Interviews

"LOVE AND JOY"

published 2006

If you're familiar with the girl whose eyes are 

hidden behind a jet black mushroom cut, who sings about pushin' in the pin, flailing across the stage like a Mexican jumping bean, then you are most likely familiar with her costumes. A tornado of jagged edges, wild colour, a breathtaking example of a marriage between design and child-like wonderment, Karen O. of the Yeah Yeah Yeah wears the work of Christian Joy. 

Joy began designing clothes as a teenager, "mainly just sort of adding to things that I found at the thrift store," and as of 2001, "right at the beginning, they had only played a few shows before I started making costumes for her", their friendship has evolved into a collaboration that will define a moment in rock 'n roll fashion history. 

COK: Does Karen pick out costumes to wear that you have already made or do you plan out the designs together? 

CJ: I design specifically for her. We don't talk a lot about what the costume is going to be. She usually finds out about it when she gets it. The one thing we do talk about is if it fits and whether or not she wants to wear shorts or dresses, that sort of stuff. I pretty much do what I want, which is amazing because most people would not give you so much free reign.

COK: Your style is insanely unique. What inspires you to create the clothing that you do? 

CJ: My mom is a huge inspiration. She's a bit of a hippy. She's really good at creating something out of nothing. She's very crafty. I think also growing up in Iowa is a big inspiration. I love crafts. Like, you know, creating a necklace out of macaroni,  more kids style stuff. It's humorous but endearing at the same time. 

COK: What is your personal style?

CJ: Pretty low key. I like clothes that I can style myself. I like to add accessories to simple pieces and create something that might look a bit fresher. Overall I'd say I'm pretty classic with a street edge thrown in. 

COK: Does what you're into music-wise have an impact on what you design? 

CJ: It can. I think it doesn't directly impact what I'm designing as much as put me in a mood. I like to create graphics while I'm listening to music. I can kind of let the music control what I'm doing more. When I'm making clothes, I feel like I need to be able to concentrate more, so I usually listen to something that is soothing and also something that I won't sing along to and lose my train of thought. 

COK: Who is someone that you would love to design for? 

CJ: I think I've already found that person. I can't imagine anyone else that would allow me as much freedom as Karen does.

*

"KOOL THING" 

published 2010

Thurston Moore - does he REALLY NEED an introduction? 

You know who he is. You know what he does - "I'm working on lots of book publishing with Ecstatic Peace Library, as well as solo recording which looks to first be to 7-inch records attached to a hardcover book of art, text and photographs." 

I spoke to the punker priest, just dogging the breeze. Here it is: 

THURSTON AS JAMES BOND

I was probably fifteen, I sort of tried it once and a while before that. 

I learned to love it, unfortunately. I've been through long periods of not smoking. Lately since I turned 51 I've been sneaking back into it which is el lame-o. It's too toxic. But I love the oral fixation, and there's something about a smoke after a nice meal that is incomparable in its subliminity. I won't smoke trash cigs like American Marlboros et al - I dig Galouse (Red) and Nat Sherman and Export A (which makes you feel like James Bond…) 

FAVORITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING

Courtney gave me Kurt's parka after he died. 

I love seeing that hanging in my closet. 

THE MOST AWFUL MOVIE HE'S EVER SEEN

I went with my friends Jemina Pearl (Be Your Own Pet) and Bill Nace, an experimental noise guitarist, to see a really shabby piece of poop called "The House Bunny" which I wanted to see because Anna Farris is in it, and she was interesting on that show "Entourage". But House Bunny blows big time - super groan - also in it is Rumer Willis - she was definitely the best thing. 

THE END OF SONIC YOUTH

The band has been in juggernaut mode for some time and it's almost as if most people have us figured out when we play, like Sonic Youth has been decoded, which is OK, there is still the love, but I prefer the feeling of a challenged environment. The only way we could really break up is if someone died, I think (!)

MOST INTERESTING VACATION

Kim always has a desire to vacation whereas I am scared of vacation as it takes me away from doing things (commonly referred to as "work" although I feel it as "play"). But when we do make that scene I get into it, read books, veg out a bit. We took Coco, when she was really young, with us to the island of Mallorca off Spain once, which was pretty cool. We were staying in some Richard Branson hotel and I was walking around the area looking for the former artist compound of Robert Graves, who wrote "White Goddess", but could only locate his gravestone. As we were checking out of the hotel I realized the hotel itself was the actual site. I kept leaving to search for it! 

CELEBRITY SKIN

Courtney is someone who needs as much love as possible. Simple measures of holding her, hugging her. Billy, I don't hardly know but he was always nice when we would meet. I was never a big Smashing Pumpkins fan but sometimes would hear a riff and think it pretty badass. Dave I know from touring with Nirvana. He was already known as a cool songwriter before that. We toured a bit with Foo Fighters when they first started and it was just good times non-stop. He's a lovely boy. 

ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS FOR STARTING A BAND

Just really simply wanting to do it because it's everything in your heart. That has to be it, no other reason can make it worthwhile. 

PUNK ROCK

Definitely an identity where if you know its you then you never have to explain it or prove it. 

*

"TEENAGE LOVE" 

published 2010 

Chris and Dexy Valentine have installed a three point laser into the control room of their studio "so it looks like we're recording in a spaceship." The two sweethearts make up The Magic Wands, who have toured with The Kills and The Horrors. Their Love & Dreams EP is a summertime soundtrack to fall in love and go crazy to. Here we talk about lust, lipstick, and what they were like as teenagers. 

SONGS THAT MAKE US FEEL IN LUST

Dexy: On Some Faraway Beach by Brian Eno, Slide Away by the Verve, Crystal Ship by the Doors and To The Birds by Suede. 

Chris: Summertime Road by the Barbaras. 

DEXY AS A TEEN

I went to a Catholic school. Most of my teenage years I was trying to figure out who I was, so I just tried everything. My first cigs were my grandmother's Dunhills. I wore all kinds of lipstick, mostly red though. 

CHRIS AS A TEEN

I was in the Misfits Fiend Club for a while but I resigned. 

ON THE ROAD

Chris: We played a big show in Blackpool, England and when we played, there were like a thousand pogo kids "going mental" as they say in the UK. 

"Walking on the Wrong Side of the Road"

published 2010

I first met Paz Lenchantin outside a Sonic Youth show in 2009. 

My cousin and I had just moved into an apartment in Toronto, had spent whatever we had on first and last month's rent and were desperate to in the very least, press our ears against the door of Massey Hall to catch Teenage Riot or Dirty Boots. 

I couldn't hear a damn thing hardly, but I did notice a willowy, mysterious looking girl with long straight hair and California skin leaning against the building. "D'you have a spare cigarette?" 

Turns out she was the bassist for the Entrance Band, who was opening for Sonic Youth on their summer tour. We chatted about being in a band, photography, her boyfriend, Kim and Thurston, and life on the road. Paz kindly got my cousin and I into the show, and months later did an interview for Come on Killer. Here it is. 

IT HURT AT FIRST

My first bass was a beat up old guitar that was laying around the house. I picked it up when I was 12 or 13 years old. I would listen and play along to the Beatles in my room til dawn. When I finally got my first bass, I didn't have an amp so I would put my  front tooth to the body of the bass so it would resonate more. I'm glad I still have my teeth.

MY FAVORITE POET IS RICHARD BRAUTIGAN 

I learned this poem when I was 13 years old. Things that stick should qualify as favourites, I suppose: 

A piece of green pepper

fell 

off the wooden salad bowl: 

so what? 

MY FAVORITE CIGARETTES

American Spirits. YELLOW. My Mom just walked in and dropped a pack on my desk and said, "Those are really expensive!…But here you go." 

RING OF FIRE

I don't want to get too heavy on you, but when I lost my brother, so many of my friends tried to send me self help books. But they were all shit literature that didn't make any sense to me at all. Johnny Cash died the exact same day as my brother… without knowing too much of his life story outside his music, I thought to read his autobiography. I had no idea that he too lost his brother. His voice throughout the pages was so therapeutic that it would put all those self help books to shame! Really. It was the most inspiring, helpful book that I could have read during that time in my life. 

AS A TEENAGER I WAS…

The same but more shy. 

*

"SKY PIRATES AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW"

published 2006

Let's rewind to 1993 when a little Canadian show called Ready or Not was on air. The episodes were thirty minutes long and focused on the difficulties of adolescence, as seen through the eyes of boy obsessed, animal loving Amanda and tomboy Busy. In one episode, "Wild Life", while wandering through their suburban neighbourhood, they stumble upon an open garage door and see a group of teenage boys playing the strangest, coolest music ever to assault their prepubescent ears. Neon Vomit was the name of the made-for-TV band and "The Liz" was the name of its enigmatic, handsome guitarist and singer. With dinosaur figurines in his nest of hair (watch the "Dear Troy" episode), a nose ring, and a generally mute persona through which he communicated by staring intimidatingly at whoever had dared address him directly, he was an under-the-radar 90s Canadiana pop culture figure who inspired viewers to let their freak flags fly. "We had way too much fun messing with that show." His fellow Neon Vomit-ers were members of Blue Dog Pict, and Keram Malicki Sanchez remembers, "I think we did a Klingon alphabet grind core song - and I built a diorama of a dinosaur theme park in my hair with toys."  

Bringing his own flavour to the table has always been of importance to the Toronto native. He started acting and playing the piano from an early age. "I picked up the guitar only because I couldn't take my piano with me everywhere. I just always had to use music to express my thoughts. I didn't feel like I could express my feelings eloquently by whining and asking for sympathy … I remember when I used to get a new electric guitar, I felt they didn't sound good until I had cracked them in half smashing them on stage, and then getting them professionally glued back together. In a way, that made it mine. And I stopped being precious with it. Not that I recommend it to anyone who buys a new guitar, but I'm sure you understand my point. I don't think I own an instrument that isn't covered in stickers, and spray paint, and whatever else, because it removes the carefulness and makes it just a thing." 

The Los Angeles transplant spent his earlier years in Toronto and when he wasn't performing in a TV band (Ready or Not, Catwalk) he was playing gigs with Blue Dog Pict (more on them later) and Automated Gardens, or going to shows. "I used to love wandering down to this ratty beer hall in Kensington Market when I lived here, and seeing what the kids were doing. There was some amazing stuff in those dark little corners. The most amazing music will always be out there, its just a question of whether or not people will seek it out. And by most amazing music, I don't mean another shitty post pop punk emo ripoff corporate project. I mean the crazy shit going on out in the forests and deserts and back alleys." 

I bring up the first time I heard Use Me, Use You by Daisy Chainsaw, and how much it frightened me. It was nearly unlistenable due to the atmosphere of the song, how unnerved it made me feel as though the ghost of some horribly terrifying looking girl was going to pop out and strangle me at any moment. Keram says that's the mark of good work. "If it moves you past where you were and you have an experience, it is valid. No matter what it is. Staying in a comfort zone equals death. That doesn't mean you have to be uncomfortable, but that you must be conscious of getting to a place where you become fearful of change, fearful of feeling, of being unbalanced, unseated. To push through those difficult places and remain open to what is out there. It's good when something scares you - it means its shaking your foundations. Well, when music does anyway. We live in interesting times, and really, nobody is in control of anything. The genie is out of the proverbial bottle. But I am going to keep making art, because I just gotta. That's all we can hope to do. Acceptance in art usually means you did something wrong anyway. But don't let that stifle your ability to be successful…The people who piss me off are the musicians that just want to be on Cribs and make music that panders to the current radio market. In my case, I have no choice. I have to make music for my own psychological well being. I would actually be shocked if it made me a living." 

His creative ferocity extends beyond the act of performing his music and toward the group of admirers who agree with and value his opinions on music and creating. His band of loyal supporters, nicknamed Sky Pirates, "was the name we gave to the original Blue Dog Pict followers…they were the people who 'got it'." The following eventually turned into a movement of creative types who were looking to shake things up. "'Sky Pirates' was a way of naming, that is to say, of connecting a wide spectrum of creative people and creating a context for that network, so that the network could be identified and perpetuated. It is kind of like what Myspace should have been. A way to bind together people with common goals and complementary interests. But it is also a network that is interested in the punk ethic of questioning authority and questioning what you are being told by whomever in the media." The movement spawned its own holiday, called Robot Pride Day, which is celebrated on the fourth of August every year. "It is symbolic and it is a reminder. Designed to motivate thought and action. People always ask what they should be doing on Robot Pride Day. We can only offer the suggestion of what it represents. The rest is up to the individual. If you aren't capable of taking initiative at that point, then you probably aren't a Sky Pirate." 

On the topic of DIY and peddling your own creations in the age of the Internet, the conversation turns to the number one issue for independent artists - attempting to live off their passion and craft without being ripped off. "What do you hope will happen for the future of music?" I ask Keram, keeping in mind that now more so than ever before, fans can take song after song from their favourite artist and never have to spend a penny. 

"I want it not to be a one way street." Keram replies, "At least when there was no way of broadcasting yourself via the internet, the artist could only be heard by playing in front of people, or making a CD, etc. which required significant commitment. Now, I fear that it puts a huge gap in between audience and artist. The audience can grab hold of it and the artist will never know, and there is no way for it to be tracked. It's not about the money. It's about the connection. I fear that may get lost. They think they are supporting me by listening. And they are, in a way. Because they are spreading it around and hey, they are actually bothering to listen. And that is actually a really good thing. It's better than when you hand someone a shrink wrapped CD you pressed and they toss it in a drawer. I'd rather they pay attention." 

Music hasn't been the only arena in which his success lies. Keram has enjoyed a colourful acting career, with credits in over forty projects. While he may not be a house hold name, you have almost definitely seen him before - a skinhead in American History X, a suspected high school shooter on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, a hustler who helps Jack Bauer's daughter on 24, an eccentric camp counsellor in Happy Campers, Brittany Murphy's doomed best friend in Cherry Falls, Heather Graham's assistant in Cake, a member of Melissa Joan Hart's posse in Drive Me Crazy… and the list goes on. 

"When I am approached with a project, I first try to understand its moral compass. It's not always easy but it is important to me. I still pass on things that I don't believe in, even if I am starving. I remember when I first saw the script for American History X, I had a real hard time with it. I prayed that it would be taken on by the right people, because in the wrong hands that script could do more damage than good. I try to find projects that will do something to challenge standing notions about who we are and what we want."

Keram is an artist who dares to truly take a walk on the wild side, embracing the discomfort that being totally free, honest and creative can sometimes bring. It is inspiring to watch someone who is so fiercely invested in marching to their own drum, never stopping, slowing down or muting themselves in accordance to what other's may think. The road is long for Malicki-Sanchez, the speed limit signs have long been unscrewed, and one would be sorry to think there is any stopping him.