Swimmer's Ear #22 by Adam S

randy laybourne / tucker gerrick georgie james / turf skateboards / mannequin men

Editors Adam Sever Chris Pernula

Contributing Photographers Nick Wosika / letter3photography.com Tucker Gerrick / typoscura.com Randy Laybourne / lookforwardtothepast.com Laura Austin / laustindesign.com

Contents photo: Randy Laybourne www.lookforwardtothepast.com Cover photo: Nick*L3P Rider: Paul Hartman

www.letter3photography.com Contact Swimmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ear P.O. Box 1616 Monticello, MN 55362 swimmersearmag@yahoo.com myspace.com/swimmersear

Contents: Memo…4 Variance…5 Change in Sound…8 Industry Insider - Turf…12 Gerogie James…13 Randy Laybourne…15 6° of Tucker Gerrick…21 Mannequin Men…25 Photos…27

MEMO: WINTER SKATING

It’s that time of year when most skateboarders do one of three things. The first group hangs up their skateboard and heads to the snow covered hills with the skateboard’s binded brother, the snowboard. The second group head indoors with wads of cash in hand, to the heated plywood of indoor parks. The third group, a rare bunch, head outdoors in the single digit weather and thumb their noses at Jack Frost’s bitter cold. These are the people that shovel their driveways as soon as the fluffy white stuff stops falling so the weak winter sun can dry the cold asphalt quicker. They skate around patches of hardened snow and ice and throw kickflips over mounds of sand left by the snowplow. As it turns out I fall into the latter. Even though I have been inside for the last 15 minutes, my cheeks and legs are still burning from the 10.8° air temperature and frigid breeze. Since the snow started falling, I’ve been skating in my 2-car garage and my proverbial dorsal fin has started to curl over from skating in such small confines. I ached

“my proverbial dorsal fin has started to curl over from skating in such small confines”

to skate in an area that would allow me more than one small push before attempting a trick and I can’t seem to justify paying someone 11+ dollars to skate for 3 hours when I can skate at home for free all day long. So I took it outside. Wearing only a hat, gloves, a hoodie, a light topcoat and my Nikes (you can’t fool me Consolidated!), I had the time of my life. Sure it took a few minutes for my frozen trucks to loosen up, a few more minutes for my knees to figure out what was going on, and I’m sure the neighbors and passers-by thought that I had lost it, but it was a great experience. Something that I’ll continue to do when I’m feeling the urge to stretch my legs and skate. While I was out there, I was surprised no one had come up with a winter version of the Backyard Ramp Jam, where a bunch of people find a snow covered park, shovel it off, and skate until the sun sets at it’s earliest peak. Someone should get on that. Whatever you do this winter, have fun doing it. It will be over soon and we will all be back to complaining about how hot it is. -Adam

VARIANCE BUY • SPEND • CONSUME

Etnies Sheckler 2 Ryan Sheckler may come off as a douche bag with his MTV show, back tattoo, and never-ending Dew Tour wins, but you have to admit that he has some talent. In this day in age, with a little talent and being somewhat marketable, someone will give you a shoe with your name on it. This colorway of the Etnies Sheckler 2 is nice looking. The brown full grain cracked leather works well against the tan and red suede. This is a vulcanized shoe, which is good for a better feel of the board, but I have yet to find a vulcanized shoe that lasts as long as a stitched sole shoe. It features all the standard features you’ve come to know from Etnies; Elastic tongue-centering straps, Padded tongue and collar, System G2™, STI Foam™ level 2 cushioning footbed, and 400 NBS rubber outsole. www.etnies.com

Heroin Skateboard/Tee-Shirt Heroin skateboards was started by Mark Foster, who has done design for Altamont, Toy Machine and Emerica, and has been a growing brand in the UK for the past ten years. After checking out the Heroin website, it’s easy to tell that Heroin has a look all its own. The Heroin team consists of Chris Pullman, Chopper, Colin Fiske, Howard Cooke, Hamaji and Chris Ault among others. They’ve got a bunch of short video clips from their past team videos on their website also. Besides having a cool mix tape graphic, the Heroin skateboard has a nice size and shape and a nice concave, very similar to the Crimson boards. A good way to freak out your mom, teachers, boss, etc..., is to wear this shnazzzy “I love Heroin” tee shirt. People will think you are serious and probably try to get some help for you. Jokes on them though, you actually love skateboarding. www.heroinskateboarding.com

Teenage Runaway Urethane Teenage Runaway was started by all around art guy Todd Bratrud. The ads they have been running for these have been mostly hilarious, if not somewhat disturbing. Teenage Runaway started up a little while back, then went away, but is back again now being distributed by Arthouse Distribution (Crimson, Heroin, Destructo), which is good, because skateboarding needs more companies like Teenage Runaway and Enjoi that combine humor with good art. These wheels are pretty standard. The only thing that stands out is the color of the wheels and the graphics on them. The Decanter Society wheels are a lavender color and with splashes of wine flying around. The other wheels are the basic company logo on the side wheels. It’s almost a shame to ride such beautiful things, I’d almost rather hang them on my wall. www.teenagerunawayurethane.com

VARIANCE BUY • SPEND • CONSUME

Dekline Prescott - Matt Ball Riders Choice Collection

Dekline Paxton - Pat Melcher Riders Choice Collection

Dekline Derby - Jason Adams Riders Choice Collection

This is Matt Ball’s first Rider’s Choice shoe from Dekline and it is influenced by Ball’s love for Harleys. It has a combination of black suede and 2-tone motorcycle leather with some Vegas gold logo lettering and stitching. The shoe is quite comfy and has a lot of features that would make it a shoe that will last a while.

The Patrick Melcher Rider’s Choice Paxton comes in a variety of colorways, but the one we got is suede with custom woven houndstooth textile making for one wild looking shoe. These were incredibly comfortable, but it took some time to get used to the insole. It had a really high arch support that made my feet want to cramp a bit, but after wearing it for a while, it seemed to flatten down. Note to Dekline, make the insole removable, so wearers can decide if they want the arch support of not.

The first thing you’ll notice when you take these out of the box is the all-over gold skull print designed by Jason Adams. Although this shoe looks nice, skating in it may not last long. There is only one layer (about 1/16 inch thick) of action leather protection in the ollie areas of the shoe, the vulcanized sole, plus the shoe is a bit stiff. The rubber toecap might help though.

www.Dekline.com

Crimson Skateboards - Patrick Jilbert Series These Crimson skateboards were designed by Patrick Jilbert. You may have seen his graphics on Consolidated skateboards in the past. This series comes in a wide range of sizes from 7.625 (Markovich) to 8.125 (Belton). Crimson recently added Ragdoll to its pro team, so you should be seeing more of him in the future. www.crimsonskateboards.com

Crimson Skateboards - Tee Shirts I wish I had these tee shirts when I was in high school. My school’s team was called the Crimson, so I would have looked so cool rocking all this Crimson gear while everyone else had to wear the school bought tees. I’d be all like, “This shit’s custom, bitches!” and they’d be all “Oh snap!”

VARIANCE BUY • SPEND • CONSUME

Satori Movement Tee Shirts

DVS Footwear - Daewon Song 10

You can’t beat 100% cotton when it comes down to tee shirts, and these are the standard fitting tees, unlike those vintage/ athletic ones that all the hipsters wear. Satori also makes shirts that contain a hemp and cotton blend.

It’s hard to believe that anyone could come up with 10 different shoe designs and still keep them fresh. But most people aren’t Daewon Song. This is his 10th shoe from DVS and probably his best yet. The suede eyestay and ollie panel on this shoe are all one piece, giving unsurpassed durability. The interlocking construction on the toe panel and the signature DVS bruise control will make your feet happy and safe when you’re trying to be the next Daewon. The Daewon 10 is scheduled for a Spring 08 release and will be retailed for around $60 dollars. www.dvsshoes.com

Satori Movement Lunar Cycle Series 55mm Thanks to these wheels, the next time you’re out skating at night you can look up to see the moon and double check your wheels to see where the moon is on its lunar cycle. These wheels are pretty standard when it comes down to wheels. They have a nice width and they are about as hard as you can get with wheels.

Satori Movement Cruiser Series 62mm These are some bouncy blue bastards. I was unaware that Satori made wheels wheels for cruising, so it made me doubly surprised when I saw them. I set up a cruiser board this past summer, so I can appreciate these wheels. They are big and soft, so you won’t get a lot of vibration from the road, plus they have a cool clear blue swirl look to them.

High Grade Blend DVD This video features team riders from Creation skateboards, Satori Wheels, Yellow Brand Skateboards and Upful Hardware. There is quite a bit of talent in this video with guys like Kenny Reed, Tosh Townend, Matt Pailes, Adam Crew, Jake Rupp and Fabrizio Santos to name a few. It’s a montage style video so each skater has one or two tricks here and there. It’s a no frills video containing just quality skating. www.satoriwheels.org

Lakai Footwear - Coda Recycled These are the first shoes from Lakai to be released under their eco-friendly “Recycled Program”. What is cool about this shoe is that no two are the same. Lakai designers spec materials on certain panels of the shoe, then leave it up to the factory to use whatever leftovers from other shoes they have to complete the shoe. The bottoms of this shoe have 50% regrind and 50% new gum rubber outsole with a flex vulcanized construction. This was the first thing I noticed about this shoe. The sole looked it had chunks of rubber in it, it is pretty cool. Take the recycled aspect of this shoe and combine it with the quality and comfort that Lakai has and you’ve got one hell of a shoe. These will be released in the Spring 08 and will retail for around $45 bucks. www.lakai.com

Bowling Stars of 1989 Zine 1989 was a magical year for bowling. Stars like Dale Eagle and Guppy Troup ruled the lanes. In 1989, 50 of such stars were immortalized on trading cards for up and coming bowlers to collect. In 2007, they were immortalized even more when Chris Pernula found these cards and made a zine out of them. Bowling Stars of 1989 features all hand drawn replicas of those trading cards painstakingly drawn by Chris and includes a touching intro, to as Chris puts it, “these Lords of the Lane”. chrispernula@yahoo.com

CHANGE IN SOUND The 1900s Cold & Kind If you heard this band playing in the background somewhere, you’d swear it was Fleetwood Mac. In reality though, it’s Chicago’s 1900s. They have been compared to bands like Fleetwood Mac and Donovan, two bands that I have no interest for, so if they can make me like them, I’m sure you will like them too. (Parasol Records) The A-Sides Silver Storms I was a little thrown by the stringed instruments at the beginning of the A-Sides latest release, Silver Storms. Thankfully the album is not 50 minutes of orchestra music and instead 50 minutes of great pop music in the vain of Portastatic, with tons of lush arrangements and beautiful layers. (Vagrant Records) Abel Baker Fox Voices Able Baker Fox is the new long-distance project from members of Small Brown Bike, Lasalle, Casket Lottery, and The Great Sea Serpents. After my first listen of this album, I thought it was terrible. Absolutely terrible. But I listened to it again and again, and it got better and better. Now after close to 10 spins, I think it’s great. (Second Nature) All Smiles Ten Readings of a Warning All Smiles is the latest project from ex-Granddaddy guitarist Jim Fairchild and it is a departure from Granddaddy’s sound. Ten Readings of Warning was a no budget recording but still feels warm and comforting. Every time I listen to it, it sounds like it was influenced by British bands similar to The Beatles. (Dangerbird Records)

Coconut Coolouts

Alexis Gideon Flight of the Liophant I often wonder where record labels find these kinds of artists. Flight of the Liophant is an eclectic blend of abstract hip-hop beats and twangy indie. A strange combination indeed. (Sickroom Records) Casy and Brian Catbees This duo from San Francisco has more energy than a case of Red Bull. Ex-Dalmatians members Casy and Brian only play a Casio keyboard and a stripped down drum set, so their vocals play a large part in how the songs sound. Call-and-response vocals are instructive for the audience to join them. Catbees is a quick listen, just under 20 minutes, but you’ll be exhausted by the infectious dance beats and distorted bass heavy synth. (Pish Posh) Coconut Coolouts Party Time Machine Coconut Coolouts is a 6-piece dual drum/guitar garage punk party band with one member that is half-man/halfbanana, or a man in a banana costume. Nevertheless, Party Time Machine is a 30-minute joyride that will have you singing, clapping, and dancing along the whole time, and when it’s over you’ll be begging for more. (Haunted Horse) The Cops Free Electricity The Cops play a garage punk similar to the Nein, but without the circuit bending. They also have a stripped down sound, kind of like the Mannequin Men and the Strokes, which is hook laden and infectious. (The Control Group)

CHANGE IN SOUND Georgie James Places Former Q and Not U drummer, John Davis and ex-solo artist Laura Burhenn got together and formed this duo that make precious ditties influenced by 50s/60s pop music, and it’s damn good too. (Saddle Creek) Glorytellers S/T Glorytellers is the musical outlet for ex-Karate frontman Geoff Farina. The sound is familiar to what Mike Kinsella does with Owen; stripped down acoustic guitar, personal lyrics and intimate songwriting. (Southern Records) The Good Life Help Wanted Nights I’m glad Tim Kashner is a musician. With every release, he brings you something different, but not too different that you won’t like it. Help Wanted Nights is a good example. It sounds like the Good Life’s previous, Album of the Year, but has a completely different feeling. Some parts are more upbeat and less personal while others are slow and more personal. A welcome addition to anyone's collection. (Saddle Creek)

His Name is Alive Xmmer This band’s name screams Christian rock, but their music is no indication what religious background the members have. You may have heard this band in the movie Jerry Maguire, back when Cuba Gooding Jr. still made good movies, and that exposure really helped the band. Their previous album Detrola was a critical success, but a lot of people have been saying that Xmmer isn’t up to par with it. I’ve never heard Detrola, so I can’t comment on which is better. All I know is, there are some good songs on this album and some boring ones. (Silver Mountain Media Group) House & Parish One, One Thousand I bet some indie hipsters spilled their $9 foreign beers when they heard about this indie super group consisting of ex-members of The Promise Ring, Texas is the Reason, and the Gloria Record. The music is a bit different than any of the members’ previous bands. I would consider this adult contemporary for the indie crowd. It’s easy on the ears. It feels like they are trying to find their groove with this release and hopefully they realize their sound for their full length. (Arena Rock) The Jaguar Club Ceci N'est Pas Le Club De Jaguar The first time I listened to this, I turned it off before the six tracks were through. The music is good, but the singer is trying way too hard to be Morrissey. It’s like a dancey version of the Smiths without the talent that the Smiths had. If you can get past the vocals, then you might be on to something. (Self-Released) L’ocelle Mare S/T L’ocelle Mars is the project of Thomas Bonvalet, the guitarist for the French band, Cheval de Frise. Each of the 16 songs are very minimal, are short with very little to no song structure, and no cohesion at all. Each song sounds as if Bonvalet walked into a room, picked up a guitar, hit record on the boombox, then strums and fondles the instrument for a few moments and is done. (Sickroom Records)

Haram Drescher I’ve been waiting for their follow-up to their stunning self-titled full length for what seems like forever and I’m happy to say they are even better this time around. They’ve added some members and Drescher shows the softer, mellower side of Haram while still being heavy in all the right places. (Lovitt Records)

Ladyslipper The Time, Not the Weather Ladyslipper is a 3-piece from Minneapolis, MN and they have an energizing sound that has been compared to Fugazi and Mission of Burma. There isn’t one track on this album that disappoints. Standouts on the album are “Tinnitus” and “Chicago” and “Ladycop”. (Say Rah Records)

CHANGE IN SOUND Look Mexico This is Animal Music A lot of people say that Look Mexico sounds like American Football, and it’s true. But Look Mexico blends a few different styles together and they do it effortlessly, as too not copy any one else's sound. (Lujo Records) Mouse Fire Wooden Teeth Mouse Fire combine elements of Ugly Organ era Cursive, the soothing vocals and sound of Minus the Bear, the guitar jangly of Bloc Party, plus a danceable beat to create something wholly original. It took me a couple of listens to grasp Mouse Fire’s sound, and when I listen to it now, I can really appreciate all the sounds on the album. (Lujo Records) The Mumlers Thickets and Stitches The Mumlers are a group of multi-instrumentalists from the Bay Area. This album is full of sleepy indie folk rock with a slight jazz influence that has slide guitars, pianos, brass instruments and the occasional accordion. An all around good album. (Galaxia) New Idea Society The World is Bright and Lonely New Idea Society features Mike Law from Euclid and Cave In’s Stephen Brodsky on guitar. The album is a mixture of Bright Eyes, Street to Nowhere and The Comas. It’s an ok album, but nothing really stands out about it. (Exotic Fever) One Small Step for Landmines S/T Now that Chicago’s Spitalfield has broken up, Florida’s One Small Step for Landmines can take their space for the heavy indie rock genre. One Small Step... isn’t a complete rip off of Spitalfield, but both bands have a sound that was/is influenced by bands like The Get Up Kids and Jimmy Eat World. One Small Step’s debut selftitled album is quite good and show’s some promise for the future of this band. (Civil Defense League) The Photographic Pictures of a Changing World When listening to Pictures of a Changing World, it’s hard to believe that this instrumental band only consists of 2 members. There is so much going on at the same time. Take for instance, the track “We Were Fed Poisoned Bread”. It starts out like an Explosions in the Sky song with just a simple guitar part, then the drums and cymbals come in, and those two intertwine for a few minutes. Then, at the 2:30 mark, everything stops for a second and the guitar bursts in with some noodling. The part that follows sounds like there is 3 guitarists and a bass player, plus drums going on all at the same time. It’s insane and the best part of the whole record. The Photographic’s sound has an instant visual sound,

like it could be a soundtrack to a movie. Their live shows include projected visuals and the CD includes the video for the track “Directions”. (Galaxia) The Playing Favorites I Remember When I Was Pretty The Playing Favorites is a punk rock supergroup of sorts. Joey Cape (Me First & the Gimme Gimmes, Bad Astronaut), Luke Tierney (The Penfifteen Club), Tim Cullen (solo artist, ex-Summercamp), Marko DeSantis (Sugarcult, Bad Astronaut) and Mick Flowers (Popsicko, The Rentals,The Lapdancers), make up The Playing Favorites. I Remember When I Was Pretty was recorded over a course of 5 days at 3 songs per day, where songs were written, learned, recorded and then the mic was passed to the next guy who had a song. You can definitely tell when you listen to this album. Each song has that spur of the moment feel and all of them are diverse in style, but all together good. (Suburban Home) Polar Bear Club Sometimes Things Just Disappear The much-anticipated follow-up to 2006’s The Redder, the Better, Sometimes Things Just Disappear almost stands up to its predecessor. I think what made The Redder, the Better so good was it’s length. It was awesome because it was quick and there was no room for filler. I’m not saying there is a lot of filler on Sometimes..., but it doesn’t have the same urgency all the way through that their EP did. Still a good release nonetheless. (Red Leader Records) Ryan Ferguson Only Trying to Help Ex-No Knife frontman Ryan Ferguson’s debut album starts out solid with the slow rocker “Remission”. A few of the songs feel like they have a slight Shins influence. The song “In the Sea” has a Beach Boys tinge to it and the melody fits perfect with the song, swaying back and forth like your on the sea. Only Trying to Help is a fairly strong debut solo release, but future releases would benefit if they were more focused. (Better Looking Records) Saves the Day Under the Boards I would have figured that Saves the Day would have broken up by now. With label changes and a few mediocre albums, it seemed likely. Instead they stick to their guns and release a catchy hook filled album worthy of a few listens. (Vagrant Records) Say Hi The Wishes and the Glitch With a shorter name and a new geographic location, Eric Elbogen is back with another pop gem. What makes this album stand out from his previous albums is the female vocals provided by Nouela Johnston on a couple of the songs that add a much needed ingredient

CHANGE IN SOUND to a formula that was getting a little stale. Say Hi’s first two releases were quite good and original and peaked at Ferocious Mopes. While Impeccable Blahs was ok, it felt a little impersonal. Luckily a move to Seattle got Elbogen’s creative juices flowing and a great album was the result. (Euphobia)

Say Hi Signal to Trust Golden Armour I was a year late in buying this album and now I’m kicking myself for not buying it sooner. It’s great. I can’t explain what they sound like, but they have been lumped into the indie/prog rock category. This full length was a long time coming from their previous album Folklore in 2002. I wish they would write a whole album of songs just like “Silver Coast”. It’s the best jam on the album. (Modern-Radio) Soft Faded I pretty much wrote this band off as shit as soon as the first song started, just because the vocals sounded fuzzy and distorted and the instruments sounded like a mess. But once you get past that first track, things start picking up. There are a lot of interesting guitar parts and melodies and it’s those little things that make this album worth coming back to. (Academy Fight Song)

Streetlight Manifesto Somewhere in the Between This album has been a long time coming. Streetlight Manifesto practically turned the ska genre on its side with their debut release Everything Goes Numb. Instead of taking that momentum and writing a follow up right away, they re-recorded Catch 22’s Keasbey Nights, which sounds exactly like the awesome original but more polished. Well they finally got their shit together and recorded a follow-up. Somewhere in the Between is not as jaw-dropping as Everything Goes Numb, but it’s close. I somewhat blame all the hype that was built up for this album as the main reason why. (Victory Records) Take No Damage Mushroom Clouds and Silver Linings Take No Damage mix indie rock, synth pop and electronica with a few samples and yet don’t sound completely horrible doing it. Mushroom Clouds and Silver Linings is an excellent eclectic/eccentric debut. Listen to the song “God and Country” and you’ll understand the brilliance of this album. (All Hail Records) Tera Melos Complex Full of Phantoms Split Drugs To The Dear Youth CD re-issue Tera Melos blends the arithmetic of Hella and Don Cab’s riff looping with a bit of jazz ambiance. In a genre which is becoming increasingly crowded, Tera Melos keeps things original on these two releases with jagged riffs, constant time changes, programming and samples from movies like Requiem For A Dream and pieces from Fugazi’s Instrument. (Temporary Residence / Sargent House) These Are Powers Terrific Seasons These Are Powers features ex-members of Liars and Knife Skills, and their current project is self-described as “ghost punk”. The songs encapsulate primitive and industrial rhythms with haunting male and female vocals. Seven of the eight songs range from two to four minutes in length, while the song “Pizza Master Ice Cream Palace” clocks in at over twenty minutes. (Hoss Records) The Valley Arena Sesso.Vita Often compared to bands like Fugazi and other Dischord bands, The Valley Arena are natives of Long Beach, California. The title of this album translates into Sex Life and the themes of sex (not just the act of) and sexiness is constant throughout the album. (Anodyne Records)

Soft

INDUSTRY INSIDER Turf Skateboards is a new skateboard company that was started by Chocolate OG, Mike York, and world-renowned designer Bob Kronbauer. They’ve already enlisted Sammy Baptista, James Kelch and Some Dude, along with Mike York, as pros, and Jason Wussler, Jason Wakuzawa, Jabari Pendleton, Larry Redmon, and Vince Salvi as ams. The Turf team has been filming for it’s debut video “Turf’s Up” and it should be out soon. We chatted with Co-Owner and designer, Bob Kronbauer about creating a new identity for a skateboard brand and what it’s like working with Mike York. Attempts were made to get some questions answered from Mike, but he was probably too busy laying tricks down for the video. Bob Kronbauer - Co-Owner and designer of Turf Skateboards How do you go about creating an identity for a new company? Does Mike bring you ideas to design or do you come up with a lot of the designs? Well, first we held a series focus groups where we brought in a bunch of... naw, I’m just fucking with you. Mike and I work together on some stuff and some is based off of totally random concepts that I come up with. A lot of skateboard brands have a certain style or look. What kind of style do you think Turf has and how does it fit in the skateboard industry? We’ve only released one catalog so I don’t think we’ve had enough time to be pigeonholed yet. I’m just designing things that I think look good on the bottom of a skateboard. How is designing for Turf different from designing for other brands you’ve done? I had to have somebody explain to me the other day what a “lockup” graphic was. I’d like to do as few of those as possible and it’s nice to have the freedom to be able to make that decision. A lot of people like to separate work and pleasure, being co-owner of Turf and doing artwork for it, do you feel like the time spent designing is work? I really enjoy what I do in my professional life but I definitely feel like I’m working for my money.

Is Turf your main project right now? I’d imagine you’re pretty busy with Mumble, Little Giants, and Crownfarmer, among others? It’s one of a few projects I’m involved with right now. I post about most of the stuff I’ve been working on at BobKronbauer.com.

How did you two come together to form Georgie James? Laura: John and I met around the time QANU was thinking of taking a permanent break. He’d heard my solo CD (my boyfriend at the time had sent it to him) and I was a big fan of QANU. I was kind of surprised when John wanted to try and play music — and totally flattered. I think I was even more surprised by the music we started writing together, as it was pretty different than what he was doing with QANU. But given his record collection, it totally made sense. John, when Q and Not U broke up, where you looking to start something that was completely different than Q and Not U? John: No, not really. It just kind of turned out the way it did. I guess I just gravitated towards what came naturally when writing new songs. Throughout Q and Not U, I had always written some stuff on the side, but never really did anything with it. Some of that wound up being used eventually when we started writing the Georgie James songs. But, as far as having an agenda to do something completely different, no that wasn’t the case. I just wanted to write whatever came naturally, which was the same approach we had in Q and Not U.

What’s it like playing in Georgie James as opposed to playing in Q and Not U or playing solo? Laura: I had to learn how to compromise and take criticism, but I also got the benefit of having someone else to lean on. It was a great trade. Knowing that the music we make is even greater than the sum of the parts is a very good thing. John: It’s a different kind of thing when you’re collaborating with only one other person, as opposed to two or three others. It’s easier in some ways. There are less opinions to work with and sort out and it seems easier, for me at least, to really focus on getting a song done this way. John, do you think fans of Q and Not U will be drawn to Georgie James? John: I’m sure some would and some wouldn’t. I guess it just depends on where they’re at musically. Even within the discography of Q and Not U, there are people who just like one album and not the others. So, the whole thing varies depending on the people, I suppose.

How did the signing with Saddle Creek come about? Did you approach any other labels to put out your album? John: I had loosely known the people who run Saddle Creek for over a decade, just from doing a fanzine, working at a publicity company, working at a distributor, etc. When Q And Not U would tour and go through Omaha, the Saddle Creek people usually set up the show and we would often stay with them or with bands on the label. They have a really good thing going there, so it was always a place I liked to play and check out. Anyway, once we finished the GJ record, they were one of a few labels we talked to but, ultimately, they were really the best choice for us. We’re really happy to get to work with them. What kind of bands help influence your sound? John: There are many, many bands and musicians that play a part in shaping our musical minds. The stuff that gets cited most tends to be from the 60s and 70s (Beatles, Bread, Badfinger, Beach Boys, Big Star and many other bands that start with B or some other letters) but, really, I think we’re inspired from all kinds of music. It’s not as easy for someone outside of the band to hear, I’m sure, but speaking for myself, I know that all aspects of the music I listen to play into the music we make. That includes jazz, punk, Afro-beat, folk, French pop, disco and whatnot. How does the song writing in Georgie James work? Does John a write the songs he mostly sings on and Laura writes the ones she mostly sings on, or is it more of a collaborative effort? Laura: For this first record, the vocals pretty much tell you who wrote what. There was one song (“Simplify”) that John wrote and I sang on, but it got kicked off the record. There are definitely exceptions to this rule. In a song like “Henry and Hanzy,” we wrote both the music and the lyrics together. Well, then we sing in straight harmony the whole way through — so maybe the voice *does* give everything away! Do you think you achieved everything you wanted to with Places? Laura: As far as the recording goes, absolutely. We put so much time into the recording process, making sure we had every instrument and vocal just exactly so, so we would end up with something we love. I put the record on every now and again and am so happy with it. As far as the total Places experience, I guess that remains to be seen. John: Yeah, I feel like we accomplished what we wanted to do with the record. It’s certainly the record I like most out of all of the ones I’ve ever been involved with.

Did John and Laura play all the instruments on Places? You can’t obviously play guitar and drums at the same time, did you use Protools or a multi-track recorder? Laura: Andrew Black played drums on a few of the songs, and TJ Lipple played vibraphone for another. Other than that, we played everything ourselves. Silver Sonya is against the Protools monopoly, so they use Digital Performer. It’s a multitrack digital recording program, but without the strings attached. We started with a base of drums and wurlitzer for every song and then added and subtracted as necessary. Even a lot of the vocals are us singing over earlier tracks. There is definitely something to love about a fully live recording — I actually just mentioned the possibility of recording that way after a recent visit to the Stax museum. We’ll see what happens in the future... Will it be only you two playing live shows or do you have others playing with you? Laura: We’re currently a five-piece live. We’ve got Andrew Black on drums, Michael Cotterman on bass, and Paul Michel playing second guitar, percussion, and singing back-up vocals. John sings and plays guitar. I sing and play wurlitzer. You pretty much have tours planned for the last quarter of 2007, do you plan to tour as much in 2008? What do you think the importance of touring so much is? Laura: We’re going to take a little break in January and for at least part of February. Then we’ll do another US tour, probably stopping in at SXSW, heading over to Japan for a little while, who knows. I’m guessing that 2008 will be even busier than 2007. These days it seems like touring is the only way to make money as a working musician. With so much readily available at peoples’ fingertips (via the internet), the live show that happens in person, in the flesh for that short period of time that cannot be captured or recreated (not even on YouTube), the live show is the next great frontier.

You are originally from Canada, what lured you to working in the skateboarding industry? I had noticed that Skateboarder magazine started up again around 1997 or so. Just that oversized one issue a year. And it was great content and looked good. I had an internship semester for my final year at college so I called the art director, Jaimie Muehlhausen, and he said it only was done once a year but I might be able to help out with Snowboarder. I came down to California for the fall of 1998 and interned as a graphic designer for Snowboarder magazine. That was my first experience with the skate/snow/surf industry and it all started rolling from there.

Did drawing come easy to you as a kid? What got you into art? I guess I can’t remember not drawing. In grade six I remember doing a thanksgiving poster with part of it having a turkey with its neck about to be cut off. That was the same year of my Mr. T comic. Drawing is just something that is done everyday and whenever there is a spare moment.

Do you have formal training in art and design? Do you think people who have no talent in drawing or design can learn to be good at it? I actually have almost too much training. First it was two years of community college on Vancouver Island, Canada, then a year backpacking in Europe with my skateboard. I got to almost all the major art centers, museums and galleries. After a year of working I went back to college. This time on the other side of Canada in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I was planning to do a year of general art and design then do the design degree. It didn’t work out so I did a fine art degree first then I got into the Visual Communications degree program. I had a couple printmaking instructors that taught me more about design and communication than any of the design instructors. So I still owe a little bit of money for a fine art degree and a design degree. As for people with no talent, I’m not one to judge what is good work or not good work, especially when it comes to art. Sometimes someone might be not a great drawer but is super funny and that makes up for any lack of technical skill. As for design, there are many roles for those who prefer just to do work that is “good enough”. One has to be careful though, that is the kind of job that can be outsourced to India in a second.

Do you do all your drawings on the computer first, or pencil and paper then to computer? What programs do you use? I tend to do all my drawings by hand then scan them and sometimes clean them up but for the past while I like seeing that they were done by a human being, not a machine. As I work on more and more board graphics my ability to draw with just the computer is getting better. I use all the regular Creative Suite stuff (Illustrator, Indesign, Photoshop, Bridge and for web, Dreamweaver).

You recently left your post at TWS and took a job with Element; was it a position that you set out to get or did they come calling? What are your duties at Element? I was hanging out one weekend with a friend, Jeff Dickson, who I worked with at Giant, and he has been with Element for a few years now. He was talking about how they needed someone as in-house Art Director / Designer. I told him it sounded like a great thing and if I had another life to live, I’d be interested. Funny how things happen. It turns out life had a curveball sent at me and I called Jeff to talk. Then I went in to meet with Johnny Schillereff, Craig Metzger and Jeff, and a couple days later I was working at Element. I’m the Hard goods Art Director. So Jeff establishes the line of boards and wheels to be done. I create a few of the boards and wheels, clean up and revise some of the art from in-house artists and help out with the submissions from Todd Francis, Don Pendleton and other freelancers.

You designed some cool layouts at Transworld, what was it like working there? Was there any restrictions put upon you by corporate heads? Transworld was a great experience. Of course along with the free product been thrown our way there was a chance to shoot some photos, illustrate a couple things and write a tiny bit. I liked the pace of the production. It usually gave me and the Associate Art Director, Jason Lee, about a week and a bit to do research, take time off or just skate in the parking lot a bit more. At the time Transworld was owned by Time Inc. and the covers had to be sent to a dude in New York. Once we had a formula of sorts settled there wasn’t much messing around from Time.

Is Element giving you free reign on designs, or is it more of “we have an idea that we’d like you to design” type of situation? With any design job there is a visual language that is specific to the “brand” and as an artist and designer you work with the vocabulary of that language. That doesn’t mean you don’t create things that push the limits, that is what you hope to do. For instance somethings don’t work for Element. If an artist did an asian girl being roasted on a fire as a graphic, that wouldn’t work, for Hookups or Blind more than likely. There are sometimes concepts thrown my way that I just execute, mainly from guys like Muska.

Is it intimidating at all to work at Element knowing that some of skateboarding’s most recognized designers (Don Pendleton, Matt Irving, Todd Francis) have designed for Element? All those guys are so amazingly good at their thing. It is scary to see their stuff. And sometimes having to mess around with it. But they all understand the process of development. At times things are worked on for a couple days and some sweat put into the design, only to have it be dropped. Maybe a kernel of an idea might work into something else down the road.

What people, places, or things influence your drawings and designs? The area I live in is pretty suburban at times but with the desert, Los Angeles, San Diego and Mexico being so close, I try to go do photo missions whenever possible. Of course books and magazines are a constant source of inspiration. I have a room that is an office and the whole closet is filled with shelves full of books and magazines. A buddy and I have talked about doing a Salton Sea trip soon. There are so many abandoned buildings there.

What do you want people to take away from your art and designs? I guess I kind of separate the art and design. For design I want people to be communicated to in a way that is clear and interesting. For the art side of things I guess I want to just entertain a bit with some funny characters in everyday situations.

LOOKFORWARDTOTHEPAST

You’ve done designs for a lot of different brands like Emerica, Giant Dist, and Spy Optic, what were some of the most fun or most rewarding projects that you’ve worked on? Are there any projects that you dread doing? I guess nothing phases me too much anymore. Catalogs used to scare me, but after a few years you get to enjoy that metallic taste of stress in your mouth as you send it to the printer, usually just barely on time. I don’t consider anything too small of a project, even it might be something I could do in a couple minutes. I hopefully have learned that sometimes everyone has to get in the trenches and do the things that might not be as glamourous, but it helps others get what they might need.

You work full time, make zines and update your website with new artwork or photos almost daily, where do you find time for all your projects? I try to update lookforwardtothepast.com every week. It has been a labour of love for sure. At times it seems no one is noticing. But people mention to me once in a while they keep coming back. I guess I’m just good at time management and haven’t had cable TV for a few years. Even if I’m watching a movie I tend to do a few drawings, unless it is a particularly good movie.

Is there a certain time of the day that you feel most creative? I’m a bit of a slave to routine. I can do my morning with my eyes closed. Of course now I have a bit of a commute and my eyes are usually open. I think I’m best in the morning and most productive before lunch. And then at night for my personal work, after a skate, surf or nap I can get in a couple good productive hours of art.

How’d you get your drawings into Tony Hawk’s Project 8 Video Game? A Canadian friend, John Dobbie, works for Neversoft and at his bachelor party up in Big Bear he mentioned he could put my sketches in it. I didn’t think it would happen, and when he asked for some I gladly gave him some. And then wham! There they were, bigger than some of the skate company logos. Pretty cool. Would be fun to have something in the next one. Or even better weird characters hanging out.

In your Zine “A Bit of Good” it mentions a 20 x 20 drawing project, can you elaborate on this? Um, it is a secret. Actually it is a series of 20 drawings that are 20x20 inches. It took 2 years to get them all done. They are done and there is a chance Element is going to help me with the show and promotion of them. Still in the works though.

Do you have any current projects or shows coming up? Randy updates his site quite regularly with photos, desktops and other art. You can check it out here: www.lookforwardtothepast.com He also has quite a bit of art from his previous work experiences here: www.randylaybourne.com

Mainly the 20x20 project. It now seems like a movie that is done, but now needs to be promoted and marketed. I’m working on a series of 4 boards that tie in with the project. Also need to get another zine done soon. Maybe a photo issue?

When I started working on this issue I had a list of people who I hoped could contribute to this issue. Tucker’s name was on the top of that list, and when it came time, I emailed him. Tucker is probably the busiest guy in town; running a skateshop, doing art shows, designing shoes, plus more, so I half expected a email to come a week later with a response like “Nah man, too busy right now, maybe next issue.” But instead, when I checked my email the next day a positive response from Tucker waited for me. He told me he would gladly contribute and to send him some ideas. This was the hard part. If you don’t know Tucker, then you don’t realize he’s talented in many aspects of art; drawing, photography, writing, etc... And trying to figure out something for him to do that would challenge him would be a task. So after a couple of weeks of racking my brain, I came up with this idea that was inspired by the Six Degrees of Separation. The Six Degrees of Separation refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person he or she knows and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people he or she knows, then everyone is no more than six "steps" away from each person on Earth. So I had Tucker choose six people that he knows and write a little paragraph about them and include a photo. Tucker replied back asking when the deadline was, and said he’d have it to us then. In future issues, we will choose one person from Tucker’s list and have them choose six people and on and on. -Adam

Dawn Candace Ice

Eric William Carroll

We became friends because of a mutual friend introducing us, thinking she could hook us up or something. Needless to say, that never happened, but we did become pretty good friends. Dawn and I (and others) had an art studio/ gallery together for a while even. Those were the good ole days. Now we float in and out of each others lives but I never second guess our friendship. Did I say she makes amazing art yet? I just did.

I’ve known this goof since Mr. Setterholm’s 8th grade geography class. Back then, I was getting awkwardly hazed into the Tito Fan Club™. These days I’m living with him. I’ve been skating, shooting photos, running galleries, climbing roofs, breaking stuff, making stuff, and getting into trouble with this dude for a lifetime already. Nowadays he’s a big shot artist on the come up. He is currently ripping the art world, but still ripping on a board. (We’ve got a miniramp in our home). As good of a friend as one could ask for.

George Thompson George was just a mysterious figure to me before I moved to the downtown Fobia years ago. Back then he was the artist for both Fobia and Iota, on top of all his own work. For years, when I could sneak away from the sales floor I’d go in back, and up to his art loft to see what he was up to. Even when he wasn’t there, I’d still want to check out his desk, and work. This guy is so ridiculously talented I can’t even describe it in words. On top of all this talent, he’s an outstanding human who has always been one of the most encouraging people to me and my art.

Samuel McGuire Covers baby. This guy, this fucking guy. All comedy, all the time. Totally knows the ins and outs of getting shit done, and taking skate photos that I only wish I had the patience to take. I was always kind of jealous of Sam and his ambition to be “the” skate photographer in the cities. His shit is that good. He deserves all the attention and recognition that he’s been getting. Bonus: If you are in Mazatlan with this dude, make sure to have him show you how regal he keeps it. It’ll blow your mind. Serious.

Steve Nesser

Tyler John Gerrick

Besides having to cope with his “I just got off a 24-hour flight from the other side of the planet, check out this crazy idea I got while standing on Machu Pichu” affect, Steve is the raddest human ever. I literally have half a moleskin filled with THE most amazing quotes that have ever been recorded, all from this one man. Everyone knows how hard he tries on his skateboard, and this past year’s Birdhouse movie part, and the 2 covers he got should shut anyone up who thinks otherwise. But what people might not know is how considerate and generous he is. One of the friendships that I have, that is like no other. Steve is my homeboy.

Hermano, brother, evil Tucker, tg(squared). Tyler was my very first friend, and is my only brother. We’ve been tight since he came into this world. I base part of who I am off knowing that he is alive, and who he is, and what he and I share. When I was but a wee lad myself, and looking up to the older skate dudes in my neighborhood, I would often get blown off. I always wanted to skate with the big kids, and seldomly had the chance. But I always had Tyler, and he was always down to skate, play ping pong, build stuff. I always had a friend, maybe the best one I would ever have. He doesn’t really skate that much anymore, but he’s still my original skate buddy. Thanks brodie.

Does Fresh Rot convey the same kind of feeling as your live show? No, but I don't think that it should. We worked hard at putting something down that was a little more focused and moody. It can't be a 24-hour rager. But we still have some cuts that are pretty chaotic on the record. Live, we kinda let it fly off the handle which would be an interesting record for about five minutes and then it would just get tedious. What bands help influence Mannequin Men? Whoa. This is rough. Originally we were all about Tubeway Army, The Wipers, Wire, and that lot. Now I think we're so all over the place. We're all geeked by The Clean, and they inspire us a great deal. They were really clever in a way that didn't overshadow the music, which is really really really hard to do. Also, I think we all just really really love early rock and roll like, Bobby Say, Eddie Cochran, Bo Diddley, and that kinda stuff. And I would be a complete liar if I said that we weren't influenced by our friends and bands out here like The Ponys, Shopping, Vee Dee, Narrator, Office, all those dudes.

Your debut album Showbiz Witch was recorded in one day, how long did it take to record Fresh Rot? How do the two albums compare to each other? Fresh Rot came together, all told, in about four days (two weekends) and it would've taken close to hundred years longer if our engineer (Robert Daniels) hadn't been such a virtuoso with his equipment and so sympathetic to our sound. The records are really similar on a base level, we haven't changed our minds about much, but I think that Fresh Rot is our attempt at playing the other side of the court. We wanted to make a more polished focused record and I feel we did..

Showbiz Witch was recorded in your loft/apartment and Fresh Rot was recorded in a studio. Did you get the sound you wanted to by recording it in studio? We were nervous to let go of that control but the studio we worked in was so unique as far as set up, the live room has two-foot thick concrete walls, that we kinda thought it would be worth giving it a shot. Robert was the perfect person for the moment we were at and understood we didn't want to go crazy with studio shit, he let us be a band and captured it.

The artwork for Fresh Rot was done by Gary Panter; how did he get involved with it? Well, we were talking about what the cover should be and the question came up, "If we could have anyone in the world do it, who would it be?" After about ten seconds we thought of Gary. His work for Pee Wee's Playhouse was the first art that I encountered that encouraged me to be weird and fostered the idea that things don't have to make sense. So, we wrote him a letter and he responded saying he liked the stuff and would do the cover. He's a fantastic man and the genuine article. How'd the deal with Flameshovel come about? Well, we really needed some representation and we had just recorded Fresh Rot, which we knew would do at least o.k. in the right hands, so we started talking to people and seeing what was out there. Our buddy Miles talked to James about us I guess a few days before I emailed him asking if they were adding to their roster. We started talking and trying to sort something out. There were a couple of other labels with some open interest, but we had this meeting with James and Jesse and they just were such genuine, wonderful, hard-working dudes that we canceled the shows we were going to play for these other labels and said 'fuck it'. I don't think I've ever been happier with a decision I've made. They are great friends on top of it all and it's been a real blessing.

Ethan also plays in The Watchers and Kevin also plays in Perfect Panther, how do you spilt up time between each band? Is Mannequin Men just a side project for those other bands, or the opposite? Well we've all always had multiple projects going on which I think is great. You need to do different shit and I think in Chicago, it's real easy to join a hundred bands because there's a bunch of great stuff going on. But I don't think of it as side projects or anything like that, it's just a good time. I've read that Kevin works at a PR Firm and Ethan is an artist, what other occupations to the Mannequin Men hold? Would your rather work a 40 hr week or play in Mannequin Men full time? Rick works delivering magazines and doing odd moving jobs, recently just started working at an organic food grocery store down here, Sethie is taking some time off the grind and just DJing and playing shows.... I think the answer to the last part of that question is obvious...Mannequin Men.

Ethan played in ska bands the Skalars and Skavoovie and the Epitones in the past, how was playing in those bands compared to playing in Mannequin Men? How come your press sheets don't mention you as an ex-member of those bands, those could be great selling points? Eth looks back on that stuff with the fondest of glances, but I think it's just a different aesthetic now. Ska was HUGE then and I don't think Mannequin Men are at that stage yet, hopefully soon, but not yet. The craziest thing is that Kevin actually got Ethan's autograph after a Skavoovie show before they had ever met each other, and here they are nine years later playing in the same band. You once played a Halloween show dressed up as Velvet Underground, playing only covers, any plans to do this again? Well we did CCR last year and that was a riot too, but I think that maybe we need to just let that live on in memory and not beat it into the ground. But who knows, we had talked about having our friend Beth Swierczewski be Blondie and backing her up since she was such a believable Nico for the VU.

Rider: Sam Photo: Laura Austin

Echo Mountain Park Photo: Laura Austin

Rider: Spencer Pratti - Switch Heelflip Photo: Sam Mcguire