Friendships keep energy high for Chum reunion show (H-D repost)

photo: Courtney Bell

The Huntington-based band Chum, made up of (from left to right) Jude Blevins, John Lancaster, Chris Tackett and Mac Walker is reuniting for a show on Saturday, Oct. 1 at the V Club, 741 6th Ave., Huntington

Reposted from The Huntington Herald-Dispatch


The story of Chum reads like a literal version of musical chairs. Nearly twenty years after junior high friends Mac Walker and Chris Tackett called up John Lancaster to see about jamming, more than a decade after their sophomore record never got released, after numerous lineup changes and a reunion in 2005, the Huntington-based sludge rock band is back.

Chum plays the V Club October 1st with Horseburner and Tower of the Elephant.

A band’s story can read like any relationship between two people over the years: they form, break up and/or fall apart over time. But what makes Chum’s story unique so many years after original drummer Chuck Nicholas jumped ship and founding members Walker and Tackett left is that Walker, Tackett and Lancaster, friends since junior high, are still that: friends.

“We’re all deaf and hoarse right now, so bear with us,” Lancaster said with a laugh over the phone after a just-finished band rehearsal in Walker’s basement.

The guys in Chum (Lancaster: vocals/guitar; Walker: guitar; Tackett: bass; Jude Blevins: drums) have been gathering at Walker’s every so often preparing for a pair of shows in Huntington and next week in Lexington, where Tackett calls home these days. After years of on-again off-again status, it’s good to get together and have a good time, Lancaster said.

“We just make a marathon weekend out of it. Everybody comes in Friday night, and we do a few hours, then go all afternoon Saturday and Sunday. It’s been a blast.”

“We just make a big party out of it,” Walker added.

Tackett said that the enduring friendship and musical collaborations that have existed in the intervening years have helped Chum retain its energy.

“I can tell you right now it sounds really f---ing heavy. I don’t know if you can put that in there. It’s been cool because with John and Mac playing together in John’s solo project, and with Jude, Mac and myself playing in Hyatari together, it almost seems like it was inevitable that we’d get together and do this.”

Bringing Blevins on as drummer was a no-brainer and, for Blevins, who’d seen Chum open for Helmet at Ritter Park years ago, a great call to get.

“I was honored, of course,” Blevins said. “I’m sure they could’ve had anybody, any drummer they would’ve called would have jumped at it. I think it’s pretty cool.

Walker said the original chemistry is still there.

“It gets to be kind of like second nature, because you can almost predict what the other guy is thinking when you’re playing and writing. A few of these songs we are playing, we never released, so it’s great to bring those songs back to life.”



John Lancaster on Headhunter:
“For these upcoming shows we actually recorded an old song we wrote around 1997 called “Headhunter.” It was originally intended for that second record that never happened. When we played it live, people really liked it, so we thought it would be cool to record it and put it online for a free download.”

Tackett said what was once old, as far as Chum goes, is new again.

“One of the reasons I like to revisit Chum is because the material holds up even though some of this stuff is fifteen years old. A lot of the stuff we were writing back at that time, I consider it to be pushing the envelope as far as our song structures and tunings. It’s a little more common nowadays, but back then you didn’t hear it too often. The songs have held up well and have that energy and are really heavy, so I like to revisit it because they don’t feel old to me, they feel just as current as when we were writing them back in the day.”

It almost seemed like a drag, or maybe it was fitting, to ask the “heavy” questions of the guys: why did things go wrong, and when, back in the mid-to-late 1990’s?

Maybe it was the lack of label support after releasing “Dead To The World” on the Santa Monica, California-based Century Media Records? Walker addressed that angle.

“I think what happened was, the label wasn’t really into the band anymore, they weren’t liking the new material. We were rehearsing and writing new material and it just seemed like a lot of work wasn’t going anywhere. That seemed like the beginning of the end.”

For Tackett, internal chemistry issues arose after original drummer Chuck Nicholas left to join West Virginia contemporaries Karma To Burn before DTTW was even released.

“For me, when Chuck left the band, the songwriting, the whole process kind of changed,” Tackett said, speaking diplomatically. “Mac and myself feed off each other, and Chuck and John fed off each other, and we all worked well as a foursome. All the songs that were on [DTTW] and the two [1994 cassette] EPs were hashed out in a room together.

“We had that chemistry, and the songwriting was effortless.

“After Chuck left, we had to write with other people and it wasn’t the same, and the music started to change, not for better or worse, just different. So for me, the Chum era kind of ended when Chuck left the band.”

Tackett on Nicholas leaving (continued):
“Chuck doesn’t get enough credit as a songwriter. Correct me if I’m wrong John, but didn’t Chuck contribute lyrics and concepts? (John answers in background) He definitely helped with arrangements. With Chuck, he was really an experimental guy, and he’d just go off the deep end and just do stuff to be funny and it would end up a song. It was a weird way to write but it worked for us as a band.”

So many years later, Lancaster, Tackett and Walker, with mutual friend Blevins, are looking to not only keep their friendship intact, but Chum too. The internet age offers an avenue of communication that can facilitate long-distance collaboration, as Lancaster displayed recording and releasing his solo debut, “Phantom Moon,” last year.

Also, just as important, Chum’s fans are able to generate a mutually reinforcing energy, whether its picking songs for a set list, asking about merch, or remembering favorite shows from the past on the Chum Facebook page.

“It’s pretty much the main inspiration for us doing it at this point,” Lancaster said of the fans. “We get messages from people talking about the band, it’s just great to know that people are excited about it.”

Tackett on new Chum releases:
“We haven’t discussed making a new album together at this point, but at this point who needs a record label? With a project like Chum, if we wanted to release a record for free, at this point it’s about sharing the music with people who love it. It’s a labor of love for us to play and record this music.”

Walker said, just like at practice, at the V Club show Saturday, it’s going to be a party.

“It’s great. We’ve got people coming in from all over the place, so it’s more than a reunion, we’re getting to see old friends too.”

Old friends indeed, Tackett said, summing up Chum’s future.

“We’re all basically like brothers at this point, having grown up together. I don’t see any reason for us to stop making music anytime soon.”


If you go:
Chum, Horseburner, Tower of the Elephant
Where: The V Club, 741 6th Avenue, Huntington (304) 781-0680
When: Saturday, October 1st, 10 p.m.
Cost: $8
Info: http://www.vclublive.com/

CD Review: "Song of the Invasive Species"

CD: Song of the Invasive Species
ARTIST: The Dreadful Horoscope

What a long, strange, delightful, trip it’s been -- the 40-minute or so long journey that is The Dreadful Horoscope’s CD Song of the Invasive Species.

A review of the 10-song release is timely enough, even though ’twas released back in June. One reason is the very literal invasion, the swarming assault of these stink bugs on the WVRockscene home office. It’s not as bad as last year, where you stopped flinching when they’d land on you, as they approached beard-of-bees like capability. But that’s one reason it’s good we waited so long to post our most favorable review of Jacob Matz’ latest acoustic-based journey.

The second? At the end of the review, dear friends, of a CD that we’ve had for a while here and had thoroughly enjoyed even right after it was uploaded onto bandcamp a few months back.

But talk about keeping Morgantown weird. Experimental. Atmospheric. In parts, pleasingly noisy. An almost directionless but strangely fulfilling trip taken upon with Matz and friends.

Yes, we’re big fans of the BBR-based Dreadful Horoscope. We loved last year’s self-titled release for the same reasons we love this one; more of the same lazy, ethereal acoustic folk output, but with an even bigger, maybe more experimental sound than was found on last year’s release.

Imagine something like Jim Morrison enlisting Pink Floyd’s horn section for a trip out into the Australian outback for some shamanic, definitely spiritual showdown, then coming back to the banks of the Monongahela River to record about it, reading from a few diary entries, and maybe you’re close to The Dreadful Horoscope’s sound.

Matz’ lyrics are a trip enough. Eschatological conflict, or some spiritual persecution, maybe apocalypse, permeates the poetically-put-out-there lyrics; no real choruses or verse-chorus-verse structure for these campfire sing-a-longs with Matz’ nasally, near Frank Black type singing.

But make no mistake, the real treat with The Dreadful Horoscope is the music. Song of the Invasive Species has an even more experimental, richly layered, earthy air accompanying Matz’ own multi-instrumental contributions than last year’s release.

Matz is joined by John Morgan (yes, like it says on the Dreadful Horoscope Facebook page, John Morgan “of Juna fame,”) but if you haven’t checked out even Juna’s most recent release, you might not appreciate Morgan’s own authentically tribal (in parts) sound, and how it would fit right in with what Matz is doing as The Dreadful Horoscope.

Matz and Morgan are joined by Miles Craft for percussion and Jacob Smith, whose dreamy saxophone contributions add so much to the songs.

One great thing about what these guys are doing together, though, is that they’ll do stuff that really aren’t even “songs,” just experimental go-nowhere type noodling (“Introduction of a Species,” “The Witch (like the belly of a fish covered with hair),” and “The Gifts of the West,” with cymbal crashes and trashy snare smashing interspersed with tribal shouting and real-enough sounding screams, are good examples of this). Be it on a Didgeridoo or a Theremin, with the sax, uke, clarinet, piano/organ with “field recordings” and having been “recorded next to the Monongahela River,” Song of the Invasive Species really captures an outdoor, almost new age (not in a bad way at all) type atmosphere. It at least would be great to listen to camping out, getting all neo-Luddite and stuff.

This contrasts to the warm acoustic (almost sunny) sound accompanying a glacially foreboding sense of spiritual crisis -- or something, maybe, but yes, an even dreadful picture painted by Matz lyrically on a few songs. You almost get the sense that the invasive species is not bugs after all.

Matz sings on “The Smell of Cut Up Grass:”

“I’m tired of the smell of cut up grass, it only makes me sneeze. You’re tired of the smell of burned up bodies floating in the breeze. In my name. Hey, I’m not to blame?”

On “Morning Dread:”

“With your back toward a blanketed past, covered up and warm, and marching toward this monumental future. Carved. Perpetual. Our lives are carved and perpetual.”

And, finishing our lyrical examples, on the country and western-esque “Stamps:”

“Stamps on my brain, but they are fading as time goes on.
So you called me a socialist, but I don’t pray to that god.
There was this long awkward silence before we began to make love.
You forced me to watch, I urged you to listen.
But, I was the queer and you were the christian who left stamps on my brain.”

The seven-minute long “Awful Ink” might be the best example, may best encapsulate, the experimental acoustic bent The Dreadful Horoscope is on. “Fail” has rightly achieved near-cliché played out status recently, but it really is something bands do sometimes as they may attempt to segue or branch off into a more folky, experimental-type acoustic realm that these guys inhabit.

You can definitely say The Dreadful Horoscope is “unplugged,” maybe unhinged, but they pull a hard-to-capture experimental acoustic sound off effortlessly with an even richer ambience than you’d expect at first. Even with all the instruments there’s a coherence to the sound throughout it seems, helping to make it a great record.

Song of the Invasive Species might just be, no, is, a great CD to lose your mind to. Accompanying the CD Matz sent a while back was the negative of a photo of the desert Southwest, some cactus-lined stretch of highway, only adding to the sense of a literal journey. When the CD’s over you really do feel like you’ve been somewhere and back -- kudos to Matz and friends for producing something you can say that about.

--- The Dreadful Horoscope plays the Monongalia Arts Center Friday 9.30 with Bonfire, David F. Bello and Octopi(e) from Manassas, Va.



The Dreadful Horoscope: “The Smell of Cut Up Grass”

The Dreadful Horoscope - The Smell of Cut Up Grass from Shane Butler on Vimeo.

Q&A w/Matt Page of Dream the Electric Sleep

We were stoked to see that the Lexington, Kentucky-based prog rock band Dream the Electric Sleep had recently uploaded a three-part series on their debut record Lost and Gone Forever to YouTube. Singer-guitarist Matt Page (above) talks in-depth about the music and coal mining love story behind each of the fourteen songs on the concept record.

So, as excited as we were to revisit the songs with Page, and as much as we love the record, we thought it appropriate to catch up with Page over email to see what’s up with the band these days, and where they’re going after Lost and Gone Forever...


WVRockscene: The reviews are in for Lost and Gone Forever, and the phrase “critically acclaimed” comes to mind, with praise from outlets like The Big Takeover, how great is it for the debut album to have been so warmly received?

Matt Page: I never really thought it would have been so highly praised... it was a shock... I think when we were writing the album, listening to demos, and throughout the recording process, we kept saying to each other “I think this might be something special,” but most of the time I think we would fall back on “maybe we’re just too close to it.” The first couple of great reviews we thought, “well at least there are a few people that really get it,” but then they just kept coming. That’s when I think we knew the album had legs.

I honestly think the album has something in there that we had not planned, something that can’t be accounted for, beyond our abilities. It’s like the album is actually smarter than all of us in the band, and is actually still teaching us. I am not sure if any of that makes sense, but it certainly feels like part of the success of the album came from some place we all don’t really understand... the culmination of all these random things coalescing into one piece of work... it was so much fun to be a part of!

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WVRockscene: You’ve had a few shows over the summer, how have those gone? Won over many new DTES fans live and in person? What kind of shortcuts do you have to make just playing live, trying to give people the scope of the record in its totality just playing a few songs? I mean you don’t exactly have time to play the entire record beginning to end, right?

Page: Honestly, the live shows have been the hardest part. This work needs to be thought of like theatre, and you can’t do theatre in a bar with a 40 minute set. We have learned a lot about what we want the live shows to do, and at this point, we know the theatrical nature of it, and thus the narrative will never really come through. We have to hope that the few songs we play intrigue a few listeners enough to want to dig into the content. I think in some ways, we have to expand our notion of a band. To conceive of what we are trying to do as fitting in the confines of a band is a limiting way for us to go about doing this, and we are constantly questioning what the scope of this project is. We have made a few fans from live shows, but the vast majority of our success is coming from our online presence, and mostly from Europe.



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WVRockscene: You’ve recently been reworking a few songs into acoustic songs, what songs have you been working on, is it a direction you think the band will take up more moving forward and what is up with a DTES EP with an “unreleased” track coming out any time soon?

Page: I told [bassist] Chris [Tackett] and [drummer] Joey [Waters] that I wanted to take these songs into non-rock venues to try and find more people who might be interested in the content of the album. I thought some acoustic versions would be appropriate. When we wrote these songs, I always approached them as songs that could be simplified, so this was my chance to actually test my theory. I decided to take “The Joneses,” “Hold Steady Hands,” and “Roots and Fear,” and rework them for this purpose, and then decided it would be fun to record them and offer them as a companion EP.

As for the unreleased track, it was the only song we decided not to include on the album. It was actually the last song on the album, and was meant to be a sort of moral-tale ending. At this point on the album, it ends with Clementine holding Jack’s body after he is pulled from the mine. The unreleased track would be sung in a narrator’s voice so to speak. The song didn’t get included for a couple reasons, first was that it was agreed that it was more powerful and poignant to end with Clementine and Jack, second, it would have forced the album to be a double album, which we decided we didn’t want, and third, it is the most stylistically different in that it is actually our version of a bluegrass tune.

It will be perfect on an acoustic EP, and is cool to know everyone will hear the alternate ending to the album now. This should be released in the next 4-6 weeks.



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WVRockscene: You haven’t even been a band very long; what’s changed as far as chemistry or approach to songwriting? More comfortable as a unit?

Page: Trevor [Wilmott], our guitar player recently left the band. He lives three hours away, and is working on his undergraduate degree. It was just too hard for him to fully engage the project. We miss his input dearly, and he really wanted to stay with us, but it was just too much for him, and he was never able to be here for writing and rehearsals. After he mixed and mastered the album, which he did brilliantly, he had to step down. So now we are a three-piece.

As far as writing goes, I can already tell our chemistry is stronger and tighter. Chris and Joey and I are all very different stylistically, but at the same time, we are very open to allowing disparate sounds to come together and challenge our sense of self and vision. I might come in with something that sounds like Elton John, Joey will throw in some thunderous Bonham beat, and Chris might throw in the a percussive rhythm. In my head, that’s not what I had in mind, but that’s why I play with these guys... because I want the surprise and the challenge, and in the end it always sounds fresh to my ears... it’s like I know I would be bored if just wrote it the way I heard it, and what’s even better is that Chris and Joey feel the same way... We are all chomping at the bit to get back to writing, and in fact already have some new material that sounds really interesting…

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WVRockscene: So Chris and Joey approached you with the idea about doing this three-part mini-doc on the songs and the concept behind the album, right? Who filmed it, where, and what was your initial response to the idea?

Page: I was totally into the idea when they approached me. I just want people to have whatever it takes to get lost in the narrative, and if these videos help some people do that, I am very happy. Content is king. That’s my motto right now. The music has to be good, but the content is king for us. Music that carries narrative like this is more difficult than film, so having supplements like these videos makes it easier I think to find your footing.

It was filmed in an old farmhouse my wife and I are renovating. It was built in 1790, and in part, was the imaginary place where the album took place. I know no one would know that, but it’s just another way to tie my life into the narrative of the album. I shot it with my wife’s help, who is also an artist, and then gave the footage to Chris to edit.



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WVRockscene: In each part you talk in depth about arranging the songs, the split concepts of Clementine and Jack’s personal perspective on life with coal mining, displaying a very real depth and maturity in the songwriting, telling what is still a timeless story of these people’s lives, placing it in an Appalachian culture. Throughout you seem at ease talking about all this, all the themes inside a very real, cyclical concept record. When and/or if you’ve been told how special this record is by people who may or may not have friends or family members who work in the mines, how does that affect you and how important is it to know that you’ve touched people with the story of Clementine and Jack on Lost and Gone Forever?

Page: I have been told by some family members who were coal miners that this album really captured something for them, and we have had people from all over write us and tell us how moved they were, and some said they even cried... I was pretty floored by that. To really move someone that much is unreal. Again, it’s been so gratifying hearing from so many people about the way the album has affected them. I guess the album was real for me, and it becomes real for others. That’s what I wanted though, to share in these emotions with other people. I want there to be a give and take with our listeners. I am writing this music in hopes that it adds to your emotional life, and in return, that process adds to my emotional life, to be heard and understood by strangers from all over the world... it’s life affirming.



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WVRockscene: There are no shortage of bands that make a great record and may not reach that same level with subsequent recordings. Aside from any changes or directions the DTES sound may take (acoustic, etc.) do you continue to see your inspiration coming from or being rooted in Appalachia? So much of what makes Lost and Gone Forever a great record is the dual narrative, coal mining love story embedded inside it. Do you feel pressure to make another concept record or just what themes might fans expect the next DTES record to explore, if you even know yet? You had so much personally involved with this, with the passing of your grandparents, we can almost expect something different, right?

Page: Different for sure. I am not going to try and top this, or repeat it. I will leave Appalachia for a while conceptually, and focus in on other content sources. Lost and Gone is a project that I am very proud of. After writing music and making art for over 20 years, it’s the first project that I can say surpassed my creative expectations. I had a professor tell me once, a good piece of art is always smarter than its creator… it has a life of its own. As I said earlier, this work is definitely smarter than me, and has its own life to live without me now. As for what’s next, or what to look forward to... I can tell you this, from this band/project, you can always expect an in-depth record. I am really interested in seeing how music might work for a vehicle for history, myth, narrative, and social investigations.

Our music will always be about exploring content in depth. I want to know about the world that I live in, and one way to investigate and engage the world is through art. Art helps us reflect and better understand where we are coming from, and where we are going... it’s a conversation meant to be engaged, and I plan on using music to engage it. I think that’s part of what makes Lost and Gone interesting, it engages the world and its histories and myths in a interesting way, so regardless of what the content for the next album is, you can be assured it will be immersed in questions about the world around us, and hopefully offer new ways of thinking about it through music.



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WVRockscene: Regardless of whether or not DTES even ever makes another record, Lost and Gone Forever really can stand alone as a very real achievement. How proud are you of what you, Trevor, Chris and Joey accomplished with just one record?

Page: I can say that it has been a great honor working with Chris, Joey, and Trevor. They are talented and creative beyond words. That has been gratifying enough, but to have had our creative collisions produce something like Lost and Gone means that for the rest of my life I have a work that I can be proud of. I think it’s pretty clear that to produce an album like this is not going to sky rocket one to fame and fortune, and with that being said, its should be clear that we are not letting those distractions get in the way of our vision.

We put out a record we all believed in for no other reason than to satisfy our creative and emotional desires. Of course one always hopes those ambitions are met by some friendly ears who also understand those desires. I know there is a small contingent of people in the world that want to share in music that engages content in a thought provoking way, and we plan on continuing that effort well into the future.




Related -- CD Review: Lost and Gone Forever; Drama, tragedy, love, life and death: Dream the Electric Sleep brings new concept record to V Club Saturday (Huntington Herald-Dispatch article)

photo: Ashley Watson

Q&A w/Zach Francis for MAYSP benefit show 9.25

Glen Fork native Zach Francis (above w/flag) continues the tradition of cool Magic Town benefit shows this Sunday night with the second annual MAYSP benefit show at 123 Pleasant Street. Francis also continues the grand tradition of catching up with WVRockscene to talk about what MAYSP is, does, and why it's important. Oh and also the bands -- Bonfire (now with a new lineup) plays the show for the second straight year after debuting the band there last year. They'll be joined by Pat Pat, FOX Japan, and a new(er) band, Sleepwalker. And there's Francis' pro-ginger rhetoric, which may shock you.


We caught up with Francis to see what's up with this year's show...


WVRockscene: What’s been up with you since we talked last? You’re in Belladonna Deadbeats these days, right?

Zach Francis: I've been into quite a bit with MAYSP since last September, finding my groove and approach as far as advocating and counseling these kids as well as a lot of brainstorming for fundraising ideas (obviously) for us to maintain free services to juveniles of the Morgantown vicinity.

Personally, I spent a decent amount of this past winter revisiting some bass guitar fundamentals. I taught myself a long time ago, but I unfortunately taught myself everything the wrong way. I could make up sweet bass riffs but my technique and understanding of cohesive music was way off-kilter in an unattractive way. So, I took some bass lessons from local jazz bassist Kevin Fryson, who is amazing. Needless to say, we had to start from square 1 as if I'd never played before. Although I don't currently take lessons from him, I acknowledge that he's the reason I at least know what I'm doing on the instrument confidently now. Now I can play around with a lot of "frilly stuff" that I only guessed at during high school.

I'm also happily engaged to a fellow ginger. We plan on repopulating the earth with a flux of redheads. She's very supportive and also keeps me straightened out pretty well. So moving to Star City and wedding plans have taken up a lot of my "extra time," whatever that is.

OH YEAH! Speaking of playing bass, I play for Belladonna Deadbeats. We're coming out with a sassy little EP sometime this fall, I'm hoping. All the stuff is pretty much recorded to our liking at Bebop Studios here in Motown, but we're just taking our time with mixing and such. We've played a handful of smaller shows, and have just had a blast. I'm pretty much the least talented person in the band seeing that our core consists of two fine young women (Ashley and Rachael) that alternate playing drums and guitar while also taking on vocal duties throughout our sets. Our lead guitarist, Brian is just a brutal technical guy. He incorporates a lot of bluesy slide in our songs as well. I just really enjoy being able to add to the dynamic with some steady, simple bass lines. Every once in a while I get a little carried away with something funky or tribal on a song or two, but I mainly just do my part and chill.

By the way, we're one of the bands in the final round of a Battle of the Bands. It's being held on October 1st at the Student Lot outside the WVU football Stadium if you'd like to come check out some awesome bands.

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WVRockscene: How did the first MAYSP benefit show at 123 go last year? And for those that missed our chat what is MAYSP, what do you do for MAYSP and how is it and groups like it important?

Francis: Let's just say that the success of the show brought in more than we expected both financially and in exposure/networking. It was enough to prove to our agency that we should pursue fresh fundraising ideas significantly more than we had in the past. I was beyond stoked about the turnout and response that we received last year. Great cooperation and volunteerism too. The communal spirit of the whole ordeal was rather inspiring.

Sure. The Morgantown Area Youth Services Project is a non-profit organization that focuses on providing free services for juveniles through various programs ranging from substance abuse counseling to truancy and academic performance issues. The aim of the agency is to reduce violence and drug abuse in this area of Monongalia County in general. I am one of two Transitions Specialists who works specifically with middle and high-school students by visiting them for one on one counseling sessions to monitor whatever they're struggling with on a consistent basis. We get referrals from court officials, probation, family members and the like.

Something I've realized about social service-related causes is that they are worthwhile struggles. This kind of work is not just a paycheck, it is a concern; it is a purpose. In a perfect world, people would not need counselors and social workers, but it is clear that society is not en route to utopia anytime soon. Therefore, small nonprofits will be around to scrape whatever funds they can to provide services and connect those in need to necessary resources that they might not be able to reach within their own limited means due to circumstances and outlying predicaments. I've had several experiences that have confirmed that people, especially youth, sometimes just need at least one person to consistently support them not only during their golden moments, but also during their "rough patches." When you have a network of support encouraging and advising, the results are those of resilience and autonomy. Plainly, better things happen when people have your back.



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WVRockscene: You still work for Danny Trejo? Not that Danny Trejo, though right?

Francis: HAHA! Yes. My boss, Danny Trejo actually used to live in East L.A. many years ago and used to stay in touch with the actor Danny Trejo. I don't know how they were able to meet each other in person and prevent the universe from collapsing! I'm not kidding. He knows, or at least knew, THAT Danny Trejo. It blows my mind every time he confirms it with me during staff meetings.

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WVRockscene: Back to the bands, last year you kind of introduced Bonfire to Morgantown at the MAYSP benefit, and this year you got FOX Japan and Pat Pat (plus Sleepwalker) to play too. There’s seemed to be a long-running tradition of Morgantown-area bands coming together for good causes at 123 Pleasant Street. I remember Aaron Hawley doing big shows for the Boys and Girls Club I think it was. How thankful and/or stoked are you that you’re able to corral these bands for a good cause, and is there anything special you’ve picked up on up there that backs up the theory that these bands are down for good causes?

Francis: As I've mentioned before, the communal spirit of the music scene for these types of events baffles me. I just love it. These bands are local favorites who could understandably demand a lot, but they are just very open and emphatic to play. I'm so psyched about the lineup this year! These are all bands that I want see play live anyway, so it's great that they are just down for it without needing some sort of "convincing sales pitch." I honestly think that most of the musicians here are people who are aware of the social climate and are more than happy to be a part of something that contributes to the betterment of the community. Also, many of the artists of this area have occupations and background in helping folks one way or another. For example, I had several social work classes with FOX Japan's drummer, Pete. In my opinion, that dude had a profound understanding of social policy. I hope all of that makes sense.

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WVRockscene: What else is going on for the show as far as donating or raffles or auction-type stuff? I’d seen you got those precursors to laser discs, you expect to be able to move those things? Any records or anything like alternate revenue stream fundraising that is going on outside of cover charge; you can donate online right?

Francis: In addition to our fundraising tables having some used vinyl records and CDs like last year, we'll have a decent amount of handcrafted jewelry and goods by Emily Iafrate, who has an Etsy store of her own and some other awesome friends of ours.

Vintage Video started joking about donating these "Videodiscs," so I actually took them. They are so odd that I think they might sell. They are like a strange hybrid of vinyl and giant-sized CDs that required the respective player for you to view movies on. They came out before laser discs, so there's not really even much nostalgic demand for them. However, some of the artwork is intriguing on the large outer casings, so, um...we'll see what happens with them. I already have Chris of Bonfire calling dibs on one! hahaha!

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WVRockscene: And there will be art from Morgantown Aspiring Young Artists; seen any of it yet? It seems like musicians and artists of the more visual type are like-minded enough to come together for a good cause; what’s the response been like for artists who might be showing their work off?

Francis: I've mainly seen work tagged on their Facebook page and all that I've seen has a great energy to it. I'm pumped to see what will actually be displayed though!

I think people in the social service field and artists (audio and visual) experience a lot of similar things. For starters, their work withstands profuse lack of appreciation and/or support in comparison to the time and effort they put into it. They are both underpaid as well..ahem..

This gives them the chance for more exposure and more networking while also just having a good time, so their response was the same as the bands.

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WVRockscene: You plan on doing this next year?

Francis: If all goes according to plan, I will be moving on and focusing more on my marriage and future career endeavors elsewhere in Southern West Virginia by this time next year, but I'm sure that MAYSP is going to pursue organizing events like this one in the future whether I'm still with them or not. Who knows? I might even come back just to help out temporarily with next year's benefit show!

--- Bonfire, Pat Pat, FOX Japan and Sleepwalker play the MAYSP benefit show Sunday, September 25th starting at 7 p.m. at 123 Pleasant Street. A $5 donation gets you in the door.

photo: Taylor Kuykendall

CD Review: "The Rozwell Kid LP"

TITLE: The Rozwell Kid LP
ARTIST: Rozwell Kid

It’s 1994-ever on Jordan Hudkins’ new 10-song eponymous debut as Rozwell Kid. Well, there’s actually eleven songs, if you count the “hidden song” at the end. Sounds like the 90’s to me.

Where once there was Jude Universer, now, there is Rozwell Kid. How or why this happened is some sort of cosmic mystery. Or maybe not, with visions of getting in (albeit wholly figurative) rockets heading to the moon, time machines, UFOs and driving a “Saturn,” appropriately enough, given Hudkins’ new persona, to New Mexico.

Either way, this CD didn’t exactly come out of the blue at this here blog. And let’s not look too much into any interstellar theme: Hudkins’ lyrics are as much about rock and roll staples like chicks (“Rocket,” “My Saturn,” “‘93 Connie and Ronnie,”) and wasting your life being in a band (“Born 2 Drum”) -- all worthwhile at the end of the day -- as they are any grand concept. It’s more of a slacker manifesto than some grungy space opera.

Best known as The Demon Beat’s drummer and an artist in his own right, Hudkins follows up and revamps a few songs (the opener, “Rocket” and “New Mexico”) from his Jude Universer release Lingering Blue on this, one of the more highly anticipated releases of the year here at WVRockscene.

Back when Hudkins was not even 10 years old and Michael Jordan was still busy winning NBA titles and not having Hitler moustaches, Weezer, like they were for many others, were a personal favorite of this blogger. Weezer’s “Blue album” was fuzzy and near-grungy but super-catchy with humorous lyrics (hear “Ace Ventura Pt. 3”).

Hudkins sings upon seeing his future self:

“First thing I saw when I stepped out of the time machine
Was a tiny version of myself, and I was pissed off at me
‘What the hell have you been eating?
Your job is a waste of time
Is it too much to ask
That you get off your ass?’

This future doesn’t look cool to me

Listen to me you little shit it’s easy to quit and hard to commit
And I’m sorry that I’m not what you thought we’d be
Not starring in Ace Ventura Part 3
So you can go to hell, me
Yes you can burn in hell”

After fan-favorite Pinkerton, bassist Matt Sharp left in much acrimony to form the Moog-soaked synth-grunge-type act The Rentals, and Weezer was never the same.

Why does this matter to this review?

Taking in what Hudkins did on the Jude Universer release (a surprise favorite in the WVRockscene “best of” CDs from 2009, for what that is worth, which is not that much) and now following that up with a new persona but similar-but-amped up sound as Rozwell Kid, he seems to straddle that nebulous time period inbetween the “Blue Album” and Pinkerton -- not a bad time, but really just catchy, fun, high energy pop stuff. And still, in parts, like Lingering Blue, like a rarely heard Weezer-Rentals hybrid.

This is the realm that, for me, Hudkins inhabits as Rozwell Kid. That I could be so stoked to hear Hudkins and friends (Dylan Balliett, George Zatezalo, Andrew LaCara and Andy Pickens) as Rozwell Kid, and not at all be disappointed or let down, only further takes me back to compiling the first few releases of the aforementioned DGC bands, when grunge and raw distortion and feedback met synth.

Maybe that flannel Hudkins sported in that great picture of the Demon Beat backstage in Baltimore was nothing more than a thinly veiled nod to this time period.

The songs are even arranged and structured like some of that catchy 90’s stuff; pop type loud-quiet-loud verse-chorus-verse with bouncy, fuzzy bass lines walking you through and holding the songs together in between crashing cymbals, sonically experimental in parts yet with a real, live feel, and oh he was probably just hanging out -- killer solos provided by Hudkins’ Demon Beat band mate Adam Meisterhans.

While his Demon Beat bandmates Meisterhans and Tucker Riggleman have found various levels of side project-type success, most notably and recently in Prison Book Club, but also as Black Fag (where Meisterhans evoked the “Blue album” quite awesomely) and Riggleman as a solo artist, for me, even though there really aren’t any Jude Universer/Rozwell Kid shows to speak of, Hudkins’ music stands out among all output among West Virginia bands for its ability to quite literally transport me back in time.

Black Fag + Jude Universer = Rozwell Kid would be enough to sum up the sound and feel on the songs, maybe. Thumbs up to Brian Spragg and David Klug for the sonic handling.

I can see it now: Hudkins as Rozwell Kid hits it big on West Virginia’s Got Talent, signs a major label deal with NFL agent Drew Rosenhaus representing, only to lose it all via trumped up RIAA lawsuit brought by Rivers Cuomo and Matt Sharp.

Friends of P: Sly Roosevelt releases Old "P" at HMAF

Sly Roosevelt (L-R: Sean McDaniel, Alex & Megan Durand, Jyosh Sanders, Matt Marshall) release Old "P" Saturday at the Huntington Music and Arts Festival

One of the best things about doing what we do here is being pleasantly surprised how much we like a band that we hadn’t got into yet for whatever reason. Huntington’s Sly Roosevelt is a good example of this. Of course, we’d heard about the punk-infused indie rock five-piece in covering area shows, but didn’t really know how cool their sound was until getting their new four-song EP Old “P” sent to us.

In anticipation of their Saturday afternoon show at the Huntington Music and Arts Festival, and to find out more about the band, their sound, and their EP, we caught up with the band to learn more...


WVRockscene: You guys have been around since 2008, right? And now you have the new EP out in time for HMAF, how exciting a time is it for the band these days?

Sean McDaniel: This is just the beginning, and yes, it is exciting to see all of the hard work come together. I really didn’t stress too much. I have all of the confidence in the world in the band and our manager, Justin Kay. It’s great.

Jyosh Sanders: Things have changed in a way that makes me feel more confident, like what we are doing has more weight, but it feels very natural.

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WVRockscene: The nucleus of the band was originally a three-piece right? Sean, Alexander and Matthew? How did you guys meet/know each other and how much of a chemistry has developed since welcoming Jyosh and Megan Durand on in 2009.

Sean McDaniel: We’ve met in random places at different times, so it may have been fate that I met [bassist] Alex [Durand]. I played an open mic and was terrified, and afterward Alex asked me to play music with him. We tried that for a month or so, and then he asked Matt [Marshall] to play the drums. Megan and Jyosh have made an incredible impact on the songs – fleshing them out and adding textures, sounds, ideas, input. They are great to be around and add a tremendous amount of creativity.

Jyosh Sanders: We’d all been playing music, finding ourselves you could say, when Sean and Alex met. Sean is the core of the music as he envisions and sketches out the notions to be hit upon. Alex was the common element that permitted the bonds between us that awkward social restraint might have never let happen.

Alexander Durand: The very first time I met Sean was at Ladybird show. The whole night I spoke to everyone with a British accent. Why? I don’t know. He actually gave me a sweet lighter in a gesture of American kindness. Month or two later we meet at a party and I explained my ruse and that I lost his lighter. The first time I saw Sean play, I was blown away. The music was original, yet familiar. He put his guts into it. I was very new to playing music and despite assuming a false persona and losing his awesome lighter, I had to ask him if I could be a part of it.

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WVRockscene: 92.7 played “Lion” off the new EP last week, how exciting was that? Was that the first time getting your music on the radio?

Megan Durand: It was pretty exciting. We’ve been on the radio a couple of times before; we played a live acoustic set on 106.3, and 92.7 played a recording from one of our live shows to promote the first HMAF. This was the first time a track from the EP was exposed to the world, though, and it was really satisfying to hear the finished product – this thing that we spent so much time producing and fine-tuning – in that context.

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WVRockscene: You recorded throughout June and July, is that right? How much of a mix of challenging, fun, sweat and maybe frustration went into the DIY recording sessions?

Sean McDaniel: The recording was really fun, and all of the other things you mentioned. The fact that we built it ourselves was gratifying. I have to say that Justin and Alex were the masterminds behind it. We all put an enormous amount of time, effort, money and love into it.

Megan Durand: There were lots of late nights and, of course, lots of retakes. But the whole process was really positive overall. Everyone was excited to be there and eager to get things done.

Alexander Durand: Before we had the studio, I looked into the recording process and worked on recording some songs I had written in hopes of getting better at recording with the band. I read up on recording setups, room treatment, and what sound is. The internet/universal consciousness is an amazing thing. I think the most challenging aspect was the coordination of everyone’s schedules. We made the most of anybody’s free time and for the most part recorded every day.

Matthew Marshall: About 5-6g’s and a whole lot of work and toil went into it, but totally worth it at ANY rate. Since we recorded in our own studio, we have had complete control over everything which is always nice to experiment with.

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WVRockscene: Old “P” is self-produced, recorded by the bassist and the drummer, talking to bands, you can hear alternate theories re: pros and cons of DIY recording; pros include the freedom of not having someone nit pick, and a con can be that you start nit picking yourselves. How did the recording go? From tracking to taking it out for mixing and mastering?

Sean McDaniel: The recording actually went pretty well. I will defer technical talk to Alex, but I will tell an anecdote: Matt is crazy. For one take he laid down a drum track without a scratch, just the metronome. Not sure if he memorized it, but he nailed it beat for beat, crash for crash. It was nuts. I couldn’t believe it.

Jyosh Sanders: Putting it down was more a relief than anything. We’ve been playing these songs for years, and to finally have them actualized, and to be confident in every element of each person’s contribution is a freeing thing.

Alexander Durand: It was definitely freeing. It would have been nice to have had superb recording equipment and not have to second guess yourself, but during the process we learned so much about recording. There are so many different things you can try and we were able to experiment with of different sounds. We kinda knew what we wanted as a final product and took it step by step.

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WVRockscene: With many bands the decision making process that goes into exactly what songs to record and put out are just as much aesthetic as they can be financial; was that the case with the four songs on Old “P,” do you wish you could’ve put more material on it or is less more in this case?

Sean McDaniel: Well, yeah, we would have liked to put more material on it, but with the songs we chose, I think the idea was more about getting variety – songs we thought had their own vibes that fit well together.

Megan Durand: We planned the EP as kind of a Sly Roosevelt sampler. We chose those four songs to represent the different aspects of our sound. You get some of our heaviness, some of the punkiness, a little bit of the spaciness. It was intended to be sort of an appetizer for the full-length album, which will of course be more comprehensive, but it’s also a nice whole unto itself.

Matthew Marshall: I feel that the number of songs and the length was just right for the EP, leaving fans wanting more but still giving them a taste of our music

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WVRockscene: Dave Mistich had nothing but positive things to say about your live show in his review of your May 6 show at the V Club. Describing your songs as “strange yet inspired,” with “fresh” and “chaotic” structures that make liking Sly Roosevelt “adventurous” and “arduous,” it’s a real compliment from a real music critic. How cool is it to be able to win over such discerning ears, and how have you congealed around this nebulous style over the past few years?

Sean McDaniel: With our music, I want the impact to be moving. I want to take the listener somewhere, whether it’s somewhere dangerous or childish or whatever. I just want the performance to be honest and moving on some level. And if people enjoy it, that’s a bonus.

Jyosh Sanders: It makes me feel validated that others not making the music, sharing in the space, are able to get there. It gets in our head, and it grows there, from some power chord song Sean shamelessly bleats out in our living room one evening. We run with it until we feel that feeling and unclench our fists and nod with a stupid grin and giggles.

Alexander Durand: Dave is awesome.

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WVRockscene: For me, it’s exciting getting into a new band whose sound and songs are new and exiting, how proud are you of the final product that is Old “P” and how excited are you for people to hear it?

Jyosh Sanders: It’s as close as I can imagine you can get to capturing the actual song that we play live. We are all pursuing this idea, and it’s just been so long without it really happening.

Alexander Durand: It’s hard not just giving them out to everyone.

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WVRockscene: Over the three or four years you have been playing out in Huntington, how supportive of an atmosphere is it for a band that is said to be such a challenging, acquired taste?

Alexander Durand: I feel that there is so much support coming from fans, other local bands and the venues in Huntington. We have a really awesome community of musicians that play out here. Watching the crowd response grow from when we first starting playing has been amazing. People can dig it and that’s so awesome. I do remember though the first time I saw someone dancing my mind was blown.

Jyosh Sanders: I feel like we have a very wide appeal, and there’s something there for everyone. We relish in tenacity, though, redemption. If you don’t love us, we look forward to growing on you.

Matthew Marshall: It took some getting used to for people at first. For us as well, our music has gone through a lot of changes not just since we procured all five members but structurally as well. I feel our music has matured enough to start pushing it and getting it out there big time for people to hear and we hope to really start it with this EP.

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WVRockscene: Can your fans expect anything like a full-length anytime in the near future?

Alexander Durand: Definitely. After the festival, we have a few shows lined up including a benefit for Monica Watts on September 4th, which is an honor to be a part of. We plan on recording any chance we can. We are not quite sure on the date, but we are hoping to have something early next year.

Jyosh Sanders: We are planning on working more with John Parsons, who withstood our backseat driving on the mixing The Old “P.” I’m very excited about that. It’s almost as if he acted as an interpreter as we sat there together all huddled up in our recording space around the monitors.

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WVRockscene: And of course you’re playing the Huntington Music and Arts Fest, how cool is not only being a part of that fest, and what it means to Huntington, but making new fans?

Megan Durand: There’s so much exciting music in town, and in the area, and it’s great that there is this outlet for it. There are a lot of people who stay active in the local music scene, but I think there are also people who don’t realize that there’s such a variety of bands playing here every week. The HMAF exposes more people to that, and it’s really an honor to be one of the bands that benefits from that. It would be great to gain some new fans from it, but mostly I hope we surprise somebody. I would like someone to walk away saying, “I didn’t know this was happening here.”

Alexander Durand: The festival, in my opinion, is the best thing ever. It’s awesome having the opportunity to take part in a local festival. A festival that caters to different musical interests is brilliant and I think it is great that everyone in Huntington can catch a diverse mix of genres. In addition no one is restricted to bedtimes since the festival runs all day. We have a lot planned for next year including a substantial tour of the surrounding states. It would great if people were turned on to Sly Roosevelt at the festival and followed us as we grow.





--- Sly Roosevelt plays at 4:15 Saturday at Ritter Park as part of the Huntington Music and Arts Festival. For more info on HMAF, check out the site, check out the HMAF Facebook page, and check out the related posts and articles below.

Related: Sly Roosevelt ready to rock Shamrock's (Dec. 2009 H-D article) Non-Stop Music (8.25 Herald-Dispatch article on HMAF), Musicians Join For Cause (H-D article on Monica Watts), "This Is A Call" (Dave Mistich post on Ian Thornton & Monica Watts), The WVRockscene Toast of Ian Thornton, "Music For Monica" Facebook Page

video: Chris Harper/Tophu Photo

This is a call: An open letter to everyone who ever cared about music and people in West Virginia

Dear musicians, promoters, music fans, reviewers, journalists--and human beings:

When Nick Harrah asked me to contribute a few kind words about Ian Thornton a few weeks back, I struggled, as most serious writers do, to find the right words to describe him accurately and sufficiently. Not only is Ian a person I consider a friend, but also someone I have deep respect for.

Ian is, to put in terms that are insufficient in their own right, a "class act." To put it simply, the guy busts his ass to do what he can for what he cares passionately about. That is the measure of a man, in my humble opinion.

Of course, that "toast" was to celebrate Ian's contributions to the music scene.

Live music, especially on a local level, is a metaphor for a strong community bond. All of us involved (in whatever facet that may be) have an understanding that we're all working towards a common goal. It's not celebrity, or for some financial gain, but rather to lift up those around us through music.

When I tried to articulate exactly what Ian means to live music in Huntington, I tried my damnedest to keep those ideas in mind. Those words now seem totally insignificant.

As many of you reading this may already know, Ian's girlfriend (and live music champion in her own right), Monica Watts, was seriously injured in a car accident in the early hours of August 11th. Monica has been fighting for her life since.

So let's get to the point to this. There is a point, right? Good Lord, I hope so.

People become fascinated--and sometimes obsessed--with pop music for various reasons, but I'm convinced that it's an underlying understanding that songs, albums, and artists articulate something about living that we couldn't quite say ourselves. Be it mortality, or love, or loss, or hurt, or joy--it's a reflection about what it means to be human.

Tuesday night, I had the pleasure of running sound at Shamrock's for their 3rd Anniversary Party. Ian, who should be expected to be losing his mind in a random corner, took the stage and played Tom Petty's "Yer So Bad," for Monica. He also sang on The Beatles' "Blackbird." It was deeply touching, to say the least. I found myself muttering, "This is what it's all about," in the booth with no one around.

Considering the fact that you're reading this, you're probably a part of a music scene somewhere in West Virginia. While you may not necessarily be active within the Huntington scene, I have little doubt that towns like Shepherdstown, Morgantown, Charleston, and Parkersburg are all closely knit like our's is.

With that in mind, I ask you, on behalf of Monica and Ian and everyone that holds those fine folks near and dear, to do what you can to support not only Ian's festival, but--more importantly--to support Monica's recovery.

Various charities have been established in Monica's name to help offset the cost of her medical bills. Huntington music writer, Dave Lavender had an article published yesterday detailing the ways to help out. The V Club, thanks to the good souls of Patrick Guthrie and Don Duncan, are planning a special benefit show for Monica on Sunday, September 4th. They are accepting donations for prizes to be raffled off at the show--so if you have anything to contribute, please, contact them.

There are ways to help, people, so do what you can. And if your pocketbooks are strapped for cash, your well wishes are certainly appreciated.

With a heavy heart and a whole lot of hope,

Dave Mistich

Even In His Youth: 20-year old Tyler Childers has the blues

Photo: Chris Harper/Tophu Photo

Not even old enough to buy whiskey, or play at some area bars, Tyler Childers brings his bluesy version of Americana to the V Club tonight.

Reposted from The Huntington Herald-Dispatch

Tyler Childers has the blues. You can hear it in his voice, and in the songs the 20-year old Paintsville, Kentucky native sings.

It’s in the lyrics, in songs about whiskey and women, songs like “If Whiskey Could Talk,” “Hard Times,” “Silence,” and “Bottles and Bibles,” the title of his 13-song debut CD.

Despite not being old enough to even buy whiskey, or get into some bars to play, Childers has been developing a following in Huntington, thanks to his soulful voice and his distinctly Appalachian version of acoustic Americana.

Tyler Childers plays the V Club Saturday night with Sasha Colette & the Magnolias and The David Mayfield Parade.

Childers will play anywhere to make fans and meet new people. He recently played Qdoba Mexican Grill in the Huntington Mall. The crowd loved it, he said.

“It was nice,” Childers said over the phone, drawing out “nice” with an accent and a twang you’ll no doubt find around Southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky.

“It was a smaller place, more intimate, but it was a receptive audience. You meet cool people wherever you play, and I met some cool people there.”

It’s meeting cool people who love his songs that’s helped Childers, now living in Lexington, get more shows, this, in spite of his youth.

“It’s hard to get into bars to play, but I understand it. Everybody and their brother plays music, or thinks they do. But if you own a bar and you’re like, ‘You got to be 21,’ that takes out half of them. That’s that much more people you don’t have to deal with on a daily basis coming in saying ‘Hey you want to check out my demo?’

“And then there’s the whole liability thing; something happens, and here he is, and he’s not 21. It sucks, but I understand it. It’s just, there’s a lot of people out there who aren’t 21 yet and who have real talent.”

Getting his foot in the door at Huntington’s V Club has helped springboard Childers into a busy 2011.

“Getting into the V Club, I just went into one of their open mics one night, and everything I’ve got so far has been through that. That, and [V Club promoter] Don [Duncan] and Ian [Thornton] and them boys telling other people. But, in Lexington, I haven’t had much luck yet.”



Childers said everyone has the blues, in a sense, it’s just that not everyone turns it into songs.

“We’ve all got problems that we go through. I know I’m just 20 years old and people might be like ‘What does he know about the blues? He hasn’t been through anything.’ But I’ve went through my stuff just like everyone else. The thing is to take those emotions and concentrate on them and turn it into a song and make people understand what you’re going through, and believe you, and feel your pain and heartache.”

Hearing Childers voice puts any doubt to rest that he feels “it,” deep down.

“The voice thing is really big, that’s where it’s at for me. I can play guitar well enough, but where I try to bring it home is by the way I sing.”

On the subject of “home,” singing and playing the blues, and uniquely Appalachian accents and voices, Childers, heavily influenced as a youth by Robert Johnson and “Sun” House, said being around the latter influences the former.

“Being from Appalachia, we’re just really lucky to live where we live. The people you meet, and the way they talk, just, everything they say is a song. Our language is so colorful, the way we explain things, and exaggerate things, like a bunch of old men sitting around a barbershop. That’s what really helped out my songwriting, was just listening to people.”

Childers said it should come as no surprise to people that an Eastern Kentucky boy would win so many people over so fast with such talent.

“As far as talent, this area is full of it, everywhere you look. People are raised up singing in church, playing piano, or grow up playing bluegrass.”

And, small world that it is, Childers said it was another Eastern Kentucky singer-songwriter, already known for her own soulful voice, who influenced him as a teen.

“One local influence was Sasha [Colette]. I first saw her when I was 15, and I had just started writing songs, and, I just thought she was the coolest thing on Earth,” he admitted with a laugh.

Having the support and positive feedback from so many people has helped Childers move his songs out into public over the past few years.

“It’s kind of nerve racking sharing songs you wrote in public. You sit around and think about them and write them out. And of course you like it, because you wrote it, but it could be a success or an embarrassing failure. It’s always neat seeing what other people think about your songs.

Knowing that his songs have touched people is what it’s all about for Childers.

“It really means a lot, people like Don [Duncan] and the people who’ve come out to my shows at the V Club. Like, Adam Barraclough, any show he knows that I have in Huntington, he’s been there. Just to have people who follow you, and want to know about your music, that your songs mean something to people and reach them, it means everything to me.”




IF YOU GO:
Tyler Childers, Sasha Colette and the Magnolias, The David Mayfield Parade
Where: The V Club, 741 6th Avenue (304) 781-0680
When: Saturday, August 20, 10 p.m.
Cost: $8 adv., $10 DOS
Info: www.vclublive.com

For Christopher Lusher, It Is What It Is

DIY or die: Christopher Lusher didn’t wait around to have someone else feature artists in Huntington. The 37-year old multimedia artist follows up on June’s Destructive Criticism show with tonight’s show, It Is What It Is, with over 20 area artists.


Reposted from The Huntington Herald-Dispatch

Christopher Lusher wears his philosophy about life, and art, literally on his sleeve: it is what it is. The 37-year old multimedia artist has the cliché phrase tattooed in cursive on his left forearm, and it also happens to be the name and theme of the art show he’s hosting Friday.

“That’s exactly it, that’s the idea,” Lusher explained over the phone, laughing and describing the obviousness of the title. “Someone asked me the other day ‘What’s the theme for the show?’ And that’s what I told them, ‘There is no theme, hence the title, it is what it is, it’s everything.’ I thought it was a great name for an art show.

It Is What It Is runs from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at Rivers Towers West, and is free to the public.

Heavily influenced by his teenage years as a skateboarder, and after moving from comic book art and drawing as a kid in Proctorville, Ohio, to painting, collages, street photography and more recent mixed media work (all of which are featured on his Hillbilly Magazine tumblr site) Lusher said that a very real do-it-yourself punk attitude infuses his art.

“When I look back on my life and think about what informs me now, and makes me who I am today, it goes back to that aesthetic I got from skateboarding. Doing that, you become so independently minded, because back in the day, you had to have tough skin, not so much now, people would come at you with hammers. So there was always me relating to this outsider mentality and doing things yourself.”

That DIY mentality has helped Lusher corral over 20 area artists for It Is What It Is, the follow-up show to Destructive Criticism, held in June. Lusher said his first show as a curator turned out great.

“It was more of a success than anyone had really bargained for. I think five or six artists sold. The one thing it did was it seemed to inspire a lot of people to start doing stuff. Most artists are usually kind of self-conscious, and a lot of the people who went to the show, who make art, it gave them the impetus to come out of their box and start putting their stuff out there, so it was great.

“Everybody from that last show was so stoked. It was like, ‘Get it of the internet, it’s not a jpeg.’ It’s like ‘Oh my God, that thing is eight feet tall.’ You can see it in person. It’s not the size of a postage stamp on your computer, it’s in your face.”

Huntington needs a place for in your face, outsider art, with a casual atmosphere where artists can show their work, Lusher said. And if you believe that a naked woman equals porn, you might just puke with rage at Friday’s show. Lusher said he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I don’t want someone to look at something I’ve done and say ‘Oh that’s not too bad,’ because what they’re saying is, ‘I don’t care for this at all.’ But if someone says ‘This is the worst thing I’ve seen in my life,’ that, to me is the same thing as saying it’s the greatest thing they’ve seen, because they’re having a visceral reaction, on either end of the spectrum. It’s a good thing. Some people can’t handle criticism, but it’s great if you make someone have a really, really potent reaction, positive or negative.”



And don’t worry about monocles falling out of shocked highbrow eye sockets into glasses of sherry and champagne Friday night, Lusher said.

“I don’t want to be at a place with an atmosphere of a dentist’s office, sterile and stodgy, with a bunch of people standing close to each other and whispering. I’m trying to create more an atmosphere of a barbecue; there’s music and beer, and you don’t have to worry about holding your wine glass right.”

Lusher said giving other artists a venue to show their work in public is what it’s all about for him.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” he said. “I think it gets to the point with everyone where ‘I’m not going to Marshall, so I’m not going to be in a gallery in Huntington,’ because, let’s face it, I mean, they’ve monopolized everything to the point where there’s nowhere to show anything unless you’re a student. My whole thing was, ‘Who cares?’ I have this space, and we’re going to utilize this space and do our own thing because nobody is going to do it for us.

“A lot of people sit around and say ‘I know I’m talented, but I don’t understand why no one is paying attention to me.’ But if you’re sitting around waiting for someone to show up at your door with a bag of money, if you’re into art thinking you’re going to make money, I got harsh news for you: it isn’t going to happen.

“That’s not why I do it, anyway, I just don’t know how to do anything else.”


IF YOU GO:
It Is What It Is
1102 3rd Avenue, Huntington
Friday, August 12 6-9 p.m.



Update 8.14: To see works featured in It Is What It Is, visit John Drake's Faebook set here.

Hillbilly Magazine on tumblr (not safe for work)
www.hillbillymagazine.tumblr.com/

Related: Focus on the Photographers Q&A w/Lusher from June

Video: EyeBOX Productions

Extra! Extra! Outtakes from the Christopher Lusher Herald-Dispatch interview

One of the toughest things when it comes to putting an article together is deciding what to leave out. The interview with Christopher Lusher went so well and so much was said that didn’t make it into today’s Herald-Dispatch article, that we thought it appropriate to post this addendum to the reposted article above...

On putting Destructive Criticism together:
“The first show, the idea was there, it had always been there, it was just a matter of putting it into action. We had had people’s work, say a week before the show. And it got down to the Thursday before the show, and we were still getting people’s stuff. And this was the first time I’d ever done this, put a show together.

“But it was surprisingly easy to do. But I was just asking myself ‘Am I doing this right?’ I guess where it was my first time. That whole show really came together the week leading up to the show. Before that, it was just an idea in my head if not for my girlfriend kind of making sure she had her foot planted firmly in my keister, making sure I was crossing my T’s and dotting my I’s, making sure the show would happen.”


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On finding beauty in strange places:
“When I first started selling photographic prints, people would want to buy the same stuff. Like, there’s a really obvious beauty in like, here’s flowers, here’s a sunset, because there’s that really obvious beauty.

“And people were like ‘Oh I want that sunset, I want that sunset, I want that sunset.’ And what that does to me is, it makes me want to go in the opposite direction. It’s too obvious, and it’s too easy. And I just wanted to flip that on its head and do something else.”


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Portrait of an artist as a youth:
“I’ve always kind of accredited it -- around 14 or 15 years old -- my mom would go to work in town, and sometimes she’d let me hang out in town while she worked. And I was obsessed with comic books. Not just the stories, but the art. And I’d always drew as a kid.

“When I was a kid, that was all I cared about was drawing, that and becoming Indiana Jones, which obviously hasn’t happened. (laughs) But I started skating at 16 and won a contest and then when I was 17 I cracked my ankle in half at a demo downtown and that put the brakes on my skating. Then I saw a film with Tim Roth playing Vincent Van Gogh. For a while I was a film freak. I was just voracious about it, and that really inspired me to start painting. And starting out it was really structured, portraits and flowers, and then I quit. And after my mother passed, I did a painting about a week after she had passed away, and there was no structure to it, just complete abstract expressionism, and it’s still the style I do to this day, it totally relates to that first painting I did after she passed.

“And that morphed into me getting really into skateboarding -- this will make sense in a second -- um, when I was 18 I started painting. I didn’t start taking pictures until (thinking) about five years ago. I had written for a few websites, I made a short film, I played in a few bands, not a proficient musician by any means.

“When my mother passed in 2003, around that time I had dabbled in music, had been writing a lot, had made a short film. But aside from that the only thing I was doing was running wild and being a mad man and ingesting every substance on the face of the planet. And when she passed it hit me like a ton of bricks and I just thought I needed to get my life together. So I got married because I thought that was what I was supposed to do.

“Well, that ended, and I was working at this liquor store and this guy came in one day, and I had a friend who lived overseas. Well, this guy who I worked with came in with this little digital silver camera. And I asked, ‘Hey can I borrow that?’ And the idea was for me to take a few pictures of where I live, and send them to my friend, and say ‘This is where I live, this is my area.’

“Well what ended up happening was, I had to walk about 20 blocks to and from work every day. And I would take the camera with me and I would start documenting all the things I would see. And my friend was like ‘Dude you can borrow that camera as long as you want.’ And I kind of got obsessed with it, hitting the streets every day taking photos. And I look back on those photos now and I’m not really happy with them, but a lot of people were really encouraging about it, saying you’re really good at this. And it just became a part of what I did every day. There wasn’t any question about it, it was just what I was going to do. And that led me back into painting and collage work.”


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On making “goofy little videos” and directions his art is taking:
“My friends would come over and get drunk and I’d film them to make fun of them the next day. It’s just another avenue. Since Destructive Criticism I’ve not necessarily got away from photography, but my thing has always been street photography. And after five years, man, that well has run dry, and I can’t take my camera anymore, because I’ve taken pictures of everything.

“And in a way that’s good, because you can see things in a different way. Since DC I’ve done four paintings. One of them is the biggest I’ve ever done, it’s here in my living room here, it’s fifteen feet. God I can’t tell you how many collages I’ve done, maybe forty. I’ve done a whole bunch of mixed media stuff, just taking images from the internet, and um, and re-appropriating them, I’ve just been having a lot of fun doing that.”


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On the internet:
“It’s just a double-edged sword. The most important thing for me about the internet is, my girlfriend lives in another country, in New Zealand, so we’re doing the puddle-jumping thing for a while. Things have become so impersonal, people literally live their lives through social networking. How much of that shit do you need? You have Facebook, you have Twitter, and now you have Google Plus now, what more do you need?

“Nobody talks to each other anymore, this is the longest phone conversation, dude, I’ve probably talked to my girlfriend longer, I’ve had in years. And I’m not saying I’m not guilty of it too. We’ve become so enmeshed in living our lives through Facebook, and texting each other, another way of avoiding conversation.”


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On where this kind of art fits in Huntington:
“When you think about your options, its not the kind of show that goes on around here. I was recently invited to a show here, which will be unnamed, and I went to the show, I went into the show, walked in a circle, and went to Rio Grande and drank for three hours.

“I want people to hang out, not head to Applebee’s for three hours.”

David Synn plays This Ain't No Disco tonight at the V Club

The St. Albans-based electronic musician David Synn takes his act and all of his keyboards out to Huntington tonight for a This Ain't No Disco show with DJ Tanner at the V Club. There, he will be welcomed by Brett Fuller (Franklin Fuckin Furnace), who continues to bring an ecclectic mix of artists to Huntington.

Last we heard, Synn was working on Digital Ideations, the follow-up to Frequency of Static, his debut release on Empty Glass Records.

You can make sure Synn's story checks out by revisiting the Gazette article on him from May, pieced together by someone we can only assume to have a lot of friends, and be super cool in general.


David Synn: "Apathy" live @ Shamrock's 6.25.2011

A WVRockscene Special Report: On Roller Derby & The Renfields

This entire post can be summed up thusly: A. I am not necessarily a big fan of roller derby, and 2. I am a huge fan of The Renfields, have been for a long time.

No, I’m not an intolerant sexist pig -- I am the last person to hate on someone for loving skating, and no, I do not expect a medal for liking the band so much, but yes, I would be honored to help run a Renfields fan site if there ever is one.

The Clarksburg-based “Transylvania pogo punk” band has recently seen some publicity come its way in no small part due to their affiliation with roller derby. The band, long a favorite of mine with their love of punk rock and horror movies, was recently briefly featured in the Gazette in an article by Bill Lynch that was short on Renfields, and long on roller derby. And also, The Renfields just had a live version of their new song “Roller Derby Girl” featured on Radio Free Charleston.

Both Lynch and Rudy Panucci do really great work and stay super busy covering acts of all kinds.

But The Renfields are an actual band with actual songs they’ve released on actual CDs that they’ve financed themselves. And they’re about more than playing roller derby shows. Covering The Renfields as an adjunct to a roller derby event is a disservice to both the roller derby teams and the band.

Of course, it’s great that people who cover area goings on will support what has been the local, nascent phenomenon of women’s roller derby. I know that Lynch and Rudy have each recently covered and/or supported roller derby events; Lynch did a really nice feature on the Chemical Valley Roller Girls, with some video that was hosted on the Gazette’s site.

Panucci recently blogged favorably about the Heart of Appalachian Roller Team event on his Pop Cult blog, located on thegazz.com, on a post which quickly dissolved into something approaching a local roller derby conspiracy theory blog, with commenters from the CVRG and HART camps throwing accusations about, albeit in a largely polite manner.

My love of The Renfields dates back basically five years I think, whenever I first heard “Prom Night” on the band’s MySpace site. Since then, I’ve covered the band in Graffiti, the Gazette, and the Herald-Dispatch, and have collected all of their CDs, multiple Renfields t-shirts, have seen the band live a few times and have met the affable, ultra-nice and cool Renfields singer-guitarist Vincent Renfield.

People who know me -- a distinction that will qualify them for the endangered species list -- know that, well, maybe they don’t know this, but, back when I went to shows, due to something like social anxiety disorder, found it quite hard to approach band members I had talked to either online or over the phone. ‘Ohhh, hey I’m that guy you talked to about your band. Let me waste your time in person now.’ Luckily, bars sell a product that helps overcome shyness, but unfortunately, this product (which contains alcohol) has in the past led me to behave in ways that make me glad I didn’t talk to too many people in person in the first place.

Getting to meet Vincent was just awesome. The Renfields made punk rock fun again for me. This may not surprise some readers, but musicians have a tendency to take themselves too seriously, or attach their music to causes that aren’t discussed in the songs. Pretty much 99% of Renfields songs are about horror movies, with samples of the movies in between each song.

I got to witness some rap fans at the Blue Parrot basically attempt to harangue or somehow shout down the band in between songs, basically they wanted the band off the stage. Something inside me made me want to say something to these guys, who I was not more than ten feet from, but I was there to see a band I thoroughly enjoy, not get beat up, and worse, get kicked out of the bar for some stupid reason and have to miss The Renfields.

Talking to Vincent for the aforementioned publications, I got to talk to him about how much he loves slasher flicks and horror films. I heard about him moving the Renfields from a bedroom 4-track project into a full band. The crazy thing about talking to him about his band is, I don’t like scary horror movies at all, really. Knowing that The Renfields are singing songs about horrific murders and killers, almost blows your mind because of how fun, catchy, and raw the songs were.

“Driving through the city with a body in the back -- Machete a Go Go!” Vincent sings on “Machete a Go Go,” on Bastard Sons of Ed Wood, and you will likely be singing right along with him about going out on a Friday night committing random acts of murder.

While there are horror core type bands, rappers, etc., the thing that I always loved about The Renfields is an almost kid-like joy for their music and the movies -- think “Slumber Party Massacre” off Bastard Sons....

This kid looks like I feel when it comes to The Renfields. If he discovered the band at a roller derby, more power to him. Regardless, I think they've made a new fan...

But, since hearing their CDs, Bastard Sons... and The Night THEY Came Home, I have always thought that if The Renfields never played another show or put out another CD, they would forever be on my personal pedestal of all-time favorite punk bands. I mean that.

When I personally transcribed Vincent’s liner notes from Bastard Sons... onto the download page on the WVRockscene bandcamp site, I did it to show Renfields fans how much Vincent loves his band, and horror movies.

Off and on my entire life, I’ve rode skateboards, so I don’t hold it against anyone wanting to have fun skating. Skateboarding for me and so many others is about individuality and creativity and having fun doing it. I know there are great skaters out there who can bust all kinds of tricks on rollerblades and roller skates, but roller derby to me seems like skating’s functional equivalent of a NASCAR race.

I won’t here question the underlying motives of the women who join roller derby teams. I won’t ask how many of them skate for fun in their spare time when nobody is watching, no money is involved, and they’re wearing normal clothing. And yeah it might be cool to knock the hell out of someone riding rollerblades, but I don’t think back in fond reminiscence about how Christian Hosoi knocked Tony Hawk off his board that time in their one-time heated rivalry in vert skating.

And look, if The Renfields want to attach themselves to roller derby, which they apparently have, that’s great. Hopefully they can make new fans at these events. The Renfields have played a few horror movie themed events, and they are set to play The V Club this month for a This Ain’t No Disco showing of Teenage Strangler. If the band makes fans just from horror fans at things like Zombie Walk, that seems logical, and awesome of course.

It just seems weird to think that the publicity The Renfields are receiving piggybacking on roller derby is saying something like:

“If you like roller derby, then you’ll love The Renfields!”

Maybe that’s true, maybe not.

I just don’t want to see one of my favorite bands become something similar to Kenny Powers signing baseballs at Ashley Shaffer BMW. A gimmick. A sideshow, of sorts. Somebody else’s background noise.

If I talked to Vincent today about the band, I’d ask how Dave Cantrell and Bryan Flowers have fit into the band. Think about how much they must love the band driving up to Clarksburg to rehearse. I’d ask Vincent how they have been received at these roller derby events, I’d ask when the follow-up to Stalk and Slash Splatterama Part 2 is/would be coming out, if the band has continued its drift away from the catchy punk rock towards a blacker sound, I would ask Vincent if he has been digging any new horror movies, and I’d ask if they’d written any new songs not about roller derby.

But really the only thing I’d tell Vincent with any authority is how much I still love The Renfields. I’d try to explain how much getting to cover his band has made me more excited about covering bands. That I still have the print version of that Graffiti article, the certificate of re-animation he gave me in 2007 (I was run over with a lawnmower) the pumpkin mask and the Renfields patch and yeah, I may be in some fashion neurotically protective of the band.

I just hope people love the band, their songs, and their CDs, as much as I do.

Renfields GO.


--- Listen to Bastard Sons of Ed Wood in its entirety below and do visit the WVRockscene bandcamp page to hear The Night THEY Came Home...

The Renfields: Bastard Sons of Ed Wood