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I’m dumping Tumblr

Dear tumblr, Your character limit sucks. It makes me have to post multiple parts to lengthy interviews and that just sucks. We had fun while it lasted, but I’ve found someone better. Blogspot doesn't have stupid character limits and the medium is just more attractive to my eye. No hard feelings, but you should really check them out. (click this --> http://snufffilmcollective.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-best-laid-plans-of-mice-and-men.html) Yours no more, Snuff Film Collective

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A Song by Song Deconstruction of Ben Ricketts New Album “Here, Asleep”

On Oxford Mississippi’s Ben Ricketts’ latest release he has ditched his standard set up in lieu of something a bit different. Opting to follow his latest musical interests in psych folk, acoustic instrumentation has replaced his, now standard, electric guitar playing as his vocals soar over ambient field recordings and assorted lo-fi samples. Ben has been honing his songwriting and perfecting his playing for some time now, and this record doesn't just sound like the newest release with a new direction in a long line of releases, but it comes across as a fine tuned album from a person who has been doing this long enough to be able to cross into uncharted territories without losing what makes him him. I was fortunate enough to the oppertunity to talk to Ben in great detail about his career and his newest release, and below he goes into the meaning and inspiration behind the album and the songs on it. I hope you enjoy. <3

  The album itself came after months of writing, organizing, arranging, and scrapping material.  That's why there's so much unreleased stuff that came with the pre-orders, and that only scratches the surface.  I've never written and abandoned more material than I did with this record, but I had gotten kind of bored with the setup I had been using for years: guitar/keys, tracks, and vocals.  I wanted to do something more experimental, more in-the-moment, etc.  I toured with my friend Drew Danburry, and his shows are very minimal/acoustic.  I had already found myself listening to more psych folk/ambient music, so this record came as sort of a marriage of my love for that music and my love for experimenting.

1) "The First Phase"  This one is inspired by two things.  First of all, I had a few sheets of paper than I always kept on hand and wrote nice sounding phrases that I heard or read around me.  I got a few of my favorites, and a song was forming.  Thematically, it was based on a conversation Drew and I had about celebrities and the way that we expect people to be a certain way.  We're uncomfortable with people whose art we enjoy not being these angels.  Who better personifies that than Kanye West?  A genius producer and artist who many people hate because of his ego and personal behavior is perfect for the song.  He's the "actor" who "wants some time alone in his bedroom."  Yeah, he and John Lennon and (insert celebrity here) may not be nice people, but there's no reason that we should automatically believe that they are.  I was fascinated by the idea of public figures still being humans with fears and private lives and favorite foods, etc.  Also, I'm proud of the field recordings on that one, which are from a Christmas parade in Hillsboro, MO that I attended with family. 2) "The Flood" I wrote this one without knowing what it was about.  I think that this one has a pretty uninteresting story, but I'm proud of it.  It just organically grew, and then I realized that it seemed (to me) to be about the way we process faith and belief.  "If I tried, I suppose I'd find my way around You" is a paradoxical line.  The idea is that, by addressing God to discuss going around God, one has still acknowledged God.  It's a song about how beliefs are fixed in people. 3) "Objects of Industry"  This one was based on an experiment from a previous album draft.  I played the two main chords into a cheap tape recorder and then bounced that into my sampler and just looped it.  I got bored with that, and while I was in Hillsboro with family, I composed the rest.  The lyrics were written pretty quickly, but the main phrase ("all Your objects of industry") had been put together a few weeks before.  This song, for me, is about life, emotion, God, my feelings about modern middle American Christianity, and acceptance.  I was a very staunch fundamentalist conservative Christian as a young teenager, and I look back on that in a variety of ways.  This song really addresses my feelings toward the younger, more militant and angry me.  Also, it came out being much more "Pet Sounds" than I intended, but that's okay, because it's my favorite album. Also, There are a few minor accidents (a note coming out as a whisper, lyric sheets turning) in that track that I felt added so much as nice little accidents. 4) "Kingdom" I wrote this single line ("When I make it to the Kingdom, I'm gonna have blood on my hands") after hearing Paul Simon's "Graceland."  I had gotten into that 80s afrobeat/world beat stuff, and it started as a very chant-ish piece.  I've been working it into transitions and intros live since 2014 or so, and it seemed appropriate to transition from "Objects" to it.  It's much more drone-oriented than it originally was, but I'm really proud of it. 5) "Cora" This was the name of someone who I really appreciated that worked in an office I had to go to once.  I can't give away too many details, but there was nothing happening beyond meetings I had to go to.  Cora was just a nice person who always joked about "Benny and the Jets," when I walked in.  I thought that was funny, so I referenced it.  But Cora in the song is a totally different person--a combination of people I've known over the years who had an effect on me.  I tried to put the emotions I've had over friends having the same problems that the character Cora is having, and I still get emotional playing it live.  It's not about the Cora I knew at all.  It's about this fictional friend and their awful (but all-too-real and common) experience.  It also plays into what I said about people being inherently good.  ("Cora, some things don't ever change.  People are good, but not always.")  Several people have come to me after shows and told me that it made them cry.  They have thanked me for talking about what was a really difficult part of their lives in a song.  The fact that I can connect with people that way means the universe to me. 6) "Our Own Language" This is just a very fun love song.  I wrote it as a synthesizer-heavy trip hop song during one particular attempt at a record that was all live synth work.  It's about my girlfriend, Carlie, and how we (like most couples) have strange little inside jokes and words between each other.  The last chorus is about being away on tour, and specifically about a friar that came to my last show at this bar in South Carolina. He, my friends, and myself hung out for some time after the show, and he ended up explaining why he thought the Apostle Paul might have been gay.  He was drinking and telling us all sorts of stories, and he kept reiterating that "if Jesus were here today, He wouldn't be off acting all high and mighty.  He'd be here at the Radio Room, laughing and talking and listening to music.  He'd be encouraging musicians and artists."  That was an experience that begged to be written about.

Be on the look out for a very in depth interview I did with Ben that I will be posting sometime soon. Until then, below are links to his Facebook page and a link to the album described above, along with his other releases. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBenjaminRicketts/?pnref=lhc

Bandcamp: https://benricketts.bandcamp.com/album/here-asleep

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<3

fei lung in asheville

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An Interview With Val From Sojii

In this digital age, there’s A LOT of fucking bands out there, and one of my favorite past times is sitting down with a good pair of headphones, and just digging through Bandcamp on the search for something new. On most occasions I find a few bands or artists who catch my attention for a few songs, but ultimately I loose interest or forget their names soon after closing out the app. Not Sojji though. The distinctive pig in a dunce cap album art work enticed me to click on their debut self tilted ep, and when the spastic energy of the beginning of “Milksop” gave way to a tight lead line, I was hooked. It wasn’t long after playing their ep back to back a few times that I liked the page, and hit Val up for an interview. 

1. To someone who has never heard Sojii, how would you describe your sound and the overall vibe of the band? Angular hard stool 2. Y’all have a very cool, trashy, some would say, “lo fi” aesthetic being presented through the sound of your music and the photos you post on the band page. Is that an artistic decision you made with intention, or just a reflection of your collective lifestyles? 

Well I think all the trashy photos are from me cos I'm a trashy person. Danny is more linear and Donny is a classy fuck. 

3. I know that you used to live in New York and that Sojii followed you when you moved to Grand Rapids. How did the band initially form and how did moving affect it?

Yeah. Well the band didn't only move. All the members have changed completely. It started because Anna, Raegan, and I went to the same school and we hated everyone and knew there was more somewhere out there in the deep smoggy sky. It has changed completely cos there are different people. For better or worse. I believe it's more of a fluid entity than a fixed image of identities.

4. What are your personal influences as not just a musician, but as a person? What are Sojii's collective influences?

My personal influences are industrial buildings and sites I saw [they] were so cold and forlorn and I wanted to take them home with me. Adrenaline too. I think our collective influence don't exclude md2020. Touring. Sodium. Ajvar, Alice, and Prudence.

5. Lyrically you have a very “stream of conscious flow” with some pretty dark and nihilistic subject matter being presented. How do you typically come up with your lyrics?

You just said it! It just cums.

6. I’ve really enjoyed the ambiguous nature of you lyricism and how many different meanings can be inferred from your lines. For example, off your latest single, “Junkmale”, you have the lines “Look outside the kitchen window/At the kingdom at my feet/I slain the fertile cesspit/Put my feelings at ice cold ease” followed by “if you wanted it/I don't/Kill that part anyway/If you needed it/I don't/kill that part anyway”. Would you care to dive into what you meant by this?

I don't remember exactly. It started as a concept Katie gave me for the music she wrote. Really It's about killing my ability to carry a child in order to live life as selfishly and opportunistically as I can. (Gender roles blahblablahblah)

7. You finished a tour last year with the noise duo An Atomic Whirl. How was that experience for you? Where there any memorable moments from your time with those goof balls?

Otherworldly. They're a couple of the craziest cats I've ever met. I wanna tour with them in Asia. Idk if this is trü but Kenji said he was gonna make his solo project into "Kenjii" cos of us. Haha. Also they're moving back!

8. Besides AAW, what are some other great bands you've had the pleasure to play with? So far what venues have you enjoyed the most?

Ape Not Kill Ape (MI), CHOIR (PA), Girl Pusher (CA), Vertighost (CA)

Honey Trap in LA, Baxter BLDG in DC, Aviv in NYC (r.i.p)

9. With three tours under your belts, what have you learned since the first one? If you could give some advice to up and coming touring bands, what would it be?

Who I want to play music with. What is important to me. What really matters. Tell cunts not to bring fucking cheeze whiz cos it'll stain the fuck outta my '98 econoline carpet goddamnit.

10. What are your most memorable good/bad/weird moments from tour?

Good time was when these two kids followed us from west ma to another couple shows and brought us exciting party favors.

I wanna say no bad times on tour cos I love every bit but it throws me off when anyone is sad or upset. Tour 'sposed to be fun. I did end up in the ER in Connecticut because of aforementioned party favors. The cops took my knife away and never gave it back.

I believe that I am the weird moment because I can't think of anything weird.

11. When you first started the band, did you imagine things would turn out as they have? Now that you've made quite a bit of progress, where do you see Sojii in the future?

I like to embrace the now with eyes to the future. I don't know that I've made much progress, but I have a lot of wet dreams about Sojii. I want to do everything I can as long I let me.

12. I understand that y'all are working on recording more material. Would you like to fill us in on how that's going, and give us a hint as to how it will sound?

:}

It's going great. YOU'll KNO WHEN U KNO. All I can say is we'll probably b recording in Chicago.

13. wut's ur last wurds???

Gabe Page

Valerie is one of the more interesting characters I have come into contact with through this magical thing called the “DIY Community”, and I think Sojii accurately reflects that, not just in Val’s meandering and ambigious lyrcism, but also in the straight weirdo rock nature of their specific brand of noise rock. Seriously, CHECK THIS BAND OUT. You won’t regret it. (Well, maybe you’ll regret it if you get the god damn cheese wiz in the carpet!) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sojiiband/ Bandcamp: https://sojii.bandcamp.com/music

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An Interview with Jonathan of Family Medicine.

One of the more energetic bands coming out of Southern Illinois and the St. Louis scene, Family Medicine is well orchestrated melodic chaos. They where some of the first friends we made when we started attending shows, and they have been nothing but some of most supportive and best friends we have made.  As with most the interviews I’m posting on here to get started, this ones a little old, but I’m glad to bring it to light.

1. Describe Family Medicine in two words.

Oh Fuck, I think we would need more than two words. 2. For someone who has never been to one of your live shows, what should they expect? Someone who has never been to one of our live shows should expect loud noises with four sweaty dudes rip’n through 9 songs full of emotions while invading your personal space. Like the creepy uncle at a family reunion telling you about your cousin Dwayne's success in the fertilizer business. Oh, and loud noises.

3. Where did the band name come from and what's the history of the band? 

This band was a long time coming. Chris, Joe and David have been playing with each other in and out of other bands in the area for several years. They finally sat down and took the time to create the music that they yearned to play; loud aggressive music like what influenced them. I joined later after they already had about 5 songs written and help put the icing on the cake. Now the band name came from a t shirt that someone was wearing. It seemed to just roll off  the tongue and definitely reels in the senior citizen demographic with such a confusing name..

4. What are some bands that influence your style? There so many bands that influence us collectively and individually, so its really hard to put a finger on it. For sure Mock Orange and Bear VS Shark are in the top for us as a group.  

5. What’s the best place you've played?

Geez, another difficult question. I mean ever show has been a good in its own respect and I believe we each have our own favorite place to play. We love the basement shows.

6. How do you feel about the scene and music community as a whole? The scene is definitely a hit or miss at times, but i feel that it is getting better. Bands are getting better. I think people are realizing that being in a band and/or going to local shows is a chance to grow with each other and make friends. They want to help build STL to what we all want to see it become, one of the best places to see and be for music. I can see and feel it moving towards that direction. We all got a common goal and this isn't a big dick swing competition. We all got big dicks now lets swing together and not separate.... does that make sense?? Did i answer the question?

7. I understand ya'll are working on a record. When can we expect that and what can you tell me about your recording process? We are working on our first record right now and let me tell you its going to be fuckin gnar gnar. Lit as fuck..We decided to go out of our comfort zone and go record in New Jersey with our friend Adam Cichocki from Timber Studios and the brilliant New Jersey band the Gatherers. Joe, Chris and David went out in April to record the instrument tracking. I wasn't able to make at the time due to somethings i had to take care of at home.. But I will be hitting up the studio at the end of June to do the vocal tracks. We are hoping for sometime in the fall for a release date.

8. If Ryan Gosling and a mirror got into a fight.... who would win?

8. Is that a Question!?!?! Now is this a Fist fight or a kiss fight? If it was a kiss fight, I wish I was the mirror.  Honestly Ryan Gosling can have his way with me or the mirror.

Thanks for this man.. i enjoyed it. sorry for terrible spelling and grammatical errors - Love Jonathan (Edited for the aforementioned spelling and grammar errors) The new record: https://familymedicine.bandcamp.com/album/the-truth-is-ive-lost-touch-with-all-those-who-care-about-me Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fam618/

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An Interview With Brian from An Atomic Whirl Pt. 3

5. Did any crazy or memorable experiences happen while you where stateside?

It’s all such a blur, it’s hard to hone in on particular memories. Partying with our friends in Denton, Charlotte, and Madison were definite highlights. We tried to hit mostly new cities on this tour, so it was all really memorable, especially because everyone was awesome everywhere we went. Going up to Boston and Maine was really cool, and the mini-tours we did with Turd/Cutter, Sojii, and The Central were really special to us.

6. How did you enjoy your time in America?

Mainly by drinking the cheapest beer we could find and smoking a lot of weed. Ha. It was 100% fantastic. Even the bad times were good. Everything was awesome. It’s a dream.

7. What's some thoughts and opinions on American culture?

We pull into a town and meet the coolest, most creative 1% of the culture there, so our view is definitely skewed. There’s a lot of weirdness and backwards shitfestery that we’re not really exposed to. So we love it, especially the DIY touring culture and how supportive and passionate everyone is.

8. How does AAW go about writing a song? Do you play it the same way everytime or do you switch it up quite a bit?

Our songwriting has changed over the past couple years. We just bounce ideas around until we get something that sounds right. It usually only takes an hour or two to write a song. If it doesn’t come together pretty quick, we’ll scrap it and start something else. Over the course of touring-playing every single day for weeks-the songs tend to change quite a bit. It’s unbearable to play the same set the same way day in and day out, so we just naturally change things up, listen and respond to each other, during the course of performing.

9. What are Kenji's lyrics typically about?

Who knows. Most of them are about whatever we’ve recently experienced or where we are. They’re probably much simpler than people would expect. Here’s the lyrics for the song “TCRC”:

Jay!

TCRC

…because our friend Jay runs The Checkered Record Club in Tainan, where we often perform and drink. Nothing profound here.

10. Kenji's set up is pretty creative, can he tell me what all his gear is and what he likes about his set up? I'm especially interested in why he chose a fretless bass.

Kenji brought a fretless bass to one of our first practices because he found it super cheap in Tokyo. It worked well and produces a unique sound, so we stuck with it. His pedal setup evolves quite a bit, as he prefers using whatever custom pedals our friends make. In general, we like whatever we can find cheap, since it’s just going to get destroyed in the process of touring anyways. Each new toy gives us new directions for writing songs.

11.Your live show is very original and gets the crowd going wild. Everything from moshing, handing out free beer, and letting people play your instruments might happen. Did you guys play to do all these crazy antics or did they just happen?

Nothing is planned. It’s important for us to change up the live show every night and keep things spontaneous, so all the weirdness is just a way for us to keep it fun for ourselves. Especially for Kenji—he’s always scoping out something to hang on or crawl through or whatever.

12. What are AAW's goals as a band, where do you see yourselves in the future?

We’re applying for Kenji’s artist visa, which will allow us to tour in the US full-time for the next few years. Our goal is to have a sustainable life as a touring band, which involves not only building a fanbase and making a certain amount of money, but also learning to treat it less like a constant party. Drinking every day and chainsmoking cigarettes and eating shitty food starts to wear you down and definitely affects the performance after awhile.

13. How do you feel about Mexican food?

We accept cash, Paypal, and burritos as payment.

Currently An Atomic Whirl is in the process of finalizing the transition of coming permanently to American. They hope to be in the states in March and be on the road by April. Click on the link below to check out their Bandcamp, and be sure to head over to their Facebook to keep up to date on these two crazy dudes! https://anatomicwhirl.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/anatomicwhirl/ *All photos used here were pulled off their Facebook from various photographers. Special thanks to  Mark Boulanger from Massa Nera for helping out with structuring this and editing my errors.

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An Interview with Brian from An Atomic Whirl Pt. 2

1. How did An Atomic Whirl come up with it’s name? how did you and Kenji form the band, and what is the history of the band? I met Kenji in 2010 when our previous bands played together in Taipei. After years of partying and touring together in Asia, we decided to start our own thing, largely as an excuse for me to fly to Tokyo every month. The first time I flew there to practice with Kenji and a couple other friends, I read the phrase “an atomic whirl” in some Nietzsche book I was reading. It stuck with me, and we’ve used it ever since. I love the name because no one can ever get it right. (The Atomic Whirls, Atomic Whirl, Anatomical Whirl, etc.)  

2. Being from Taiwan and Japan, how is the music scene and the underground culture over there? Do you think that living there has influenced you as an artist/musician? How do you each like living there?

The music scene in Tokyo is very diverse and creative. Playing shows there has definitely influenced us both as individuals and as musicians. Our friends’ bands there are world-class. Taiwan is much more limited, but there’s a small pocket of creative musicians doing interesting things. That said, we’re both definitely ready to get out, because the US has so much more to offer and such a vibrant DIY music scene.

 3. AAW is chaotic, loud, and just plain weird. What the fuck are your influences/inspirations for playing your instruments?

Our primary influence at first was Fantomas, just because we both loved their chaotic weirdness and insistence on doing something totally new. I’d say in the last couple years our main influences have been bands that we’ve seen on tour, like The Central from Madison, New China and Resent from Austin, Heavy Baby Sea Slugs from Denton, Turd/Cutter from Charlotte, Dent from Boston (shit, this could go on and on…).

 4. You just came off a pretty extensive tour of the United States. What where some of your favorite venues, and some of your favorite bands you played with?

We played at several great houses, a few cabins in the woods, and some solid bars. Rozz Tox in Rock Island was nuts, as were Far House in Ann Arbor and Disastr House in Rockford. But I don’t know, we loved every day so it’s hard to rank anything over anything else. As for good bands that we saw:

Heavy Baby Sea Slugs (Denton)

The Hymens (Denton)

Seres (Denton)

Povertybomb (Erwin, TN)

Turd/Cutter (Charlotte, NC)

Nermal (Asheville, NC)

Basura (Chapel Hill, NC)

Dent (Boston)

Batlord (Buffalo)

Hate Face (Cincinnati)

Death Sex Advocates (Cincinatti)

Sojii (Grand Rapids)

Ape Not Kill Ape (Grand Rapids)

Blisshead (Grand Rapids)

Immanuel Can’t (Lansing)

Red Robe (Ann Arbor)

Super Thing (Ann Arbor)

Kenshiro’s (St. Louis)

Hinge (St. Louis)

Buzzzard (Carbondale)

The Unnecessary Gunpoint Lecture (Madison)

Closet Witch (Iowa)

Sin Lengua (Wichita)

And The Central from Madison, WI is fucking incredible. Like, incredible. We toured with them for four days, and their songwriting/drums/guitar/vocals/performance is so good. I’m out of adjectives for them.

(www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EgwrijAl6w)

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An Interview with Brian from An Atomic Whirl Pt. 1

An Atomic FUCKING Whirl. Jesus Christ.... there isn’t a writer alive who can properly describe this band. Hell, their own recordings can’t even convey the pure sense of RAW FUCKING POWER that this band brings to venues and diy spaces all over Asia and North America. That’s not to discredit their recordings (they are both stellar noise/grind/math/whateverthefuck albums), but nothing compares to their live shows. Pictures come close, videos come closer, but you’ve just gotta be there to witness what some might call a lesson in pure self-expression.

In an attempt to convey what exactly I mean, let me tell you a story. Me and the mates in SFC live in a podunk little town far removed from anything even closely resembling the words “exotic” or “cultured,” so when we heard that this Japanese noise band was coming to Lost Cross, we decided to forgo band practice that night and make the hour drive south to witness something I’ve retrospectively deemed a religious experience. We were all pretty fried from a recent acid trip, so we got loaded on Busch and Ham’s to numb our aching minds as we waited for AAW to start. When we made out way down stairs, we were met with a sight that most trained professionals label insane. A bass guitar was plugged into heaps of pedals running into multiple amps, while Kenjii wrapped a literal towel around his head and stuck duct tape around his nose and eyes. The giant known as Brian was seated behind a drum kit full of cymbals and weird percussion...things? It was absolutely surreal. It had been raining pretty heavily, so water had leaked into the basement, leaving the floor muddy and slick. Everyone stood in silence, not knowing what to expect. And then AAW started playing. Two chords and a bell hit into their set and I was flat on my back, smiling from ear to ear. The room simply exploded in a mass of flailing bodies as drops of cheap beer washed over us. Everyone was moving, smiling, falling down, and incoherently screaming along with Kenjii as he gyrated, screeched, and laid waste to anyone who came within striking distance of his now weaponized bass. After their set, we collectively stumbled out of the basement to get some fresh air and dry off, only to hear that AAW were playing in St Louis the next day. Needless to say, we unanimously agreed to tell our jobs to fuck off so that we could experience this again. The next night we found ourselves standing in the basement of Zambo’s, witnessing the awesome force that is AAW. It was arguably an even better set, with Kenji seemingly more energetic than the night before and using an AM radio as an impromptu sample machine. He even passed his bass guitar to some audience members as he proceeded to climb into Brian's bass drum... while Brian continued to play. Afterwards, we ended up on Zambo’s back deck talking to them about everything under the sun while we tossed back a few brews and listened to Brian and Kenjii tell us their stories..  Brian and Kenjii are two of most polite and interesting human beings I have ever had the good fortune of meeting, so I was beyond overjoyed that Brian allowed me to email him some questions about An Atomic Whirl.

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Interview With Pizza Life Crew

Evan Harris is the whimsical mastermind behind Pizza Life Crew. Born and raised in the small, but historically rich, town of Bradenbrug Kentucky, he is directly influenced by the local geography and the experiences of his friends, family, and himself. Evan is one of the most unique and inspiring characters I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet, and I’m eternally thankful to call him one of my closest friends, despite the distance between us. This interview was originally going to be in a zine that eventually evolved into this whole collective thing, it’s going to be the first of many, so stay tuned.

1. How did Pizza Life Crew come to fruition, where did the name originate from ,and what made you decide to start a project like this? PLC happened because I needed to record my songs so the people they are written about can listen to them. The name came from a Hashtag my friends and I used for when we would hangout. I thought it was appropriate because my friends are referenced in just about all of the songs. 2. What made you decide to use a ukulele, instead of something more traditional like guitar or piano? Ukulele is my favorite instrument to play, and it’s also very easy to sing with. 3. Besides ukulele, what other instruments do you play and how long have you been playing each? I have been playing Piano and guitar since senior year of high school, so about 4 years, and I have been playing ukulele for around 2. 4. Tell me about how, and why, you decided to start playing music, the order you learned your instruments, and why you like to play each. Everything I do is music related. I was going to school for musical production, I work at a record store, my father has been playing guitar since he was 20, and my mother sings with some church groups. The order was guitar, piano, ukulele: guitar was because that war pigs riff is super sick, piano was because as a songwriter its so easy to write songs or transpose songs to it, ukulele was because it is so bright and has such a unique sound and fingerings. 5. Anyone can tell when they listen to your songs that they are based off the personal experiences of you and your friends. Was that intentional or did it just come to be? I guess it just kind of happened, they say "write about what you know" and I certainly know my friends.

6. Especially in songs like "Mr. Jazzman", the way you write gives the people and places referenced in your songs a story book characteristic, it’s almost biographical. Is your lyrical writing more influenced by books or by other musical artists?

Its definitely not inspired by what I read, which is exclusively Williams S Burroughs, Franz Kafka, and Vladimir Nabokov haha, but I am highly inspired by artists like Roger Miller, John Darnielle, Mackenzie Keefe, King Krule, and Leon Bridges. 

7. What are your main influences? Besides those I just listed, Fugazi, Women, Between the Buried and Me, Mike Skinner (The Streets), and Kendrick Lamar 8. Where do you want to go with Pizza Life Crew? Any announcements or big plans in the works?  I want to be able to play your living rooms with Han Saj and have a pizza party. *Currently I'm working on recording an album and getting extra instruments on the tracks.   9. What do you love most about being a musician and artist?

The crippling self doubt and the constant self hatred, oh and the ability to sing about my cats. 

10. On top of being an active musician, you are also very active in your local scene along with our good friend Han Saj, so much so that you started Seeds of Humanity. Tell me about why you started this project, some artists involved, and what you would like to grow this into.

We started Seeds of Humanity because our community has so much unexplored talent, and I'm sure your community does too! Michael Bartholomew, Justin Deener, Oakley Wariner, and Zach Brown are some artists that we are working with (excluding Han Saj and my self.) Hopefully we can travel the world to find and showcase each and every beautiful soul!!!   

11. Whats your favorite breakfast cereal?

I don't really like cereal, I do eat Hershey's cookies and cream cereal with iced coffee instead of milk for when I'm pulling an all nighter though. 

12. If you had to erase one movie from existence, what would it be?

The Kim K sextape, to save Kanye West!  

Pizza Life Crew Demo 1 https://soundcloud.com/navebucketdude/sets/pizza-life-crew-demo-one Pizza Life Crew Demo 2 https://soundcloud.com/navebucketdude/sets/pizza-life-crew-demo-2 Pizza Life Crew Demo 3 https://m.soundcloud.com/navebucketdude/sets/pizza-life-crew-demo-3 Wild Willie Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vskXJjyZQI *A compilation of the songs featured on these demos is going to be released through Snuff Film Collective as our first tape release. It will be limited to a very small run and will be hand numbered.  

[snufffilmcollective-blog]

Beautiful sounds from Columbia MO.  https://halfmoonband.bandcamp.com/releases

LP1 Half Moon - Grief Fall 2017

Cover Art by Eve Maret

[snufffilmcollective-blog]

ExitBag @thenest  Chaotic, weird, violent, and a hell of a good time.  https://exitbagstl.bandcamp.com/

[snufffilmcollective-blog]

WOUNDED KNEE @some theater in Indy One of the greatest screamo bands to ever exist. This was the second to last show they ever played. For 4 years these boi’s tore the scene apart. Shit’s not gonna be the same without them. Be on the look out for their new projects tho. G R I E F S E E D S is more hellacious screamo from the same members with the exception of Jake who went on to start a very cool slowcore/dreampoppy/National-esque thing called STRANGER SEX.  https://woundedkneerock.bandcamp.com/music https://griefseedsin.bandcamp.com/releases https://strangersex.bandcamp.com/album/summer-2016-demos

[snufffilmcollective-blog]

So this is tumblr...

Welp, I finally broke down and started one of these hip little blogs. I don’t know how often I plan to update it, or even if I will remember I have this, but in the meantime I’m gonna post some of my favorite photos from shows, talk about great records, and bitch about how shitty punk is. Stick around or don’t, I’m not even sure if I will.