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. 

Artists' Survey - A new kind of "Occupy"

This is a call to artists, managers, producers, promoters, "road moms"-ANYONE involved in arts and entertainment.  I want you input on this.  Do not read this post because you want my blog to have hits.  NO!  This survey is to determine not only the viability of this blog but of a project I am seriously considering that will involve, basically?, the investment of a good part of my life right now.

Let me start with a statement of observation.  THE "OCCUPY" MOVEMENT IS NOT WORKING!  Why?  Because no one is working.  They're not even trying to come up with focus issues.  They're sitting on their asses in, albeit public, areas trying to piss off the cops and anyone who will notice them.  As a child of the 60's and 70's I now see why those protests worked.  Because there was a lot of other WORK going on in conjunction with sit-ins and marches.  People were writing their political representatives.  They were voting.  They were supporting businesses owned by minorities, women, whoever the latest FOCUS issue was about.  And they were FOCUSED.  Dr. King rallied the African-American contingent for their fight.  Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem pumped up the energy of the "girls' club" and charged forth with "womens' lib".  Stonewall is a remembered event because the LGBT community didn't stop with that one act of civil disobedience.  They'd been pushed to their limit and pushed back.  They reclaimed their businesses in The Village.  They took credit for all the work they had been doing in the entertainment industry and their fight continues and they moved forward taking on the AIDS battle, legal protection for their families, their jobs and their property.

Occupiers are not fighting.  They're whining.  Yes, the cops beat you up.  No, police brutality is not right.  BUT...how about fighting back?  I'm not talking violence.  Don't like the banks?  Find private investors and start some good old fashioned savings and loans.  Don't have a job?  Make one.  All you 6-digit engineers and mechanics?  How about some new manufacturing of green products?  Come up with new energy sources.  REINVENT THE FUCKING CAR!!!  Don't depend on Corporate America to save your sorry ass.  They're not gonna change.  They will continue to try to control America and buy out our government.  The only way to win is to DO IT YOURSELF!!!

So here's my survey.  I want to start an Anti-Corporate Arts and Entertainment network.  A place that anyone looking for help can come and find producers, directors, galleries, labels, whatever support they need to get GOOD art out there that is not corporate or government sponsored.  I do not want to take a dime from NEA because I don't want anyone involved to be beholden to a politician or be at the mercy of the any fed budget vote for financial support.  I will however apply for tax-exempt status as a non-profit because why should we give any more money to the people who do NOT support US!!

Many of you know I have my own conspiracy theory in regards to controlling Americans through entertainment.  You'd have to have been living under a rock for the last 30 years to know that GOOD music does not spin on terrestrial radio with very few exceptions.  I would venture to say that at least 75% of U.S. radio is now owned by ClearChannel and CBS who survey the following markets: New York, Miami, Chicago, Houston and L.A.  Playlists are handed down by corporate bosses to PDs who in turn give them to DJs.  TV shows have deteriorated to "reality" contest shows or privacy invasion of the biggest whack-jobs in the country.  Everything is geared for "short attention span theater".  Movies?  Don't even go there.  Thank the gods for Jerry Bruckheimer and Pixar who somehow get big studios to fund their projects.  Every so often we are teased with a British film so that we're thrown off the scent that we are being played.  Even Broadway has sold out.  Reusing old pop/rock music instead of finding original score composers and PAYING them to make good theater.

While pondering the fact that some of my old-school 'Burner' friends have decided against returning to the Playa this year due to the negative changes to the event, I saw an analogy as I considered them spinning off and creating new smaller festivals in other places.  It's like a dandelion.  The base cannot hold the seeds any more so it releases its hold so that the wind can take them where it will.  They land, they take root and the following year they will repeat the process with those seeds going to other places and so on and so on.  Burning Man will always be the parent but the kids are going to take what they learned and build something new somewhere else with it.  That's how this network can work.  I already have connections in Boston, New York, Chicago, Austin and L.A.  Those people are connected to other cities and so-on and so-on.  Get where this is going?  Databases can be created and constantly updated.  People can be connected.  Money can be found in the private sector.  With a national community/tribe of all the satellite tribes working together a powerful thing can happen and when it finally comes to the attention of Corporate America and the government it will be too late.  We will have put good art and entertainment into the eyes, ears, hands and feet of Americans,  seen artists paid what they deserve and all with only "rendering unto Ceasar" what our annual individual income tax returns require.

Here's what I'm asking you:
1) If you are someone who would be directly involved in this effort, leave a comment
2) If you are a casual arts fan but know people this would pertain to or know people who know people, pass this link on.  You're welcome to leave comment here also.

What I want to know:
1) What is your position currently in the arts and entertainment industry
2) Are you currently corporately sponsored (signed to a major label, studio, publisher, etc)
3) Would you consider leaving that sponsorship for an endeavor such as this
4) If you are already an independent artist, writer, filmaker, performer would something like this help you
5) If you are a philanthropist would you invest in projects involved in this effort
6) How much would you pay for a monthly or annual membership to this organization
7) What would you expect in return for that subscription fee

This is a marketing survey.  I really believe in this project.  I know it will be huge if it works.  I don't expect to be the soul proprietor of it.  I will depend on the networking of the project to provide the experts that can bring it to its maximum effectiveness.  I have the passion and the drive though.  I'm tired of seeing some of the most fantastic talent in the country squelched, stifled, marginalized and sometimes even vilified to keep their music off the radio and out of the racks, their screenplays off the big screen, their gorgeous street painting deemed vandalism and their books relegated to on-line publishing for which they see little or no return.  So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE  take a minute to respond to this, then pass it on.  I thank you from the bottom of my heart.