tobaccomagazine

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OUR LIL BROTHER IS HERE. Spread the word friends!

Music Art and Words. It’s only Natural!

I started work on a new zine today. Nicotine Zine is an offshoot of the ever popular Kentucky-based zine Tobacco Magazine that  will publish interviews, reviews, art, and stories online. If you could like the page and spread the word to all your creative friends. please submit to: nicotinezine1@gmail.com www.facebook.com/nicotinezine https://twitter.com/nicotinezine

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JUSTIN KAMERER/ANGRYBLUE INTERVIEW

by Eduard Abayev First off, where did the name Angryblue come from? I promise this is boring. You've done art for a lot of national acts and festivals. What have been some of your favorite commission pieces? Probably the two posters I've Faith No More and my posters for the Melvins. They're always really fun to do. FNM was actually really nerve-wracking because as a nerdy fanboy, I wanted them to be REALLY good. My favorites are generally ones where I make some growth and advance my ability a little bit. The Primus poster I did a few months back and the Soundgarden one I just finished were both things I felt good about once the final colors were printed. What kind of software/supplies/mediums are you particularly fond of using? While I prefer to start with pen and ink for my illustrations, I've recently become really fond of Manga Studio. When paired with Frenden's brushes, it's a GREAT program to knock out jobs that don't have a big time budget because it eliminates scanning and is just sort of fun to mess around in. It was an ESSENTIAL tool in the Assassin's Creed motion comic thing I did with Rob Zombie, Tony Moore and John Rauch because it probably saved me 70+ hours of scanning in my inks, tiling them together and cleaning them up. Other than that, I stick to the usual Photoshop & Illustrator realms for layout, text, etc. How did your recent Assassin's Creed motion comic collaboration differ from your usual work? The Assassin's Creed thing was a huge opportunity to break out of my normal projects, work with a friend and learn a ton of new stuff. The production company came to me with the idea to do this project and illustrating my work and while on the phone, I immediately, thought, "I don't do sequential illustration. Damnit! ...but .... wait a minute.... I know someone to collaborate with!" The way it worked is there were already storyboards, Tony Moore fixed a lot of storytelling issues and reworked the way it looked so it was in his distinctive voice and then I inked everything on multiple levels digitally so there was some wiggle room to work in without having to just chop up something flat. Some of Tony's things were completely solved and some of the elements he knew I would understand how to render because we have a similar aesthetic. "I know that Justin knows what the cross section of a human neck looks like." It was really interesting to try to pay homage to his visual voice and aesthetic while putting my own stamp on it as well so you knew very well that I was in there. John Rauch took our black and white work to another level altogether once he added his coloring to it. In 2012 you started Ouisch Clothing with Will Ragland. How has that venture been for you two? Ouisch has been a fun project. It's sort of on hiatus. We started it just to have an excuse to make things. There's no money in it and a good amount of time that was being sunk into it. While we both ramped up our interests in various music projects, it's gone to the back burner. Can you tell us more about your musical endeavors? I've always been interested in making music in some fashion. I've been part of a few projects and have been working with a group of talented people for about ten months or so getting together every weekend for about 8 hours and just writing/jamming/finessing. We'll see where it goes. I picked up an 8-channel interface so we can multitrack our practices while writing/jamming. Some of that stuff might get tightened up and some might just get bounced out and released as-is. I feel like we're starting to have some really good sonic conversations without having any pre-planning when we start. I've also gotten extremely into synthesizers. I come from a background of guitar and loving effects pedals, so it seemed like a natural progression to do work with things I can make grimy or pretty that has a different tactile nature altogether. When I pick up a guitar, I have defaults and comfort zones. With an analogue synth, ribbon controller, eurorack setting, drone machines and weird nest of wires, I have no comfort zone. I don't have a place I gravitate to ...which is really freeing and inspiring. I've been recording a lot of that stuff independently and plan to start releasing bits and pieces here and there. Who are some artists or musicians that really inspire you? This stuff is all over the map as I also make music. So that could range from Ratatat to Shellac to Faith No More to NIN to Biggie to Elvis Costello to Motown to Portishead to Converge Which animal has the coolest skull? Oh man. That's a tough one. There's a flea market that happens twice a year where i get a lot of my reference skulls. It started this past weekend and I need to make my way there. Last time I went up, I came home with a pile of them, but the armadillo was my favorite from that batch. Are there any local artists you're digging lately? I don't know if there are any new ones that I'm really privy too, but there's a great pocket of artists in Louisville from my lady, MissHappyPink to Jeral Tidwell and his wife TheInkingDragon as well as MadPixel. Others worth mentioning: Damon Thompson, Chris Chappel, Dennis Pase, Vinnie Kochert, Ryan Case, Adam Potts and like 50 other great people i feeel bummed for not thinking of at this uncaffeinated moment. What's next for Angryblue? Ruining more paper. I'm always trying to juggle saying no to jobs and taking time to make new art prints and focus on getting better.

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BEAU KAELIN'S KORA

by Basie Campbell What are the advantages of a cinematic window into a culture using symbolism and unspoken interactions, rather than traditional verbal storytelling? I find that it allows me to focus with greater magnitude on atmosphere and emotion. My primary goal with Kora is to do one thing: to instill a sense of awe. In an era where the average American has a cell phone that doubles as a computer with access to the wealth of the world's knowledge, we often forget that there's still mystery to the world. And I don't mean in the theological sense as to: "What lies beyond this plane?" or any form of Fortean explorations. Merely, there are eccentricities to cultures that we don't realize exist. When I first visited China in 2011, I was enamored with the culture, largely because so many elements were altogether new to me. It was as if I'd stepped through the looking glass into a totally different world, and was intrigued by event the slightest minutia, because to me it wasn't routine. Daily chores and rituals to the Chinese were a source of fascination for me, and so I chose to try and present the culture in that same light within the film. I didn't want the film to be a traditional documentary, for that would reduce it to a travelogue. Rather, I wanted to restrict the audience's view of the whole in such a way that they feel like invisible travelers in this foreign realm, and are filled with a sense of wonderment at the end of their journey. Do you/did you prefer shooting in urban industrialized environments or natural/rural landscapes?  I enjoyed both for very different reasons. The cityscapes were accompanied with an element of convenience. If my Mandarin fell short, the odds are great that there would be an English-speaker nearby. That, and the cities felt almost more bizarre than the countryside;a refraction of the reality I'm accustomed, too. City life is still city life, regardless of the continent, but all elements were a permutation of the familiar, often accompanied by an aspect of novelty (from poor English translations of signs to odd variations of name-brand foods). However, once you get out of the city, away from the droves of other laowei (the Chinese slang term for "foreigners"), then it just becomes you, the road and what crude language skills you possess. In short, traveling alone in that kind of environment really forces you out of the comfort level you create for yourself in your daily life. Basic tasks, like trying to find camera film or a bus that will take you from one location to the next, become an adventure. That, and if you're traveling on your own in some of the obscure villages as I was, you're already a novelty to the locals. When you factor in my being 6'6", blonde and covered in tattoos, I'm a goddamned anomaly to those people. And as such, it wouldn't take long for several folks to approach and satisfy their curiosity by inquiring about why I was there. I'd explain the best I could with my crude Mandarin skills, and a short conversation later, I'd easily find myself being shown around town. They'd show me off to their friends, proud that they'd discovered me - their source of fascination and entertainment for the day. These are the people who really appreciated that I'd gone to the effort to learn the language, who were impressed that I'd taught myself what I knew, who were humbled that I wanted to capture their way of life on film, and who laughed at how crazy they thought it was that I was traveling by bus, bike or even hitchhiking all alone in ridiculously remote areas of the country. In the city, you don't get such a reception, for foreigners and tourists are all too common. But in China obscura, you become a celebrity...or a circus freak...but either way, you don't go unwelcomed. How does your experience as a teacher effect your film making and/or how does teaching effect your film-making? I suppose there are several elements at play here. In general, becoming a teacher has been a huge boon to my scripted film projects. I regard my fellow faculty as a veritable casting pool - many of the regular players in my films are colleagues. Teachers are essentially actors - you play a role when you're up in front of students that is scarcely who you really are. They tend to be naturals for my projects because it's just switching from one facade to the next. But as to how my avocation influenced Kora, that's a bit different, for in the absence of a script, I didn't need actors. Instead, I'll credit my specific discipline to aiding my focus. I teach Biology and AP Biology, and as such, the sciences, especially the biological sciences, encourage observation skills and curiosity about one's surroundings. I feel it would be naive to assume that doesn't lend itself to skill behind a camera. On the flip-side, film making is very much a hobby. In fact, I'm not a tremendous fan of the term "filmmaker," for I feel most people who label themselves as such are just out to make a name for themselves (akin to calling yourself a rock star just because you play a guitar, or a chef, because you like to cook...). I don't make films to support myself, and likely wouldn't want to. I believe you should do what you love for your family and friends, not a boss or a paycheck. Digression aside, I regard creative expression as one of the biggest priorities in my life. And I try to convey that to my students. The biology classroom can lend itself to creative outlets just as much as the art classroom - it's just up to the teacher to make that choice, and most don't I've found. Part of my opening day talk with new students is assuring them that they will have such opportunities in my class, for I value the bygone art of imagining and taking the time to express one's personality (not to be confused with expressing an opinion). That, I regularly discuss travel with my students as well (for the opportunities to travel dwindle with the onset of age and added obligations to jobs and families), encouraging them to get out of the microcosm of Shepherdsville, KY, if only for a couple of weeks, because there's no other way they'll be able to see their lives in a new light. I didn't have such focuses early on in my teaching career, and admittedly, such changes might come about with experience, but I feel that film making has led to that positive focus in my classroom. I did a piece with William Bryan Ragland a few issues ago and we briefly discussed Kora. How was it working with William again, and why did you choose a singular source of music for Kora? I love working with Will. The average person might look at the two of us and think we're on completely opposite ends of the spectrum, but when it comes to tastes in films and music, and more importantly, creative expression, I think we're pretty simpatico. During the scoring for both Symbiosis and Kora, I would make a trip into town just to listen to his live-scoring in his studio. There is just something about listening to his music at an organ-rattling volume as he dreams it up that makes all the pieces of imagery in my head come together. The two of us had been casually chatting for years about how we needed to collaborate on a film in the vein of Godfrey Reggio's Qatsi Trilogy or the nonnarrative films of Ron Fricke (Chronos, Baraka, Samsara). When I realized that I had the potential to film something of that nature during my upcoming trip to China, he was down in an instant. So he had the context of the type of project I was doing from the start (as opposed to any other composer where I would have to loan them those films to use as a reference). Will is one of the most versatile musicians I know and I knew it was within his ken and ability to incorporate Eastern sounds within his own music to complement the film - specifically his style in the vein of his Cosmonaught or Misc, Etc albums. I also felt it was best to stick with one predominant composer, for if the film switched musicians every several minutes, then it could detract from the imagery on screen. For the project to work, the music and visuals needed to sync in perfect harmony, and we both felt in the end that they do. Ultimately, our process was this: first, I would look over the imagery I wanted to edit and suggest a rough length and tone (the only time he felt he couldn't capture what I'd suggested was we asked Tony Robot of Ultra Pulverize, aka Chris Vititoe, to guest write a piece). Next, Will would generate a piece or two, if not more, and send them to me. From there, I'd listen them on loop until I knew the beats by heart and edit the footage accordingly. Finally, I'd run the edit by him and the two of us would debate whether the segment was too long, too short, etc. Often it would seem like a splitting of hairs, but for a project of this nature, the addition or subtraction of a few seconds really does make a world of difference. In the end, we both felt the final product was the best work we'd each done and were left with only one question: what project should we do next? How did you interact with individuals who appeared in the film? I covered this a bit when discussing the differences on being in the city vs. countryside, but for the better part, I stayed back from the moment I was endeavoring to capture and just let it happen. I shot 35mm film for years before I caved in and bought a digital camera, and as such, learned that you really can blend into the background and become invisible when you have a camera blocking your face,provided you allow that to happen. Most individuals who were in the film were oblivious to my existence, despite the fact that I stick out like a sore thumb in that culture. For the other individuals who are clearly interacting with the camera, typically the case was they approached me, out of inquisitiveness, as I was filming something else. Once I explained what I was doing, they were usually pretty receptive to letting me add them to my collection of Chinese curiosities, so to speak. I'm also glad I started out in 35mm, for training yourself on a camera with only 24 shots teaches you the discipline of making each shot count, as opposed to regarding every image you capture as dispensable. I treated every image in Kora as a 35mm still image, in terms of composition, angle, etc. and feel that what I captured benefited from this guideline in a long run.     Did you work with or correspond with any Chinese or Tibetan filmmakers during the making of Kora? No. I would have loved to had I met any, but outside of Hong Kong, Chinese filmmakers are few and far between...at least those making projects outside of the government or CCTV's watchful eye. I read that 1960's Outer Limits influenced you in earlier work, and perhaps it's a conclusion that my mind jumped to alone but, did Outer Limits and other early sci-fi/horror influnces have a hand in your decision to open and close Kora with a sort of classic hypnosis narration? Subconsciously, perhaps. The narration was an "after thought" to an extent. Once I began editing, I realized that there would be a lot of comparisons of Kora to Koyaanisqatsi or Baraka, because there are very few non-narrative films out there (sadly). I also realize that the ultimate, subjective difference between a film being regarded as an homage and not a ripoff is whether people like it or not. So I strove to add elements to Kora that would make it feel very different, while paying tribute to the works that influenced it at the same time, and the opening narration was one of the biggest components of that. I didn't want this to be the type of film that people would just put on in the background and half watch. That opening narration necessitates you stop what you're doing and pay attention. Furthermore, I felt the overall project was going to turn out very dreamlike and quite relaxing, and a desire to enhance that for all it was worth was how the narration was borne. It might seem gimmicky, but I encourage all viewers to "play along" with the hypnotist by closing and opening their eyes when commanded, for it truly does induce a lucid, trance-like state, enhancing the film's power. Did the conceptualization of Kora lead you to Asia or did Asia lead you to the conceptualization of Kora? The latter. As mentioned earlier, China imbued such an overwhelming sense of awe in me in 2011, I felt the need to bring back that awe when I returned in 2013...which I suppose it almost seems strange to think that rather than bringing back baubles and cheap trinkets as souvenirs for my friends, I brought back an emotion and a state of mind. Were your human subjects individuals who fit a sought after character or image that was vaguely conceived of before shooting, or was each individual found without a precedent role and brought in elements of unique personality? Very much the latter. As I mentioned above, I wanted to bring back the wonder of China with me, but as to how I was going to do that, I was clueless and chose to work it out once I got there. In addition, to plan out any shots ahead of time would have been ill-advised. Where directors like Godfrey Reggio or Ron Fricke had tremendous advantage over me when it came to their filming Koyaanisqatsi or Baraka and Samsara, respectively, is they had time and money. They could afford the luxury of staying in a location for a week or two for a single shot, whereas I was living out of a backpack and constantly on the move. That is another element of Kora that I feel separates it from the rest - it's very much a film of sheer serendipity. Not a single shot in the film was planned. Every image you see was captured in the moment, and it was pure chance that I lucked into the beauty that I did. Early on, I foolishly sought to create the film in a no-budget mimicry of Fricke's style, but I soon learned that would not work. Point in case: on my first day of "filming" (I put that in quotation marks because loosing myself in China was my priority, not going to China to make a film) I went to the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. It's a gorgeous structure and I loved the idea of capturing it with a bit of time lapse. Problem #1: it was smoggy the day I went, so I could either pay to come back another day or just settle for a static shot. Problem #2: it was crowded as hell and there was no way I was going to get an open window for a clear shot. Then I backed up and realized that the essence of that moment was those people getting in my way to pose for cameras. I began to film people posing for other cameras instead, and so all you ever see of the Temple of Heaven in the finished film is what little pieces of it you see out of focus behind people posing. It felt very true to that moment in time, because as you view the film, you're thinking, "Move out of my way," as well as realizing, as I did, what a bizarre ritual it is to have a picture taken of yourself standing in front of an object to prove you were there. That then became my rule for filming while I was traveling; I sought to capture the character of that fragment of time, that point on Earth. In short, I woke up each morning and went out in search of what I didn't know I was seeking. China revealed its soul to me through happenstance. If I went back ten more times, I would likely capture it ten different ways. Kora is just one of countless experiences that China could have offered forth to share. Additionally, in the end I had nearly 33 hours of footage that I whittled down to an hour and eighteen minutes (Will and I agreed before I began editing that the film should be the length of a standard CD). I could easily edit a variety of permutations for the film if need be, but the outcome, as it exists, is the right one. In many scenes you are shooting on busy streets where subjects are less individualized and instead framed in a holistic view of motion and life, lending a feeling of chaotic anonymity to the viewer (and perhaps to the filmmaker?) In others, subjects are given a more intimate focus, their emotional expressions are singled out and magnified. Could you give an idea of how that dichotomy of interaction feels as a filmmaker? (How does the contrast in method effect your personal relation to what you create?) A lot of what you mention is, I feel, one of many interpretations of the imagery on screen. Ultimately, it's all an extension of my experience in the country. There's no intentionality behind the sensation of chaotic anonymity within the noisy, mephitic din of the metropolitan areas - that perception is merely the reality of that location. I merely strove to objectively capture all that I encountered, free of staged arrangements or a skewed perspective that's borne of a desire to make a viewer feel predetermined emotion. The viewer is truly seeing that world through "my eyes" as I perceived it firsthand. As such, not only does this level of voyeurism allow the viewer to vicariously experience this alien world, but it's also incredibly personal for me, for I regard it as an extension of myself. Films with little to no dialogue or speech certainly have an established intrigue, a manipulation of sensory focus, and enable a distinct alternative to how modern viewers prominently process film. Personally what led you to make Kora in this way? This has probably been covered more than once in previous answers, but... my main intention was not to sway the viewer into regarding China in one particular way. It, like all cultures, has a mix of good and bad. There are segments within Kora that are as beautiful as other segments are horrific. I endeavored to treat all these elements of the culture equally, and found the best principle to adhere to to ensure that happened was edit by visual, not subject. My strict guideline was that every single shot in the film not only had to have a visual connection to the shot that preceded it, but also to the shot that would follow it. The resulting product flows effortlessly from one subject to the next, not only making it hard to discern distinct sections within the film, but also allowing for subject material of a variety of natures to blend together. Fog-shrouded temples complement smog-ensconced skyscrapers. Labyrinths of artwork for sale in metropolitan markets are seen as wildly confusing as an ancient maze built for an emperor. Rivers of neon reflective off of well-polished cars in Beijing's business district flow to the irrigation canals of the rice terraces of Yunnan. In short, I wanted to represent everything - to have those who knew from experience through their travels to point at Kora and say: "That's China." After the initial premiere of the film, I found that such was a summation by those few in attendance who'd traveled to the country. But it was offered forth by an audience member: "The film depicts what a Westerner would find eccentric or worth noting, but how do you think someone who was born and lived in China would react? Would that person be offended or enjoy it?" I had no answer, for I really couldn't begin to guess. So I took the film to a Chinese friend of mine who'd missed the premiere and watched it with her. Afterwards, I posed the question to her. She explained, "I can't answer that question very easily, because it's not a question about the movie for me. I watch Kora, and I'm seeing an extension of myself. I can't be offended, because I'm not offended by myself. I am happy to be who I am, and that film is me. " That complement alone told me that Kora succeeded in being everything it needed to be.

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GRUNDAR INTERVIEW

by Eduard Abayev

What's hell like?

Hell is a 24/7 rock and roll rollercoaster full of blood meat guts and mayhem, smash beer cans on the souls of the damned, shred the drums, commit unspeakable demon deeds, smash coffins in two, smash heads in to coffins, fill open wounds with raw blood and drink from the lake of fire.

Which animal's guts taste best? Humans guts taste the best of all the animals but all guts are good.

Which celebrities are actually demons? Rodney Mullen is a demon but Tony Hawk sold his soul to the devil.

What music do they play in hell? most days we just listen to Megadeth's Rust in Peace on repeat.

Do you have a human form? Demons have many forms but they are all forms of demons even in human form.

What's your favorite finishing move? The Von Erich Iron-Claw (since banned by the NWA).

Best beer for demons? Budweiser (king of beers).

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GUIGNOL INTERVIEW

by Eduard Abayev How did you all choose the name Guignol? The band was named after the French horror theatre "Le Grand Guignol" that opened in the late 1800s.  It was our singer George's idea initially. Who is involved in Guignol? Guignol is comprised of our singer Gorgeous George who also organizes our sound clips and other theatrical elements, Andrew on drums, Brandon on bass, and Peter on synth, and Anton on guitar. How alive or dead is the goth scene in Lexington? Lexington seems to have always had goth appreciators but as far as an organized collective that does goth themed events, we really have only been active for a couple years at most.  At least from what I can tell.  This may or may not be entirely true. What are some musicians or artists that inspire your sound? Everyone in the band comes from extreme metal and or hardcore punk rock back rounds so this tends to bleed into our creations in unexpected ways, however the bands biggest influences would be bands like The Cure, Christian Death, Bauhaus, The Chameleons, and Joy Division. Who are some of your favorite local groups? Other groups that are more akin to our sound that we gig with and support would be Atrocity and the Complications and The Elsinores. Are any of you involved in other music projects? We indeed are involved in other projects which are all extreme metal oriented.  These would be Tombstalker, Apochryphal Revelation, Master's Curse, Pyromancer, and Catacomba. Any big upcoming projects for Guignol? Guignol is currently waiting on our demo to be pressed to pro cassette tapes and will be out via Grim Winds Records later this fall.  We also have two songs recorded from that very demo session that we have held back for an EP release in the coming time.  Currently we have an entire albums worth of music and will be attempting a full length album possibly late next year.

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THE NEW SHITBIRDS INTERVIEW

by Eduard Abayev

Where did the Old Shitbirds go? Who cares? In 30 years, we'll be The Old Shitbirds. Will you ever need a bass player? No, it might actually make us sound good. You all use a a modified phone receiver as a mic. Who came up with that and how did you make it? We heard that John Dwyer used a harmonica mic and we wanted to use his distorted vocal sound. So we shopped around and found an article about making harmonica mics out of old phones. We bought a $5 1974 rotary phone from Goodwill, opened her up, and wired the ear piece to a ¼ inch jack. She goes by the name “Phonemic”. I think it's Scandinavian. How did you two start playing together? We were baptized together in 1994. We began to play music together around 2010, which eventually led to The New Shitbirds. If it wasn't for this, we'd still be playing Green Day covers. Who are some of your favorite local acts? Anyone who'll play with us. Along with First Haze, BLOOD PLANET, Voodoo Economiks, Isolator, Holocaust Action Figures, and maybe White Reaper. Does Squirrel Bait count? What inspires that Shitbird Sound? Kentucky Gentleman, Cigarettes, Garage Rock, and the lack of musical talent. What's next for The Shitbirds? Watch out for our next albums: Shit Standard, and A Very Shitty Christmas. Maybe a music video/s? Hopefully we can get some weekend tours going.

Is the name Shitbird a Trailer Park Boys reference? For fuck sakes, we did not get our name from Trailer Park Boys. It's a long story but we first came up with the band name back in high school when some 13 year old's at the skate park rode by calling us “Shit Boards”. Which we believe refers to people who just hang out at the skate park and not actually skate. Fortunately, we mistook the insult as “Shitbirds” and began to call ourselves as such. So eventually when the time came to name the band it just seemed natural to go by this. But of course after creating our first two tracks “Dirty Pictures” and “Giffterbu” we decided to Google the name only to find that some band in the 90's already went by it. So put two and two together and you've got “The New Shitbirds”.

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ALBIE MASON/THE MESS INTERVIEW

by Eduard Abayev

What other music are you involved with currently? Right now I'm doing vocals in a metal band and we're going by the name Civilian. Hopefully we'll be ready to play out before the end of the year or early next year. Also I have two other solo projects. Sakarabru, which is black metal and A T E L I E R, which happens to be a noise project. What inspired you to make such danceable darkwave? Being bored as shit. What other music or art inspires your process? I'm more inspired by the world around me and the idea of escaping it. And for this project, its a reflection of the happiness I experienced in my youth, or at least the sounds that I am trying to create--stem from those days that will stay permanently attached to my memories. On the other side of that coin, the "lyrics" I write come from the blood, sweat and tears of adulthood and the man I've grown to be, daily struggles and idiots I am forced to be in contact with everyday. But to simply answer your question: Excessive cigarettes, excessive alcohol--preferably vodka--and getting black out drunk, excessive Tom Waits, Trent Reznor, black metal, pizza, my cats and the recreational usage of stuff I "shouldn't be doing," says the world I want to escape. As if they know how some other persons life should be lived. Fuck you. I'll do what I want. Alright, anyway, some of that you cant call art or music but all of the above sure as fuck set my mind right and inspire my process more than anything. Hence the project name. My life is a fucking mess, but at least I'm aware, unlike a lot of shitheads I run into. Who are some local acts you dig? Another Mistake, White Reaper, Sons Of Medusa, Vaderbomb, Chigger, Damaged Goods, Anagnorisis, All Dead, Whips/Chains, Order Of Leviathan, Young Widows and I'm real stoked about this new Xerxes album. Are there any other music styles you'd like to work with? Man, honestly, I'd really just like to do a fun ass crust band. Or thrash. Either way, it wont happen unless I write and record it all myself at home. This is Louisville, after all. Everybody wants to be in a band but nobody wants to be in a band. Any big plans other big plans on the table for The Mess? I'm working on getting a band together so I can play out and I dont plan on stopping this shit anytime soon. Any other vital info? Yeah, I got a puppy this month and I was going to try to release my new album today. Dude is a lot of work and he keeps me busy as shit, so I'm pushing it back as I've not really had much time for myself at all lately. Expect soomething soon.

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WRETCHED WORST INTERVIEW

by Eduard Abayev How did you chose the name? The original line-up was myself, Ben Allen on bass, Daryl Cook on guitar, and Mikey Turner on drums. Ben and Daryl wanted to start a hardcore band and asked Mikey and I to join. Daryl wanted to name the band Wretched Thirst and I suggested that the name should be Wretched Worst instead. It was supposed to be a joke, but Mikey took charge and decided that was our name. We grew into the name over time. Do people ever complain of physical discomfort during your shows? Probably, there are shows where everyone is obviously having a fun time and there are shows where everyone thinks we're a huge bummer and stay the fuck away from us. I'm fine with either. There are some shows where I've gotten pretty bloody, but whenever I use the knife that usually makes people uncomfortable.

What are some musicians or artists that inspire your sound? Obvious inspirations include bands like Wolf Eyes and Hair Police. With Wretched Worst's music, the idea process has generally come from listening to film scores from the 70s and 80s, I'll bring a repetitive theme to the band and let them roll with it. Several films have influenced the Wretched Worst vibe, in particular the films Leptirica and Alucarda. And most definitely the films of Jim Van Bebber.       Who are some of your favorite local groups? Ben Allen has an electronic project called Live Island that I like a lot. There's Mikey T's projects, Warmer Milks, Cross, and now currently Ma Turner. Trevor Tremaine's projects Attempt and Jeanne Vomit-Terror are both insane and cool. And Robert Beatty's Three Legged Race and all his Resonant Hole projects are killer.       Are any of you involved in other music projects? Thad has been doing Kraken Fury for a while, it kind of shifts back and forth from harsh noise to country and western ballads. Joey plays in Kraken Fury occasionally and also plays in Attempt. Jason played in Cadaver in Drag throughout their entire run and currently does a solo organ project called Heavy Sleeper. I just released a bandcamp page and cassette of a project I worked on for a few years called Guilty Feelings. It was sort of inspired by the Manson Family Jams and private press records from the 70s. Ben Allen plays guitar and synth on it and Trevor's wife Sara O'Keefe sings.

Who is involved in Wretched Worst? The line-up has changed repeatedly over the years. I mentioned the original line-up above. That lasted less than a month, we played one show and Mikey T. left to reform Warmer Milks. After that the line-up changed to myself, Ben Allen on drums, Daryl Cook on guitar, and eventually Thad Watson on bass. That particular version of the band lasted for a while, then Daryl decided to step down and Joey Tucci took over on guitar. With Joey in the band we recorded the Worse Than Jail LP and cemented the sludge and death vibe that get's associated with us. Ben Allen evetually stepped down on drums and now Jason Schuler currently drums for us. Other noteworthy mentions include Jamie Adkins who played guitar for a brief period, and Brian Osborne who was our insane stand-in drummer on several tours.

What are some things that are worse than jail? I guess most of the stuff I come up with in drawing and music is what I consider worse than jail. Worse Than Jail has become an all-encompassing name that categorizes the horrible, alien world I'm creating. Like all of these terrible things are happening in one place and the music and illustrations are documentations of these events. I guess in reality what's worse than jail is probably being trapped in an inert situation where my life is not moving forward in any way creatively. Like being trapped and wasted at a shitty party, when I could have been home working on some cool shit.

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LIFE AT LAST SALUTATIONS FROM THE OTHER SIDE. Issue X is now live and wired. Check out all the sick art, writing, and music inside this double issue. SHARE TOO.

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Your favorite Kentucky zine is happy to bring you The Tobacco Magazine Compendium! Now you can find each issue of Tobacco Magazine in one handy spot INCLUDING our online-exclusive ISSUE X, available for the first time in print. SOME COOL FEATURES

- All new cover art by artist Yoko Molotov. - Issues One through Five have been revamped and restored to bring justice to the work. - Over 300 pages of interviews, artwork, poems, and stories. - A FREE e-book copy to read "on the go".

www.tobaccomagazine.net facebook.com/tobaccozine twitter.com/tobaccomagazine

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Bad Bird by Harpy

Known for their relentless output, the Eviction Records collective’s Harpy is known for her power and noise. NOT THIS TIME THO. On Bad Bird, the ceaseless drilling and shouting fall way to the sounds of a really sad girl making reflective 4 am sadsongs.“Let it be Known I Hate Everyone”, and I’m Hard to Live With” are just as earnest and open as the titles suggest. Despite the candidness of it all, the trademark banshee howls still show up, and is over all still a very experimental work. Get your CD-R today. - Eduard Abayev

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Scream In Your Eyes by Dirty Bitch Dirty Bitch is a little duo with an emphasis on bleakness and the opening foul howls of “That Girl Gone” with a bleary acoustic sets a generally neurotic tone. Three songs of dreary darkness and raw, acoustic gloom stripped down compared to previous efforts being stark rock n’ roll. “Walk in The Park” eerily reminds me of Ween’s take on “Cold Blows The Wind” but rather than a song of mourning it evokes a song of murderous thought, a twisted parallel. If you’re up for a quick bite of blunt acoustic tales of demise and dismay this will satiate your appetite. - Cory Cory

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The War On Pleasure by J. Marinelli J. Marinelli is a one-man punk machine, fresh into a 10” release among a plethora of lo-fi punk in a town that craves the carefree and DIY. The title track and “Do You Believe In Energy?” have a simplsstic charm ala the Ramones while songs like “Hey Lock Haven” and “Picasso Vs. Lester Bangs” burst with a loose melodic, the latter being what could best be described as “banjo-punk”. Despite the pleasantness it’s got a good bit of dirt that’ll keep the listener’s ears just a bit tense. - Cory Cory

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Sonder Valley by Ant Elope I was too hard on this guy when I reviewed his Hey! Get Your Heads Outta the Clouds! EP, perhaps. On Sonder Valley he offers up three songs, one with a backing track done by someone else. 'Daydreamer', the 'stolen' track, is the EP's bounciest and lightest and helps drive what Ant Elope does well on the other two songs: make short, sad dance tracks you can't really dance to.  That may sound back-handed, but it's not meant to. The shorter run times makes this easier to get into than Clouds!' tendency to push songs past the four minute mark and the title track flirts with gothic beauty better than anything else he's done. This is music to light up alone to - just enough sulking and ornamentation to soothe your inner depressed child. - Aleix Kite

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7 Song Demo by No Witness Caterwauling and songs that are pockets of heavy riffage, stoner-rock slow/nightmare fast drum crashes and DUN DUN DUNNN guitars. It's nothing you haven't heard before. But that's not why you're here. You're here for raw energy audio-violence and No Witness delivers. Opener 'Dope Dealer' stacks everything this band does into two mintues of kick ass morphing sludge. Only to follow it with the :04 'No Help' and a barrage of thrash explosions that never need to be longer than :57. Fuck that. Also, can you say no to the 'powerviolence' genre tag? No. No you can't. - Aleix Kite

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Aggressive Menace by Solenodon There's something about runaway instrumentation and shakey rhythms that almost fall apart that Alex G can't help but traffic in. His album Frequency Bands is like sticking your finger in light socket on coke sometimes. His Solenodon projects continues to reign things in, this time working with several producers. Notice how the woozy keyboard carpet that 'Malaprop' lies in carries into the violin laden 'Empress of the Sun' and then becomes Blade Runner. The peak of 'Salt Creek Mesa Summit''s second chorus is puncuated with brief drums and heavier distortion. Tracks like 'Punch Cutting' maintain a power-trio romp that shows how subtle the line between folk and barn burner can be. That part where 'Concrete' gets all #candycoreorwhatever on you. That couplet in 'Menace' (you'll know which one). It's an album that plays up, and with, Alex's strengths. It's also his strongest set of songs to boot, making the move to more inviting production all the more wlecome. - Aleix Kite

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The Narrative by Shadowpact Louisvillian wordsmiths Modern Marvill and Sleye Kooper team up with beatmaker Artemis the Archer to make Shadowpact, a rap group with solid hip-hop IQ and a bit of nerd flair. For The Narrative, Shadowpact brought on Louisville producer Dr Dundiff to assist on the beats to great effect. The beats on this album are largely sample based, from what I can tell, but the flips are so well done that they feel brand new. They’re dynamic, interesting, and always mixed to perfectly interact with the movement of the emcees on the track. The raps are super solid and I always enjoyed them (except “Darwin never gave me a weakness” come on man, that’s not how evolution works at all.) These guys really know how to craft a song, and the album is just long enough to be satisfying without getting boring. The features are solid. Overall this album is super enjoyable, a great first album, and I’m excited for more. - Corey Burks