Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Friday, October 08, 2010
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Interview with Spirit Animal's Steve Cooper
This is an interview I did with Steve Cooper from the band Spirit Animal for Looseworld.com. Here's the link to the original.
On Friday night I went to Cameo Gallery to see Spirit Animal. Spirit Animal blends soul, funk, punk and rock and roll (and I even might have heard a little ska in there) allowing them to play harder cords while still being able to do a funk breakdown. Spirit Animal takes what marries well with each of these genres for a fun sound and an even better live set. After their show, I got a chance to do a quick interview with the lead singer, Steve Cooper, where we talked about their upcoming album The Cost of Living, funding the tour by cooking and whether dub is actually reggae.
LOOSEWORLD: You’ve been doing shows right?
Steve Cooper: This is the fourth show in four nights. We did D.C., we did Manhattan, we did Philly and we did Brooklyn.
LW: I read on your site that you will cook for people to play certain cities.
SC: Yeah, the tour was funded by a kickstarter fundraising effort that offered dinner parties in exchange for tour support, as the main reward. There were other rewards like remixes and music as it was finished, but the prime prize was dinner party, in your house, before we play. So we did a couple of those and we got here.
LW: How did those go?
SC: It was great. I mean one of them was 25 seats and five courses. And the bassist [Paul Michael], that we have on the east coast, he’s actually a wine buyer for a really nice restaurants in D.C., he’s worked in kitchens and stuff, so the line up from the stage was a chef’s line up. It was great; we worked well together and met a lot of cool people.
LW: You guys are touring for your new album that’s about to come out.
SC: Album’s coming, looks like October. It’s in the can. It features 15 musicians including one of the other founding members of Spirit Animal, Computer Jay. He was like an old school LA vintage-synth crazy-beat producer. And all kinds of other guys that are in other cool bands like Ben Harper and the Relentless 7, Robotanists, Breakestra…guys on the east coast. It’s just all over the place. It’s really been inclusive.
LW: Touring outside of LA, how do you like playing on the East coast?
SC: East coast shows, to be honest, are just crushing the LA shows. I don’t know if it’s because we have some history here or what it was, but it just worked out that we had these great opening slots for these really cool bands like Wallpaper, Asa Ransom, Game Rebellion, Dãm-Funk and it’s been a blast. It’s a really good reunion. I went to high school with the kid who’s playing guitar; I live with the kid who’s playing bass…you can’t recreate that kind of solidarity.
LW: After the album comes out, will you guys tour some more?
SC: Yeah. It looks like maybe right back to the east in September. Just trying to throw stuff together, while the clubs remember who we are. Ask them to play again. And then see from there. But yeah, just trying to make sure there’s a lot of activity leading up to the release.
There will be a second season of Feed Your Head, which is my like, sort of reality cooking show, where I like mess things up but also make things really good. And there will be guests on that and it includes some really cool people that are online and off. That will be every Tuesday in September to help build up for the record; more shows and hopefully some sort of awesome break.
At this point the interview was interrupted by this:
SC: That has got to be the worst Trinidadian accent I have ever heard in my life.
LW: Pretty bad.
SC: Stuff white people like…doing black people accents.
LW: Yep, totally OK when they’re talking to you.
SC: [laughs] Reprehensible.
LW: If people are interested, where can they hear Spirit Animal?
SC: Spiritanimal.us. Dot us. Spirit Animal dot us. There’s two free songs on there, our singles “Ants” and “Making it Work”. They’re also on iTunes if you have money. But if you go to Spiritanimal.us they’ll be the first things you can get for free. There’s links to the cooking show. It’s really like a big hub for dummies. Bunch of huge buttons you can just planet of the apes on it and you’ll get something cool.
LW: What are some bands you are listening to now that’s different from the bands you open for/with when you play.
SC: This year, Taman Paula (sp?) Seu Jeorge has been on heavy rotation. I’m listening to lots of old dub. This Trojan record label in London has complied something like 3,200 Jamaican songs. And old dub is basically soul music made by Jamaicans. It’s not even like reggae, to me. It’s so heavy. I’m not sure when it started to get called reggae that could be completely erroneous, please fact check that for me. (Dub was created out of reggae and is considered a subgenre of reggae) I actually got introduced to all this sort of ambient European techno music. I don’t know even if that’s the right word…like Stephan Bodzin and Oliver Huntemann. I have a new roommate who kind of opened my eyes to some of that stuff. It’s really good to email to, which is pretty much how I spend all the time I’m not sweating on people.
spiritanimal.us for more Spirit Animal and check out Steve “Chef” Cooper in the great cooking series Feed Your Head.
On Friday night I went to Cameo Gallery to see Spirit Animal. Spirit Animal blends soul, funk, punk and rock and roll (and I even might have heard a little ska in there) allowing them to play harder cords while still being able to do a funk breakdown. Spirit Animal takes what marries well with each of these genres for a fun sound and an even better live set. After their show, I got a chance to do a quick interview with the lead singer, Steve Cooper, where we talked about their upcoming album The Cost of Living, funding the tour by cooking and whether dub is actually reggae.
LOOSEWORLD: You’ve been doing shows right?
Steve Cooper: This is the fourth show in four nights. We did D.C., we did Manhattan, we did Philly and we did Brooklyn.
LW: I read on your site that you will cook for people to play certain cities.
SC: Yeah, the tour was funded by a kickstarter fundraising effort that offered dinner parties in exchange for tour support, as the main reward. There were other rewards like remixes and music as it was finished, but the prime prize was dinner party, in your house, before we play. So we did a couple of those and we got here.
LW: How did those go?
SC: It was great. I mean one of them was 25 seats and five courses. And the bassist [Paul Michael], that we have on the east coast, he’s actually a wine buyer for a really nice restaurants in D.C., he’s worked in kitchens and stuff, so the line up from the stage was a chef’s line up. It was great; we worked well together and met a lot of cool people.
LW: You guys are touring for your new album that’s about to come out.
SC: Album’s coming, looks like October. It’s in the can. It features 15 musicians including one of the other founding members of Spirit Animal, Computer Jay. He was like an old school LA vintage-synth crazy-beat producer. And all kinds of other guys that are in other cool bands like Ben Harper and the Relentless 7, Robotanists, Breakestra…guys on the east coast. It’s just all over the place. It’s really been inclusive.
LW: Touring outside of LA, how do you like playing on the East coast?
SC: East coast shows, to be honest, are just crushing the LA shows. I don’t know if it’s because we have some history here or what it was, but it just worked out that we had these great opening slots for these really cool bands like Wallpaper, Asa Ransom, Game Rebellion, Dãm-Funk and it’s been a blast. It’s a really good reunion. I went to high school with the kid who’s playing guitar; I live with the kid who’s playing bass…you can’t recreate that kind of solidarity.
LW: After the album comes out, will you guys tour some more?
SC: Yeah. It looks like maybe right back to the east in September. Just trying to throw stuff together, while the clubs remember who we are. Ask them to play again. And then see from there. But yeah, just trying to make sure there’s a lot of activity leading up to the release.
There will be a second season of Feed Your Head, which is my like, sort of reality cooking show, where I like mess things up but also make things really good. And there will be guests on that and it includes some really cool people that are online and off. That will be every Tuesday in September to help build up for the record; more shows and hopefully some sort of awesome break.
At this point the interview was interrupted by this:
SC: That has got to be the worst Trinidadian accent I have ever heard in my life.
LW: Pretty bad.
SC: Stuff white people like…doing black people accents.
LW: Yep, totally OK when they’re talking to you.
SC: [laughs] Reprehensible.
LW: If people are interested, where can they hear Spirit Animal?
SC: Spiritanimal.us. Dot us. Spirit Animal dot us. There’s two free songs on there, our singles “Ants” and “Making it Work”. They’re also on iTunes if you have money. But if you go to Spiritanimal.us they’ll be the first things you can get for free. There’s links to the cooking show. It’s really like a big hub for dummies. Bunch of huge buttons you can just planet of the apes on it and you’ll get something cool.
LW: What are some bands you are listening to now that’s different from the bands you open for/with when you play.
SC: This year, Taman Paula (sp?) Seu Jeorge has been on heavy rotation. I’m listening to lots of old dub. This Trojan record label in London has complied something like 3,200 Jamaican songs. And old dub is basically soul music made by Jamaicans. It’s not even like reggae, to me. It’s so heavy. I’m not sure when it started to get called reggae that could be completely erroneous, please fact check that for me. (Dub was created out of reggae and is considered a subgenre of reggae) I actually got introduced to all this sort of ambient European techno music. I don’t know even if that’s the right word…like Stephan Bodzin and Oliver Huntemann. I have a new roommate who kind of opened my eyes to some of that stuff. It’s really good to email to, which is pretty much how I spend all the time I’m not sweating on people.
spiritanimal.us for more Spirit Animal and check out Steve “Chef” Cooper in the great cooking series Feed Your Head.
The Torture Never Stops: A semi-torturous photo show
This is an article/review of Jerry Hsu's Photo Gallery that I did for Looseworld.com. Here's the link to the original.
This past Thursday, Vice was holding an opening reception for one of their featured photographers called The Torture Never Stops: A selection of photographs by Jerry Hsu. Jerry is more notably a professional skateboarder for Enjoi. It’s easy to like someone who’s just good at whatever they do. And that’s Jerry.
To learn more about Jerry watch a profile on him on Patrick O’Dell’s great series Epicly Later’d:
The gallery was a few blocks from Canal St so it wasn’t to far from where I lived, which was good because it was hot. It wasn’t unbearable heat, but I made the dumb choice of wearing thick jeans, because I was too lazy to change into shorts.
As soon as I entered the gallery I realized I wasn’t going to stay long. Besides the environment of “cool” people looking at pictures, it was somehow hotter in the gallery than it was outside.
I quickly went to my self-confidence move of checking my phone. I didn’t go to the show with anyone, so I needed to collect my thoughts before I really walked into the seemingly judgmental stares.
After checking on my phone (which consisted of browsing the pictures I have taken) I proceeded to find the free drinks table. Besides liking Jerry’s pictures and needing a reason to get out of my apartment, the reception did advertise free tequila. I don’t know why this made my decision to go that much easier, considering I don’t really get drunk from tequila (long story) and getting really drunk as a goal never is enjoyable, just really sad (longer story).
I walked from the entrance to what seemed to be the drink table. I cautiously approached it, convinced I already looked like an idiot, and asked what was going on.
Lady: Do you want to get your picture taken?
In my head: No. I hate pictures of myself. Especially if they are taken by people I don’t know who might use it for things I don’t want them to be used for.
What I said: Yes.
I walked over to the table, which was actually just had a pile of shirts on it. The tequila company was doing promotions, by giving out a free V-neck if the person got their picture taken in front of a stack of boxes of their tequila.
I got my picture taken with the shirt on and asked the lady behind the table if I had to keep it on. She said yes, but in a way where I knew she was just fucking with me, but possibly not. I walked away, already sweating and took off the shirt.
I then proceeded to look around. There were stacks of free Vice magazines as well as little pocket-dumb-promotion-guide to the city thing. I grabbed a magazine and I spotted the actual drinks table.
I saw the DJ booth, next to the drinks table, which was odd because I couldn’t hear any music over the whirring of the industrial fans that were going a max capacity to stem the stagnant heat.
I walked over to the table not knowing really what to do. I’ve been to an open bar before, so I was sure to bring tip money, meaning it wasn’t really an open bar. Is it really ever? If you leave with the drink and don’t leave a tip does that guilt really constitute the openness of an open bar? I wish I could ask someone who didn’t feel guilty doing that and see what they say.
Behind the drinks table were what I could only describe as hunky men in the aforementioned v-neck t-shirts. I stood in line as I eyed two men behind the table next to a cooler, who had no one in their line. I didn’t realize they were also serving beer so I went to them, tip in hand.
Walking away from the table, beer in hand (guilt free) I saw Jerry’s photos from his photo blog http://nazigold.tumblr.com. I saw many of them before on his site, but I looked at them again, not wanting to just stand around.
I felt odd standing there. Maybe it’s because I didn’t know what the standard/respectful time of viewing photographs is or the fact that I honestly tried to study a picture that was simply a man (Kevin Long) on one knee holding an engagement box.
I mean how long can you really study a picture, before you go “OK. I get it.” Trying to study a photograph also doesn’t help when Jerry’s photographs are anything but complicated. They’re often just single note joke pictures or odd juxtapositions that are great, they just don’t lend themselves to intellectual discussion.
Pretty soon it got to the point where thick jeans and heat means leaving a fairly dull reception. I finished my beer and waddled home fantasizing about a cold rejuvenating shower.
The pictures are great. Even better on the numerous websites they can currently be found on, in the comfort and convenience of your home PC.
GIVE AWAY:
If you want the free t-shirt I was given (and wiped my sweaty forehead with, which I later washed) email us at holler@looseworld.com and you will be put into a drawing to win the shirt. The winner will meet at an undisclosed location (probably the looseworld office) and receive the t-shirt and a pat on the back.
This past Thursday, Vice was holding an opening reception for one of their featured photographers called The Torture Never Stops: A selection of photographs by Jerry Hsu. Jerry is more notably a professional skateboarder for Enjoi. It’s easy to like someone who’s just good at whatever they do. And that’s Jerry.
To learn more about Jerry watch a profile on him on Patrick O’Dell’s great series Epicly Later’d:
The gallery was a few blocks from Canal St so it wasn’t to far from where I lived, which was good because it was hot. It wasn’t unbearable heat, but I made the dumb choice of wearing thick jeans, because I was too lazy to change into shorts.
As soon as I entered the gallery I realized I wasn’t going to stay long. Besides the environment of “cool” people looking at pictures, it was somehow hotter in the gallery than it was outside.
I quickly went to my self-confidence move of checking my phone. I didn’t go to the show with anyone, so I needed to collect my thoughts before I really walked into the seemingly judgmental stares.
After checking on my phone (which consisted of browsing the pictures I have taken) I proceeded to find the free drinks table. Besides liking Jerry’s pictures and needing a reason to get out of my apartment, the reception did advertise free tequila. I don’t know why this made my decision to go that much easier, considering I don’t really get drunk from tequila (long story) and getting really drunk as a goal never is enjoyable, just really sad (longer story).
I walked from the entrance to what seemed to be the drink table. I cautiously approached it, convinced I already looked like an idiot, and asked what was going on.
Lady: Do you want to get your picture taken?
In my head: No. I hate pictures of myself. Especially if they are taken by people I don’t know who might use it for things I don’t want them to be used for.
What I said: Yes.
I walked over to the table, which was actually just had a pile of shirts on it. The tequila company was doing promotions, by giving out a free V-neck if the person got their picture taken in front of a stack of boxes of their tequila.
I got my picture taken with the shirt on and asked the lady behind the table if I had to keep it on. She said yes, but in a way where I knew she was just fucking with me, but possibly not. I walked away, already sweating and took off the shirt.
I then proceeded to look around. There were stacks of free Vice magazines as well as little pocket-dumb-promotion-guide to the city thing. I grabbed a magazine and I spotted the actual drinks table.
I saw the DJ booth, next to the drinks table, which was odd because I couldn’t hear any music over the whirring of the industrial fans that were going a max capacity to stem the stagnant heat.
I walked over to the table not knowing really what to do. I’ve been to an open bar before, so I was sure to bring tip money, meaning it wasn’t really an open bar. Is it really ever? If you leave with the drink and don’t leave a tip does that guilt really constitute the openness of an open bar? I wish I could ask someone who didn’t feel guilty doing that and see what they say.
Behind the drinks table were what I could only describe as hunky men in the aforementioned v-neck t-shirts. I stood in line as I eyed two men behind the table next to a cooler, who had no one in their line. I didn’t realize they were also serving beer so I went to them, tip in hand.
Walking away from the table, beer in hand (guilt free) I saw Jerry’s photos from his photo blog http://nazigold.tumblr.com. I saw many of them before on his site, but I looked at them again, not wanting to just stand around.
I felt odd standing there. Maybe it’s because I didn’t know what the standard/respectful time of viewing photographs is or the fact that I honestly tried to study a picture that was simply a man (Kevin Long) on one knee holding an engagement box.
I mean how long can you really study a picture, before you go “OK. I get it.” Trying to study a photograph also doesn’t help when Jerry’s photographs are anything but complicated. They’re often just single note joke pictures or odd juxtapositions that are great, they just don’t lend themselves to intellectual discussion.
Pretty soon it got to the point where thick jeans and heat means leaving a fairly dull reception. I finished my beer and waddled home fantasizing about a cold rejuvenating shower.
The pictures are great. Even better on the numerous websites they can currently be found on, in the comfort and convenience of your home PC.
GIVE AWAY:
If you want the free t-shirt I was given (and wiped my sweaty forehead with, which I later washed) email us at holler@looseworld.com and you will be put into a drawing to win the shirt. The winner will meet at an undisclosed location (probably the looseworld office) and receive the t-shirt and a pat on the back.
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