“…a song I haven’t sung since I was a little brat in Connecticut,” sings Kill Hannah’s Mat Devine on their latest effort, Wake Up the Sleepers.
He’s right.
Sleepers is no doubt Kill Hannah’s most honest and ambitious album to date, the “album we’ve always wanted to make,” according to the band. More than their major label efforts, For Never and Ever and Until There’s Nothing Left of Us, this album stays truer to the original “Kill Hannah sound” that decorated the band’s first albums: an infectious blending of sludge and sleaze, glitter, dance beats, space cadet effects and afro-Cuban drum parts. Somewhere inside this album lies the aural cocktail that’s been eluding them since the release of American Jet Set in 1999, and they’ve attempted every trick in the book to re-discover it, including guest appearances by everyone from Benji Madden to Amanda Palmer.
One must take risks in producing such an ambitious effort, and Kill Hannah has not fallen short in that regard. In doing so, however, they must be prepared for those risks to turn people off. Several of Kill Hannah’s influences have learned this the hard way, notably U2 (Pop) and The Smashing Pumpkins (Machina/The Machines of God).
Key track “Escape Artistry” is “All That He Wants (American Jet Set)” updated for 2009 and “Living in Misery,” is every bit as grandiose as Devine’s dreams—an epic, hopeful ballad featuring larger-than-life Twitter-er and sometime musician Palmer, a children’s choir and the chorus, “We are living in misery, but we have to hold on.” With throwaway lyrics and a beat meant to move you, “Tokyo (Dance In The Dust)” takes influence from friends Shiny Toy Guns and their hit “Le Disko,” despite the questionable and unnecessary T-O-K-Y-O chant let loose toward the end of the song.
Self-produced and pieced together in four different studios around Chicago and in Canada, the album alternates from hopeful to hopeless, lovesick to love-heals-all-things. The fact a few of the songs were written years apart from one another explains some of the manic-depressive mood swings. Fan favorite “New York City Speed” was an internet demo leaked years ago, while rock-love song “Acid Rain” was written during the Until There’s Nothing Left of Us sessions. These songs act as the glue holding the album together and bind new with old, attempting to keep the band’s promise to “unite all the Kill Hannah fans from the last 10 years, and do everything in our ability to continue to earn [their] loyalty.”
The mixing on the album feels just as scattered—tracks like “Mouth 2 Mouth,” “Escape Artistry” and “Strobelights” sound like they belong on one album, while “Living in Misery” and “Laika” on another. Complete downer “Promise Me” samples a string orchestra and features live tympani drums, but the subtleties are such it barely seems to break through demo waters. The song has potential to be a heart-rending, moody ballad, but comes across as neglected next to the slick production of “New York City Speed” and “Radio.”
Dan Wiese performed virtually all of the guitar work (aside from a couple guest turns), due to the departure of Jonny Radtke (who makes a sole appearance on “Acid Rain”). He gives the album a depth missing in previous KH efforts, layered in distortion and effects, a mad concoction of thick sound. Wiese’s vibe is more indie than metal, and instead of sprawling solos you get sonic landscapes crafted from the belly of this effect scientist’s laboratory. The guitars are dripping with whatever Wiese can pull from his pedal board, adding a refreshing touch to a tried-and-true formula.
Drummer Elias Mallin plays on his first record with the band and adds the touch of metal flair with a thunder of double bass and added rhythmic complexity. His contribution is especially noticeable with improvements on old favorites (“Welcome to Chicago Motherfucker”) and the occasional stray from the 4/4 time supported by bassist Greg Corner.
Devine lets his voice loose, stripping away the Pro Tools and letting his elfin, strained moans and shrieks come to life on their own terms. It’s one of his finest performances vocally and lyrically as he tries to tackle subjects only hinted at on previous albums. While his trademark turns of phrase are evident (“…and so we say goodbye, with thunder in our eyes…”) he also takes the blame (“Promise Me”), gives a free-style confessional (“Why I Have My Grandma’s Sad Eyes”) and tells his detractors to fuck off (“Radio”).
While Wake Up the Sleepers has some cringe-worthy moments (the T-O-K-Y-O chant) it has some triumphant ones as well (the chorus to “Strobe Lights”). By far my biggest complaint about the record is song order. While likely intended to be schizophrenic and experimental it comes across as sloppy and disagreeable. The album jumps and jars so often I finally gave up and made my own playlist, which I’ll post below.
Regardless of the collective opinion, Kill Hannah make no apologies and have again made an album unlike any of their contemporaries. They are busy living, creating, and taking risks—rather than catering to a specific audience or delivering a disc put together by a label. They are honesty warriors making the music they want to make. From their ambitious Chicago roots Kill Hannah’s message has always centered on hope and the unbeatable desire to press ever onward.
They’ve faced obstacles that have destroyed other bands; their suffering supplements their art. Through fire, trial, struggle and change emerges “a renewed sense of fearlessness and freedom during the writing and recording process that we haven’t felt since our independent DIY days in Chicago. We took a lot of chances, because this is the album that we want to be remembered by,” said Devine.
They danced with major labels and painted their faces; now Kill Hannah seem eager to jump into the bare grit of the sweat-soaked crowd, the sleepless that have always been awake, wearing trademark sniper hearts on their sleeves.
Julie M. T.’s recommended song order:
- Mouth 2 Mouth
- Snowblinded
- Why I Have My Grandma’s Sad Eyes
- Radio
- Escape Artistry
- New York City Speed
- Strobe Lights
- Tokyo (Dance in the Dust)
- Laika
- Vultures (Be There For Me)
- Acid Rain
- Promise Me
- Living in Misery
- (Bonus) Welcome to Chicago Motherfucker
(Visit killhannah.com for numerous Wake Up the Sleepers packages, or buy the album on Itunes here. Kill Hannah are currently on tour with Jet and Papa Roach. Check their Myspace for details.)
Most musicians have large loads.
[Disclaimer: this post will be a scrapbook of pictures. This is an entirely "checking-in" post and will likely sound schizophrenic.]
In short: It has been busy these last few weeks. So busy in fact that when I looked at the date of my last post I nearly fainted. My apologies for making you wait. Bated breath, and all that.
In long: I’ve been back and forth between sanity and insanity these last few weeks and there isn’t a whole lot I can put to paper [or screen] at the moment. I’m working my ass off trying to get the re-launch of [modern.orphan.designs.] off the ground but as a one-woman operation I’m starting to feel the effects. I gave myself a lengthy-yet-reasonable time table in which to get all of these designs up [including my fucking book, The Rough Chronicles of Bipolar Romance, which needs to see the light of day now that it's finally here] but there are things hindering me from doing so. But never fear, the same time frame is in place and M.O.D. should have a re-launch sometime in the next month. [Don't forget to sign up for the G&D Feed, or sign up with your email using the M.O.D. site or the right hand side of this screen, so you'll know exactly when M.O.D. re-launches and get your limited, 1st edition copy of TRCOBR!]
I’m also trying to attend the annual Nimrod Literary Conference coming up in October, but between the recent job loss, hospital stays and lack of launching M.O.D., the money situations looking a little dire. I’ll never understand why the entrance fees are so fucking expensive. Since “Orphan” is the key word around here, if anyone has some change they can throw into my proverbial velvet hat, please do so using the Paypal donation button to your right. Even $3 can help me go and attend classes to further my art, learn new techniques and refine my skills so that I can come and tell you for free on here.
There’s also a bit of news going on with myself and a few familiar faces you’ve seen around G&D – currently I’m working on a DIY Artbook Project with Natascha Artworx from Hamburg, Germany! This is a 100% DIY and made-with-love endeavor and, once finished will look fabulous! Miss N. sent me a few of her paintings in the mail and I was floored – she works a lot of the time in watercolor which is a medium I could never master in college. So, as soon as I get my parts done and send them off look for that in the near future!
In even more other news, I met up with Kill Hannah last week and managed to stay sober the entire time, thus eliminating my need for pictures-as-proof. Consider these pictures-for-pleasure. You might recognize this face from an interview I conducted about a month ago:
Gil and I are on a mission to fuck you up.
- Mat Devine wears Chicago Suicide Club and prescription sunglasses at night. Take that Cory Hart.
Maddox - looking like a demon. I didn't fix the red eye because I'm for shit at Photoshop.
[On Kill Hannah's current tour with She Wants Revenge, Maddox is filling in for Dan Wiese who was married yesterday and by now is well on his way toward a honeymoon. Maddox has played in a handful of regionally successful acts including Miser and Jupiter Blue, with whom Kill Hannah have a long and sordid history. He also asked me to interview him so we'll see where that ends up. Hit me up M!]
The reason why this isn’t filed under “I just need the airfare [&] I’m gone” is because, while yes I funded my entire portion on change, the hotel stays were hardly 4-star and I wasn’t nearly so concerned with the amenities of the entire thing. The La Quinta in Dallas was decent, even though they fucked me on a smoking room and the Motel 6 in Austin had no carpet, the ugliest bedspread known to man, no hot water and the air conditioner leaked so badly when I arrived back to the motel clothing and shoes were soaked in freezing water.
For the rest of the story follow me on Twitter. It’s stuffed full of stories-in-pictures, sarcasm and hope[lessness].
Heidi Cannon and John Bourke at the Trash Yourself release party in LA.
In keeping with familiar faces, DJ/Producer John Bourke, who I’ve interviewed in the past had a release party at H. Wood for the new effort from Trash Yourself, titled “Forget It.” Find it, buy it and dance your ass off. Although John admitted Trash Yourself had never done an Oklahoma show before, that’s about to change on October 28th as their Myspace calender claims to have TY playing Robotic in Oklahoma City.
So, Orphans, now that you know what I’ve been up to your charge is to go out and find a great show to attend and tell me about it. Write an email, send pictures, poems or other forms of evidence – I don’t care. I’ll even post a couple on G&D. I want stories of sweat, screaming, catharsis and need. You could even check out She Wants Revenge/Kill Hannah on tour, or find Trash Yourself ‘s new CD and throw your own house party.
Report back and we’ll compare stories!
Baram on stage with Kill Hannah. Photo by R.E. Barbash
ser⋅en⋅dip⋅i⋅ty [ser-uhn-dip-i-tee] – (n.) – 1. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident. 2. good fortune; luck
Serendipity is the only way to describe how Israeli-born guitarist Gil Baram wound up playing with Chicago’s unconquerable sons, Kill Hannah. A friend at the Musicians Institute (M.I.) in Hollywood, where Baram had attended, informed him that the band was holding auditions to replace departed guitarist Jonny Radtke. Familiar with the band and eager for a challenge, Baram spent a mere 24 hours with a portion of Kill Hannah’s catalog before stepping in front of Dan Wiese (guitars) and Elias Mallin (drums, and also a former Musicians Institute student). Less than a day later, before any final decisions had been made, Baram ran into Wiese and Mallin by chance at a restaurant next to his apartment; three hours later everyone was smiling and Baram had a home.
Gil has been playing music since age 14, beginning with a band in Israel before he came to the United States to attend M.I., where he formed a project called The Lure. (You can hear the remnants of The Lure on his MySpace page.) After The Lure’s breakup he made the transition to freelance musician as a business move and ran the gamut of fame in a relatively short time frame. Two weeks after graduating the Institute he was picked up to play for pop-superstar and poster-girl for abusive relationships, Rihanna. After that gig he auditioned again and was chosen for professional BMX rider Rick Thorne’s band, Good Guys in Black.
Baram’s first tour with Kill Hannah came earlier this year when they opened for Lacuna Coil. I was able to catch a couple shows with the new lineup. While some musicians are content to be a faceless tool on stage in exchange for a paycheck, Gil’s performance with Kill Hannah is a palpable wave of vigor and warmth, devouring the fans’ sweat-soaked energy and reciprocating his own. He moves, moshes and most of all, the guy can play.
Baram holds a fire for the art he creates. It’s a burning reminder for the pursuit of unshakable dreams, and the idea that the humanities don’t care if you’re in LA, Africa or the lost city of Atlantis—they’ll move you just the same. This is why they cannot die. We spoke last week over the phone, discussing everything from Kill Hannah’s extensive back catalog to the state of the humanities. Gil answered each query with an infectious excitement that promises the desperate ears of today that we will have worthy music for tomorrow.
Julie M. Tate: How did it feel to travel abroad to the Musicians Institute? Did it scare you or were you more anxious for the opportunity?
Gil Baram: I spent most of my life in Israel so coming here was about the best move I’ve ever done. It was terrifying and it was really hard for the first six months but totally worth it.
JMT: I must imagine the cultures are completely different.
GB: Yeah, it’s completely different—people in Israel act completely different. It’s like you walk on the street here and smile at strange people, they’ll probably smile back at you. In Israel if you smile at someone it doesn’t go that well. It’s just a totally different culture. I think it’s based on the constant conflict in Israel. Here people are focused on totally different problems and different day-to-day realities.
JMT: So you had to grow up with that constant conflict.
GB: Yeah. It sounds weird but you get used to it and it’s not a big deal. It’s a part of your thinking. You’re raised in a constant war and suddenly you’re in a place where people are raised in a constant kind of comfort. There’s strife around the U.S. and there’s shit going on but there’s kind of a sense of tranquility. They’re not as worried about survival.
JMT: Did you have a big record collection? Dealing with constant conflict I imagine music was a form of escape for you.
GB: Oh yeah, wow. Michael Jackson was the first concert I ever saw when I was like 12. What do I listen to? Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Cure, The Smashing Pumpkins, Pantera, Metallica, White Zombie, Pink Floyd, Prince…I like everything. When people ask me what I listen to I say “Slayer to Sinatra and everything in between.”
JMT: Why LA? Was the move to California a conscious decision or did you come to the States and end up in LA?
GB: I didn’t know where to go [career-wise] in Israel. When you’re in Israel you have this awesome concept of what the United States is—not that it isn’t—but you’re totally illusioned about it.
The more I tour and see the States I understand “why LA” and the more I dislike LA in a way. I look at Israel like Missoula, Montana: it’s a small place in the middle of nowhere. People in places in the middle of nowhere have a grand vision of LA: it’s “the place where dreams come true.”
JMT: Yeah, they definitely talk it up.
GB: If you want to be a hired gun, if you want to do gigs and sessions, there is no better place to be than LA. If you want to be in a band, there’s no worse place to be than in LA. The market is over saturated with bands from LA and to be honest there’s no real musical direction. There are good bands in LA but the fact you have to pay clubs to play there, that doesn’t really happen anywhere else around, does it?
There are a lot of hardworking bands that come here. It’s just rich kid central. There are kids who are 16 and their dad’s a movie star, and they go to places like the Key Club and buy out the place and play there. There’s no place to play in LA for a band. There are only other [LA] bands and their girlfriends. I’m totally trash-talking LA.
JMT: I do it all the time. It’s an easy city to hate. I have friends that are in bands in LA who shit-talk LA. Hell there are high profile bands, like Tool for example, who are based in LA and hate it too.
GB: Tool are known LA-haters aren’t they?
JMT: Exactly. So it’s not necessarily anything scandalous. It’s a double-edged sword because if you want gigs or opportunities, yes, LA is the place to be but at the same time you have to put up with all the bullshit.
GB: What you’re saying is 100% correct. Because LA is very good if you’re already “in the business” and you’re a successful band. LA is a great place if you want to get into the pop business, the hype business. If you want to start a band and really be a band? No.
Baram and former Kill Hannah guitarist Jonny Radtke. Photo by Darkroom Demons
JMT: So you’ve never wanted to stay a freelance musician, you’ve always wanted a permanent spot with a band?
GB: Definitely, definitely. I hate being a hired gun. I hate the pop side of music. It’s horrible, it’s fake and you’re like a very cheap tool. You’re not a person. You’re a guitar or a set of drums. In the hired gun world I know this guy and he’s 50 years old. He plays for Prince and he plays for Justin Timberlake and he’s made a shit load of money and he played for Rihanna for a little bit. After all that he’s still 50 and running around LA chasing gigs. So that is the world of the hired gun, and I’m over it.
JMT: You’re half that age and you’re already over it. That’s telling.
GB: I feel super lucky I get to play with Kill Hannah because when I first heard of them I only knew a bunch of songs. The deeper I dive into the catalog of the band the more I love it, the more epic it is. I like listening to really old stuff now like “Nerve Gas.”
JMT: Yeah, a lot of the older songs had a really huge feel, they filled up a room even straight from the album. Then you hear them live and they’re mind-blowing. There’s a lot of room in Kill Hannah because they don’t pigeon-hole you into one position. They have everything from pop to rock to almost experimental.
GB: Exactly, and that’s fucking awesome. That’s how music should be. It shouldn’t be defined by a genre, it should just be art.
JMT: Right now I’m sure your free time is pretty much consumed by Kill Hannah and trying to learn the back catalog, but do you still record original music at all?
GB: All of the stuff I did with my other band [The Lure] I wrote all the music and the singer wrote the lyrics. Right now though, yeah, I’m working on learning the Kill Hannah catalog. I do write, but Mat (Devine, vocals) is fucking awesome. I’m bewildered by his songwriting ability. The more I listen to his songs, the more I realize there are no producers behind that and he didn’t really learn any of that. He just writes that way. I’m in awe.
JMT: Well Mat’s method of thinking is admittedly a little tweaked. So the artistic things he produces, whether it’s his lyrics or his chord structures, tend to come out that way.
GB: I had this conversation with an A & R while I was going to school and he was telling me how he can listen to a band and know within ten seconds if a band has that “thing.” Which is usually like 1% of all the bands ever and listening to Kill Hannah you know that the band has that “thing,” that elusive 1% thing. It’s pretty awesome to be so close to it.
JMT: Well and in terms of songwriting getting to work with a musician like Dan must be refreshing as well. If you think of the music industry right now guitarists like Dan are rare in bands, in terms of the way he can layer a sonic landscape. The musicians you work with bring a lot to the table.
GB: I really like Dan’s playing. In a way it’s completely opposite to mine and it’s awesome in any way to be playing with someone who is totally different. Dan was playing me some stuff while we were learning the songs and I was like, “Oh that’s a guitar? Really?! You can play that? I thought that was a sample or something!” He’s like the creepy mad scientist, and he’s fucking epic about it. I feel like there’s so much room for me in the band. There are no restrictions and you’re able to put yourself in there.
JMT: Yeah, anything that can enhance and make it better. It’s not just “insert guitarist here.” Kill Hannah really aren’t about that, they want to add and grow.
GB: Exactly.
Photo by R. E. Barbash
JMT: Obviously you have a passion for music—you’ve been playing since you were young and moved half-way around the world to pursue it. Do you think the humanities are an important part of preserving our culture?
GB: The thing I hate the most about music in the past 10 years is I feel that a lot of the pop and mainstream is devoted to the art of making money and not the art of art. Growing up the only consolation you get from all the shit you go through every day, from being the outcast kid and all that shit, is the music. Which, between listening to bands like The Smashing Pumpkins and Pantera and all that stuff, it touches you somewhere. I don’t guess, I know that’s why people connect to Kill Hannah the way they do. So yeah, music has to mean something, has to talk about human emotions and what’s going on in the world today. Fuck yeah. It’s pointless if it doesn’t.
JMT: I’ve talked to people though, whose attitude is, “Oh, it’s just something I do. I have the means to do it so I’m going to do it.” They don’t want to get into it any deeper than that. They like it because their friends do it and it helps them get laid. To me if it’s worth a shit it has to mean something more than that.
GB: Exactly. If it has any sort of value what you’re saying is absolutely correct. Because whoever is in this business to make money is A: an idiot and B: in the wrong business. Because there’s nothing better than getting the connection with fans when you’re playing on stage and just knowing that people are vibing off what you play, or people are singing back the lyrics to you. That they actually take the time and are touched by the music. When you listened to the new album you remember a song called “Vultures,” right? Or “Sad Eyes?”
JMT: Yeah.
GB: Where Mat says “love must be just for idiots?”
JMT: Yeah, I remember.
GB: You know exactly what that means right? And so do I but it means two totally different things to you and me, and it probably means something totally different to Mat. But that’s what makes it art.
JMT: See I love to hear people still talking like this because if there’s one thing I try and re-iterate to people it’s that these things are still important, even in the Information Age. We shouldn’t reduce great works of art to entries on Wikipedia. This thinking still exists in two totally different places: I’m in the middle of the Bible Belt and you’re in a city that’s commercialized the humanities arguably more than any other.
GB: I don’t think it’ll ever die out, you know? Because there’s always going to be people using music for what it should be, as an escape or a communication form. Whoever does music to please people and thinks they can give people what they want is dead wrong. That’s one of the things you see in LA, people doing the trendy thing, doing whatever works. They don’t get it. But all those bands that make that “thing” work, make it work because what they’re doing is original and touches people in some sort of way. You can’t imitate that. You’ve got to do it your own way.
(Kill Hannah are currently gearing up for a month-long tour with She Wants Revenge beginning September 8th. Their upcoming album, Wake Up the Sleepers, is slated for release on September 29th through Original Signal Recordings. A digital 45 featuring the album’s first single, “New York City Speed” plus a B-side, will be available on iTunes on August 18th. Check www.killhannah.com and www.myspace.com/killhannah for details. Listen to the latest sneak peek from WUTS, “Strobe Lights,” at www.purevolume.com/killhannah. Download “New York City Speed” for FREE here. Song uploaded with permission.)
Call me Elphaba.
I’ve been sick for four days. I’m pretty sure I had a lithium buildup in my system resulting in mild lithium toxicity. It isn’t hemlock but it’s nearly as glamorous–that is until you’re puking up the whole-grain cinnamon roll you bought from the trendy coffee house at 2 a.m. and continue to do so until long after the sun has come up, and gone back down, and up again ad nauseam. Until your muscles and skin ache, until your hands are trembling so bad you can’t type and you spill your drinks, until you can’t hold yourself up but can’t afford to call in to work. Until all those things. Something like that. It’s simple. Drink plenty of fluids. Two to three liters of water a day. I simply hadn’t been following that rule. After two weeks of slacking that’s what happened.
Everything is behind. My writing, merchandising, editing, interviewing–basically my mental pudding capacity. Right now at this very moment I’m listening to The Smashing Pumpkins because I’ve reverted to some form of fetal state and listening to The Pumpkins is what I used to do in high school when things were overwhelming and I needed comfort. Guess what? It still makes me feel better. Little teeny parts of me are starting to push through the black cloud I’m wearing even though it’s terribly out of season and everyone is talking about how frumpy and clueless I am.
I have promises still waiting to settle, t-shirts still brand new, a balance in the red and one large, encompassing dream way out on the horizon.
And my lime Jello brain asks: why should I press on?
M. Orphans, whether or not you decide to pursue a career in the arts, one day you’ll have every conceivable odd stacked against you, and you’re going to say “what in the holy fuck am I doing this for?” How you answer that question will determine whether or not you have the guts and gumption to keep doing whatever the “this” is. I was reading a post by Tom & Lorenzo [T Lo] and although their answer is pretty blog specific I think it’ll make sense to a myriad of artistic mediums:
“…we started this blog because we were in the midst of Hard Times and Dark Days and it was a way to keep that at bay and just do something for the sheer enjoyment of it and because, contrary to our expectations, people actually came to read us…when you have a blog that suddenly becomes “talked about,” and when you feel like you’re drowning out in the real world, that blog becomes your lifeline and the people who read and support you become, in many ways, more important to you than even your friends and family. Because those wonderful strangers are demonstrating something that even your closest compatriots sometimes fail to: they believe in you.
It’s a small thing and one that can easily be overstated and over-dramatized, but it’s still a unique and powerful experience – especially because its one solely of your own creation. There’s no publication or editor or marketing department. It’s just you, and your thoughts, and (hopefully) your talent, putting it out there in the ether to the faceless strangers who have, to your eternal gratitude, decided that you have something to say worth listening to.”
Now everyone on the face of the planet can understand the comfort and necessity of needing someone to “get it.” But I’m also of the mind that any struggling musician, poet, mixed-media artist, interpretive dancer, street performer, novelist, etc. can feel what that’s trying to say. If you’re in this business you know it has it’s own brand of difficulty. However, I was having a discussion yesterday where I mused that the arts and artists were one of the few lucky sorts that “work” in a thanked position. (We aren’t going to include the heads of English/art departments or what’s left of the record industry at the moment, that’s an entirely different post.) So many jobs are thankless (see: most of our day jobs) but art is one of the few professions where you are able to meet your “customer” face to face because they want to say “you inspire me,” or “you saved my life with your words,” or “that color scheme inspired my bedroom plans,” or whatthefuckhaveyou. Fans of art want to meet the artists who make it so they can say “thank you.” Now, being in a “thanked” position doesn’t mean you’re getting rich and famous–you might, you might not. (God let’s hope so.) But it’s more than most people get, and one of the unique perks for choosing an entirely difficult profession.
Then again, being an artist can get you these sorts of responses too:
D has candy, kiddies. Totally harmless.
(Taken from Monsieur Devine’s latest Kill Hannah Fuse Blog where he has an open call for questions he’ll answer at a later [likely much, much, much later] date)
“Dear Mat-
I am not a Kill Hannah fan. By that, I mean that I don’t know much about your music. I am a hardcore Nine Inch Nails fan, however. But my best friend loves you guys, so I went with her to see you perform with Lacuna Coil a few weeks ago. I noticed something then, and now, after my friend showed me some of the responses to this post, I have to say something.
Your fans. How do you deal with it? How do you deal with having a bunch of teeny bopper, illiterate, stalker fucktards as fans?
Seriously. At the concert, there were girls who were following you all over – I have to say right here, that I wonder how the hell they’re affording it in this economy- and saying that they think they’ll be able to get in your pants because they’re “friends” with your newest band member, (who I can’t remember his name, it has something to do with a fish, though) who left them a comment on Myspace saying to come to the next concert. You might want to tell him to stop feeding the delusion. Unless, of course, it really does mean you or a band member are planning on fucking them. Which I doubt, because there were some really ugly, obese girls there.
I guess my question, in short, is how do you have the patience to deal with the douchebags and stalkers?
Oh, and how do you think Obama’s doing so far? 202 days in office now.
PS- thanks for giving my friend a kiss. You made her night.
Spy Girl on August 9, 2009 at 06:23 AM”
(Poor Papa Raccoon. His kids are gnawing on him. Now if that isn’t fodder for a great work of art Orphans, I don’t know what is.)
Addendum: Of course I’m eating my words. M. has answered his first round of questions over at his Fuse Blog and, I found myself talking to the computer screen: “You motherfucker, you haven’t lost it.” His response to a klepto who wanted a career in the arts:
“…but you have to understand, one doesn’t become at artist to make money… one becomes an artist to bare one’s soul, to search for truth, to quiet the demonic voices in your head, and to score chicks at local galleries. That’s Art with a capital A . the rest is just “craft”. If you’re content to whittle wooden seagulls on he weekends for a local fair, then that’s cool, but that’s not art. if however, you are fully consumed by a suffocating twisted desire that can’t be tamed, then you have to let everything else go. Forget about the word ‘lucrative’ and ‘career’— cos you were an artist the day you were born and you’ll be one on your deathbed. Commit fully, never compromise your essence, pay your dues, and as you do, the universe will guide and protect you. Get tortured baby. Stop stealing jeans. Steal paint.”
I should make that an honorary addendum to the What is a Modern Orphan? description and page.
Proofs 3-5 of 5 + swag + scented oils = packages done G & D style
It feels like it’s been a long time. Currently I’m listening to the brand new Muse single and feeling vicious. I can’t seem to find the words lately but what faith I possess clings to the insides of my skull and says it won’t stay that way forever. There are too many artists out there working in art’s favor, too many inspiring my favor for me to let go completely.
Proofs 3-5 of 5 have been sent out to some of my most trusted family, in an effort to catch any last mistakes and to gauge what works and what doesn’t, before the final books go to print. I promise they’re coming. I’m also out of nearly everything in the merch store, so time to re-order/re-design swag over there too. Busy days for dreamers, it seems.
Speaking of books, probably my favorite small-press publication out right now is a bi-annual journal called Quick Fiction, published by The Parlor, North Shore’s Independent Writing Studio. Quick Fiction is dedicated to showcasing flash-fiction of 500 words or less and it’s completely revitalizing. In my opinion, flash-fiction still isn’t really recognized as a legitimate genre. It isn’t quite a short-story, not nearly long enough to be a novella, nowhere near a poem. Many people I’ve talked to have written flash fiction off as “an easy way out” or basically for people not good enough to excel in any of the above mentioned genres. Prose in general tends to be frowned upon. (How many of you got the “this is purple prose” on any of your college papers?) As Samuel Taylor Coleridge once said: “I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose = words in their best order; poetry = the best words in their best order.”
But I find flash-fiction to be my second-favorite genre to work within, next to poetry. It’s a photograph in 500-1000 words; it even looks like a photograph on the page. To me, it takes immense talent to describe a scene in all it’s detail in 500 words, by no means is it an easy task. From the absurd and sickeningly beautiful “The Practical Application of Beauty” by Andrea Kneeland in volume 15 to the gorgeous description in “Sunny Days Are Fine” by Matthew Purdy in volume 12, Quick Fiction is dedicated to publishing some of the best at this craft.
For any aspiring artists out there the artwork for their covers is always amazing as well. If you’re looking to get your work on the cover of a class act publication, I’d highly recommend checking it out:
Some of the copies of Quick Fiction that I posses.
I have submitted to this journal and, like The Great American Poetry Show, I will not fail to submit to until I am accepted. I love it that much. I mark all of the books I own, but I mark this one in pencil so I can erase it later. No really, I’m telling you, go buy a copy. For $8 you can own something that will surely inspire you. It’s well put together, aesthetically pleasing and stuffed full of talent. If you absolutely don’t want to buy a copy (what?) you can also donate, as it is published by a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization.
In other news I’ve finally finished my interview with Gil Baram, Kill Hannah‘s new touring guitarist. We were able to talk at length and the more we talk the more I find him to be extremely well-spoken and honest–traits you don’t take for granted in this industry. He’s relatively unknown thus far and I’m aiming to break that silence. Look for that in the next couple of days.
I’ve also updated the [words] page with my latest publication in Cram 6, one of my very, very favorite poems called “Crybaby.” This particular poem was actually the breaking point in my graduate poetry course with Professor Ai. I was an undergraduate accepted to her graduate course since I’d finished all the undergraduate poetry course work avaliable at OSU. To make a long story short, before I submitted this poem for class review I was writting how I thought a poet “should” write, aka turning in mediocre, safe poems that were met with lukewarm reviews at best, completely torn apart at worst. Then one day I met a boy with insane hair and maple-colored eyes and spent one long afternoon in the student union fantasizing about him. This poem is the result. It was met with fierce love/hate reviews but regardless, one of my peers, Scott, stopped me after class and thanked me for writing it. From then on I never settled. In fact, I might dedicate a blog post to this poem in the future. I’m in love with it just as I might or might not be in love with the character. You can read it here.
Lots of shit coming up in the next few weeks, Orphans. Again, super, super busy but the circus doesn’t stop. You’ll want to make sure you join us by subscribing in a feed or via email. Trust me, I’m better at doing what I do than your last girlfriend was at satisfaction. Believe that.
PS. Had to work on a couple of things and during that time some of my “I just need the airfare and I’m gone” posts vanished. If you missed them you can find them here and here.
