by Daniel Robert Epstein
“I was going through a transition in my life.”
– Money Mark
Money Mark was money before money was a popular expression. Money’s work as the keyboardist for the Beastie Boys has made him a highly regarded figure in the hip-hop world. Its always a shock when he puts out a solo album and it is so radically different from the live and album work he has done with the Beasties. That shock was even more apparent when his new album, Brand New By Tomorrow, was released through Jack Johnsons label Brushfire Records.
Read our exclusive interview with Money Mark on SuicideGirls.com.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
“I just rolled a joint”
– Zach Galifianakis
The landscape of standup comedy on television has taken a surprising turn in the past few years. People like Artie Lange, Patton Oswalt and Paul Mooney are doing these amazing standup shows and are videotaping them in a very cool verite way. In the wake of the success of The Comedians of Comedy, Zach Galifianakis and director/editor Michael Blieden have teamed up again to bring Zach Galifianakis – Live at the Purple Onion to DVD. Besides Galifianakis hysterical set at the world renowned venue, we also get to see his brother Seth get interviewed by NPRs Brian Unger and get some real personal moments with Zach.
Read our exclusive interview with Zach Galifianakis on SuicideGirls.com.
by Alex Deuben
“It’s probably slightly more meandering.”
– Neil Gaiman
When the novel American Gods was published ten years ago, Neil Gaiman went from being a writer primarily known for comics like The Sandman and Mr. Punch and novels like Neverwhere and Good Omens to one of the most successful and acclaimed writers of his generation. In addition to his novels, short stories, picture books, and movies, in the past decade Gaiman has also become one of the most beloved children’s writers of our time, his novels Coraline and The Graveyard Book having become modern classics.
He also penned an episode of Doctor Who, much to the delight of both Gaiman and the long running sci-fi show’s fans. More recently, it was announced that Gaiman will be working with HBO and the director and cinematographer Robert Richardson on a series based on American Gods. Now Harper Collins is releasing the tenth anniversary edition of of the book in a hardcover edition that contains what Gaiman referres to as “the preferred text.”
SG reached out to Gaiman by phone for a brief conversation at the beginning of his book tour.
Read our exclusive interview with Neil Gaiman on SuicideGirls.com.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
“[Spartans] throw their kids off cliffs”
– Zack Snyder
300 is such a blast. There will be no other movie ever that is able to combine killing children, stabbing half dead Persians and guys with swords for arms in such a cool way. Gerard Butler has teamed up with visionary director Zack Snyder to bring the ultimate historical graphic novel by Frank Miller to life.
Butler plays King Leonidas, who declares war on the invading Persians, after they insult his queen and his city. Without permission from Spartas high courts, Leonidas gathers 300 of his best soldiers to battle Xerxes army of 10,000 Persians. 300 takes what Robert Rodriguez did with Sin City to the nth degree creating a colorful and sometimes even horrifying story of courage.
I got a chance to talk with Snyder at the 300 press day in Los Angeles about what it takes to inspire an army, making fun movies for adults, and his upcoming film adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons Watchmen.
Read our exclusive interview with Zack Snyder on SuicideGirls.com.
by Erin Broadley
“We wanted to show that drummers could become front men.”
– Adam Alt, Street Drum Corps
There are drummers, and then there are street drummers, the guys who truly aren’t afraid to get down and dirty with their craft. The musicians in Street Drum Corps are both, having played traditional drums in rock bands for years before lending their sticks to something decidedly more free-form and experimental.
Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman once dubbed Street Drum Corps the punk-rock Stomp, and the name stuck. The band is an apocalyptic, voodoo-rock revolution born from smog stained, litter strewn Los Angeles sidewalks and has grown into a full-force, stage production that now brings its battery of sound to the masses.
Since SDCs start in 2004, drummers Bobby Alt, Adam Alt and Frank Zummo have used found objects to create their elaborate beats and have toured the worldleaving a trail of broken drumsticks, battered trash cans and busted tail pipes in their wake. They’ve gone from drumming in downtown junkyards (which they still do), to recording an album with DJ Lethal for Warcon Records, to performing on Late Night with Conan O’Brien to, last fall, having their gear inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of a Warped Tour display.
SuicideGirls met up with the guys before a recent gig at Hollywood’s famed Goth club, Bar Sinister.
Read our exclusive interview with Street Drum Corps on SuicideGirls.com.
by Alex Dueben
“The themes and narrative…are timeless.”
– American McGee
American McGee started his career in games working on projects like Doom, Quake, and their sequels. However, most of us first learned his name in 2000 when Electronic Arts released American McGee’s Alice. The video game took Lewis Carroll’s character away from the genteel, neutered Walt Disney version and took it in a darker, bloodier direction. Since then, McGee has moved to China and started a company Spicy Horse which has developed games like Grimm. Now he’s returned to the world of Alice with one of the year’s most anticipated new games, Alice: Madness Returns.
He spoke with SuicideGirls via e-mail about the new game, the accompanying art book (published by Dark Horse Comics), the future of gaming, and how living and working in China has affected his way of thinking.
Read our exclusive interview with American McGee on SuicideGirls.com.
by Keith Daniels
“It’s kind of juvenile and innocent. Like a kindergarten orgy.”
– Cole Alexander
Black Lips are a four-piece from Atlanta, Georgia who play a psych-garage style they call ‘flower-punk.’ Heretofore as well known for their unpredictable live shows as their self-produced records, the Lips have seemingly been aiming for more artistic respect since their breakout, 2007’s Good Bad Not Evil. And not without justification. That record and its followup, 2009’s 200 Million Thousand, showed that they were as serious about their craft as they were about good times.
With their new record, Arabia Mountain, the Black Lips’ connoisseur’s ear for the best bits of rock history and hard-won chops have found an unlikely but sympathetic enabler in super-producer Mark Ronson. Ronson, famous for his work with artists like Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, and Robbie Williams, might have seemed a risky choice, but he’s left the Lips’ scruffy lo-fi charm intact while bringing a wider palate of sound and honing their songs to razor sharpness.
SuicideGirls spoke recently with the band’s singer/guitarist Cole Alexander about the new record, heavy metal, and economics.
Read our exclusive interview with Cole Alexander from Black Lips on SuicideGirls.com.
