#sticky zeitgeist

[mariocki]

Night of the Demons 2 (Night of the Demons: Angela's Revenge, 1994)

"What's the problem here?"

"Oh, the old sexorcist here thinks I stole his precious little ghoulie book."

"Yeah, so?"

"So what would I want with a book?"

"Good point. Perry, Kurt doesn't have your book. He can barely read a clock."

[xrafstar]

i discovered you through sticky zeitgeist and fell in love with your type of writing. genuinely some amazing gruesome stuff and I would LOVE to write like you. how do you come up with ideas + format your ideas into full stories?

thanks! that was a fun one, rook's art/music is so good... the way I do the thing is by doing the thing. if you don't do the thing, it doesn't happen. it also helps to be so horney you could die

[weneverlearn]

Kurt Bloch: An Awesome Guy Who Awesome People Like

Rocking with the Fastbacks and recording all your favorite bands since 1979

Fastbacks, 1988; Kurt Bloch far left, Gumby t-shirt

“There truly is something about inspiration and enthusiasm that really is inspiring and enthusiastic!” - Kurt Bloch

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By: Eric Davidson

I’ve been thinking a lot about joy of late. Like pure, eyes-to-the-sky, skipping down the street joy. There is a paucity of it around right now.

We could follow a zillion trails to and from how we got here, but this is ostensibly a music blog, so I’m going to make a quick stab at the roots of this unenviably joyless position we’re sitting in, rock-wise.

The Fastbacks were joyful. Starting out in 1979 in the dawning days of Seattle’s punk scene, they became a local fave on the basis of action-packed shows stuffed with careening pop hooks, irked energy, and a friendly, guffaw around onstage demeanor that didn’t exactly scream “pre-hardcore era.”

Fastbacks retreated for a few years, circa 1988, and when kicked back into gear a couple years later, found themselves being a preferred opener for a load of grumpy grunge bands who I’m guessing hoped to absorb some of the Fastbacks positive energy to counteract their mope – which the Fastbacks were more than ready to supply.

A mélange of metal volume, fleeting bouts of prog whimsy, Ramones tempos, and BubbleYum stickiness, the Fastbacks created a  singular sound. Like most great bands, they never fit into any particular zeitgeist – too raggedy for the pop punk contingent, too peppy for the grunge trend, they nonetheless retained a respected status among bands who appreciated their consistently grabby tunes and fun live show.

Despite any remaining expectations of what “success” was supposed to be, by the turn of the millennium the Fastbacks became that precious thing – one of those awesome bands that awesome bands like.

It should be noted that, while grunge soon gained a definition as a downer genre (that has taken root since), Bloch and company palled around with that Seattle scene from the get-go, and knew many of them as fun rocker kids just trying their best to get through seven months of rain by rocking. 

The Fastbacks kept careening forward right through the ‘Alternative Rock” era that ignored all the fun underground garage punk and instead painted rock as increasingly dreary and grievance-based. The early 2000s came, and the Fastbacks took their leave.

They’ve recently gotten back together for occasional reunion shows. Always holding them together throughout their stop/start whirlwind of a career was ace guitarist/producer and philosophical center of the band, Kurt Bloch.

Bloch, who began his career as a recording studio whizz with Fastbacks, never stopped twiddling the knobs for lots of your favorite bands and/or underrated acts. We checked in with him on his ongoing mission to bring fun to the fringes despite the mainstream consistently choosing incorrectly.   

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Kurt Bloch, rockin', 1990 (Fuck the NRA. I will assume Kurt's t-shirt here was de rigueur '90s irony.)

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What was the first album you loved; and what was the first album you loved because of its production?

Good question, hard to answer. I think it was 45s and AM radio that got me going on recording qualities, how loud some of the great hits of the early-’70s sounded. How some records sounded like they were a band playing inside your head. I think I was aware of EQ and compression sounds early on, how the drum fills would sort of obliterate everything behind it on some songs. How the guitar would be so loud in the breaks. How, if the record didn’t have enough treble, it would be unexciting; if there was too much then it’d sound wimpy.

Then getting into albums, and FM radio, you’d listen to Larks’ Tongues In Aspic or Dark Side Of The Moon, and they had this spacious quality that was rad; the Scorpions’ Fly To The Rainbow was right in your face, really up-front and close. Then, going to see bands live, we’d see the coliseum style shows – that was so cool, but then getting to see bands in smaller spaces where you could hear the amps on stage, and feel the sound pressure in the room –now that was a mind-opener. You could feel the Marshalls and the actual sound coming off of the stage.

Then when punk bands started playing, that’s when it started getting interesting. You know, like I just saw this killer band that sounded so great at the show, and their record sounds like a bowlful of shit. Why?! That leads to one-track, two-track, four-track tape recorders, and each time you record something, you have a whole book of revelations of what to do and what not to do. So many great recordings from that early punk era without a bunch of reverb. It was another revelation. A lot of those early digital reverbs that everyone had, I just hated that fake trebly, scritchy sound. Rather just not use any reverb than that icky sound.

How did the Fastbacks form?

Kim and Lulu were high school friends of ours, The Cheaters was our neighborhood band; only lasted a couple years but they were good ones! When that band disintegrated on-stage, there was still band gear in my parents’ basement. Kim (Warnick, bass/vocals) had been in a band, The Radios, and Lulu (Gargiulo) wanted to play guitar and sing. Somehow my parents didn’t put a stop to it all, so we started playing a couple times a week. Not saying we got good, but we got better.

How long before you felt you had locked into the Fastbacks’ sound?

I reckon whatever “sound” we had was pretty well established early on; it was just whatever we wanted to do. Of course we loved the punk bands of the era first and foremost, but also the ’60s and ’70s pop music we grew up with; and the hard rock bands of the ’70s too! And I always was a fan of the wonderful arrangements and sound of the ’70s prog bands, once I started writing most of the songs, these things would creep in.

Live, 1986

I have this romantic vision of Kim Warnick as a long-haired rocker teen crashing parties and such. Is that correct?

Ha ha ha!! We were all pretty good (bad?) at crashing parties, some of the shit we did makes me wince thinking of it all. But it was 1977, ‘78; things were different back then, a different kind of boredom ran rampant through kids’ minds back then. There was a real disdain for society, maybe not to the degree of the UK bands at the time, but still there nonetheless. Often there was nothing to do other than the proverbial let’s go fuck shit up. And the music was such a part of all that.

So you got a story about something back then that would make you wince now?

Back when we were teenagers in The Cheaters, we would go to pretty desperate lengths to create excitement. The Cheaters singer, Scott Dittman, was maybe the funniest person I’ve ever known, and often in our search for something to do, he would drive a car full of us down to the frats at the University Of Washington. We’d go crash frat parties, rarely did we fit in unnoticed. You’d grab some keg cups and try to hang out, usually immediately, “Would you please leave.” And that didn’t often sit well with Scott. If we were going to “please leave” then we would not leave without exacting some sort of a toll. I guess we could run pretty fast, or we would’ve got our asses kicked pretty well back then. Somehow a few weeks later we’d go back to the same frat house that had a bookcase upended or a row of bikes knocked over, and lo and behold, the same thing would happen again. Of course we were never hired to play any frat parties.

Scott also loved to fight. He took boxing lessons and was always trying to teach us how to fight too. You knew when the gloves came out it was time to find something else to do. “Come on, you just gotta keep your guard up.” (smash smash smash) “You said you weren’t gonna hit us in the face.” Yeah right.

The Cheaters and The Accident (another erstwhile punk outfit) set up a show at a non-punk bar, somewhere down by Olympia. This would’ve been 1979 maybe. There were no roadmaps for like-minded or “friendly” places to play, outside of the major cities. But we were trying to do something, anything, and our double bill got the booking. This bar had a dance floor that also was used for bar fighting. There must have been some sort of organization to the fights, but it was sanctioned bar fighting. No-one was on the dance floor or anywhere near it when we started, so Scott tried to solicit a fight or two during our set. This was unfriendly territory, we were all, “Stop this nonsense!” But once you told Scott not to do something, well he was going to double down of course. Fortunately no one took him up on his offers, and we got out unscathed, but the bar owner took me into his office at the end of the night and gave me a rundown on what we needed to do to become successful in the music business, and the first thing was to get rid of that singer.

1978

First Fastbacks show, February, 1980 – any memories of it?

Oh, totally! The first Fastbacks show, it was at a rec center in a quiet neighborhood, it was three bands: The Vains, Psychopop, and The Fastbacks. We were all friends, and it was all three bands’ first shows. Very ramshackle, but we cobbled together a sound system, someone had a few lights, everyone brought what they had, and the show went on. A little rough around the edges, but the power didn’t go out, no cops were called, nothing was ruined – an early triumph for sure.

Was the power pop zeitgeist of that time a thing for Fastbacks? Did you feel a part of it?

No! For sure the New Wave was hitting strong at that point, but we were certainly not embraced by the new wavers at all. I suppose for that first year, we were pretty terrible, but we had some friends and people who wanted to give us a chance. Getting Duff (McKagan – yes, that one from Guns ‘N Roses) to play drums was the first step into making the band more listenable, but we were still a long ways off of what the general public would consider valuable music. We got kicked off of a show after our first set (of two). “That’s okay, you guys don’t have to play another set.” And I was all, “What do you mean we don’t have to?!” Oh, I get it.

Then when the hardcore bands cropped up, we were pals with some of them, but we weren’t furious enough for them really. I recall some sort of fury at a DOA/The Fartz/Fastbacks show. It required some foresight, which many didn’t possess, to support any kind of music that wasn’t 100% punk. Conversely, the proper power pop bands, well, we were a little too power and not enough pop, I reckon. We wanted to be that, but it’d take a bit still to hone those chops.

Had Duff McKagen played in any band before that?

Duff was the bass player in The Vains, who played that Laurelhurst Rec Center show. That was his first show. He must’ve been 15, barely 16?

Did he exhibit behaviors that would later align with Guns ‘N Roses’ infamous lifestyle?

We were still pretty reeled-in at that point, no one really even got plastered, no one started doing drugs yet. Might’ve been some Budweisers around, but nothing stronger yet.

Guns 'N Roses 2nd show, 1985

Got any Vains stories, recollections of a show, or the general scene from whence they came/played? Was there a good raw, original punk scene in Seattle in late '70s? I'm aware of Soldier and some other bands, but I wanna get it from the horse’s mouth.

The Vains only played three, maybe four shows total. In the late ’70s into early ’80s it was pretty hard to keep something going if you were any sort of impatient. Most bands never got the chance to play enough to iron out any difficulties, or taste any sort of real success. Lots of arguing over what direction to take, stick to your punk rock guns, and play to a rental hall of your friends; or try to get “jobs” in the bars, which would mean being stricken with the “cover band” tag, which was NOT punk.

1978

The Enemy worked the hardest, yet still couldn’t crack the code in 1979. The Telepaths, The Blackouts, The Lewd – everyone broke up, or moved away and then broke up. The Fartz made a pretty good go of it, but even they sorta morphed into Ten Minute Warning, and then morphed into an art band… The Silly Killers stayed pretty punk. The Living ripped it up for their short lifespan. But they were all in that 1982 dilemma, you can almost see a line in the sand, drawn in the summer of 1982. Not a lot of bands made it across that line that summer.

The Enemy live, 1980

If I remember it was some sort of divine intervention that The Fastbacks reconvened in 1983 to fire it up again, it was nearly the end of the line. But it was also clearly a new beginning, a new lease on life, a new crop of kids started bands in those Metropolis years; the Metropolis was a new all-ages venue that I would consider the petri dish of the next bundle of bands.

As the ‘80s took hold and punk rock hall shows were sort of the only stage for many of our bands, after a couple years of not getting to any sort of next level, it was clear that there needed to be a re-grouping of some sort. We’d see our friends’ bands get actual paying gigs in bars – if they were non-punk sounding. Of course many of the punk bands went to the dark side of ’80s metal. Everyone was looking to do something that could “go somewhere.”

Somewhere right in that 1982 corridor, drugs started flourishing, stupidity set in. Duff came with us Fastbacks as a “roadie” in 1984 down to L.A., and when we came back I reckon he moved to L.A. to escape that whole rigamarole. No one was getting anywhere here anyway. A bold move at that time, at the advanced age of 20!

1987

Word is Fastbacks have had between 12 and 20 drummers. Short of naming every single drummer, are there a few you’d like to point to as having had a particularly interesting stint; or who went on to other bands?

Gosh, all the Fastbacks drummers had something great about them. There were a few who only did one show. I publicly apologize to those who didn’t last. Those were strange times. I don’t think there are any unsolved mysteries in the Fastbacks drummer world, Dan Peters, who recorded a couple songs with us but no shows, Tad Hutchison, and Tom Hendrikson, who each did one show…. Some convoluted moments for sure, and all killer drummers!

Do you think if you would have remained drummer for Fastbacks that you would have still gotten into production?

Yeah, I think the fascination with recording was parallel to the live playing side of things, it was always there in my constitution. Wanting to learn, wanting to figure out how to make records that captured how killer bands sounded. It was such a tall order back then. Seemed like the old guard [engineers] didn’t “get it,” or were prohibitively expensive; and so many of the others didn’t sound kickass like we wanted. Of course this comes from the actual band, first and foremost; that is learned the hard way! But if the band blazes at their show, it seemed that their records should sound blazing too, but that wasn’t often the case.

1988

1989

From what I remember, the Fastbacks rep was that of the favorite local band of all the Seattle bands, and hence got on as openers for bands who would soon get huge during that whole grunge thing…

Pretty hard to say from the inside view. We had the unfortunate hurdle of being broken up from late-1988 till mid-1990. A lot of opportunity probably squandered during those times. But, unlike anyone else I can think of, we did get a second chance via Sub Pop, and another decade of rock. I know we were quite lucky in that department. We never did gigs large or small with Nirvana, Soundgarden, sort of the class of ’89. We did share a slightly miserable practice space with Green River and later Mother Love Bone. Always pals with those cats, so we did do opening stints with Pearl Jam in 1996, all around the world.

What was miserableness about it?

Oh man, that place… It was in a basement in Pioneer Square, the old, original downtown Seattle. The Great Seattle Fire devastated downtown in like 1889, and they rebuilt the city on top of the old city, one floor higher. So our basement was on the level with the old, original city; some rooting around could be done. There was no bathroom or running water down there, so you had to go to the bar a block away to use the facilities, but often you just couldn’t be bothered. In the space next to ours, it was a smashed up, decrepit old room that we moved all the garbage from our side into. No lighting of any sort, so it was all flashlights if you had them, and filling up bottles of pee and putting them where ever we could find room.

But of course we raged supreme down there, some epic parties, bands playing, and whatnot; of course no water or facilities, but grand times in the ’80s. Somehow, I ended up being in charge of paying rent, not the best job for me to take on. It meant tracking down Andrew Wood once a month and trying to get him to pay his share of their rent. First it was Malfunkshun, and Green River was there too. We might’ve blown up before Mother Love Bone started? I think I remember Green River blowing up too, after their California trek; it would’ve been not too long after that that The Fastbacks unceremoniously imploded. But for a while it was definitely a rager.

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Nifty, random link I stumbled on with some cool early Fastbacks fliers, stories, and live stuff.

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1992

While you didn't play with the "biggies" of the scene as much as I thought, got any early Nirvana or Soundgarden tale of any sort you'd like to share?

Our fabled practice basement was just a couple blocks from The Central, a venue that was sort of home base for a lot of stuff. The Vogue as well, it was on the north end of downtown, we were on the south end. Many people had keys to the place, so it was not surprising to duck in between sets at The Central, to have cheap beers or whatnot. I first saw Soundgarden at The Central, and they were certainly mind-blowing. Would’ve been ’87? Quickly became a favorite Seattle band, and when their first 7” came out, my roommates hated me. I had a tendency to play those 45’s over and over and over again. But they played The Central a lot, and just got better and better, heavier and heavier. I remember the first time they played “Beyond The Wheel”, it was at the Vogue. I was standing next to Mark Arm and we looked at each other and just said FUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHH…

The first Nirvana show I saw was also at the Vogue, it was maybe not the greatest Nirvana show, but man I thought that singer was amazing. Shortly after, Jon Poneman (Sub Pop co-founder) was at the bar there and said, “If you buy me a coffee now, I’ll give you a 45 tomorrow that will change your life.” An easy proposition. Sub Pop HQ was half a block away, he gave me a “Love Buzz” 45, and once again, the roommates had a reason to hate. I must’ve played that record 100 times in a row. Might’ve taken them a bit to find their pummeling style, but man they sure did. Then after Bleach had been out a while, all the rumors of major label this and major label that… So exciting and weird.

Who is a favorite Seattle “grunge era” band you really dug and maybe didn’t get the recognition you think it deserved? Mine are the Derelicts and Zipgun.

Of course! Pure Joy, Flop, H-Hour, the Meices – wait they were actually from SF… Huge Spacebird, Once For Kicks…. Have you got an hour or so?!

I know you are no doubt tired of this question, but do you have a late ‘80s/early ‘90s story or show that happened where you thought, “Damn, this Seattle scene thing is getting some real attention? This is fucking weird.”

After the Fastbacks blew up in 1988, I started playing with the Young Fresh Fellows, and we were off and running pretty hard right away. Certainly a parallel path from the Seattle Grunge Explosion, but a decent path it was! I was pals with Jon and Bruce (Pavitt) at Sub Pop when they started, so I’d go hang out at their early HQ/distributor place downtown. It was amazing to see some of these bands blow up when they did.

Young Fresh Fellows, 1989; Kurt Bloch far right

I suppose the thing that sealed it for me was listening to the advance cassette of Nevermind on a Young Fresh Fellows trip. Scott McCaughey had been assigned to review it for local music rag, The Rocket, and I nabbed it from him on a trip out East. It totally blew my doors wide open. Already having been a superfan since that “Love Buzz” 45, and seeing a couple of the shows they did here before going out to record that album, then hearing it for the first time on headphones; then as our tour progressed, seeing the record just going ballistic at every record store, it was just crazy. It never stopped getting bigger and bigger. This is so fucking weird!

Strange feeling of seeing a local band you saw shlubbing around town or peeing next to them at a dive, to hearing them play in a grocery store in Nevada, or whatever....

Soundgarden was the first one I remember blowing up. They went from Sub Pop to SST to A&M – they sorta seemed to have their shit together pretty well. Alice In Chains were kinda off our radar, they were only on the Rock radio stations; it wasn’t until their second album that I noticed that they actually were killer. But Nirvana, they were crazy cool from the get-go, not in the FM Rock station sort of way, but the punk underground sort of way. Plus I didn’t really know them at the beginning, so there was way more mystery about them. A couple legendary Seattle club shows before they went off to start Nevermind; the OK Hotel first playing of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” we were just transfixed – What the fuck is this?! Then the Off Ramp show, they went on really late, and got cut off right before 2am. Somehow the club picked up the empties and let the band play on into the night, and what a show it was. Then… nothing.

Didn’t really hear anything from Nirvana ‘til the advance cassette of Nevermind went out, and of course thinking, if I like this so much, it’s probably never gonna go anywhere. Wrong. It was like a slow ball of fire, radio then record stores, like every record store playing it, every magazine… It would’ve made you hate a lesser band, but it really was great so there was a sense of pride attached to it all. Finally something we loved is big. But then how big? There seemed to be no end to it. It was everywhere. And so weird to think that kids dug something that was blazing and amazing.

Were you defacto producer of Fastbacks from the get-go of recording?

Oh for sure. Not by strong-arming anyone, but just because there was no money, and no one else could be bothered! Our first 45 was with Neil Hubbard and Jack Weaver, as we were doing a song for a Seattle comp LP, and as per the usual, just recorded some extra songs in our allotted time. The first EP was Peter Barnes, drummer for The Enemy, killer Seattle band and very much an inspiration to all the bands in the late-’70s in Seattle. Then after that, it was trial by fire.

Can you tell me more about The Enemy, and their local import?

The Enemy pretty much initiated the punk “scene” in Seattle. There were a few bands, but they started a club, it was all ages, March, 1978. Otherwise it would’ve been hall shows, but The Bird brought everyone together. Originally only open for a few months, but there were shows there every Friday and Saturday, it really did give us something to do.

My first band, The Cheaters, might not have actually played anywhere if not for them. We could have languished in my parents’ basement forever if not for being stopped by The Enemy members at a Ramones show: “Hey! Are you guys in a band? Would you want to play at our club we’re opening up in a few months?” Of course we said yes, we didn’t tell them that we were just barely a band, we’d never actually played a show, nor would we maybe ever had if not for their offer. We were just teenagers, my brother Al was still in High School. But they took us in and let us play shows. The drummer, Peter Barnes, filled in for a night our real drummer couldn’t play.

Everyone knew each other, when it was time to record what was to be The Fastbacks’ first EP, Peter volunteered to be our producer. He figured out how to get cool, kickass sounds and make things happen. No one had any money or experience so it had to be on a budget, but he made it happen. The record turned out great. “In America” was on the commercial new wave station, we thought we had it made!

I thought I knew what to do, to various degrees of success. Conrad Uno at Egg Studio did much of our first album. He was wise beyond words and also a great teacher. After that LP was finished he was all, “You can do all this, I think, I’ll be back at the end of the night to close up!” Then it seemed like the right avenue. So many producers seemed like they just wanted to add stuff in order to have their presence be felt. I always felt, like – what is the least amount of stuff we can have on here to make it happen? Less stuff, but louder. Certainly not against adding things, but also happy to leave things out as much as possible. Always loved the one-guitar bands that didn’t double everything all the time. Makes you think a little harder about what you’re doing.

1994

Okay, I will name a band, and you give me the first thing that comes to mind when you think of your production gigs with them:

Presidents of the U.S.A.

We’d do several takes of any given song, as the band was learning them, Chris (Ballew, singer) would play his two-string bass flawlessly every take, and sing a scratch vocal that could’ve been used as the keeper. Never a mistake, never less than killer every time.

Robyn Hitchcock

Also just an amazing music machine. Put him in an iso booth with a mic for vocal and one for acoustic guitar. He’d show the band a new song and go into the booth, sometimes it would just be one take and they’d nail it, with the lead vocal included. Never a lyric sheet in sight. A brain that truly works overtime. Peter Buck playing his 12-string on a song that he had just heard, and plays flawlessly the first time. Great Peter quote: “I like to get things right.” Indeed!

Fastbacks

Ha!! Some of the recording we’ve done astounds me to this day. It’s like any idea we had, we’d just do it. I swear, no one ever said, “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Listening back to the early ’90s recordings, there truly is something about inspiration and enthusiasm that really is inspiring and enthusiastic! Some of that music is pretty weird, even some songs that I wrote, I can’t imagine where they came from. I know we did them and all, but what was the impetus, where did they come from?!

Nashville Pussy

Another tale of just trying not to ruin a band that sounded killer. Amazing to think that they all fit in the tiny live room at Egg for that first album. The sheer volume of air pressure in there was unbelievable. A perfect example of what we’d set out to do, just try to not let the recording process get in the way of the recording. And nominated for a Grammy! I went with them to the Awards show – limo, booze, and afterparties. We were scheming all the horrible things that we’d say when we won the award, who we were gonna thank, who we were gonna blame. Of course there’s no way we’d win, they barely could say the name of the band when reading off the nominees! But what an experience. So many laughs.

Mudhoney

Five Dollar Bob’s Mock Cooter Stew (Reprise, 1993) doesn’t get enough props. I think it’s a great record. I really tried to make each song sound different and killer in its own way. Dan Peters (drummer) is always dishing out the quality.

Young Fresh Fellows

It’s easy to work quickly with a band you’re in. You kind of already know what’s going to happen, you know how to set up since you’ve already seen what works and what doesn’t over the last decade or two. We had intended to record maybe four or five songs for Tiempo De Lujo. Somehow we’d crammed all four of us in the basement here; after the two days we’d recorded twelve band tracks – so an album it was! Toxic Youth as well. We’d gone over to Jim Sangster’s living room to learn a few songs before starting recording the next day, and once we got going, they just kept coming and coming. When inspiration strikes, keep the tape rolling!

Can you describe Conrad Uno's Egg Studios; the kind of size or situation you were dealing with? Was there like a famous recording board there you worked with?

Egg Studio, where I and others honed their chops, was a welcome alternative to the “normal” studios of the time. It was truly a basement studio, the performance room was smaller than an ordinary living room. Many bands’ rehearsal spaces were larger than this. But it really did have a relaxed feel to it, and loud bands could all set up in the room and play live and get a good sound. Mudhoney, Nashville Pussy, Supersnazz, Devil Dogs, Supersuckers, Zeke – it was home base for so many great albums.

Conrad Uno moved into the house in maybe 1987, I reckon we finished Fastbacks …And His Orchestra there; and by early 1988, we began Very Very Powerful Motor, then the Sub Pop 7” and Zücker sessions. It began as an 8-track studio. Conrad brought in the Spectrasonics console that was formerly at Stax/Volt studio – rumored to once be owned by Paul McCartney, under whose purview a varispeed knob was installed. The knob remains, it’s Paul’s Knob. The console is now at Crackle And Pop studio here in Seattle, and is working better than ever.

Before Mudhoney began their third album, Piece of Cake, their second at Egg, they bought a 16-track machine for the studio, and that was the classic setup for so many records there in the ‘90s.

1996

I personally would love to hear about making the classic Devil Dogs album, Saturday Night Fever (Crypt/Sympathy for the Record Industry, 1994). Whose idea was it to make it kind of like a party, with friends and fans whopping it up in the studio between songs?

It was their idea from the beginning to make it a party album, “You have been invited… to a party!” Another band that didn’t need any fancy fussing about, they already sounded like a house on fire. Just tried to record them and not get in the way, make sure that the playback sounded like it did in the room with them.

Definitely the last night of the session, they invited all their Seattle friends over for a party, and we played the songs from the album through twice, if I remember, and just had a mic in the room while they were going. All the bottles clinking and all the blabbering was totally what happened. There was so little time to get everything done while we were there. They had booked two gigs on recording days – one out of town in Bellingham! Basically it was like wrangling the Three Stooges to record and mix a full album and an EP in like five days. Let’s just say that the morning hours were not particularly productive. But fortunately, when they were on, they were unstoppable. And so fuckin’ funny! What a fucking great record!

Oh yeah, definitely the most hilarious band to tour with too! We did a month with them once in Europe, traveling in the same packed little van. And even the bad hungover mornings in the van drives would lead to so much cracking up. Singer Andy G. sometimes stood up and imitated Tom Jones live. Anyway, can you recall who all was in the “crowd” on that record?

Honestly, I don’t! The studio was in a neighborhood, so all sessions had to be finished by 10pm. I loved the idea of recording a loud listening party and then mixing that in with the album, but it was so precarious to cram a bunch of drunks in the tiny studio and try to not let any gear get ruined, while still egging on loud misbehavior. Then getting all the cats out of there by 10 and not annoying Conrad or his neighbors in the process.

You must have some fun Andy G. stories too.

All three of those guys had their moments! Andy, Steve, Mighty Joe. Someone should’ve given them their own TV series. It might not have lasted very long, but what a show it would’ve been. I’ve never seen a group rile each other up the way they did. Should’ve had a room mic going constantly while they tried to make a group decision. There was way more work than we had time for. Somehow we got it all done, but just barely.

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Crypt Records, 1993

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And here’s where I decided to check in with Devil Dogs drummer, Mighty Joe Vincent, to get some more details on their Bloch party: "So, in the friends crowd [on the Saturday Night Fever album] was Eddie and Dan Bolton from the Supersuckers, James Burdyshaw and the rest of the Sinister Six, and a bunch of really cool women whose names have escaped my memory banks.

We def recorded on the Stax board. I remember because we had hopes that there was some soul residue left in the cables that might coat our tracks.

We totally loved Kurt. What’s not to love? I do remember that it was a Crypt budget recording so we had to make every minute count, so we were mixing until we were all so tired we were delirious. I’m pretty sure we went ‘til 2a.m. or something like that, but that was mixing. We did that in the middle of a tour, so we did about two weeks of gigs from NYC across this great nation of ours as well as that other great nation to our north, then out to Seattle. While we were doing it , we had a gig up in Bellingham, so we took a day off to drive up there.

I remember Scott Mccaughy was working there at Egg. I was talking to him one day and he told me his days of playing out on the road were over as his wife just had a kid and he had to be a good dad and provide a steady paycheck. I really felt bad for him. And then of course, a short time after that, Pete Buck asked him to come on the road with R.E.M. and said he would pay him a million dollars. Like an actual million dollars. That always made me happy to hear."

-------------------------------------------

And now, back to Kurt Bloch!

Who were bands you liked to tour with? And/or, a classic Fastbacks tour story?

We had some great west coast tours with DOA in the early-to-mid ’80s, they were definitely an early inspiration to go head-on and charge through best you can. They certainly blazed a trail for the rest of us to follow, doing everything themselves, like Black Flag did from Southern California. The ’80s were a rocky road for the Fastbacks. We played a lot of shows in Vancouver, BC, as well as Seattle, but it was a lot of problems and fighting, ha, and it wasn’t until the ’90s that we actually went out for any length of time – certainly getting into occasional serious trouble with The Meices, Motocaster, Gaunt, and even the New Bomb Turks!

Pearl Jam asked you to do some stadium shows in 1995, arguably the peak grunge year. How did you relate to the whole fame/stadium situation surrounding those shows?

It was January ’95, Pearl Jam asked us to play a radio show from their rehearsal space. I kinda didn’t know what they were talking about, and maybe sort of blew it off. I was trying to finish a Sicko record that night, couldn’t be bothered. I did like their Vitalogy record, “Not For You,” “Spin The Black Circle.” The rest of the Fastbacks were all, “C’mon, we’re doing this!” And I grudgingly told Sicko I was going to have to leave early. I didn’t even bring a guitar, I knew that Stone had a cool ‘50s Gold Top, maybe I could use that.

Then of course we get there and it’s really fun, just a big party scene, tons of buddies and band cats. We played three songs on the Pearl Jam gear setup, maybe Kim talked on the radio, drank some beers, great time! That was cool enough, but then they asked us to open a few shows at the end of the year, Salt Lake City and San Jose I think, and we’re all like, “Hell yeah!” And everything went well, then, “Would you want to go do a U.S. tour, oh and maybe a Europe tour following that…?” And we were all, “Hellz yeah!” And that all went great, clearly we would be the next big thing, the world is gonna love us, nothing holding us back now! We had a great record out, New Mansions In Sound (Sub Pop, 1996). Man, that was it – lots and lots of fun, great shows. We invented an auxiliary opening band for some of the shows, The What. We played Who tunes with Eddie Vedder incognito with a wrestling mask. We drag Mike McCready out for jams, Stone Gossard to sing one of his PJ songs, Eddie did “Leaving Here” with us a couple times, just great rock times in the giant venues. Somehow it didn’t lead to us being the Next Big Thing, but it was fun to pretend for a few months.

1994

Any good backstage shenanigans stories?

There weren’t a whole lot of super shenanigans. They had an espresso machine onstage every night, so we’d all slug down coffees, blast through our tunes, and then get drunk and watch Pearl Jam. Sometimes we would annoy their wonderful crew by being loud and boisterous aside of the stage, spilling bottles of wine or whatnot, but not much more than that. Everyone got along really well, and it was well-protected against after show bullies or negativity. We’d just keep on our course, often ‘til the huge sports arena closed down and they’d kick us out after everything had been loaded out – and we’d still be back there cranking tunes and running around.

It was totally like an arena-sized version of a living room party most every night. Their crew moved all the gear, we barely had to do anything except play every night.

I know you knew some of their members from earlier in the scene, but did you know Eddie Vedder before he got asked to join Pearl Jam?

I might not have met Eddie until the live radio show we did? He came up from San Diego. Didn’t know him before then at all, but we were fast friends. We would spend hours talking about the Who and riding around on the catering carts and smashing into the walls of the arenas. Come to think of it, we were probably very annoying. But no one, like, smashed up their hotel rooms or anything. It was probably comparatively tame.

Might sound weird, but while playing in the Seattle scene -- which is generally described as kind of serious, or dark, or junkies, or you know, “grungy” – did you and the Fastbacks feel kind of out-of-place; or are those kind of definitions of grunge and that town/time not correct?

The Seattle “thing” certainly was a dark, serious sound. That isn’t to say that every musician was dark and serious, but that darkness prevailed. To say The Fastbacks felt a little out of place at that point would be correct; but I always thought we were here first. It’s not like we didn’t dig lots of the bands, but it also wasn’t like we would try to take them on at their own game. It just wouldn’t’ve happened. We did do a version of “Swallow My Pride” – Green River’s, not The Ramones – on Sub Pop 200 [compilation], after a Soundgarden version too; but it ended up being menacing only in a Blue Öyster Cult sort of way, rather than ala either previous version. Slow and heavy just wasn’t in our DNA.

Columbus, OH, 1993 (Courtesy of Bela Koe-Krompecher)

I remember when Fastbacks stayed with New Bomb Turks while on tour in 1993, you guys, well I think specifically Lulu, made an amazing Thai meal for us. Did you always cook for bands you crashed with, or just for us ‘cuz we’re so awesome and nice?

Ha. I think the wonderful cooking was a bit of a rarity. We weren’t much of a crash on people’s floor kind of band by the ’90s, but sometimes it was great to have a day off and some good ideas! Remember that Metallica VHS box set had just come out, and we watched it ‘til the end because Lulu and I both worked on the film crew for the shows they filmed in Seattle, and we wanted to see if we, several years after the actual shows, got any credits at the end… and sure enough we did. Reason to celebrate!

Columbus seemed to love you. What were some other fave towns you played?

Always a great time in Columbus. Not necessarily Cleveland though. We weren’t the hard-touring road warriors that a lot of the other (more successful) bands were. It was whatever city we had friends in that were the best. Vancouver BC, San Francisco, L.A., NYC, maybe Albany, Columbus, Istanbul…

Contract and ticket for 1993 Columbus, OH show. (Courtesy of Bela Koe-Krompecher)

Highly technical and professional stage diagram implorations, Columbus, OH, 1993 show (Courtesy of Bela Koe-Krompecher)

I could be wrong, but you didn’t go over to Europe a lot, did you? Were you able to procure any production work from Euro bands you met whilst on tour there?

Oddly, not a lot of Euro tours… Seems like we should’ve done more, but there was always something. Young Fresh Fellows did some great trips, especially in Spain. Fastbacks Spanish tour was a bit of a dog’s breakfast. Not because of the people in Spain, no sir. We certainly lit it up in Japan once, though!

I did a couple albums for Les Thugs, the French band. One of them in Seattle and one in Angers. May have been bookended with some music travel. It’s amazing to look back at the old calendars and see that between tours with the Fastbacks and Young Fresh Fellows, recording with those two bands and recording other bands. Man, there were times when there was nary a day off, those ‘90s months were packed! Gotta consider myself pretty lucky. And so many killer records I got to be part of.

As a producer, do you feel you are mainly bringing an “ear” to finding the sounds the band wants, or do you try to gently impose a certain style and sensibility over the whole production?

Always try to keep the kickass factor high. I would never try to impose anything other than to try to keep everyone happy so they could do their best work, and not do the same bit over and over and over. Work hard and play hard, but not to overanalyze every little thing. Not under-analyze either, but if it’s killer, it doesn’t matter if everything “lines up” perfectly, or if the choruses speed up a little bit. Try to capture what is great about a band live in concert, and not dilute that if you can help it. Don’t add a bunch of crap just to put your mark on a project.

It's interesting how you professed a love for prog, but you had an innate sense of not always overdubbing too much – note your comment about loving bands that only had one guitar, etc.

The true exciting prog bands started coming out around 1968 and ’69, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Van Der Graaf Generator; Pink Floyd and Moody Blues had already been around but maybe weren’t quite included. Recording technique at the time was still fairly straightforward for the most part, there was of course room for overdubbing on an eight-track machine, but most of the first-wave prog bands’ recordings were not overloaded with overdubs. The magic was what they did with their four or five musicians, the arrangements you hear on the record were the same instrumentation as they played live. Some of the songs would have been concocted in a studio, but it wasn’t until later that walls of overdubs became commonplace.

That’s where the greatness of the original bands lies – cool vocal arranging and melding several songs’ worth of ideas into one track. Not a lot of room for squirminess either, it wasn’t so easy punching in on a giant eight-track tape machine in 1968. You made one mistake on that verse? You do the whole thing again!

Okay, gotta ask, with as much exposition as you’d like – what was your favorite recording session(s); and worst recording session(s)?

Pretty much always subverted the disasters. A time or two I told a band, after seeing a live show, that they weren’t quite ready to record yet; play a few more shows and practice a lot, record your practices and actually listen to them constructively. Studio time is expensive, practice time is (or at least was) cheap. You don’t have to have every bit of every song nailed down exactly, but do have most everything pretty well figured out, and be ready for criticism during the recording. If the rhythm isn’t working, be prepared to fine-tune your part so it is; if your harmony vocal is a half-step off, go ahead and adjust!

Some of the great sessions are those where I feel that I learned things, a new piece of gear, a new way of looking at things. Overwhelming Colorfast, Supersuckers, Les Thugs in France, The Meices in Florida… Or the records that just slammed out of nowhere. Devil Dogs, Flop, Supersnazz, Nashville Pussy. So many first albums by bands where they have been playing the songs at shows for a year or two, the tempos are up, the blood is pumping, get rid of the headphones and make it like you’re playing a gig. Play the song three times without stopping. Play three different songs in a row without stopping.

1999 (Courtesy of your's truly)

You’re still actively producing. What have you worked on recently you’d like to highlight? And what’s coming up?

There’s always some great Seattle band records going on – Bürien, 38 Coffin, Once For Kicks, Insect Man, The Drolls, Zack Static. These days, some records take a while to finish, I suppose it’s the nature of the business now. Trying now to clean the slate and get these out the door before starting new ones!

And there’s maybe a new Fastbacks coming, no?

There was no plan of any sort. We were having lunch as we sometimes do, and started talking about a couple songs it would be fun to learn and maybe record. Our pal Joe “Meice” Reineke had recently finished an ambitious and fantastic recording building in his back yard; wouldn’t it be fun to check that out….? Well let’s call him and see what his schedule is. Oh! he’s got a day open, whaddayasay, let’s take it. Well there’s a few other songs we could learn, let’s make it two days… I guess we’d better practice… What if we did enough songs for an album? Maybe we did! Got some band tracks, everyone played their butts off! Now we gotta make more magic. No target completion date nor avenue to release, but everyone is excited to finish it!

------------------------------------

Post Script: This article sprung from an editor at a national mag asking if I wanted to do a story on Kurt Bloch, which of course I said yes to cuz Kurt's a great guy and I've been a Fastbacks fan for a goodly spell. But some months passed and plans changed, and so here it is! Also, I would've put more videos in this piece because the Fastbacks have a ton of great songs, but I guess I just learned there is a 10-video limit for a tumblr post. Who knew?

All images courtesy of Kurt Bloch, except where noted.

[toweroftickles]

Avatar: Plant Food (Tickle Fic)

So my amazing friend @trrickytickle drew this Way of Water fanart (see below) out of our mutual agreement that the Sully family just radiate tickle energy and I absolutely had to write a fic based on it for her birthday. Which was a week ago.

Plus I gotta take advantage of whatever brief fan-community zeitgeist still exists for this movie before it fades, right?

"I'm not sticking my arm in that," Neteyam announced.

Two blooming fwäkìwll (mantis orchids) rested side-by-side before the Sully children, wet with morning dew in the shade of the tree. Purple leaves crowned the insect-eating pitchers of the flowers. Their many pale cerulean tongues swayed gently back and forth in hypnotic concert like seaweed. Tuk liked to say that they were waving “hello,” for they were quite friendly plants.

"But it's fun!" the little one told her big brother. She fluttered her fingertips in the flowers’ open mouths to demonstrate, and giggled when the tentacles reached out for her.

"No way, it feels gross," Spider interjected.

All of them were out on a frolic through the Pandoran jungle (except for Lo’ak, who was ill from eating a rotten fruit).

“Ick…I don’t like it; it’s like your whole hand starts to tickle. And it’s so slimy…” Kiri shuddered.

“That’s why it’s fun!” insisted Tuk. “I want to play with them for hours!”

“Heh-Heh…You’re on your own for that one, sis.” It was Sully brother’s turn. “I don’t think I could have my hand in that for more than a few minutes.”

“Well I could definitely handle it longer than you,” laughed Spider, his usual cocky self.

Neteyam looked strangely offended. “You wanna bet, bro? You’re a wimp, you’d give up as soon as it started trying to eat you. You’re not even a real Na’vi.”

“Oh yeah? Come on; let’s go,” the human boy declared his challenge sternly, and suddenly, his left forearm thrust into the wiggly mass.

Kiri chuckled to herself…everything was a measuring contest with these two, no matter how pointless. In another second, Neteyam huffed and placed his arm in the tentacles of the other plant next to Spider.

The syrupy tendrils snaked around the boys’ forearms, clinging and un-clinging with little feelers as they searched for food that wasn’t there. Sticky venom…deadly to insects but harmless to mammals…festered all the way from their wrists to their elbows. Spider put on a determined face, but his eye twitched.

Squirming noodles buzzed under their skin, wriggling against their every nerve…

...tingling like mad…spreading goosebumps all over as they numbed...

“Gahhhhhh…!” Spider yelped nervously, his voice rising in pitch.

“NNNNNG!!” Neteyam groaned. His shoulders stiffened, his back arched.

Both were puffed up, laughing nervously. Their trembling fists clenched. Smiles tugged at the corners of their mouths.

“Th-this is so we-heird!”

“I am…ss-so uncomfortable…pfff…”

“Come on, Monkey Boy, come on!” Kiri cheered Spider. Tuk jumped up and down.

The tension was pulling tighter and tighter. It was the most uniquely unpleasant feeling. Suddenly, after barely a minute had passed, Neteyam cried out (the white flag was raised) and quickly yanked his arm out of the orchid too fast for the others to see. Its tentacles peeled away like a sticker. And everyone fell away laughing.

“Ehhhhhh, I don’t like that,” chuckled Neteyam. He rubbed the fluttering feeling out of his wrist.

“Dude, you’re weak,” Spider joked at him.

“Oh, come on.”

“I know, I know; it’s like the creepiest feeling.”

“Spider, you’re no fun.” Tuk announced, arms folded.

“What’s your dad say; you think they have plants like that back on earth?”

“Doubt it. He says they probably don’t have any there.”

“Hey,” Kiri suddenly spoke up. Both Spider and Neteyam saw an anxious giddiness in her smile, like she was about to spill a dirty secret.

"I dare you to stick your foot in there. Both of you."

Something dropped into Spider’s stomach. Not missing a beat, he coolly brushed it off.

“Heh. No. That’s stupid; why would we do that?”

“What, are you too scared, Monkey Boy?” Kiri teased, playfully shoving him.

“We already stuck our arms in it; what’s that going to prove?” interjected Neteyam.

“Yeah, come on. Totally weird.”

“Do it, do it!” Tuk laughed loudly.

The two boys looked at each other in awkward silence. Spider’s jaw jutted out slightly, and he stiffly exhaled through his nostrils. If Neteyam was doing it, he wasn’t going to look like a wuss. Especially not in front of Kiri.

Silence. Both dusted the loose flecks of earthen mulch from their soles. As their arms cautiously fanned out for balance, both of them slowwwwly stretched their left legs toward the orchids’ hungry maws. The closer they got, the faster and faster the feeding tentacles writhed. Spider could feel it…despite his best efforts, his heartbeat was speeding up.

He closed his eyes. There was no hot gust of animal breath to forewarn him of the flower mouth’s proximity. It could have been a yard away, or an inch.

Here it goes…

Without warning, the flower’s tall purple petals closed around Spider’s foot, certain it had caught its dinner. Unlike before, this time he was stuck. But he hardly even had time to panic or process this, as he suddenly felt a pair of sinewy arms wrap around from under him and ball up into a tight knot of knuckle bones behind the back of his head.

He gasped. His eyes snapped open. Neteyam had him in a Nelson hold...the elder Sully son had betrayed him. Tuk plopped down and wrapped all four of her limbs around Spider’s right leg, and Kiri approached him with an evil grin and wiggling fingers. Spider grunted and hissed and thrashed around, as close to a real Na’vi’s catlike aggression as he could muster. But Neteyam’s grip was too strong.

He always hated this part.

Kiri reached forward and kneaded between Spider’s ribs with her thumbs. His upper body began to tremble. He couldn’t look Kiri in the eyes…he twisted around to avoid her gaze as he struggled. Her hands planted affectionate squeezes down his sides, and on his stomach, and in his belly button, non-stop. Roughhousing and wrestling was fun; it was part of their DNA. And Spider was a proud kid, good at holding in his laughter. But it wasn’t long before his threshold broke.

“HEH! Nnnn…Heh-Hahuh! ���Hk! *gasp* Heh-Heh Ha Ha! ….Zzzt….Hng….St-hop, cut it out!”

“Oh no; it’s gonna eat you!” Kiri laughed.

Neteyam was really struggling to hold their human captive still (Spider’s dreadlocks kept bristling his face). Tuk and Kiri, meanwhile, had descended into a complete and total giggle meltdown. Every time Spider’s leg lurched, Tuk would bounce on his ankle, and a happy, pitchy whistle would *squeak* out of her nostrils. She snuggled her arms even tighter around his knee, and even her tail held on for dear life. His other leg, as it thrashed around to free itself from the tickling flower, nearly bonked Kiri in the face.

“Nnnahhh..! …Heheh! *wheeze* GkHuh-Heh!! Haha! Ha! Get off me!”

“Uh-uh; I think I’ll keep you here!”

Kiri’s index fingers were sweetly needling up and down his torso, sending throughout his nerves these mean little ripples of energy that just made Spider want to giggle….and he couldn’t help it, no matter how hard he tried to hold his breath.

The intense buzzing in his foot was only getting worse, more tingly, flowing up his leg and toward his knee. It felt like hundreds of tiny and slippery little fish were feeding against his every pore.

Spider’s quickening breath painted the inside of his mask with fog. Blinded to where she would strike next, he could still feel Kiri awkwardly playing like a drunken pianist on his stomach. All he wanted was for her to stop.

“Heh-Heh….HGGGKKKHa-Ha Ha!”

With one last, aggressive tug, Spider’s leg tore the orchid’s petals open, unhooking from the tendrils with a fleshy snap, and sailed backwards through the air. The pile of Na’vi kids was upended, and all of them collapsed in a heap amid the rustling leaves.

Spider slowed down his breathing as he regained his composure. At first, they were all sore and uncomfortable. But as Spider leaned up and glanced around at the pool of blue siblings that surrounded him, and they all looked back and forth between each other’s heads, none of them could resist the urge to start laughing.

“See? I told you, I’m tougher than you.” Neteyam tussled Spider’s matted hair.

Spider grinned back at him and hissed. It was a comment Neteyam lived to regret.

I don’t care what it’s supposed to be called; THAT IS A FUCKING TICKLE PLANT.

[lol-jackles]

“Wanek told a fangirl off the record that Jared's ambition was almost impossible to compete with after he passively aggressively called Jared's acting inferior to Jensen's.  You can just feel the sticky resentment oozing out of him!   When this became public, he had to go on twitter to back track and say he wouldn't have a job if it weren't for Jared. “

Why be “mad” at Jared, though. Just because he can’t admit betting on the wrong horse? Why should he care? (Not that Jensen is bad at acting at all.) Was he serious in thinking that Jared is/was a worse actor, or was he just being a petty bitch?

For Kripke, is he so far up Jensen’s butt because he was betting on Jensen to do better than Jared, too? Or is his reasoning more that Jensen didn’t stress him out like Jated did (with his breakdown in season 3)? Or does he just see that Jared doesn’t need his boosting since he’s a lead on his own show already?

At least Kripke was smart enough to publicly offer Jared a roll on The Boys. Even if Jared never does it, and even if he didn’t really expect him to take him up on the offer, he can at least say he made the offer and look like he has a good relationship with both SPN stars.

Do you think Kripke would actually like for Jared to make an appearance on The Boys? And do you think there is anyway Jared would do it?

Sorry for all the small asks! They sort of lead off of each other.

Jerry Wanek was mostly peacocking for fangirls. Older men can't resist interacting with eager young women and assert their status in the male hierarchy by dunking on other men because everybody (especially women) attach no value to men with no or low status. Jerry knew he was talking to a Dean girl so made sure to gain points by not to dunking on Jensen, even good naturally; come on ladies, you know what men want. He even implied that he got Jeffery Dean Morgon fired from SPN for being a "prick" who took advantage on set. Again, peacocking for the young women by going, "see, I'll protect you from the creep".

Jerry wasn't "mad" at Jared, I didn't say that. Jerry had a bias towards Jensen, likely seeing him as the reliable stable one compared to Jared who had a breakdown and endangered their jobs if Jared left the show too soon. Both Jerry and Jensen may have had a Dark Angel flashback when 19 years old Jessica Alba was under intense pressure and instead of getting support, she was blamed for not holding it together. As far as I could tell, neither Jerry nor Jensen had any sympathy for Jessica, and it's unlikely Jerry would extend sympathy towards Jared since he's male. Similar reasons why Kripke has biases towards Jensen because he didn't try to break his contract and endangered the show's lucrative licensing potential.

Kripke boosting Jensen is just trying to get SPN fans to watch both Gen V and The Boys to give his shows cultural relevancy like they did with Supernatural, hence his constant use of the #SPNFamily and begging wooing SPN to watch The Boys verse. He's under a lot of pressure from Amazon to create a cultural zeitgeist for them because the studio is desperate to have their own Games of Throne tv show. Amazon suffers from little bro syndrome watching Netflix, Hulu and HBO continuously putting out blockbuster shows while Amazon is still seen as a niche player in TV.

Kripke definitely wants Jared on The Boys to complete the SPN fandom trifecta. But he knows it goes against Jared's image and brand so he's not expecting a phone call.

[liminal-zone]

Fanfic roundup 2022

(2021 round up)

LIST OF FANWORKS

Posted:

dependence (The Matrix | Neo/Trinity | codependency | rated NR)

See your enemy (The Matrix | Neo/Trinity, Trinity+Smith | the one that got away | rated M)

But mine is as hungry as the sea (LOTR | Galadriel/Sauron | a millennia of dreams | rated E)

i’d like to hold her head underwater (LOTR | Galadriel/Sauron | kissin’ and makin’ oaths| rated M)

That’s the whole ice cream cone (LOTR RPF | Charlie/Morfydd | scholarship is sexy | rated M) (ao3 locked)

Crave (LOTR | Galadriel/Sauron | tentacles | rated E) (wip to update v soon)

WIPs:

LOTR: an earnest take on the celeborn custody battle crack (posting soon)

LOTR: Dark Galadriel and the dyad rings - teases here

LOTR: healing generational trauma with fourth age Arwen and her peepaw

The Matrix: Trinity and Smith as mirrors - tease here

MCU: the final conclusion of my winterbaron sugar daddy fic

MCU: a full horror Time Variance Authority Trash Party with stucky rising

Total number of completed works/fandoms written in: six completed works in 2022 for a total of just over 15k words; two for The Matrix, three for LOTR, and one RPF. 

OVERALL THOUGHTS: What a strange year! The Matrix fics were essentially remixes and the LOTR fics were essentially a fever dream zeitgeist high. I wish that I could have a more steady creative process???? But I’m very proud of the creative work this year and the madness I felt in writing these fics.

PERSONAL FAVORITE: The moment in “I’d like to hold her head underwater” where Galadriel has a fantasy of fucking Halbrand into a dying Sauron’s armored body. “And wonderfully, exquisitely, she feels that weak dark spirit shamed at the ignominy of this dark choice.” FUCKING A, LIZZEN.

MOST UNDERAPPRECIATED: I actually feel quite happy with the appreciation I received for all of my fics this year. The kudos may be low on The Matrix ones but my matrix fam had wonderful things to say about them. Britomart keeps tagging me in a discord server as she introduces folk to “See your enemy”, the best. Crave could use more love but LET’S BE REAL. CRAVE COULD DESERVE A FUCKING NEXT CHAPTER, YA COCK TEASE.

MOST POPULAR: “But mine is as hungry as the sea” by every metric. It’s incredible, do NOT get me wrong, I love the shit out of this fic, it truly was a demon I had to exorcize into gorgeous words and tragic romantic angst – BUT it’s popular bcs I gamed the zeitgeist timing LETTUCE BE QUITE REAL. In my old age, I’m very wise to the methodologies of fic popularity. XX

STORY WITH THE SEXIEST MOMENT: So, what I love the best about  “But mine is as hungry as the sea” is that I couldn’t have Gal and Hal talk to each other if at the VERY least he was finger banging her. AT THE VERY LEAST. Like. My parody version of that fic is them having benign boring conversations as he’s three fingers in and she’s lost count of how much she’s come. Second place is the same fic where I talk about her being sticky and him shaking BECAUSE I AM TRASH (affectionate). 

MOST FUN STORY TO WRITE: The posted chapter of Crave was such a fun time. The bulk of it just flowed out of me in like an HOUR. I just love monsterfucking and a woman who is AS HUNGRY AS THE SEA. It just had so much delicious promise. UGHHH, so much fun.

HARDEST: Hahahahahaha the unposted finish to Crave. What have I done. Writing a kink with specific tropes for a pairing where I am resistant to those tropes being used with them? HAHAHAHAH. WHAT AM I DOING. (I’ll make it work and people will like it or they won’t!). 

BIGGEST SURPRISE: Having the exact same fever dream zeitgeist high while writing like I did after TLJ in December 2017. I thought that was like a cocaine high and I’d never feel it again. I THOUGHT I WAS DEAD INSIDE. (I’m back to being a little dead inside so…. that’s…….. fun for me and my therapist.) (WORKING ON IT.)

DID YOU TAKE ANY RISKS IN WRITING THIS YEAR? Writing the first RPF fic for The Rings of Power. NEW LOTRPS JUST DROPPED, BAYBEEEE. It was initially locked, but then I opened it back up because I was like, “this fandom can behave with rpf, right?” Hahaha, nah bro, so it’s locked up again and I’m unlikely to write another (until there’s new irl canon i guess?). 

MOST UNINTENTIONALLY TELLING STORY: Y’all here know how I feel about Charlie’s Sauron scholarship, so you can’t be surprised that I have Morfydd jump him immediately after she learns about it. SHRUG!

FAVORITE LINES/SCENES: Honestly, the entire tease for the Trinity + Groff!Smith. Fucking brilliant work. “I accept your terms,” she says. “I didn’t make any,” he says, weak. “Exactly,” she replies.

2023 WRITING AMBITIONS: Write more steadily and consistently. Get back into the drabble mode. Make time, take time, just do it. It doesn’t have to be groundbreaking, it just has to be creating something. The joy of creation is like nothing else. Chase that high.

[another-cliche-title]

go play sticky zeitgeist NOW!!! they boof in it

you need to play every single gay furry vn (there are many) play echo NOW

lake dawn chorus jumpscare

"why isn't there any good LGBT rep in games??" because you don't use itch io and don't believe art made by smaller teams is worth anything or you think nsfw art is an inherent moral failing. Go play a 20 minute porn game made by a depressed transfem lesbian and then maybe you'll calm down

[milfstalin]

Torture Works - Porpentine Charity Heartscape

so the only exposure i had to any of porp's work was Hot Allostatic Load which imo easily matches and surpasses Whipping Girl in terms of important transfeminist texts. also i played one of their games halfway (sticky zeitgeist or something?) and also read HIGH KILL SHELTER which was incredibly visceral and got me thinking about coercive gendering and dog/pet metaphors and sexual violence in a new and very fleshy/sexy way.

anyways Torture Works is a selection of short stories and other materials- from the standalone HONEYDEX TOXICITY EVENT to episode 1 of CUNT TOWARDS ENEMY (the rest living on their blog which i immediately devoured after finishing the collection) and they range from very very funny (the first one) to simultaneously extremely upsetting and comforting in the way that comfort can be drawn from something extremely upsetting to know down and that you have inscribed to the atoms of your bones (the second one). and then the one about a gorilla and a hammer.

porpentine has a universe that's like... zoroastrian themed united states of scifi america? there's bugs. idk, i didn't really look too deep into it and the stories don't require much foreknowledge, just taking it at face value is enough.

but yeah, i read them, i enjoyed them, including the ones i didn't like, and i already await a copy of Serious Weakness on recommendation from a comrade. if you like writing that can be a combination of depressing, ecstatic, gory/pornographic, entertaining and magnetic and hard to read at some points but easily goes down at others, give it a try- just mind your own sensitivities and such.

[investoptionwin]

Sympathy the Connexion Between Fashion and Zeitgeist

Check Out This Fashion Advice From The Experts!

Don’t be fooled: what you wear is important. You may not think so, but the fact is that your wardrobe makes more of an impression than you may think. What you wear can impact other people’s opinion of you, and it can also help you feel better about yourself. Here are some fashion tips you can use to make yourself look great.

If you wear stockings, keep a small bottle of clear nail polish with vintage western dress you. If you get a snag or run, a small drop of the polish will help stop it before it gets bad. Remember that it only takes a small amount to work so, do not overdo it, or you will have a sticky mess.

If you have thick or very curly hair, using a gel product will help you to create the style you desire. Work the product into towel-dried hair and then style it as you want. You can allow it to dry naturally, or use a hair drier. This is especially helpful in humid weather.

Choose items to add to your wardrobe that make sense for your lifestyle. If you spend most of your time in jeans, then buy the best looking and best-fitting jeans that you can afford. The money you spend on an item for your wardrobe that you wear regularly is always a good investment.

Lip gloss is a girl’s best friend! There is nothing worse than dry, chapped, uncomfortable-feeling lips. That’s where a pretty gloss comes in! Whether you like the super-glossy look or something a little more subdued, lip gloss is a great way to keep your lips looking and feeling their best throughout the day.

A great fashion tip is to start shopping at thrift stores for some of your clothing. You can often find really unique clothing at thrift stores and you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg either like you would if you bought new clothes at some big department store.

Hair care products that contain moisturizer are incredibly beneficial for people with frizzy hair. This will put a protective layer over the cuticle of your hair, keeping it vintage western dress from taking in too much moisture. Shy away from any products that are advertised as “volumizing”.

If you are a man, you should make sure that you don’t wear suspenders and a belt at the same time. These two things serve the same purpose making them redundant. Also, you will look silly sporting suspenders with a belt. This is a simple fashion do not that will keep you looking handsome.

Although denim has taken on many forms over the years, it is something that will never go out of style, regardless of its variations. A well-fitting pair of denim jeans looks good on anyone. This doesn’t mean putting on a pair that is too tight. Your denim jeans should fit comfortably around your body.

A new jacket may have some loose stitches around the shoulders and vents. These threads can make your whole look appear a little sloppy. You can trim these stitches away carefully with scissors. That’s a simple style tip for you.

One great fashion tip is to be sure that you are fully prepared for shopping when you visit the dressing room. This is important because you want to have everything with you that you are going to wear when you go out so that you will know if it is a good fit for your body and your accessories.

Go ahead and buy an extra if a piece of clothing fits perfectly. It’s difficult to find a pair of jeans or a dress that fits right off the rack. When in doubt, stick with what works for you. If you do manage to find something flattering, buy two.

Do you enjoy wearing white? If so, then ensure you are regularly using bleach when washing so that you keep your white clothes looking fresh. Don’t use too much, though, it can cause your items to start to yellow.

You are not the only one who sees vintage western dress your fashion sense. Everyone who sees you knows what you dress like. You need to choose clothes that wow others, but you also need to wow yourself. The right wardrobe can do that, and the tips in this article can make that happen for you.

[tofeelnomorebitternessforever]

maybe I should go replay sticky zeitgeist and make myself feel worse

[marionrav]

Gluten free baking / tips

So, I was diagnosed with a gluten allergy when I was tiny. Probably - six or so? Later, my allergist recommended that I try returning to a less restrictive diet, since I seemed okay.

Needless to say, it became clear that later, I did still have a gluten sensitivity. I basically get borderline asthma / chronic sinusitis on gluten, and I'm far more comfortable without. So, I swapped back to no gluten.

There's two things to know about allergies. First of all, you have to keep a varied diet. It's very likely, if your body decides to be a pain, that you'll suddenly gain something else that hates you. Therefore, you want to be cautious. While restricting foods is always iffy on a healthy diet sense, it is better to be cautious eating common foods. Don't swap to 100% soy flour, don't eat eggs daily, don't eat peanuts with every meal. It's already a pain not eating gluten, and you do not want to suddenly find out that you need to carry an epi-pen just because you really liked peanut butter.

Secondly, if your allergy is not one that's part of the health conscious zeitgeist, it helps to know what you can do. When I was a kid, Skittles, McDonald's fries, and some vending machine chips were it for quick easy gluten free options. If you're someone who does not cook, it might help to look at low gluten cultural diets to have ideas for how to make quick breakfast / lunch / and dinner options.

For a while there, there was a lot of gluten free books from people who had never cooked a day in their life, and they were shocked at the idea they couldn't go to Starbucks or McDonalds and order three things and run. For them, frying an egg was a shocking experiment in frustration, and the lack of toast was infuriating.

But you say, I don't want dinner leftovers, oatmeal, or a bowl of rice in the morning.

Here's my top tips for gluten free baking :

Look at the photos of the recipe. There's a lot of recipes out there (especially from the keto community) that talk up a recipe, and then show things that do not look like what you expect. If their best quality photo of their "perfect no bake chewy brownie" looks instead like chunky frosting, you might expect the result to come out in similar shape.

On average, a gluten free recipe consists of multiple flour replacements. A typical ratio is about 2/3rds "dry" flours, and 1/3rds "sticky" flours. Dry = something you add boiling water to and it does not turn into a clear sticky gel. Rice flour, oat flour, rye flour, coconut flour (see tip 3) all fall in this category. Corn starch, potato starch, arrowroot starch, tapioca starch all fall in the "sticky" category. Too much sticky flour = gummy sticky results. Too much dry = weak cracker-like results.

Be cautious of coconut flour. In "fat head" style keto doughs with cheese, the risks of it are mitigated, but coconut flour has two characteristics. It, first of all, absorbs surprising amounts of water, and then suddenly stops absorbing water. This is great for a wet enough dough that is a little sloppy, but bad if you're replacing rice flour with coconut flour. (You'll literally have chunky concrete that suddenly turns sloppily wet as you try to get it to the perfect texture.) Secondly, due to it being a higher fat content, it will brown more quickly than other flours. Nut flours have the "browns too quick" problem as well.

On average, 1 - 2 TB of fat (per a 1 - 2 cup batch of flour) will not be held within the gluten free mix. This doesn't matter for, say, a tablespoon of butter in your waffles, but your biscuits will weep, and your pie crust will swim. America's Test Kitchen (and my experience) says you'll get better luck replacing that amount of fat with sour cream in cases of high fat doughs.

Assuming you can have eggs, please use eggs in your gluten free baking. I find eggs make gluten free baking stay fresh longer by holding in moisture. They make your dough more strong, even if you're using xanthum gum or guar gum for strength. It also tends to give a pleasant wheat like color to your noodles / breads.

Try psyllium husk powder. Gluten free baking tends to be almost zero fiber. You can obviously add fiber in your choices, but psyllium husk powder (the same stuff in fiber pills) is flavorless, adds a pleasant whole wheat appearance, and, much like eggs, helps binds things together. There's even a gluten free seedy bread that uses it to amazing results (yes, follow tip 7 and add an egg instead of the chia seeds, please.)

Tint what you're making. Adding 1 - 2 TB of cocoa powder, ground pecans or almonds, or some spices or fruit will often hide the greyish / pale / weird color of gluten free doughs.

And if you got this far - here's my killer almond cake from Marcy Tilton.

200 g butter (you can go as low as 170g)

200 g sugar (you can go as low as 170g without changing the texture)

200 g almond flour (or other nut flours)

5 egg

2 T cornstarch (or cocoa powder or other flour)

1 T rum (vanilla / other flavorings are fine. Orange juice and cocoa is nice. Lemon and vanilla are nice. Raspberry and cocoa was also popular).

Melt butter, mix all in it (don't bother cooling the butter since the sugar and almonds will do it for you.)

325 till done (browned on edges, springy to the touch, clean toothpick, about 45 minutes.) Makes 1 large loaf, but does not care what pan you use. A half recipe is a half loaf pan. Freezes well, servable while frozen due to the high fat / sugar.

[latveriansnailmail]

Hm, thinking up a D&D party.... is this a thing? An arcane craft focused party of mixed membership. I saw the Dungeon Dudes salivate over the idea of an all wizard party but my party seems conceptually dedicated while being more traditional.

Rune Knight Fighter (magic in enchanting arms and armor via runes; mystically oriented front-liner; note: not the Eldritch Knight because that one's not enough of one thing or the other)

School of Abjuration Wizard (the actual wizard this party is built around socially; magic in study and research; plays the defensive and utility roles)

Artillerist Artificer (magic in invention, experimentation, and inspiration; heavy blaster)

Arcane Trickster Rogue (magic via intellectual theft, the same way a rogue gets anything; utility and stealth with very sticky fingers)

College of Lore Bard (magic through secrets, ancient lore, and modern zeitgeist; uses bevy of Magical Secrets to stock up on healing spells)

[stares1200]

Does anybody want me to post traces I and sticky zeitgeist season 1 ost? If rook doesnt want them posted i wont obvs but if i can then let me know ❤️

[slaaneshfic]

Proposal: There is no reason for you to live: assimilation, disintegration, and affect in queer horror games

I feel like its been a long time since writing one of these. it hasn’t, but it was really hard getting my head back into it after writing my annual progression document (which i will post after this. its a monster). I think thats why this is so messy, and has so many footnotes (I even double pasted the bibliography in the doc i submitted. ugh just kill me now)

Title: There is no reason for you to live: assimilation, disintegration, and affect in queer horror games

Abstract: This paper examines the ways in which instability and affect are deployed in queer horror video games, the relationship of these tactics to post-structuralist, feminist, and queer theories of gender, and speculates on how play, horror, and instability can further our idea of gender and kinship.

The relationship between the overwhelming experience of seeing too much, and the restricted tension of not being able to see enough is important to our experience of horror. Philosopher Eugene Thacker goes as far as to propose that the “horror genre is really defined in the space between these two poles, in the passages between them” (Thacker, 2015). Horror can be understood as not just witnessing bodies changing and collapsing, but as witnessing and negotiating our perceptions doing the same. In this paper, I argue that such slippery encounters are pushed further in queer horror games, and that these radically destabilise power structures around gender and sexuality through their potential to prevelige queer desire, different bodies, and different experiences. Queer horror games reconfigure the ethics of the dominant power, transforming the player’s relation to abjection, intimacy, and stability.

Philosopher Patricia MacCormack identifies in this active, emotive, speculative, experience of horror, the becoming “Ahuman” which is the ecstatic encounter with an “asignified world” (MacCormack, 2012). In this paper I pursue the ways in which the Ahuman can be understood within three recent video games which could broadly be labeled as “queer horror”. The video games in question are: “No World Dreamers Sticky Zeitgeist: Episode 2: Aperitif”, “Soma”, and “The MISSING: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories”, (Heartscape & Rook, 2018; Hedberg, 2015; Suehiro, 2018).

Drawing on the writing of philosophers Rosi Braidotti and Gilles Deleuze, and psychoanalysts Felix Guattari and Luce Irigaray, I examine how collapsing bodies, unstable landscapes, and overwhelming sensation perform at different levels of the audience encounter with these three games (Braidotti, 1994; Deleuze, 1986; Deleuze & Guattari, 1983, 1987, 1994; Guattari, 1995, 2005, 2011; Irigaray, 1993).

This instability of bodies within the games, and the instability of our encounters with the games themselves, are finally extracted from game design to be considered in terms of contemporary queer, post human feminist theory (Adams, 2018; Goard, 2017; Hedva, 2016; Hester, 2018; Ireland, 2017; Kirksey, 2018; Winters, 2016).

Bibliography:

Adams, M. (2018, October 18). ‘What Keeps You Alive’ – an era of hope for queer horror. Retrieved 2 November 2018, from https://genderterror.com/2018/10/18/what-keeps-you-alive-an-era-of-hope-for-queer-horror/

Braidotti, R. (1994). Of Bugs and Women: Irigaray and Deleuze on the Becoming-Woman. In C. Burke, N. Shor, & M. Whitford (Eds.), Engaging with Irigaray: Feminist Philosophy and Modern European Thought. New York: Columbia University Press, New York.

Deleuze, G. (1986). Cinema. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.

Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1983). Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1987). A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1994). What is philosophy? New York: Columbia University Press.

Goard, S. (2017, December 8). Making and Getting Made: Towards a Cyborg Transfeminism | Salvage. Retrieved 31 December 2017, from http://salvage.zone/in-print/making-and-getting-made-towards-a-cyborg-transfeminism/?utm_content=buffer05aec&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Grosz, E. (1993). A thousand tiny sexes: Feminism and rhizomatics. Topoi, 12(2), 167–179. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00821854

Guattari, F. (1995). Chaosmosis: an ethico-aesthetic paradigm. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Guattari, F. (2005). The Three Ecologies. London ; New York: Continuum.

Guattari, F. (2011). The machinic unconscious: essays in schizoanalysis. Los Angeles, CA : Cambridge, Mass: Semiotext(e) ; Distributed by the MIT Press.

Heartscape, P. C., & Rook. (2018). No World Dreamers Sticky Zeitgeist: Episode 2: Aperitif [Windows].

Hedberg, M. (2015). Soma. Frictional Games. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3255592/

Hedva, J. (2016). Sick Woman Theory. Retrieved 26 November 2018, from http://www.maskmagazine.com/not-again/struggle/sick-woman-theory

Hester, H. (2018). Xenofeminism. Cambridge, UK Medford, MA: Polity.

Ireland, A. (2017, March). Black Circuit: Code for the Numbers to Come - Journal #80 March 2017 - e-flux. Retrieved 1 October 2018, from https://www.e-flux.com/journal/80/100016/black-circuit-code-for-the-numbers-to-come/

Irigaray, L. (1993). An Ethics of Sexual Difference. Cornell University Press.

Kirksey, E. (2018). Queer Love, Gender Bending Bacteria, and Life after the Anthropocene. Theory, Culture & Society, 026327641876999. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276418769995

MacCormack, P. (2008). Cinesexuality. Aldershot, England ; Burlington, VT: Ashgate.

MacCormack, P. (2010a). Lovecraft through Deleuzio-Guattarian Gates (Vol. 20). https://doi.org/10.1353/pmc.2010.0008

MacCormack, P. (2010b). Mucous, Monsters and Angels: Irigaray and Zulawski’s Possession. Cinema: Journal of Philosophy and the Moving Image, 1, 95–110.

MacCormack, P. (2012). Posthuman ethics: embodiment and cultural theory. Farnham, Surrey, England ; Burlington, VT: Ashgate.

MacCormack, P. (2016). Lovecaft’s Cosmic Ethics. In R. Campbell (Ed.), The Age of Lovecraft (pp. 199–214). University of Minnesota Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.ctt1b9x1f3.15

O’Sullivan, S. (2001). THE AESTHETICS OF AFFECT: Thinking art beyond representation. Angelaki, 6(3), 125–135. https://doi.org/10.1080/09697250120087987

Thacker, E. (2015). Tentacles longer than night. Charlotte, NC: John Hunt Pub.

Winters, B. (2016, July 11). On The Recuperative Power of Interactive Horror. Retrieved 5 February 2018, from https://deorbital.media/on-the-recuperative-power-of-interactive-horror-eb6fcb9a47dd

[magical-agatha]

this scene from sticky zeitgeist ep 1 is somehow like. its nice bc its just four girls peeing and it’s mundane. it’s just normal. its like. reassuring somehow?? bc im a girl and i pee like that? hm.

[itchio]

Porpentine isn’t a household name, but she’s been making games longer than we’ve been around. Her early work became synonymous with Twine but since then she’s played with different styles, genres, and tools. Her most recent game Sticky Zeitgeist is her first episodic game. Porpentine was nice enough to let us ask her a few questions about the project. Here’s what she said.