We’ve done Top Music Makers Of 2011, my Favourite Things Of 2011 and my Favourite Magazine Covers Of 2011. I thought I’d see out the year 2011 with a post spotlighting some of my favourite gig posters of 2011 [source & more info for posters/designers]. I saw some really great shows this year, some of my favourites included: Kyuss Lives!, Le Butcherettes, Jhonny Russell & the Mystery School, Regurgitator, Ouch My Face, Catcall, Pangaea and Pow Pow Wow. I’m looking forward to see lots more live music in 2012 and to discovering lots of new bands. A band called Indian Handicrafts has come to my attention of late – check them out here!

Top to Bottom (Bands + Designer): Wild Flag by Ron Liberti; B-52s by Scrojo; Bjork by Horse; The Melvins by Justin Kamerer; Gogol Bordello by Luke Drozd; Primus by Todd Slater; Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Zechs Marquise by T-bone & Aljaxx; Jane’s Addiction by Aaron Gresham; Flaming Lips by Scrojo; Ween by Justin Hampton; CSS by The Bubble Process; Le Butcherettes by Andi Good; The Bronx-Japanther-Mariachi El Bronx-Dead Country by David Watt.

Have a super fun & safe New Year!

Gayla Partridge is the creative maven behind 666 Photography. Her stunning imagery, innovation and impeccable vintage/retro style tantalize and ignite the imagination and warm the soul. Along with her team she creates old school theatre style sets to help bring her clients’ dreams to life—their props are handmade and backdrops hand-painted. 666 pride themselves in declaring “There is no concept that you can throw at 666 that we can’t create.”

Please tell me a little bit about yourself.
I am 37 years old. I’ve lived in Austin, Texas for 19 years. I live with four cats and an amazing man.

I’ve read in a previous interview that you originally went to university planning to become a lawyer but switched your major to art in your sophomore year, what inspired that change?
Really my decision was a sign of my age and lack of discipline. I should have become a lawyer, but art came so easy for me and I was young, hence the decision to change my major.

Do you think having formal training is important to what you do?
It actually has been a benefit. In college, most of the classes I took were in traditional figurative painting. Having a solid understanding of the human form and how best to display it comes in handy in almost every shoot. When I see work that is technically good, but seems to lack the understanding of the best way to display the human form, I am grateful for my formal training.

I understand that after study you got a job in the corporate world, how did that experience help you when starting your 666?
Straight out of college I got a job in the corporate world for a large telecommunications company. I still work there as a financial analyst. It allows me complete freedom in my work with 666, and while it would be great to do 666 as my only job, I don’t struggle like many other artists and don’t take jobs I don’t enjoy. There is a benefit to that, in that I will never burn out from taking photos.

Is 666 Photography a fulltime gig for you now?
No. I work my day job full time, and 666 fulltime. It is hard, but very worth it.

Where does your love of retro/vintage photographs and aesthetics come from? Is it something you’ve always had an interest in?

My parents were antique collectors when I was growing up so I was always at auctions and galleries. It has always been a part of my life. My first purchase in my life was a 1920′s armoire that I still own. I was 13 when i bought it with babysitting money.

What is your favourite part of the process in regards to the images/art that you create?
Building the sets and sewing the costumes is my favourite part. Strangely, the photo taking is my least favourite.

Do you listen to music while you work? What could I find in your CD player/on your iPod?
I have a schizophrenic iPod collection. Although mostly I listen to Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. I have an embarrassing love of bad pop music and 80s classics.

I know that you hand make most of the props used for your shoots – from Giant Marie Antoinette hairpieces (pictured above) to tropical backdrops and more – which is your favourite thing you have created so far?
It’s hard to choose a favourite. The 6 foot mushroom was fun. Making wigs is also a favourite—the bigger the better!

What has been the most challenging concept for a shoot that’s been thrown at 666?
We just shot a turn of the century butcher shop concept that required us to purchase and wrangle six real pig heads and a 150 pound pig carcass. That was challenging, and a little gross.

You get everyone from burlesque stars to moms through your doors at 666 Photography, can you tell me about one of the most interesting people that have walked through your doors?
All of our clients have something really awesome about them. That’s a large part of why we still take private clients. We make great friends and meet women from all walks of life.

In an interview you were commenting on your photography beginnings and you mentioned that “I took a lot of photography, but it didn’t speak to me on its own” – I wanted to ask if your feelings about that have changed now after doing it for so long? Does it speak to you on its own now days?

It does, but the creating of the sets and costumes and concepts on a whole still speak to me more than the photography. I think it will always be that way. Photography is really just the act of documenting all the other stuff we have done (sets, painting, sewing designing, etc). It allows me to capture what we have created in my own way, but is not the major motivation for me.

Your book 666 Photography: Of Virgin Queens and High Camp Divas was released a little over a year ago, how do you feel about it? What does it mean to you?
It is still thrilling. Walking into a bookstore randomly and seeing it face out makes me smile. Getting photos from fans across the world with iPhone pics of our book in a bookshop somewhere is still so amazing!

What projects are you currently working on?
We have booked 51 girls to shoot the remainder of the year, so we are super busy shooting private clients.

And lastly, I’ve read that you have a ‘studio cat’…I’m a huge animal lover myself, can you tell me a little bit about them.
Our studio cat disappeared when we were renovating the studio. We had had Luke for about 6 years, but he was definitely feral. It was sad, but typical on the east side of Austin. I have 4 cats at home though who make me laugh daily.

For more 666 Photography. Check out the 666 Shop for nifty necklaces, cigarette cases, bags and more featuring Gayla’s beautiful imagery.

Believe in magic!

This is without a doubt one of my favourite conversations I’ve ever had with a creator. Diva Zappa is amazing! She has such simple, beautiful ideas about creating and life in general. The magical knittress, actress (appearing in The Mighty Boosh + more), photographer and artist makes wonderful, colourful, unique handmade creations – ponchos, capes, scarves, gloves, beanies etc. – and embroidered couture canvas. Her wearable art is worn by (friends and fans) Noel Fielding, Diablo Cody, Corey Parks, Chloé Trujillo and many others and is inspired by light, faeries, magic, gunfire, Bruce Willis, tea, animals and Law & Order among other things! Each piece is handmade with love.

Your business is named Handmade Beauty. What are some of your first memories of beauty?
I’m a big fan of light and the different tones of light that bring out the colours in flowers. When you say ‘beauty’ I basically think about odd light shining from the sky, I can’t really explain it. If it’s a cloudy day things kind of sing at a different vibration – I see that stuff.

Your ‘about me’ section on your Facebook profile reads: I laugh so much it makes me cry and everyone is terrified of me. When was the last time that happened?
[Laughs] With my sister the other day actually. She made me laugh really, really hard. We were sitting and having tea at a gelato bar and she just said something completely stupid [laughs]. It really wouldn’t make anybody laugh but it was so ridiculous that it was like, really? It made my brain break and I laughed so hard I cried—it was awesome! People were starring [laughs].

Your profile also mentions: I like compliments. What’s one of your favourite compliments you’ve been given in regards to your art?
I had a show in London earlier this year and Noel Fielding, when he saw it, couldn’t stop saying that he felt like it was underwater!

What is one of your favourite things about your art? About knitting?
That anything is possible. That it starts from one string, it’s just a straight line and a straight line can be anything you want. It’s so cool to me that you can actually mould a straight line.

That reminds me of a time when someone asked me that saying: how long is a piece of string? And I replied to them, however long you want it to be. They were surprised by my answer because they had just accepted that it was one of those questions that have no answer. It really is up to you.
Yes, yes it is completely up to you, that’s one of my favourite things. It’s so astounding to me when I knit that it starts out… it’s just creation, it’s totally cool. I blow my own mind looking at a piece of string all the time! It’s ridiculous [laughs].

I can so relate to that! What are some of your favourite colours to work with? What colours make your heart sing?
It depends on the kind of day and the kind of light that’s outside. On grey days if the light is shining through a cloud it will be yellows and blues and gold that usually comes out and play. If it’s a sunny bright day I could go with a dark green or something. Honestly it’s whatever the light is telling me to do and the textures, I filter through my bag and grab things. I really don’t have a choice, the yarn tells me what to do next and what the next colour will be. It can be dependent on what’s happening around me, where I am or my mood. If I’m in a coffee shop and someone is making noise like a constant snapping of gum and I’m a little bit annoyed that will come out – I might knit with some grey or some really hideously textured yarn that I’m just a little annoyed and then I might switch to something pretty and… it might not necessarily work but it tells a story and ends up being an art piece—a living journal basically.

I love that you follow your instincts and allow yourself to do that. I find a lot of people can unfortunately suppress that part of themselves and they do what they think they should be doing rather than listening to their natural intuition.
Yeah. I’m a big believer in trusting yourself and doing things for you and not doing things for other people. If you’re making art don’t make what you think somebody else wants ’cause no one wants that, everyone wants to see what you make because you are what’s interesting.

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I love Brazilian rock band CSS so much! From the moment I heard their first album the 2005 released Cansei de Ser Sexy I’ve been totally hooked! They’re currently towards the tail end of a North American tour celebrating the release of latest record La Liberacion. I was lucky enough to catch up with CSS’ Luiza Sá (a favourite musician and photographer of mine) to chat about her musical beginnings, creativity, photography, sexism, of a show that opened her mind and her obsession with astrology!

What drew you to first pick up an instrument?
My family, I think. My dad always played the guitar, my mom always sang a lot and my uncle is a great, great musician. So my dad gave me an acoustic guitar when I was young but I never took lessons, and I regret that. Me and my cousin would hang around my uncle’s studio all the time and just play around.

How did you learn to play? You’re self-taught right? Do you use your intuition to play?
I guess I use whatever I have, I don’t know if it’s intuition or just plain trying out, I know I have lots of limitations and many times I get frustrated. The other day I was talking to Janine (Planning to Rock) and she is this amazing classic violin player and she was like telling me she thinks limitations are a good thing, so I guess the grass is always greener.

You play a few different instruments which one do you enjoy playing most?
I play a few ones VERY badly. I really like drums and I love the bass, especially to write, it just feels more simple and ultimately the piano is the most visual amazing instrument, the downside is that you can’t like take a piano everywhere like you can do with a guitar.

When it comes to creating music would you describe yourself as more a ‘thinker’ or a ‘feeler’? Why?
I have no clue. For me creating music sometimes is very rewarding and relaxing and sometimes is awful, sometimes it’s fast and painless and many times you make 20 songs and they all suck. I guess I’m more of a feeler but then you have to step back and look at it again and be the thinker. I guess it should be the feeler before the thinker. Unless you’re so fluent and good that you have the producer mind and I’m not like that at all, so I guess it’s all feeler in the end.

I’ve read you comment in a previous interview that growing up bands like Hole, Bikini Kill and L7 were big inspirations for you and that “seeing girls doing it [playing music]—it had a different level of connection” – please tell me a little bit about this connection you experienced?
Well, the world is still a sexist place, even if it’s so much better than what it used to be, I remember as a kid in Brazil realizing that it was easier to be boys because they didn’t have to wash the dishes, they could just sit and drink beer while the wives would take care of the that boring work and I just could not agree to it so I would not help out sometimes because I thought it was unfair. But then I grew up and I realized I would never want to be a man just because they usually have a more narrow point-of-view on things and also the sexism thing can be really bad for them too because, at least in Brazil, boys can’t really dress up crazy or like hug each other, cry, stuff like that, so I guess I would always love bands with men or women on it but to see a woman being free and doing it felt super inspirational because that’s someone who has to have an extra layer of courage, even if people can disagree with that. Nirvana was amazing and he was a punk and represented something that wasn’t conventional at all but Kurt Cobain was still American, white, blond and beautiful so I feel more connected to Hole, L7 and Bikini Kill at the time, just more identified. And I remember when I discovered Joan Jett!

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Last night independent Gold Coast store Sneak & Destroy (which has the goods if you’re looking for quality sneakers, clothing, hats, toys, decks and random cool things) in partnership with Vans presented One Offs II – an evening for emerging and professional artist’s to showcase their talents by producing a ‘OneOff’ custom design on classic sneaker silhouette – at Comb Gallery, Coolangatta with a party at Neverland Bar following. There was so much awesomeness! I can’t wait for the next one! My favourites of the night were by Team Kitten (pictured above)!

Kid 9

Kiel Tillman

Nick Chalmers

Layla Knight

Dane Williams

The Blind Kid

Claudio Kirac

Shida

Squidtank

You can check out photos of the first One Offs here.

Support local business and artists!!

Create Forever!

I’m a huge fan of Carolina Echeverri’s art and of the inspiring lady herself – she’s one of the coolest people I’ve never met (in person, yet!). US art magazine Juxtapoz is also a big fan, making one of Carolina’s photographs ‘Pic of the Day’ at Juxtapoz mag online. She has also worked with many of my favourite bands and friends’ bands such as The Bronx, Bad Religion, Tiger Army, Devotchka and more as the Head of Marketing & PR at Epitaph/Anti Records in Europe. She recently left the world of Epitaph to move to Denmark, her days are now filled with managing Dutch quintet Alamo Race Track and the Danish painter SCRMN as well as focusing on her beloved art.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.
I’m a 31-year-old Colombian expatriate who lived and worked in Amsterdam submerged in a world full of the best musicians and artists one could hope to work with. This last June I decided to run away with the Danish circus and I now awake every morning in lovely Copenhagen, next to the man I love, still spending every awaken hour of my day with my hands in the art mud, either as a music manager, a painter’s manager or on my own art and photography.

When did you start down the creative path?
This is always an interesting question, and I would like an answer that I’ve always been on the creative path, and so are most of us. When it was a conscious decision to make art versus an intuitive need? I’d say very early teens. It took years after settling in the Netherlands before I could get my head around to sitting and grabbing materials again. For years I kept all art inside my home, for inner purposes and myself only, but it was only a few years back – influenced by my man – that I decided to make my art a formal débutant.

Do you have any ‘official’ qualifications? Do you think having formal training is important to what you do?
[Laughs] I am afraid I don’t, I actually have an International Business degree. I know, doesn’t sound very art nor punk, but good warriors fight from the inside. I think my vote goes to the party whose beliefs include that craftsmanship can be taught, but artists are born.

What makes your artistic style different?
It’s my style on the basis that it’s my own sentiments, needs, expressions and memories collaged in techniques (sometimes straight forward ones, sometimes mutated and hybridized to fit my demands). I find it a bit difficult to say it’s different as the context of different can be rather skewed. Different from whose? People out there? But who ARE these people? Do you know all these people? Do I know all these people? These artists? It’s hard to say when we know so very little about the world we live in. I am of the belief that the bits we do know we recycle to our own manner, they make imprints in our brain and they come out slightly changed from our hands and mouths. Can things be then the same? Or the opposite, can they ever be really different? …… it’s a very tough question. A good question. What do you think?

What do you do to nurture your creativity?
Live, every day at a time pretty much. For me it’s important to spend enough time by myself to listen internally to what’s going on inside, which I find hard to do in this day and age. Silence awakes the soul sometimes as much a music does, so both are basic creative engines for me.

Going to exhibitions and museums also really gets my head and heart going; I get extremely inspired by staring at other people’s great works of art. Hammershøi, Nadar, Bellmer, Kahlo, Ray, Botero, etc, etc….

What’s your favourite thing you’ve created so far?
There isn’t just one, I really like the “Cowboys, Egyptians and Us” and “Klamperborgvej” photos, but I also love the Memento Mori I transfer collage. At the same time I must admit I am always more excited about the stuff I’m cooking in my head more than the ones that are already hanging.

Is your art inspired by music?
As I said before they are creative engines, I need them as sun and water, but my inspiration doesn’t come for music per se, it’s a mood setter. THE moodsetter.

What do you listen to while creating your pieces?
Usually music that can strongly swing my emotions. A lot of Tom Waits, a lot! The Cramps, Nick Cave, (The/El) Bronx, Wilco, Son House, Whitmore, Califone, Face To Face, Sparklehorse, DeVotchKa, Tiger Army, Alamo Race Track, Sage Francis, Social D and sometimes, if the day is right some Chopin every once in a while…

Who do you look up to in the creative world and what is it about them that appeals to you?
Botero for me is a great inspiration, it might be a countryman thing, but he can like no other painter alive for me do beautiful images, highlighting sarcastically the message and still be romantic, political, satirist and dark, even when the images are so colored. As a famous artist (Now that Twombly has passed I think he is in the Top 4 best-selling living artists today..) he has given a lot to his country, in unaccountable forms, he is very much Colombian in his passion and humbleness.

As a photographer I think Ray and Nadar are right at the top, with both expression and experimentation. Musicians, all the above, I love and look up to, I respect them for many different reasons but I think if you read the names you know the common thread that carries them all….it’s an unforgiving honesty in their art, a fighters approach and relentless talent in their specific fields, as different as they may be.

What motivates you to do what you do?
Pure need of expression, it needs to leave my body and be itself before I drown in it. Or the need to captivate something so beautiful my head will never comprehend enough in its greatness to be able to duplicate in memory.

What sites do you have bookmarked/subscribe to for an inspirational fix?
I don’t really use them as inspiration, but I like reading Boing Boing and the Guardian and NYT’s Cultural section.

What projects are you currently working on?
I am currently working on a museum exhibition of my European cemeteries pictures in Medellin Colombia (where my paternal family is from). There cemeteries are also national patrimony displaying one’s art, history and culture, my aim is to show the 19th century European counterparts to the people in lovely Medellin.

I also just got asked to do a project, a “still life” to be broadcasted in a cultural, political and technological local TV show in Amsterdam. I’ll be recreating it to be broadcasted live and discussed in their program. It’s very exciting as it’s a great Colombian video artist living in the Netherlands who asked me, Raul Marroquin, feel free to look him up!

For more of Carolina’s art!

CREATE FOREVER!!

One of the most significant things that have come to pass in my hiatus from ConversationsWithBianca.com, is the official launch of my Conversations With Punx: A Spiritual Dialogue project into the world.

On September 2 the Paper Cuts (zine) Collective  held a triple-zine launch (featuring Conversations with Punx) at the Bleeding Heart Gallery Brisbane, Australia. The following media/bloggers/photographers were wonderful enough to come along and document the launch:

(please click on links for more photos)

Felinedown frontwoman Brodie-Ann & me

Hobo DJs provided the rockin’ soundtrack for the event

Ant & Arig were the best merch table crew a gal could ask for!

Sean Henry artist & tattooist provided live art

(L to R): Matisse-Rose Valentino, Lauren, me, Leasha, Amy-Lou = mi familia!

by Mischa Photography

me and my lovely friend Annie chatting in front of J.R.Hobo’s ‘Rise Above’ art work (one of my favourites)

Correspondence I have received from various artists over the years was on display… (l to R) a letter and self-portrait from the Hives frontman Pelle Almqvist; handwritten interviews answers and self-portrait from pro-skater/artist Ed Templeton; handwritten answers + self-portrait by H20′s Toby Morse; Miss Bianca press.

by Collapse Board

CWP Book Covers (scheduled for a late 2011 release) + ad for CWP & CWP exhibition flyer by Jhonny Hobo

my journey so far… flyers, set lists, zines, backstage passes, photos were on display and brought back some vivid memories for some :)

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez by Andy Hobo

by Project 4000

Jhonny & me at the zine fair

by Vague Culture

the set-up… it was a REALLY long day!

by The Screaming Wall

zine fair… connection!

by Sticky Institute

All of the art featured as part of the CWP exhibit was INCREDIBLE! A big thank you to all the artists that contributed works (post featuring some of the works coming soon!)

Thank you with my whole heart to all of you who made it to the launch (and the zine fair the next evening). It was so wonderful to meet many of you and finally put a face to the correspondence I receive. Thank you for sharing your stories and experiences with me, so nice to meet like-minded people.

I will be announcing the details of Conversations With Punx Zine Two in a post this week. To all of you that brought CWP Zine One featuring: Don Letts, Ian MacKaye, Johnny Siera, Greg Attonito & Shanti Wintergate and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez or subscribed THANK YOU! At the end of this week (ending October 10) I will be retiring Zine One so if you haven’t ordered it yet and want it, now is the time to get it. Conversations With Punx is a limited edition zine series.

In the last 43 days I have also been busy with lots of interviews. In Australia we’re just coming into the spring/summer music festival/touring season—so expect Conversations with Bianca to fire up again in the coming weeks as lots of artists head to our shores.

My recent conversations include: Fat Mike (NOFX), Bedouin Soundclash, Bill Stevenson (the Descendents/All/Black Flag), Less Than Jake, the Bouncing Souls, the Bronx, Amity Affliction, the Charlatans, Sage Francis, the John Steel Singers and Parkway Drive. Next week I’m locked in to speak to Mouse On Mars from Germany. I also wrote a 30 Years of Bad Religion feature for Australian Hysteria Magazine (Australia’s newest independent punk publication). Interview posts and extracts coming soon.

Wishing my dear friend John Joseph a Happy Birthday!

Love & light,

I enjoy art. I enjoy creating. I enjoy creating art to give to my friends. The pieces above reside in the studio of my best friend Ant Aggs (Afro Dizzi Act/Resin Dogs/Gonzalez 3). I made the pieces when we lived together with Grover & Lua at the Teague Street Club House. I used to stay up at night writing and would listen to Ant’s beat making drift through the walls. The two pieces reflect our mutual love of music and creation–of building something.

They’re falling apart now… they’ve been well loved. Time to make something new methinks.

Sometimes we make music together:

Fly Away (Aggs/Rose) by Rosy B

This track is called Fly Away. Ant made the beat, I wrote the words/melody. We both sing. We have an albums worth of ambient electronica… hopefully one day we’ll get to share it.

Have a creative weekend!