Gay Is Gay

New Cage interview. I'm starting to get pumped for Depart From Me.

Distant Pictures Interview

Again I've had the pleasure of interviewing some favorite people of mine, this time it's Drew and Paul of Distant Pictures.

First off thanks for doing this.

Drew- Not a problem, sir.

Paul- No problem

So I guess first things first I should ask about Distant Pictures and what you guys have done and want to do with it.

Drew- Well, it started out truly because we were bored. Paul wanted to make a movie, and my friend Eder and I did as well, so we just kinda got together one summer and filmed us doing things we thought were funny. and somehow we created something. And that was Weaver, a story Eder and I had when we started college.

You didn't film or write anything before that?

Paul- I had been doing some jackass-type stuff like everyone else and some stuff for the school like battle of the bands and graduation. I don't think Drew had worked in the medium before.

Drew- Well, I was writing constantly of course but I never really filmed anything. Except once, we made something called The Ghost Hunter Hunter, which is lost and gone forever, unfortunately.

How was the whole process of doing Weaver?

Paul- It started out with alot of getting together and eating burritos. We had some writing sessions getting the plot and some of the jokes worked out, then we just shot it. It was mostly improvised by Drew and Eder.

Drew- Yeah, there was literally no script, just a really basic shot list. and then paul would tell us what to do. And Eder and I would basically just try to make each other laugh all day. Which we often did.

Paul- We never had more than one take on any scene

That leads into a question I wanted to ask. Is it easier to improv for comedy or does that tend to lead to lots of mistakes... I guess what do you guys think of writing out jokes versus the spontaneousness of random jokes and situations?

Drew- Well, for me, it's always nice to have a set subject, and a basic idea of what you went to express with the subject, and just go free reign from there. I've definitely gotten a lot better at writing jokes, and in the stuff we've made since, like Pizza and the Spare Change trailer, and things like that, we have stuck to a script. But then there's always that spontenaity of improv thats so alluring that you really cant help yourself. You spat out a line you find funny that wasn't originally there, and we go back and kinda go "Yeah, let's riff on that a while, too."

Paul- As the director of Drew and Eder I like the improv, they are better at that then written dialogue. And they are funny guys, just let them act like they do in real life. However, the more and more stuff we work on, the more scripted its seeming to become. Kind of a blend of the two.

Paul, is it hard to film improv knowing that you have no idea what they're going to do?

Paul- We come from the Kevin Smith school of filmmaking at this point, a set camera with not much movement. So the improv is easy to capture on the film, it's usually in the editing that it's harder to piece together since we're doing it multiple times, sometimes with different lines.

How do you guys go about writing?

Drew- It's a bit of a process for me, anyway. Lots of narrowing things down, kind of shaving things off, condensing them. I have the tendency to be long winded. I just try and make sure to stay concise, whether I'm working on a joke or illustrating something else, themetically, just staying on point. When it comes to the funny, though, I always bounce off Paul. If I can make him laugh, I know I'm on to something.

Paul- Yeah I'm not really a writer, I'm more of an idea guy. If I think of something I'll feed it to them. but usually Drew just bounces it off me.

Drew- Paul says the funniest shit ever, but he has no idea it's funny.

Does being in film school have any effect on what you do or is the medium and themes of your videos something entirely different from what you're learning about?

Paul- So far film school is kind of different from what most people think. We learn a lot of the basics but for the most part we are left to what we want to do, which is nice. So with our brand of humor, we arent really put out or anything.

Drew- Yeah, and even though we've learned a lot, and seen some really, really fantastic films, the quality of our stuff hasn't exactly changed.

Do you both want to make a career with filmmaking?

Drew- Yeah, definitely. In some capacity.

Paul- I want to be in the world of film, but not necessarily feature length films at this point. I'm kind of leaning towards starting my own production company at some point. Be it features, shorts, commercials I don't know yet.

Drew- Operating in the industry in some form is definitely the goal. We're doing our best to get there!

Do you have any advice on getting past having no budget and still making a quality video?

Paul- I think the most we have spent on a movie was $3.25 for an Oregon Burrito but we still get the laughs out there. Especially for comedy, I don't think you need a big budget, or one at all.

Drew- You just have to have confidence on what you're doing. If you have enough conviction in you're trying to create, budgets shouldn't be a constraint. ESPECIALLY if you're just posting it on the internet

What kind of equipment do you use? Cameras, editing software, etc.

Paul- Right now I have kind of assembled a small production kit of a Panasonic Camera, Shotgun mic and then I edit with Final Cut Pro. But back in Oregon we just got the camera and mic from the local tv station. I just had to take a really easy class and we could take out the camera, it sucked, but it was all we needed. That's what I would suggest to anyone who doesnt have a camera.

Drew- Yeah, there's always a means to get what you need, even if it isn't the best quality equipment... We're getting real inspirational here people.

So are there any future plans for anything right now?

Drew- At the moment, we're giving Weaver a complete face lift, retooling the script and story turning it into a feature length. The script is just about done and when it is, we'll definitely go the more legit route with it. Thanks to the connections we've made at school, we can have a whole crew and cast, and a decent budget eventually.

Paul- We just need to get Eder out here.

Drew- Yeah, he's the last piece of the puzzle

Awesome, are you going to shoot it in Chicago then?

Drew- Yeah, Chicago would be a good setting for Weaver, I think.

Lightning Round: You can only listen to one album for the rest of your life, what is it?

Drew- That's a tough one, but think I'd have to stick to my roots and say blink-182's "untitled" record. It just barely beats out "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel.

Paul- I'm going to have to go with Modest Mouse, "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank." They're one of my favorite bands and I listened to that album alot last year. So I probably won't get tired of it.

Favorite website?

Paul- SlashFilm i think is where I go the most besides the book (Facebook). Got to get all my film geek news somewhere.

Drew- I'm going to make a plug and say the-frat-pack.com. They have all the best Frat Pack and Apatow-related news, plus they've got this really great writer who reviews all the movies.

Paul- He is good

I stumped myself with this one so have fun with it... The Weatherman or adaptation.?

Paul- adaptation. for sure. Spike Jonze is amazing.

Drew- adaptation. definitely, no contest. How did you stump yourself with that one?

I fucking love The Weatherman.

*Both laugh*

But that's why you're the ones being interviewed.

Drew- Good point, we are better than you.

10 years from now I'll ask you "Bangkok Dangerous vs. The Wicker Man remake?"

*Both laugh*

Favorite Movie?

Drew- Dude, that's even harder than favorite album. Actually, no, what am I saying. Punch-Drunk Love

Paul- I think over all I'm going to go with Pulp Fiction, it's just so good all around. Theme-wise I think up there too is I Heart Huckabees.

Drew- I hate that movie.

Jude Law was good in it.

Paul- Yeah, I liked Marky Mark.

Paul- favorite director, Drew- favorite actor?

Paul- I hate to sound like a cliche film student, but I'm a big Kevin Smith fan. I don't think he's the best, but his style is his own and sets him apart.

Drew- Favorite actor, I think I'm gonna say David Hess. He appeared in a lot of grindhouse movies throughout the '70s and I've never seen anyone play sleazey better than him. Check out The Last House On the Left and Hitch Hike.

This is the part that His Hideous Heart started when I couldn't think of a last question, so both of you can ask each other one.

Drew- Hey, Paul, who's your favorite Olympian?

Paul- I think I'm going to go with Phelps. then Dolhossen. 'Cause he's a beast.

Paul- Yo! Drew. Why have we never fucked?

Drew- Because the dude's name is Dollhauser, and you piss me off.

Thanks guys.

His Hideous Heart Interview: Part 1

Last night I had the pleasure of interviewing three members of the indie rock band His Hideous Heart who just finished recording a yet to be titled EP. The following is recorded from an AIM chat with Aaron (Guitar), Ben (Cello), and Brian (Bass).

RJ- So I guess first thing I should ask is what you guys have been up to.

Brian- You know, we did a little recording, we've played a few shows, spent all our money.

Ben- We should tell him about Rhode Island.

RJ- I was going to get to that.

Brian- Ben's doing it wrong, for the record.

RJ- It's cool, you guys got anything to add to what Brian said?

Aaron- We recently played a show without a drummer. We used a computer instead. It was fun.

Aaron- Ben tried to play a guitar solo, but his guitar wasn't plugged in.

Brian- Luckily though, Mike (Guitar/Vocals) saved him and played the exact same thing so no one realized it.

Brian- Then after the show the other bands were making fun of us for having an 'electronic drummer'.

Ben- Haha really?

Brian- Yeah you didnt hear about that? They said something about it on stage. Something along the lines of "We even love the band with the electronic drummer!" after mentioning the other bands by name.

RJ- What do you guys think of the scene in cleveland?

Aaron- It's great!

Brian- Personally I think it is one of the most underrated in the country. It's small but there's so much potential.

Ben- I have not experienced other places, but yeah there are a lot of kickass bands.

Aaron- We have so many good bands. Like Bears, Coffinberry, To Be A High Powered Executive, etc. Also Akron has some great bands too and it's only an hour south.

RJ- Yeah, To Be A High Powered Executive has got a lot of attention lately... How was playing shows with them?

Brian- Fucking amazing. I love those guys to death.

Ben- They are very nice to talk to.

Aaron- I like that song with the pentatonic melody!

Brian- If I could have it my way, we would be Anakin to their Obi-Wan. But we wouldn't get all powerful and destroy them.

Aaron- Well if I had it my way, we would be Luke to their tauntaun, but we wouldn't cut them open and sleep in them.

RJ- Did they offer any words of wisdom or advice?

Brian- I was talking to Mike, their bassist, who is one of the most talented musicians national or local, and I basically asked him what we should do and he told me that it never really gets easier, at least it hasn't for them yet.

Brian- And they've enjoyed some moderate critical success within certain circles. They played South By Southwest, toured with Balmorhea, but they still deal with the same shit we do; people living all over the map, people moving around, not being able to practice or play shows when they want, not having money. So while that was kind of a bummer to hear, it also was reassuring that we can still keep going up even with the shit we have to deal with being all spread out like we are.

RJ- Did you guys feel that It's A Weird Time To Be Alive was a success for your situation?

Ben- It was a success that Mike's dad paid for it, otherwise we totally wouldn't have ever broken even. But from a less pragmatic standpoint I would say it was a mild success because it was recorded in Mike's basement over 3 months or something, while Mike was learning how to record music and stuff. And for that it sounds pretty good.

RJ- I remember seeing it on Sordo Archive one day and getting excited and telling Brian... I guess I should ask what you guys think about downloading.

Brian- Well I just downloaded 6 albums so that should tell you how I feel haha. It's just the way shit is done now. I think we are doing our best to adapt. We're all products of the internet free music movement.

Aaron- I don't really mind downloading at all, as long as people come to shows.

Ben- Yeah, same. I like the idea that people are listening to our stuff in any way.

Brian- And bands like us, and bands that are enjoying moderate success right now like The Dear Hunter, are kind of the forebearers. We want to be heard by as many people as possible, but we don't really care about money outside of what we need.

RJ- Something that was mentioned earlier, how is it having your band be apart most of the year? 

Aaron- I think we handle it real well, we do lots over the internet. For this last album for example, 4 tracks were basically completed while we were in 3 states, and 2 were completed this summer.

RJ- Do you all do your own thing and then send what you've come up with to each other and go from there?

Brian- Basically.

Ben- What happens is one person will have a main idea for a song and will record it and send it to everyone else, then everyone else will absorb it and come up with their own parts, and then when we are together see if it works all together.

Brian- Aaron and Mike do most of that stuff. But I wrote one on my lonesome this year at school which I sent to everyone and eventually it turned into a full fledged song. Which felt awesome for me because I'm not much of a songwriter.

RJ- Is that going to be on the EP?

Brian- Yes, it will be on the record.

RJ- Well I guess we can get to Rhode Island now.

Brian- Yeah, we spent a week up in Providence, RI to record with Casey Crescenzo and Andy Wildrick from The Dear Hunter. It was quite the experience.

Ben- It was relaxed yet productive.

Brian- It was so amazing to be able to have all sorts of neat shit at our disposal.

RJ- How different was it than recording the first album?

Brian- It's basically like comparing the experience of building a mudhut with your bare hands in the dark to building a fully functional ecofriendly house with a team of experienced architects.

Ben- With the first album you would have to get the whole song, or a large chunk of the song right all at once because Mike didn't want to/know how to/have the capability to chop up separate takes into one cohesive take. So that was very difficult to do.

Brian- That's the one thing that gives me the slightest bit of hope for our band, is that we had not a single fucking atom of a clue what we were doing on that recording, yet it still came out listenable.

Aaron- Also the quality of our equipment and their equipment is so much better on this album. I was only on 2 tracks of the last album too.

RJ- Anything more you want to say about the new album?

Ben- Lots more singing, no instrumental tracks. Which I have mixed feelings about.

Brian- Oh right right. That's a concern of mine too.

Ben- Yeah I like being an instrumental band, sort of.

RJ- Did you think you were better suited as a post rock-ish band?

Ben- Well we do not have any strong singers, really. Which is sort of a problem. Granted it has not stopped bands from getting big in the past, but that's by far our biggest weakness. In the recordings, maybe it won't be evident, but in live shows it's always really nerve-wracking.

Brian- Yeah, none of us are too good except for Ariel (Vocals/Guitar), and despite how good she and our former girl singer, Bridget, are we haven't really nailed how to effectively utilize them yet. But that will come in time, we're still learning about this music shit.

Ben- Plus as an instrumental band you can bypass a lot of stereotypes more easily, I think. Once singing gets into effect you have to worry about stuff more. Cheesy lyrics, having a frontman, you know.

Aaron- I agree with Ben, but I sort of think instrumental bands can fall into a rut easily. You can only build up, freak out, die down so much, you know?

Brian- We have a post rock record, now we're working on a more indie rock one, and its all good but it's definitely still the sound of a band testing the waters. We've got a lot of different sounds on the new record, just as we did with the last one. But this time they're more indie rock sounding.

Part 2 Tomorrow