La Carmina is truly an inspiration! A self-made woman named as one of the world’s top fashion bloggers. She’s a best-selling author, designer (collaborating with Swarovski + more), travel and pop culture journalist (AOL/Huffington Post), TV host (Travel Channel, Food Network, CNN), ‘Coolhunter’ running a trend and fashion consulting company, philanthropist, graduate of Yale Law School and mama to Scottish Fold cat Basil Farrow. La Carmina is also one of the loveliest people I have met—very down-to-earth, gracious, creative, imaginative, hardworking and driven. Her style draws inspiration from ‘Goth, cyber, Lolita, Steampunk and other alt fashion’ and is held together by ‘curiosity and courage’ in her individual style, irrespective of what others might think.

You once commented “I think the essence of underground fashion is freedom and DIY creativity…” I wanted to ask if you’re always been creative?

LA CARMINA: Yes. I remember that in elementary school everyone had to sit in a circle and say their name and have a word that went with their name that started with the first letter of their name. You might be ‘beautiful Bianca’ or something like that, I was always ‘creative Carmen’ [laughs]. I love to draw and I loved to dress-up and do little fantasy world things as a child, in a way I never really grew out of that.

You’ve always embrace the doing-it-yourself idea?

LC: Absolutely! I love getting my hands dirty in art and fashion projects from the time I was very young. I find it a lot more rewarding that way. I was never much for going out there and buying pre-made stuff, I love the whole do-it-yourself aesthetic.

When you were younger you played piano as well as studying music history and composition; do you have any musical aspirations?

LC: I am surrounded by music all the time. I always work with Sebastiano Serafini (pictured below) who is in a band. I love seeing Visual Kei and Jrock concerts but I think especially in Japan in the Gothic scene there is a strong connection between music and fashion and the whole subculture. It’s all one entity, there isn’t a separation. In that sense I feel my work, while it’s not performing or composing music, it’s still so closely integrated with music. On my blog I post a Song of The Day. I interview band members and we do collaborations in all sorts of ways. I feel that my work is deeply connected to music.

That’s how I feel too. All the things that I do are very connected to music and at the bottom line, it’s all creativity.

LC: Exactly. Just like you I feel my strongest work is in writing and journalism and not so much the performative aspect of music, even though I studied it growing up. I’m not going to delude myself, I’m not a world class pianist, or not the greatest singer/performer out there. I do just love to do it for myself.

I think it’s important for people to realise that you can participate and you can be a part of music or creative communities without being a musician or an artist as such, doing interviews, making zines, internet shows, putting on events etc. are all complimentary and contribute to making communities and getting word out about artists. Good interviews should complement the art and tell more of the story.

LC: I think it’s very freeing these days because of the internet. I remember in the past if you wanted to do music, you had to invest in expensive equipment, training for film producing and what not. Now all these friends I have do it themselves on their laptops. The work that they create is phenomenal.

I admire that you are self-taught in a lot of the things that you do. You taught yourself video editing programs by watching tutorials online etc.

LC: Yeah, I feel like in a way I need to keep up because, as you know, things in this world move so quickly. In order to keep your head above water I felt it was important for me to get on the social networks, know video editing, try to learn as much as possible; to not get overwhelmed by it all and to have a good sense of what is possible.

As you were saying you think it’s important to constantly be improving your skills, knowledge and self; what are some things you’ve been working on improving lately?

LC: I’ve found that I like to be outside lots. This year my goal is not to be in front of the computer as much. I don’t want to be the girl that is twittering non-stop. It’s been incredibly freeing to do things outside the usual work zone. For example, I’ve been to Italy twice recently, so I’ve been learning Italian. Something that really has no connection to my work in Japanese subculture and fashion but I found it such a great way to break outside the mould and do something that’s not directly connected but will in some way have influences to my work.

You went to Italy for an event that was in connection to you being named one of the most influential style bloggers in the world for 2011 and 2012?

LC: Yeah they flew me in to this amazing event called Luisaviaroma’s Firenze4Ever (featured below) where they bring in all the top fashion bloggers and we’re all allowed to play dress-up in the boutiques and try on the designer clothes, model them and style them. It is such a great opportunity!

What did it mean to you being named one of the top fashion bloggers in the world?

LC: The best part was being able to meet the other bloggers there because when you are looking at people from afar on a computer screen it’s hard to know what everyone is like in person. Meeting these top bloggers in person I think you see that everyone has this sense of hard work and connection. It was nice. Blogging is such a new field and it can be really alienating so it’s nice to have fellow people out there that are sharing the same experiences as you are.

In regards to your work, what are you currently focused on?

LC: Right now I’m focusing on TV hosting and TV presenting. It’s so much fun. I’ve had quite a few adventures so far in hosting TV shows in Tokyo and worldwide, places like Wisconsin and Mexico (pictured below). This year a couple of my programs that I filmed last year will be airing. There’s something on the FoodNetwork that is coming out in spring called, World’s Weirdest Restaurants. I go around to the strangest restaurants in Japan and get to explore these underground worlds like the Alice In Wonderland café or a restaurant that’s decorated like a giant cathedral! I just love how Japan goes all out to create fantasy worlds in a restaurant of all places.

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Tags: alt fashion, Alt Noir magazine, Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods, Basil Farrow, coolhunting, cyber, Goth, Hope t-shirt collection, Huffington Post, Jeannie Mai, Jrock, La Carmina, Lolita, Luisaviaroma’s Firenze4Ever, Mia Farrow, New York Fashion Week, NoH8 campaign, Sebastiano Serafini, Soho Hearts Panda Bear necklace, Steampunk, The Amazing Race Goth team, Visual Kei, World’s Weirdest Restaurants, Yukiro, Zoolook iPhone app

US-based film maker and musician Ben Stewart is doing fascinating work. His documentary films Esoteric Agenda, Kymatica and Ungrip have opened up many people’s minds and hearts to different ways of thinking, feeling and experiencing the world. His ontological work is very interesting. We chatted last year before he came to tour Australia to speak about his work.

I listened to an interview with you recently where you commented ‘Year by year in my life, I always encounter something that drastically changes me.’ I wanted to start by asking, have you encountered anything this year so far that has drastically changed you?

BEN STEWART: [Laughs] Oh my god, have I! This year is probably leaps and bounds more profound than any year of my life. It would stand to reason, understanding astrology and understanding my natal chart, being ruled by Saturn and this being my Saturn Return. As soon as 2011 hit I was in the studio with the band (Hierosonic) and as soon as we got out, things just started coming up: this Australian tour; a world tour at the end of the year; basically this film being finished but also, that’s just the physical material stuff that’s been shaping and forming in my life. A lot has been happening just on an energetic and conscious, emotional and psychological level.

I understand that when you were ten years old you got into Taoism?

BS: Yes. Basically it was my brother that handed me the Tao Te Ching. That was really my first introduction to anything along those lines. I was raised Catholic and it seemed to not really make sense to me until after I had been reading a lot of the eastern philosophy. It was pretty wild.

When you moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania at fifteen you ‘rediscovered’ Taoism?

BS: When I moved here to Harrisburg basically – I can’t even count, it was maybe the tenth to the fifteenth time I’d moved in my life – when I arrived here, it was quite a bit of a different energy. My entire life to that point had been making friends, leaving friends, making friends, leaving friends, making them, leaving them over and over again—when I would move I wouldn’t just move down the street or across town it was across the country, out of the country, across the world, different hemispheres, just all over the world. Finally, when I realised that this was going to be my home base for the remaining years of me being in school (because I was still in Junior High when I moved here) that was when I decided that I was going to learn to be in the best company by myself. Realising the fluidity of friends coming in and out of my life, some sticking there but also friends changing in their lives and molding and shaping on their own independently of me, I realised that the only thing stable in my life was within me. That was what got me back into reading the Tao Te Ching.

What was it about eastern philosophies that attracted you more so than western?

BS: I would say that there is nothing that I could really verbalize or put dialogue to in anyway because it was really just… I don’t look at one or the other being more correct or more true; there’s just a certain energetic stance that it had that really resonated with me. With the Tao Te Ching you can read one line and ponder it for months, that’s what I liked about it. It wasn’t this vast volume such as the Hindu Vedas. It was really just short, simple and poetic.

I was more interested in how to visualize or recognize the impossible rather than the very simple rational logical. It’s always made more sense to me, to look into those things such as some of the allegories and some of the things that they say you really need to put yourself into—nature being perfect if you try to hold it, it will be destroyed in your hand. It’s more or less this flow that you enter into, rather than something that you acquire. That’s me paraphrasing obviously. When I started pondering these things, I started to realise that that is where I felt more actual learning, actual wisdom; knowledge coming in, rather than reading a scientific or a geographical book or one of the text books from school. It required my conscious active participation. It required me to challenge myself, for me to look into it quite a bit more than reading a text book. I just didn’t find that interesting which is why from Esoteric Agenda, I moved closer to where I was with Kymatica which is far more arcane in its approach. I decided for those that are going to be watching, for those that like to enter themselves into this type of research, it’s better for them to balance a lot of that intellectual material with something that you can energetically attach yourself too or emotionally attach yourself to in some way shape or form. If you don’t have a relationship with the information that is coming in then to me, it’s kind of pointless to have it a part of your life. It’s like extra luggage and extra baggage; like furniture that you never intend on using for its function or purpose, you just have it.

When it comes to the eastern philosophies like the Tao Te Ching, it was something that there were only short little phrases. It would take me months to conceptualize and comprehend what they mean to me. When I would discover one of those lines in the Tao Te Ching within, in me or within my life, as something that I can feel or actually experience, that was a billion times more valuable to me than any bit of information I could read in any other book. That’s where my interest in eastern philosophies came from—they required me to actually be conscious and aware.

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Tags: Ayahuasca, Ben Stewart, DMT, esoteric agenda, Fight Club, Hierosonic, Jason Gregory, kymatica, Max Igan, Maynard, meditation, New World Order, Robert Pagé, Shamanism, Talismanic Idols, Tao Te Ching, Taoism, the Hanged Man Project, The Inevitable Age of Art, Tool (band), Ungrip (documentary)

Art source.

• If you live on the Gold Coast like I do I have some great news! I recently came across a little blogging community that’s started to hold events/meet-ups for bloggers.  Join the Facebook group. The ladies behind blogs In Spaces Between and Sweet Lime & Spiced Tea are the collaborators behind it.
• Guerrilla Ontology is out! My Jhonny has released a new record that I think is amazing! It even features a Bangles cover Walk Like An Egyptian! It’s available for FREE download here.  Esoteric, occult DIY indie electronic rock awesomeness! The last track is especially epic!
• I just adore these vintage cake carriers! They remind me of the ones my grandma used to house her homemade treats in.
•  How To Deal With Rude People. Great advice! 
• Once again one of my favourite bloggers Nubby Twiglet delivers the goods with this inspiring post – Setting Goals: Doing What You Love in 2012.
•  Riot Grrrl Kathleen Hanna on Fugazi: “Seeing Fugazi was life changing for me.” 
• Seriously. Bake & Destroy have some of the greatest baked goods recipes!  Vegan Choccolate Pistachio Whoopie Pies, Vegan-friendly Smores Donuts & more! Nom nom nom nom!  28 Days Later: My Plan To Be A Plant Eating Zombie by B&D’s Natalie is also a great read.
•  An interesting read over at Glen E. Friedman’s blog: Hip-Hop Diplomacy? How the State Department Uses Rap to Spread Propaganda Abroad
•  I love astrology and I love these star sign inspired mugs from Make Something Happy. This little illustration is a great reminder and certainly makes me happy.
•  Ever wanted to know how to make your tees actually fit you properly? This tutorial shows you how. Finally I can make all my ill-fitting band tees fit me! Yay!
•  Wow! This chromatic typewriter is simply beautiful!
• Magic Mushrooms May Be Therapeutic? That’s the word over at CNN Health.
•  Magazines are not dead. “Australians love magazines. Per capita, we are among the biggest consumers of magazines worldwide.”

Also, one of my all-time favourite Australian bands has a new clip out too:

I hope your week is going well!

Tags: astrology, Bake & Destroy, dealing with rude people, Fugazi, Gold Coast bloggers, Guerrilla Ontology, hip hop, In Spaces Between blog, Jhonny Russell and the Mystery School, kathleen hanna, magazines, magic mushrooms, Raw food, Regurgitator, Sweet Lime & Spiced Tea blog, Vegan treats, vintage cake carriers

I’ve listened to Le Butcherettes practically every single day since I first discovered them last year. There are not many bands that have made my daily playlists, especially so quickly. I get the same feeling listening to Le Butcherettes’ Kiss & Kill and Sin Sin Sin records as I did when I first discovered Hole’s Pretty On The Inside and Live Through This as a 15-year-old. Le Butcherettes have become a really important, special band to me in the same way Hole (the real Hole with the Love/Erlandson combo) is. All the things that I love about Hole frontwoman Courtney Love – the intelligence, the love of literature and culture, the introspection and commentary of the female experience in the world, the strength, heartfelt soulful lyrics, musicianship, powerful live shows – I find again in Le Butcherettes’ frontwoman Teri Gender Bender. Le Butcherettes are a band that matter.

TERI GENDER BENDER: I’m nervous because my answers always suck!

No, they don’t! Every interview I’ve ever read with you is so incredibly thoughtful. You answer every question with such grace and no matter what is asked you always answer it really considerately.
TGB: That’s probably because the writer made it sound thoughtful.

No way. You’re selling yourself short lady.
TGB: Thank you, you are very kind [laughs].

I wanted to start by asking, what does music mean to you?
TGB: Honestly, it means [pauses] aw fuck, it just means so much to me. All these words want to come out but my throat stops them—the act of living and doing, that’s what music means to me. Being able to express oneself, even when you’re not playing it, the act of listening to it makes me feel so alive. It makes me feel like I can do anything, that I can conquer any man or any animal – that I could just go up to any bear and just hug him. Maybe that might not be the case but to me, music is just a big part of my life. Thanks to music, it prevented me from being depressed, or when I was depressed music helps lift my spirits up. I guess it has something to do with the vibes, the vibration, maybe some kind of molecules; I’ll go along with it. Its medicine, music is medicine.

I remember reading a comment in an interview with you where you said: music and art can give you the ability to heal yourself.
TGB: Completely! Yes… I’m sorry I’m super nervous still.

Don’t apologise. It’s OK. This conversation will turn out the way that it is meant to. I know how hard it can be to talk about these things because a lot of the time it’s hard to put into words these things we feel and that are in many ways undefinable.
TB: Yeah you’re totally right. It will just flow.

Yes! That’s it. It’s nice that we have this time to talk in person and make this connection.
TGB: Yes, on the phone it can be really hard to talk to people and a little weird because of the reception of things sometime. You can say something and it might not be received how you intended it.

When did you first realise that you wanted to make music?
TGB: I remember being in Denver in this really small apartment that I hated because we lived there for five years because we were ‘lower class’ people. I remember when I was seven years old, just thinking, I want to sing, I want to be a pop star. I looked out the window and there was this tree and there was a squirrel taking the sun, lying on the cement ’cause it was cool. I remember thinking, oh my god I want to be like that squirrel—I want to feel music like that squirrel is feeling the sun and the cement. I just started singing right there and my mom was like, ‘What are you doing?’ I know it sounds a little irrelevant but that is the first recollection of when I said, oh I want to sing! I want to express myself.

You used to listen to the Spice Girls when you were younger?
TGB: Yes, yeah! Spice Girls and a lot of pop.

In a recent interview you commented that while you used to listen to a lot of pop and other kinds of music but you never thought you’d end up in a band yourself.
TGB: No never, until my father passed away, that’s when I wanted to start being into music. I was thirteen and really into The White Stripes and Nirvana – I felt so cool because I thought no one really knows about these bands. In my head I thought I want to do what they do. Before that was Spice Girls and Sonny & Cher. Then the Beatles came along afterwards. I would have never of guessed I would have been in a band. The concept of playing guitar just seemed impossible, it still does now because I don’t really play it traditionally. I play it with four strings.

That’s awesome!
TGB: And I tune it my way too, instead of how it should be tuned. A lot of people, especially musicians, wouldn’t take me seriously because I only play with four strings. They’d be like, ‘oh you still have a lot to learn kid.’

I’m really glad that you do it your way. It makes me feel not so alone because when I first started playing guitar and writing songs I only had a guitar with four strings and I didn’t know how to tune it either so it was in my own tuning too.
TGB: That’s fucking awesome, that’s amazing!

When I play things on a guitar tuned ‘properly’ my songs don’t sound ‘right’ to me.
TGB: Yeah, yeah, oh my god then you completely understand! You play music your way and you make it yourself—even if it’s missing strings!

Didn’t you have a really intense dream about playing guitar when you were eleven?
TGB: Oh yeah, the strings melting! I was so frustrated at the time, I was a really bored kid. In Denver there wasn’t really much to do. My parents moved there to give me a good education. I wanted to do something because I was sick of playing Nintendo 64 all of the time, especially Mario Kart. I didn’t really have any friends.

Ha! I used to sit for hours and play Mario Kart with my niece.
TGB: Oh that’s awesome! [laughs] Did you always win?

A lot of the time, yeah.
TGB: That’s how it should be! [laughs] That’s why I had that dream, because I wanted to play something but I couldn’t get my hands on a guitar.

How did you feel when you finally did get your hands on a guitar?
TGB: I picked it up and started smelling the hole. It was an acoustic guitar and I just thought, oh my, this is brand new! I said I can’t play this at all. Instead of playing it how you normally would, I sat it on its back on my legs and I started playing with the first string, the fat string and it just felt amazing. When the string broke for the first time, I cried because I thought I had ruined the guitar. I remember calling to my dad and saying, oh my god I just ruined the guitar. He wasn’t a musician and he just laughed at me and said, ‘You can get those replaced.’ I was just like, wow!

I had a similar experience when I was a kid. I used to try to play my older brother’s guitar when he’d go out with his friends; he used to never let me touch his guitar. One day I broke the string on his guitar. I really thought I’d broken it.
TGB: [Laughs] Your brother is older?

Yeah. I’m the baby of the family.
TGB: How does it feel to be the baby?

Pretty good. I get away with the most! It can be not so much fun though too, my mum has advanced Alzheimer’s and it breaks my heart that I know there are so many things in life that I won’t really be able to share with my mum.
TGB: Oh fuck that’s… wow…

It’s OK though. I still laugh with her and get to hug her. One of the coolest things is that I can play music to her and she’ll get a little twinkle in her eye or sing and dance. She still recognises a lot of songs. She has such a wicked sense of humour too.
TGB: I’ve seen that a lot. My dad died out of the blue, nobody knew it was coming, he was supposedly healthy. His sense of humour was constant and music would spark him up! But yeah things like that can be really hard.

You moved to Mexico after your father’s passing?
TGB: Yeah to get away from all that. You know what? I have a friend that is going through a similar situation with her mom and she always wants to dance. When someone plays the piano she starts getting teary-eyed and sings along. See music. Life. Even though you can feel like you are facing death, music is always there to spark up that flame again.

That’s like when I spoke to Omar [Rodriguez-Lopez] recently he was saying that in Puerto Rico everything is celebrated, including death.
TGB: Yeah, the same in Mexico. We have to embrace death, although to be honest right now I am petrified of it. I’m not ready to say that I know it all yet and that I am ready to die, no, no, no, no.

There are too many amazing things to do and experience!
TGB: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I want to see the rest of Australia and the world.

Le Butcherettes have been around since 2007 but it seems like now everything is coming together and you’re really starting to hit your stride.
TGB: Yeah it’s really happening now!

You supported Iggy Pop before you came out here to Australia.
TGB: I know! It’s so crazy. Fuck I can’t believe that still happened. After the shows we hopped directly on the plane for Australia so I haven’t had time to… well yeah when I’m in the bathroom and I’m sitting down I’m like, oh my lord… when I get back home I know I’m just going to have that moment when I cry happy tears. I am so grateful for everything that is happening. If I can do it, anyone in the whole frickin’ world can do it. Playing music or making zines like you do, just having your own creature and throwing it up. I don’t know if that makes sense?

I do get what you mean.
TGB: Yeah like it sucks to throw up but once it’s out it feels good!

Would you consider yourself a spiritual person?
TGB: I remember wanting to be Atheist, when my father passed, I was bitter. I would hurt myself and I would degrade myself. I would be my own oppressor at school, I’d let the boys push me around. When people would talk down to me I would apologise to them! Now I’ve realised that I have been spiritual this whole time, I was just ashamed to embrace it. When my father passed away, when we came home from the hospital, my mom started crying. She just said, ‘Please Roberto, if you are here please just give us a sign.’ I swear to God that the lights went off and they turned back on. Instead of embracing that moment I said, oh no, that’s not him. It was him though. The whole time I was just denying his death and denying my own existence but… [pauses] you can’t do that, you’ll have nightmares. Even Jung says you have to utilise your nightmares because it’s your unconsciousness. I’m starting to do that now. Like you were saying in your book, who am I? Who am I? I’m at that point right now.

Well I hope you’ll find something in my project that can help you navigate that and discover your own insights. When I started that project I had got to a point in my life where I just asked, who am I? What am I doing? I’ve found that when I strip everything back I’m me and I’m here now.
TGB: Those are very scary questions! That’s amazing to come to and it’s super powerful, you’re here, you’re you and you have the rest of your life ahead of you.

I think it is so important to embrace who you are and to not try to be someone else. So many people chase that and I feel like saying, what makes that person you admire so great is that they are doing them and that they’re doing them wonderfully so you should do you wonderfully, we all have our own unique awesomeness that makes us great.
TB: Yeah and not everyone is going to get you and that’s OK. I think that can be encouraging sometimes when people don’t understand you. There’s a poet called Fernando Pessoa and he says: to be fully understood is sort of like prostituting yourself. That may be a little extreme but it’s always nice to have that thing that people can’t quite grasp.

With all of the attention that Le Butcherettes is getting is it hard processing everything that’s happening?
TGB: Oh it’s not hard at all. I am so grateful for it all. Nothing of what I’m doing now is a problem or making me feel bad. Sometimes it’s hard when you can’t see your mom and knowing that my little brother is growing without me. Besides all that I’m traveling and I’m meeting new people, it’s a privilege. If anything it is helping me to grow and mature. I can do things for myself.

What does your band mean to you right now?
TGB: The act of doing! The constant movement. In when I am sleeping I am moving in my dreams. The constant act of… not trying to outdo myself but to just be. Oh I know that sounds so corny. I’m sorry I don’t know how to explain better than that, language is a barriers for me, even in Spanish or English. I wish people could communicate entirely in body language or something.

That’s why you have your music, to communicate those things which you necessarily say to someone in words.
TGB: Yes! Exactly.

What do you find challenging as a musician?
TGB: Talking to people, I’m really shy. Sometimes I’m insecure in a way. I constantly think, what am I going to say? Will I sound stupid? Being on stage it’s easy. You have music and that freedom to communicate and to just be yourself. Off stage, that’s real life! Real life is where you have to face people in the eyes, just the simple act of going to a restaurant and ordering food, I hope that I order correctly and I hope the waitress doesn’t look at me like I’m an idiot.

When you made Sin Sin Sin, did you learn anything surprising about yourself?
TGB: That’s a good question. I learned to take constructive criticism the right way. I remember Omar would be ‘On Henry don’t Got Love you should make this verse a chorus.’ Normally the old me would have been stubborn and been like, oh no not at all, I do things my way because it’s the punk thing to do. I saw him truly saying it out of honesty and wanting to help. I opened myself up to other people’s ideas.

New York live:

I’m Getting Sick of You acoustic:

For more Le Butcherettes. Support rad music buy Le Butcherettes awesomeness.

Create forever!

*Photo credits: 1 / 2 -  by diego.fg / 3 – by RS Don Sata / 4 -  by diego.fg

Tags: Courtney Love, Hole, iggy pop, Jung, Le Butcherettes, Mario Kart, Nirvana, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Rodriguez Lopez Productions, Sargent House, Sonny & Cher, Spice Girls, Teri Gender Bender, The Beatles, The White Stripes

I’m totally in love with US fashion designer Peggy Noland’s creations. Her wearable art makes the world a much more fun, brighter place! Musicians CSS’ Lovefoxxx, Kianna Alarid from Tilly & the Wall, SSION, Jonny Makeup and more rock her designs with a lot of pride and love for the designer. I recently chatted with the Missouri native at a really interesting time in her life, to find out why? read on…

PEGGY NOLAND: What time is it there?

It’s about 8:30 AM.

PN: Oh god you got up early!

I usually get up at around 4:30 AM so it’s not too early for me.

PN: You get up at 4:30 in the morning?

Yeah I do.

PN: Oh my god why? Just because?

I guess I’m just a morning kind of person.

PN: Definitely the older that I get I have definitely turned into more of a morning person. Morning for me is more like 7:30 AM not 4:30 AM [laughs]. You’re good.

I attribute my getting up early in part to an early morning meditation schedule. I feel that a lot of my best work happens early on in the day.

PN: Oh well that’s important then. It’s funny that you have to find your time. My time is at night. You’re right, there’s definitely a time where the stuff that I’m doing is better than other times [laughs].

Is there a particular reason why you think working at night is better for you?

PN: I guess maybe by that time my creative juices are really flowing by that time. My best, best ideas are right as I’m drifting off to sleep, as I’m drifting off to dreamland my best ideas come. I’ve never been one to keep a notepad by my bed or anything like that, I probably should. I kind of like the idea too of there not needing to be so on top of all your creative ideas and dreams too; that they can just come to you and leave you all at the same time, like not hoarding your ideas. Sometimes I remember the ideas in the morning sometimes I don’t.

I find that if I remember stuff in the morning then it’s important and I have to do it.

PN: Exactly!

Have you always been a creative person?

PN: Yeah I think for sure it was bound to happen. My dad is an artist. I grew up with having our kitchen table be his art studio space while my brother and I were young. It was always around. I feel like I was creative in the way that every little girl is creative like making little hair ties, hot gluing stuff on to clothes, things like that; in the way that every little girl has their fun experimenting with crafty things. It’s definitely what me and my friends spent our time doing.

You still make things like hair accessories now!

PN: Right! [laughs] It’s evolved for sure.

Have you always had a wicked sense of humour?

PN: Yeah there’s always been that kind of… I always feel like it’s unintentional. It’s not something that I go out of my way to communicate through the things that I make but I think it more stems for a grounding place. I feel I have a very healthy perspective on what I do and where and when it matters and how it fits in. I feel like sometimes the things that I make are just clothing and it’s not the end all and be all of who I am and what I do and that there is a lot more important things going on in the world. However, I also realise that without artists being passionate about what they do and believe in the world would be a much unhappier place. I think I see both sides o that, I think it is important for me to begin and end things as it is and it is important for me to encourage other artists to do what feels important and right to them. At the same time, I have it in perspective as far as, where it fits in in the whole scheme of things in my world at least.

I find it fascinating that you majored in religious studies and planned on being in the Peace Corps.

PN: Right yeah [laughs].

What drew you to religious studies?

PN: So I told you my dad was an artist growing up, my mom is a very religious person. I was raised in the Catholic church. My mom as the choir director at our church. My dad happens to be agnostic however they are still happily married. They had this really interesting dialogue in our house as my brother and I were being raised, one that had to do with creativity, one that had to do with religion. They both kind of boiled down to what your passion is and what drives you. To me, although I don’t know if I have been alive long enough to effectively communicate how or why but I’m still exploring it for myself, how religion has a lot to do with my creative process and has a lot to do with me being passionate about… even clothing! They are related somewhere in my brain but like I said, I don’t know if I am smart enough, I don’t know if I have that right words yet at this point in my life to communicate how or why—I wish I did!

That’s what I wanted to ask you; is there is a spiritual element to creativity for you?

PN: There is in the most in-depth sense meaning, I know that there is a lot of artists, a lot of fibre artists included, that find what they do in their time with their hands or what they do in their time behind a machine very therapeutic, almost meditative. That’s not necessarily the case for me. I feel like there is definitely a spiritual vibe in my clothing but only because it’s my spirit that is driving me to make the things that I do. I in fact find making things sometimes kind of painful because I like the ideas more. The reality of making dreams come true, as anybody knows, is hard work. Anyone who follows their dreams knows that it is really hard and not very glamorous at all. I don’t always enjoy it, it’s not always spiritual or meditative or peaceful for me. What is very peaceful for me and relaxing is knowing that I’ve set out, I’ve named a goal and I’ve accomplished it—that feels really good to me. It’s not always the funnest thing to sit behind a sewing machine for hours and hours, I’ve never pretended to enjoy that [laughs] I wish I did. I wish I had the money to hire someone to make the things, to make my dreams come true for me that was better at sewing because even though I feel like I’m a good sew-er and to see what’s in my head materialise, there are people that are much better than me. I think I see my strength is not necessarily as a seamstress, I think it’s more imagining things that can be made.

Your mum taught you to sew?

PN: Yeah she did, little Halloween type costume things. She’s not a heavier sew-er, never has been and still isn’t to this day but she’s definitely a creative person herself although I doubt she would think of herself that way. She taught me on commercial patterns. We would go to Wal-Mart and buy pattern for a Halloween costume for my brother or I. She taught me how to put things together and how to use a machine. I feel like somewhere after high school is when I started to explore my own designs. As you know my college background is not in art or fashion design at all so it kind of just happened way more organically. I didn’t have a business plan when I opened my store (pictured below) or launched my line. I would never have expected it.

I find when you don’t have expectations and you do let things happen organically a lot of the time things just click. In moments like that, when you following the energy and your heart, things just click.

PN: Yes! It seems to be something that I am finding out in my life more and more. Whatever it is that I am interested in, in that moment or that day, as long as it is pursued genuinely, I feel like it’s the right thing to be doing. I feel like we are all hard on ourselves too, we’re taught that we should have a plan, an A-Z kind of idea of what we’re doing and where we are going and I feel like that for creative people it just doesn’t happen that way. Sometimes it does and it can be amazing, I’m really envious of those people but, for a lot of people it’s a lot more explorative than that.

I understand that when you first started working in fashion and with clothes you were a Production Manager in New Delhi?

PN: I was! I was hired by a clothing line to handle their production management in New Delhi because they were doing all their production there but were in Kansas City. The time lost in shipping and in communication was death to a trend-based industry. You can’t wait months to get a jacket right if it isn’t absolutely necessary! It was a very small clothing company and the only other person available to go was the owner of the clothing line and she was too embarrassed to admit to herself that she was having things produced in New Delhi because she didn’t know the circumstances as far as the factories where she was having things made. I was kind of like a guinea pig in this experiment for her and her business endeavour to go over to New Delhi first to sniff out what was really going on because none of us wanted to be a part of any sweatshop or child labour. I came to find out that it was a very clean organisation. The factory owner was a woman and all of the people that worked there were adults making livelihoods for their families with these jobs. It was a huge factory and we were probably her smallest client, we were just having twelve pieces of each style made. It got to be too expensive of an endeavour for the woman whose clothing line it was. She ended up retiring. That was my first foray into the fashion world before I ever designed any of my own things.

New Delhi was a real trip because I was there by myself, I don’t speak Hindi. When I got back to Kansas City from that I realised I really enjoyed it and that I had the knowhow and motivation – which I feel is the most important whether you know what you are doing or not – and there was this tiny little storefront that was for rent. I had a good friend that had a store next door. I decided that I would try to do it on my own. I have since not needed to have a factory behind my line because I do much more of a speciality item where I am able to handle my own orders and do my own thing. When I have orders that are beyond what I can do or my employees or interns can do I’ll hire contract sew-ers. It was definitely an interesting way to enter the fashion world.

How did you come to working with some many musicians?

(continues over page)

Pages: 1 2

Tags: CSS, fashion designer, Flava Flav, Jonny Makeup, Kansas City, Kianna Alarid, Lovefoxxx, Peggy Noland, Public Enemy, Ssion, Tilly and the Wall

I recently had the pleasure of speaking to UK musician Kate Nash. We spoke about music, feminism, sexism, online criticism, empowering young women, zines, her Rock N Roll For Girls After School Club, Brazil, Dubai … a whole load more, as well! Here’s a snippet of our conversation:

I know that you’re really proud to call yourself a feminist, a feminist through your own experiences; what does being a feminist mean to you?

KN: It’s extremely important to me. I grew up with my mum being a very strong and opinionated woman as a main influence when I was younger. She introduced me to the ideas of feminism. Feminism to me is something that becomes more real, more palatable and important to you when you really experience sexism; you grow up a bit and you’re taken out of the bubble and you know that it’s still really present. Being in the music industry really opened my eyes to it, in a really simple way at first. I was the only girl in the room all of the time until I really searched for more female company.

I think that the media is totally sexist. I think a lot of people are, without realising. The structures of society are built on these sexist ideas that have been around for hundreds and thousands of years. It’s not something that’s easy to change. I feel like there are way more extreme versions of it in places like Afghanistan, places like that that.

I read this really disgusting article about a woman who reported a rape – she was raped by her husband’s cousin – and they imprisoned her. The family of the guy that raped her threatened to kill her because she brought shame on their family. She put shame on their family! She fell pregnant because of the rape and she was given an option of staying in prison or if she came out of prison, marrying the guy that raped her to legitimise her kid. In Afghanistan if you don’t have proof of the father’s ID you just don’t exist as a person, which is just crazy. It means you can’t exist as a person without a man and you’d be ostracised from society. To save her child and to give her child a proper life, she’s married to her rapist because that’s the only option.

To read the entire interview head on over to Collapse Board…

Hugs & hearts,

Tags: collapse board, Feminism, Kate Nash, Rock N Roll For Girls After School Club, Sexism in the music industry

Australian-based photographer Harmony Nicholas’ images never cease to fascinate me. Mixing her love for all things Pop Culture, 90s, Music, Film, Fashion and People Harmony creates arresting images that stop you in your tracks and that demand your attention. Her work focuses on “conceptual portraiture, creative fashion and promotional work for actors, musicians, personalities.” She is without a doubt one of my favourite Australian photographers–her work is world-class!

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

HARMONY NICHOLAS: A Pop Culture nut, armed with a camera, a 90s fetish, and a sarcastic Sense of humor.

 How did you first start down the creative path?

HN: As far back as I can remember I was always obsessed with reading, comic books, drawing, colouring, writing stories, acting out characters, etc. Being an only child with very few social skills until school, I found I’d live in my own head growing up, so a lot of my creativity came from those formative years. It helped that our house was always filled with endless amounts of books, art, film, music – you name it. I had a wealth of inspiration at my finger tips right from the very start, and if it wasn’t for my open-minded upbringing, I probably would have become a psychiatrist.

Have you ever been to art school? Do you have any ‘official’ qualifications? Do you think having formal training is important to what you do?

HN: Yes, I studied for four years at the University of South Australia’s School of Art, specializing in Painting with my minor and honours in Photography.

Personally I think formal training is useful in teaching you the history of your craft, the individuals involved, the techniques and methods, the various genres, the construction of the work etc. but you do not necessarily need to study with an institution to obtain these skills or information, it really depends on the style of work you want to achieve. I know a lot of extremely talented photographers and artists who had no formal training whatsoever, and who purely relied on their own trial and error, personal study and occasionally training under a mentor. I think each person needs to decide for themselves if they would prefer to learn by their own methods or through a set program, but I always encourage people to do as much research and experimentation as humanly possible when dabbling in their chosen field.

What kind of photographer would you call yourself?

HN: I always have difficulty answering this sort of question when people pose it to me. The best I’ve been able to come up with so far is a Conceptual Portrait Photographer, but that is only one definition. I’m essentially an artist who works with photography as my medium, with the occasional fashion or commercial element thrown in. If you can think of a more catchy or succinct way of putting it, by all means let me know!

How would you describe your approach to photography?

HN: For me, photography has so far been the best method I’ve found to convey the images and concepts I see in my head to the outside world. I spent years trying to do so with my painting and failed, because no matter how hard I worked at my technique, I could never replicate what I envisioned onto the canvas accurately. I still struggle to do so with photography, but it has a much higher success rate. So in that regard I use photography as a tool to exorcise my creative demons, if you will.

Is photography your full-time gig?

HN: Over the last four years I’ve been working full time on my photography and editing. I am planning a slight change of pace for next year, to shake things up and bit and go back to my roots, my inspirations and my art.

Is there a photographer whose work has changed your expectations of the medium?

HN: There are many! I am constantly surprised and impressed by people interpreting and using the medium in their own unique way, be it film or digital and everything in between. Just as an example, I recently saw some of the three dimensional work by Australian photographer, Mark Ruff, that seems to employ a variation of the old Stereoscopic style of image-making. Similarly, there is a technique involving several cameras mounted in an array firing at the same instant around the subject to create a full 360 degree three dimensional image or ‘Time Slice’. I have seen it used in Julie Taymor’s Titus and the video for Smoke City’s Underwater Love, but I do not know the names of the individuals who came up with it, nor the technical name for the process itself, though there are several companies now that specialize in the method. But when I first saw that, it blew my mind.

What is your favourite part of the process in regards to the images/art that you create?

HN: It varies from shoot to shoot. Most of the time I really just love coming up with the concept and trying to research/source the various items or elements I’d need for the final image – be it the appropriate model/subject, the outfit, the hair, the makeup, the props, the setting etc. The downside is then trying to get what I see in my head out into real life and then onto the camera – it very rarely happens that what I’ve imagined in its perfect entirety translates exactly the way I wanted into the final product, but I do what I can with the resources and skills available to me at the time. If I could employ a creative team to carry out the work involved with making the concept come to life precisely as I saw it, I would be very happy spending the rest of my days just coming up with the ideas.

Do you listen to music while you work? What could I find in your CD player/on your iPod?

HN: I usually tend to have movies playing either in the background or on one side of my monitor. At the moment I’m going through a massive horror phase, the scarier the better.

Normally I get sick of an album or playlist two or three songs in and have to keep constantly stopping work and finding new things to listen to, so films are just easier. I do always need some kind of distraction though, it’s like reading the same passage in a book over and over again otherwise – silence drives me crazy! But in terms of songs, I’d tend to listen to whatever it is that day that I’m obsessing over, usually on repeat. Over the last few days it’s been a mix between Lonely Island’s Jack Sparrow and The Beatles Because, whereas today it’s Joe Cocker singing live at Woodstock.

What has been the most challenging concept for a shoot that you’ve done?

HN: The most challenging concepts I’ve imagined are actually resigned to the shoots I haven’t yet done, hence why I haven’t done them – they’re all written down in my little notebook for future reference though, when I have the appropriate skills, team and elements required to successfully bring them to life. I’ve had difficult locations and taxing weather on shoots, from wading neck deep into the ocean with my camera hoisted above my head, to fainting in hellish summer heat in the Dandenong Ranges, but every shoot I’ve done is its own adventure. The most challenging shoot I’ve ever been on actually involved me modeling for a fellow photographer in art school – we were shooting underwater in an unheated pool in the middle of winter, late at night with no light save for the occasional camera flash. It was absolutely freezing and I was convinced I was going to drown in the blinding darkness, in a wedding dress of all things.

Unfortunately you have had a lot of issues with companies taking your images/work and manufacturing merchandise without your consent, please tell me about this.

HN: Basically what has happened is a few small clothing companies operating out of Thailand have managed to get their hands on some of my photographs, and are printing the images on shirts and dresses and selling them – all without my prior knowledge or consent. I first learnt of this back at the beginning of 2010 when a friend of mine sent me a photo from her phone of my image of Sabina Kelley on a singlet in a shop front, somewhere in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane. Since then, there have been four other images that have made their way onto shirts, despite my best efforts to dissuade people from buying the clothing, and trying to further safeguard the images I upload on the internet. My assumption is that the original images must have come from scans taken from tattoo magazines that have featured the photos in question in the past, as the files I upload are not large enough to print on clothing.

I have since managed to track down the names of two of the companies involved – Arai Na is the main one – and am in the process of trying to finance legal aid to help stop the shirts from being made. It’s an infuriating, slow, depressing and costly process, but I’m doing what I can. Plus I have had an overwhelming amount of support from my peers, something of which I am still greatly appreciative.

What are some steps people that find themselves/their work in this predicament can take to rectify the situation?

HN: Make sure you watermark your images with big, clearly worded readable fonts and logos stating your name, or your company’s name. I have people constantly criticizing me for the size and placement of my watermark, but I would rather half a dozen people than have to go through more intellectual property theft in the long run. Try to upload images that are 72dpi or lower, with small measurements and medium or low quality (if JPG). As long as the image looks clear, it doesn’t have to be a huge file that dominates your screen. It also helps to clearly state where possible that you are the copyright holder of the work (assuming it is your work) and that any unauthorized use is not allowed – it’s not the greatest threat in the world but it does sometimes help. And never be afraid to stand up to people stealing your images, be they t-shirt companies or the typical Facebook fraud.

On your Model Mayhem profile it says: “No more time wasters, bullshit, divas or fake friends” in your line of work is that something you come across often?

HN: My MM profile page changes constantly, so don’t take everything written on there as gospel. That being said, in the time I’ve been a photographer I’ve come across most types of people – everything from the self-involved divas to the most down to earth and lovely individuals you could ever hope to meet. As with many things, you have to expect a broad range of people and personality types, and take every situation with a grain of salt. I just try to do the best I can to fulfill the brief or the concept with as little fuss as possible – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but every shoot is unique, as are the individuals involved. There are definitely some I am lucky enough to call friends, and a few that I won’t be rushing to work with again in a hurry.

Who are the people you admire in the creative world and what is it about them you love so much?

HN: My hero is Storm Thorgerson, the mastermind behind Hipgnosis. They were the creative team behind many incredibly imaginative images, including the album covers of Pink Floyd, which are to date my biggest inspiration. Beyond that, my favourites are Helmut Newton, Annie Leibovitz, Bill Henson, Guy Bourdin, Ellen Von Unwerth, David LaChapelle, Patrick Demarchelier, Mark Seliger, Rankin, Nick Knight, Mert & Marcus, Tim Walker, Paolo Roversi, Anna Gaskell, Anton Corbijn, Mario Testino, Steven Meisel, Deborah Paauwe, the list goes on and on – and that’s just the photographers.

Mark Romanek is an absolute favourite, as I find music videos to be just as inspiring as photographs, especially as Romanek’s tend to venture more into moving art than a simple visual accompaniment to a song. Alexander McQueen’s creations make my mind sing and my heart ache. Tim Walker and Paolo Roversi pull me back into a waking-dream fantasy state, reminiscent of my childhood. There are painters, sculptors, directors, illustrators, writers, fashion designers and musicians that constantly bring forward new ideas, concepts and imagery that amaze me. It’s extremely hard to narrow it down to a few, or go into detail as to why, because we’d be here forever. At the moment though, I’ve been exploring the work of Ray Caesar and rekindling my endless love for David Lynch. That man is pure genius.

What sites do you have bookmarked/subscribe to for an inspirational fix?

HN: I’ve recently become quite addicted to Tumblr. There are hundreds of people sharing thousands of images on there daily, so it’s like a constant feed of inspiration right at your fingertips – fashion, photography, art and design, everything you could want really. I’ve discovered a lot of new artists, designers and photographers through that handy little website.

What are some things you love in pop culture right now?

HN: I love that colour is coming back in a big way. I missed the bright bold statements of the late 80s and early 90s, clean lines and fun patterns with a lot of ‘fashion as art’ themes. I also love that the Robert Palmer/Helmut Newton Girl look has made resurgence in current fashion photography. I definitely want to take advantage of that with my own work – I’ve always adored that look!

What projects are you currently working on and what’s on the horizon? 

HN: Lately things have settled down nicely, which is rare because this is the first time in a very long while that I’ve had a chance to relax a bit and catch up with a lot of my personal work that had, until recently, been relegated to the ‘backburner’ for months on end. There are many images that I have shot over the years that have never seen the light of day due to time constraints and job commitments, so with any luck I’ll be able to create more of a balance between commercial work and personal art in the future.

 And as I’ve stated previously, I am looking at a change of pace, a change of scene and even a change of style in the new year, and hopefully with that will come a whole new world of inspiration. I would like to start exhibiting my work again, maybe publish a book at long last, and get back on track with my plan to take over the world, one image at a time.

 For more Harmony Nicholas. Harmony at Model Mayhem.  Harmony’s Tumblr. Harmony’s Twitter.

Create forever!

*Photo credits: All photography/concept/styling: Harmony Nicholas

1 – ‘Interview with the Hampire’, 2011 For the Togs on Togs Exhibition – Model: Benjamin Nichols
(w/composite elements from Adrian Nicholas)

2 - Rapture, 2011 (from a series) – Model/MUA: Jessamyne

3 – The Sirens – Models/MUAs: India Rose and Victoria Veins

4 - ‘You Can’t Beat the Feeling’ Model: Hana, Hair/MUA/Nails: Mishka Mink, ‘Coca Cola’ trademark is copyright Coca Cola Amatil

5 - Eat Your Words, 2010 – Model: Miss Muffin, MUA/Hair: Sarah Powell

6 – Kiss & Tell, 2010 – Models/MUAs: India Rose and Victoria Veins

 All images are copyright © 2011 Harmony Nicholas

Tags: Alexander McQueen, benjamin nichols, Conceptual Portrait Photographer, copyright infringement, David Lynch, Harmony Nicholas, Helmut Newton, India Rose, Mark Romanek, Miss Muffin, Model Mayhem, Paolo Roversi, photography, Ray Caesar, Robert Palmer, Sabina Kelley, Storm Thorgerson, Tim Walker, Victoria Veins

Sonny Kay is without a doubt one of my favourite visual artists. Words will not do when it comes to his work; it needs to be experienced for oneself. Every time I look at one of his works my understanding of it evolves a little bit more, I find myself coming back to the images time and time again as inspiration for my mind and food for my soul—they remind me of the pure potentiality of life. Sonny is the art director for Rodriguez Lopez Productions and has created tee designs and album covers that complement the musical dialogue of artists such as long-time friend Omar Rodriguez Lopez, one of my favourite bands Le Butcherettes, the kick ass Zechs Marquise and more.

Art-wise, what are you currently working on? And so far, how do you feel about it?

 SONNY KAY: Right now I’m finishing laying-out new albums for Good Old War and The Mars Volta. The GOW project is more a matter of assembling parts that the band provided, whereas the Volta thing consists of original art I created for it, and now I’m in the process of adding lyrics, etc. So basically two different approaches. They’re both a good challenge, but of course the ones that utilize my own art feel more personal.

Previously, when asked about your artwork and the evolution of your album cover designs for Omar [Rodriguez Lopez] you have said, “I find my thoughts dwelling more and more on concepts of multi-dimensionality and what might be called the fabric of reality.” I wanted to ask you, what was your first introduction to these concepts? What first sparked your interest in these ideas? Have you ever personally experienced something that you perceived to be this?

SK: I suppose my earliest introduction to this kind of thing would be via people like George Harrison and Timothy Leary, all the sort of figureheads of 1960’s psychedelic awareness. I always had a kind of passing interest in psychedelic poster art, and that kind of thing, but more from an aesthetic point of view. I managed to completely avoid hallucinogens until well into my 20’s. Then about ten or eleven years ago I had my first bona fide “psychedelic” experience after taking a double dose of psilocybin mushrooms in Japan. I came away from that with the explicit understanding that there are dimensions of consciousness I could never have begun to imagine. And so from that point on I began reading everything I could get my hands on about hallucinogens, and more specifically, entheogens such as DMT. When I finally had the opportunity to try it myself, I was prepared for it in a way that I felt put me at an advantage over someone just happening upon it at a party or something. I felt like I’d primed myself intellectually. But nothing could have prepared me for the total sensory overload of it, nor the depths of astonishment possible that you just can’t imagine.

I read another interesting comment – “I think creativity should be valued much differently than it is now” – from you in an interview and I was wondering if you could elaborate on this thought?

SK: Well the point I was trying to make there was that I feel like the whole paradigm of consumption and profit needs upending. If it was impossible for anyone to turn a profit from creativity, I think we’d see a change in the kind of self-expression taking place. For one thing, I believe there’d be much less of it. And what there would be might be motivated by different ideals, more pure and more relevant to the essence of the human experience. Less about product and repetition and more about a connection to the truths at the core of our being. Removed from the context of capitalism, I think creativity could revert to the realm of “folk art”, or more appropriately, tribal art. It could serve a different set of functions entirely, which are arguably far more noble than plain old exploitation.

What does art mean to you and as an artist what matters most to you? 

SK: It’s a way for me to express things I feel and believe more creatively and poignantly than trying to verbalize them ever could. It’s a way for me to love myself and embrace the lifetime I’ve been given. I’m not sure what matters the most. I suppose contributing to the ongoing dialogue that forms the fabric of culture, in general. Giving voice to ideas that go against the grain of the moronic monoculture represented by our governments and the corporations who own them.

Currently, what is your favourite thing that you’ve created and what is it about it that you love so much? 

SK: That’s so hard to say. Usually my favorite piece is either the most recent finished one or whatever I happen to be working on at the moment. At gunpoint I’d probably say the one entitled Adrift, Or Barking Up the Rung Tree (pictured above). More than any other, it seemed in some way “destined” to exist, and that I was simply enabling that inevitability. Walking into a gallery and seeing a huge print of that one framed on the wall is an incredibly satisfying and humbling experience. When I built it, each element felt like a precise fit. The chimp’s eyes, too, are just so piercing and expressive, I feel like they look right into your soul. To me, they feel so utterly heartbreaking, and at the same time they possess this dignity. I really enjoy the dichotomy between the desperation in his eyes and the playful insincerity of what the baby gorillas are doing.

What type of art and artists interest you at the moment? 

SK: That’s so hard to narrow down. I can be pretty schizo when it comes to art, and I tend to go through phases of paying attention and then just shutting myself off completely. Right now I’m reading The Graphic Language of Neville Brody, who designed all the Cabaret Voltaire covers back 80s, I guess that’s more design than art but they get muddled up for me. Record art and packaging design never cease to interest and inspire me. On the other hand, pretty much anything featured in Juxtapoz is awe-inspiring and compels me to do better.

What is one of your all-time favourite album covers and what does it mean to you? What do you find compelling about it?  

SK: I usually say the first Budgie album, or Unknown Pleasures, but today I feel like talking about the third Bauhaus album, The Sky’s Gone Out. I imagine a lot of people might find it boring, but I think it’s one of the most evocative and creepy things I’ve ever seen. The genius of it is in its simplicity. I love the geometric aspect to it, that it’s essentially just a painting of a circle. Always been a sucker for circles… The stark, high contrast design acts like a trap for the eye. The way the circle bleeds toward the outside edges is just so… I don’t know, just weird. It was a revelation seeing this when I was 13 or 14. I loved the way it at once had nothing and yet everything to do with the title. Nearly all the imagery associated with this band is crucial to me, but this album cover is just monolithic.

I know that you love going to thrift stores (as I do) and you get a lot of your imagery for your collage work from old books you find there. What’s one of your favourite finds from a thrift store?  

SK: I found an incredible hardcover photo book entitled Africa’s Powerhouse about the energy industry in South Africa in the early 1970’s. It’s full of incredible, beautiful photos which I’ve definitely poached from time to time. But I treasure it because as a baby I lived in Johannesburg for about a year, and obviously don’t remember anything about it. That book has served as a kind of time capsule for me, a snapshot of a time and place in my life I could never really envision otherwise. A lot of thrift shop books you find time and time again, but I’ve only ever found it once. Also, I lost it for about a dozen years – left it with a friend who was scanning it for me before I had my own gear, and then lost touch with him. I met his wife at a show in Denver a couple of years ago and out of the blue she asked me if I still needed it, and I just about fell over. So it made its way back to me. I will never let it out of my possession again.

You also love to travel and have a fondness for Japan; in all your travels what place has had a really lasting impact on you?  

SK: Japan, without a doubt, just in terms of the aesthetic and the quality of life (and the food, and the people, and the music, etc…). But plenty of other places have had a lasting impact. I would happily go and live in Mexico for a while, the further south the better. I really feel alive when I’m down there.

Growing up, as a child, what were the things you found most fascinating about the world?

 SK: The diversity and infinite variability of the plant and animal kingdoms is something I’ve never lost my fascination for.

Now as an adult, what are the things that you find fascinating about the world? 

SK: The variety of culture and human experience. At the same time, I find it utterly perplexing that so many people accept reality at face value.

Have you ever had a life changing moment?  

SK: Probably quite a few of them, yes. As corny as it sounds, seeing the band Heroin play in San Diego in March ’92 definitely qualifies. So does being kicked out of/causing the demise of The VSS in ’97. My first DMT trip tops the list though, without a doubt.

I believe that there are opportunities all around us every day to learn from. What’s something that you learnt today?  

SK: There’s no such thing as a sure thing. Not that that’s really news, but I’m reminded of it on an almost daily basis.

What is your greatest vision for you art?

SK: That it connects with people and undermines the immediacy and “disposability” of the source materials and methods used to create it.

For more Sonny Kay. Purchase art by Sonny Kay. Rodriguez Lopez Productions.

Create forever!!

*Photo credit: Sonny Kay by Cameron Puleo and Sound Colour Vibration

Tags: 1960s psychedelic awareness, art, Bauhaus, Budgie, DMT, George Harrison, Good Old War, Heroin (band), Juxtapoz, Le Butcherettes, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, profit from creativity, psilocybin mushrooms, Rodriguez Lopez Productions, self-expression, Sonny Kay, The Graphic Language of Neville Brody, The Mars Volta, The VSS, Timothy Leary, Unknown Pleasures, Zechs Marquise

I believe that Drea Smith is destined for greatness. One half of indie duo PYYRAMIDS, along with OK Go’s Tim Nordwind; previously fronting the genre mashing He Say, She Say with best friend Million Dollar Mano; currently working on a solo project with Doc McKinney (Santigold, The Weeknd, K-OS + more)—this lady is a creative dynamo. It’s only a matter of time before the world catches on to how kick ass Drea is! Here’s our recent chat…

I am so excited to have found PYYRAMIDS!

DREA SMITH: Aww thank you! I read your blog and it’s awesome!

Ha! I was checking out your blog as well and as I was looking at it I was thinking, wow! Janet Jackson, PJ Harvey, Bratmobile and all the fashion related things you feature are all very similar to my own tastes. I was so excited looking through it! How did you first come to music?

DS: I actually went to performing arts, like junior high, I was a vocal major. My mom put me in front of the TV and I was watching MTV early [laughs]. I knew I wanted to be a rock star when I was eight.

You love such an eclectic mix of music, you love punk, hip hop and more, yet your music doesn’t necessarily reflect all these things.

DS: Yeah, well you know what’s funny? I actually want to do a little bit of every genre that I like. I want to get involved with all of it if I can. I love post-punk music and down tempo music, PYYRAMIDS lets me explore that side of music that I like.

You play guitar too?

DS: I used to. I’m trying to freshen up on it. I started playing guitar when I was fifteen but, I haven’t really picked up a guitar much in the past five years. I need to get back into actually writing with a guitar and exploring how a guitar would sound now for me.

Before you were in PYYRAMIDS you were in He Say, She Say (pictured above) which was signed to Lupe Fiasco’s label; can you tell me about the experience of being in He Say, She Say?

DS: I started He Say, She Say with my best friend, Mano. We’re still super close. We started writing songs together when I was eighteen and he was twenty. We met in college. I had sent some of the demos to Doc McKinney, who is my mentor now. He’s worked with The Weeknd. He said, ‘Y’all should be a group.’ The industry was so saturated with solo female artists. Mano is a DJ who is heavily influenced by house and dance music, things you would hear at a club. I was heavily influenced by indie rock, introspective lyrics and punk music. We ended up meshing all of those genres together to create He Say, She Say. Mano went to high school with Lupe and had been sending him things that he had been working on and He Say, She Say caught Lupe’s attention and he signed us. We’re actually on an indefinite hiatus but me and Mano talk about making music all the time together.

Mano DJs for Kanye West now?

DS: Yes he does. I am so stoked because Watch The Throne tour comes to L.A. soon and I get to go to all three shows!

What does PYYRAMIDS mean to you?

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Tags: American Horror Story, Bratmobile, Chanel, Clayton Hauck, Doc Martens, Doc McKinney, Drea Smith, Givenchy, He Say She Say, Janet Jackson, kanye west, Lupe Fiasco, Million Dollar Mano, PJ Harvey, PYYRAMIDS, RES, Ruby Woo lipstick by MAC, Santi White, santigold, sexism in music industry, The Weeknd, Tim Nordwind, Tyler Curtis

Happy New Year lovelies! I know we’re already a week in but, I thought I’d take this moment to wish you all an AMAZING 2012! I hope everyone’s New Year has gotten off to a wonderful start, mine has.

Things in my world are starting to look brighter, better and more magical than they ever have before! There’s lots of interviews in the works with inspiring creative folk who are doing interesting and important work in the world including: Glen E Friedman, Kate Nash, Dave Catching, Ian Vanek from Japanther, the artist Sonny Kay &more! The next couple of weeks will also see in-depth interviews posted with some of my favourite people: designer Peggy Noland, Teri Gender Bender of Le Butcherettes, Drea Smith from PYYRAMIDS/He Say, She Say, photographer Harmony Nicholas… this year is going to be a big, big year!

Also, Issue #7 of my award-winning zine series Conversations With Punx is off to the printers this week too. Featuring in-depth interviews on spirituality, creativity and life with Duane Peters, Corey Parks, Lord Ezec, Russ Rankin, Brad Warner, Franklin Rhi & Ben Weasel.

Here’s some inspiration to help start your New Year right:

• Harnessing the Power of Intention for the New Year: “Intention is the starting point of every dream. It is the creative power that fulfills all of our needs, whether for money, relationships, spiritual awakening, or love. Everything that happens in the universe begins with intention.” What are your intentions for 2012?

• Want to know what the The No. 1 Habit of Highly Creative People is? Get your party of one on!

• How Do You Stay Creative? Inspiration to keep your creative juices flowing.

• Warhol Philosophies: “I think everybody should like everybody.” Inspiring prints.

• 28 steps to a positive & successful life. Tips to put you on the right track.

• Oprah and Eckhart Tolle discuss The Flowering of Human Consciousness and what it means to be present in each moment. I’ve recently starting watching this series and it’s seriously had a huge, positive effect on me. In fact, it really has blown my mind! Please watch it.

• How To Make Glitter Shoes! I was so excited to find this. Growing up my favourite shoes was a pair of silver glitter shoes my big sister owned, kind of like the ones Diana Ross wears in The Wiz! I know you can buy glittery shoes from a lot of places nowadays but being a big DIY fan and enjoying rockin’ unique pieces I prefer to make things myself. Can’t wait to try this on the weekend!

• How to Style Long Hair Short. Another inspiring post from my new favourite blog A Beautiful Mess. I’ve been thinking of cutting my hair but after finding this guide it’s inspired me to keep my hair long.

• Tips For Thrifting. As readers will know I’m a huge op shop/thrift store fan. Over half of my wardrobe consists of treasures found in unlikely places. If you’re new to thrifting you may find this little guide helpful. Expand your wardrobe without blowing your budget.

• Victorian Star Wars Portraits. Star Wars characters get classy.

• One of my favourite writer’s Paulo Coelho talks on writing. My friend Beck got me hooked on his books over a decade ago by introducing me to The Alchemist. He is one of the few authors I love where I have all his works in my library that I constantly find myself revisiting.

• Need More Culture In Your Life? Read These Books.

And lastly, I recently came across the band Indian Handcrafts that I’m really diggin’:

Dream big!! Create forever!

*Image (which is on my office wall as inspiration for 2012) source.

Tags: Andy Warhol Philosophies, Carine Roitfeld, DIY Glitter Shoes, dream big, Eckhart Tolle, Harnessing the Power of Intention for the New Year, How to Style Long Hair Short, Human Consciousness, i-D magazine, Indian Handcrafts, Oprah Winfrey, Paulo Coelho, Tips For Thrifting, Victorian Star Wars Portraits