Harvey Pekar, influential comic book author of American Splendor, died July 12, 2010. There’s a great article on him over at the Cleveland blog. I wanted to pay tribute to him, so I worked on an illustration. Here are the beginning stages.
Harvey Pekar Illustration by Aaron Z. Lee Stage 1
Harvey Pekar Illustration By Aaron Z. Lee Stage 2
Harvey Pekar Illustration By Aaron Z. Lee Stage 3
Harvey Pekar Illustration Stage 4 By Aaron Z. Lee
Wesley the Robot Giving a Fall Concert Preview!
Maybe it’s just that I’m becoming more attuned to what’s happening in the central New York area, or maybe it’s just that concerts in the area are getting better, more affordable, closer etc. Either way, there are some prime opportunities coming up in the next few months for concert goers to see some good bands who have just put out some great albums this summer and fall and I wanted to take the time to share them with you. Venture further to see some videos and download some MP3s. (more…)
(We Are) Performance walking in a winter wonderland.
With the release of three promotional videos for three tracks (”Reptile”, “Let’s Start”, and “The Living”) off their unnamed forthcoming album, my excitement for (We Are) Performance’s return is at an all time high. To address this anticipation I spoke with lead singer and author extraordinaire Joe Stretch about the new album, being covered in ink, irony, and sitting on the bottom of pools. (more…)
The Chaingang of 1974 - White Guts Released April 27th 2010
The Chain Gang of 1974's Kamtin Mohager Fondles a Feline.
Oasis was the first band I ever became a fan of. I had always heard songs on the radio growing up, but I never knew who the artists were. So Oasis gave me that first real sense of loyalty to a band. From there, I had this weird phase from the age of 11 to 13 where I was obsessed with Dave Matthews Band and 311 (haha). But I still don’t regret that because it allowed me to appreciate diversity in music at an early age. From there I found myself getting really into the earlier Emo scene with the likes of the Get Up Kids, Gloria Record, American Football, Juliana Theory, so on and so forth. I was obsessed with all the Vagrant Records band’s and surrounded myself with that world. I loved it. But the older I got, the less Pop Punk I listened to and I started venturing in towards more of the experimental/dance types. I remember not liking LCD Soundsystem when I first heard his debut record. I always remember growing up and hearing Talking Head’s tracks on the radio and TV, but besides “Once In A Lifetime,” I never really pursued it much. With age, I started to appreciate it more and more. In my opinion, I believe Talk Talk is one of the most underrated band’s of all-time. They don’t get that credit that a lot of the 80’s band’s received, at least on a mainstream level. Mark Hollis has one of the greatest voices I will ever hear. I believe in diversity when it comes to musical interest because in the end it will be more beneficial to your song-writing skills.
To be honest with you, I haven’t dug too deep into David’s solo or contributing work. I only have 4 of his record’s (”Everything That Happens Will Happen Today,” “S/T,” “Feelings,” and “Uh-Oh”), so that means I have 5 more of his albums to check out. That’s what I love about him. So much damn music.
To me, a good song is music that is able to evoke emotion. Whether that’s a good or bad thing, that’s the most important aspect to me while writing a song or listening to one. I think that’s why I love 80’s music so much. It seems like a lot of the music written back then gave off a lot of emotion, but in the least cheesy way possible. And yeah, people can say everything about the 80’s was cheesy, but I believe it was done in a different way. A cool way if you want to say that. It just makes you feel good.
Kamtin Mohager of the Chain Gang of 1974 standing in front of a nuclear explosion.
I can only hope that the possibilities are endless when it comes down to creating music. I love being able to manipulate anything and changing sounds into something that can sound out of this world.
I have been to a lot of shows in my life. Way over 500. And the best show I have ever seen had to be Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem at Red Rocks a few years ago. It inspired me in so many different ways. Both musically and to the way I live my life. There was a pure feeling in the air that I believe everyone could feel. It was powerful.
The debut album, WHITE GUTS, will be released through my own label, Golden Gold, on April 27th. I’ll then be leaving on April 25th to tour as 3OH!3’s live bass player, which is something I’ve been doing for the past year. We’ll be heading all over the country, along with going to the UK, Europe, and even Japan this summer. So I’m quite excited for all of that. The Chain Gang of 1974 will also be doing a few weeks in the US performing DJ sets, even though I don’t really DJ like anyone else. So I like to call it “IMNOTAREALDJ-SET.” I’ll have a few weeks off in September before leaving with 3OH!3 again, so I’m planning on recording another album with Isom Innis who co-produced White Guts. I’ve already begun demoing and have a ton of ideas of where I want to take this next. So I’m really excited to continue working and not slow down. I can only hope people give WHITE GUTS a proper chance and hear it for what it is.
The Chain Gang of 1974 – STOP!
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