“Craigness!” is back and he gets up close and personal with Halifax fashion blogger Perry Paris. Craig has no concept of personal space and it gets him into trouble as he tries to hang with Perry.
The new episode of Craigness has been picked up by Haligonia.ca and word is it’s the #1 video on their site right now. Way to go Craig!
Heidi Petracek chats with Craig Layton
Craig was recently interviewed by Heidi Petracek on Haligonia.ca. It’s a good interview where he lays out the concept of the show and what he has planned. He was nice enough to plug Unfiltered Smoke in the interview and for that we applaud him.
If you haven’t heard of David Myles, fear not; now you have heard of him and you no longer have to worry about missing out on one of the most gifted songwriters Canada has to offer.
Myles’ list of musical accomplishments is incredible and well earned. Here’s a small sample of what David Myles has been up to:
- His albums “Things Have Changed” (2006) and “On The Line” (2008) have brought him to national attention including a radio hit with “When It Comes My Turn”, a song about growing old with a little grace and a smile on your face.
- Yesterday (April 20th 2010) saw the release of Myles’ fourth album “Turn Time Off”. The album was produced by Joel Plaskett (!) of Thrush Hermit and Joel Plaskett Emergency fame.
- He won the 2009 International songwriting competition. The judges for this competition included Tom Waits (!!) and Brian Wilson (!!!), both of whom know a thing or two about quality songwriting (Take that, Simon Cowell!).
- He was selected to represent New Brunswick (he’s originally from Fredericton) in CBC Radio’s Great Canadian Song Quest, where he was asked to write and record a song about the popular tourist destination the Hopewell Rocks.
- He was nominated for Male Entertainer of the Year and won Folk Recording of the Year at the 2009 East Coast Music Awards for “On The Line”. He also won the Folk/Roots Recording of the Year for Music Nova Scotia in 2007.
- He joined Nova Scotia Rapper Classified onstage at the Much Music Video Awards last year, playing trumpets on Class’ hit track “Anybody Listening” (He told me that he met the Jonas Brother’s, who were hosting the show, and was surprised how nice they were. “They didn’t come off like cheese heads at all” he told me).
- On April 16th , 2010 he had the honour of playing a gig with Symphony Nova Scotia.
His accomplishments sound like those of someone twice his age who’s carreer might be wrapping up, but Myles is just getting started.
Myles’ sound is a seamless mixture of jazz, folk and blues with heartfelt and honest lyrics that pinpoint the hard-to-articulate pressure points of the human condition. Seriously he’s that good, but the thing that impressed me the most about David Myles (who was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to chat with me last November while in the middle of recording “Turn Time Off”) is that he is without a stitch of pretence. He’s soft spoken, kind, funny and thoughtful, and his ego seems to be non existent. It was a pleasure to be able to pick his brain about his craft, his success and his views on music.
If you haven’t heard of David Myles before you are in for a treat. He’s a great interview, full of interesting anecdotes and practical advice for all you artists out there. He’s a man who’s found success on his own terms without letting it get to his head, and that’s all any artist should be after.
Unfiltered Smoke: You’re living the dream a lot of artists are striving for. You’re a professional musician with no day job. I think a lot of our readers would like to know how you’ve accomplished that.
David Myles: I was lucky. Basically when I decided I was going to go for it I had about 5000 bucks saved up. I made a record and then moved out west. I started to play all the time and once my savings dwindled I moved to Halifax and worked a few temp jobs, then I made another record and then started touring again. I took some time off work, and eventually things started to happen. In the last three and a half years I haven’t worked [a day job] at all
US: That’s an amazing feat.
DM: It’s great because as it develops you get further away from it making sense to get a job. I’m starting to realize I have a couple of years where music is going to be my career.
US: That’s what every musician wants to do
DM: That’s it, and that’s what you have to keep perspective on. For me the big thing is to always realize that this is what I want, that my goal in life is to make music. It’s seemed ambitious enough and it seemed kind of crazy enough that I figured if I could make a living at it then I’m like the luckiest dude ever. But each year that goes by I feel like ‘when is this going to run out?’
US: It seems to me that you’re on the cusp of getting a lot more exposure. I’ve been hearing more and more about you from places like CBC radio.
DM: It’s definitely getting busier. That’s the other thing though, it takes time. I mean it depends on the type of music you play, but I suspect that the type of music I play, or at least how I kind of built my career, I’m hoping it is going to be a long career that slowly builds. Like a 40 year thing hopefully
US: Well your music doesn’t ride any fads or trends.
DM: That’s right, and it’s not going to become really popular over night.
US: People who like it are going to like it because it’s really good not because of some sort of flavour of the month type deal.
DM: Yeah, hopefully. I mean I think there’s a lot of really good music that was only popular for like a couple years. I think music I was into when I was 17 wasn’t the same stuff I was into when I was 25. When I was 17 I cared so much about certain bands that might not be popular right now, but they had some big years. That kind of career you have to capitalize on and it’s like how do you take advantage of that little time? I’m sure there’s a little bit of that in every career but my whole thing has always been not to spend very much money so I can always float by. So I’m never finding myself making big compromises or doing something just to make money.
US: You don’t strike me as that kind of musician.
DM: I keep hoping that the records I have made will grow and people will go back and listen to them and maybe they’ll become really popular in ten years, you don’t know. But that’s how I’ve tried to focus on it and stay positive about everything. I focus on the record and make sure it’s really good and people will eventually come around if they want to come around.
The weird thing is that it kind of happens that way. Because I’ve never had huge commercial success, so it basically means that each of my records slowly builds, like I’ll get an email from somebody who’s just picked up a record that I made five years ago. It’s slowly getting around and I end up selling more copies of that first record that I did four or five years ago, and that’s pretty cool, you know what I mean? Because it means your back catalogue still works for you. It’s not like it’s over as soon as you put it out, like one shot at banging a number one hit and if it doesn’t happen it’s over. I think there’s a little bit of that protection too for people who might not be in the music industry. When I first got in I was like ‘Ok, I’m gonna make a record and it’s either going to be something really popular or I’m not going to have a career’ and it’s just not really like that. You just slowly build. Sometimes early records are better. Everybody has a band they love the old stuff. The early stuff wasn’t as popular but you come to it later.
US: I know, personally, when I discover a band it’s only a matter of time before I go back and comb through their back catalogue.
DM: That’s how I hope it goes but it seems that each record gets a little bigger. I mean I’m lucky, man. I have a cool life, I get to do a lot of cool things. I don’t tour all the time, but I do fun tours that I want to do. I feel lucky because I don’t have too many pressures in terms of what I do. I really don’t have that
US: So there’s no one breathing down your back saying “Put more hooks in this song and gives us more singles”?
DM: Yeah, I don’t think so. I’m making the new record right now with Joel Plaskett and I basically paid Joel to be that guy who says ‘lets put this hook in here’ but it’s great because I totally trust him. This is the first time I’ve paid a producer to produce the record and be part of the process. I’ve only worked with Chuck (Hoffman) before and that’s been amazing, but it was way more chill. He’s like, lets just try everything out and see how it goes. And I take a pretty strong production role in that kind of relationship.
With the new record it’s been like ‘ok, Joel I want you to produce this record, I’m gonna play you my songs and you tell me what you think.’ It’s cool. I’ve definitely learned to step back and say ‘go with it, what do you think?’ and he’ll say ‘why don’t you do this, this or this’ and we really end up with some cool stuff. But the reason I think he’s such a great person for this kind of thing is that he’s a pretty good model of exactly what we’re talking about. Just kind of doing your own thing over a long period of time and have it pay off. It’s pretty friggin’ amazing to see his career develop and it’s pretty friggin’ well deserved. Working with him I realized just how hard he works. It’s pretty impressive. I’ve known him for a few years but now working with him closely it’s like he operates on a pretty high level. He can stay focused for so long, and listens so carefully and has great ideas. It’s pretty inspiring.
Joel and I have the same management and that’s kind of how we met. I knew him a little before but we started spending more time together because of our manager, and we’re both lucky because our manager isn’t the type of manager who says you should do this or that. She’s really supportive, she’s a really, really good manager
I feel lucky too because I don’t have a label. My albums are released on my own label.
US: How did you get started with that?
DM: I just decided I wanted to put a logo on my first record. That was before I had distribution but I figured why not have a little novelty logo? I come up with a logo, came up with a name of my company and eventually the record got distribution. Just like any independent record it took a long time. I’d been selling it off the stage while touring. Once I’d done enough touring and sold enough copies of my record off stage and over the internet I made a pitch to a couple distribution companies. I said ‘listen, I’ve sold this many records, I’ve toured across the country and I want my record in stores.’ They really couldn’t ignore what I had done. It’s pretty ideal. I mean the only advantage that a label provides is that everything is in the same place; publishing and distribution. I don’t want to borrow money from a label, it’s not my style, I don’t like going into debt. I’m not a debt kind of dude [laughs] and basically it’s something they can hold over your head and I don’t want that. I’d rather spend less money or save money for along time or put it all on my visa cards. At lest it’s on my own terms and I’m not making hundred-thousand dollar records. If I needed that kind of dough I’d need a label but that’s not the kind of records I’m making
US: Your records still sound great regardless of the money behind them.
DM: Yeah, thanks, well you can make a good sounding record for cheap these days if you focus on what you’re doing. They do get more expensive as you go but they’re doable. As for a publicist you can basically hire a publicist yourself without having a label publish it and again, I like that because I get to choose instead of having it published by the label.
US: So you started as a one man show.
DM: It’s pretty cool. The management helps. It keeps everything together, and that’s the biggest step. I had a distributer and a publicist. Publicists are more a matter of if you wanna send them money you can get them. Distribution is harder to access. Once you start touring it becomes a lot easier to access though. Management is a big step. They can put me in touch with agents, someone who would work out well with what I was after.
Everything is in place and everyone is working on stuff but my business isn’t floating their boat. How I like to work is invest in the long term. Build your team and get people close to you. So my records might not be making them a lot of money right now but the thinking is if it grows, eventually everything will pay off. As an artist you have to grow.
US: Doing an album with someone as famous as Joel Plaskett must come with certain expectations, do you feel like there are higher expectations out there for the new album?
DM: There was quite a bit of expectation in the last record because the record before was a big jump, it’s what helped me build a team and get some attention. This time there is more expectation because all the team behind it were in place before I started recording. This record will be done recording by about Christmas and we’re releasing it in April. So it gets done and there’s 4 months to release it, which is awesome, but I’ve never been this organized before [laughs]. It’s always been like the day before release and I’m going through the boxes to make sure the right records are inside.
This time I feel if there’s more expectation it’s because everything is in place to make it work. Joel is a great guy to work with because he focuses on the important stuff.
US: If there is added pressure it doesn’t seem to be getting under your skin.
DM: I guess I’ve just been more chill in general. I wrote a lot before this record. I had a really chill winter last year so I just wrote and wrote and wrote and got a whole bunch of stuff. I’ve been playing with the band more, developing the songs, so I feel good about it. To be totally honest I always hope for the best and expect the worst
I focus on making a great record and that’s all I focus on. It’s the other factors you can’t worry too much about. Like there’s so many records you hear and you think ‘this is going to be a huge record’ and it’s not and there’s another record you don’t think anything of and it becomes huge. There are x factors in the business that I’ve come to realize I have no control over. All I can do is put out the best record I can and I think this is going to be a really good record. I’m really excited about it. I’ve had more time to focus on the important things.
A huge part of my career is playing live. I put a lot of pressure on my records but I realize if I’m going to have a career, a 40 year career, I have to be a great live entertainer.
I love playing live too. I write songs to be played live. I love the fact that when you play a song live it exist in only that moment. I love records but there’s something unique about playing live.
That’s the other thing, I know it’s not the records that build my career. Ideally they will help and this new one is the best so far, but the live show is what reaches the most people. I mean what are the chances I’m going to be played on commercial radio? There’s like ten artists that get commercial radio time. Either it becomes super hip for young people, which doesn’t seem likely, or I have one song that sticks. That did happen to me a little bit with “When It Comes My Turn”. That song has done well. It’s been a huge part of building my career and I’ll always have that. I don’t mind the idea of playing that song night after night, year after year. That sounds great to me.
US: “When it Comes My Turn” is a great song and I’ve noticed when you play it now it has evolved a lot from the recorded version, it almost has a different feel now.
DM: Yeah I went back and listened to it and I didn’t even realize how much it had changed, but that’s what happens with records. After time you play with it and change it until certain phrases are totally different.
US: Your lyrics are astounding to me. They are so simple and direct and evoke the desired emotion so well that it floors me. One of my favourites is a line from “Cape Breton” that goes “We’ll kiss like we kissed when we kissed the first time, with our minds on our hearts and our hearts on the line”.
DM: It’s funny you mention that because I’ll get little lines in my head and… not a lot of people have told me they like that one but I really like that one, that’s where the title of that record “On the Line” came from.
US: You have a gift for being sincere and emotionally profound while keeping it simple.
DM: Yeah, well I’ve always loved guys like John Prine, people who are easy to understand…Don’t get me wrong, I love Bob Dylan, but a lot of his songs require multiple listens and some of them I don’t think even he knows what they’re about [laughs], I love his music but I knew from the get go that I wasn’t going to be that kind of lyricist. In high school you couldn’t pay me money to write a poem or write fiction because I was so embarrassed. As a writer I didn’t think I was good enough. I wasn’t poetic in a traditional sense, I wasn’t confident that I had that ability, so when I decided to write lyrics I knew I would write exactly how I talk or how I think.
It’s funny because I got into music by way of instrumental music, I never listened to lyrics. I don’t think I knew the lyrics to any songs until I was about grade twelve. Even all my favourite songs, like when I was super into Metallica and Guns n’ Roses, I could sing every guitar solo and every drum fill on every record, but I couldn’t tell you the lyrics. I just wasn’t a lyric guy. And even when I started playing music I decided I like to sing and if I’m going to sing I have to write lyrics so I slowly got into it. Now I’m so into it. I realize how important it is. I used to think if the melody is good enough you can say anything and a lot of people get away with saying a lot of foolish things but they often sound ok. It’s a really weird thing, sometimes the meaning of something is hard to understand but the sound is great. I think there’s a lot of choosing sounds. There’s nothing worse than hearing a singer use some word that sounds so stupid. Like no one ever uses it in speech. That’s one thing about Dylan he has so many awesome sounding words that’s just him riffing. It hardly makes sense but the words he’s chosen sound great. I like being more direct.
US: Another song of yours with great lyrics is “When it Comes My Turn”.
With lines like: “I worry about my money. I got bills that I can’t pay. I swear I’m more like my father everyday”
and the chorus: “I’m getting old, but I’m not old yet. I’m already worried that I might forget, how to laugh, how to love. How to live, how to learn. I wanna die with a smile when it comes my turn”.
It speaks about something a lot of people can relate to. When you came up with those lines did you realize that you really had something profound that people would understand from their gut? Did you set out to write a song about growing old and coming to terms with it, or was it happenstance?
DM: It comes from weird places, you play and hum a melody and from humming syllables comes words. I didn’t say to myself ‘I’m going to write a song about getting old’, I had the melody and was humming it to myself on the bus one day and all of a sudden it came, “I’m getting old but I’m not old yet.”
US: Like you work hard to facilitate that kind of thinking and then one day your muse just shits on your head with a formed idea?
DM: Exactly [laughs] the muse shits on your head. Those moments are a magical thing when it just comes to you. I wrote the entire chorus to that song on a bus trip. Once I have the chorus I can build the rest. It might take awhile but the song is kind of happening.
I feel lucky, It’s good to have a song that will be remembered even if I die now. I’m glad that’s the song people really like because it’s a totally positive song with a positive message. It’s something I thought about all the time. Everyone thinks about that, I always think about aging. I totally wrote that song thinking it would be a song that my generation would relate to, that quarter life crisis where you’re about to get a real job, you’re out of university and now you’re becoming an adult, trying to become the adult you want to be. But it’s totally had a different impact and the people who are drawn to that song are the people who have retired, people my parents age, 65 or older. That’s the funny thing, everybody can relate to it. Because the older you get the more your idea changes of what old is. When you’re a teenager people in their thirties seem ancient. I’m glad that’s taken place and most of the notes and feedback I’ve gotten regarding that song are from people in their 60’s. Like “I’m just going into retirement and trying to figure out how to retire in style and not get too bored with no job and stay feeling young.” People get used to going to a job every day and it’s a shock when they don’t have that. The Kids are gone, the house is empty and they don’t know how to fill their day. The song has totally become a song for senior fitness groups.
A cool thing happened the last time I was playing in P.E.I., a woman about my parent’s age came up to me after the show and said “I want to thank you for sending me the song and lyrics (for “When it Comes My Turn) because my whole family now performs it together at our reunions.”
I said “oh I remember that email you sent me. That’s very nice.”
She said “Yeah, we all get together in Saskatchewan and play it. My niece, Feist, plays guitar on it.”
I said “Oh cool, your niece is named Feist, that’s a cool name.”
She says “Yeah, Leslie Feist.”
I’m like “You’re kidding, Leslie Feist plays “When it Comes My Turn” on guitar at family reunions?!”
That was the coolest thing, such a fun coincidence. The song has become a bit of a folk song and a lot of people are playing their own versions, which I love.
US: Not a lot of music is that universal
DM: Yeah, I kind of feel, if anything, that young people don’t listen to my music, but a lot of older people come around. You can’t choose your audience, it just kind of happens. I’ve been at shows where people come up to me and the audience is mostly over 50, you don’t choose, but I like playing for anyone, I’m glad to. They are a wicked audience because there aren’t a lot of bands playing music that people that age, so they really get into it and I love that. That’s not my only audience but specifically because of that song there was a certain point where my main audience was older. It kind of spreads slowly and you have to have faith that it will.
US: There’s a lot going on in your records, but the songs themselves remain fairly simple standard structures, which I’m a big fan of, It’s hard to get much better than 3 or 4 chords and a lot of heart.
DM: I get such a kick out of that. One of the reasons I like writing songs so much is I love hearing other people play them or play on them. It’s so exciting when another guitar player comes up with a solo to one of my songs. I like writing songs that are easy to play, especially lately. I really dig an idea of 3 or 4 chord songs. It is hard to get better than that as long as the other elements are in place, the rhythm section is so important for that.
I picked up a guitar in my 3rd year university so I’m still pretty new to it. I used to play trumpet but once I moved to guitar and I learned my first two chords I wrote a song. I don’t do fancy finger work up the neck, I leave that to my lead guitar players. I mean John Prine consistently blows my mind with 3 chords over and over. Neil young is a great example too, because he does play solos but they are so ramshackle. Seeing him last year, I realized how amazing he is at guitar. He is such a visceral player.
Ultimately it’s all about finding your own voice. You can’t just ape someone else’s sound. It takes time to find out what kind of writer you are, what you want to write about and how you want to go about writing it. At this point, now that I’ve worked at it so long, I don’t think I could sound any different. I sound like me and that’s what I want.
When I start to write a song I sit down and I get obsessed with different types of music so I tend to jump around a lot with styles, which is probably a weakness. I have to learn to reel that in a bit. Most of my influences aren’t modern. I base my music on older forms. I’ll write a blues song or a jazz song or a three chord folk song because that’s the world I exist in. From song to song sometimes it’s hard for me to pull it together with different styles and make the songs sound consistent, but that’s where finding the right band comes in
US: Have you always played with the same group of guys?
DM: I’ve always had the same bass player and drummer and then gotten different players to fill out each song. This time there is five of us and Joel.
US: Do you like having a fixed group as your band?
DM: I like it for this record. If I had gotten a different rhythm section the songs would be too different. The rhythm parts on the last record are insane. I’m lucky to play with good players and Halifax is filled with great players.
US: There’s some great Youtube videos you’ve put out where it’s you and one or two people playing in your living room or back yard. That’s about as real as any performance gets.
DM: I love Youtube videos because everyone knows how awesome it feels to jam in your living room, but how can you translate that? You can record from your living room but there’s a certain aspect to the performance that is missing and Youtube is a cool way to watch music because there’s no distance. you see it as it is, if someone makes a mistake it stays there and that adds an intimacy. I love it. I want to do that for all my songs on the new record.
US: I wanted to get your opinion on spontaneity. Do you feel as an artist that it’s important to take your time and labour over the fine details or is it better to keep the freshness and emotion of the song intact by recording it when it’s still fresh?
DM: As the creator of the music you can get really bogged down by what you’re hearing as opposed to what the world is hearing. I listen to so much music from the 50s where they laid it down, they got one take. These guys were so good, they played every night and when they recorded it was exactly what they sound like and they were good enough to pull that off. There’s less mystery to that kind of recording. I mean there’s mystery like how are they so good and how are they doing whatever the hell they’re doing but the recordings are so real, there’s no mystery as to what they actually sound like, it’s all right there. I wanted the band to get there.
We practiced a lot before we went into the studio and that was different. There isn’t as much questioning, there is a lot of stuff that changes but I don’t go over the mixes for months and months. Right now, there are two tracks on the album that we recorded live which was amazing. Joel’s studio is cool, it’s like a suped-up garage. It’s not all that big but the sound is great. And we were nailing it on the first take, it was a great feeling. The rehearsing helps. We’ve been able to move quickly. We haven’t had much choice because Joel is a busy dude but when he’s there he’s entirely there, no distractions.
This record is all on tape. Joel doesn’t use computers to record. Besides the advantage of how it sounds, the real advantage is the working method. You can’t fret about it too much, you cant drop it in or fix mistakes. if your in the middle of the phrase you cant do it, you can only over dub in certain sections or physically record over the tape. I like that element of it. It’s almost is starting to sound like Fleetwood Mac to me [laughs]. It sounds like the 70s. I thought it would sound more like the 50s but it sounds like the 70s. I think the fidelity of recording on tape has something to do with that. I’m having a really good time with it.
US: What happens after recording is done?
DM: We fly to Arizona to mix it and then back to Halifax to master it with Jay Lapoint.
US: Thanks a lot for taking the time to talk to me, most of our readers are artists and I’m sure they will find your story as inspiring as it is fascinating.
DM: I love conversations like this. I think it’s cool that your site is so free form and inclusive. It helps too that you know the music and know what you’re talking about. You’ve actually listened to my records. I’m used to sitting down for an interview and the guy goes “Okay, so tell me, what do you sound like?” [Laughs] That’s the worst.
To get a better understanding of Tattoo’s, this weeks guest allows CRAIGNESS! to tattoo his name into her leg.. The one and only Rock-a-billy superstar of the Nova Scotia Tattoo scene Helena Darling!
Helena Darling has been tattooing since 2007 and has been working in studios on learning the art of tattooing since she was 16. She is currently located out of her home studio in Dartmouth N.S.
She has a well rounded portfolio and is eager to do custom pieces.
Jordan Stewart is a writer living in Saint John, NB. His latest book, Greetings! From Gumdrop Mountain, is a collection of 22 short stories available from Loose Teeth Press.
Disclosure: Jordan and I are both members of a writer’s group called The Vagabond Trust.
Mike Romard: So tell us about Greetings! From Gumdrop Mountain. How did this book come to be?
Jordan Stewart: Uh well I guess it started when I decided to take a break from writing poetry and start writing short stories. Since I’m an attention whore I needed a place online to post them so I set up brokenchairessays.com and tried to update it as often as possible. About 6 months in, Mike Lecky messaged me asking me if I wanted to cull these little beasts into a little book. Since I like making books and not paying for it, I agreed. We hammered out some details like a loose theme, title and some art. Then I waited a while and a box showed up with some books with my name on them.
MR: You’ve got a few websites, and you seem to put a lot of your work online. A lot of authors and would-be authors are really uncomfortable doing that sort of thing. Is this something that ever worried you?
JS: No it never has really. I’ve never really had a professional mindset with my writing or been worried much about plagiarism. Even with brokenchairessays, I just put them online without a second thought. Firstly, it directly resulted in a publishing deal, and secondly if some dude wants to steal a couple stanzas from me to impress his friends, or pass creative writing, or maybe get laid, well, you know, good for him. I mean, I hope he dies and lives eternity in a flaming hell and all that, but what am I really gonna do about it, you know?
I can understand writers not being comfortable with it though and I don’t know, maybe just stick an “All Rights Reserved, 2010″ at the bottom or something.
MR: So, some of the stories in this collection are from brokenchairessays, but not all of them. Do the other stories in Gumdrop Mountain appear elsewhere, or is this their debut?
JS: All the ones not on Broken Chair are brand new for the book. I wanted to have as many new ones as I could get in there to make it worthwhile to regular Broken Chair readers.
MR: Were the new stories written with the book in mind? Like, were you working towards the loose theme when they were written? Or were these stories that you had already written, but hadn’t yet published?
JS: The book’s theme isn’t so much a theme as an excuse to write ridiculous stories. Having a theme of “This is a place where crazy things happen all the time” is a pretty easy one to work with. Anyway, by the time we had that figured out I sort of took a break from submitting to broken chair and wrote with the intention of putting ‘em in the book and finishing that up.
MR: And a lot of crazy things do happen here. You’ve got a world where yard sales get broken up by SWAT teams. You’ve got Hugh Grant shoplifting. You’ve got bicycle rain. You’ve got an escaped mental patient at the grocery store. And that’s just scratching the surface of the crazy. What draws you to writing this particular sort of story?
JS: I’m a pretty huge fan of books and stories and movies that present a future, or an alternate reality where things are similar, but not quite the same. Where things are very human, but with a twist. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, for example, we’re presented with a picture of humans in the future where everything is somewhat the similar, except that books are very much outlawed. The occupation of fireman gets re-written to show up and burn books instead of put out house fires. It’s insane, and weird and beautiful. It’s that small twist of insanity that I try to recreate in my stories with illegal yard sales or wine drinking robots, or suicidal grizzly bears.
MR: You mention Bradbury. Who (or what) else influences your writing?
JS: Hmm, I’d say Vonnegut would be of the more influential of writers, but it’s hard to say really. It’s hard to pinpoint one writer or musician or source of inspiration. I get inspiration from a lot of different places all the time. One of the biggest influences for me has been my writer’s group The Vagabond Trust, and just hearing those drunkards spout the poetic greatness week after week.
Also the guy who writes the “Herman” comic everyday in the paper. He inspires me with how terrible his comic is, and how I must try to make my art better than his.
MR: That’s a pretty admirable goal.
So what’s next for you? Are you working on anything new?
JS: I’m kind of going the other way again, back to poetry for a bit. I’m working on a long poem for the Vagabond Trust compilation I think. Poetry is harder than I remember it though, so we’ll see. Other than that I want I want to start updating tiredeyes.net again daily and brokenchairessays when the inspiration strikes. Just writing more in general and probably drinking more.
MR: Cool. Just one last question. What’s your favourite story in Gumdrop Mountain?
This week on CRAIGNESS! Myles Sexton – Make Up Artist & Model – Offical Promo
Myles Sexton is a handfull!! This weeks CRAIGNESS! was a tough show.. When two people with huge ego’s clash somethings got to give. Not too many people can over shadow the Awesome insanity of CRAIGNESS! but in true professional spirit, CRAIGNESS! puts his ego aside in order to get the interview with the larger then Life MYLES SEXTON!
A new movie by Phil Hawkins
Starring Charlie McCartney
In a shocking twist ending, Unfiltered Smoke is having the Director of Charlie Bomb, Phil Hawkins, interview Charlie, Charlie Bomb, McCartney.
Phil interviews Charlie on the eve of the release of Charlie Bomb 4, the long awaited, and long delayed, final product of their Charlie Bomb 4 trailer which debut last summer at the Riva’s Dooryard Arts Film Festival in Woodstock NB.
Phil Hawkins: “What did you think of the film festival?”
Charlie McCartney: “It was great. I had a blast.”
PH: “We ran out of autographed posters!”
CM: “Haha, I have one up on my wall.”
PH: “Andrew Wiley did the soundtrack, its a really good original soundtrack!”
CM: “We really appreciate Wiley’s efforts… I love what he did on Charlie Shop. Wiley’s been a good friend and a big supporter of Charlie Bomb!”
PH: “How was working with DW?”
CM: “It was good. Working with Darren was a real treat.”
PH: “’Look tough.’ What’s that mean to you?”
CM: “Smile. Stick out your chest a little bit, hold your head a little higher… and be serious.”
PH: “Where to next?”
CM: “I’m happy as far as its gone, always like to see more hits. The current fanbase is getting bigger. It’s hard to walk around town without being recognized by someone. People I don’t know shout “Charlie BOMB!” at me all the time. …and I wouldn’t say its surprises me; it just gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling.”
You can watch the rest of Phil and Charlie’s movies including Charlie Bomb 1 – 3 and Charlie Shop on Phil’s Youtube page: www.youtube.com/philhawkins
Guest – Vanessa Furlong
Local professional actor and musician. Has been featured in Tom Selleck’s “Jesse Stone” series recently, and has had 5 films in the Atlantic Film Festival.
Best known for her vocal versatility in the local hip-hop band Three Sheet.
Currently busy modeling and has worked with the likes of Steve Richard, Brian Larter, Nick Rudnicki, Blair Doyle, Josh Boyter, Eric Boutillier Brown etc…
This weeks Guest is Vanessa Furlong, Professional film actress and musician.
Get ready for a case of Mistaken Identity when Vanessa Wakes to find CRAIGNESS! in her bedroom.
the Shiteth shall hit the fanning device.
Full Episode Drops Monday Oct 26 2009 only on Unfilteredsmoke.com
Craig’s Guest this week is Andree de Villers, a freelance model, actress, makeup artist, photography assistant and modeling coach located in Toronto, Ontario.
She models in several genres including but not exclusive to the following: Fashion, Glamour, Artistic Nude, Glamour Nude, Figure Modeling, Pin Up, Fetish, Demonstration Modeling, Promotional Modeling, Petite Runway Modeling, Live Mannequin Modeling, Catalogue, Horror/Macabre and Bikini/Lingerie.
As some of you may know, Adam Atherton entered and won on zudacomics.com. He created the comic Lily of the Valley and due to votes, his persistent marketing and high quality of work, he won in a landslide. The story continues on Zuda Comics tomorrow, October 9. Until then, here is an Unfiltered Smoke Q and A with the Woodstock, New Brunswick native.
Unfiltered Smoke:What are the steps involved with writing and designing and drawing a comic?
Adam Atherton: I think of a concept. Something that involves stuff I like to draw! So there’s usually girls in there somewhere… And subject matter I think I know well enough to write about confidently. I write down the main points into point form and start fleshing it out. I flesh out the end first and go backwards. It’s an easy way to ensure everything is building toward the ending. Then I keep filling in the blanks until it looks sort of like a family tree!
Then I break it down into a page count. What’s gonna be covered on each page. Usually this is the scripting process… but I usually know the story enough to go right into things from my mess of an outline. And since I’m drawing it too I can work out storytelling elements visually as I make the thumbnails. Then I draw the full pages with a mechanical pencil on smooth bristol. I constantly switch things around alot. I ink them with a watercolour brush and indian ink(which I think is more fun than anything else cause the page finally starts to look finished) and then I scan the page into my computer and colour it using Photoshop. I slap on the dialogue and word balloons and call it a day!
US: How did you hear about zuda and how did you get into the competition with Bleed (his first attempt last December)?
AA: I heard about Zudacomics.com back in October of 2008. A guy I knew sent me an email asking me to check out his comic which was competing then. The comic he worked on was called Extracurricular Activites and won the contract that month. (The comic just finished it’s first 60 page season pm Zuda last month.) I looked into the submission guidelines while I was there and thought I’d submit my comic Bleed for the hell of it and see what happens. Bleed was something I was just doing for fun at the time and to entertain myself with really. I didn’t have any expectations to hear back from Zuda but they contacted me at the end of November inviting my comic to compete for December.
US: What did you take away from your experience with Bleed that helped make Lily of the Valley a success during your next attempt?
AA: I took note of all comments. The things people liked I carried over into my next entry, and the things people didn’t like, I avoided. For the technical aspects at least. People have different taste so you’ll never please everyone so I still aimed to just make the kind of comic I’d want to read. But just tried to tell it in a technically pleasing way that even those not interested in the genre could respect. With Lily, I tried to put in enough information into the 8 pages to give a reader an understanding of what the story is about. I also learned the importance of marketing in the competition and started planning that side of things pretty early.
US: Who are your biggest inspirations as a comic artist?
AA: Probably Jeff Smith, Mike Mignola, and Paul Pope. I admire these guys cause they’re not just comic artists, they’re comic creators. They write and illustrate their own stories. When the same brain is writing and drawing a story it really brings the writing and art together into one storytelling language. They also all have ridiculously unique and personal styles and utilize design alot. These guys really use the artform expressively.
US: How have other media like music, film and books inspired your work?
AA: Music, films, and books inspire me with comics more than any comic has. Music can set a tone in my mind when drawing a page. I think through the visual storytelling in a cinematic way. I think of the scenes playing through my head like a film and pull out the significant moments and put them on the page. Books, films, and music also all help me shape a world perspective to use in the stories I try to tell through comics. Music that has inspired Lily of the Valley has been anything by Nick Cave and alot of music by The Cure. I actually have a whole soundtrack picked out for the comic and for the newer pages I’ve been hiding the names of songs, that I envision accompanying the scenes, into the page art. Books that have inspired this comic have been Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground. These stories are pretty centered around emotions similar to those I’m trying to express through my comic, so I’ve been able to look to those books and others to see how they’ve conveyed certain feelings visually.
US: How much of the Lily story did you have completed or planned when you submitted the first pages to the contest?
AA: I’ve had the whole thing planned before starting the submission. But it was in point form and I’ve been changing things around constantly. The final comic will likely look nothing like that I’ve written out. (laughs) I like to work organically let changes happen.
US: Do you have plans to finish Bleed? If so, when and is it already sketched out?
AA:I loved making that thing. It was alot of fun and there’s been alot of people who surprisingly liked it as much as I liked making it for some reason. I have it plotted out and know where the story’s going. I have a bunch more pages thumbnailed out too but I don’t know when I will get to them.
US: If you could collaborate with anyone on a story who would it be and why?
AA: I collaborate on Lily of the Valley with my girlfriend Luiza Dragonescu and couldn’t ask for a better partner to work with. She takes a few additional duties upon herself too, like fetching pages out of the trash after I go nutty and throw out just about every other page I draw. If she wasn’t helping me I’d still be getting frustrated and redrawing the first page I’ve ever attempted over and over again trying to make it perfect. Other than that, I can’t really think of anyone I’m dying to work with. I’ve always wanted to be able to wear all hats and do my comics entirely alone.
US: Are there other media that you work in?
AA: I love working with ink on bristol. That’s not an other though. I try out alot of mediums any chance I have. The only other medium I really love but am still learning with, is watercolour. I’d like to do some illustrations, maybe pin-ups or covers for comic series, with watercolour and ink sometime.
US: Are there any other ideas floating in your head for once Lily is done its run?
AA: Bleed. I’d like to find time to do alot more 3 panel humour strips as well. And I’d also like to try a story with a more mature tone where I can challenge myself to work in a more realistic style. I don’t want to get ahead of myself though so for now I’m focusing primarily on Lily of the Valley!
(speaking of 3 panel humour strips, if you missed Adam’s first submission to Unfiltered Smoke, you can check it out here)
If any of you would like to ask Adam a question, please feel free to email unfiltered smoke at ratedargh@gmail.com and perhaps we’ll do another Q&A down the road with reader questions. And now, here’s a picture of Adam and Luiza meeting Nick Cave!
