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My first comic.
Friday, September 9th, 2011
I’m hanging out with the students at Oak Creek Middle School today so I thought I’d share this: the first comic strip I made, back when I was in 7th grade. It was the very first episode of Bud Ralphy (which I would eventually draw all the way through college) starring my very good-natured friend Michelle.
How to help me.
Thursday, September 8th, 2011
Fact: Cute dogs sell books!
I want to pause for a moment and thank everyone who has already bought Picket Line. It’s so exciting to see my book getting out there, after spending years holed up working on it. I feel really grateful for everyone’s support.
Finishing the book was a huge accomplishment. Winning the Xeric is something I will be proud of all my life. But we’re just getting started. Unfortunately, completing a graphic novel and winning an award doesn’t make for a life of coasting. Actually, there is nothing unfortunate about that – it would be boring if all my work was behind me. I’m energized by the challenges that I now face: Working on my second graphic novel. Updating this website with engaging content. Managing a business. Growing a business and promoting my book. That last part is the one that I’ve really been focusing on.
Right now, you can buy my book online, but you can also buy it at a few local Portland stores (Bridge City Comics, Floating World, and Powell’s). You can also buy it anywhere in the world from Powells.com. If you’re thinking about buying my book, it would be just as helpful to buy it from one of those stores. In fact, right now it would almost be more helpful, as that begins to create a demand for the book. If you live in another city, ask your favorite comics shop or bookstore to carry the book (you can give them this link).
Right now it’s crucial that I get the word out. If you’ve already purchased a copy, there are still ways you can help me get this baby off the ground:
* Recommend the book for your book club.
* Suggest that your library carry it.
* If you teach a comics or literature class, consider assigning the book to your students (or if you are a student, let your professor know about it.)
* If you write for a blog or magazine, contact me about getting a review copy.
* Contact me about doing an interview or speaking engagement.
* Write a review on Powell’s or Goodreads.
* And keep telling your friends and family about it. Get your Christmas shopping done early this year!
* If you are feeling extra motivated, email me about being part of my “street team,” and we’ll get crazy creative with our promotional tactics.
It’s been a thrill getting this far, but we’re not finished. I can’t say enough how thankful I am for everyone’s help and support this far. I don’t write this post to beg for help, rather to invite you to be involved in this process with me! Okay, it’s a little bit begging, but mostly it’s an invitation. Let’s blow this book up! Not literally. Unless, you know, you’ve already paid for it, then go ahead 
Email me if you’d like to be part of the Picket Line “Street Team!”
Vacation with me.
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
Y’all, I don’t mean to be negligent on this here website, but I’m on vacation! Kind of. “Kind of,” because my vacation is also doubling as my Wisconsin book tour. More reports from that field coming up (the Madison Release event with Fishboy and Kitty Versus Wolf and Googleplexia was awesome!) Two more events are coming up this weekend, this Friday in Milwaukee, and Saturday in Green Bay:
Rumor has it that Recreation Station may play a few songs at the Green Bay event as well!
And! Mark your calendars Portland! The Picket Line Release Party will be happening there on Sept 28, at The Woods! Details to come, but keep that night free
Holly the Skype Lion
Monday, August 22nd, 2011
Holly and the Nice Lions photo by Sarah Samsa
In this series I interview the musicians who lent their talents to the Picket Line soundtrack, many of them comics enthusiasts and story-tellers in their own rights. Holly Trasti fronts the Green Bay, Wisconsin band Holly and the Nice Lions. She wrote the song “Liz’s Lament (This Forest)” which appears on the Picket Line soundtrack, and recently released her second Nice Lions album, Let’s Get Wild! Holly and I Skyped it up to talk about recording in basements, dating musicians, and why she was legally forced to change her band’s name.
B: Well, everyone that I’ve talked to so far I’ve asked this question first, so bear with me, but how would you describe your sound – Holly and the Nice Lions – to someone that hasn’t heard you?
Holly: How would you describe our sound, Breena?
B: You can’t answer a question with a question!
Holly: (Laughs) I can too! The thing is, I hate this question because A, I hate thinking about that and B, I just do things to push myself musically, I don’t really go for a sound.
B: Right. And it’s hard when you’re in it, to see outside of it. Probably to you, you just sound like you.
Holly: Okay, here’s what we’re gonna put, ready? Put this: Holly and the Nice Lions is an explosive blend of rock and roll, soul, punk, and country, with… what’s another adjective?
B: With a minty aftertaste.
Holly: With a minty aftertaste! Good job Breena.
B: I think that’s perfect. I think soul is the key word. I think you’re a soul singer with an electric guitar.
Holly: A soul singer with an electric guitar, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
B: So, you’ve played in a number of bands with many different sounds. What is it that’s led you to where you are now, musically, when you have such a wide range of influences?
Holly: I do have a wide range of influences. I don’t strictly listen to one sort of music, and I have been in a few bands. I don’t want to pigeon-hole myself. But right now, with Holly and the Nice Lions, I’m the sole songwriter, and at this point I’m less concerned with other people’s opinions – not that my band doesn’t have input, because obviously they do – but I just end up doing what I want. Because that’s the way it should be.
B: Yeah. So you’re more of the band leader now than just a member in a band?
Holly: Yeah, I guess. I’m a very poor band leader though. Like, I’m always like, “What should we do, guys?” And they’re like, “You’re the leader,” and I’m like, “But…I’m not sure.”
B: (Laughs) But you’re just leaving room for your other band members’ input, like you said earlier.
Holly: I’m not a totalitarian dictator of the band, but it is my own material, so there is less collaboration.
B: Yeah. Collaboration within a band, when the different members have very different goals in mind, I imagine that could have you butting heads all the time.
Holly: Yeah, I don’t really feel like I butted heads with anyone I was in a band with, but now I’m just doing what I want to do, and I’m lucky to have people that want to do that too, and are willing to work with me to make the song what we want it to be.
B: Yeah. So, you just put out a new record, Let’s Get Wild. That’s your second record with this band, right?
Holly: Yeah, but the last record was with different people [in the band.]
B: So do you see it as the first project officially?
Holly: No, no, because it’s the second record of stuff that I wrote. It’s just that I have different people playing with me. But they’re still all my songs. So I feel like it’s the same project, I just have a more solid band now.
B: Was production much different on this album than the first one?
Holly: Yeah, well my first record was recorded in a basement with Michael [Zink], and he mixed it over a weekend, and given those circumstances it turned out pretty awesome.
B: Yeah, it’s a great record.
Holly: But this time we recorded in a studio – la-di-da – and I took a lot more time with the mixing process, and took a lot more time in the recording process in general, redoing things that needed to be better. Last time it was just like, “Yeah that sounded fine.” So this was a lot more planned out, and a lot more time was invested into it, and I think it shows.
B: It does show. I think it’s a natural, expected progression though, that you would take things to the next level with each subsequent project. Because there’s still something about a basement recording that has a very precious, accessible quality to it. And that one didn’t even sound like a basement recording.
Holly: You wouldn’t listen to it and think it was made in a basement.
B: Right, exactly. It has a produced quality to it, but it’s a different kind of production.
Okay, so I wanted to talk about “Liz’s Lament” and what it was like writing a song for a book, when books don’t usually have a music accompaniment.
Holly: Yeah.
B: You had already read the script before writing this song. Some people were writing songs and didn’t actually know exactly what they were writing about.
Holly: I read the script and I had looked at the panels.
B: Yeah, so you had a little bit of an advantage, and you wrote a really specific song because of it.
Holly: Yeah, since I knew the situation I was writing about pretty well, I wanted to write the lyrics about it, but I wanted to dance that fine line where it’s like, if you listened to it and you didn’t know the story you wouldn’t be like, “What is this about?” It would still make sense to you. But when you know the story, you can say, “Oh, that’s about that.” Musically, I recorded this song myself in my basement. It was my first self-recording project.
B: Nice, and you played all the instruments right?
Holly: I played all the instruments, and I recorded it and mixed it myself. So it might not be what my band usually sounds like, but that’s not what I wanted for this. I wanted it to pertain to the feelings of the story. My band can be kind of loud, and I wanted this to have more of a subdued, earthy feel. And I played the drums, so they’re pretty simple, but sometimes less is more.
B: Yeah. I think less is totally more in this case, because you ARE the voice of Liz in that moment. I mean, if you had a backing band it wouldn’t detract from that, necessarily, but on a conceptual level, at least, it has extra power being, like, one woman singing from the perspective of one woman. Which is kind of interesting because there’s another song on the soundtrack that’s from the perspective of Liz’s husband, so you’re kind of getting both sides of the story.
Holly: I also used the acoustic guitar, and I did the drums. I didn’t do bass, and then I did want it to somewhat sound like me so of course I had to add a silly guitar solo in the middle of it. I wanted it to sound simple and yet layered. And I think I did an okay job of that, seeing as how it was my first time producing a recording by myself to be heard by others.
B: I love the split vocals at the end, too, where everything is stripped away, that part’s rad. Good job Holly!
(both laugh)
Holly: I thought, “I need to please Breena with this song.”
B: Okay so… this question might be too personal, so you can decline to answer, or answer creatively. But you know, you were writing a song about this woman who is in a relationship with a musician. They’re both musicians. And you and Nick [your boyfriend] are both musicians. And I was wondering if you had any extra insight into that relationship between musicians that you were able to bring to the song.
Holly: Well, fortunately Nick is a musician, and I’m a musician, but neither of us really spend long periods of time away from each other. So I never feel like he’s gone and I’m stuck at home and I don’t get to do what I want to do. But I do know a lot of musicians who are like that. And honestly, I was like, “I never want to date a musician because they’re all selfish jerks who think they’re great because they play an instrument.”
B: (Laughs) It’s a good thing you’re engaged, that you can say all this right now.
Holly: Yeah, so when I did this song I did say to him, “Just so you know, I was given the assignment to write about this situation, and this song is really just about the situation, please don’t read into it and think I’m unhappy with you.”
B: You told that to Nick?
Holly: (Laughs) Yeah, I said that to him.
B: What did he say?
Holly: He was like, “Oh, yeah, okay.” And then I told him the situation in the story, and he was like, “Yeah, that doesn’t really apply to us.” And I was like, “No.”
B: Well that’s good! I would hate for this assignment to have caused any trauma in your relationship!
So, in Picket Line there’s a little bit of scandal between certain characters, and in certain characters’ personal lives, (this is just a creative segue) but you, as a band, have had a little bit of scandal in recent months with your name.
Holly: Yes.
B: I think readers of Easel Ain’t Easy would be interested to hear your side of that story.
Holly: Should I explain the whole situation?
B: Yeah, I mean I briefly explained it at one point.
Holly: Yeah, you drew that comic about it.
B: Yeah, so maybe a quick summary is good.
Holly: Yeah, okay, so this is what happened. So I had a band with Breena [the Art Table] a long time ago, and when Breena moved away from me that didn’t work. So I started playing acoustic shows by myself, and eventually I wanted a backing band, so my boss suggested Holly and the Non-Italians as like a spoofy joke name, off the 1980s band Holly and the Italians who were a little bit of a cult sensation for a few years. So I was like, “Haha, yeah that’s funny.” So I took on that moniker for a bit and then I got a real band, and it was a little too late to change the name. Then we had an album come out with that name on it, and I wanted to change my name to something less silly, and I was debating for the next album what my name should be. I wanted to be Holly and the somethings, so people knew it was the same band. Then, while I’m debating these three names I get a bunch of legal type messages from facebook, Youtube, and my internet distribution site, saying that Holly Beth Vincent of Holly and the Italians is threatening legal action if I don’t take down my stuff and change my name and all this. At this time – this is just funny – I actually became friends with Holly Beth Vincent’s drummer, Steve Young. He, for some reason I still don’t understand, was in the Green Bay area and he ended up drumming on a track ["Dead Peasants"] on my new album and his thoughts on the name were “You’ve got a great band and a great album, you just deserve a better name than that silly one.” So I was like, “Well I’m debating a new name, I just haven’t made a decision yet because I’m a second guesser and I don’t think whatever decision I make is ever the right one.” So one morning at my preschool job, one of my 4 year-old friends told me that her mom showed her my videos on the internet, and she thought Non-Italians meant Nice Lions, and in the realm of band names all the good ones are taken, so I went with that. It sounds like Non-Italians kind of, and we are nice.
B: You are nice to let the other Holly have her way. But you ended up getting press out of the whole thing, and no press is bad press.
Holly: Well, I don’t think this whole situation makes me look bad. So it’s not even bad press, it’s just kind of funny press. And I mean, it was a kick in the pants to make a decision about my name change finally.
B: True. I think Holly and the Nice Lions is a great band name.
Holly: Thank you.
B: It makes me want to hug you. But you’re so far away.
(Awkward Skype hug)
So, since this is a comics website, it’s worth noting that you also draw comics.
Holly: Yes, I’ve been working on a comic project. Not as ambitious as yours.
B: Well, mine is just ridiculous, so… (both laugh)
Holly: Well, I feel like your drawing style, Breena, is both simple and expressive, and the hatching you do gives it depth, too. Mine’s just mostly simple.
B: Which is fine! Which is totally fine.
Holly: Which is fine. But mine’s not done yet. I have a good portion of it drawn, I’m just not technologically advanced right now to put it up on the computer.
B: Are you at liberty to describe what the comic is going to be about?
Holly: Yeah. It’s called The Truth about Molly. It’s about an 8 year-old girl who decides she wants to learn everything about the world. She wants to know everything. And that’s quite a large task to put on yourself, especially at 8 years old. It’s about the things she learns – not necessarily through books, and stuff, which she does, but more through life experiences.
B: And you’re thinking about putting it online?
Holly: Yeah, I’m going to put it online, and eventually when it’s all done I’m going to print it and have a tangible object you can hold in your hands.
B: Cool, well I look forward to seeing it. I’m sure the rest of the world does also.
Holly: I’m sure they’re all waiting with bated breath.
B: They are! You heard it here first, folks.
Holly: (laughs)
B: Any closing thoughts?
Holly: I’m just really happy because I’ve known Breena before all this Picket Line commotion, and I’ve been updated through this whole process with scripts and drawings, so I’m just really honored and happy to be involved. And it’s cool to say that my band’s involved with a graphic novel. So I’m really glad that you asked me to participate!
B: Yay!
Holly: (makes a cool face) You gotta put that in there.
B: Screen shot?
Holly: Yeah.
B: Okay, that’s probably really good. (laughs) I look really gross. You look awesome though.
B: You can’t answer a question with a question!
Holly: (Laughs) I can too! The thing is, I hate this question because A, I hate thinking about that and B, I just do things to push myself musically, I don’t really go for a sound.
B: Right. And it’s hard when you’re in it, to see outside of it. Probably to you, you just sound like you.
Holly: Okay, here’s what we’re gonna put, ready? Put this: Holly and the Nice Lions is an explosive blend of rock and roll, soul, punk, and country, with… what’s another adjective?
B: With a minty aftertaste.
Holly: With a minty aftertaste! Good job Breena.
B: I think that’s perfect. I think soul is the key word. I think you’re a soul singer with an electric guitar.
Holly: A soul singer with an electric guitar, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
B: So, you’ve played in a number of bands with many different sounds. What is it that’s led you to where you are now, musically, when you have such a wide range of influences?
Holly: I do have a wide range of influences. I don’t strictly listen to one sort of music, and I have been in a few bands. I don’t want to pigeon-hole myself. But right now, with Holly and the Nice Lions, I’m the sole songwriter, and at this point I’m less concerned with other people’s opinions – not that my band doesn’t have input, because obviously they do – but I just end up doing what I want. Because that’s the way it should be.
B: Yeah. So you’re more of the band leader now than just a member in a band?
Holly: Yeah, I guess. I’m a very poor band leader though. Like, I’m always like, “What should we do, guys?” And they’re like, “You’re the leader,” and I’m like, “But…I’m not sure.”
B: (Laughs) But you’re just leaving room for your other band members’ input, like you said earlier.
Holly: I’m not a totalitarian dictator of the band, but it is my own material, so there is less collaboration.
B: Yeah. Collaboration within a band, when the different members have very different goals in mind, I imagine that could have you butting heads all the time.
Holly: Yeah, I don’t really feel like I butted heads with anyone I was in a band with, but now I’m just doing what I want to do, and I’m lucky to have people that want to do that too, and are willing to work with me to make the song what we want it to be.
B: Yeah. So, you just put out a new record, Let’s Get Wild. That’s your second record with this band, right?
Holly: Yeah, but the last record was with different people [in the band.]
B: So do you see it as the first project officially?
Holly: No, no, because it’s the second record of stuff that I wrote. It’s just that I have different people playing with me. But they’re still all my songs. So I feel like it’s the same project, I just have a more solid band now.
B: Was production much different on this album than the first one?
Holly: Yeah, well my first record was recorded in a basement with Michael [Zink], and he mixed it over a weekend, and given those circumstances it turned out pretty awesome.
B: Yeah, it’s a great record.
Holly: But this time we recorded in a studio – la-di-da – and I took a lot more time with the mixing process, and took a lot more time in the recording process in general, redoing things that needed to be better. Last time it was just like, “Yeah that sounded fine.” So this was a lot more planned out, and a lot more time was invested into it, and I think it shows.
B: It does show. I think it’s a natural, expected progression though, that you would take things to the next level with each subsequent project. Because there’s still something about a basement recording that has a very precious, accessible quality to it. And that one didn’t even sound like a basement recording.
Holly: You wouldn’t listen to it and think it was made in a basement.
B: Right, exactly. It has a produced quality to it, but it’s a different kind of production.
Okay, so I wanted to talk about “Liz’s Lament” and what it was like writing a song for a book, when books don’t usually have a music accompaniment.
Holly: Yeah.
B: You had already read the script before writing this song. Some people were writing songs and didn’t actually know exactly what they were writing about.
Holly: I read the script and I had looked at the panels.
B: Yeah, so you had a little bit of an advantage, and you wrote a really specific song because of it.
Holly: Yeah, since I knew the situation I was writing about pretty well, I wanted to write the lyrics about it, but I wanted to dance that fine line where it’s like, if you listened to it and you didn’t know the story you wouldn’t be like, “What is this about?” It would still make sense to you. But when you know the story, you can say, “Oh, that’s about that.” Musically, I recorded this song myself in my basement. It was my first self-recording project.
B: Nice, and you played all the instruments right?
Holly: I played all the instruments, and I recorded it and mixed it myself. So it might not be what my band usually sounds like, but that’s not what I wanted for this. I wanted it to pertain to the feelings of the story. My band can be kind of loud, and I wanted this to have more of a subdued, earthy feel. And I played the drums, so they’re pretty simple, but sometimes less is more.
B: Yeah. I think less is totally more in this case, because you ARE the voice of Liz in that moment. I mean, if you had a backing band it wouldn’t detract from that, necessarily, but on a conceptual level, at least, it has extra power being, like, one woman singing from the perspective of one woman. Which is kind of interesting because there’s another song on the soundtrack that’s from the perspective of Liz’s husband, so you’re kind of getting both sides of the story.
Holly: I also used the acoustic guitar, and I did the drums. I didn’t do bass, and then I did want it to somewhat sound like me so of course I had to add a silly guitar solo in the middle of it. I wanted it to sound simple and yet layered. And I think I did an okay job of that, seeing as how it was my first time producing a recording by myself to be heard by others.
B: I love the split vocals at the end, too, where everything is stripped away, that part’s rad. Good job Holly!
(both laugh)
Holly: I thought, “I need to please Breena with this song.”
B: Okay so… this question might be too personal, so you can decline to answer, or answer creatively. But you know, you were writing a song about this woman who is in a relationship with a musician. They’re both musicians. And you and Nick [your boyfriend] are both musicians. And I was wondering if you had any extra insight into that relationship between musicians that you were able to bring to the song.
Holly: Well, fortunately Nick is a musician, and I’m a musician, but neither of us really spend long periods of time away from each other. So I never feel like he’s gone and I’m stuck at home and I don’t get to do what I want to do. But I do know a lot of musicians who are like that. And honestly, I was like, “I never want to date a musician because they’re all selfish jerks who think they’re great because they play an instrument.”
B: (Laughs) It’s a good thing you’re engaged, that you can say all this right now.
Holly: Yeah, so when I did this song I did say to him, “Just so you know, I was given the assignment to write about this situation, and this song is really just about the situation, please don’t read into it and think I’m unhappy with you.”
B: You told that to Nick?
Holly: (Laughs) Yeah, I said that to him.
B: What did he say?
Holly: He was like, “Oh, yeah, okay.” And then I told him the situation in the story, and he was like, “Yeah, that doesn’t really apply to us.” And I was like, “No.”
B: Well that’s good! I would hate for this assignment to have caused any trauma in your relationship!
So, in Picket Line there’s a little bit of scandal between certain characters, and in certain characters’ personal lives, (this is just a creative segue) but you, as a band, have had a little bit of scandal in recent months with your name.
Holly: Yes.
B: I think readers of Easel Ain’t Easy would be interested to hear your side of that story.
Holly: Should I explain the whole situation?
B: Yeah, I mean I briefly explained it at one point.
Holly: Yeah, you drew that comic about it.
B: Yeah, so maybe a quick summary is good.
Holly: Yeah, okay, so this is what happened. So I had a band with Breena [the Art Table] a long time ago, and when Breena moved away from me that didn’t work. So I started playing acoustic shows by myself, and eventually I wanted a backing band, so my boss suggested Holly and the Non-Italians as like a spoofy joke name, off the 1980s band Holly and the Italians who were a little bit of a cult sensation for a few years. So I was like, “Haha, yeah that’s funny.” So I took on that moniker for a bit and then I got a real band, and it was a little too late to change the name. Then we had an album come out with that name on it, and I wanted to change my name to something less silly, and I was debating for the next album what my name should be. I wanted to be Holly and the somethings, so people knew it was the same band. Then, while I’m debating these three names I get a bunch of legal type messages from facebook, Youtube, and my internet distribution site, saying that Holly Beth Vincent of Holly and the Italians is threatening legal action if I don’t take down my stuff and change my name and all this. At this time – this is just funny – I actually became friends with Holly Beth Vincent’s drummer, Steve Young. He, for some reason I still don’t understand, was in the Green Bay area and he ended up drumming on a track ["Dead Peasants"] on my new album and his thoughts on the name were “You’ve got a great band and a great album, you just deserve a better name than that silly one.” So I was like, “Well I’m debating a new name, I just haven’t made a decision yet because I’m a second guesser and I don’t think whatever decision I make is ever the right one.” So one morning at my preschool job, one of my 4 year-old friends told me that her mom showed her my videos on the internet, and she thought Non-Italians meant Nice Lions, and in the realm of band names all the good ones are taken, so I went with that. It sounds like Non-Italians kind of, and we are nice.
B: You are nice to let the other Holly have her way. But you ended up getting press out of the whole thing, and no press is bad press.
Holly: Well, I don’t think this whole situation makes me look bad. So it’s not even bad press, it’s just kind of funny press. And I mean, it was a kick in the pants to make a decision about my name change finally.
B: True. I think Holly and the Nice Lions is a great band name.
Holly: Thank you.
B: It makes me want to hug you. But you’re so far away.
(Awkward Skype hug)
So, since this is a comics website, it’s worth noting that you also draw comics.
Holly: Yes, I’ve been working on a comic project. Not as ambitious as yours.
B: Well, mine is just ridiculous, so… (both laugh)
Holly: Well, I feel like your drawing style, Breena, is both simple and expressive, and the hatching you do gives it depth, too. Mine’s just mostly simple.
B: Which is fine! Which is totally fine.
Holly: Which is fine. But mine’s not done yet. I have a good portion of it drawn, I’m just not technologically advanced right now to put it up on the computer.
B: Are you at liberty to describe what the comic is going to be about?
Holly: Yeah. It’s called The Truth about Molly. It’s about an 8 year-old girl who decides she wants to learn everything about the world. She wants to know everything. And that’s quite a large task to put on yourself, especially at 8 years old. It’s about the things she learns – not necessarily through books, and stuff, which she does, but more through life experiences.
B: And you’re thinking about putting it online?
Holly: Yeah, I’m going to put it online, and eventually when it’s all done I’m going to print it and have a tangible object you can hold in your hands.
B: Cool, well I look forward to seeing it. I’m sure the rest of the world does also.
Holly: I’m sure they’re all waiting with bated breath.
B: They are! You heard it here first, folks.
Holly: (laughs)
B: Any closing thoughts?
Holly: I’m just really happy because I’ve known Breena before all this Picket Line commotion, and I’ve been updated through this whole process with scripts and drawings, so I’m just really honored and happy to be involved. And it’s cool to say that my band’s involved with a graphic novel. So I’m really glad that you asked me to participate!
B: Yay!
Holly: (makes a cool face) You gotta put that in there.
B: Screen shot?
Holly: Yeah.
B: Okay, that’s probably really good. (laughs) I look really gross. You look awesome though.
Check out more from the Holly and the Nice Lions and listen to Let’s Get Wild! on their facebook page.
Picket Line now in stock!
Monday, August 15th, 2011
The wait is over - Picket Line is now in stock! If you pre-ordered I will be shipping today, or if you live in Portland you can pick yours up anytime (well, check and make sure I’m around first.) I’ll also be getting information to you about the pre-order reception, so you could pick it up there too.
If you haven’t ordered your copy yet, now is the time! Why? Because I actually have books! Order online, in person, or at one of my upcoming book tour events (Wisconsin, see you soon!) I’ll be having a big Portland release party in September, and some events in Seattle in October. Also, I should be getting the book in local bookstores soon. I’m pumped. There’s nothing quite like holding your first book in your hands.
Buy Picket Line! | Preview Picket Line | Watch the Trailer | Download the Soundtrack
Have a Zine Weekend
Friday, August 5th, 2011
Alright, some updates! Above are pictured the brand new Easel Ain’t Easy zines which will be available for sale this weekend at the Portland Zine Symposium! If you remember, Zech and I designed the poster for that event a while back, and it’s been a lot of fun watching it pop up all over Portland.
Jen will be tabling with me, and she’ll be making buttons right before your very eyes! We’ll also have some other goodies, so if you’re in town make sure to check it out! Also, our table is right next to our buddy Luke of Selfish Steam, which means double the comics fun for your money. Speaking of money, how much does it cost to get in to the Zine Symposium? Nothing! This event is free, and all weekend long! Saturday and Sunday from 10 – 5 at Refuge (116 SE Yamhill). See you there, right?
Okay, next update… Picket Line! Today is the last day to pre-order for the special discounted price of $14.95. After today the book will be sold for its cover price of $19.95. But that’s not all – I just spoke with my printer who said the books will be finished today and should be shipped to me early next week! That means that those of you who pre-order will definitely receive your books first.
Also, I am working hard to set up my Wisconsin “book tour” of sorts. I posted about the Madison show yesterday, and I’ll have more information about the Green Bay and Milwaukee events next week!
Friday, September 2 – Madison, Wisconsin @ Washington Hotel Coffee Room (with Recreation Station, Kitty Versus Wolf, and Fishboy)
Friday, September 9 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin @ Champagne Studios
Saturday, September 10 – Green Bay, Wisconsin @ Kavarna (with Holly & the Nice Lions)
I’m still working out the details for the big Portland release party, but it’s looking like it will be later in September, once I return from the Midwest. Also, it’s gonna be awesome.
Okay, final update for now, I did an interview with Generate Magazine, which you can read here. Okay! Happy weekend!
Thursday, August 4th, 2011
That’s right, get ready Wisconsin! To celebrate the release of Picket Line, and just to have a good ol’ time, I’ll be sharing the stage (so to speak) with the wildly talented Recreation Station, Kitty Versus Wolf, and Fishboy. All three of those bands are on the Picket Line Soundtrack. I’ll have my books and be sitting at a table like a nerd. This venue sounds pretty rad, too, looking out over Lake Monona, not far from my old apartment. If you’re able, come check it out! It starts early but will go into the evening.
Picket Line Book Release
Featuring Recreation Station, Kitty Versus Wolf, and Fishboy
Friday, September 2
5:30-10pm
Washington Hotel Coffee Room
Madison, WI
facebook event
This will be the first official event associated with Picket Line‘s release, although it surely won’t be the last. So, if you don’t live in Madison, fear not! Very soon I will be announcing events in Green Bay, Milwaukee, Portland, Seattle, and more!
Wiederhoeft vs Wiederhoeft
Friday, July 29th, 2011
Shawn Wiederhoeft photographed by Andrea Carter
In this series I interview the musicians who lent their talents to the Picket Linesoundtrack, many of them comics enthusiasts and story-tellers in their own rights. Shawn Wiederhoeft is the man behind Madison, Wisconsin’s beloved band Recreation Station. He wrote the song which appears in the Picket Line trailer, and also opens the soundtrack. In interest of full-disclosure (but mostly sibling pride) he is also my brother. Shawn sat down with me on G-Chat to talk about the evolution of sound, dummy lyrics, and what’s better than fame.
B: So, the question I’ve been starting everyone out with: how would you describe the Recreation Station’s sound, to those who haven’t heard it yet?
Shawn: I have no idea, it changes a lot. When it first started, it was more electronica (Stegabach) and then when you and I played the first Recreation Station show at Mother Fools, we were pretty folk. Our last album [Me and My Friends EP] was folky and annoying yelling, and the newest one we’re wrapping up is definitely more rock and less folk. I like to think of it as happy-go-lucky in a way in that if we screw up, who cares, as long as people are having fun!
B: Yeah! It seems like your sound is constantly evolving, sometimes taking really surprising leaps in a new direction or jumping genres entirely. What is it that keeps you changing sounds so regularly?
Shawn: I usually end up hating everything I did, and want to get as far away from it as possible. So, in a way…hatred is my motivation, haha.
B: Haha, I have witnessed that, and it always baffles me, because I am always a fan of whatever you put out!
Shawn: Thanks! You know how it is.
B: Totally. I can relate — we are our own worst critics. Do you feel it keeps you from completing projects?
Shawn: Probably in part. Mostly what keeps me from completing things is when I sit down and know what I want it to be, but I can’t get it there. So I get discouraged and things tend to sit.
B: Does that heighten the sense of accomplishment, then, when you do finish a project? Say for example, the Me & My Friends EP?
Shawn: Yeah!
B: Or even individual songs?
Shawn: Individual songs mean nothing to me, for some dumb reason. I mean, when I make them that is,
I have it stuck in my head that they’re nothing without others.
B: Which is interesting, because you do put individual songs online. Videos and covers and what not.
Shawn: Yeah, but not really anymore.
B: I guess “Robins and Lilacs” was the last one in a while?
Shawn: Yeah, I liked that one though. Probably because I didn’t write it!
B: It’s a great song! I just listened to the original [by Andrew Holzem].
So you aren’t convinced that the internet has destroyed the need for complete albums?
Shawn: Hm. I’m not convinced of anything. I am really way too naive. Naive musically, that is. But I prefer to be, I suppose.
B: You mentioned covering Andrew Holzem, and you guys have made a lot of music together too. So let’s talk a little bit about collaboration! As the band leader of Recreation Station you’ve involved a number of different musicians with your music. What is that experience like, compared to having a rigidly defined lineup?
Shawn: I really enjoy playing with different lineups. Of course, the sound may never be as tight as I wish, but I am finding that may be why some people like us! When it comes to recording, I am selfish and prefer to be in control of most things. To the point of even trying to record our drums for the upcoming album, haha. But it works out because people I play with trust me, and let me try things while recording.
B: So in the studio you maintain most of the creative control. But when you’re playing outside the context of Recreation Station I imagine that looks different? Your song-making sessions with Andy for example.
Shawn: Definitely. In my studio I like to do my own thing, but live, I want exactly the opposite. I don’t care how talented people are at their instruments. Seeing people get that look in their eye when playing, and realizing they did something cool, is such a nice feeling. At that point I’m just happy to be a part of it, and try to bring something else to the table.
B: It seems like it would be a little foolish (not to mention near impossible) to control the exact musical output at a live event anyway.
Shawn: Haha, yeah. But you would be a lot more expecting of what’s coming up if you had organized practices.
B: Haha, oh who needs that? Like all creative pursuits, there will be perfectionists, and there will be those who learn through the messy act of making. Sounds like you are a little of both.
You wrote the theme song for Picket Line (which appeared in the trailer and opens the soundtrack) under some really rigid guidelines. Essentially, you had to write a song around the timing, length, and feel of a video that came before the song. How did that experience compare to your usual song-writing/recording process? You certainly had to give up some of the control in a situation like that.
Shawn: Yeah, it was fun. I am most productive with guidelines like the ones given anyway. Usually I just come up with fun guitar parts and melodies, record all the music, then think about it and write some words. With the soundtrack, I was given a time limit and a break in the middle which would be a mood change, so it was challenging. Hopefully it gets people excited to buy the book!
B: Yeah, when the trailer came out there was a whole lot of buzz about “who was that band on the video??” So hopefully you got to see some of that feedback!
I just have a few more questions if you have some more time?
Shawn: Sure thing.
B: Your songs vary from silly sounds and lyrics to downright, gut-wrenching seriousness. Is there a conscious direction to which way a song will go when you start to write it?
Shawn: Sometimes yes, usually no. Sometimes I start a song with the intention of saying something serious, but then I start writing and the words won’t come, so it becomes not-so-serious and vice versa. I am not so good with words, which is why I try to rely more on catchiness as my crutch. Sometimes I sing things that aren’t even real words!
B: You’re inventing new words!
Shawn: But then it’s funny when people tell me what they thought I said.
B: Haha, yeah. It’s like those Sigur Ros videos where people try to decipher the lyrics of their invented language. So are they dummy lyrics that you later decide not to replace, or did you always intend to keep the made-up words in there?
Shawn: No, just dummy words. I’m getting away from that, but my last EP had plenty… shhh! Actually, that’s a way I work a lot. Record dummy lyrics, and then go back and listen to what I sang and see if I can make sense of any of the cool parts. Kind of like creating a silhouette for drawing characters.
B: So, the music comes more readily than the lyrics?
Shawn: All the time. That’s why when I used to play with Brian Hurlbut [Author & the Autopilot] we made so many songs. Because I just worried about the music and he wrote the words. My words mean little to me, ha. Not sure if that’s good or bad, but it is. If I was trying to be a real musician I would care, but if it’s for fun, I don’t.
B: Well, then it becomes that interesting thing of, what do your self-described meaningless lyrics mean to a listener? Because what seems simple or nonsense to you could really speak deeply to someone else.
Because the emotion present on your EP certainly doesn’t sound meaningless!
Shawn: Yeah, I mean, their is meaningful stuff in there. There are just also parts where there is no meaning.
B: And it’s a mystery which parts are which.
Shawn: Haha, yeah.
B: I think that’s a totally fair approach, though! I do the same in my writing… to be completely vulnerable is really risking everything, but to slip the truth in there, well, it’s a way to maintain your sanity, and your privacy.
Shawn: Yup. I agree. I’m proud to say, though, the upcoming EP is completely thought out.
B: It’s more intentional, lyrically?
Shawn: Yeah, I actually wrote words that mean things!
B: What a concept! You mentioned that you would try harder if you were trying to be a real musician… (which many would argue you already are). Does the fact that you’re trying harder (at least lyrically) on the new EP mean that you are taking a step in that direction?
Shawn: Haha, no. And I didn’t mean it as in, “woe is me.” I just meant that I know I’ll never be well-known, or write life-changing songs. And that is completely fine with me! I am just not into that scene when it comes down to it. I don’t feel I connect with those people usually, and that’s cool. I connect better with people who do things because they enjoy them and are just fun to be around! Of course all musicians do it because they enjoy it. I guess I mean people who could write a great song, and be fine if only their friends heard it. Our new EP is definitely more serious, but it is by no means my announcement that I am “going for it”.
B: Yeah, I hear what you’re saying. And I’d agree, and say it’s probably more meaningful to connect with your friends and family over something you sincerely love, than to reach thousands or even millions of people with a song that you didn’t actually write for them, and maybe only wrote to make a lot of money. Not that that’s necessarily what professional musicians are about, but some are.
Shawn: Totally, and I have nothing against those that do.
B: But it certainly doesn’t devalue what you do, as a person (a very talented person) who chooses to keep his talents more local. Although, like it or not, your music has at least made it as far as Portland now.
Shawn: YAY! Haha, I do like being heard as much as I can.
B: Totally, it’s a great feeling! But if that’s the main point of doing it, we’ll never be satisfied. It’s something I have to realize in my own art as well.
Shawn: Yeah, money and fame are the most meaningless motivators!
B: And yet they are probably the most common motivators. Or maybe I’m being cynical about it. I know
they creep up on even the best intentioned, though. Have to beat them back with a guitar!
Shawn: GET BACK!!! ZOOMMMMGGG GET AWYYYAY!
B: Haha, well, I think this is good.
Shawn: AGGGHHHRHH!
B: Hahaha.
Shawn: They got me.
B: Aw crap.
Shawn: No, just kidding.
Check out more from the Recreation Station and listen to the Me & My Friends EP at therecreationstation.bandcamp.com!
Pre-order Picket Line! | Preview Picket Line | Watch the Trailer | Download the Soundtrack
Why Pre-Order?
Monday, July 25th, 2011
That’s right, folks! It’s an all around better deal to pre-order.
1. Guarantee your copy.
2. 25% discount off cover price.
3. Autographed copy.
4. Earlier delivery.
5. Bonus goodies.
6. Pre-release party (this will be in Portland, Oregon, but I’ll be having events in Seattle, Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay and other cities coming up also!)
So what’cha waitin’ for?
Pre-order Picket Line today!
Pre-order Picket Line! | Preview Picket Line | Watch the Trailer | Download the Soundtrack
