Emily Turnage

credit: http://www.bwlphotography.com

what is your name?
Emily Turnage
how would you describe what you do?
I’m a singer/songwriter
what are you currently working on?
I’m working on my solo career, writing new songs, recording and just getting my name out there
what has had the greatest influence on your work?
It’s changed so much throughout the years, in the beginning it was family and family friends who all enjoyed music and played it together at gatherings, then I started to really appreciate certain musicians and the music they made, how you could relate what they were saying to their personal lives. I wanted to do the same, because I wasn’t the biggest talker, so it was my means of communicating in my own way.
what is the greatest misconception about you or your work?
I honestly couldn’t think of an answer for this one
what do you see as the main strengths and weaknesses of the medium you work in?

The strengths, is that I can make enough music with just the guitar and my voice to entertain a crowd for a number of hours, and the setting and packing up isn’t too bad. But the weakness is that it’s easier to focus on your voice when it’s the only thing your using, playing guitar at the same time while singing can take away from that focus, and also, you can only do so much with just a guitar and your voice
how has technology impacted upon the work you do?
I haven’t experimented with technology quite yet (it’s a little pricey in this field), but I like to keep it simple anyway. My next purchase WILL be a loop pedal. You can record your voice or guitar and then keep it playing while you can add to it, which means you can layer upon layer your musical creations. Sounds like fun to me!

what’s the greatest piece of advice you would like to pass on?
Appreciate everything you have but don’t sell yourself short. Demand what you deserve.
and just be nice. All the time. It’s contagious

where can we find you online?
www.facebook.com/emilyturnagemusic
www.reverbnation.com/emilyturnage
what are you reading at the moment?
Oh goodness why did you have to ask that? The second book in the Twilight series, New Moon
what are you listening to at the moment?
My sister planning out her errands tomorrow with my brother and her husband. Includes Sam’s Club and Staples. Wish I could go…
anything else we should know?
I play at Ruby’s Elixir every Monday night. You should come out. Ladies get their first glass of wine for free. Gets kinda crazy

Meredith Yayanos

 

What is your name?
O HAI! I’m Meredith Yayanos. How are YOU?

How would you describe what you do?
Lots of music, words, and imagery. Most of the stuff I make and do ends up being conversational and collaborative in nature. From 2007 – 2012, I was devoted to an online/print venture called Coilhouse Magazine with co-founding creator, publisher and partner Nadya Lev, as well as many other wonderful weirdos. It was, and remains, “A Love Letter to Alternative Culture”. The project’s on hiatus for now, but <CHEERFULPLUG> you can download all six of our print issues as free PDFs at the archival website, and the blog also contains thousands of entries on a wide variety weird and beautiful and funny topics. </CHEERFULPLUG> These days, I’ve gone back to making music pretty much full time; I play violin and theremin and sing. Score films. Oh! And recently I’ve started dabbling in making pretentious artsy fartsy films of my own. That’s been fun.

What are you currently working on?
I’m finishing up the final leg of production of an album of “haunted chamber music” by The Parlour Trick, my duo with fellow multi-instrumentalist Dan Cantrell. Ghostly, modern classical/aggro-ambient instrumentals. Piano, violin, theremin, musical saw, witchy vocals, harpsichord, celeste, pump organ, electronics, etc. Right now the project’s badass designer, Star St. Germain (who also worked on Coilhouse!) and I are sussing out all of the packaging for the Parlour Trick CDs and vinyl, which should hopefully go to press and be available for sale shortly. Meantime, on my lonesome, I’m devoting the bulk of my time to various aspects of reward fulfillment for the hundreds of Kickstarter backers who chipped in to get the album and related materials funded. (Any of you guys reading? You know who you are! HAY. I LURVE YOO. SORRY IT’S TAKING SO LONG.) You can buy the music digitally on Bandcamp. I’m also about to shoot a second Parlour Trick music video in New Zealand with my sweetheart, Madeleine Ledespencer, and a bunch of amazing folks we know from the Weta / Wellywood film industry. I seriously have no idea WTF I’m doing, yet. But I’m excited!

What is the greatest misconception about you or your work?
Oof… I guess it’d be that lot of people think I’m an extrovert. I’m really not. Actually, I’m an extremely shy, anxious person. Always have been. I started performing on stages in front of people when I was five. Then and now, I’m terrified of crowds and exposure. You’re basically talking to an introvert who, at some point, somehow managed to convince herself and everyone else otherwise by developing halfway-adequate social skills. (Related: I’ve had a solo music project in the works called “The Ever Present Tense” for well over fifteen years now. It’s like this hideously sparkly paste-jewel-encrusted lithopedion baby cataloging my various neuroses, including GAD, PTSD, and BDD. Woohooo, partaaaay. Sure to be an instant classic.)

What do you see as the main strengths and weaknesses of the medium you work in?
The allure of wordplay, yum yum. There’s that delicious brainmeat frission that happens when you read or craft just the right turn of phrase. But the medium has its weaknesses, too, in that words… well, they fail. A lot. Words fail me every day. All the time. Because they put me at a remove from more atavistic sensations, connections, communications. Which is why I love music so much– the ribcage-expanding, gut-and-capillary level reaction it can trigger. Music is my magick. Also, the visual resonance of art and design: when I lean both my body and my brain into a piece of music… I see landscapes and I feel textures. And then that’s when the most unfailing words come– stories that have steeped in sounds and images.

How has technology impacted upon the work you do?
Immensely. In too many ways to count. Coilhouse Magazine couldn’t have existed without the global network we all built together online, and the kinship that sprang up from it. More generally, I’d say that many of the most wonderful collaborators I’ve worked with, across multiple mediums, are thanks to BBSs and chat rooms, and later on, social networking sites like Livejournal, Twitter, Tumblr. Every day, no matter where I am in the world, I can interface with authors, fashion photographers, editors, musicians, and filmmakers… all thousands of miles away. With a good pair of headphones and an Apogee One, I can (and have) recorded full-length film scores on my laptop in the midst of traveling internationally. I’m about to email this interview to you while I’m at ten-thousand feet in an airplane. I have cherished loved ones that I’ve never met face to face, and it’s a non-issue, because we’ve found ways to share our art. This world, and my subsequent work, is largely post-geographical, and I find that miraculous.

What’s the greatest piece of advice you would like to pass on?
The world can be brutal and unyielding. Please don’t let that take your luminosity away. Stay open. Stay kind. Stay grateful. Cherish yourself and cherish your loved ones. It’s good to be gentle, and it’s okay to yield. Do not be afraid to work veryveryeveryhard for a longlonglongtime on whatever it is that you love without receiving any validation or reassurance from outside sources. Just enjoy the adventure and rise to meet the challenge of the work itself. Don’t waste time worrying about what anyone else is going to think about the work you do, because it’s really none of your business. Most importantly, stop waiting for someone else to give you permission to be who you want to be, or to do what you dream of doing. And finally… regret is okay, and remorse is often warranted. But shame? Shame is bullshit. Shame is a colossal waste of life, so please, PLEASE work to find ways to regularly unpack whatever shame you have accrued. Pull it out of yourself, somehow, and burn it. Dance around that fire until it dies down, and then walk away.

Where can we find you online?
http://theparlourtrick.bandcamp.com/
twitter.com/theremina
theremina.tumblr.com/

What are you reading at the moment?
If music is my magick, then reading is my ritual! “The John Varley Reader” (a great collection of his short stories spanning thirty years), “Gun Machine” by Warren Ellis (relentlessly badass), “The People’s Guide to Los Angeles” by Laura Barraclough, Wendy Cheng, and Laura Pulido (highly recommended for anyone who’s curious about the invisible underpinnings of that city, both structurally and culturally) Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 (gobsmacking!), and, most affectingly, the first 200 pages of a novel-in-progress by a very brilliant friend. Re-reading, actually, multiple times a month, as the working draft evolves. Watching this story grow from the ground up is easily one of the most spellbinding and nourishing experiences I’ve ever had, or ever will.

What are you listening to at the moment?
On heavy rotation this week: Sun Ra’s “Space is the Place”, Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2 In E Minor (Kalichstein Laredo Robinson Trio recording), Sibylle Baier, Gazelle Twin, K. Flay, Cabaret Voltaire, Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew”, Goblin, Clint Mansell’s score for “Stoker”.

Anything else we should know?
Yes. Please, please support the artists who make the songs and stories and pictures and dance and theatre that move you. If you appreciate their art, and you can afford to do so, please *buy* that art. But even if you can’t afford to buy their work, then talk about it, share it, celebrate it in some fashion that respects and values the artist as well as the art. Give them credit. Say their names.

A Round Of Applause And Show Of Appreciation

In case we have not made it plainly obvious, and being the neglectful hosts we are this is quite likely, none of this would be possible without the generous contributions of everyone who agrees to answer the questions posed. Following closely on the heels of this post comes an interview with someone who has been an inspiration for myself and it is an honour to present her answers to you, as it is an honour to welcome all of our intoviewees.

Mild Maynyrd

What is your name?
Mild Maynyrd.  Pronounced like that singer guy from that one band.  My government name is Dan Black.
How would you describe what you do?
I’m an artist.  I express myself.  I write, I paint/draw, I take photos, I dance (none of which well)… but for the purposes of this conversation let’s focus on music, eh?  When it comes to music I am a producer and instrumentalist of all shapes and sizes.  I take snippets from all across the musical landscape and mash them together to create a sound that, hopefully, is a good representation of me.
What are you currently working on?
Mostly a new record that is the complete and utter opposite of the last LP I made.  But I’m also doing a few other things: I’ve got some beats I’m making for a few different rappers, I’m working on a little children’s music, and I’ve got a bizarre cover I’m doing.  I’m also always working on becoming a better turntablist – there’s a lot to be desired there – by spinning records in my basement.
What has had the greatest influence on your work?
It’s cliché I know, but what I currently perceive as my Earthly existence.  Everything I have done.  Every person I have met.  The places I have been.  The things I’ve been through.  The articles I read.  The art I consume.  The way the wind blows, the color of the skies.  The buildings and the train tracks.  The trees and the rivers and the stars.  Every flicker of electricity inside my head, a result of some form of sensory perception.
What is the greatest misconception about your work?
I don’t know specifically about my stuff, but I will say for musicians that do something similar to what I do the greatest misconception is that it is easy.  I can’t believe we haven’t reached a point yet where we consider a turntable an instrument or sampling an art form.  Dictionary.com states an instrument is: “a contrivance or apparatus for producing musical sound.”  When one uses a turntable, he/she uses both hands to manipulate the device for pitch, tone, speed, and inflection the exact same way one does with a harp, or set of drums.  I can say first hand, it is not easy.  Perceptions on sampling though I think are starting to change.  Because what people are realizing is how different Oneohtrix Point Never samples from Jake One, who samples very differently from Flying Lotus.  It’s actually amazing how quickly a distinct sound begins to take shape once the process has been done multiple times.  A great example of this is that challenge where producers are given one record, the same record, to sample with and what comes out is always extremely different than the next person.  I find it fascinating that I can sample a Delta-Blues song from 1928 and it’s got the same feel as a track that samples a Hardcore song from the early 2000s.
What do you see as the main strengths and weaknesses of the medium you work in?
The main strength of music – especially instrumental music – is how universal it is.  An interesting melody is an interesting melody no matter what type of artificial barriers (be it class, gender, racial, nationalistic) have been set between us.  Music is one of the hammers, one of the main hammers, that can knock those walls down.  Instrumental music can be difficult for people to wrap their heads around though.  One of my friends was telling me one time how his nephew was baffled when he came over to his house and he had on music with no singing, and how he would never listen to anything without any singing.  It can be hard to break through that mindset.  I think instrumental music is difficult to wrap one’s head around because it isn’t necessarily providing a clear context.  It can be like watching a very obtuse art film that doesn’t exactly state its intentions to the viewer.  It exists in an undefined place.  The listener (or viewer) needs to fill in the gaps a little, which is great if the listener is willing to take that leap: they can create all sorts of contexts.  Maybe some people are creating a context for the song through the eyes of the perceived musician, others are perhaps applying context to their own lives, and still others maybe are applying a context devoid of the listener or creator’s lives, or no one’s lives at all.
How has technology impacted upon the work you do?
Greatly.  I don’t know if I would be able to do what I do without the technology of the past 10 years alone.  First of all, we live in this miraculous world where for a few hundred USD anyone can have a very decent, easy to use, home studio to write, arrange, record, mix, and master music in.  That is a powerful concept; I think it ties to how in the second decade of Century 21 so many talented people are making so much wonderful music without any sort of rules or guidelines.  Experimentation can really flourish when you’re not paying the same amount of money just for an hour’s worth of studio time.  The other technology for musicians is obviously the Internet.  I don’t want to get to into that because I’m sure there have been Master’s theses on the subject that blow away anything I have to say about out of the water.  I will say for me personally the Internet is responsible for hooking me up with the guys, and girls, I make music with: the wonderful people of Black Lantern Music.  And without them I would not have taken what I (currently) do to the next step and really tried to refine it and get better at it.
What’s the greatest piece of advice you’d like to pass on?
I don’t know if I have much to offer by way of advice, considering my philosophy.  I know I always tell myself to try new things and keep it varied.  It will sound like me no matter what instruments, key, tempo, time signature, etc I am using.  Plus, if something isn’t working I can always just throw it on the back burner or toss it.  Everything isn’t going to work all the time, but I’ll never know what can work without a willingness to try new things.
Where can we find you online?
Well, like I said I’m a part of the Black Lantern Music club.
We’re at:  http://blacklanternmusic.com/
My Bandcamp: http://mildmaynyrd.bandcamp.com
My Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/mild-maynyrd
My Twitter: https://twitter.com/MildMaynyrd
What are you reading at the moment?
I was attempting the classic Don Quixote for a while, which actually I should get back into.  But damn is it long.  It has to be one of the greatest pieces of literature of all time.  It’s a satirical, smart, funny, at times self-loathing read that will have you perplexed how it was written 500 years ago.  I’m always reading some comics though.  Saga, Manhattan Projects, and The Massive are probably my newest favorite comics.
What are you listening to at the moment?
Oh boy.  I listen to so much music.  I’ll just rattle off the last few artists I’ve listened to: No Bird Sing, Medeski, Martin, & Wood, The Bronx, King Crimson, Robert Glasper Experiment, Mixed Blood Majority, Radiohead.
Anything else we should know?
Yes, that you don’t know anything.  Most likely.

The absentee returns

What can I offer you in excuse for our absence that won’t sound somewhat lame? Nothing really. And what guarantees can I offer that the future will not be also full of such disappointing lacunae? Still nothing that won’t sound half-baked and not worth the time it would take to read it. So instead, this week, we return with a whole host of great intoviews, following closely behind this post.

Hannah Dostine

What is your name?
As a creative polymath, I go as HRD (pronounced, ‘heard’) but am usually known as the zinemaker, Hannah Rose Dostine and am slowly introducing the name, Hans Vega.

How would you describe what you do?
As an assortment and overlap of self-made projects, zinemaking, drawing, beatnik writings and daydreaming with an edge of sustainable and ethical activism…or something like that 🙂

What are you currently working on?
I’m preparing for the Canberra Zine Emporium 🙂

What has had the greatest influence on your work?
Definitely my ambiguous mental health. But also my imagination, hands down.

What is the greatest misconception about you and your work?
The way I come across I always worry is disinterested, awkward and as a social face a bit wobbly and hardly around (but i hope people know how much i appreciate them) I feel that hinders or could be seen in my work. Otherwise if anything I think what i convey through personal symbols may be ambiguous/misunderstood, but my subject matter is also a life struggle that I find difficult to express.

What do you see as the main strengths and weaknesses of the medium you work in?
I am still developing and experimenting but I have become comfortable with fineliner. I find its saturating effect great to convey my theme. As for weakness, merely educating myself with the mediums potential!

How has technology impacted upon the work you do?
Immensely amd positively in the way that the internet has opened up a plethora of artistic and creative communities and collectives to learn from, receive support, feedback and be inspired by.

What’s the greatest piece of advice you would like to pass on?
Question everything, believe in no end to your creativity and always be yourself.

Where can we find you online?
I am around on facebook and twitter but for my main work, head over to tumblr: chasehotairballoons.tumblr.com or we make zines if you do trades.

What are you reading at the moment?
A zine about living an adventurous life on zero dollars a day!

What are you listenning to at the moment?
Bands of the Punk, Rock and Jazz persuasions (e.g. NOFX, Jaco Pastorious and Jimi Hendrix).

Anything else we should know?
I volunteer at Sticky Institute, Melbourne’s shop for zine crusaders and DIY enthusiasts, a brilliant and fun group of people.

Dustin Weaver

what is your name?

My name is Dustin Paul Weaver.

how would you describe what you do?

I draw comic books, which is comparable to being a film director, I think. Like a director, a comic artist works from a script and
determines how to tell this story in a visual medium. The big difference is that where a director brings in a lot of other people–
actors, cinematographer, story boarders, set designers, etc.– a comic book artist does most of it alone. I’m the set designer, the costume designer, and all of the actors, and I’m choosing the shots, handling the lighting, and doing all the special effects.

On top off all that, a comic book artist can employ techniques used in painting and illustration, from the abstract to the realistic, to
create something visually engaging.

what are you currently working on?

I’m currently the cover artist on Avengers for Marvel comics, and I’m working on a 3-issue story arc that will be published in Avengers
#7-9.

In my “spare time” I’m slowly chipping away at a comic that I am writing and drawing. I’m planning on releasing it for free online, in
weekly installments starting ether in the summer or fall of 2013.
what has had the greatest influence on your work?

The greatest influence on my work is my friendship with fellow comic book creator, D.J. Bryant. He’s a very smart guy with good taste. Many of the books that I’ve really loved and been inspired by I’ve read at his recommendation. And when I’m creating something, whether or not I think it’s something D.J. would like is something I think about.

what is the greatest misconception about you or your work?

Maybe it’s that I LIKE drawing buildings or that I LIKE drawing a lot of detail. I don’t “like” drawing these things so much as I like drawings OF these things. If you think drawing hundreds of little windows on buildings is fun for anyone, you’re mistaken. But when the
result is a fully realized city-scape, or a car engine, or what ever else has a lot of detail, and it comes out just as you imagined it,
the reward of having done it is great. I’m just trying to create something that I would like. Most of the time doing that is hard work.

what do you see as the main strengths and weaknesses of the medium you work in?

Comic books are visual. They can grab a reader’s attention and provide a similar accessibility to that of movies and TV. But, going back to the first question, unlike movies and TV, comic books are created by a very small group of people and in many cases just one person. In this way they are more like literature in that there is a lot of creative freedom.

Comics also have the ability to use the strengths of both images and words, which makes them a powerful storytelling medium.
I think the biggest weakness this medium has is that the perception most people have of what comic books are and what they can be is still limited to the super-hero genre. Comic books can tell any kind of story. It needs the general audience to recognize that and be open to it before it can really take off. If you’ve never read a comic (or graphic novel– same thing) because you’re not interested in
super-heroes, maybe look a little deeper. I love comics. I’m almost always reading one, and it’s almost never a super-hero comic. (That
isn’t a slam on super-hero comics.)

how has technology impacted upon the work you do?

I guess I like doing things traditionally. I don’t use any 3d modelling or figure posing programs, and I don’t think I ever will. I
don’t do much digital drawing ether, though I’m not opposed to using digital tools and media for creating an image. I do do some clean up to my work in Photoshop but that’s about it.

what’s the greatest piece of advice you would like to pass on?

I struggle with the idea of giving advice. I think good advice for one person might not be good for another. If I imagine that I am giving
advice to myself, say ten years ago, I would say: Do things the way you want to do them. If someone tells you this is how to make comics and this is how to have a successful career, don’t listen. Don’t compare your work or your career to anyone else’s just because you think they must be doing it the right way. There is no right way, and everyone has their own trajectory. Like what you like. Do things the way you want to do them, and try to do them really really well.

Again, I don’t think this advice is for everyone.
where can we find you online?

I have a blog at http://dustinweaver.blogspot.com

And if you want to see my art but don’t want to read my rambling stupidity, I have a tumblr at http://dustinweaver.tumblr.com/

what are you reading at the moment?

I’m reading the first Jaime Hernandez Love and Rockets book, “Maggie the Mechanic”. So many people love this stuff, I figured it was time I found out what all the fuss is about. I’m not that far into it. I’m excited to see how it evolves.

I’m also reading Kafka’s “The Castle” and I’m loving it. Very inspiring.

I recently finished Osamu Tezuka’s “Barbara” and I really enjoyed it. He’s the best.

I’m getting Brandon Graham’s “Multiple Warheads” and James Stokoe’s “Godzilla- The Half-Century War” whenever a new issue comes out.

Oh and this may seem silly, but I’m reading the manga version of “Return Of The Jedi” by Shin-Ichi Hiromoto. It’s just an adaptation of
the film, but the things Hiromoto does with page layouts are so great. He puts so much drama and life and FUN into it. This is work not to be dismissed.

what are you listening to at the moment?

The albums that I have in heavy rotation right now are Blonde Redhead’s “23”, Brian Eno’s “Before And After Science”, Broadcast’s
“The Future Crayon”, Crystal Stilts’ “Alight of Night”, David Bowie’s “Low”, Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack to “Il Grande Silenzio”, and the
latest Guided By Voices album (I think. I can hardly keep up with Pollard’s productivity.)

anything else we should know?

I can’t think of anything.

Tickle

what is your name?
my name is ewan but my friends and non-colleagues/parents call me tickle. i use tickle as a stage name generally too but also recently with my newest project i’m calling myself mic master mick. it’s tickle though really.
how would you describe what you do?
i work helping people to fund the rest of my life which i spend with friends loved ones and making sort of hip hop music. i think it’s hip hop but who knows what everyone else would say…
what are you currently working on?
at the moment i’m trying to encourage interest in a couple of new releases. I’m trying to get folk to check out the third ep by burning bright when it’s released on 15.2.13 it’s some sick beats by salemanders and fine ass cuts by dj symatic. with some raps by me too. plus one of the tracks features solareye who is the rapper for the band stanley odd. i was so chuffed to get him on the ep he’s one of my favourite rappers both in scotland and beyond.
plus i’m doing the same promotional type stuff, gigging and making videos and so on, as part of ill papa giraffe, an ongoing project with myself as mic master mic, producer konnsky as king kong kutmaster k and dj symatic as biggie b boy beatmaster b.

what has had the greatest influence on your work?
all the hip hop i listened to when i got into it properly for the first time at the end of the nineties. it was a good time to discover hip hop. i didn’t know for a long time that the nineties or thereabouts are known as the golden age of hip hop. i just noticed the sweetest and freshest music i’d ever encountered.

what is the greatest misconception about you or your work?
i’m not sure i’m well known enough to have enough people knowing my stuff to generate any misconceptions. i guess there might be some folk who might say it’s not real hip hop that i make or people might think i put on my weird hybrid scottish english accent just to rap when i actually sound like that all the time. some guys have not included me in their idea of what constitutes scottish hip hop. i dunno. people with misconceptions are probably misconceiving shit cos of issues in their heads not mine so i don’t think about it too much…

what do you see as the main strengths and weaknesses of the medium you work in?
i love the beat. i’ve done spoken word a bunch and it’s great. you have total flexibility and that’s amazing but i love the beat. if there’s a beat, it’s you and the beat and that affords interactions that are more interesting or more fun than the interactions with plain silence.
it’s like silence plus plus.
i’m not sure about weaknesses. these are fat breaks we’re talking about. what could be wrong with them?

how has technology impacted upon the work you do?
no tech: no wax, no wheels of steel, no rocking the mic, no hip hop.

what’s the greatest piece of advice you would like to pass on?
make music you like to hear or perform. and don’t listen to advice.

where can we find you online?

released eps

http://www.blacklanternmusic.com/oneep.php?subid=35
http://www.blacklanternmusic.com/oneep.php?subid=38
http://www.blacklanternmusic.com/oneep.php?subid=4

RED RIVER by TICKLE on Black Lantern Music
www.blacklanternmusic.com

18:54
Solletico Ranting
ill papa giraffe videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM9HDVwFflQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aKpRaQZNC8

Love The Government by Ill Papa Giraffe
www.youtube.com
Album Out 25.2.13 www.blacklanternmusic.com http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ill-Papa-Giraffe/358484910887599 Extract from the Book of Ill Papa Giraffe 1 From t…

19:06
Solletico Ranting
what are you reading at the moment?
the aquitaine progression by robert ludlum and surely you’re joking mr feynman by richard feynman.
what are you listening to at the moment?
new beats by salemanders and konnsky for lyric writing. simply red through the wall next door to my brother’s room. loki saying shit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNDFKIaLZ8
http://www.blacklanternmusic.com/oneartist.php?id=26 CHURCH OF WHEN THE SHIT HITS THE FAN always… first disciple yo.

anything else we should know?
um, i love you all but the people i have met i love more, mostly.
burning bright by burning bright out 15.2.13 ill papa giraffe by ill papa giraffe out 25.2.13. gigs coming up in major and minor scottish cities and check it.
i’ve recently been persuaded to the pro-indeppendence side of the scottish independence debate. unimportant on the macro but significant to me and many millions of scots. vote yes!

Michael Peck

what is your name?

Michael Peck.

how would you describe what you do?

Think about writing, read, think about writing, research, consider writing, read, research, think about writing. Afterwards, ideally, I
write.

what are you currently working on?

A novella about utopianism, some short stories, an essay on an Orson Welles film.

what has had the greatest influence on your work?

I often wonder about that. A little bit of everything, I suppose. A.B. in particular. Music, especially Tom Waits, Schubert and Bach. And also Flaubert, Melville, David Lynch, Edward Hopper, Goya, hardboiled dialog, mineral water, fountain pens, weird motel rooms, Wyoming at midnight, Portland just before sunrise, quantum physics, the Marx Brothers and a good thunderstorm. Yes, a little
bit of everything.

what is the greatest misconception about you or your work?

You’d have to ask someone who is familiar with me or my work.

what do you see as the main strengths and weaknesses of the medium you work in?

There are no constraints in terms of what can or cannot be written or how a storyline progresses; the range of style and expression is unbounded by anything tangible. I think this is also the central weakness of writing, insofar as this endless stream of possibilities makes perfection impossible. But this is true of any medium.

how has technology impacted upon the work you do?

It has streamlined information-gathering, editing and procrastination.

what’s the greatest piece of advice you would like to pass on?

From Raymond Chandler: “Write or nothing.”

where can we find you online?

At believermag.com, the2ndhand.com, bibliostyle.wordpress.com, LA Review of Books.

what are you reading at the moment?

The Red and the Black, some Barthes, the aphorisms of Lichtenberg, a history of pulp fiction cover art.

what are you listening to at the moment?

Charles Mingus.

anything else we should know?

I can’t think of anything at the moment.

Karen Jones

what is your name?

Karen Jones

how would you describe what you do?
I write stories. For the most part short stories, though I have written two novels. The first has to be in the running for ‘worst book ever written’ – it should be used to teach people how not to write. It’s truly awful. The second never got past first draft. I used to write a lot of flash fiction and micro-fiction but, for no reason I can think of, that doesn’t appeal to me so much now.
what are you currently working on?
I always have several short stories at one stage or another. At the moment I have two at the planning stage, one almost completed, one in rewrite and one in final edit. I’m also working on something longer but I don’t know exactly what it will be yet. It may turn out to be a novel or a novella – or it may get slashed to pieces and end up as a haiku.
what has had the greatest influence on your work?
Reading. Seeing how it’s done by the greats.

Art. I used to spend a lot of time in Kelvingrove Art Galleries, getting story ideas from the paintings, people watching for characters, gathering conversation snippets, enjoying the quiet stillness of the place (except when there’s a school party dashing about pointing and sniggering at the paintings of nudes).
Music. A line in a song can spark a whole story, or just the mood of the music can influence how a piece will go.

what is the greatest misconception about you or your work?
About me – that I’m lazy. I’ve heard it so often that I end up believing it. About my work – that if I can do it, it must be easy.

what do you see as the main strengths and weaknesses of the medium you work in?
You have such freedom with writing – anything goes, there are so many genres, so many forms, and you can do it anywhere. You don’t even have to physically write things down; you can be writing in your head and no one around you knows. Everywhere you go, everyone you meet can trigger stories, or single lines, or a poem.
Weaknesses It’s a solitary activity, so it’s easy to become disillusioned and disheartened. Sometimes, when inspiration is lacking, panic can set in and you convince yourself you’ll never write another word.

how has technology impacted upon the work you do?
My handwriting is atrocious, so using a netbook has made a huge difference. I can write anywhere and can understand what I’ve written when I look back on it later. My phone has also become a great asset. I use the memo function constantly. No more scribbled notes on pieces of paper that are frustratingly indecipherable when I gather them together to turn them into a story. That’s especially true of night time notes. I used to wake up in the morning and look at what I’d scrawled in the middle of the night and have no idea what was written there. Granted, even with phone, I still sometimes wonder what the hell I was thinking. One memo just said, “Something bad happened.” Excellent – someone alert The Booker Prize – I think I have a winning idea here.

The internet has brought ezines – new publishing outlets are always welcome. And, of course, it has also made self-publishing easier but I tend to see that as a double-edged sword.

On the downside, I do faff about on the internet far too often. A tiny piece of research can turn into hours in a Google maze where every new search seems to throw up bizarre or fascinating information that draws me in until I’ve completely lost the thread that would lead me back to my story. I’m very easily distracted.

what’s the greatest piece of advice you would like to pass on?
My favourite is one of Elmore Leonard’s If it sounds like writing, rewrite it
And from John Steinbeck If you are using dialogue, say it aloud as you write. Only then will it have the sound of speech.
where can we find you online
I’m not very good at self-promotion and having an online presence. I’m on Facebook, occasionally on Twitter and I started a blog but could never really get into it the way some people do, so it’s been gathering dust for over a year now. You can read some of my published work at these places
httpwww.mslexia.co.ukmagazinenewwritingnwstory3_45.php
httpwaterhousereview.wordpress.comcurrent-issue-2#JONES
httpwww.everydaypoets.comherbal-memory-by-karen-jones

what are you reading at the moment?
Room by Emma Donoghue. I’ve just started it but it has me completely hooked. I love when that happens and it’s becoming increasingly rare.

what are you listening to at the moment?
The very noisy fan my netbook sits on, commentary from a football match coming from the TV in another room and how loud my nails are on this keyboard. Must cut nails.
anything else we should know?
I always like to have at least six pieces of work submitted to competitions, publications at any one time. I need to have a goal to work to, otherwise I really would become lazy.
I love salsa dancing. That has absolutely nothing to do with my writing – I just love it and think everyone should do it for health and happiness.