Some SuicideGirls have been modeling for the site for 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or even 10 years. We thought it would be fun to show you a look back and some of the SuicideGirls throughout the years. This week we bring you Nixon. Nixon has been a SuicideGirl since 2003. She went on every Burlesque tour we did,... more

Some SuicideGirls have been modeling for the site for 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or even 10 years. We thought it would be fun to show you a look back and some of the SuicideGirls throughout the years.

This week we bring you Nixon.

Nixon has been a SuicideGirl since 2003. She went on every Burlesque tour we did, expanded her tattoo collection significantly and even appeared on CSI: NY as herself sine becoming a SuicideGirl. Enjoy this look back at the beautiful Nixon...

From her 2003 photo set Cuddle by Erin:





From her 2004 photo set Scissorhands by London:






From her 2004 photo set In Captivity by Missy:





From her 2005 photo set Ice Queen that appeared in our first film SuicideGirls: The First Tour shot by Missy:








From 2006's Black Balloon shot by Missy in a Motel 6 room Nixon completely transformed into a dexter like set.







From 2006 Not Recommended shot by Cymagen:








From 2007 DNA shot by tmronin:






From 2008 Do or Die shot by tmronin:








From 2009 All Grown Up shot by Zoetica:






From 2009 Ate The Canary shot by Cherry:






From 2010's The Fisherman's Wife shot by Cherry:









Hope you enjoyed the beautiful look back at classic SuicideGirl Nixon!

Become a member TODAY for only $4 a month (if you sign up for a year) to see all 22 nude pin-up photo sets of Nixon - http://suicidegirls.com/join/

“Every other band was on stage because they wanted to be rock stars, this band was on stage because they had no fucking choice,” sums up Tony Wilson’s narrative. A camera pans across stark landscape of decrepit factories and abandoned warehouses. Wilson says, “I don’t see this as the story of a... more

“Every other band was on stage because they wanted to be rock stars, this band was on stage because they had no fucking choice,” sums up Tony Wilson’s narrative. A camera pans across stark landscape of decrepit factories and abandoned warehouses. Wilson says, “I don’t see this as the story of a group, but of a city.” The group was Joy Division and the city was Manchester, England. It was 1976 and the group was about to change music, and their city, forever.

Joy Division, the true story of the meteoric rise and fall of one of the most influential bands of our time, is the new documentary from director Grant Gee and producer Tom Atencio that traces the band’s history through never-before seen footage, bootlegged audio recordings and rare photos, as well as through in-depth (and at times incredibly painful) interviews with bassist Peter Hook, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, drummer Stephen Morris, and Factory Records founder, the late Tony Wilson.

Joy Division formed in 1976 in Salford, just outside of Manchester, after Hook and Sumner caught a Sex Pistols show and decided to give punk rock a shot. The band’s first album, Unknown Pleasures, was released on Tony Wilson’s Factory Records in 1979 and quickly established Joy Division as the aggressive yet atmospheric post-punk pioneers we know today. Theirs was music you could lose yourself in over and over again. But by February of 1980 the momentum of success had begun to take its toll on the band, most notably singer Ian Curtis, who’s physical and emotional fragility was unable to sustain the pressure of expectation. On May 18 1980, a 23-year-old Curtis hung himself, mere days before the band was to hop a flight to America for what would have been their first stateside tour. The band’s brilliant second album, Closer, was released after Curtis’ death. Joy Division was no more, but their story became that of legend.

The day after the documentary's Los Angeles screening I met up with Peter Hook at Rhino Records for our interview...

Erin Broadley: Did you enjoy the screening last night?

Peter Hook: It was a bit weird but good. It was quite odd because it was so arty and sort of restrained. I thought it would have been a bit wilder, really. It wasn’t as crazy as I thought it was going to be.

EB: What led to the decision to get involved with the documentary? When Anton Corbijn’s Joy Division biopic, Control, came out last year, there was speculation as to whether or not the band was happy with that fictional representation.

PH: The interesting thing is that the Joy Division documentary actually came about before Control, but Control happened quicker. I don’t think the documentary would have happened afterwards because we would have been so sick of talking about Joy Division, and so sick of living with it, that we wouldn’t have been able to do it. You wouldn’t have been able to give it the objectivity. It wouldn’t have been as fresh and honest. Tom Atencio’s timing was perfect, really. The interesting thing about the documentary is that I’ve never heard Bernard and Stephen talk about Joy Division like that. It’s something that we didn’t do, and we haven’t done.

EB: There’s that point in the documentary where it’s said that men don’t talk.

PH: It’s true. The sad aspect of it is, that if the three of us had done the interview together, you wouldn’t have said hardly anything. You just wouldn’t do it. Separately you’d do it. The interviews were done by John Savage, who’s a great friend of ours, an old journalist from Manchester who started in the punk era just the same way that we did. So you’re talking to someone you know very well, who knows the story very well. And obviously Tom Atencio we’ve worked with since 1982, so we know him very well. You open up to these people much more than you would do to somebody you didn’t know. And, to me, in the documentary it paid off.

EB: The documentary starts with Tony Wilson saying it’s more than just a story about a group; it’s a story about a city.

PH: Yeah, that’s Tony Wilson’s interpretation of it… that it all was about Manchester. And I suppose it is. You are subconsciously fueled by your surroundings, especially when you’re a kid. And the thing is that Manchester gave me the fuel to want to get out. And ironically it draws me back, every time I leave. When I leave here now I’ll be going back to Manchester. It’s quite odd seeing all these places in the world, all these different cultures, and you still always go home to Manchester.

EB: Maybe Tony saw things more like a scene.

PH: He’s a journalist. I’m just a stupid fucking musician. [Smiles] I don’t see any further than the end of me guitar.

EB: [Laughs] Well, I did love your description of him as an alien with tentacles.

PH: [Laughs] In that time, considering I’m just a working class tosser from Salford, to see somebody like him, it was like Doctor Who. It was wild.

EB: Was it hard for him to win Joy Division’s trust?

PH: Not particularly. Tony was a very confident guy. He was a star in his own right when he met us. So he always treated you in the same way, which was with a healthy dose of disdain [laughs]. He was always the boss and was treated in a sort of reverent manner. The Joy Division story is to do with Manchester. And it’s to do with the re-growth of Manchester that happened at the end of the ‘70s, and the fact that Factory Records, the Hacienda, Joy Division and New Order came from that. It’s a tale of regeneration. It does have an effect on me when I see it. I find the documentary, and Control, still quite upsetting really. It really does tug at your heartstrings. It’s always difficult for me to watch either of them. I certainly don’t find it a joyous occasion. But I do think that the two of them go together so well, which was something I didn’t expect. Very surprised. I was fuckin’ amazed at some of the stuff Tom got because he had stuff that I hadn’t heard. And I was like, “Where’d you get that from?!” Everybody has a different memory. It was hilarious last night when the documentary said that Bernard came up with the name for Joy Division. I don’t remember that at all. As far as I was concerned, it was Ian that had the book the House of Dolls and came up with the name Joy Division. So his memory of it is completely fuckin’ opposite to mine.

EB: Everything I’ve read has linked it to Ian as well.

PH: Yeah, it was Ian! It was Ian’s book. [Laughs] It’s funny that everybody has a different memory. And none of it is true. It has to be an amalgamation of it that’s true. It depends who you ask.

EB: Even a documentary is just a patchwork semblance of what really happened. One thing that’s said in the end of the documentary is that since there were only two things Joy Division actually created, Unknown Pleasures and Closer, that everything since has just been “merchandising memory.”

PH: Yeah. Well, it probably would have been nice if the “merchandising memory” was actually done by the band.

EB: [Laughs]

PH: It was quite interesting. Because we were punks when we first began, we didn’t do fan clubs, we didn’t do t-shirts… we felt it was crap and it was robbing people and it was mindless cashing in. We didn’t do Joy Division t-shirts. Ever. But when we got investigated by the tax man because of the Hacienda, the tax man said to us, “What I see whenever I walk round Manchester is Joy Division t-shirts. And in your accounts I don’t see any money for Joy Division t-shirts. Where’s the money for the Joy Division t-shirts?” And we said, “Well, we don’t do them because we don’t believe in it; we think it’s cheap merchandising gimmick.” And he went, “Well frankly I don’t believe you and I’m fining you.”

EB: Wow.

PH: He fined us for hiding our t-shirt revenue when we never fucking had any. So let that be a warning to you.

EB: [Laughs] Okay, well if I walk around and I see anyone wearing t-shirts with my name on them, I’ll make sure to put a stop to it.

PH: Mhmm. Make sure you get the dough.

EB: In the early Manchester scene, one thing that is brought up in the documentary is Joy Division’s “I’m fucked” mentality versus the “Fuck you” attitude of other punk bands. I thought that was a really interesting way to sum it up. Where did you find the balance?

PH: [Laughs] Yeah. I think the balance was sort of thrust upon you, really. If anything, as Bernard says, and as I said last night, we must be the only two people that don’t like Unknown Pleasures, which is quite ironic when you’re the one who bloody wrote it. Quite odd, really. The thing is, I appreciate it now what Martin [Hannett, the producer] did. At the time I was too young. I was too obnoxious -- a full of myself youngster -- to appreciate anything. To me, Martin was like you parents… fuck off. That’s why I became a punk, so I could tell everyone to fuck off, and that’s it.

EB: What was it about that album that you thought made it so impenetrable?

PH: I thought it was too subtle. I wanted it to be the way we sounded live, like the Ramones. [Laughs] But I’m prepared to admit that I was wrong. Martin gave it a depth, gave it the appeal and the ability to last a long time. To get music that you can lose yourself in is quite rare. Martin had that ability. He made Joy Division so that you could lose yourself. He proved that he could make it last, and he did make it last. I think Bernard and I would have made a much more one-dimensional record, because it was always Bernard and I who were the most pushy. Martin made a very three-dimensional, if not four-dimensional, record. Something you could lose yourself in; it had lasting power. [Laughs] He was a fucking maniac… a really weird character. A genius, but obviously troubled. He was a gift to us and basically Bernard and I learned how to do produce so then when he got difficult, we got rid of him and did it ourselves. It’s all about ego isn’t it?

EB: When you started you could barely play your instruments but then…

PH: …it all happened so quick. That was the thing about punk. The ideology of it was let’s not wait, let’s do it now. It was very instantaneous. What I liked about punk was that you admired the people who just got up and did it, regardless of whether it was bad or good. The thing you appreciated was that they just got up and did it. There was one wonderful band from Manchester called The Worst… and they were the worst. They had no songs; it was just a drummer and a guitarist and they’d just do it. That was what punk was all about. It couldn’t last. It was like bloody metal machine music. But in the context of what we were doing -- and the building that we were using, a squat on Oxford road in Manchester for all the bands to play in -- it was perfect.

EB: The first TV appearance you guys did was Granada, right?

PH: Yeah, I remember how nervous we were. I remember going out in the afternoon and Rob Gretton [Joy Division’s manager] buying me that shirt that I wore because he felt that the shirt that I had was too scruffy. So he took me and paid 3 pound 50 for that shirt and I wore it that night. I wore it for ages until it got ripped when I did a gig with Dexy’s Midnight Runners in Birmingham. I can remember ripping that fucking shirt on me bass cab.

EB: Was it emotional?

PH: It was. I remember I was really pissed off. Really fucking annoyed because I liked that shirt. But it’s the nerves mainly. I remember how nervous we were [to play Granada]. That was a big thing to happen to you. It was fantastic. I remember the momentous occasion very well. To get to go to Granada studios, and to go into the Cantina dressing rooms, it was like, fuckin’ hell!

EB: Like you said, it all happened very quickly. Do you think you were ever fully aware of how much that momentum had caught up to you guys or how much pressure was mounting towards the end?

PH: No, we were very young and very fit so we were ok. You were only aware of the pull it was having on Ian because he wasn’t well. So that was a problem. The thing is, when you start you desperately want to play anywhere and do anything. It was interesting because I remember us doing a concert in Oldham near Manchester as Joy Division and nobody came. Nobody. No one. [Laughs]

EB: Just a dog and the bartender?

PH: Just the bartender. And he started sweeping up while we were on. Then six months later you’re playing to a packed room. Same material but to a crowd that are going ape shit. It’s wild when you think of the gulf in that. We started getting popular after the Buzzcocks tour, which was wonderful because we actually blew the Buzzcocks off a couple of nights… fucking blew ‘em out of the water. It was fantastic. Hilarious. We started getting offered loads of gigs and Ian, even though he was ill, because he’d being working for this and working towards this, was desperate to do the gigs. It was heartbreaking for him to have to admit that physically he wasn’t up to it, and he fought that right ‘til the end. He was his own worst enemy. Basically what Ian would do to you, you’d say, “Ian you’re ill. Maybe you shouldn’t be doing this.” And he’d go, “I’m fine, don’t worry about me, I’m fine.” And you’d go, “Thank God for that. Right, let’s get on with it.” It was always him. He was never pushed to these gigs kicking and screaming. He pushed himself because he didn’t want to let you down.

On our part, you can only put it down to inexperience and naiveté. I did a Radio 4 thing in England recently, and the guy said to me, “How could you let that happen?” And you’re like, “Oh fuck.” But it’s true, you see. How could you let it happen? You dickhead, you fucking did that. How could you let that happen? You’re like, “Oh fuck, I did that.” We did. We should have stopped it. But we were all so caught up in the whole occasion and because Ian was going, “Don’t worry, you’re fine, I’ll look after me self, we’ll be all right.” You’re like, “Oh thank God we don’t have to worry about that now he said that he’s okay.”

EB: But don’t you think at a certain point, because you guys were so young, it was the responsibilities of your managers with the experience not to let that happen? Somebody on the periphery looking out? Where were they?

PH: Yes. There was a lot more people that made bigger mistakes. His psychiatrist, his doctor, the people treating him in the hospital, they all fucking let him go.

EB: I don’t think its up to a bunch of 22-year-olds to be able to…

PH: Yeah, but it still doesn’t stop you from not feeling responsible. It also doesn’t stop people from turning around and saying to you that it’s all your fault. But there is a responsibility, which I suppose is one of the things you have to live with… “What if I’d have done this?” If it happened to me 10 or 20 years ago, I would have just gone, “Stop… fucking sort it out.” Then we were too young, too naïve, too hopeful and you were so grateful for the things that you were being given, you were desperate not to pass it up. It was a combination of all that, plus the guy telling you it was ok. None of us knew. It was really, really sad. I was with him the night before he died and I drove him home and we were so excited about going to America. That was why I was in such shock when I was told because I’d been with him on Friday night. I drove him home. How’d you get from that to that? Fuckin’ hell man. It’s unbelievable. It was unbelievable. Who the fuck knows what happened.

EB: For a lot of people the end of Joy Division was a symbolic loss. And the fact that the band never made it to America just made it even more precious to Manchester.

PH: Yeah, even I often wonder what would have happened. Whether that’s a good or bad thing, I don’t know, really. It’s a very difficult decision. I was doing an interview before and the guy said to me, “Oh, you’ve been in two of the most important bands of the ‘80s and ‘90s," and I suppose the thing is, if Ian hadn’t have died it would have been one band. It’s weird the way that things work out, really. People always say, “Well what do you think Joy Division would have been like if Ian had lived?” And I think “Blue Monday” would have been by Joy Division, with Ian singing. I don’t think our development would have changed that much. With Ian singing New Order, I think you would have gone the same way.

EB: You have the New Order Live In Glasgow DVD that just came out. What’s going on with that?

PH: Well, it was planned before New Order split up. The record company asked us if we’d do one this tour so it was done simply as that. Stephen and I got involved in the production of it. We oversaw the editing, put the pictures together, we mixed the sound and put it all together. Stephen went and collected the rare and unseen footage, which I thought was wonderful. [Laughs] But when I saw the headline “New Order Celebrates Career in Glasgow,” I don’t remember it being very celebratory, to be honest, but maybe that’s just me. It was nice to be involved in it. I think one of the bad things that’s happened to musicians is that when you don’t get involved in everything that you do, then there’s no quality control and that I find off-putting and is a sad part of our business. So I was delighted to be involved in it and to do it to the best of our ability. It’s all the more poignant because New Order have split up. It makes it quite an odd situation. To be honest with you, it’s an odd situation to be here talking about it. Because I’d rather not. [Laughs]

EB: Then you don’t have to…

PH: [Laughs] No, I don’t mind. The thing is, whilst my memories of New Order at the moment are very clouded by the split and what happened after it, I’m the first one to sit up and look at it and go, “Well fucking hell we achieved something wonderful.” And I’m glad, especially because Stephen and I were involved in doing this one. This is a celebration of our career; it just wasn’t a very celebratory night. Basically we were all getting on each other’s fucking nerves. We were all sick to death of each other and it wasn’t a great atmosphere, but as it happens, your professionalism overcame that and you still created something wonderful. I suppose that’s the thing about the chemistry of groups, is that a group can still hate each other but actually create something quite brilliant. You always seem to need a bit of angst and a bit of pain to make great music. So I suppose New Order were very lucky in that they found a way to stay in constant pain. [Laughs].

EB: Well what’s up next for you?

PH: These days I'm deejaying. I’m on the “old fucker who used to be in a band” circuit, as my mate calls it. And I’ve got a new group I’m working on called Freebase, with Manny who used to be in the Stone Roses, and Andy Rourke who used to be in the Smiths, which is coming along quite well, yeah. I’m quite happy.

Joy Division, the documentary, is out now on DVD. Buy it here. Also available on DVD is New Order: Live in Glasgow. Buy it here.

Google Doodles , todays doodle on 2/22/13 is from Edward Gorey, who was or well pretty much still is because hes alive , american writter and ilustrator known for his dark and cruel gothic humor heres the doodle and some funny art of him happy b day ed (image) (image) (image) more

Google Doodles , todays doodle on 2/22/13 is from Edward Gorey, who was or well pretty much still is because hes alive , american writter and ilustrator known for his dark and cruel gothic humor heres the doodle and some funny art of him happy b day ed

Some SuicideGirls have been modeling for the site for 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or even 10 years. We thought it would be fun to show you a look back and some of the SuicideGirls throughout the years. This week we bring you Carrina! Carrina has been a SuicideGirl since 2010 and she already has 8 photo sets. Enjoy... more

Some SuicideGirls have been modeling for the site for 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or even 10 years. We thought it would be fun to show you a look back and some of the SuicideGirls throughout the years.

This week we bring you Carrina!

Carrina has been a SuicideGirl since 2010 and she already has 8 photo sets. Enjoy this sexy look back at the stunning Carrina...

From her first photo set When Life Gives You Lemons shot in 2010 by Lorelei:








Carrina is smokin' hot in 100 Degrees shot by DarrylDarko in 2010:









Even with no make-up, Carrina is stunning in Fresh shot in 2011 by Sean:









She is a sexy Porch Kitten in her set from 2011 shot by DarrylDarko:









Carrina is all bronze skin, plush lips and seductive gazes in her set Te Extrano from 2011 shot by Lorelei:









She says Don't Try in her set from 2011 shot by Sean:









Carrina and Machete get close and personal in Doll Parts shot in 2011 by Brooklyn:









From her most recent set Occams Razor shot earlier this year by DarrylDarko:







Hope you enjoyed the lovely look back at the gorgeous SuicideGirl Carrina! Be sure to keep an eye out for a new set coming soon to member review!

Become a member TODAY for only $4 a month (if you sign up for a year) to see all 8 nude pin-up photo sets of Carrina - http://suicidegirls.com/join/

It was the summer of 1976 in Los Angeles and the Ramones were playing second bill to the Flamin' Groovies at the Roxy. Across the pond, the Sex Pistols were still months away from achieving everlasting infamy by calling their host a "fucking rotter" while live on British TV. In a Kentucky... more

It was the summer of 1976 in Los Angeles and the Ramones were playing second bill to the Flamin' Groovies at the Roxy. Across the pond, the Sex Pistols were still months away from achieving everlasting infamy by calling their host a "fucking rotter" while live on British TV. In a Kentucky Fried Chicken parking lot off Third Street in L.A.’s Fairfax District, an 11-year-old Marc Canter caught his fellow classmate, Saul Hudson (aka, an 11-year-old Slash of Guns N’ Roses), suspiciously eyeballing Canter's mini-bike parked outside. “In those days there was a lot of bike stealing. I was one of the thieves, I know.” Slash laughs. “It’s quite possible I was thinking about taking off with it because I used to be like that back then. Anyhow, that’s how [Marc and I] met and we’ve been friends ever since.”

By high school, Slash was into guitars and Marc was taking pictures of local rock bands. With a few candid photographs of his best friend, Marc Canter unknowingly began to document the rise of the greatest rock band of its time: Guns N’ Roses. Over twenty years in the making, Marc’s new book, Reckless Road: Guns N' Roses and the Making of Appetite for Destruction, is a collection of exclusive interviews, rare photographs and original memorabilia including show flyers, magazine articles, ticket stubs, set lists, and hand-scrawled song lyrics. From the band’s first gig at the Troubadour in 1985, to signing with Geffen Records, to being dubbed “The Most Dangerous Band in the World,” Marc Canter was there, up close and personal, camera and tape recorder in hand. The result is a comprehensive account of the band’s early days, as well as a portrait of Marc and Slash’s friendship, still strong to this day.

“My goal here,” Marc says, “is to let everybody that likes this band – or even if you don’t like the band – see the making of one of the greatest records ever made.”

SuicideGirls met up with both Slash and Marc Canter at legendary rock and roll hangout Canter’s Deli, in the heart of Hollywood, to chat about Reckless Road and the stories behind the photographs. Even more, we got them both in front of the camera for their first-ever, joint video exclusive.

Reckless Road is in stores and available online now.

Watch Part One and Part Two of the video interviews.


Erin Broadley: So, Reckless Road is a fascinating book.

Slash: It’s great. It’s probably the best rock and roll coffee table book I’ve ever seen.

EB: Slash, the story goes that in 1976 you and Marc became friends when you tried to steal his bike?

Slash: [Laughs] Was it 1976? I guess, yeah [laughs]. I didn’t actually steal it; I was checking it out. It was a mini-bike, and it was outside of Kentucky Fried Chicken on Third Street… he was inside and saw this kid suspiciously checking out his bike and decided to intervene before something happened.

EB: [Laughs] Little kids protect their bikes, man. It’s their livelihood. It’s all they’ve got.

Marc Canter: They call it a mini-bike but really it’s a motorbike. We went to Third Street School but I didn’t know his name; I just knew his face. So I had this motorbike and was parked at KFC and I’m in there, buying whatever, he was walking home, saw it and was thinking about stealing it. He looked inside to see who it might belong to or if anyone was looking and then he saw me and thought, “Oh, I know him from school.” So he went in and instead of stealing it, asked if he could ride it. We became friends from that point on and pretty much never looked back.

Slash: In those days there was a lot of bike stealing. I was one of the thieves, I know. It’s quite possible I was thinking about taking off with it because I used to be like that back then. Anyhow, that’s how we met and we’ve been friends ever since. After Marc and I hooked up in fifth grade, we were friends for a while though junior high school. Then somewhere in junior high school I took off and moved into deeper East Hollywood and I didn’t see him for a while. At some point in high school we reconnected and he’d turned into this mega rock fan, which I had too, but he was really serious. He had his cameras and shit and he would sneak them into concerts… his favorite band was Aerosmith. He used to buy all kind of photos. Aerosmith was one of the major bands that I was a fan of when I started playing guitar and they definitely influenced what direction I went. So we had that new thing in common. I had started playing guitar at that point, and he just started taking pictures of everything because that was his way, you know [laughs]. It’s funny because I look at the book now and all those pictures that he was taking all the time, as far as I was concerned he was just casually taking pictures of everything. I didn’t expect it to be something later on. I never would have imagined that him being around all the time just taking 35 mm pictures would amount to this documentation later.

EB: Right. There’s a part in the book where, Slash, you say that the first thing you did as soon as you could put three chords together was start a band. And Adam Greenberg said it was almost like going to a rock and roll school. What was the creative climate like in L.A. as teens, learning how to play music?

Slash: I was pretty much an outcast in school and as a musician I was an outcast… When I first picked guitar up it was during the summer time so I spent that summer learning how to play and I think by the next semester I started looking for musicians. At that time, Van Halen had come out so there were a lot of musicians in junior high. That’s where it all started. I met Ron Schneider and Adam Greenberg and that was probably the third throw-together band I had, but it was the first one that started playing keg parties and, you know, terrorizing people’s houses...

EB: Playing the senior citizens’ center.

Slash: Yeah, [laughs] all these bar mitzvahs. It was a cover band that could never find a singer. Which is, like, the story of my life. Still is, to this day.

EB: [Laughs]

Slash: It wasn’t a big, heavy-duty, rock and roll scene in high school. There were a few musicians I was friends with. I went to four high schools, so every one I went to had its little clique of Eddie Van Halen wannabes [laughs]. Marc was hanging out, keeping tabs on the whole thing. Marc was also the first guy, when Guns N’ Roses first started, before Guns N’ Roses was even a nightmare, Marc was probably the only person interested in what I was really doing, [laughs] for the most part.

EB: Duff said that Marc was a pillar of stability for the band. How so?

Slash: When Duff and I first met, we met at Canter’s Deli. I used to work there and Marc would always help me out. I always had a job but if I was in between jobs, I would work at Canter’s. He was financially stable and I wasn’t [laughs]… he was just a really good, loyal friend. I still, to this day, don’t have many loyal friends. So when Guns first started, he instantly took the job of marketing and doing all the promotion. We all did it but I was real fanatic about it, I never slept. [Laughs]

EBidn’t you get fired from the Fairfax newsstand for conducting band business on their hours?

Slash: [Laughs] Yeah, that’s where I used to sell tickets… to customers at work. People would come in and I’d sell Troubadour tickets.

MC: I used to feed the band. Not three meals a day, not every day, but when they were hungry they knew they could come to me and I could get them a pastrami sandwich or whatever was needed. And why not? They’re my friends. I would drive them places, I had a car, I had gas -- they didn’t. I’d buy them guitar strings, whatever they needed, little things… I was paying for some of the band magazine ads that were coming out. First we started with quarter page ads and they were like $288. It wasn’t a big deal. Then after two of those, we went to full page and it got to be a little bit more expensive. But, at that time, I knew that would work for the record company people, like, “What’s going on here? This band keeps selling out these Troubadour gigs and they’ve got full-page ads. It’s not just some flunky, fly by night band.”

Then they found someone to help them with the demo tape but that person gave out in the middle and didn’t put any more money in, so they needed a couple hundred bucks to get it out of hock. I did what I could. I didn’t do everything but I helped because they’d do the same for me if they were in my situation. I lived at home, I had a good job, I didn’t have any expenses and pretty much, if they did work, they had to support themselves. I always knew Slash would make it as a guitar player, even if he was just a guitar teacher, because there was such a talent there. His playing was very seductive; you’d feel goose bumps when he’d play because he just hit those certain notes.

EB: Slash, when you first hooked up with Axl, Marc wrote that you guys had an amazing chemistry and I think that this really comes through in a lot of these early photographs. What were those early days like when you and Axl first entered into each other’s lives?

Slash: When we first hooked up, it was pretty uneventful, the first time we met actually I answered an ad that Izzy and Axl had in the paper looking for a guitar player. I went down there to where they were staying, which were some little guest room off of a house above Sunset. It was real dark, it was one room, they had like a bed that took up 75 percent of it, a TV that took up another 10 percent, and there was like 15 percent walking space.

EB: [Laughs] Just a path.

Slash: [Laughs] Right. Axl was on the phone and Izzy was the one I did all the talking with. I’d already met Izzy because he had come into my music store looking for copies of this picture of Aerosmith that I drew for Marc. He showed up at my work one day… this little, scraggy Johnny Thunders comes walking in and he’s looking for Saul Hudson, right? That’s how we met and he played me a tape of his band later that night. It was really ratty, with a tiny voice in the background screaming at the top of its lungs. But it was in key so I was interested. He told me the name of the band was Hollywood Rose… so later on I answer this ad and it turns out to be Izzy and this guy Axl. The whole time I was there, Axl never got off the phone. Axl was in Mark Twain mode, Twain wreck, which was when he starts talking, ‘cause he won’t stop.

EB: [Laughs]

Slash: That was our first meeting. Nothing came of out of that. Nothing happened. Then I was another time when I was actually seeing my dad. I didn’t see my dad that often but one time we hung out and we went down to Harry’s Barbeque and I looked over and there was Axl and he was talking to this chick and, again, he was doing all the talking and she was just sitting there. That went on for the whole time I was there [laughs] so I didn’t approach him and that was that. At some point we all hooked up when Axl approached me about playing with Hollywood Rose, which I thought was a pretty good idea at the time. Axl picked me but never talked to Izzy about it so I came along one day not knowing that there was any of this drama going on. I walk into this rehearsal studio called the Fortress in Hollywood… this grungy little room and Izzy was there and, because Axl had made this decision without Izzy’s input, Izzy quit. So Steve Darrow and Steve Adler came in and we put a band together with the four of us. That was the beginning of me and Axl’s real relationship… it started with the Hollywood Rose band.

EB: So it was chemistry but was it a volatile chemistry?

Slash: Well, yeah, that’s what I’m getting at [laughs].

EB:Some people think volatile chemistry fuels creativity.

Slash: I don’t think volatility fuels anything. I don’t agree with people who think you need that controversy to make music. It’s not really conducive to writing songs. If you have chemistry, you don’t need all that other shit [laughs]. Anyhow, but it started off cool and I liked Axl… he came and stayed at my house but then the yin and yang of Axl’s personality started to present itself. One minute he was really, really cool and somebody that I liked a lot. You could spend almost two days with him like that. Then the smallest little thing would turn around and change his personality completely. I’m pretty even keeled; nothing really phases me. I’m probably like that to the extent that some people don’t understand how I can be so fuckin’ blasé about things [laughs]. So we had a real contrast going on, but the music was cool. When we had a good time, we had a great fucking time. But when it was bad, I couldn’t understand the origins of some of these issues and why they would be blown out of proportion to the extent that they were. To him, it meant everything. But to me, I could just never understand it.

So this band lasted for a little while. We did a bunch of gigs. Marc documented those gigs. They’re in the book. Finally, we had this one gig where Axl got into a fight with somebody in the front row at the Troubadour and at that point I’d already been through another thing with him jumping out of my car one night. It was just tedious. The good times were good but the tedious times were really trying. So at this particular gig, when he got into this fight with this guy, and the gig wasn’t going as well, I thought it was pointless. After that show I was like, “You know what? I don’t have time for this.” [Laughs] So I was in a couple bands during that period. I was very ambitious but, at the same time, there was a limit to what I would and wouldn’t do to get by in this business. I wouldn’t do a lot of conformist sell out kind of stuff.

When Duff came into town, we met at Canter’s. Steven, my girlfriend, Steven’s girlfriend, a bottle of vodka… Duff comes in and we went up to the men’s room and hung out up there and drank the bottle of vodka and formed a little unity. We wanted to start a band with the three of us but, once again, we couldn’t find a singer. That went on for like a month and finally that split up and Duff had, ironically enough, just moved into this cheap little apartment right across the street from Izzy’s apartment. So those guys met and the next thing you know, Duff ended up joining their band, which I think had become Guns N’ Roses at that point. They had Duff, Izzy, Axl, Tracii Guns and Rob Gardner who was the other drummer from L.A. Guns. I was working at Tower Video at the time and Axl and I sort of had a certain amount of animosity going on which was slowly but surely fading. Axl came into my work one day and goes, “Do you want to play with me and Izzy?” As much as I was really unsure about dealing with Axl again, I really liked Izzy and I liked Duff, obviously, so it seemed like maybe it’d be a cool idea. I went and jammed with Izzy one night and he had the song called “Don’t Cry” and we put the guitars together and that’s really what started it.

At that point Duff came in with this idea of doing a Pacific Coast tour and going up to Seattle. He put all the gigs together from his experiences with a punk rock band up there in the Pacific North West and so I said, “Sure, let’s do this.” Rob Gardner chickened out; he didn’t want to take this perilous, fucking road trip with no real exact future in it. So we called Steve Adler and he came down and we rehearsed one night and that was basically it. We set off on that tour and our car broke down, fuckin’ 100 miles out of L.A. so we ended up hitchhiking all the way to Seattle. That’s really what cemented the band. The chemistry just on a human level between the five of us… just as guys who stick to their guns with what it is they want to do. That trip really had a lot to do with it.

EB: There’s something special to these Guns N’ Roses photographs. Band photos today are so heavily retouched and photoshopped together. There’s something about how raw these photos are that really captures the band’s gritty nature. Like the Reckless Road cover…

MC: The cover is them, the day they came back from their “Hell Tour” in Seattle. They had a gig booked at the Troubadour on June 6, 1985… it was on a Thursday night, and there was something really special there. But it wasn’t enough to solidify the band. Then a day or two after that, they went on that Seattle tour. The car broke down, they ate onions in the field, they hitchhiked…

EB:That’s where the real camaraderie formed.

MC: They had each other’s backs after that. When they came back to Los Angeles they wanted to do a photo shoot to make flyers for the next gigs that they had. They booked a bunch of gigs and said, “Let’s go fuck up L.A. We can do it now. If we lived through this we can do anything.” So if you look at the look on their face, they’re a gang. This is a gang now.

EB: They had their road warrior experience and now they’re ready to take it to the streets.

MC: Yeah. If you fucked with one of them, the other one would jump on your back and kill you. It was like they were a gang. And they started writing songs; each gig they came up with a new song, pretty much. And it was a great song. Just boom, after boom... There were no what they’d call “dead songs”... No fillers or throw always; every song they wrote was perfect. In fact the leads for the songs, the first time they ever played them are the same leads that you hear on the record. It was pretty much self-produced in that way because it worked. There was something special there. But anyway, back to the photos, yeah, my friend Jack Lue started taking pictures before I did and he would sneak his camera into concerts. Jack always did that and what happened was, to be honest with you, Eddie Van Halen was going to play at the Roxy and Jack Lue couldn’t make that gig so he gave me his camera, showed me how to use it and said, “Take pictures.” So I took pictures and I had fun and when I got them back, I was freaked like, “Whoa, these are really cool.”

From that point on I started taking pictures at every concert we went to. That was in 1982. Right around that same time was when Slash was playing gigs everywhere. And now that I knew how to shoot, and I saw that it works, of course I was going to shoot him. I was already tape-recording his shows. Now I had a tape, and photos and the flyer. So I just kind of kept everything because I saw something that was special. If you don’t tape-record it then it’s just gone. After awhile we met Axl and then it was like, wait a minute, now there’s not only Axl, there’s Izzy, Steven and Duff… there’s like five Jedis working together. It wasn’t just Slash anymore. Now it was just like all of them together made a chemistry. Now, I was not only documenting Slash, but I was documenting...

EB: All these other big personalities as well.

MC: Right. And it just became so much fun. I used to get butterflies in my stomach before the gigs. I wasn’t going to be surprised; I knew what I was going to see. But it was just so exciting. So here I am taking pictures and I'm hearing “Rocket Queen” for the first time. It’s one thing when you do some covers and a couple of originals but all of a sudden you start writing these new ones that are just really, really, good songs. You’re taking pictures going, “What am I hearing?” Then you get home and you listen to the tape and you go to that song and you hear it two or three times and you’re like, “Wow, we have a Led Zeppelin here.” They could do no wrong. It all worked! The vocals, the melodies, the lead guitar, the drums – it was the first attempt and it didn’t even need tweaking, it was there. Every now and then you’d hear a song for the first time and Axl, the next time they’d play it, would change a couple lyrics, or some of the lyrics weren’t completed. The first time they played “My Michele” there were some verses simply missing. They went without vocals. But, other than that, pretty much, they knew what they wanted.

EB: In Reckless Road, Marc, you write, “My goal here is to let everybody that likes this band – or even if you don’t like the band – see the making of one of the greatest records ever made.”

MC: It’s interesting, I’ve met some people that when I told them that I did this book they take a look at it and they’re the least likely Guns N’ Roses fans just because they’re into different kinds of music like jazz or whatever, but they respect what’s there. They’re glad it’s there to be documented and to watch history in the making. It’s the making of one of the greatest records ever made. I’ve met a couple people that really, not that they hate the band, they just don’t like that kind of music at all. But they can appreciate that it’s been documented. Like at Canter’s, a lot of the employees got books and they have never even heard of Guns N’ Roses. Some of the older waitresses, they’re 65-years-old and how could they possibly know what this is? But because I'm involved in it, they’re interested in it. I have a book all of a sudden and they want to read it. So they take it home to read it and they’re sucked into it and can’t stop.

EB: The band is as seductive in this book as the band was on stage. The book also states, “Launching a successful rock band in the ‘80s required three ingredients: a dream, some talent, and die hard ambition.” Were those really the three most important things back then?

Slash: Well, because of the climate of what was going on in Hollywood at the time, which was really excessive, commercial glam-metal kind of deal, everybody was getting signed. Motley Crue had already gotten big and famous and Ratt was coming out and then there were all these fuckin’ offshoots of that, cruising up and down Sunset Boulevard. We were sort of like the ugly ducklings of that whole thing. We didn’t fit in with any of it. We were the black sheep and we enjoyed that; we loved the fact that we were the scary band out of the bunch. We hated the rest of them and we provided a kind of entertainment that was very seedy. If you asked us if we were extremely talented, [laughs] I don’t think we would have looked at it that way. Really, when it comes down to it, I’d say blind ambition, desire, and the integrity and the passion for the music was probably the most important thing. There was a lot of integrity in the band and there was a lot of really focused passion for what every individual did… everything about the songs was really driven from the heart.

Looking back, there was definitely something unique going on which turned out to be a lot bigger than what most of our peers were doing. We were a gang of five that was a force to contend with. We were a 24/7 experience. We lived with each other and were together all that time. Everything we went through, which was a lot, we did together and that’s what strengthened that bond. It was really important as to what the band sounded like… it was a collaborative effort, every single song. Then we became very successful at that time but we were this vagabond bunch of drunken gypsies that sort of stuck together. But we were still pretty naïve really in a lot of ways.

MC: You want to hear the funny part to that? Jason Porath actually wrote that part in the book. And, in the manuscript I have, the third thing was “Slash” [laughs]. He actually wrote the word “Slash” but he changed it on his own before the book came out because he though it was a little bit too much Slash serving. Plus, the rest of the band had plenty of talent so he changed the word to "talent". The truth is, Izzy would be the backbone of a lot of those songs but Slash tweaked those songs… if Slash weren’t there, who knows? Slash would put the funky punch into it. Like “My Michele,” he added those four little jerky parts to change the song. Plus, you already know what he could do in the studio with his leads. Even if he had nothing to do with writing the song -- like “November Rain,” that was Axl’s song -- Slash comes in and puts the leads in that just rip you to pieces. So, he wasn’t far off when he put “and Slash.” It’s a good ingredient to have in the mix [laughs]. Slash will always call me after a gig and I’ll always tell him what I thought of it, good or bad, and he always gets exactly the truth out of me. He’s always very modest about it. Whenever I say, “That was great, that was great,” he’s very modest about what his talent is. He never wants to reveal how good he really is. After doing the Use Your Illusion tour for two years and playing big stadiums, there’s a certain amount that goes to your head that puts you in a rock star mode and on a pedestal. But as far as the actual talent, they were always modest about it.

EB: Another part in Reckless Road states, “The eventual merging of the Appetite lineup of Guns N’ Roses can be more easily attributed to chaos theory than a straight forward chronology.”

MC: Yeah, that’s pretty much the way it went down. There was no loyalty. Like Vicky Hamilton says in the book, they were trying on band members like clothes. You hung around people that were into the same music you liked and you jammed together. You found a garage and you jammed in that garage and if it worked, great. If it didn’t work then you moved on. Eventually, these five musicians found each other and, on top of finding each other, they went on that little road trip to Seattle which made them a little bit closer. At the same time, they knew they were the best at what they did. And the music industry sucked; there was nothing going on. Motley Crue was really the only band left and that wasn’t enough to make a whole scene. There was really nothing going on and Guns N’ Roses just came by and changed everything, putting the f-word on the record… it was really ballsy [at the time] and a lot of it has to be credited to Tom Zutaut for allowing them to do that because Axl was at the point where he was going to change the lyrics. Tom said, “No, leave it alone.”

MTV had a lot to do with it. The band had sold like 200,000 records underground and it was kinda dying out and MTV wouldn’t play the video. David Geffen pulled a favor and called in an executive at MTV and they said, “No, we can’t do it because we don’t want to lose our commercials because they’re known as drug addicts and they look like they’re going to rape my daughter” … that kind of thing. They didn’t want bad press out of it. So, they played the video on a Sunday night at like six in the morning Eastern Time and the switchboard blew up. Then, that next week, they got put right into Top 10 rotation for “Welcome to the Jungle” and from that point on they started selling records, like 200,000 a week. So, they went a whole year before the record even went to number one. Appetite For Destruction wasn’t just one song; the whole record is good. That’s why it’s going to stand the test of time. And another reason why is because its so raw and natural. And another reason why is because they were living on the streets. It’s the fact that you’re getting the raw energy and it wasn’t tampered with. What they wrote was ready to go.

EB: On a personal note about your friendship, it says in the book that in 1985 Axl asked Marc to talk to you, Slash, about not getting drunk before a show. Was it unfair of him to put Marc in that kind of position as a mediator?

Slash: Yeah…

EB: Or was he just the only one you would listen to?

Slash: Well, no I think there’s been many times that Axl has reached out to different people like my mom or my dad or girlfriend or Marc or something like that. But nobody wants to try and tell me what to do so it is very uncomfortable.

EB: No one wants to be the middleman between you and Axl!

Slash: Yeah, it’s never worked. If somebody like Marc or my dad actually does approach me just to sort of follow through with carrying the message, it’s done very delicately [laughs]. It’s not really effective [laughs]. That’s funny though.

EB: What do you think has enabled you and Marc to stay friends after so many years of chaos?

Slash: Well, because the chaos never had anything to do with Marc so our relationship has always been intact. He never really had to deal with the out of control me… he never put himself in that place. He never was judgmental; he was real objective. That always made me feel like he never crossed that line with me and so I’ve always had a respect for him and I would never rub him the wrong way because of that mutual respect. I never did anything to take advantage of him or make him overly uncomfortable or expose him to the darker stuff that was going on behind the scenes. He was never forced to be around that. So we’ve always had that mutual thing for each other.

EB: That’s once in a lifetime, man.

Slash: Yeah. And to this day, if he calls me, he can ask me for anything. He called me this morning all freaking out trying to get all this stuff done. I said, “Marc, don’t worry about it.” [Laughs]

MC: The thing about me, any friends that I’ve made over the years, I still have. If they need something, I’m there. And if I need something, they’re there. I’m a good person to be friends with because I'm an easygoing guy. Slash has always kept in touch. The friendship has always been there.

Video Exclusive Part One:

Video Exclusive Part Two:



Go to RecklessRoad.com for more information.

I think it'd be fantastic to see some of you folks in our fabulous SG gear. Take a snapshot, post it here, and each week, we'll choose our favorite pic and send the winner an item from the SG SHOP. Make those pics look fantastic and they may even end up in the SHOP! Happy snapping! more

I think it'd be fantastic to see some of you folks in our fabulous SG gear. Take a snapshot, post it here, and each week, we'll choose our favorite pic and send the winner an item from the SG SHOP.

Make those pics look fantastic and they may even end up in the SHOP!

Happy snapping!

If I didn’t know better I would think David Lynch was Italian. He uses his hands to describe ideas more than anyone I have ever met. It’s fascinating to watch this man communicate. He pulls out the cigarette pack, the lighter, moves the ashtray, lights the cigarette, puts the pack away the and then,... more

If I didn’t know better I would think David Lynch was Italian. He uses his hands to describe ideas more than anyone I have ever met. It’s fascinating to watch this man communicate. He pulls out the cigarette pack, the lighter, moves the ashtray, lights the cigarette, puts the pack away the and then, once his hands are free, resumes emphasizing his words with enigmatic gestures. Lynch, a four-time Oscar nominee, remains one of the most enigmatic American filmmakers. He first entered the feature world with Eraserhead, which was a five-year journey. Since then he’s directed the film adaptation of Dune, Blue Velvet, co-created the cult television series Twin Peaks and directed many other features. His latest picture, Inland Empire, is the first feature he has shot on video. He's even taking a stab at self-distribution. Inland Empire was another five year journey from start to finish, and once again Lynch is working with old friends and collaborators such as Justin Theroux, Harry Dean Stanton and perhaps his most talented muse, Laura Dern. Dern plays an actor who, after a long dry spell, lands a coveted role in a big film. While filming, Dern's character and the other actors are told that the film is actually a remake of another picture that was never completed for mysterious reasons. Along the way Dern plays two other characters and seems to segue from reality to fantasy without any warning. In other words, Inland Empire is classic Lynch.

Check out the official website for Inland Empire

Daniel Robert Epstein: Hello David, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve been a fan of yours since I saw The Elephant Man as a kid.

David Lynch: Did it freak you out?

DRE: Yes, it did.

DL: Doggone.

DRE: Isn’t that what you wanted to do?

DL: No [laughs] but it’s tough for a little kid. I remember someone telling me they saw The Elephant Man when they were eight. I think it was a little too much.

DRE: I might have seen it when I was nine or ten.

DL: Uh-huh.

DRE: I had nightmares about your elephant scene.

DL: Right, sure.

DRE: It was very scary. Elephants were friendly when I was a kid.

DL: Uh-huh [laughs].

DRE: I look at Inland Empire as more of an art piece than a feature film. Do you see it that way?

DL: No I don’t but I’ve heard people say something like that.

DRE: Do you see a narrative in it?

DL: Yes.

DRE: How many times do I have to see it until I discover the narrative?

DL: You’d only have to see it once. Well, you might have to see it a couple times, but it’s there.

DRE: It reminded me of that old quote of yours from when you first got into film, where you said that you wanted to see the pictures move. Inland Empire feels like you are using the paintbrush to go in many directions. Is that more of an editing process or are you already thinking about this stuff when you’re shooting?

DL: It is weird. It is all from ideas and then the ideas tell you everything. But you get to a point where the ideas are gathered and now you’re getting close to a whole thing, a sequence is indicated pretty clearly. Then there’s a point where for the sake of the whole, another thing happens. When you finally see the whole thing and react to that you see that there’s much more work to be done and then there’s sometimes rearrangements and deletions, maybe even something new that you never thought you were going to use. So it’s a process but driven by the ideas.

DRE: Watching Inland Empire is a harrowing experience for the viewer. Is creating it as harrowing?

DL: When you get an idea it’s like seeing it in a movie so it’s not so much as harrowing, it’s like thrilling. It fires you up because then you know what you’re going to do. You get an idea, you love the idea and you love the way cinema is able to translate that idea. Those things are what drive the boat for me. It’s not so harrowing, but if you get a fragment of a whole, that’s usually the way it happens. Starts with fragments, then an unknown thing opens up and that’s sometimes harrowing, but beautifully harrowing because you don’t know what’s there and you want to know.

DRE: Is it true that you were writing scenes right before you shot them?

DL: No, not right before I shot them, I’d write them before I shot them but not necessarily right before [laughs]. Now a couple of times I wrote them the day before, because I was in a place where I had to take advantage of an idea that was there. It was like a blurred, veiled inkling and then this thing happens and you focus on it and it comes into focus and you see it and you write it down. I was in places where I needed to do something there because I’d be leaving.

DRE: The scene where the prostitutes do the song and dance number to The Loco-Motion reminded me of Lost Highway where in the middle of the movie Robert Loggia freaks on the guy on the highway and also the Naomi Watts audition scene in Mulholland Drive. These are very impressive, in-your-face scenes. Do those things liven it up for you or is that all just part of the process?

DL: It’s part of the process. Different scenes do different things and when you’ve got nine girls dancing to The Loco-Motion or something like that, it’s got to be in the liveliness department.

DRE: Does a scene like that energize the movie?

DL: No, it’s not like you say, “Oh, I need something here.” The idea came along for it. It is not that I feel I need something and then would make something to fill that need. The idea is what’s doing it.

DRE: A few years ago I interviewed David Cronenberg. Now, I’m not comparing the two of you.

DL: Good.

DRE: Too many people do that. I asked him if he puts certain things in his movies to tweak the audience and he told me that if he were to do that it would be more like he was tweaking himself. That seems to jibe with what you were saying with just putting something in a film.

DL: Yes, that would be a real false note and I feel like if you’re true to the ideas and you work on it until you realize those ideas and they feel correct based on the idea, then they have a chance of feeling correct for others. Even if you’re going on a intuitive feel, if you’re true to those ideals, sometimes they’ve got these harmonics, if you dick with them, you might ruin the harmonics. They would be bad things and people would start smelling a rat. You may not even understand those harmonics, but somebody out there might and it’s true on that level and it’s true on the harmonic levels. So you’ve got to be real careful.

DRE: Are the harmonics ever not correct?

DL: No, they have to be. If the notes, the chords are correct, the harmonics are going to be correct. But you may not understand the beauty of the harmonics but somebody else might. If you’ve been true to these notes, they’ve got a chance to appreciate some other thing. On Eraserhead, I don’t remember what it was but I had the feeling that I appreciated some other level of it later, but I wasn’t even aware of it when I did it. It’s that thing.

DRE: Your past films are so recognizable and famous for having great, lush cinematography and beautiful colors. Even though Inland Empire does have those things, it is in a much different way.

DL: It was because I was shooting DV so the quality isn’t film quality. But it is it’s own quality. For projection in theaters it needs to go to film, so you’ve got a certain quality resolution DV up-res-ed to Hi Def and then put on film. All these processes are opportunities to me. They keep adding something that’s really magical and beautiful.

DRE: Besides it being shot on video did you try to shoot it the way you did your other films?

DL: I sometimes put it on the tripod and light it but sometimes it’s floating. Something happened because I’m holding the camera more on this and when you hold the camera you find yourself moving based on the feeling you’re getting from the scene and I think that’s a secretive act. You’re looking and listening and you are just doing things that you wouldn’t do if you had an operator. You wouldn’t be able to tell him in time. It’s more like you’re in there and you’re doing things that you couldn’t have done before.

DRE: Did the idea of the movie come before the idea of self-distributing it?

DL: Oh yeah. People would tell me that I’ve got a three hour picture that no one understands. [laughs] But I long for the 14 year old girls in the Midwest to fall in love with Inland Empire and embrace it. That would be so cool. I don’t see why it couldn’t happen but there’s a whole bunch of things happening and I don’t know all of it at all. It’s a feeling that the studios are just following the music industry. The music industry used to be a big advantage to artists and then those advantages started going down and down and down. To the point where they say, Jack give me your final album and maybe we’ll distribute it. They’re going down low enough so that you say, “Well wait a minute. I’m going to do the same amount of work, take this advance and that’s the last nickel I’m ever going to see.” You don’t see another nickel even if your film is doing good. How depressing is that? So I’d rather go a different route and take my chances. It’s a little bit thrilling to do it. It is a large amount of work but I’m getting to meet the people. I’m getting to meet the theater owners and I’m taking a hair more responsibility than in the past. I think it’s the way of the future.

DRE: I saw the video of you with the cow in Los Angeles on Youtube, are ventures like that something you want to be a part of?

DL: It is what’s just going to happen, but for me, I’m still hanging on to the theatrical experience as the best. But it won’t be too long before there won’t be any DVDs. We will be downloading our films and what you do with it is up to you but I would recommend squirting it on a big wall with speakers in a dark room and seeing it all the way through. Kill the phones so you have that experience and you can go into another world. But a lot of people are going to see it on their phones and their computers but in my book they won’t have seen the film.

DRE: Was it very important to have actors you’ve worked with before like Laura [Dern] and Justin [Theroux] in the main roles?

DL: What’s important is to get the right actors for the roles. If you’ve already worked with them, you’ve already developed a shorthand and you’re friends but that is not the reason to cast them. But when they marry to the part and you’ve got that added bonus, it’s beautiful. Laura is in a film that’s considered somewhat strange, but she has given a performance that will rival anything done this year so I hope she fares very well. The danger is that it will take a while to filter into the culture and miss an award but I think she’ll be remembered for her role.

DRE: It is interesting how self-referential the film is. Much of it takes place on a film set, part of the movie is about a director working with actors, part of the movie was shot in Poland and there’s a Polish character in the movie. Do you like putting what’s happening to you right into your movies?

DL: I also went to New York City but no ideas came in New York. You see what I mean? It’s the ideas coming and how one relates to another. You never know what’s going to trigger them or when they’re going to come. When they come along, then you focus on those and that focus and desire for more brings more in time. So the thing starts growing, you don’t know where it’s going, it just starts growing. A whole thing comes from Poland and from Hollywood. Now if I hadn’t gone to Poland, I don’t think I’d have gotten the Polish idea, but something was happening there. But I’ve gone to other places where something’s happening but the ideas didn’t come.

DRE: What is it you like so much about Los Angeles?

DL: I love the light. I love the feeling. It comes, I think, from the light, maybe more than that. But in LA I get the feeling of all possibilities. A freeing feeling of all possibilities can be gotten.

DRE: You started the short film Rabbits before you finished Inland Empire, did you always intend to put it into Inland?

DL: It started something happening. One thing leads to another, that’s the beautiful thing about the world. So some things you do and that’s it. Some things lead to more and more and more.

DRE: I believe you had some non-professional actors in Inland Empire.

DL: Well there were Polish actors, American actors, professionals and some surprises.

DRE: And regular people?

DL: Regular people, yeah.

DRE: What does putting regular people into your movie do for you?

DL: Everybody’s an actor and they might be bad, but there’s an actor in everybody. So sometimes you meet someone and see that their face would work. If they’re right for that thing, then that’s what you got to do.

DRE: Would you ever work for a studio again?

DL: Well, I haven’t ever worked with a studio, really. But it is like asking, would you ever poke a knife through your chest? Maybe, but I don’t think so.

DRE: Are you already doing things for your next project?

DL: No, I’ve got to do this distribution. But I’m longing for the day to start focusing on catching ideas. Maybe I’ll catch them during the distribution thing. I’ve got some ideas for the next one but a lot more has to come.

DRE: I heard a rumor about more Twin Peaks.

DL: No, somebody asked me about that the other night. I don’t know where that rumor is coming from.

DL: Is there material there for a special edition DVD of The Elephant Man?

DL: I don’t think so.

DRE: What do you think about the rise of Eli Roth?

DL: Oh, Eli’s my buddy. I haven’t talked to him in a long time. Eli is a go-getter and he’s smart and a good guy. So everybody’s got their own voice but Eli, I guess, is making it happen.

DRE: Do you watch many movies?

DL: No. I don’t have time. I’ve got to work.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck

Listening to the new HTDA album "Welcome Oblivion" with visions of latex, gynoids, Grace Jones, William Gibson novels, Blade Runner, cold rain, dirty underground clubs lit by flickering fluorescent lights, and Tokyo in my mind. The music creates amazing visuals in my head. Maybe I should be... more

Listening to the new HTDA album "Welcome Oblivion" with visions of latex, gynoids, Grace Jones, William Gibson novels, Blade Runner, cold rain, dirty underground clubs lit by flickering fluorescent lights, and Tokyo in my mind. The music creates amazing visuals in my head. Maybe I should be writing some of these thoughts down - could be a novel in there somewhere.

by Nicole Powers (image) (image) (image) Artist / SG Member Name: Barry Quinn a.k.a. Mooliki Mission Statement: My practice and the subject of my work has changed quite a lot over the years. I've always been drawn to use natural forms, the human body, trees, textures in nature, to convey feeling... more

by Nicole Powers







Artist / SG Member Name: Barry Quinn a.k.a. Mooliki

Mission Statement: My practice and the subject of my work has changed quite a lot over the years. I've always been drawn to use natural forms, the human body, trees, textures in nature, to convey feeling and idea in an image, using these shapes to tell a personal, emotive story. But environmental and political concerns have increasingly become the driving force behind a lot of what I do. Much of it is simply trying to make sense of the world around me, the problems and challenges the world faces and understanding my own part in that. I would consider my work as a sort of visual diary of this process, that tends to take the form of character-based illustration. I place as much value on sketches and writings as I would finished paintings. My main aim, in regards how I present it to others, is to hopefully communicate some of the more visceral concepts and feeling behind an image.

I hold in high regard any form of art that can deal with genuine emotion over life's struggles and experiences and present it as something perfectly necessary and natural. There's something tremendously cathartic about that sort of acceptance of the darker side of life. Like with great children's stories, old blues and folk songs, or the best films, I appreciate the sort of art that says life is cruel, tough and unkind, and still absolutely amazing and beautiful and worth experiencing. If I get a fraction of that out of a drawing, I'm happy.



Medium: For larger pieces I would mainly use acrylic on canvas or wood. Smaller pieces would be in pen, pencil and watercolor. I work primarily on found, recycled or waste materials.

Aesthetic: Larger figure paintings like the SG portraits tend to be quite free in form with a lot of focus on the body shape and textures. I like building up textures with light layers, lots of water and scraping. It's generally a messy, expressive activity involving paint-covered hands and feet and a general lack of structured method. If I'm working on smaller format it's usually the opposite, slow, methodical work with focus on tiny detail, while maybe trying to illustrate a broader story. Lately drawing is very heavily influenced by the aesthetic surrounding folk and fairy tales, and I've always had heavy influence from both traditional and contemporary Asian art. I grew up reading comics and watching manga films, later Studio Ghibli animation and then the old Chinese watercolors. I love that mix you find in traditional Chinese and Korean art; minimal scenes but full of feeling and depth and story. I think the characters I draw would be very influenced in form by the Japanese anime/manga style.



Notable Achievements: My achievements would be pretty modest to date. I've exhibited with various groups around Dublin, where I used to live, taken part in art events at festivals and gigs, but I tend to stick to the DIY-driven, artist-run establishments. I've little formal training in art and I've never been drawn to that more academic side of the art industry. Achievements for me are when a band or musician wants to use my work for an album, or someone wants to blog about it, or someone simply wants to buy something. I'm working on an illustrated story at the minute. If I manage to get that to materialize some time next year, that'll be a pretty decent achievement.

Why We Should Care: I would always look at art as a way of people working out that stuff in our heads that we otherwise don't know how to express. Whether it's with music, visual art, performance, it's a way for a more subconscious part of our selves to say, "Hey, this is what I think is going on." I always try to give way to that sort of unabridged honesty, and whether its abstract or illustrative, my work would generally come from a very personal place. I think anyone who creates with honesty and passion is going to produce something special and unique, it's a story you’re telling, and for me that's what always makes art interesting.

I Want Me Some: You can see more of my work on my portfolio site, and buy prints via Society6 and Etsy.





***

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Sid and Marty Krofft haunt my nightmares. Well not so much them personally, it would be weird if two AARP members bedeviled me in my sleep. But I saw some show of theirs where some fat dude got stuck with porcupine quills and now for some reason that makes me wake up in a cold sweat. Now that Rhino Home... more

Sid and Marty Krofft haunt my nightmares. Well not so much them personally, it would be weird if two AARP members bedeviled me in my sleep. But I saw some show of theirs where some fat dude got stuck with porcupine quills and now for some reason that makes me wake up in a cold sweat. Now that Rhino Home Entertainment is releasing the Krofft’s second show, The Bugaloos, on DVD, I can watch those episodes and see if that porcupine thing is in there. But besides being a seminal part of so many childhoods, The Bugaloos is still some seriously tripped out madness. From the very first episode the viewer is dropped into this wild world of British kids with wings singing songs and old school Hollywood types driving tripped out cars and hanging with giant yellow dudes with no teeth.

Buy the DVD of The Bugaloos

Daniel Robert Epstein: I believe The Bugaloos was your first project after H.R. Pufnstuf.

Marty Krofft: It was right after H.R. Pufnstuf. We went to England to get The Bugaloos; just like we went to England to get Jack Wild after he was The Artful Dodger in Oliver. That was right when The Beatles and everything was happening. So we went and we did auditions for The Bugaloos in London and we must have had about 4000 kids standing in line.

DRE: How did you end up casting Jack Wild in Pufnstuf in the first place?

MK: We knew Lionel Bart who wrote all the music for Oliver. We went to the premiere with him and when we saw Jack we said, “Oh my God that’s the kid.” We didn’t have any intention of picking up somebody with a cockney accent because we were afraid nobody would understand them. But when that worked, we did the same thing with The Bugaloos.

DRE: I’m a bit young, so I wasn’t around when these shows first aired, was Pufnstuf a big hit right away?

MK: Yeah it was. By the time I showed it to the president of RCA and NBC, they all knew this was happening. Before that we did The Banana Splits. So Hanna Barbera came to us before we did Pufnstuf and they asked us if we could help create the Banana Splits. At that point, when we were building the Banana Splits we saw that the head of programming of NBC was coming to see us. They said, “Next season, why don’t you create your own show.” Then we did Pufnstuf and we immediately created The Bugaloos.

DRE: Were you and your brother given more freedom because Pufnstuf was a hit?

MK: I think we were given freedom on both because I don’t think anybody at the network knew what we were doing. So they trusted us. We’d already had a reputation doing our big puppet shows. Before we ever had done Pufnstuf, we did puppet shows as opening acts for stars Judy Garland, Sinatra and Liberace. Then we did an adult only puppet show called Les Poupee des Paris which was a big hit in the 60’s. So it isn’t like we were an overnight success.

DRE: I’ve been very excited about doing this interview for about a week so I’ve been telling a lot of people about it. Then when I tell people that it is for The Bugaloos and they all start singing “The Bugaloos, The Bugaloos.” Who created that song?

MK: It was Charles Fox. In fact I’m still talking to him. Charles Fox also wrote the song Killing Me Softly for Roberta Flak. We’re thinking about doing a Broadway show on Pufnstuf and we’re doing something new with The Bugaloos as we speak. Even though we only did 17 episodes of the Bugaloos.

DRE: What’s going on with the Bugaloos now?

MK: We had developed it once for Jersey Films, which is Danny DeVito’s company at Universal. But it never got off the ground script-wise. So because we have Land of the Lost and Pufnstuf in more than development at Universal, we decided we’re going to do a Bugaloos preschool show, like the Mickey Mouse Club, and cast new Bugaloos that are around 13 and 14 years old. In the old show, Benita Bizarre [played by Martha Raye] lived in a jukebox. Now since kids don’t know about jukeboxes anymore, they will live in a giant iPod called an Eye-pod, so we don’t get sued.

DRE: Is your stuff being remade because everyone that grew up on it is now heads of movie studios?

MK: Yep, you got it. Ron Meyer, who’s the head of Universal, was our agent when we were the first clients at CAA, Creative Artists. I guess we messed with the heads of kids in the 70’s because they’re still into us in 2006. They now have children, nieces and nephews. Monetarily we thought of the preschool shoe because last year The Wiggles made more money last year than Mel Gibson. We’re working with a guy named Savage Steve Holland [writer/director of Better Off Dead and creator of Eek! the Cat].

DRE: He’s a genius.

MK: What we always did was go after young talent. Now that we’re old, we’re still going after young talent. We have belief in the newcomers.

DRE: Isn’t Savage Steve Holland about 50? [laughs]

MK: That guy has experience. I don’t think he’s 50 but he looks about 38. But you could be right. His motorcycle and helmet don’t make him look like that age.

DRE: In Hollywood working with older people is verboten. You and your brother are pushing 70, is there resistance on the studio’s part to having you involved?

MK: First of all they want to see us because they want our autographs so we get in the door. We were always ahead of our time and no matter how old we are we’re still ahead of our time with what we’re doing. We still get goose bumps, things still excite us and we know that if we’re not working we will have to watch daytime television which could kill us immediately.

DRE: I’m a big fan of Billy Barty’s who you worked with quite a lot.

MK: We probably worked with more little people than anybody in recent times except for The Wizard of Oz. Billy Barty was in most of our shows and was one of the great people to work with. He was so talented and such a great guy.

DRE: Mel Blanc revealed in his autobiography that Chuck Jones and the other Warner Bros. cartoon directors would go up to the top of Termite Terrace [the building on Sunset Boulevard where Looney Tunes cartoons were created], get high, come back down and storyboard.

MK: Really? Well, I never was invited.

DRE: [laughs] I’ve read that you and your brother have said that you never did drugs when you’re doing the shows. But how can you not when you got a show called Lidsville?

MK: Well, you don’t have to have a show called Lidsville to do drugs. We were just smart. We had The Beatles calling us for our shows every week. Brian Epstein asked for all the Pufnstuf 16 millimeters and all The Bugaloos 16 millimeters to be sent to London every week. We knew we had something when that was going on. When we did those shows we weren’t thinking about college kids.

But we always did big shows and we always spent more money than any network gave us. For these shows we only got like 50 to 60,000 dollars an episode but we spent $100,000 on each one. Today that $100,000 would probably equal $350,000 but we put everything on the screen.

DRE: But would you guys get high?

MK: Now we’re back at the drug thing.

DRE: Yeah, I only want to follow up.

MK: It’s true that we weren’t doing acid and drugs when we were doing shows. Fortunately we’re not drug addicts or alcoholics. But I know many of them.

DRE: What was the writing process between you and your brother on these shows?

MK: We didn’t write the shows but we hired the best people we could find to do this. On Pufnstuf we had Lennie Weinrib, on The Bugaloos we had several writers and Si Rose who had done shows like McHale’s Navy. We called him up one day and said, “look, we’ve never done a TV series, could you come in and help us?” So he became the exec producer and head writer on a number of our shows.

DRE: What was your process of creating something like The Bugaloos?

MK: We drew the rough stuff but we had artists, in a place we called the show business factory. It was a 50,000 square foot building where we created everything. Then we had a shop that was about 25,000 square feet where we built everything.

DRE: Were you guys competitive with places like Disney and Jim Henson?

MK: Well late in life I met [daughter of Jim Henson and co-chair and co-CEO of the Jim Henson Company] Lisa Henson and she told me that she would always go to her father and say, “How come the Krofft’s have so many shows and we only have one show?” I think Hanna Barbera felt that we were coming in on their territory so they were always worried the most.

DRE: [laughs] As they should have been.

MK: Right.

DRE: How many shows have you done?

MK: We did 13 kids shows. But the big thing is we’re still independent. We’re probably the only independent left in the business. We own everything we ever did. We never made the mistake of selling everything to the majors. Our library is valuable because most of our titles are going to be made into movies. If we’re still around we’re going to enjoy it. If we’re not, I’ve got three daughters, three grandkids who are talented and could take over. Right now I’ve got one daughter that runs everything in the company as far as the administration. My brother and myself are still very active, of course I show up every day. My brother never showed up every day. So nothing’s changed just because we’re old.

DRE: How was it possible that you didn’t sell it all over the years?

MK: We’ve gone through a lot of pain because we never did. When you’re an independent, you’re struggling all the time financially. So as of this date and this phone call we’re still independent. By two o’clock today, things could be different.

DRE: [laughs] What’s the dynamic between you and your brother?

MK: My brother only deals in creative areas and mostly my creativity is to take some of his dreams and make them come true and take some of my dreams and make them come true. So I really run the place and I make it happen. It is one thing to have an idea, it’s another thing to get it to happen. That in itself is creative.

DRE: Have you guys seen a lot of the satires of your work?

MK: Yeah I saw Mr. Show. They thought we were going to sue them.

DRE: Did you guys ever meet Bob Odenkirk and David Cross?

MK: Of course. They have come over to the offices over the years to talk about ideas.

DRE: Have you heard about this new one called Saul of the Mole Men that’s going to be on Adult Swim?

MK: No, I haven’t. That’s live action?

DRE: It’s a live action but with greenscreen and very low budget effects. But it looks hysterical.

MK: Have you seen it?

DRE: I’ve seen a clip of it and it looks great.

MK: Is it a Krofft look?

DRE: Oh yeah.

MK: Of course.

There’s a guy who does a preschool show out of Iceland called LazyTown, who says his show is like Land of the Lost on acid.

DRE: How far along is the Land of the Lost movie?

MK: The second draft of the script just arrived in my office so we’re moving along pretty good. It will probably get released sometime in 2007. Chris Henchy, who’s married to Brooke Shields and Dennis McNicholas who was the head writer on Saturday Night Live wrote it. Will Ferrell is attached to star with [Anchorman director] Adam McKay set to direct.

DRE: How close are you with the Pufnstuf Broadway show?

MK: That’s not close at all. We’re first developing a Pufnstuf movie at Sony. Julian Fellowes [Oscar winning screenwriter of Gosford Park] will be writing the Pufnstuf movie. He also wrote the London stage version of Mary Poppins which is coming to Broadway.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck

ok so here is my newest youtube video for anyone interested. WARNING! It is really bad quality. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpeSRO5bU3Y

by Bradley Suicide (image) [Above: Bradley Suicide in Sugar Kitty] Hot chicks and douchebags. What the hell is wrong with this picture? Does this really happen? I can attest to this phenomenon because up until very recently, I had an affinity for the west coast bro. The first step to recovery is admitting... more

by Bradley Suicide


[Above: Bradley Suicide in Sugar Kitty]

Hot chicks and douchebags. What the hell is wrong with this picture? Does this really happen? I can attest to this phenomenon because up until very recently, I had an affinity for the west coast bro. The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem, right?

My “bro problem” was bad. One for the record books for sure. The only dudes that got into my jeggings during this period of my life wore Famous Star and Straps and drove lifted trucks. I know, this is an awful and disgusting admission, but I am laying it all out for you with the hopes that it will show you that I am not only credentialed in bro, but that I also speak their language, fluently. Thankfully the seasons of my life have since changed and I was able to get out of the bro vortex wiser and relatively unscathed.

The easiest way to avoid the above referenced bro vortex is to avoid bros and their hangouts as much as possible. This vortex has a strong gravitational pull and sometimes you don’t know you’re slowly entering the douchebag lair until it’s too late. Below I have outlined the simplest ways to spot this ultra nutsackey breed of male in their natural habitat before it is too late. Don’t make the same mistakes as I did, young grasshoppers, knowledge is power.

1. Clothing Is Key
The first, and easiest way to spot a bro is simple and straight forward. What are they wearing? When I am out on the town and a guy starts chatting me up, the first thing that I do is what I call the West Coast Once Over. Take a mental stock of his ‘fit, from his hat all the way down to his shoes and socks. You do this not to see the value of what he has on, but to look for red flags. If he is wearing multiple pieces of clothing from Tapout, Metal Mulisha, Famous Stars and Straps, or any similar brands, chances are that this guy has bro written all over him and you should run for the hills. Look for things like Dickies shorts, fitted white v-necks, blinged out watches, and, of course, check to see if they have a straight billed hat on their most likely highlighted and perfectly styled hair. If these things are in place think of an exit strategy quickly or you, my friend, will be getting a one-way ticket to Bros-ville.

2. Scope out the Wheels
I know that this is not always a doable task, but if the opportunity presents itself make sure and take advantage of it. This exercise, similar to step #1, is not to attach a monetary value to the subject’s vehicle, but to see what his ride or “whip” of choice is. If you find that he has a giant truck lifted to the point of absurdity there is no further investigation necessary. Also, make sure to keep an eye out for any Rockstar Energy Drink stickers or decals –– nothing else screams “Bro” quite as loudly.

3. Listen
This little gem always blew me away. Bros tend to develop their own language. The first time that you hear it, it really catches you off guard. You will at first think maybe its some new slang that you just aren’t hip to yet. And then it will hit you; he is speaking bro. Listen for the guy in question to refer to his car/truck as his “whip”, his clothing as his “’fit”, his game as his “tech”. The list goes on and on. Not only do they have their own special made up bro language, but bros also tend to call everyone “pal” and almost always, without fail, will refer to their closest friends as their BFFs. I’m sorry, there is no circumstance when a grown ass man should ever use the term BFF. Warning buzzers should be going off like crazy in your brain when you hear any of these words brought up in the conversation.

4. Home Away From Home
This is the last important step in the bro litmus test. Be very mindful of dudes who seem to be a little too in love with a certain hangout. Bros always have a bar that they post up at. And I do not mean that they are a regular at a bar, but rather that they are such a regular that the entire staff knows them by name, they act like they own the place, and they pretty much have a key to the front door. This hangout is always one of the trendiest bars in town, never a hole in the wall dive. After all, bros are all about flash, exerting their manliness, and showing off their game to their fellow bros –– all tasks that are best accomplished in front of a crowd of onlookers. If you meet the bro at said bar it means that you have somehow stumbled into the eye of the storm and you need GTFO. Immediately. Do not hesitate, do not stay to finish your drink, you close out your tab and haul ass out of that place.


Don’t get me wrong, bros can be fun guys and can be great friends, but if you develop a love for dating them you are in for nothing but a lot of cheating, drama, and douchebaggery. Follow the steps. Work the program. You will thank me later.

Until next time.

Xoxo
Bradley


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“Every other band was on stage because they wanted to be rock stars, this band was on stage because they had no fucking choice,” sums up Tony Wilson’s narrative. A camera pans across stark landscape of decrepit factories and abandoned warehouses. Wilson says, “I don’t see this as the story of a... more

“Every other band was on stage because they wanted to be rock stars, this band was on stage because they had no fucking choice,” sums up Tony Wilson’s narrative. A camera pans across stark landscape of decrepit factories and abandoned warehouses. Wilson says, “I don’t see this as the story of a group, but of a city.” The group was Joy Division and the city was Manchester, England. It was 1976 and the group was about to change music, and their city, forever.

Joy Division, the true story of the meteoric rise and fall of one of the most influential bands of our time, is the new documentary from director Grant Gee and producer Tom Atencio that traces the band’s history through never-before seen footage, bootlegged audio recordings and rare photos, as well as through in-depth (and at times incredibly painful) interviews with bassist Peter Hook, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, drummer Stephen Morris, and Factory Records founder, the late Tony Wilson.

Joy Division formed in 1976 in Salford, just outside of Manchester, after Hook and Sumner caught a Sex Pistols show and decided to give punk rock a shot. The band’s first album, Unknown Pleasures, was released on Tony Wilson’s Factory Records in 1979 and quickly established Joy Division as the aggressive yet atmospheric post-punk pioneers we know today. Theirs was music you could lose yourself in over and over again. But by February of 1980 the momentum of success had begun to take its toll on the band, most notably singer Ian Curtis, who’s physical and emotional fragility was unable to sustain the pressure of expectation. On May 18 1980, a 23-year-old Curtis hung himself, mere days before the band was to hop a flight to America for what would have been their first stateside tour. The band’s brilliant second album, Closer, was released after Curtis’ death. Joy Division was no more, but their story became that of legend.

The day after the documentary's Los Angeles screening I met up with Peter Hook at Rhino Records for our interview...

Erin Broadley: Did you enjoy the screening last night?

Peter Hook: It was a bit weird but good. It was quite odd because it was so arty and sort of restrained. I thought it would have been a bit wilder, really. It wasn’t as crazy as I thought it was going to be.

EB: What led to the decision to get involved with the documentary? When Anton Corbijn’s Joy Division biopic, Control, came out last year, there was speculation as to whether or not the band was happy with that fictional representation.

PH: The interesting thing is that the Joy Division documentary actually came about before Control, but Control happened quicker. I don’t think the documentary would have happened afterwards because we would have been so sick of talking about Joy Division, and so sick of living with it, that we wouldn’t have been able to do it. You wouldn’t have been able to give it the objectivity. It wouldn’t have been as fresh and honest. Tom Atencio’s timing was perfect, really. The interesting thing about the documentary is that I’ve never heard Bernard and Stephen talk about Joy Division like that. It’s something that we didn’t do, and we haven’t done.

EB: There’s that point in the documentary where it’s said that men don’t talk.

PH: It’s true. The sad aspect of it is, that if the three of us had done the interview together, you wouldn’t have said hardly anything. You just wouldn’t do it. Separately you’d do it. The interviews were done by John Savage, who’s a great friend of ours, an old journalist from Manchester who started in the punk era just the same way that we did. So you’re talking to someone you know very well, who knows the story very well. And obviously Tom Atencio we’ve worked with since 1982, so we know him very well. You open up to these people much more than you would do to somebody you didn’t know. And, to me, in the documentary it paid off.

EB: The documentary starts with Tony Wilson saying it’s more than just a story about a group; it’s a story about a city.

PH: Yeah, that’s Tony Wilson’s interpretation of it… that it all was about Manchester. And I suppose it is. You are subconsciously fueled by your surroundings, especially when you’re a kid. And the thing is that Manchester gave me the fuel to want to get out. And ironically it draws me back, every time I leave. When I leave here now I’ll be going back to Manchester. It’s quite odd seeing all these places in the world, all these different cultures, and you still always go home to Manchester.

EB: Maybe Tony saw things more like a scene.

PH: He’s a journalist. I’m just a stupid fucking musician. [Smiles] I don’t see any further than the end of me guitar.

EB: [Laughs] Well, I did love your description of him as an alien with tentacles.

PH: [Laughs] In that time, considering I’m just a working class tosser from Salford, to see somebody like him, it was like Doctor Who. It was wild.

EB: Was it hard for him to win Joy Division’s trust?

PH: Not particularly. Tony was a very confident guy. He was a star in his own right when he met us. So he always treated you in the same way, which was with a healthy dose of disdain [laughs]. He was always the boss and was treated in a sort of reverent manner. The Joy Division story is to do with Manchester. And it’s to do with the re-growth of Manchester that happened at the end of the ‘70s, and the fact that Factory Records, the Hacienda, Joy Division and New Order came from that. It’s a tale of regeneration. It does have an effect on me when I see it. I find the documentary, and Control, still quite upsetting really. It really does tug at your heartstrings. It’s always difficult for me to watch either of them. I certainly don’t find it a joyous occasion. But I do think that the two of them go together so well, which was something I didn’t expect. Very surprised. I was fuckin’ amazed at some of the stuff Tom got because he had stuff that I hadn’t heard. And I was like, “Where’d you get that from?!” Everybody has a different memory. It was hilarious last night when the documentary said that Bernard came up with the name for Joy Division. I don’t remember that at all. As far as I was concerned, it was Ian that had the book the House of Dolls and came up with the name Joy Division. So his memory of it is completely fuckin’ opposite to mine.

EB: Everything I’ve read has linked it to Ian as well.

PH: Yeah, it was Ian! It was Ian’s book. [Laughs] It’s funny that everybody has a different memory. And none of it is true. It has to be an amalgamation of it that’s true. It depends who you ask.

EB: Even a documentary is just a patchwork semblance of what really happened. One thing that’s said in the end of the documentary is that since there were only two things Joy Division actually created, Unknown Pleasures and Closer, that everything since has just been “merchandising memory.”

PH: Yeah. Well, it probably would have been nice if the “merchandising memory” was actually done by the band.

EB: [Laughs]

PH: It was quite interesting. Because we were punks when we first began, we didn’t do fan clubs, we didn’t do t-shirts… we felt it was crap and it was robbing people and it was mindless cashing in. We didn’t do Joy Division t-shirts. Ever. But when we got investigated by the tax man because of the Hacienda, the tax man said to us, “What I see whenever I walk round Manchester is Joy Division t-shirts. And in your accounts I don’t see any money for Joy Division t-shirts. Where’s the money for the Joy Division t-shirts?” And we said, “Well, we don’t do them because we don’t believe in it; we think it’s cheap merchandising gimmick.” And he went, “Well frankly I don’t believe you and I’m fining you.”

EB: Wow.

PH: He fined us for hiding our t-shirt revenue when we never fucking had any. So let that be a warning to you.

EB: [Laughs] Okay, well if I walk around and I see anyone wearing t-shirts with my name on them, I’ll make sure to put a stop to it.

PH: Mhmm. Make sure you get the dough.

EB: In the early Manchester scene, one thing that is brought up in the documentary is Joy Division’s “I’m fucked” mentality versus the “Fuck you” attitude of other punk bands. I thought that was a really interesting way to sum it up. Where did you find the balance?

PH: [Laughs] Yeah. I think the balance was sort of thrust upon you, really. If anything, as Bernard says, and as I said last night, we must be the only two people that don’t like Unknown Pleasures, which is quite ironic when you’re the one who bloody wrote it. Quite odd, really. The thing is, I appreciate it now what Martin [Hannett, the producer] did. At the time I was too young. I was too obnoxious -- a full of myself youngster -- to appreciate anything. To me, Martin was like you parents… fuck off. That’s why I became a punk, so I could tell everyone to fuck off, and that’s it.

EB: What was it about that album that you thought made it so impenetrable?

PH: I thought it was too subtle. I wanted it to be the way we sounded live, like the Ramones. [Laughs] But I’m prepared to admit that I was wrong. Martin gave it a depth, gave it the appeal and the ability to last a long time. To get music that you can lose yourself in is quite rare. Martin had that ability. He made Joy Division so that you could lose yourself. He proved that he could make it last, and he did make it last. I think Bernard and I would have made a much more one-dimensional record, because it was always Bernard and I who were the most pushy. Martin made a very three-dimensional, if not four-dimensional, record. Something you could lose yourself in; it had lasting power. [Laughs] He was a fucking maniac… a really weird character. A genius, but obviously troubled. He was a gift to us and basically Bernard and I learned how to do produce so then when he got difficult, we got rid of him and did it ourselves. It’s all about ego isn’t it?

EB: When you started you could barely play your instruments but then…

PH: …it all happened so quick. That was the thing about punk. The ideology of it was let’s not wait, let’s do it now. It was very instantaneous. What I liked about punk was that you admired the people who just got up and did it, regardless of whether it was bad or good. The thing you appreciated was that they just got up and did it. There was one wonderful band from Manchester called The Worst… and they were the worst. They had no songs; it was just a drummer and a guitarist and they’d just do it. That was what punk was all about. It couldn’t last. It was like bloody metal machine music. But in the context of what we were doing -- and the building that we were using, a squat on Oxford road in Manchester for all the bands to play in -- it was perfect.

EB: The first TV appearance you guys did was Granada, right?

PH: Yeah, I remember how nervous we were. I remember going out in the afternoon and Rob Gretton [Joy Division’s manager] buying me that shirt that I wore because he felt that the shirt that I had was too scruffy. So he took me and paid 3 pound 50 for that shirt and I wore it that night. I wore it for ages until it got ripped when I did a gig with Dexy’s Midnight Runners in Birmingham. I can remember ripping that fucking shirt on me bass cab.

EB: Was it emotional?

PH: It was. I remember I was really pissed off. Really fucking annoyed because I liked that shirt. But it’s the nerves mainly. I remember how nervous we were [to play Granada]. That was a big thing to happen to you. It was fantastic. I remember the momentous occasion very well. To get to go to Granada studios, and to go into the Cantina dressing rooms, it was like, fuckin’ hell!

EB: Like you said, it all happened very quickly. Do you think you were ever fully aware of how much that momentum had caught up to you guys or how much pressure was mounting towards the end?

PH: No, we were very young and very fit so we were ok. You were only aware of the pull it was having on Ian because he wasn’t well. So that was a problem. The thing is, when you start you desperately want to play anywhere and do anything. It was interesting because I remember us doing a concert in Oldham near Manchester as Joy Division and nobody came. Nobody. No one. [Laughs]

EB: Just a dog and the bartender?

PH: Just the bartender. And he started sweeping up while we were on. Then six months later you’re playing to a packed room. Same material but to a crowd that are going ape shit. It’s wild when you think of the gulf in that. We started getting popular after the Buzzcocks tour, which was wonderful because we actually blew the Buzzcocks off a couple of nights… fucking blew ‘em out of the water. It was fantastic. Hilarious. We started getting offered loads of gigs and Ian, even though he was ill, because he’d being working for this and working towards this, was desperate to do the gigs. It was heartbreaking for him to have to admit that physically he wasn’t up to it, and he fought that right ‘til the end. He was his own worst enemy. Basically what Ian would do to you, you’d say, “Ian you’re ill. Maybe you shouldn’t be doing this.” And he’d go, “I’m fine, don’t worry about me, I’m fine.” And you’d go, “Thank God for that. Right, let’s get on with it.” It was always him. He was never pushed to these gigs kicking and screaming. He pushed himself because he didn’t want to let you down.

On our part, you can only put it down to inexperience and naiveté. I did a Radio 4 thing in England recently, and the guy said to me, “How could you let that happen?” And you’re like, “Oh fuck.” But it’s true, you see. How could you let it happen? You dickhead, you fucking did that. How could you let that happen? You’re like, “Oh fuck, I did that.” We did. We should have stopped it. But we were all so caught up in the whole occasion and because Ian was going, “Don’t worry, you’re fine, I’ll look after me self, we’ll be all right.” You’re like, “Oh thank God we don’t have to worry about that now he said that he’s okay.”

EB: But don’t you think at a certain point, because you guys were so young, it was the responsibilities of your managers with the experience not to let that happen? Somebody on the periphery looking out? Where were they?

PH: Yes. There was a lot more people that made bigger mistakes. His psychiatrist, his doctor, the people treating him in the hospital, they all fucking let him go.

EB: I don’t think its up to a bunch of 22-year-olds to be able to…

PH: Yeah, but it still doesn’t stop you from not feeling responsible. It also doesn’t stop people from turning around and saying to you that it’s all your fault. But there is a responsibility, which I suppose is one of the things you have to live with… “What if I’d have done this?” If it happened to me 10 or 20 years ago, I would have just gone, “Stop… fucking sort it out.” Then we were too young, too naïve, too hopeful and you were so grateful for the things that you were being given, you were desperate not to pass it up. It was a combination of all that, plus the guy telling you it was ok. None of us knew. It was really, really sad. I was with him the night before he died and I drove him home and we were so excited about going to America. That was why I was in such shock when I was told because I’d been with him on Friday night. I drove him home. How’d you get from that to that? Fuckin’ hell man. It’s unbelievable. It was unbelievable. Who the fuck knows what happened.

EB: For a lot of people the end of Joy Division was a symbolic loss. And the fact that the band never made it to America just made it even more precious to Manchester.

PH: Yeah, even I often wonder what would have happened. Whether that’s a good or bad thing, I don’t know, really. It’s a very difficult decision. I was doing an interview before and the guy said to me, “Oh, you’ve been in two of the most important bands of the ‘80s and ‘90s," and I suppose the thing is, if Ian hadn’t have died it would have been one band. It’s weird the way that things work out, really. People always say, “Well what do you think Joy Division would have been like if Ian had lived?” And I think “Blue Monday” would have been by Joy Division, with Ian singing. I don’t think our development would have changed that much. With Ian singing New Order, I think you would have gone the same way.

EB: You have the New Order Live In Glasgow DVD that just came out. What’s going on with that?

PH: Well, it was planned before New Order split up. The record company asked us if we’d do one this tour so it was done simply as that. Stephen and I got involved in the production of it. We oversaw the editing, put the pictures together, we mixed the sound and put it all together. Stephen went and collected the rare and unseen footage, which I thought was wonderful. [Laughs] But when I saw the headline “New Order Celebrates Career in Glasgow,” I don’t remember it being very celebratory, to be honest, but maybe that’s just me. It was nice to be involved in it. I think one of the bad things that’s happened to musicians is that when you don’t get involved in everything that you do, then there’s no quality control and that I find off-putting and is a sad part of our business. So I was delighted to be involved in it and to do it to the best of our ability. It’s all the more poignant because New Order have split up. It makes it quite an odd situation. To be honest with you, it’s an odd situation to be here talking about it. Because I’d rather not. [Laughs]

EB: Then you don’t have to…

PH: [Laughs] No, I don’t mind. The thing is, whilst my memories of New Order at the moment are very clouded by the split and what happened after it, I’m the first one to sit up and look at it and go, “Well fucking hell we achieved something wonderful.” And I’m glad, especially because Stephen and I were involved in doing this one. This is a celebration of our career; it just wasn’t a very celebratory night. Basically we were all getting on each other’s fucking nerves. We were all sick to death of each other and it wasn’t a great atmosphere, but as it happens, your professionalism overcame that and you still created something wonderful. I suppose that’s the thing about the chemistry of groups, is that a group can still hate each other but actually create something quite brilliant. You always seem to need a bit of angst and a bit of pain to make great music. So I suppose New Order were very lucky in that they found a way to stay in constant pain. [Laughs].

EB: Well what’s up next for you?

PH: These days I'm deejaying. I’m on the “old fucker who used to be in a band” circuit, as my mate calls it. And I’ve got a new group I’m working on called Freebase, with Manny who used to be in the Stone Roses, and Andy Rourke who used to be in the Smiths, which is coming along quite well, yeah. I’m quite happy.

Joy Division, the documentary, is out now on DVD. Buy it here. Also available on DVD is New Order: Live in Glasgow. Buy it here.

(image) I REACHED 1000 COMMENTS IN UNDER 3 DAYS <3 Shall we aim for 2000 now? hehehe i love you all so much, thank you so much for the support!!

Some SuicideGirls have been modeling for the site for 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or even 10 years. We thought it would be fun to show you a look back and some of the SuicideGirls throughout the years. 

This week we bring you Patton!

 Patton has been a SuicideGirl since 2009 and she has 10 strikingly sexy... more

Some SuicideGirls have been modeling for the site for 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or even 10 years. We thought it would be fun to show you a look back and some of the SuicideGirls throughout the years.



This week we bring you Patton!



Patton has been a SuicideGirl since 2009 and she has 10 strikingly sexy photo sets. Enjoy this gorgeous look back at the stunning Patton…



From her first photo set Woody shot by Alissa in 2002:





Join Patton and 29 other SuicideGirls for an Ohio Summer in this set from 2009 shot by Alissa:





She's a Damsel in Distress in her photoset from 2009 shot by Cherry:





Patton's classy and beautiful in her set from 2010 shot by Alissa called In Dreams:





She's a Cuddle Slut in her set from 2010 shot by Alissa:





Patton is adorable with pigtails in Tweet Tweet shot by Alissa in 2011:





She's Loved By You in her set shot by Alissa in 2011:





Patton spends the day in the bath in Improvise shot by Alissa in 2011:







She's full of Blonde Ambition in this set from 2012 shot by Alissa:







From her most recent set Hyacinth House shot by Alissa in 2012:







Hope you enjoyed the lovely look back at the gorgeous SuicideGirl Patton! Be sure to keep an eye out for a new set coming soon to member review!

Become a member TODAY for only $4 a month (if you sign up for a year) to see all 10 nude pin-up photo sets of Patton - http://suicidegirls.com/join/

Portishead’s pre-Coachella, private rehearsal in L.A. is about to get a lot less private. It’s still daylight but people are lined up for a city block outside the Mayan Theater on downtown’s Hill Street. Inside, the venue is crowded with industry types and journalists -- experienced and sometimes weary... more

Portishead’s pre-Coachella, private rehearsal in L.A. is about to get a lot less private. It’s still daylight but people are lined up for a city block outside the Mayan Theater on downtown’s Hill Street. Inside, the venue is crowded with industry types and journalists -- experienced and sometimes weary veterans of many rehearsals, concerts, and bands -- and even they buzz with anticipation for tonight’s performance. There is a flush of excitement in the air that has become contagious. This is the first time Portishead has played a gig in Los Angeles in a decade and it might be the last. Singer Beth Gibbons takes the stage and at the first sound of her voice, the crowd goes silent, enchanted. By the encore’s finish, Gibbons eases off stage and into the crowd. She smiles, shakes hands… she is both delicate and devastating. The crowd goes nuts.

The media may love its rock gods and heathen priests, but it loves its elusive characters as well. Portishead’s power comes from the unspoken, sensual language used to craft each song, piece by piece, with the elegance and self-discipline of musicians who respect one another. Theirs is a camaraderie borne from essential privacy. The band has no public story, per se. They neither feed the headlines nor have managed media personas of any sort. They lead private lives and from that, draw great strength and create great art. Geoff’s rhythm reinforces Beth’s meaning, while Adrian’s tone shapes our mood. The music is mysterious but never misleads; it is never what you expect, but shows it’s meaning when you finally just shut up and listen. Some say its theme is loneliness, but others might say it’s about the possibility of human connection. Regardless, its affect on the audience is spellbinding.

Three days before the rehearsal, I meet with Portishead at the Roosevelt Hotel: Beth is relaxing in her room, Adrian Utley is busy with another interview, Geoff Barrow and I are sitting poolside and we can’t stop laughing. I’ve just given him permission to throw me in the pool. We are surrounded by strange people acting up in strange ways and it’s making him a bit uncomfortable so I’ve suggested an alternative way to relieve the stress of an afternoon filled with press and publicity functions. Indeed, poolside is an odd place to find oneself with Portishead, discussing Third, the band’s new album and first in ten years, released April 29 to coincide with band’s appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Erin Broadley: You seem like you have a very healthy sense of humor. Do you think Portishead is misinterpreted as overly serious most of the time?

Geoff Barrow: Yeah, massively, but you don’t really get to hear from us a lot. Most people are full of bullshit so there’s not many truths out there. You’ve got to take everything with a pinch of salt. I mean, we are [laughs] fairly serious about making music but… I can’t really take myself seriously as a performer. I’m 36-years-old; I’ll probably lose my hair in a couple of years and put a nice little ponch on, you know. Our seriousness comes down to trying to project our music in [a certain] way… we look really miserable because we’re just trying desperately. A lot of people nowadays have backing tracks and tape and we just don’t. We shit our pants every time we play. So far we’ve been really lucky and things have worked out. But you never know in a big gig scenario. We do live on the knife-edge of it actually sounding any good or totally rubbish. [Some bands] work in ginormous situations. We work in a studio.

EB: Controlled, personal…

GB: Yeah, controlled environment. But when it comes to taking ourselves seriously, Beth really doesn’t take herself seriously at all.

EB: One thing Beth said about you is that you’re a contradiction of sorts: in some senses very traditional and then in other senses just hell bent on breaking the rules. How do you find the balance between the two?

GB: I’m passionate about music. I think there’s just so much shit everywhere… politically, business wise, the way that people interact, communication. Portishead really comes about through frustration and we write about the inability for human beings to communicate, human conditioning and the way you’re supposed to live your bullshit life, things that you’re supposed to buy that you don’t really need, mass marketing demographic swipes… talent-less fucks being popular for no reason. It always happens; it was always sex symbols. I’m not a grumpy old fuck at all but I feel passionate that we’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere and we constantly keep on taking those wrong turns. I mean, I think sites like yours make a difference to people. I think that you can live outside the box without fuckin’ being attacked.

EB: Like you can create your own little world where what you do makes sense.

GB: Yeah, and you’re not alone in that world. Because that’s always the preconception that as soon as you disagree with the mainstay of kind of human conditioning then you’re ostracized outside and it’s bullshit, really. It’s strange because we’ve always been considered like dance music…

EB: Really?

GB: Well, I think so, by people who hang around by pools like this.

EB: [Laughs] Doing laps…

GB: [Laughs] Doing laps, drinking cocktails, doing their party drugs, getting their skin cancer. It’s pretty weird; the most horrible people I’ve ever met have actually been through dance music. And all the people I really love are the people that make rock and roll [laughs]. But there’s a definite distinction, especially in England because dance music is so enormous. Dance music in England is extreme electronic, Detroit-based, doing loads of pills and getting off your head… that kind of vibe.

EB: You have always seemed a bit more organic than that.

GB: I mean, we’re fairly hard to categorize but [I don’t know whether] that’s not a good or bad thing, really.

EB: What are some of the other misconceptions that you run in to?

GB: We write music for people to chill out to. That’s the biggest misconception you could ever have.

EB: Do you think people are overly hyping the fact that it’s been so long between albums?

GB: Of course, yeah.

EB: Some are calling it a reunion but, well, you guys never broke up.

GB: We didn’t, no.

EB: How do you keep from being frustrated with that kind of thing?

GB: Well, the thing is, the media as it works, most people you see have already answered your questions. That’s why they’re asking that question because they want a certain answer, because it works for their publication, because it lets them deliver what it is they need to deliver. There’s a lot of journalists out there so they want to make sure they get the job the next time… then it all turns into one cluster-fuck of crap [laughs].

EB: [Laughs]

GB: So, it’s really weird. We’ve met some really nice people and done some good interviews but all you’re doing is fulfilling their needs for product.

EB: The balance between art and commerce…

GB: Oh, massively, yeah. I think that that’s the big thing. I think it’s a ginormous thing, actually, that we seem to always struggle with. When we do TV shows, sometimes we present ourselves in maybe a slightly harsher way. People have got this preconception that we’re actually this arty, English culture…

EB: Standoffish?

GB: Yeah, they might think we’re standoffish because we just present music in quite a harsh way sometimes. In England, recently, when they were telling us to play this track and chop this up it’s like, “You asked us on, you know what our record sounds like. This is us. If you don’t like it then fuck off.”

EB: It seems a lot of popular music lately is compromised by compromise.

GB: [Laughs] So why doesn’t it sell anything? Because it’s shit and it’s been compromised.

EB: It’s like the snake eating it’s own tail.

GB: Yeah, feed the monster. We call it “feeding the monster” all the time …

EB: Feed me, Seymour!

GB: [Laughs]

EB: Being on both sides of the glass, as a producer and musician, how do you know when a song or album is done?

GB: It’s in your gut, really. That’s what it comes down to at the end of the day. I always over think everything [laughs]. But it’s in your gut when it feels finished.

EB: Like, when your kid grows up and you finally just know it’s time to kick it out of the house.

GB: Yeah, exactly. I’ve got two little girls. One’s been sick back in England at the moment. She’s not seriously sick but she’s only four and a half so we’re a bit nervous about it. Kids are kids.

EB: She’s got your feisty genes. She’ll be a fighter.

GB: [Laughs] I fuckin’ hope so.

EB: What were some of your favorite parts of this recording process? You wrote something on your website comparing it to a Tomb Raider or “Lost”. This journey with no answers…

GB: It is. That’s what it was like. And now since we finished it, all the doors are open again so we can really go back into those things again.

EB: Do you enjoy recording?

GB: I enjoy the recording process because the writing and recording and mixing process for us kind of all happen at once, even though we do eventually do a mix of all the tracks at the end. We generally try and write and record at the same time and keep on edging it. Like, one track might have started off as an acoustic track and ends up as something completely different at the end of the album. It’s not over-remixing; it’s just evolving. We definitely try hard not to do just standards. The idea for us is to progress musically, all the time, if we can. The whole idea of this album was to progress, to sound like us, but not repeat ourselves. Which is really hard.

EB: You did an interview with Pitchfork where you were talking about how you like to discover new things in the studio. What are some favorite tricks you’ve discovered? Like something that came about randomly but turned out really well…

GB: There’s very little randomness in our studio. On this album there’s a track called “The Rip” and it starts with an acoustic guitar and vocal and then I put some drums on it and a synth bass from the start because the idea of an acoustic track was doing my head in. I thought, I’ll write this completely different thing. I decided to play half the track acoustically and then fade the track in, which is kind of like a studio thing anyway, but I did it and listened to it back I was like… there’s these things that you do, they’re really rare, like once every five years you get something that gives you chills. And that’s what you do it for, totally.

EB: It’s different for every artist but for actors sometimes the only reason that they do movies is to get to experience something they’ve never experienced before. Is it the same for you?

GB: Yeah, I think it is. We changed. It might be subtle direction change to some people but it could be massive to others. I’ve heard the people go, “Oh I can’t listen to that its weird, that’s not Portishead.” And it’s like, “Well, it is because we’re us.” But other people go, “Oh yeah, it’s great, I really like that…

EB: Who is anyone to decide what Portishead sounds like?

GB: Yeah. But you get these people, especially nowadays in our media friendly world. It was sort of weird; in 1998 we did this massive tour and we did all this stuff and then I kind of quit music for like three years.

EB: You also started your own label, Invada, during that time.

GB: Yeah. The label mainly deals with drone metal and just experimental jazz stuff and anything that’s just fucked and a bit interesting. I met so many nice people that are just so not into the music industry… no commercial aspirations because they know what they’re doing is just fucking odd. I met those people and just instantly it was like…

EB: You’re home.

GB: Yeah. It really was. And I discovered bands like Sunn O))) and Ohm. I fuckin’ love Ohm. And people like Electric Wizard and bands like Silver Apples and lots of old English psych stuff. The Coral, we produced their album and they’ve got an amazing collection of stuff. Interesting, old, horror rock-and-roll stuff.

EB: I read that you love old soundtracks and they’re a big influence on you.

GB: Yeah. Not so much on this record but in the past it used to be. Soundtrack people used to be able to really experiment with sound. Because they don’t have to write a song, they just have to hit a drum and put it through an echo and all that kind of mad stuff. So lots of stuff… Can, the Plastic People of the Universe who are a Czech republic psychedelic band from the mid-70s, they’re brilliant. Really out there. And they got locked away for playing music.

EB: In jail?

GB: Yeah. In the Czech Republic.

EB: Wow. Are you excited about where this album might take you? You’ve said before that with the amount of time that went by between albums, what it allowed you to do was get rid of that pressure to come out with a big success which was nice because then you got to do whatever you wanted.

GB: Well, we’re contract free now in publishing and recording. So, to be honest, we’re just kind of not too sure whether we want to play the media game anymore, at all. I think we could always play it and I don’t mean that in an arrogant way. I just mean that if we release interesting music then hopefully people will be interested in it. I think that we might disappear even more and just carry on releasing music and just let the music talk.

EB: Would you miss performing live?

GB: Well, we could possibly still do that. I just don’t know how because if you consider traditionally on a 10-pound album in the UK, the band would get 80 pence and then we would give 20 percent to management and then might end up with 15 pence on an album or something. And I’m not just talking about money here, but obviously that’s what you need to live.

EB: That’s the thing, we can talk about art versus commerce all we want but at the end of the day you gotta eat. Your family’s gotta eat.

GB: Exactly. So we’re going to investigate. We’re talking to people about deals but, to be honest, I’m finding it’s tougher and tougher doing the interview thing and finding it tougher and tougher to communicate with the media. Because, there are some brilliant journalists out there, but everyone’s got to do shit to survive and sometimes I’d rather not be part of that game. And that’s a really lucky position to be in, to have that choice. But sometimes I think we just think, fucking hell, how ridiculous is this. I think you can just put out a mission statement and just put out how you feel about that stuff on the Internet now. Why we took so long to make this record [is because] we had to feel it, really. So the future’s going to be interesting, I’m actually genuinely excited about releasing music by ourselves and not having to compromise.

EB: How’s it been with your fans?

GB: We have very little contact with our fans, really. It’s not because we don’t want to, because everything that we do is in our music...

EB: Audiences can be harsh, like asking you to apologize for taking time to record the album you wanted.

GB: [Laughs] Yeah. See, that’s kind of fairly weird. That’s just the monster. The monster has created people like that. They basically go, “Well, I want it now.”

EB: They’re all Veruca Salts.

GB: Basically, yeah. That’s who I see; Veruca Salts everywhere. But they don’t know any different because that’s the way they’ve always had what they wanted, because manufacturing in China is cheap.

EB: And information is cheap.

GB: Yeah, exactly.

EB: But you have you draw the line somewhere because an album might belong to you but the band doesn’t.

GB: Yeah, I know, but a lot of people probably think that the bands do. Strangely enough, I think a lot more people in America think that the band owes them something more than any other country. That’s what I’ve noticed. Like, “Why haven’t you done this?” That is the weird thing about the Internet. We dip our toe into it. I usually drunkenly add a blog [laughs].

EB: How do you keep from losing your head?

GB: I kind of do, a lot. I kick the shit out of stuff. It’s usually just using my punch bag or throwing Yorkshire pudding through a window, which I did recently. I burnt it and it was after a bad week so I just chucked them through the kitchen window. Not a good idea, really.

EB: There’s nothing like the sound of a shattering window.

GB: [Laughs] I know. Dangerous! I play a lot of football, you know, soccer. It’s never violent ‘cause I’m fairly unfit… any anger that I have is just taken out by collapsing on the floor.

[Both laugh]

Third is available in stores now. For more information go to Portishead’s official site.