Week 12 and that’s it. We went out in style w/ a live mix featuring a beat by Dr. Don and a special freestyle by Jarrett Mitchell.
Here’s the completed album:
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Utopia Park video
Our friends at Sweat Power just made this great video. Created by Geoff Boothby. Song by Utopia Park.
So Long Silly Rabbit – Utopia Park from Geoff Boothby on Vimeo.
No Reply
This week’s song features a beat by The Rhombus. Coolzey, once again, espouses his philosophy and I throws a wacky video together with public domain footage found on the internet.
This one was fun for me cuz I decided to just do whatever I wanted for the video – I like how it all turned out. I’m starting to think that we need to do this every week for about a year before we really start getting weird, though.
Put Me Away
Week #8 video:
Interview with Rachel
Rachel Feldmann recently took a minute from working at Papa John’s Pizza, playing in about 10 bands including Lipstick Homicide, Everybody Nose, Samuel Locke-Ward and the Boo-Hoos, Grism, Petit Mal, and Leslie and the Lys, and taking her ‘runk’ (?) in Coralville to answer a few questions for Public School Records about her life.
Z – I like that you represent Coralville (Iowa). What do you like about it?
R – I like Coralville cuz there’s lots of fast food restaurants to choose from like Taco John’s . Plus its a great place to raise 3 cats.
Z – Can you tell me the story of Lipstick Homicide’s origins and how the band came to be where it is today?
R – Lipstick Homicide started pretty much the second me and Kate Kane met and started the band The Whoopsie Daisies in 2004 or 2005 when I was a sophomore or maybe a freshman and she was a junior at Iowa City West High. Kate called me on the phone because she saw me playing the song “Rape Me” at the talent show and wanted to start a band. Me and Kate both really like to play each others songs so we still do to this day. We changed our name in 2006 I think and recorded our first album with Luke (Ferguson) on drums at the UAY (United Action for Youth center in Iowa City) . We had like 11 songs , and they’re not very good except for Kate’s songs. It’s 5 years later now and we’re definitely an entirely different band sound-wise. We’ve had a handful of different members but it’ll always be me and Kate and Luke.
Z – What if you could play a show every day? Would you do it? What do you like best about shows?
R – I would love to play a show everyday. I like to play shows because i just like to play really loud and sing a lot. It’s pretty much the funnest thing ever. I also like to make new friends sometimes at shows.
Z – What music have you listened to in the last 24 hours?
R – Hm last 24 hours… This new guy was playing some awful Irish punk like Fogging Molly or something at work and i wanted to puke. I listened to Elvis Costello with Trevor and a bunch of 50s/60 girl groups with Kate.
Z – Is pizza your perfect food? Tell me why and if you have any favorites. Talk about pizza.
R – Yeah pizza is the perfect food! Because whatever you’re in the mood for, there is a pizza to satisfy any craving! I think barbecue pizza is my favorite but also anything with chicken or pineapple.
Z – Tell me about Everybody Nose and your new songs.
R – Everybody Nose is a band that is me, Trevor who used to play guitar in Lipstick Homicide, Luke who is in Lipstick Homicide, and our friend Molly who has been my good friend since elementary school. Luke and Trevor and sometimes me and sometimes Kate were a band called the Sequels several years ago and we’d just play at talent shows and maybe at UAY once or twice. Just recently we wanted to start playing some old Sequels songs as well as some other songs that me and Trevor wrote together. We just recorded last week and posted them on the internet. The purpose of the band is for our own fun. Most of our songs are about silly things.
Z – What would you do on your ideal day off?
R – My ideal day off would be spent laying on the couch and eating any food I want, including ice cream and I dont have to move all day, and i get to hang out with my friends. Sometimes I get to do this every other day.
Z – If you were rich right now, how would you spend the money?
R – If I was rich right now I’d wanna get a motorcycle I think. I’d be so cool.
Z – It seems like you and Kate watch a lot of reality television. What’s your favorite show? Why?
R – We watch reality TV because we lost the remote and cant get the DVD player to work so we can’t watch sweet movies. Our fave shows would probably have to be Steve Wilkos, Hoarders, anything with Dr. Drew, Police Women of Broward County, and I like all hose lock up raw shows, too. I think bad tv is pretty awesome.
Z – Tell me about the new Lipstick Homicide album, recording it, how you feel about it, all that.
R – The new Lipstick Homicide album is called “Isnt it Glorious” and it’s 11 songs recorded by Luke Tweedy (Flat Black Studios). It’s a little better than our first CD.
Z – What is your foremost project that you are working on now?
R – Right now Lipstick Homicide is about to go record again hopefully for some split 7″s this fall. We’re always working on new songs. Also writing and recording Everybody Nose songs when i get the time.
Z – Are you ready to go on tour with me??
R – I’m so ready to go on tour with you. Lets go tomorrow!!!!!! Do you even know how much fun its going to be????
Z – Who is your favorite horror movie monster or villain?
R – Either the dead girlfriend demon who does the dance in ‘Evil Dead 2′ or the baby from ‘Dead Alive’.
Here are links to Lipstick Homicide and Everybody Nose
Check out the Events Calendar for Lipstick Homicide on tour with Grism (me, Rachel, Kate, and Grace from Petit Mal) the last two weeks of July!
-Zach
Week 6: Ten W.A.
Zach asked me to take care of this week’s post. I don’t have much to say about it, except for that I am somewhat scarred from making the video. Zach had this to say:
“Track six fresh out the mix.
This weeks track features production by Copywrite.
The name of the track is Ten W.A.
I was thinking how Copy always says O.H. Ten for Ohio, when I was writing the rhyme, and then I was struck with brilliance. I think it’ll stick for my Iowa people.
This is the most shit talkinest I’ll prolly get in this series, but what else am I supposed to do with this raw ass beat?”
Indeed.
Uh Huh
Coolzey is probably sipping iced tea on a veranda somewhere and so hasn’t had time to post his weekly update. But here it is, along with Zach’s dubious insistence that he is actually working hard:
“Here is track number two of the series Coolzey and the Search for the Hip Hop Hearts – Volume I : He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper
This one is called “Uh Huh”, but you gotta pronounce it like the Steve Miller Band when they singing, like 3 syllables, listen to the song, you’ll see.
The music was provided by Alex Newman from Giant Panda. The rhymes were written while I was driving back and forth between jobs this week, then recorded, mixed, and mastered yesterday by Luke Tweedy at Flat Black Studios.”
-Zach
video thrown together using public domain footage from the 1968 government propaganda film titled, Marijuana, by yours truly.
love,
Jason
Interview with Steve
A couple weeks back I was in Amarillo, Texas on my way to Los Angeles when I called Steve Squires for an interview I had been trying to set up as part of a plan to bother my friends in new and innovative ways. Here is the conversation that transpired:
Z – Sum up in a few sentences what you are up to right now.
S – Well, I just got off the lawn. That was a big part of my life. It’s spring. I want to cut some trees down. There are so many trees in this world.
Z – What’s most important to you in your life right now?
S – Playing with my son as much as I can. He puts my guitar on the floor and plays on it. It kind of sounds like, “me, me, me, me”. I kind of like that. It’s like an 80′s anthem for the “Me” generation. He also has a ukulele he likes to play while I play guitar.
Z – Tell me about your interest in architecture and interior design.
S – I don’t know. Everyone always told me I had a good sense of space. I think I have a knack for finding good design, and hopefully doing some myself. Right now I have this huge house that’s falling apart. It’s covered in metal siding and has way too many windows. I guess right now it’s the work of my life.
Z – Didn’t you co-write or help a professor of design write a book?
S – Well, I mean I kind of helped. It was this book on how to teach design and geometry and the origin of design. My professor’s name was Hung Shu Hu. I traveled to China with him for the 100th anniversary of Xing Wa University in Beijing where he was giving talks.
Z – I’m in a band with you called Naked Hassellhoff. How would you describe the sound of this band to other people?
S – Very angular. Like something that always sounds like it’s going to fall apart, but it never does. It sounds like something I’m afraid of. I think of it as the world’s best fling. As far as the sound, I think of it as being loud as possible without actually being rock and roll. More like sirens. A warning to the children of what they might become.
Z – What about the Naked Hassellhoff album “D -” that was just finished? Talk about it.
S – I’m happy with it. We took forever recording it, so we could kind of relax into it. It’s sloppy in a way that takes years to master. It doesn’t sound like anything I’ve heard lately. I wanted to make something that was tons of fun, but had the ability to scare you, too. It’s kind of like you’re at a really great house party, and you enjoy yourself thoroughly throughout the evening. Later on in the week you find out it was thrown by Jeffrey Dahmer.
Z – Do you like movies?
S – Oh, yes. Very much.
Z – What’s your favorite movie right now? It doesn’t have to be new.
S – I always gravitate back to Casino by Scorsese.
Z – Why?
S – I don’t know, it’s just really cool and brutal.
Z – What about music? What are some influences of sounds that you find constant right now?
S – I never get tired of Stereolab’s “Dots and Loops”. It reminds me of boom times in the 90′s when everyone was spending lots of money and thought that it would go on forever. It makes me think of drinking expensive drinks. I don’t have a lot of time to listen to music, really. I like to listen to Pandora on my phone. I listen to a lot of tropical and Latin influenced music, I guess. I really like the bass lines and horns, and the way they go together. It’s like a party. When the horns come in, it’s kind of like they are saying, “Wake up, it’s a party”.
Z – You recently have been recording and mixing Iowa City band Family Van. How’s that going?
S – I think I’ve got it finished. I kind of just recorded and mixed it as it was, I didn’t do much to it. The song Country Music turned out really awesome. It’s probably my favorite.
Z – I think you’re such a great song writer, but do you care whether or not people hear your music?
S – Well, I’m a kind of a perfectionist, so unless someone else puts a stamp on it, I will never say its finished. Everything is always a demo to me. I like to try to feel out the parts. I’m always trying to get the bass and drums to create a different kind of feeling. Sometimes it literally takes years to write lyrics for songs.
Z – What sort of musical future for yourself do you foresee?
S – Limited releases tied to actual places on the map. I want to record, produce, and release collections of songs all in the same place. I want to try to make it close to the experience of being there. I’m more in a listening phase right now, though.
Z – You go to the auction a lot, it seems. You are always driving around looking for thrift stores and selling stuff on E-Bay. Can you tell me about that?
S – E-Bay is a necessary evil right now. I wish I could do something more local. As far as the stuff I look for, I’m a big fan of the 70s. I love the air of artifacts from that era. They put out a lot of strange, aspirational items, furniture, and art work. I’m not necessarily into known names. I like amateur stuff just as well. I’m big into high-end audio equipment from that era. It’s so over-engineered. I look for keyboards, guitars, and vintage instruments as well.
Z – Where have you lived in your life?
S – I grew up in Panora, Iowa, and then came to Iowa City for college. I lived a couple years in Chicago as well.
Z – You like to take off driving great distances by yourself, sometimes.
S – I like the spur of the moment decision to get in the car and just drive. I really like the endurance required. I love the scenery, especially in places like Western Canada, the way it unfolds. Also in parts of Wyoming and Northwestern Nebraska.
Z – How can people talk to you if they have questions?
S – Email is the best. You can reach me at stephansia1 A T msn D O T com
A few days ago Steve made me a CD of some new and old songs of his. Here are 3 of my favorites from the disc.
Here are links to three of Steve’s projects that we have managed to stamp labels upon:
Naked Hassellhoff / Nerd’s Curve / Demon and Me
