cure, and New Order, you will love this.

Best Of Gloucester County (Sounds Familyre) First new music in five years from spiritually guided indie-folk singer Daniel Smith and his rotating cast of supporting musicians. His gift for upbeat melodies is still in evidence, as is his inimitable, enjoyably squeaky voice. If you miss Neutral Milk Hotel, you can’t go wrong with Danielson.

Turn Me Off (Grave Mistake) These guys started off as a pretty undistinguished hardcore band, but they’ve come into their own recently by augmenting their speedy old-school attack with a notebending melodic guitar style reminiscent of Brian Baker’s work in Dag Nasty. The result is highly enjoyable, and you should pick this EP up immediately.

Kaputt (Merge) Canadian songwriter Dan Bejar’s group Destroyer varies so much from one album to the next that it’s hard to stay on his wavelength. I think he may have lost me with this one, a synth-driven soft-rock/ disco hybrid that is occasionally cool but mostly just sounds sleazy.

Last Train To Paris (Bad Boy) If you asked me six months ago, I’d have told you that I’d never liked anything Puff Daddy was involved with, and I never would. Well, six-months-ago me was half right. Diddy’s new group do Eurodisco hip-hop, and it’s fucking awesome. I’m so embarrassed that I like this.

Hatred For Mankind (Prosthetic) The perfect antidote to a day of inoffensive indie records. This is black metal the way it was meant to be--primitively recorded, fuzzy and indistinct, fast, heavy, and full of fucking hatred and anger. Don’t expect keyboards or triggered drumbeats; no, expect to have your head ripped off.

Welcome Home Armageddon (Good Fight) This excellent album, a career peak for this UK group, is loaded with emotionally-driven melodic alt-rock containing occasional harder-hitting metallic moments. Part Samiam, part Drowningman, Funeral For A Friend are entirely underrated. Hopefully this album will finally get them the recognition they deserve.

There Are Rules (Quality Hill) This record doesn’t always sound like the Get Up Kids (in fact, sometimes it sounds like early Killers), but it’s a good bit better than their last couple of albums. Though spotty, when it’s at its best (“Regent’s Court,” “Pararelevant”) it’ll make you glad you bothered to check it out.

Pebble (Bridge 9) Lemuria still have a knack for melody, but on their new album, their songs are slower and more pensive than before. It doesn’t even seem right to call them pop-punk anymore--they’re closer to Superchunk than the Ergs these days. Regardless, they’re still a great band, and that’s what matters.

miKe WAtt And the missingmen

no Bs! BrAss BAnd

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mogWAi

PJ hArVey

soCiAl distortion

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monotonix

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tim heCKer

Hyphenated Man (clenchedwrench) This 30-song, 45-minute album brings former Minutemen bassist Watt closer to his punk rock roots than he’s been in a long time. The songs alternate between quiet interludes and full-on ragers, but all of them are quick, energetic, and excellent. It’s good to hear Watt hollerin’ again.

Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (Sub Pop) Took a while to figure out what seems so strange about this new Mogwai LP, but I finally got it--it doesn’t seem “post-rock.” No loud crescendos or quiet buildups-instead, these are mostly midtempo pianobased indie songs with distorted vocals. OK, but not what I want from Mogwai.

Not Yet (Drag City) This band may have earned their reputation on their maniacal live shows, but this record certainly stands on its own as a fun blast of high-energy rock n’ roll. The production is excellent too, with fuzzy guitars and a perfect drum sound that harks back to classic Blue Cheer. Awesome.

No BS! (Worthless Junk) This is outstanding. I would’ve never expected a band made up almost entirely of horn players to create this kind of powerful sound. No BS! use jazz and funk sounds to generate punk rock energy and heavy metal power, creating an album that will only further broaden their multigenerational appeal.

Let England Shake (Vagrant) Harvey’s music hasn’t exactly had a consistent sound over the course of her career, and on her eighth album, it’s not even consistent from song to song. The most significant influence here is English folk music, but really, it’s a mixed bag, with inconsistent results. Recommended for diehard fans only.

King Of Limbs (thekingoflimbs.com) This brief release from Radiohead is a lot more electronically focused than their last two, but never gets away from the pop song structures of their earlier work the way some of the Kid A era stuff did. Thom Yorke’s voice is the primary focus, and holds up well.

Kaleide (Wichita) This awesome British band crank the guitars and put the “rock” back into indie on this their second album. Singer Katie Harkins still has a great voice and a knack for unforgettable choruses, while the clear production brings the excellent drumming into focus as well. I like everything about this.

Hard Times And Nursery Rhymes (Epitaph Records) I used to love Social D’s honkytonkbluespunk sound, but they’ve been beating it into the ground for too long. Between lack of freshness, overproduction, and a lineup bloated with needless extra session musicians, this record is indistinguishable from the uninspired Rolling Stones knockoffs of the Black Crowes. Pass.

Ravedeath 1972 (Kranky) Former Godspeed You! Black Emperor collaborator brings us an album of minimalist treated-keyboard melodies. If that description makes you think “calm and soothing,” song titles like “Studio Suicide” and “Hatred Of Music” should paint a more accurate picture. Volume and harshness combine to create surprisingly heavy ambient music.

Darker Handcraft (Prosthetic) Trap Them make improvements to their dark, dirty, angry hardcore with every album they release, and this one is no exception. The singer howls, the guitars snarl, and the whole band blasts forward with an unceasing, out-of-control momentum. Like getting hit by a really awesome truck. Highly recommended.

From The Land Of Ice And Snow (Jealous Butcher) This double-disc compilation features indie bands, including Kind Of Like Spitting, M. Ward, and Death Cab’s Chris Walla, doing Led Zeppelin covers. The mostly acoustic versions spotlight the quieter, quirkier side of a band known as heavy metal pioneers. An interesting, enjoyable listen, both for indie and Zeppelin fans.

Wire

Red Barked Tree (Pink Flag) Wire have always been talented, but I’ve enjoyed some of the directions they’ve taken that talent more than others. Red Barked Tree isn’t bad as Wire albums go-uptempo, melodic, kind of shoegazey at points--but it lacks the energy, drive, and complex song structure that marks their best work. 57

soul? yeah. we got that.

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NICKELUS F RVA MAGAZINE ISSUE 4

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NICKELUS F RVA MAGAZINE ISSUE 4