Justin Tranter - high caliber, multi-faceted talent

With the release of the new EP Aviation, lead-in to Semi Precious Weapons' third studio album coming in April, I had the opportunity to interview frontman Justin Tranter.  Justin crosses over between the Chicago, NY and L.A. tribes along with being part of the population of the capital of Boston's arts community, Berklee College of Music.  Prior to attaining his music degree in three years, he was a student of the Chicago Academy for The Arts.  It is quite an impressive pedigree. It is especially impressive for any glam rocker.  Justin is also a jeweler and is owner of Fetty jewelry company in Brooklyn. 

The conversation started with my three signature questions:

TTOA:  All artists create in more than one medium.  What other arts do you create it?

JT:  All of us in the band create different things. Cole is a great visual artist and DJ. Stevy is an amazing experimental film maker. Dan produces music and makes beats pretty much all day. I write songs for many artists besides SPW as well as make jewelry. 

TTOA: What are you go-to arts to unwind, purge, find inspiration, or mourn.  

JT:  Well, I'm a big fan of binge watching TV shows. But mainly I write songs. I write normally 6 days a week, if not 7. Songs are my favorite thing in the world. 

TTOA: Finally - what is the one art you positively suck at but wish you didn't?

JT: Drawing. I really wish I could draw. And the art of language. I've tried to learn many other languages, and fail every time. 

TTOA: You are part the arts communities in L.A., NY and Chicago but you are also a member of a tribe not talked about much on this blog or in the media in general.  Tell me a little about the Boston arts community. 

JT:  The Boston Arts community is a big ol' college campus, segregated school by school. But the times when bands were making something special enough for it to reach other schools it felt pretty awesome. There was this band Moonraker that was kids from Berklee and BU, and they were so good that the whole city knew them. I remember going to those shows and thinking it was coolest thing I'd ever seen. 

TTOA: Does having an arts education help or hinder in the creation process, specifically having an understanding of music theory especially when working pop, dance electronica and glam rock?  Do you feel that once you have the basic building blocks is it easier to experiment..."the rules are there are no rules"?  Is there a point where academic arts education should stop and artists should just be encouraged to go with their guts?

JT: I think that playing music and writing songs is something that has to come natural to someone. But after the initial spark, learning more about what you are doing and the history of what you are doing can only help you. However the one danger is that a lot of musicians then start making music from an academic point of view, not from an emotional point of view. Which I know I was guilty of for a while. 

TTOA: Recently I did a feature piece for FourCulture on Sutan Amrull and an interview for The Tribes with Rahab.  With both of them I talked about androgyny as a part of their body, mind and spirit.  Tell me about that side of you.

JT: I have just had a very strong feminine side to my personality since as long as I can remember and I have always loved that side of me. I truly believe there is something beautiful about having who you are on the inside be reflected on the outside. 

TTOA: Two other jewelers I have connected with from the tribe are Joshua Titchcosky and Shannon Shiang.  Are you familiar with either of them and/or their work?  

JT: I am not. But I will look them up right now! When it comes to jewelry I'm obsessed with the classics, but there are some modern day designers I worship like Pamela Love. 

TTOA: Fashion plays a big role for you.  Who are your favorite new designers?  If given the opportunity - what house would you like to design for?  Whose runway show would you like to walk for?  

JT: There is a new designer out of New York named Jake Oliver that is blowing my mind. I would love the chance to do some sort of collaboration with him. Obviously anything Karl Lagerfeld is involved in I would happily remove a leg or two to be a part of. And Gareth Pugh is clearly having direct conversations with the goddess that I wouldn't mind eavesdropping on. 

TTOA: Do the arts in general have a responsibility to give a voice to the fight and take their place in political, social and cultural revolutions? Do you feel that people in positions of power/controlled feel threatened by artists? Why?

JT:  I feel like if people are telling their honest story in whatever art form it is, it will have political and social effects on the world. Because the more specific you are as an artist, the more universal your story becomes. Thats at least the path I'm choosing to take, and I hope my story effects people in whatever way it's suppose to. 

Heaven Malone - Tribe Chicago Suicide Club

Kevin Malone, known by some in the Chicago scene as "Heaven" works in an ad agency by day and DJ's by night.  He is a long-time veteran of the arts communities in the windy city.  As a kid he did the "band thing".  Later on he worked in an advertising office with Alan Morgenstern, a School of The Art Institute of Chicago.  Morgenstern had been an SAIC classmate of Mat Devine.  Devine had also worked at the same agency as an art director and with Morgenstern began creating the Chicago Suicide Club.  Malone joined them as a founder.  The club's main purpose was to promote local arts shows and performances along with providing an outlet to graphics designers who kept the merch store stocked with their t-shirt creations.

CSC was mainly a Chicago thing until they decided to experiment with opening its membership through a website.  It was the early days of social networking before it even had a name.  The group grew, especially when Kill Hannah brought invite cards out with them on tour.  If one was lucky enough to get a card, they had the special log-in information for the site.  Once in, there was the opportunity to connect with all manner of creative people.

However, the Chicago scene has taken a down-turn.  It is now about appearances and who one is seen out with rather than the quality of the art.  Kevin and I mainly talked music as that is where he spends the majority of his time when not at his day-job.  Chicago scenesters are very like their Brooklyn counterparts, hipsters.  However, where they differ, is not looking for the indie music no one else is listening too.  Chicago rock has become very cookie cutter.  When asked, locals claim that it is the "Chicago sound" and they feel a need to stick to it.

There are some clubs around the city that do encourage new sounds.  "The Empty Bottle" has built a reputation of bringing in different artists who make good music in a number of genres.  They have an established crowd who have spread the word that if you're looking for something new you will find it there and you won't leave disappointed.  There is another club that has been around a long time that gives everyone a chance no matter how good or bad.  It is actually the club where the Smashing Pumpkins got their start.  Malone says if you look around you will find smaller venues that have good booking agents and/or are willing to give new artists a chance.

Kevin also says though that as for open mics, they seem to have gone the way of the dinosaur.  He remembers driving miles with this or that band he belonged to looking for open mics.  Each time they would find one, when they went back to try again, there either was not an open mic or the club had closed completely.

So for now, Chicago Suicide Club is on a hiatus.  Mat has moved to New York and Kill Hannah has been off the radar for a while.  Add the deteoration of the Chicago scene, people just lost interest.  Heaven does maintain a Facebook presence to promote shows, including his own DJ gigs.  He keeps an eye out for what other arts groups within the city are doing to keep creativity alive and encourages them in any way he can.  He hopes that there will be a revitalization and that people will get past settling for corporate, production line music along with all other arts.

When the underground reaches the surface

Earlier today I did an interview with Kevin Malone, aka Heaven, DJ from Chicago and he brought up the subject of when underground art moves into pop culture.  We were mainly discussing the Chicago music scene and how it has eroded into "more of the same thing" as some of the best pop-punk, power-pop and electronica groups of the city have faded into the rest of current Top 40.  Probably the most prevalent example of this would be Fall Out Boy and it was their "success" that seemed to pull the stopper from the drain that sucked out the organic music scene and left a bathtub ring of scenesters more worried about their clothes and hanging out at the "right" clubs than seeking out the latest, most innovative music in the city. 

From there, I was pulled into a deeper part of this thought when a friend posted a link to the original music video of "Church of the Poisoned Mind" by Culture Club.  This Brit dance-rock band was one of my favorites in the 80's/early 90's, not only due to their unique sound, but George's fearlessness when it came to fashion and being his own flamboyant self.  The hair, the make-up, the hats...Boy George had me wrapped around his little finger.  If I was not in the life situation I was at the time, I would have found a purple flat hat, corn-rowed my hair and wrapped each braid in ribbons and beads.  I would have searched through my old clothes and found all the bright skirts, flowery tops and danced in the streets to "Tumble For You", "Time" and "It's A Miracle" in a pair of beat-up Capezios ballet shoes. 

I didn't see it then but now it is crystal clear how that fashion and music progressed into the mainstream later in the 90's and has come back into pop culture popularity today.  I can go even farther back to my high school years when David Bowie was raising eyebrows and was the recipient of more than one "tch tch" from pearl clutchers.  Even the kids who were trying to be totally rebellious by listening to that "damned rock music" their parents hated, didn't take to kindly to Bowie, Yes, or Andy Warhol.  It would be later, after they were out of college, with their own kids and trying to be more "intellectual" about their art that these artists and designers became 'cool'. 

Today you can turn on Top 40 pop radio or any hip-hop station and hear all manner of electronic enhancements; vocal and instrumental.  Beats are a dime a dozen, sold by the truckload to producers who use them over and over with a myriad of artists.  Listeners turn on the TV, radio or internet broadcast  and are comfortable with this fact.  Most will never call out the amount of auto-tune, layering or re-use of a synth track that is going on. They also have no idea (nor do they seem to care) what the history of these effects are.  They certainly do not want to know where a lot of it made its public debut...in the seedier disco clubs and gay bars two decades ago. 

A few purests remain and have maintained their integrity, Nine Inch Nails and Smashing Pumpkins if we are speaking of Chicago.  Pop culture has tried to assimilate these artists but really have not been successful.  Both have had songs that turned up on the mainstream pop and/or rock stations but for the most part they are still on the fringes.  However, will someone gravitate to them twenty years from now and figure out a way to make them the latest thing at Urban Outfitters, Hot Topic or some other chain retailer trading in the rags and discs of the current "scene"?  If history continues to repeat itself, probably. 


Sadly, the 'lemming trait' of the human species seems to carry on generation after generation.  People don't like to live outside their personal comfort zone which, in reality, is more a case of not being the one swimming against the tide.  In some cases this is not all bad.  As underground cultures of different nationalities, ethnic groups and sexual orientations brush up against the mainstream to the point where numbers of the curious increase and gravitate to them.  What was previously scary becomes less and less allowing the human family to come closer together which is the ultimate goal.

Jay Ramirez - a meeting of the Tribes

Pothole Monster

Mention the name Jay Ramirez most places outside of his neighborhood in Chicago, the response you get probably will not refer to the frontman and founder of the mid-west electronica band, Comasoft.  It won't be the same Jay Ramirez who draws “Pothole Monsters” and writes stories that will have your sides splitting with their sarcasm and fantasy.  It most likely won’t even refer to the cube dweller who works at a marketing firm in the Windy City, owns the coolest “toes” cat and lives for the 4th of July because he LOVES fireworks.

However, Chicago Jay is all these things along with being the first direct link I've uncovered between art tribes in different states.  In fact Jay's connection is half a country away in Los Angeles.  He contacted me shortly after I’d interviewed Hans Haveron, a conversation Jay had no previous knowledge of.  He wanted to share with me, as a fan of Adam’s, that he had  learned that his friend, Hans, was linked to Lambert’s newest body art.  When I recovered from the shock of the coincidence, I told Jay we needed to talk.  And so we did.

Since it seemed to be the most logical place to start, we discussed the Haveron/Ramirez connection.  The two met about five years ago when Jay was on a business trip to L.A.  He was invited to a party where Hans was doing airbrush body art as part of the evening's entertainment.  As the night progressed the two got to talking and the friendship started almost immediately.  They stay in touch between Jay's travels to the West Coast where the two always make a point to meet up.  Hans has not visited Chicago as he does not currently have an outlet for his work there.  Jay is always on the look out for people or spaces who can offer places for Hans to display his art or do live installations.

Jay and I went on to discuss Chicago art tribes.  I first 'met' him through the "Chicago Suicide Club"  which was founded by Kevin Malone and Mat Devine.  They started the club mainly as a promotion tool for local events in and around the Wicker Park section of the city.  As the group grew, it also attracted artists themselves.  A website was added which allowed the club to grow beyond Chicago.  Today it has become more of a Facebook presence but the local members do keep up with each other and occasionally get together.  Ramirez says there are many active arts communities in the city.  Events, such as 'art walks' are common along with an aggressive music scene that covers all genres.

Sylvester

Along with working on new music with the latest line-up of Comasoft, Ramirez has come to the realization that his cartooning and his short stories could possibly be worked into a children's or young adult book.  He got to the point of composing an outline, similar to what we're taught in middle school English classes, with categories such as "creatures", "weird things", "stuff that doesn't fit", etc.  

The project has progressed to the point that Jay is now looking for an editor.  Besides someone who can correct his bad grammar and run-on sentences, he needs to click with them.  They need to feel his esthetic while directing the project to either a younger or older audience.  Jay's the first to admit that his sense of humor probably speaks more to the 14-18 group than the 5-12 crowd.  But he can see how the work could be edited for the latter.  

Ramirez really loves working in a 2-D world where he can mix eras, reality and fantasy to come up with things like talking snakes, stick figure aliens and angry squirrels.  One of his inspirations is Dr. Seuss.  Writing also allows for mash-ups that bring all the crazy into this world.  

'comajay'

 As for Jay’s music, Comasoft has just released a new record that they are very proud of.  Former guitarist Dani was replaced with the band's long-time tech Dan.  Currently they have a touring drummer but are looking for a new permanent percussionist.  With new management, Comasoft is working diligently to bring their sound to the East coast, a long time dream.  Once they get a definite booking in New York, they will start planning dates in Boston, New Haven and other cities.

Comasoft
Jay on Facebook
Chicago Suicide Club

Buildings as art - Architectural Legacies

Core77 - "That's gonna leave a mark..."

This article was published on 6/17/2011 as a commentary on legendary buildings in conjunction with IBM's centennial anniversary.  Many artists create through structural sketching and/or blueprint drawing.  Engineers spending their regular work hours in SolidWorks are as much fine artists as the girl doing sidewalk pen and ink portraits.  And those who do not create this art sometimes put it at the top of the list of works of art they love to experience, both interiors and exteriors. 

Credit: Core77

So even the "shirt and tie" crowd are members of the tribe.  Share some of your favorite structural art.