If you’re not familiar with this project, that is so very dear to my heart and always a constant work in progress, go here to learn more. The issue features: Duane Peters & Corey Parks, Franklin Rhi, Ben Weasel, Russ Rankin, Brad Warner and Lord Ezec (snippets from the chats below). CWP #7 comes in a variety of (200gsm cardboard) covers including purple, blue and green, featuring heart cut-outs in its design and a decorative lace feature. I’ve also handwritten the introduction in every single zine! Subscriber zines will be mailed out first thing tomorrow morning. If you’re interested in getting a copy please email me: conversationswithbianca [at] gmail [dot] com.

Duane Peters & Corey Parks snippet:

DUANE PETERS: …Religion is all about fear. Spirituality is all about yourself and tapping into something else that’s bigger than you that’s maybe running the show. Maybe not just one thing but an element of things—you can tap into good shit or you can tap into negative shit.

The word ‘spirituality’ only makes me think ‘hippie’ because of the way I was bought up. In the early punk rock days it was against the law to be spiritual so you never did it. You ran off fear, ego and through battling this that and the other and not dying. You came to the conclusion—if your brain is still working by the time you get to the conclusion—that maybe something else is running the show. Maybe I can tap into some of that. Maybe it’ll help me lighten up. Maybe it’ll help me find something. Maybe it will help me get out of this fear running the show and ego.

COREY PARKS: I’m about nine years off from Duane. He’s a ‘Kennedy era’ kid and I’m more of a Baptist upbringing, the Rapture and a lot of hell, fire and damnation, the devil.

DP: My grandpa was a Baptist minister. There’s all this heavy religion on one side of my family and the other side are cool.

CP: I was born and raised in Southern California in the 70s. My parents were hippies and the only church my mum took us to was self-realisation fellowship, meditation class and the whole concept of there being a power greater than myself. It’s a little bit closer to what I’ve come to believe as an adult. It was a real positive thing. ‘Spirituality’ was a word that I always associated with God not religion that was always too scary and weird to me… like the Revelation, that was all such weird science fiction.

Ben Weasel snippet:

BEN WEASEL: …I had a little revelation when I came home from Baltimore and I knew a door was closing. I knew that it didn’t have anything to do with me in a sense. For years I sat around and had these ideas, almost these revenge fantasies about how I leave music and I’ll make a big announcement and I’ll walk off into the sunset and tell everyone to fuck off! That is like my happiest fantasy [laughs]. That’s not what this was though; a door was closing and one of the things I realised is that, even though this part of my life is pretty much over, it’s not necessarily completely over. I don’t have to close the door completely. I don’t have to go anywhere. I can continue to work with and ideally mentor young bands, which I enjoy doing, and if one day an opportunity comes up to play a set, I’ll go do that. If an opportunity comes up and I can tape some of my songs I have, then sure, assuming I have the time. It’s not a matter of leaving it behind, it’s about leaving behind my attachments to all that. You don’t have to leave music or the scene behind you just leave your attachments to it. Once you do that ironically, you’ll enjoy it more.

Ben photo by Marc Gartner.

Brad Warner snippet:

BRAD WARNER: When someone asked the guitarist from The Cramps – Poison Ivy – if she had some advice for girls wanting to play the guitar she said: Give up, don’t even try. That comes to mind. There are things in the so-called spiritual world and religion that are worthwhile. You shouldn’t just reject everything straightaway just because it seems religious. It’s more to the point of just staying true to you. A lot of the problem is that people just fall into the same patterns, like how the punk rock way of dressing became just a uniform in the same way that everybody else has to have Louis Vuitton bags or whatever the trend is. When everyone in the punk scene has to have a leather jacket, exactly the right leather jacket, it kind of loses its meaning at that point.

Brad photo by Svetlana Dekic.

Lord Ezec snippet:

LORD EZEC: …If you don’t believe in yourself, who the hell will? …I do everything at 110%.  I am like a pit-bull; I can’t do it half assed.  Got to go with all heart and balls!  There is always someone younger than you, smarter than you, better looking than you and more talented than you who is willing to sell their soul to take your place! You can’t let them take your ground.  You’ve got to fight for what is yours and guard it with dear life.  You’ve also got to understand that it is not only about you, your fans are the reason why you are where you are so you got to be cool to them.  Also remember where you came from.  That is why I always tell people I am from Queens!

Ezec photo by Estevan Oriol.

Franklin Rhi snippet:

FRANKLIN RHI: When I was leading a straight edge kind of lifestyle, I did it because I got into the Krishna movement and the Hare Krishna philosophy. I never got into it because ‘Ray (Cappo) of Today’ told me not to have a beer. Getting into those kinds of bands added to my revolutionary spirit at the time, it made me look at things a lot deeper.

The first band I joined was 108. That band had a lot of spirit. You felt that on stage. Everyone in the band was a devotee. The more people you have that follow the exact same thing makes things a lot stronger on stage. Visually people feel it. Vic [DiCara] was living in the temple, Rob [Fish] was living in the temple, and I was living in the temple. Same thing with Shelter. People can see straight up if you’re following what you are preaching. I don’t really want to spill dirt on any body’s lap but, some of the things I saw in those bands also drove me away from the whole spirituality thing.

Russ Rankin snippet:

RUSS RANKIN: …I can think about being a better person all day long. I can think about being a better citizen. I can think about making then world a better place but, unless I’m taking action it’s just thoughts. When I take action my thinking follows. The first few simple steps of hitting my knees and saying these words, saying these prayers – even though I didn’t believe there was anything out there listening to them – the fact that I was taking action caused my thinking to change.

A big thank you to everyone I had a chat with for this issue, love you guys lots! Thanks for inspiring my life with your creations. Thank you to the photographers who let me use their beautiful work. Thanks to my dear friend Franklin Rhi for being all kinds of awesome! Much love to my subscribers for being patient, supporting this project and being interested in it… you all mean the world to me. Thanks Jhonny for the constant inspiration and for being the best person ever! And lastly, thanks to Vincent for the quality control help ;)

Gratitude, Love & Light,

When I started interviewing bands for my zines I often got them to draw a self-portrait of their band or themselves. The results were always pretty darn cool! This is the first in a series of posts a little like the popular Dear Bianca… Correspondence From posts. First up for Art Party is a Sick Of It All self-portrait by drummer Armand Majidi. I first met Sick Of It All in the 90s the first time they toured to my hometown Brisbane, Australia. They played at venue Crash N Burn, peep the set-list below too!

Sharing is caring! ;)

*All photos by my pal UK photographer Nathan Hicks!

ConversationsWithBianca.com readers will know that I love cupcakes and that I also love supporting local independent business! Babington House makes some of my favourite cupcakes on the Gold Coast. They use the finest ingredients, organic and Fairtrade wherever possible, free range eggs, unbleached flours, Lindt Chocolate, Dutch cocoa and will make you any flavour that your heart (and stomach) desires! Flavours include coffee, chilli-chocolate, Shiraz with dark chocolate, wasabi-white choc-lychee, strawberry, lavender, watermelon, red velvet, pumpkin pie, cherry, peanut butter, apple crumble and more, along with traditional staples such as vanilla and chocolate; there are even alcohol-tinged treats: The Mighty Beer cupcake (that actually looks like a beer in a glass) and the Cosmopolitan. Their delectable award-winning creations are made from scratch and are “not for the faint hearted” – folks have also described them as classy, intriguing and elegant. Babington supports great causes (World Wildlife Fund, RSPCA) too!

Today is the grand opening of their first store/kiosk located in Surfers Paradise in the Centro Mall (between Adorn Jewellery & Ice Clothing) be sure to check it out if you’re in the neighbourhood. Opening day flavours include: Rum & Coke, Chilli-choc, Bubblegum, Passionfruit, Mango & Pineapple, White Choc & Coconut, Coffee, Red Velvet, Marble, Caramel-choc, Blueberry & Lemon, Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry.

Here’s my chat with the lady behind Babington House, Jenna Chainberlain.

What inspired you to start Babington House? I know that your mum is a big inspiration.
JENNA CHAINBERLAIN: My Mum loves cupcakes! There was a new place opening up that was getting huge reviews so I took her there, they were really disappointing! We tried the “Lemon Meringue”—it had no curd and no meringue! It got me thinking that surely I could do better and create really amazing, different cupcakes that people don’t usually see so, I created the Babington Lemon Meringue cupcake, filled with curd and topped with real meringue!

Tell us about Babington’s beginnings.
JC: It was definitely a lot harder than I thought it would be…it was a cupcake… how hard could it be? Well, it took nine months to perfect our “12 original range” recipes, which Wesley still classes as the best of our cupcakes ever made. It was a lot of early morning starts at markets, handing out flyers & just trying to get our name out there.

What’s your first cupcake related memory?
JC: I was nine years old and creating Edwardian style cupcakes (two cupcakes removed from their cases – one is placed upside down and the other on top to create an hourglass shape), I was trying to decorate them and nothing was working, they looked awful. I got so upset that I threw it out the window and said I never want to do this again… ever! Never say never!

What makes a Babington cupcake special? How do we know it’s a Babington?
JC: Babington cupcakes are special because of the quality ingredients we use. You can tell a Babington cupcake by the taste and texture of the cupcake; we use sour cream in the base, so it has a more dense ‘New York’ style rather than a sponge texture. Also, we put a sprinkling of edible glitter on every cupcake.

Babington’s cupcakes are made from organic and Fairtrade ingredients wherever possible as well as being made from scratch (unfortunately not something everyone does), why was this important?
JC: It was important to use the best ingredients in order to have a superior product. Organic means there has been no manipulation with the product and it is completely natural, you can really taste the difference. Using Fairtrade products helps to provide better working conditions for poverty stricken workers and families, which I think is a great cause.

What are some of Babington’s customer favourites?
JC: Most people still choose the classic flavours Vanilla & Chocolate, but Red velvet has definitely been popular lately.

What is the healthiest cupcake you sell?
JC: The healthiest order we ever had was for a gluten, egg & dairy free cupcake tower. We try to cater for our customer; luckily we don’t get too many of those orders.

What is the strangest cupcake you’ve made?
JC: The strangest ideas usually come from Wes. He made a balsamic vinegar, strawberry and cracked black pepper cupcake—it was named The Wesley. It was absolutely beautiful! If you can get the balance of flavours it just works.

What’s your personal favourite cupcake and why do you love it so much?
JC: My personal favourite is the “Babington Signature” cupcake, caramel is my favourite. I wanted to create a cupcake that was filled with caramel, a little bit fancy and just a really sexy cupcake to look at.

Last year Babington won 50% of the awards given out for cupcakes at the Royal Sydney Fine Food Show and won awards in Tastes of Gold Coast’s inaugural cupcake competition; what did that mean to you?
JC: To win awards at the Sydney Food Show was amazing! You have people from all over showcasing their goods, to win 4 out of 8 was awesome and then, to find out that you were the first cupcakes from QLD to ever win there was just the cherry on the cupcake. Tastes of Gold Coast was good, it was just a bit of fun.

Clients have included the likes of Hard Rock Café and Swarovski; what is your favourite custom order you’ve created so far?
JC: The best custom order would have to be the Spongebob cupcakes! I remember watching cooking shows and reading cake books and just thinking, I wish I could do that. Making them really showed me what I was capable of. The casino cupcakes are a really close second.

What’s been the most exciting event you’ve provided cupcakes for?
JC: I think it would have to be the Hard Rock Café. The team there are really great and I can’t wait to see the finished product! It’s going to look hot!

You’re a qualified chef that has been creating excellence in food for almost a decade at places such as Vanita’s at Palazzo Versace, cooking for the likes of AC/DC, Michael Schumacher and Lupe Fiasco; what’s the greatest compliment you’ve ever received about your work?
JC: It would have to be when I just started as Head Chef at a ski resort in New Zealand. All of a sudden the restaurant was fully booked; it was just me and my new Sous Chef. It was the most fast paced service I have ever had, but it ran smoothly. After it was all over I had this guy walk up to the pass and say it was the best meal he and his family have ever had, they had been coming to the mountain for 10 years! It was an awesome feeling, knowing that we were so under the pump with just the two of us and that we served great food. Also, we just recently received a comment on Facebook saying: Your cupcakes are the best I have ever tasted, even better than Magnolia Bakery (the New York bakery credited with starting the ‘cupcake craze’ in the 90s and that featured in Sex & the City and Devil Wears Prada)—that was pretty cool.

Marco Pierre White is one of your role models as a chef; what do you admire most about him and his work?
JC: He has worked so extremely hard to get where he is today and his quest for perfection is incredible. He just has this strong, intimidating presence about him that I love.

Why was it important to Babington to support organisations such as the RSPCA, World Wildlife Fund and FishFight.net?
JC: My Mum (again) is a Vet and loves animals, which has rubbed off on me. Our house was always a sanctuary/retirement home for any animal that nobody wanted or that just walked in. Also, it saddens me to think that I may live to see a beautiful animal become extinct because of our own doing. I think it’s disgusting how their environment/homes are destroyed or how they are killed for sport so, I like to try and help wherever I can to try and prevent this.

What plans are in Babington’s future?
JC: To open a few stores across states. Eventually I would like to have a Babington fine food range… watch this space!

For more Babington House. Join Babington House on facebook.

I heart Babington!

I first came across Berlin-based Ella’s music via her project Jools Hunter (she was also in Go Die Big City along with label-mate Monsterheart’s Anna Attar). Ella’s music is electronic, experimental, whimsical and at times intense. She’s currently focusing on latest project UMA, with her husband.

What kind of music would you say that you make?
ELLA: Experimental pop Music or maybe Flower Goth?

How did you first come to making/playing music?
E: I started playing music when I was 6 years old. I think like lots of people did I started with playing the recorder, then started the piano 4 years later and did not stop taking classes till I was 19.

What does music mean to you?
E: Music is like drinking the tea I need to drink every morning if I want to have a good morning.
It calms me down to play/make music when I am stressed, it makes me feel good when I am in a bad mood, it makes my mood even better when I am already in a good mood.

Last year, you were a participant in the Red Bull Music Academy; can you tell me about your experience of it?
E: Red Bull Music Academy was the kind of school-trip you never had in school but sometimes imagined. With the 29 best classmates you can wish for. It was also super intense, but in a very good way. You get overwhelmed with impression just to get send home after it and feel like after a very long sleep.

I highly recommend everyone who is into music to apply! He/She will not meet my new friends which are the best on earth, but I am quite sure that there will be plenty of new people you will get to know and fall in love with instantly cause the people from Red Bull do a really good matching job.

You were born in Austria and are based in Berlin; (based on your personal experience) what are the music communities like in each place? Are there a lot of differences or similarities?
E: Where I grew up and lived for 18 years in Austria, there was only the church choir, the male choir, the the musical school with all it’s classes and that was basically it. I mean don’t get me wrong, it was still nice and I loved to sing in the church choir and be part of the musical school but it was all very shortsighted and you could feel very early that there must be more.

Berlin is great in these terms. I mean there are tons of concert of every kind of music you can think of. There is so much going on that you can’t really keep track. Community wise I am not really integrated in one specific. I know a lot of different people. To break it down to it´s basis it´s maybe the people with an art background and the people with more an indie background, but also those boundaries blur easily. I love Berlin for it’s diversity and for the possibilities it gives you!

What projects are you currently working on?
E: Currently I am working on UMA! UMA is me and my husband, it is sort of the natural continuation of Jools Hunter or something very natural Jools Hunter wanted to do forever. We are going to release an EP via Seayou Records plus a 3 song 7“ on Enraptured Records in May; we are shooting video(s) for this EP, but also already started working on our Longplayer which should come out in winter I guess! And then concerts, concerts, concerts!

What are your songs inspired by?
E: Palm trees, gravity, inventing differences, the other side of the moon, chaotic systems, the solutions of first and second degree equations, alien reptiles, mirapuri, strictly wasteful histrionics, positively endless possibilities and love; but basically it’s palmtrees I guess!

When do you like to write them and where?
E: When I am in a very calm mood in my studio, ’cause there it is very calm as well.
I read you played your first shows as Jools Hunter mid-last year. What was that first show like? How were you feeling at the time?
E: The first show was in terms of the crowd and the show a good show I guess, but I was freakish nervous. And when I am freakish nervous I tend to talk weird and the thing with first shows is, that there are basically mainly friends and their friends, and then you are nervous and act weird. Thats just a bit weird and also a bit emotinally challenging I guess.

How would you describe performing for you?
E:  …and then the concert starts!

What is your favourite song to sing live and why?
E: It’s Drop Your Soul, ’cause I am just so used to this song and put so much work into it, so that I feel really comfortable singing it, even the very high parts of it!

What do you do that’s creative when not making music?
E: I am writing a lot and currently I got really into working with paper as we are shooting our first video and I can´t afford super expensive designer creations and just decided to build my own dresses. In lack of a sewing machine I chose paper/cardboard and am now folding and rolling a lot.

What do you do to nurture your creativity?
E: Sleeping and reading and being very observing in daily live. I am huge fan of human behaviour in public situations.

I’ve noticed online, you’ve mention things such as alien reptiles, Mirapuri and the cosmos; where does your interest in these things stem from? What are your thoughts on each?
E: Hui, ok, let’s see. I came up with all of those during writing my first presstext ever and it´s a bit odd to write your own presstext, as a press text is for promotion uses and then again you somehow want to “sell” something and when it is you it feels veeeeery strange to do so… But here you go:

Alien-reptiles: As I am not a huge fan of animals in general and reptiles especially, alien reptiles are in this context the worst thing that I can imagine to meet. Even though I love space, imagine an animal from an alien planet! I think on them it is fear and the energy what comes with it, and the question why am I afraid in general that is very interesting.

In terms of getting to know yourself better. Mirapuri: altered to myself, the idea of ideal in reference to normality in the sense of “humans are the norm” is a very interesting one, as the question of, is there an ideal in general and how do you ‘norm’ it and what does it give you in exchange. But in general it’s more about this, ’cause I am not that much of a spiritual person, the question what would make me start believe in such a strong and consequent way. I mean, I think it is sort of pretty crazy, this whole mirapuri thing, but in it’s craziness really interesting and fun. This can get a bit out of hand, so maybe it would be easier to just watch this movie.

Where are some places that you like to hang out?
E: Really boring but super honest: my bed. Really exciting but maybe made up: in underground systems on the hunt for some special noises!

What’s something that you would really like to do one day?
E: I would love to live somewhere in the alps, with my studio floating over a slope and behind that the house, with my bedroom towards the woods. I would just like to live there, make music, read and write stuff and scare my kids with weird stories and embarress them.

What’s your greatest vision for Jools Hunter?
E: Oh Jools Hunter should spread around the world being really influential above kids under 10 cause of the wisdom she can spread, haha, no honestly, I really hope that one day when I am old, I will be able to be proud of everything I did, or at least the most parts of it, but in general I hope to be able to say I tried, I always tried to be honest and sincere with myself and my surrounding and while saying that I want to be able to throw big notes out of the window at my studio, down the valley, ha ha  and afterwards go to my little space shuttle and take my kids to a one day trip to the moon. yeah, that would be great!

UMA:

JOOLS HUNTER – SILVER BIRDS IN DANCE by SEAYOU

For more UMA. UMA mixtapes.

Create forever!

*Photos courtesy of UMA’s facebook.

HI MY NAME IS ELINE ADAM. I’m in the Belgium band Little Trouble Kids. We like to call our music noisepop. Recently we’ve been into the music of Cat Stevens -Tea For The Tillerman. For some reason, I can sing along with almost every song. I asked my mother about it, and apparently she had the vinyl when I was a baby (or at least very little), so maybe on a subconscious level, Cat Stevens is my first (musical) memory although, I didn’t know it until now. I first wanted to play music because my brother pushed me. He’s 6 years older than me and wanted to have a rock band. For his ultimate rock band, he wanted a female bass player like Kim Deal, D’arcy or Kim Gordon—he wanted me to be that girl. I started to play bass, he started doing something else. My musical hero is David Bowie because he’s so versatile, he always made extremely intelligent fun and adventurous music; he made people dream with his persona and his music—he created worlds. Sometimes I’m a bit pissed at bands who look like the guys-next-door, although we’re not so flamboyant either. Our music is inspired by our everyday life. It’s our way of dealing with everything. We’re a little bit sensitive, and that’s just the perfect way to make us sane. We write music in our house, when we don’t have to do our regular day jobs. Just on the sofa together. Playing live shows for me is my most outspoken me, a place where I can (or must) go nuts and spit out everything I don’t dare to say or to be in normal live. It feels great! We play a lot live in Belgium and the Netherlands. My favourite song to sing live depends on the mood I’m in, but there really isn’t a clear winner. I like to sing Feed On Love, our new single, because it’s a bit romantic and we have done that a lot. The song by another artist I would love to lay claim to is Everyday by Buddy Holly, it’s the most perfect pure pop song ever made, and that’s something I would like to make. Our latest release is Adventureland, a trip down our head (ha ha) we recorded it with Micha Volders (you really should check out Vermin Twins), Tim Vanhamel (Millionaire, Eagles of Death Metal) and our own mixer Jan Stoop in the Ardennes in Belgium. We locked ourselves up (no phone, no internet) and just recorded the stuff we had. We’re a bit no-nonsense. Adventureland is about how we look at the Belgian music scene today. The music community where we live (Ghent, Belgium) is a small student town, with a lot of bars where they play live music. I think in the city you can see free concerts every day and that’s really great. When we were still studying we always hung out in these bars, everybody played in at least one band. So there is a really vibrant music scene in Ghent and definitely also in Antwerp, but as a Belgian band, it’s really hard to get out of your city and go abroad. When I’m not creating music I do a lot of stuff for the band. I make all the artwork and videos, I made little ‘velt’ puppets. Thomas (Werbrouck, Little Trouble Kids’ other half) is a writer. We both deejay.  I work as a volunteer guide in a museum; it’s called the Doctor Guislain Museum. It’s a museum about the history of psychiatry and ‘outsider’ art, it’s located in the oldest (and still working) psychiatry in Belgium. For me, it’s a getaway place in the city of Ghent, really pretty and restful, you’re surrounded by art and crazy people. One day we would like to move to the country, have a house with our own studio and a big swimming pond, and I want a donkey (a silent donkey). Currently we’re touring with our new album (we just came back from a tour with dEUS in Eastern Europe) and are slowly beginning to work on new material. I also just bought a piano. We just want to make music we like, that’s really the only project we ever worked on.

For more Little Trouble Kids.

Create forever!

*Photos courtesy of Little Trouble Kids’ facebook.

I LOVE Peter Pants! They frickin’ rule! They’ve been described as “music meant to send you into a state of catatonic pleasure.” They are sooooooo much fun! Have a listen for yourself… here’s a Q&A with the whole band!

How did you first come to making music?
MICHAEL: I first came into making music by just jamming with friends in middle school and high school. We would play for hours just making noise and trying to play faster and faster than we were actually capable of doing.

LIA: I started off after being around a bunch of jamming stoners that my older brother hung out with as a teenager and just loved the sound and energy that surrounded the room, which led me to take drum lessons when I was nine. As a group, we found each other in the L.A. scene by going to the Smell a lot and became close friends, which kind of just led us to make music together. It was kind of just a silly idea at first, to play with some ideas and write some silly lyrics but it’s beginning to get a lot deeper than that.

What does music mean to you?
LIA: To me it’s a soulful experience of working your creative minds to come up with something that no one else can, to expand and find diversity. It finds meaning in so much of what the world can’t explain in our daily lives. It’s freedom and a combination of all feelings relatable to people but coming from your own heart.

MICHAEL: To me music is just a very noisy expression of someone’s inner emotions (or lack thereof).

GREG: I guess for me music means story-telling. It doesn’t even have to tell a cohesive story or one that you can figure out, but as long as it can take me places or change my mood, just as any story can do, I feel like it has done its job.

What kind of music do you play?
LIA: It’s a mess of fast garage rock, but I wouldn’t categorize it as that. We always keep the live show in mind and how we would like to satisfy the crowd with songs to get people dancing or singing along. Those are most musicians’ goals though, right?

GREG: I mostly end up making fun party punk style songs but love to play just about anything I can.

MICHAEL: Free punk and jazz rock.

NIKKI: Fast, energetic, blunt and innocent tunes.

A lot of things I’ve read online seem to mention ‘Riot Grrrl’ in connection with Peter Pants; did you grow up listening to it?
NIKKI: We all listened to it to a certain extent, but never intended for Peter Pants to be a “riot grrrl” band.

MICHAEL: When I was in middle school I first started getting into the Kill Rock Stars label so I had always been aware of Bikini Kill and Sleater Kinney, but it wasn’t until I saw Mika Miko play when I was in high school that I totally immersed myself in all of those bands and started listening to all of those bands discographies (as well as their older bands like Heaven’s to Betsy and Excuse 17).

How did you all meet?
LIA: Nikki and I were in all-girl band, Ostrich Eyes together beforehand and when that didn’t work out we made Peter Pants. Greg and Michael were part of the same scene that we were around every day and kind of just decided that we’d work well in a band together.

GREG: It’s actually a long story but to make it short, I met Nikki thru Sean Solomon from Moses Campbell, met Michael thru Sean as well but had seen Michael for years around shows and at parties before finally meeting him. And met Lia in a friend’s backyard the day Nikki agreed to play in her band Ostrich Eyes.

I’ve read that Peter Pants love Australia’s AC/DC! When did you first hear them and what is it you like about them so much?
NIKKI: When we were youngn’s! First riff I learned on guitar was Back in Black, followed by Come As You Are by Nirvana.

MICHAEL: I was about 4 or 5 when I first heard Back in Black, my dad is a huge AC/DC fan, and as a result, I became a huge fan. Back in Black was actually the first song I learned to play on guitar. I think what I like about them so much is how funny they are in their live performances; from the school boy outfits to the over the top stage show.

GREG: You know I first heard them probably on the radio, and I can’t even tell you a song of theirs. All I can say is that they have nice shorts.

I noticed on the Peter Pants tumblr there’s a picture of Lia and Michael drawn by David Liebe Hart from Tim and Eric, you met him on a talk show; please tell me about the experience. Are you big Tim and Eric fans?
NIKKI: Fans? Oh yeah. I would run into David in different parts of L.A. he would sell his music that he carried with him in a briefcase, and talk shit on Tim and Eric. They fired him on their last season, and my friend purchased 30 dollars of his music. We performed on The Del Talk Show, the experience was anything but boring.

GREG: Well meeting him on the talk show was the second time meeting him. I just said ‘hi’ to him more or less but he asked Nikki out on a date and did talk about Aliens and punk rock. He’s a really nice guy. And I would say that I’m a small Tim and Eric fan. Haven’t seen much of them but I don’t dislike them by any means.

LIA: OH yes, oh yes. DLH is a great guy, asked Nikki and I for our numbers but was very sweet. What a character. He has a puppet dog that’s really dirty.

MICHAEL: The experience was great, he’s exactly how he is on Awesome Show: Great Job! He’s also a really friendly guy who loves talking with everyone, and yes we are HUGE Tim and Eric fans. I actually saw the movie in theatres when Tim and Eric were doing a Q&A before the movie.

What are your songs inspired by?
LIA: The L.A. scene and our love/hate for it, summer 2010, summer 1945, AC/DC, 7-11 Slurpees, and dreadlocks.

GREG: For me musically the songs are heavily inspired by the bands I listen to. But what also seems to have happened with our music is that it seems to have been inspired by our own everyday lives and living in the valley and just our personal experiences.

NIKKI: Youth, confusion and Troll 2.

MICHAEL: For me it’s noise and comedy (in its entirety).

What song from another band would you love to lay claim to?
LIA: I wouldn’t want to claim another soul’s song because it wouldn’t be the same with me doing it as opposed to the self-acclaimed artist that wrote it. I hold that respect for most of Bowie’s songs, Broadcast, obviously The Beatles, and The Slits. Huge Slits fan! Slayer’s pretty cool too.

GREG: There are so many but I’d have to say Malice and Discontent by The Frumpies!

NIKKI: Bitch Stole Liquor by Honchie.

MICHAEL: Rearranged – Limp Bizkit.

What’s your favourite thing about the Handsome Women EP?
NIKKI: It represents us when we all first started out, learning each other and our styles.

GREG: That it’s ours! It’s pretty awesome to look at something we’ve made from the ground up. It is a bit short and nothing too special, but I do like thinking about the process of creating the songs and what they turned into.

When was the last time you got creative with something other than music?
NIKKI: all the time, painting and drawing and what not.

LIA: Yesterday, I hung my Pee Wee Herman doll on a string above my room. It’s fancy, deathly, and beautiful.

MICHAEL: The last time I really got creative with something other than music was when I directed a music video for our friends Moses Campbell.

How would you describe performing? How do you feel when you get on stage?
NIKKI: There’s a definite high I get, when a show is going well and the crowd is pumped. When the energy is high, I get high.

LIA: Performing is another world. No matter what the crowd is doing, it’s just amazing to be playing and to feel the energy of the room and my bandmate’s presence. Super surreal, magical, amazing.

MICHAEL: Performing on stage is one of the biggest rushes you can get that’s accompanied by a cathartic release of everything that’s going on in your mind, it feels great.

What is your favourite song to sing live and why?
NIKKI: No Home, it has sentimental value and it’s a crowd pleaser.

LIA: Probably TK which is going to be on our record that we’re currently recording because I don’t just scream out and I sing. It’s been a huge goal of mine to sing and drum as much as possible. Still workin’ on it!

Tell me about the music community/scene where you live?
PETER PANTS: It’s all over the place. Los Angeles is a bit different than the valley, but the music is everywhere. We usually drive to other places to perform, to network in places we want to reach out to, but the valley is where we go to eat, sleep, and chill.

Where are some places that you like to hang out?
PETER PANTS: Our friends’ houses, a great hot dog place called The Infield (that fat dude from Borat owns it!), Lia’s rehearsal studio, Michael’s car, and Disneyland.

What’s something that you would really like to do one day?
NIKKI: Travel and become a foodie.

LIA: Scare a shark away, watch ‘It’ again, and make popcorn. Oh! And go to Australia again, of course!

GREG: play a show in Japan!

What projects are you currently working on?
NIKKI: A side project with my best friend, coming soon.

LIA: Peter Pants is putting out a full-length within the year and I’m drumming in Le Butcherettes right now. Also getting some side project ideas for myself to work on, get that sing/drum shtick going

GREG: Working on our first full length!!

What’s been your favourite Peter Pants related experience so far?
LIA: When we “played” Silverlake Jubilee, got kicked off stage after one song for being placed in a 21+ bar without knowing so and having all of our underage friends (including Nikki and I) come to support be our fault, according to the lovely security guard. Nikki got in the guy’s face and then Michael did, took his hat and started running around and laughing with it. Greg got drunk and picked up a bunch of numbers from the bar. Good times.

NIKKI: The smell’s battle show vs. traps ps! one of our best shows. Great memories.

GREG: Playing all the fun shows and going to SXSW! As well as working on new music and seeing where we go next!

For more Peter Pants. PP Facebook. PP myspace.

Peter Pants forever!

*Photos courtesy of PP Facebook & myspace. Image 1 by Even Keel Imagery.

Growing up I adored the band, The Groovie Ghoulies! They had so much energy and were super, super fun! Their bouncy pop punk was infectious and made me want to dance (and visit the Island of Pogo Pogo!). I’ve also been a great fan of frontman Kepi’s art. Back in the late 90s I wrote him a letter and sent some interview questions for my zine. Not too long after I received a reply:

Kepi’s art:

For more Kepi Ghoulie. Kepi’s art.

Go write a letter or send someone a fun package!

*Photo courtesy of Kepi’s Facebook.

Other posts in this series:

Dear Bianca… Correspondence From: Australian Punk Band Blister’s Gordy Forman 

Dear Bianca… Correspondence From: Pro Skater & Artist Ed Templeton

Dear Bianca… Correspondence From: The Hives’ frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist

• Recently in my hometown Brisbane to coincide with International Womens Day, there was an AMAZING art exhibition called Viva La Frida celebrating one of my favourite artists Frida Kahlo. The exhibition featured 28 artists working in many different mediums all united in their love of Frida
• Punk-rock queen Patti Smith inspires Eddie Borgo’s spring-summer 2012 jewellery collection
• Why Everybody Needs to Make Art Everyday. Create forever
• An interesting watch, Japan’s tattoo master: inside the studio of Horiyoshi III
• Top 10 Reasons Why Artists Fail with Social Media. Some food for thought
• Make Your Own Vinyl Records. Want so bad. Being able to make vinyl at home would be the ultimate
• Send a little package to someone to say thank you! Cultivate an attitude of gratitude
• Punk Rock Journalist Nardwuar the Human Serviette takes us on a journey into his do-it-yourself world of investigation and adventure with his TED talk. I love his interviews with N.E.R.D, Kurt Cobain and Jay-Z
• 7 Easy Ways to Improve a Bad Day. Simple tips to lift the funk from your day
• Siberian Tiger, Hyacinth Macaw, Sabertooth Tiger and Flamingo skulls can be found now at Scarlet Horse Emporium at Rock Of Ages, as well as Cigar Box Guitars and all kinds of interesting treasures
• A poetic elegy for Kurt Cobain from the man who created the band Hole with Cobain’s wife Courtney Love
• My favourite person in the whole world is looking for people to collaborate with!!
• This would be so incredible to see! Anyone want to buy me a plane ticket to Rome? ;)
• I’m so obsessed with this TV series at the moment
• Missing someone? Call. Wanna meet up? Invite. Want something? Ask for it… and more simple answers we should be reminded of. Life doesn’t have to be so complicated
• “Everybody wants to be good but not many are willing to make the sacrifices it takes to be great.” It’s Not How Good You Are, another kick ass post from one of my favourite bloggers
• The Art of Self-Confidence with the Rock N Roll Bride
• “I had always wanted to be a model, but never thought that I would have the opportunity to because of my height and size.” An interview with Plus Size model Tess Munster

And lastly, this is soooooo true!

Hugs & hearts,

*Images: 1 – Russian Elle / 2 - Denise Boomkens for Dujour Magazine

Here’s the first in a new series on ConversationsWithBianca.com where I spotlight creators whose work I love, in a way that’s a little bit of a departure from the Q&A style interview I usually run. First up, local musician-artist Alex Wall! I adore musicians (especially lo-fi artists) like Alex that do every aspect of their releases themselves, from writing to recording to mixing to doing the art work… not everyone can do that!

MY NAME IS ALEX WALL and I make music that you might call Brat Punk. I first came to music when I got the Men In Black Soundtrack, that’s when I started liking music. I like the music of Black Flag ’cause it’s energetic raw punk and Thee Oh Sees ’cause they are pretty much the best live band around at the moment. My project’s name was inspired by writing about witches and vampires ’cause they are cool; I thought it was a cool name so I used it. Songs are also inspired by Saturn and the colour green. I like my releases (Melted Green & Moon Dilemmas) because I wrote and recorded and mixed it all by myself in my room over 3 days. I didn’t have to deal with a band, so I got to just do it how I wanted to do it. The song from another band I’d love to lay claim to is Nervous Breakdown by Black Flag. The music scene where I’m from (Gold Coast) is pretty lame. There aren’t really any venues to play at and no bands come play there but, it’s cool ’cause after going on tour with my other band, I get to chill out and not have to deal with music people for a while. When not making music I draw a little and do some design stuff. I do all the art work for both my bands. I like to hang out in New York! I hung out there a bunch last year and it’s a real rad city. There is heaps of good music there. One day I really want to go to the moon, or go into space. That’s my dream. Currently I’m just touring, I’m at SXSW right now. It’s super rad. When I get home I’m gonna try to write and record some new Wax Witches stuff!

Alex likes: taking photographs; making zines; playing in his other band; art.

Get Wax Witches on cassette!

CREATE FOREVER,

Perth-based indie act Voltaire Twins are one of my picks for ‘must see’ at this year’s SXSW Music festival (along with Indian Handcrafts and Tashaki Miyaki who will have Sneakpeek’s Dora Hiller performing with them). You can follow Voltaire Twins’ US/Canada tour adventures and SXSW journey on twitter, which they’ve already been updating direct from Los Angeles over the last couple of days. One of my favourite mags – Nylon – had this to say about them: “With their dancey beats and fun melodies, this brother-sister team manages to stand apart from the rest of the indie-electronic music crowd.” Tegan was lovely enough to answer some questions before they headed overseas.

What kind of music would you say that you make?
TEGAN: Essentially we make pop music I think. Lots of comparisons are drawn and we often get called 80′s/new wave/electro/synth pop/indie, all kinds of things. To me it just sounds like pop music though.

What’s your first musical memory?
T: My first musical memory is going to my Nanna’s house and playing her piano. I think I’d have been about 2 or 3. She lived alone in this totally huge old-fashioned house near the river and often played the piano, so I would watch her and then have a go for myself. When I was fifteen I inherited that piano (it’s over 100 years old now) and it’s currently in my living room where I practice VT songs on it.

What are your songs inspired by?
T: Sometimes by the change of the seasons. Animals, stories, people we know or have known. They are often inspired by ideas or stories that we talk about together.

When do you like to write them and where?
T: To be honest I’m not the kind of person who was ideas on the fly that has to write little notes in the middle of the night or anything. I have to be really focused so usually over the summer, or when we have a block of time we lock ourselves away in one of our bedrooms for a few weeks and come out the end with some news songs that we then workshop as a whole band in the studio.

What’s your favourite thing about the Romulus EP?
T: To me it really paints a picture of a place that is volatile and wild. In my head it kind of exists as this other-worldly place that brings out the animalistic or primitive side of humans where the landscape and the seasons are wild and dangerous. I think I often attribute a lot of meaning to our songs after they’re written though, so it may not necessarily come across that way sonically or through the lyrics.

How would you describe performing? How do you feel when you get on stage?
T: It really depends on the show, how I’m feeling that day and where we are. For the most part I’d say I kind of become someone that only exists in that space. When we first started out I would get nervous and not really feel anything other than that, but now it’s pretty exciting especially the times when other people are enjoying it with you and singing along, that’s pretty ace.

What is your favourite song to sing live and why?
T: I think it would be ‘The Kate Bush’. It’s the only song where I don’t play any synth so I can jump around a bit. The lyrics are also pretty fun and require a fair bit of punch so I can go a bit silly in that song.

You have a US/Canada Tour (including a chance to play SXSW) in the works and have toured Australia too; How do you pack for tour?
T: My synth is almost heavier than me so I’ve got it scaled down to a pretty small bag. I’m pretty disorganised ( I leave in a day and have not packed and lost my last suitcase) so usually I just fill up my bag with all my favourite shiny things and then freak out when I land that I have forgotten the less exciting/more useful things like underwear and a toothbrush.

Tell me about the music community where you live?
T: It’s great! Lots of my friends are in bands here in Perth, Western Australia. Bands here are like bums. Everyone’s got one. So we all play shows together and help each other out and swap between projects. Being such an isolated city we’re all pretty connected and the audiences are good people who appreciate live music.

How would you describe the clothes you wear on stage?
T: Usually black and/or shiny. I’ve had some friends who are good at sewing make me some pretty mad outfits in the past including a fish-inspired dress, but lately it’s been pretty simple.

Who are your musical heroes?
T: Bjork has been a longstanding fave of mine. I think all round she approaches her art form from so many different angles, not just musically. She is a big collaborator, which I hope to be too, even though her music is so different to ours. Also, Caroline Polachek of Chairlift is pretty special, her role in her band is quite similar to mine and I think she does what she does so very well.

What do you do that’s creative when not making music?
T: I’m just this year venturing out as a residency artist in remote areas of Western Australia to work with kids. It’s terrifying to me, but also something I really want to try. It will also involve collaborating with other artists from different backgrounds too so I very much look forward to it. We put a lot of time and effort in to our music videos, artwork and photographs so sometimes we’re dreaming up ideas for those. Also, sometimes I have little crafternoons with my girlfriends from work, making little crafty things, but mine usually turn out a bit wrong.

Where are some places that you like to hang out?
T: Let’s see… the studio, the studio… aaaaaaand the studio! This year has been so busy so I’ve been light on the hanging, as we’ve been recording, writing and practicing like ca-razeee. But if I had some spare time, I would totally go for ANY kind of food, and for a bit of backyard partying with some fancy drinks, probably like a mixture of coke and red wine or something.

What’s something that you would really like to do one day?
T: Aerial trapeze! I love watching flips and tricks more than anything but I can’t figure out how they do it. I have dreams of doing acrobatics or something one day.

What projects are you currently working on?
T: The band, the artist residency stuff and that’s about it. It’s taking up every second of my time at the moment. And soon my acrobatics of course.

For more Voltaire Twins.

Support great Australian music!

*Photos courtesy of Voltaire Twins’ Facebook