randy laybourne / tucker gerrickgeorgie james / turf skateboards / mannequin men

Contact Swimmer’s EarP.O. Box 1616Monticello, MN 55362swimmersearmag@yahoo.commyspace.com/swimmersear

EditorsAdam SeverChris Pernula

Contributing PhotographersNick Wosika / letter3photography.comTucker Gerrick / typoscura.comRandy Laybourne / lookforwardtothepast.comLaura Austin / laustindesign.com

Contents photo:Randy Laybournewww.lookforwardtothepast.comCover photo:Nick*L3PRider: Paul Hartmanwww.letter3photography.com

Contents:Memo…4

Variance…5Change in Sound…8

Industry Insider - Turf…12Gerogie James…13

Randy Laybourne…156° of Tucker Gerrick…21

Mannequin Men…25Photos…27

4

It’s that time of year when most skateboarders do oneof three things. The first group hangs up their skate-board and heads to the snow covered hills with theskateboard’s binded brother, the snowboard. The sec-ond group head indoors with wads of cash in hand, tothe heated plywood of indoor parks. The third group,a rare bunch, head outdoors in the single digitweather and thumb their noses at Jack Frost’s bittercold. These are the people that shovel their drive-ways as soon as the fluffy white stuff stops falling sothe weak winter sun can dry the cold asphalt quicker.They skate around patches of hardened snow and iceand throw kickflips over mounds of sand left by thesnowplow. As it turns out I fall into the latter.

Even though I have been inside for the last 15 min-utes, my cheeks and legs are still burning from the10.8° air temperature and frigid breeze. Since thesnow started falling, I’ve been skating in my 2-cargarage and my proverbial dorsal fin has started tocurl over from skating in such small confines. I ached

to skate in an area that would allow me more thanone small push before attempting a trick and I can’tseem to justify paying someone 11+ dollars to skatefor 3 hours when I can skate at home for free all daylong. So I took it outside. Wearing only a hat, gloves,a hoodie, a light topcoat and my Nikes (you can’t foolme Consolidated!), I had the time of my life. Sure ittook a few minutes for my frozen trucks to loosen up,a few more minutes for my knees to figure out whatwas going on, and I’m sure the neighbors andpassers-by thought that I had lost it, but it was agreat experience. Something that I’ll continue to dowhen I’m feeling the urge to stretch my legs andskate. While I was out there, I was surprised no onehad come up with a winter version of the BackyardRamp Jam, where a bunch of people find a snow cov-ered park, shovel it off, and skate until the sun setsat it’s earliest peak. Someone should get on that.

Whatever you do this winter, have fun doing it. It willbe over soon and we will all be back to complainingabout how hot it is.

-Adam

MEMO:WINTER SKATING

“my proverbialdorsal fin hasstarted to curl

over fromskating in such smallconfines”

Teenage Runaway UrethaneTeenage Runaway was started by all around art guy ToddBratrud. The ads they have been running for these have beenmostly hilarious, if not somewhat disturbing. Teenage Runawaystarted up a little while back, then went away, but is back againnow being distributed by Arthouse Distribution (Crimson,Heroin, Destructo), which is good, because skateboardingneeds more companies like Teenage Runaway and Enjoi thatcombine humor with good art.

These wheels are pretty standard. The only thing that standsout is the color of the wheels and the graphics on them. TheDecanter Society wheels are a lavender color and with splashes of wine flyingaround. The other wheels are the basic company logo on the side wheels. It’salmost a shame to ride such beautiful things, I’d almost rather hang them onmy wall. www.teenagerunawayurethane.com

Etnies Sheckler 2Ryan Sheckler may comeoff as a douche bag withhis MTV show, back tat-too, and never-ending DewTour wins, but you have toadmit that he has sometalent. In this day in age,with a little talent andbeing somewhat mar-ketable, someone will giveyou a shoe with yourname on it. This colorwayof the Etnies Sheckler 2 is

nice looking. The brown full grain cracked leather works wellagainst the tan and red suede. This is a vulcanized shoe,which is good for a better feel of the board, but I have yet tofind a vulcanized shoe that lasts as long as a stitched soleshoe. It features all the standard features you’ve come toknow from Etnies; Elastic tongue-centering straps, Paddedtongue and collar, System G2™, STI Foam™ level 2 cushion-ing footbed, and 400 NBS rubber outsole.www.etnies.com

Heroin Skateboard/Tee-ShirtHeroin skateboards was started by Mark Foster, who hasdone design for Altamont, Toy Machine and Emerica, andhas been a growing brand in the UK for the past ten years.After checking out the Heroin website, it’s easy to tell thatHeroin has a look all its own. The Heroin team consists ofChris Pullman, Chopper, Colin Fiske, Howard Cooke,Hamaji and Chris Ault among others. They’ve got a bunchof short video clips from their past team videos on theirwebsite also.

Besides having a cool mix tape graphic, the Heroin skate-board has a nice size and shape and a nice concave, verysimilar to the Crimson boards.

A good way to freak out your mom, teach-ers, boss, etc..., is to wear this shnazzzy “Ilove Heroin” tee shirt. People will thinkyou are serious and probably try to getsome help for you. Jokes on them though,you actually love skateboarding.www.heroinskateboarding.com

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VARIANCEBUY • SPEND • CONSUME

Crimson Skateboards - Patrick Jilbert SeriesThese Crimson skateboards were designed by Patrick Jilbert. You may have seen his graphics on Consolidated skateboards inthe past. This series comes in a wide range of sizes from 7.625 (Markovich) to 8.125 (Belton). Crimson recently added Ragdollto its pro team, so you should be seeing more of him in the future. www.crimsonskateboards.com

Crimson Skateboards - Tee ShirtsI wish I had these tee shirts when I was in high school. Myschool’s team was called the Crimson, so I would have lookedso cool rocking all this Crimson gear while everyone else had towear the school bought tees. I’d be all like, “This shit’s custom,bitches!” and they’d be all “Oh snap!”

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Dekline Prescott - Matt BallRiders Choice CollectionThis is Matt Ball’s first Rider’s Choiceshoe from Dekline and it is influencedby Ball’s love for Harleys. It has a com-bination of black suede and 2-tonemotorcycle leather with some Vegasgold logo lettering and stitching. Theshoe is quite comfy and has a lot offeatures that would make it a shoe thatwill last a while.

Dekline Paxton - Pat MelcherRiders Choice CollectionThe Patrick Melcher Rider’s ChoicePaxton comes in a variety of colorways,but the one we got is suede with cus-tom woven houndstooth textile makingfor one wild looking shoe. These wereincredibly comfortable, but it took sometime to get used to the insole. It had areally high arch support that made myfeet want to cramp a bit, but after wear-ing it for a while, it seemed to flattendown. Note to Dekline, make the insoleremovable, so wearers can decide ifthey want the arch support of not.

Dekline Derby - Jason AdamsRiders Choice CollectionThe first thing you’ll notice when youtake these out of the box is the all-overgold skull print designed by JasonAdams. Although this shoe looks nice,skating in it may not last long. There isonly one layer (about 1/16 inch thick) ofaction leather protection in the ollieareas of the shoe, the vulcanized sole,plus the shoe is a bit stiff. The rubbertoecap might help though.

www.Dekline.com

VARIANCEBUY • SPEND • CONSUME

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Satori Movement Tee ShirtsYou can’t beat 100% cotton when it comes down to tee shirts,and these are the standard fitting tees, unlike those vintage/athletic ones that all the hipsters wear. Satori also makesshirts that contain a hemp and cotton blend.

Satori Movement Lunar Cycle Series 55mmThanks to these wheels, the next time

you’re out skating at night you canlook up to see the moon anddouble check your wheels to seewhere the moon is on its lunarcycle. These wheels are prettystandard when it comes down

to wheels. They have a nicewidth and they are about as hard

as you can get with wheels.

Satori Movement Cruiser Series 62mmThese are some bouncy blue bastards. I was unaware thatSatori made wheels wheelsfor cruising, so it mademe doubly surprisedwhen I saw them. I setup a cruiser board thispast summer, so I canappreciate these wheels.They are big and soft, soyou won’t get a lot of vibra-tion from the road, plus theyhave a cool clear blue swirl look tothem.

High Grade Blend DVDThis video features team riders from Creation skateboards,Satori Wheels, Yellow Brand Skateboards and Upful Hardware.There is quite a bit of talent in this video with guys like KennyReed, Tosh Townend, Matt Pailes, Adam Crew, Jake Rupp andFabrizio Santos to name a few. It’s a montage style video soeach skater has one or two tricks here and there. It’s a no frillsvideo containing just quality skating. www.satoriwheels.org

DVS Footwear - Daewon Song 10It’s hard to believe thatanyone could come upwith 10 different shoedesigns and still keepthem fresh. But mostpeople aren’t DaewonSong. This is his 10thshoe from DVS andprobably his best yet.The suede eyestay andollie panel on this shoe are all one piece, giving unsurpasseddurability. The interlocking construction on the toe panel andthe signature DVS bruise control will make your feet happyand safe when you’re trying to be the next Daewon. TheDaewon 10 is scheduled for a Spring 08 release and will beretailed for around $60 dollars. www.dvsshoes.com

Lakai Footwear - Coda RecycledThese are the first shoes from Lakai to be released under their

eco-friendly “RecycledProgram”. What iscool about this shoe isthat no two are thesame. Lakai designersspec materials on cer-tain panels of theshoe, then leave it upto the factory to usewhatever leftovers

from other shoes they have to complete the shoe. The bottomsof this shoe have 50% regrind and 50% new gum rubber out-sole with a flex vulcanized construction. This was the first thingI noticed about this shoe. The sole looked it had chunks of rub-ber in it, it is pretty cool. Take the recycled aspect of this shoeand combine it with the quality and comfort that Lakai has andyou’ve got one hell of a shoe. These will be released in theSpring 08 and will retail for around $45 bucks.www.lakai.com

Bowling Stars of 1989 Zine1989 was a magical year for bowling.Stars like Dale Eagle and Guppy Troupruled the lanes. In 1989, 50 of suchstars were immortalized on tradingcards for up and coming bowlers tocollect. In 2007, they were immortal-ized even more when Chris Pernulafound these cards and made a zine outof them. Bowling Stars of 1989 fea-tures all hand drawn replicas of thosetrading cards painstakingly drawn by

Chris and includes a touching intro, to as Chris puts it, “theseLords of the Lane”. chrispernula@yahoo.com

VARIANCEBUY • SPEND • CONSUME

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The 1900sCold & KindIf you heard this band playing in the background some-where, you’d swear it was Fleetwood Mac. In realitythough, it’s Chicago’s 1900s. They have been comparedto bands like Fleetwood Mac and Donovan, two bandsthat I have no interest for, so if they can make me likethem, I’m sure you will like them too. (Parasol Records)

The A-SidesSilver StormsI was a little thrown by the stringed instruments at thebeginning of the A-Sides latest release, Silver Storms.Thankfully the album is not 50 minutes of orchestramusic and instead 50 minutes of great pop music in thevain of Portastatic, with tons of lush arrangements andbeautiful layers. (Vagrant Records)

Abel Baker FoxVoicesAble Baker Fox is the new long-distance project frommembers of Small Brown Bike, Lasalle, Casket Lottery,and The Great Sea Serpents. After my first listen of thisalbum, I thought it was terrible. Absolutely terrible. ButI listened to it again and again, and it got better andbetter. Now after close to 10 spins, I think it’s great. (Second Nature)

All SmilesTen Readings of a WarningAll Smiles is the latest project from ex-Granddaddy gui-tarist Jim Fairchild and it is a departure fromGranddaddy’s sound. Ten Readings of Warning was ano budget recording but still feels warm and comfort-ing. Every time I listen to it, it sounds like it was influ-enced by British bands similar to The Beatles. (Dangerbird Records)

Alexis GideonFlight of the LiophantI often wonder where record labels find these kinds ofartists. Flight of the Liophant is an eclectic blend ofabstract hip-hop beats and twangy indie. A strangecombination indeed. (Sickroom Records)

Casy and BrianCatbeesThis duo from San Francisco has more energy than acase of Red Bull. Ex-Dalmatians members Casy andBrian only play a Casio keyboard and a stripped downdrum set, so their vocals play a large part in how thesongs sound. Call-and-response vocals are instructivefor the audience to join them. Catbees is a quick listen,just under 20 minutes, but you’ll be exhausted by theinfectious dance beats and distorted bass heavy synth. (Pish Posh)

Coconut CooloutsParty Time MachineCoconut Coolouts is a 6-piece dual drum/guitar garagepunk party band with one member that is half-man/half-banana, or a man in a banana costume. Nevertheless,Party Time Machine is a 30-minute joyride that willhave you singing, clapping, and dancing along thewhole time, and when it’s over you’ll be begging formore. (Haunted Horse)

The CopsFree ElectricityThe Cops play a garage punk similar to the Nein, butwithout the circuit bending. They also have a strippeddown sound, kind of like the Mannequin Men and theStrokes, which is hook laden and infectious. (The Control Group)

CHANGE IN SOUND

Coconut Coolouts

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Georgie JamesPlacesFormer Q and Not U drummer, John Davis and ex-soloartist Laura Burhenn got together and formed this duothat make precious ditties influenced by 50s/60s popmusic, and it’s damn good too. (Saddle Creek)

GlorytellersS/TGlorytellers is the musical outlet for ex-Karate front-man Geoff Farina. The sound is familiar to what MikeKinsella does with Owen; stripped down acoustic gui-tar, personal lyrics and intimate songwriting. (Southern Records)

The Good LifeHelp Wanted NightsI’m glad Tim Kashner is a musician. With every release,he brings you something different, but not too differentthat you won’t like it. Help Wanted Nights is a goodexample. It sounds like the Good Life’s previous, Albumof the Year, but has a completely different feeling. Someparts are more upbeat and less personal while othersare slow and more personal. A welcome addition to any-one's collection. (Saddle Creek)

HaramDrescherI’ve been waiting for their follow-up to their stunningself-titled full length for what seems like forever and I’mhappy to say they are even better this time around.They’ve added some members and Drescher shows thesofter, mellower side of Haram while still being heavy inall the right places. (Lovitt Records)

His Name is AliveXmmerThis band’s name screams Christian rock, but theirmusic is no indication what religious background themembers have. You may have heard this band in themovie Jerry Maguire, back when Cuba Gooding Jr. stillmade good movies, and that exposure really helped theband. Their previous album Detrola was a critical suc-cess, but a lot of people have been saying that Xmmerisn’t up to par with it. I’ve never heard Detrola, so Ican’t comment on which is better. All I know is, thereare some good songs on this album and some boringones. (Silver Mountain Media Group)

House & ParishOne, One ThousandI bet some indie hipsters spilled their $9 foreign beerswhen they heard about this indie super group consist-ing of ex-members of The Promise Ring, Texas is theReason, and the Gloria Record. The music is a bit differ-ent than any of the members’ previous bands. I wouldconsider this adult contemporary for the indie crowd.It’s easy on the ears. It feels like they are trying to findtheir groove with this release and hopefully they realizetheir sound for their full length. (Arena Rock)

The Jaguar ClubCeci N'est Pas Le Club De JaguarThe first time I listened to this, I turned it off before thesix tracks were through. The music is good, but thesinger is trying way too hard to be Morrissey. It’s like adancey version of the Smiths without the talent that theSmiths had. If you can get past the vocals, then youmight be on to something. (Self-Released)

L’ocelle MareS/TL’ocelle Mars is the project of Thomas Bonvalet, the gui-tarist for the French band, Cheval de Frise. Each of the16 songs are very minimal, are short with very little tono song structure, and no cohesion at all. Each songsounds as if Bonvalet walked into a room, picked up aguitar, hit record on the boombox, then strums and fon-dles the instrument for a few moments and is done. (Sickroom Records)

LadyslipperThe Time, Not the WeatherLadyslipper is a 3-piece from Minneapolis, MN and theyhave an energizing sound that has been compared toFugazi and Mission of Burma. There isn’t one track onthis album that disappoints. Standouts on the albumare “Tinnitus” and “Chicago” and “Ladycop”. (Say Rah Records)

CHANGE IN SOUND

CHANGE IN SOUNDLook MexicoThis is Animal MusicA lot of people say that Look Mexico sounds likeAmerican Football, and it’s true. But Look Mexicoblends a few different styles together and they do iteffortlessly, as too not copy any one else's sound. (Lujo Records)

Mouse FireWooden TeethMouse Fire combine elements of Ugly Organ eraCursive, the soothing vocals and sound of Minus theBear, the guitar jangly of Bloc Party, plus a danceablebeat to create something wholly original. It took me acouple of listens to grasp Mouse Fire’s sound, and whenI listen to it now, I can really appreciate all the soundson the album. (Lujo Records)

The MumlersThickets and StitchesThe Mumlers are a group of multi-instrumentalistsfrom the Bay Area. This album is full of sleepy indie folkrock with a slight jazz influence that has slide guitars,pianos, brass instruments and the occasional accor-dion. An all around good album. (Galaxia)

New Idea SocietyThe World is Bright and LonelyNew Idea Society features Mike Law from Euclid andCave In’s Stephen Brodsky on guitar. The album is amixture of Bright Eyes, Street to Nowhere and TheComas. It’s an ok album, but nothing really stands outabout it. (Exotic Fever)

One Small Step for LandminesS/TNow that Chicago’s Spitalfield has broken up, Florida’sOne Small Step for Landmines can take their space forthe heavy indie rock genre. One Small Step... isn’t acomplete rip off of Spitalfield, but both bands have asound that was/is influenced by bands like The Get UpKids and Jimmy Eat World. One Small Step’s debut self-titled album is quite good and show’s some promise forthe future of this band. (Civil Defense League)

The PhotographicPictures of a Changing WorldWhen listening to Pictures of a Changing World, it’shard to believe that this instrumental band only con-sists of 2 members. There is so much going on at thesame time. Take for instance, the track “We Were FedPoisoned Bread”. It starts out like an Explosions in theSky song with just a simple guitar part, then the drumsand cymbals come in, and those two intertwine for a fewminutes. Then, at the 2:30 mark, everything stops for asecond and the guitar bursts in with some noodling.The part that follows sounds like there is 3 guitaristsand a bass player, plus drums going on all at the sametime. It’s insane and the best part of the whole record.The Photographic’s sound has an instant visual sound,

like it could be a soundtrack to a movie. Their liveshows include projected visuals and the CD includes thevideo for the track “Directions”. (Galaxia)

The Playing FavoritesI Remember When I Was PrettyThe Playing Favorites is a punk rock supergroup ofsorts. Joey Cape (Me First & the Gimme Gimmes, BadAstronaut), Luke Tierney (The Penfifteen Club), TimCullen (solo artist, ex-Summercamp), Marko DeSantis(Sugarcult, Bad Astronaut) and Mick Flowers(Popsicko, The Rentals,The Lapdancers), make up ThePlaying Favorites. I Remember When I Was Pretty wasrecorded over a course of 5 days at 3 songs per day,where songs were written, learned, recorded and thenthe mic was passed to the next guy who had a song. Youcan definitely tell when you listen to this album. Eachsong has that spur of the moment feel and all of themare diverse in style, but all together good. (Suburban Home)

Polar Bear ClubSometimes Things Just DisappearThe much-anticipated follow-up to 2006’s The Redder,the Better, Sometimes Things Just Disappear almoststands up to its predecessor. I think what made TheRedder, the Better so good was it’s length. It was awe-some because it was quick and there was no room forfiller. I’m not saying there is a lot of filler onSometimes..., but it doesn’t have the same urgency allthe way through that their EP did. Still a good releasenonetheless. (Red Leader Records)

Ryan FergusonOnly Trying to HelpEx-No Knife frontman Ryan Ferguson’s debut albumstarts out solid with the slow rocker “Remission”. A fewof the songs feel like they have a slight Shins influence.The song “In the Sea” has a Beach Boys tinge to it andthe melody fits perfect with the song, swaying back andforth like your on the sea. Only Trying to Help is a fair-ly strong debut solo release, but future releases wouldbenefit if they were more focused.(Better Looking Records)

Saves the DayUnder the BoardsI would have figured that Saves the Day would havebroken up by now. With label changes and a fewmediocre albums, it seemed likely. Instead they stick totheir guns and release a catchy hook filled album wor-thy of a few listens. (Vagrant Records)

Say HiThe Wishes and the GlitchWith a shorter name and a new geographic location,Eric Elbogen is back with another pop gem. Whatmakes this album stand out from his previous albums isthe female vocals provided by Nouela Johnston on acouple of the songs that add a much needed ingredient

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to a formula that was get-ting a little stale. Say Hi’sfirst two releases werequite good and originaland peaked at FerociousMopes. While ImpeccableBlahs was ok, it felt a lit-tle impersonal. Luckily amove to Seattle gotElbogen’s creative juicesflowing and a greatalbum was the result.(Euphobia)

Signal to TrustGolden ArmourI was a year late in buying this album and now I’m kick-ing myself for not buying it sooner. It’s great. I can’texplain what they sound like, but they have beenlumped into the indie/prog rock category. This fulllength was a long time coming from their previousalbum Folklore in 2002. I wish they would write awhole album of songs just like “Silver Coast”. It’s thebest jam on the album. (Modern-Radio)

SoftFadedI pretty much wrote this band off as shit as soon as thefirst song started, just because the vocals sounded fuzzyand distorted and the instruments sounded like a mess.But once you get past that first track, things start pick-ing up. There are a lot of interesting guitar parts andmelodies and it’s those little things that make thisalbum worth coming back to. (Academy Fight Song)

Streetlight ManifestoSomewhere in the BetweenThis album has been a long time coming. StreetlightManifesto practically turned the ska genre on its sidewith their debut release Everything Goes Numb.Instead of taking that momentum and writing a followup right away, they re-recorded Catch 22’s KeasbeyNights, which sounds exactly like the awesome originalbut more polished. Well they finally got their shittogether and recorded a follow-up. Somewhere in theBetween is not as jaw-dropping as Everything GoesNumb, but it’s close. I somewhat blame all the hype thatwas built up for this album as the main reason why.(Victory Records)

Take No DamageMushroom Clouds and Silver LiningsTake No Damage mix indie rock, synth pop and elec-tronica with a few samples and yet don’t sound com-pletely horrible doing it. Mushroom Clouds and SilverLinings is an excellent eclectic/eccentric debut. Listento the song “God and Country” and you’ll understandthe brilliance of this album. (All Hail Records)

Tera MelosComplex Full of Phantoms SplitDrugs To The Dear Youth CD re-issueTera Melos blends the arithmetic of Hella and Don Cab’sriff looping with a bit of jazz ambiance. In a genre whichis becoming increasingly crowded, Tera Melos keepsthings original on these two releases with jagged riffs,constant time changes, programming and samples frommovies like Requiem For A Dream and pieces fromFugazi’s Instrument.(Temporary Residence / Sargent House)

These Are PowersTerrific SeasonsThese Are Powers features ex-members of Liars andKnife Skills, and their current project is self-describedas “ghost punk”. The songs encapsulate primitive andindustrial rhythms with haunting male and femalevocals. Seven of the eight songs range from two to fourminutes in length, while the song “Pizza Master IceCream Palace” clocks in at over twenty minutes. (Hoss Records)

The Valley ArenaSesso.VitaOften compared to bands like Fugazi and otherDischord bands, The Valley Arena are natives of LongBeach, California. The title of this album translates intoSex Life and the themes of sex (not just the act of) andsexiness is constant throughout the album. (Anodyne Records)

CHANGE IN SOUND

Say Hi

Soft

Turf Skateboards is a new skateboard company that was started by Chocolate OG, Mike York, andworld-renowned designer Bob Kronbauer. They’ve already enlisted Sammy Baptista, James Kelch andSome Dude, along with Mike York, as pros, and Jason Wussler, Jason Wakuzawa, Jabari Pendleton,Larry Redmon, and Vince Salvi as ams. The Turf team has been filming for it’s debut video “Turf’s Up”and it should be out soon. We chatted with Co-Ownerand designer, Bob Kronbauer about creating a new identity for a skateboard brand and what it’s like workingwith Mike York. Attempts were made to get some questions answered from Mike, but he was probably toobusy laying tricks down for the video.

Bob Kronbauer - Co-Owner and designer of TurfSkateboards

How do you go about creating an identity for a newcompany? Does Mike bring you ideas to design ordo you come up with a lot of the designs?Well, first we held a series focus groups where webrought in a bunch of... naw, I’m just fucking withyou. Mike and I work together on some stuff andsome is based off of totally random concepts that Icome up with.

A lot of skateboard brands have a certain style orlook. What kind of style do you think Turf has andhow does it fit in the skateboard industry?We’ve only released one catalog so I don’t thinkwe’ve had enough time to be pigeonholed yet. I’mjust designing things that I think look good on thebottom of a skateboard.

How is designing for Turf different from designingfor other brands you’ve done?I had to have somebody explain to me the other daywhat a “lockup” graphic was. I’d like to do as few ofthose as possible and it’s nice to have the freedom tobe able to make that decision.

A lot of people like to separate work and pleasure,being co-owner of Turf and doing artwork for it, doyou feel like the time spent designing is work?I really enjoy what I do in my professional life but Idefinitely feel like I’m working for my money.

Is Turf your main project right now? I’d imagineyou’re pretty busy with Mumble, Little Giants, andCrownfarmer, among others?It’s one of a few projects I’m involved with right now.I post about most of the stuff I’ve been working onat BobKronbauer.com.

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INDUSTRYINSIDER

How did you two come together to form Georgie James?

Laura: John and I met around the time QANU was thinking oftaking a permanent break. He’d heard my solo CD (myboyfriend at the time had sent it to him) and I was a big fan ofQANU. I was kind of surprised when John wanted to try andplay music — and totally flattered. I think I was even more sur-prised by the music we started writing together, as it was pret-ty different than what he was doing with QANU. But given hisrecord collection, it totally made sense.

John, when Q and Not U broke up, where you looking to startsomething that was completely different than Q and Not U?

John: No, not really. It just kind of turned out the way it did. Iguess I just gravitated towards what came naturally when writ-ing new songs. Throughout Q and Not U, I had always writtensome stuff on the side, but never really did anything with it.Some of that wound up being used eventually when we start-ed writing the Georgie James songs. But, as far as having anagenda to do something completely different, no that wasn’tthe case. I just wanted to write whatever came naturally, whichwas the same approach we had in Q and Not U.

What’s it like playing in Georgie James as opposed to play-ing in Q and Not U or playing solo?

Laura: I had to learn how to compromise and take criticism,but I also got the benefit of having someone else to lean on. Itwas a great trade. Knowing that the music we make is evengreater than the sum of the parts is a very good thing.

John: It’s a different kind of thing when you’re collaboratingwith only one other person, as opposed to two or three others.It’s easier in some ways. There are less opinions to work withand sort out and it seems easier, for me at least, to really focuson getting a song done this way.

John, do you think fans of Q and Not U will be drawn toGeorgie James?

John: I’m sure some would and some wouldn’t. I guess it justdepends on where they’re at musically. Even within the discog-raphy of Q and Not U, there are people who just like one albumand not the others. So, the whole thing varies depending onthe people, I suppose.

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How did the signing with Saddle Creek come about? Did youapproach any other labels to put out your album?

John: I had loosely known the people who run Saddle Creekfor over a decade, just from doing a fanzine, working at a pub-licity company, working at a distributor, etc. When Q And NotU would tour and go through Omaha, the Saddle Creek peopleusually set up the show and we would often stay with them orwith bands on the label. They have a really good thing goingthere, so it was always a place I liked to play and check out.Anyway, once we finished the GJ record, they were one of afew labels we talked to but, ultimately, they were really the bestchoice for us. We’re really happy to get to work with them.

What kind of bands help influence your sound?

John: There are many, many bands and musicians that play apart in shaping our musical minds. The stuff that gets citedmost tends to be from the 60s and 70s (Beatles, Bread,Badfinger, Beach Boys, Big Star and many other bands thatstart with B or some other letters) but, really, I think we’reinspired from all kinds of music. It’s not as easy for someoneoutside of the band to hear, I’m sure, but speaking for myself,I know that all aspects of the music I listen to play into themusic we make. That includes jazz, punk, Afro-beat, folk,French pop, disco and whatnot.

How does the song writing in Georgie James work? DoesJohn a write the songs he mostly sings on and Laura writesthe ones she mostly sings on, or is it more of a collaborativeeffort?

Laura: For this first record, the vocals pretty much tell youwho wrote what. There was one song (“Simplify”) that Johnwrote and I sang on, but it got kicked off the record. There aredefinitely exceptions to this rule. In a song like “Henry andHanzy,” we wrote both the music and the lyrics together. Well,then we sing in straight harmony the whole way through — somaybe the voice *does* give everything away!

Do you think you achieved everything you wanted to withPlaces?

Laura: As far as the recording goes, absolutely. We put somuch time into the recording process, making sure we hadevery instrument and vocal just exactly so, so we would endup with something we love. I put the record on every now andagain and am so happy with it. As far as the total Places expe-rience, I guess that remains to be seen.

John: Yeah, I feel like we accomplished what we wanted to dowith the record. It’s certainly the record I like most out of all ofthe ones I’ve ever been involved with.

Did John and Laura play all the instruments on Places? Youcan’t obviously play guitar and drums at the same time, didyou use Protools or a multi-track recorder?

Laura: Andrew Black played drums on a few of the songs, andTJ Lipple played vibraphone for another. Other than that, weplayed everything ourselves. Silver Sonya is against theProtools monopoly, so they use Digital Performer. It’s a multi-track digital recording program, but without the stringsattached. We started with a base of drums and wurlitzer forevery song and then added and subtracted as necessary. Evena lot of the vocals are us singing over earlier tracks. There isdefinitely something to love about a fully live recording — Iactually just mentioned the possibility of recording that wayafter a recent visit to the Stax museum. We’ll see what hap-pens in the future...

Will it be only you two playing live shows or do you have oth-ers playing with you?

Laura: We’re currently a five-piece live. We’ve got AndrewBlack on drums, Michael Cotterman on bass, and Paul Michelplaying second guitar, percussion, and singing back-up vocals.John sings and plays guitar. I sing and play wurlitzer.

You pretty much have tours planned for the last quarter of2007, do you plan to tour as much in 2008? What do youthink the importance of touring so much is?

Laura: We’re going to take a little break in January and for atleast part of February. Then we’ll do another US tour, probablystopping in at SXSW, heading over to Japan for a little while,who knows. I’m guessing that 2008 will be even busier than2007. These days it seems like touring is the only way to makemoney as a working musician. With so much readily availableat peoples’ fingertips (via the internet), the live show that hap-pens in person, in the flesh for that short period of time thatcannot be captured or recreated (not even on YouTube), thelive show is the next great frontier.

You are originally from Canada, what lured you to working in theskateboarding industry?I had noticed that Skateboarder magazine started up again around 1997 or so. Just thatoversized one issue a year. And it was great content and looked good. I had an intern-ship semester for my final year at college so I called the art director, JaimieMuehlhausen, and he said it only was done once a year but I might be able to help outwith Snowboarder. I came down to California for the fall of 1998 and interned as agraphic designer for Snowboarder magazine. That was my first experience with theskate/snow/surf industry and it all started rolling from there.

Did drawing come easy to you as a kid? What got you into art?I guess I can’t remember not drawing. In grade six I remember doing a thanksgivingposter with part of it having a turkey with its neck about to be cut off. That was thesame year of my Mr. T comic. Drawing is just something that is done everyday andwhenever there is a spare moment.

Do you have formal training in art and design? Do you think people who have no talent in drawing or design can learn to begood at it?I actually have almost too much training. First it was two years of community collegeon Vancouver Island, Canada, then a year backpacking in Europe with my skateboard. Igot to almost all the major art centers, museums and galleries. After a year of workingI went back to college. This time on the other side of Canada in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Iwas planning to do a year of general art and design then do the design degree. It did-n’t work out so I did a fine art degree first then I got into the Visual Communicationsdegree program. I had a couple printmaking instructors that taught me more aboutdesign and communication than any of the design instructors. So I still owe a little bitof money for a fine art degree and a design degree.

As for people with no talent, I’m not one to judge what is good work or not good work,especially when it comes to art. Sometimes someone might be not a great drawer butis super funny and that makes up for any lack of technical skill. As for design, there aremany roles for those who prefer just to do work that is “good enough”. One has to becareful though, that is the kind of job that can be outsourced to India in a second.

Do you do all your drawings on the computer first, or pencil andpaper then to computer? What programs do you use?I tend to do all my drawings by hand then scan them and sometimes clean them up butfor the past while I like seeing that they were done by a human being, not a machine.As I work on more and more board graphics my ability to draw with just the computeris getting better. I use all the regular Creative Suite stuff (Illustrator, Indesign,Photoshop, Bridge and for web, Dreamweaver).

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You recently left your post at TWS and took a job with Element;was it a position that you set out to get or did they come call-ing? What are your duties at Element?I was hanging out one weekend with a friend, Jeff Dickson, who I worked with at Giant,and he has been with Element for a few years now. He was talking about how theyneeded someone as in-house Art Director / Designer. I told him it sounded like a greatthing and if I had another life to live, I’d be interested. Funny how things happen. Itturns out life had a curveball sent at me and I called Jeff to talk. Then I went in to meetwith Johnny Schillereff, Craig Metzger and Jeff, and a couple days later I was workingat Element. I’m the Hard goods Art Director. So Jeff establishes the line of boards andwheels to be done. I create a few of the boards and wheels, clean up and revise someof the art from in-house artists and help out with the submissions from Todd Francis, DonPendleton and other freelancers.

You designed some cool layouts at Transworld, what was it likeworking there? Was there any restrictions put upon you by cor-porate heads?Transworld was a great experience. Of course along with the free product been thrownour way there was a chance to shoot some photos, illustrate a couple things and writea tiny bit. I liked the pace of the production. It usually gave me and the Associate ArtDirector, Jason Lee, about a week and a bit to do research, take time off or just skatein the parking lot a bit more. At the time Transworld was owned by Time Inc. and thecovers had to be sent to a dude in New York. Once we had a formula of sorts settledthere wasn’t much messing around from Time.

Is Element giving you free reign on designs, or is it more of “wehave an idea that we’d like you to design” type of situation?With any design job there is a visual language that is specific to the “brand” and as anartist and designer you work with the vocabulary of that language. That doesn’t meanyou don’t create things that push the limits, that is what you hope to do. For instancesomethings don’t work for Element. If an artist did an asian girl being roasted on a fireas a graphic, that wouldn’t work, for Hookups or Blind more than likely. There are some-times concepts thrown my way that I just execute, mainly from guys like Muska.

Is it intimidating at all to work at Element knowing that someof skateboarding’s most recognized designers (Don Pendleton,Matt Irving, Todd Francis) have designed for Element?All those guys are so amazingly good at their thing. It is scary to see their stuff. Andsometimes having to mess around with it. But they all understand the process of devel-opment. At times things are worked on for a couple days and some sweat put into thedesign, only to have it be dropped. Maybe a kernel of an idea might work into some-thing else down the road.

What people, places, or things influence your drawings anddesigns?The area I live in is pretty suburban at times but with the desert, Los Angeles, San Diegoand Mexico being so close, I try to go do photo missions whenever possible. Of coursebooks and magazines are a constant source of inspiration. I have a room that is an officeand the whole closet is filled with shelves full of books and magazines. A buddy and Ihave talked about doing a Salton Sea trip soon. There are so many abandoned build-ings there.

What do you want people to take away from your art anddesigns?I guess I kind of separate the art and design. For design I want people to be communi-cated to in a way that is clear and interesting. For the art side of things I guess I wantto just entertain a bit with some funny characters in everyday situations.

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LOOKFORWARDTOTHEPAST

You’ve done designs for a lot of different brands like Emerica,Giant Dist, and Spy Optic, what were some of the most fun ormost rewarding projects that you’ve worked on? Are there anyprojects that you dread doing?I guess nothing phases me too much anymore. Catalogs used to scare me, but after afew years you get to enjoy that metallic taste of stress in your mouth as you send it tothe printer, usually just barely on time. I don’t consider anything too small of a project,even it might be something I could do in a couple minutes. I hopefully have learned thatsometimes everyone has to get in the trenches and do the things that might not be asglamourous, but it helps others get what they might need.

You work full time, make zines and update your website withnew artwork or photos almost daily, where do you find time forall your projects?I try to update lookforwardtothepast.com every week. It has been a labour of love forsure. At times it seems no one is noticing. But people mention to me once in a whilethey keep coming back. I guess I’m just good at time management and haven’t hadcable TV for a few years. Even if I’m watching a movie I tend to do a few drawings,unless it is a particularly good movie.

Is there a certain time of the day that you feel most creative?I’m a bit of a slave to routine. I can do my morning with my eyes closed. Of course nowI have a bit of a commute and my eyes are usually open. I think I’m best in the morn-ing and most productive before lunch. And then at night for my personal work, after askate, surf or nap I can get in a couple good productive hours of art.

How’d you get your drawings into Tony Hawk’s Project 8 VideoGame?A Canadian friend, John Dobbie, works for Neversoft and at his bachelor party up in BigBear he mentioned he could put my sketches in it. I didn’t think it would happen, andwhen he asked for some I gladly gave him some. And then wham! There they were,bigger than some of the skate company logos. Pretty cool. Would be fun to have some-thing in the next one. Or even better weird characters hanging out.

In your Zine “A Bit of Good” it mentions a 20 x 20 drawing proj-ect, can you elaborate on this?Um, it is a secret. Actually it is a series of 20 drawings that are 20x20 inches. It took2 years to get them all done. They are done and there is a chance Element is going tohelp me with the show and promotion of them. Still in the works though.

Do you have any current projects or shows coming up?Mainly the 20x20 project. It now seems like a movie that is done, but now needs tobe promoted and marketed. I’m working on a series of 4 boards that tie in with the proj-ect. Also need to get another zine done soon. Maybe a photo issue?

Randy updates his site quite regularly with photos, desktops and other art. You can check it out here: www.lookforwardtothepast.com

He also has quite a bit of art from his previous work experiences here:www.randylaybourne.com

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When I started working on this issue I had a list of people who I hopedcould contribute to this issue. Tucker’s name was on the top of that list,and when it came time, I emailed him. Tucker is probably the busiest guyin town; running a skateshop, doing art shows, designing shoes, plusmore, so I half expected a email to come a week later with a response like“Nah man, too busy right now, maybe next issue.” But instead, when Ichecked my email the next day a positive response from Tucker waited forme. He told me he would gladly contribute and to send him some ideas.

This was the hard part. If you don’t know Tucker, then you don’t realizehe’s talented in many aspects of art; drawing, photography, writing, etc...And trying to figure out something for him to do that would challenge himwould be a task. So after a couple of weeks of racking my brain, I cameup with this idea that was inspired by the Six Degrees of Separation. TheSix Degrees of Separation refers to the idea that, if a person is one stepaway from each person he or she knows and two stepsaway from each person who is known by one of the peo-ple he or she knows, then everyone is no more than six"steps" away from each person on Earth. So I had Tuckerchoose six people that heknows and write a little para-graph about them and include aphoto. Tucker replied back ask-ing when the deadline was, andsaid he’d have it to us then. Infuture issues, we will chooseone person from Tucker’s listand have them choose six peo-ple and on and on.

-Adam

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Dawn Candace Ice

We became friends because of a mutual friendintroducing us, thinking she could hook us up orsomething. Needless to say, that never happened,but we did become pretty good friends. Dawn andI (and others) had an art studio/ gallery togetherfor a while even. Those were the good ole days.Now we float in and out of each others lives butI never second guess our friendship. Did I say shemakes amazing art yet? I just did.

Eric William Carroll

I’ve known this goof since Mr. Setterholm’s 8thgrade geography class. Back then, I was gettingawkwardly hazed into the Tito Fan Club™. Thesedays I’m living with him. I’ve been skating,shooting photos, running galleries, climbingroofs, breaking stuff, making stuff, and gettinginto trouble with this dude for a lifetime already.Nowadays he’s a big shot artist on the come up.He is currently ripping the art world, but still ripping on a board. (We’ve got a miniramp in ourhome). As good of a friend as one could ask for.

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George Thompson

George was just a mysterious figure to me beforeI moved to the downtown Fobia years ago. Backthen he was the artist for both Fobia and Iota,on top of all his own work. For years, when Icould sneak away from the sales floor I’d go inback, and up to his art loft to see what he wasup to. Even when he wasn’t there, I’d still wantto check out his desk, and work. This guy is soridiculously talented I can’t even describe it inwords. On top of all this talent, he’s an out-standing human who has always been one of themost encouraging people to me and my art.

Samuel McGuire

Covers baby. This guy, this fucking guy. All come-dy, all the time. Totally knows the ins and outs ofgetting shit done, and taking skate photos that Ionly wish I had the patience to take. I wasalways kind of jealous of Sam and his ambitionto be “the” skate photographer in the cities. Hisshit is that good. He deserves all the attentionand recognition that he’s been getting. Bonus:If you are in Mazatlan with this dude, make sureto have him show you how regal he keeps it. It’ll blow your mind. Serious.

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Steve Nesser

Besides having to cope with his “I just got off a24-hour flight from the other side of the planet,check out this crazy idea I got while standing onMachu Pichu” affect, Steve is the raddest humanever. I literally have half a moleskin filled withTHE most amazing quotes that have ever beenrecorded, all from this one man. Everyone knowshow hard he tries on his skateboard, and thispast year’s Birdhouse movie part, and the 2 covers he got should shut anyone up who thinksotherwise. But what people might not know ishow considerate and generous he is. One of thefriendships that I have, that is like no other.Steve is my homeboy.

Tyler John Gerrick

Hermano, brother, evil Tucker, tg(squared). Tylerwas my very first friend, and is my only brother.We’ve been tight since he came into this world. Ibase part of who I am off knowing that he is alive,and who he is, and what he and I share. When Iwas but a wee lad myself, and looking up to theolder skate dudes in my neighborhood, I wouldoften get blown off. I always wanted to skate withthe big kids, and seldomly had the chance. But Ialways had Tyler, and he was always down toskate, play ping pong, build stuff. I always had afriend, maybe the best one I would ever have. Hedoesn’t really skate that much anymore, but he’sstill my original skate buddy. Thanks brodie.

Your debut album Showbiz Witch was recordedin one day, how long did it take to record FreshRot? How do the two albums compare to eachother?Fresh Rot came together, all told, in about fourdays (two weekends) and it would've taken closeto hundred years longer if our engineer (RobertDaniels) hadn't been such a virtuoso with hisequipment and so sympathetic to our sound. Therecords are really similar on a base level, wehaven't changed our minds about much, but Ithink that Fresh Rot is our attempt at playing theother side of the court. We wanted to make amore polished focused record and I feel we did..

Showbiz Witch was recorded in your loft/apart-ment and Fresh Rot was recorded in a studio.Did you get the sound you wanted to by record-ing it in studio?We were nervous to let go of that control but thestudio we worked in was so unique as far as setup, the live room has two-foot thick concretewalls, that we kinda thought it would be worthgiving it a shot. Robert was the perfect person forthe moment we were at and understood we didn'twant to go crazy with studio shit, he let us be aband and captured it.

Does Fresh Rot convey the same kind of feelingas your live show?No, but I don't think that it should. We workedhard at putting something down that was a littlemore focused and moody. It can't be a 24-hourrager. But we still have some cuts that are prettychaotic on the record. Live, we kinda let it fly offthe handle which would be an interesting recordfor about five minutes and then it would just gettedious.

What bands help influence Mannequin Men?Whoa. This is rough. Originally we were all aboutTubeway Army, The Wipers, Wire, and that lot.Now I think we're so all over the place. We're allgeeked by The Clean, and they inspire us a greatdeal. They were really clever in a way that didn'tovershadow the music, which is really really real-ly hard to do. Also, I think we all just really real-ly love early rock and roll like, Bobby Say, EddieCochran, Bo Diddley, and that kinda stuff. And Iwould be a complete liar if I said that we weren'tinfluenced by our friends and bands out here likeThe Ponys, Shopping, Vee Dee, Narrator, Office,all those dudes.

The artwork for Fresh Rot was done by GaryPanter; how did he get involved with it?Well, we were talking about what the covershould be and the question came up, "If we couldhave anyone in the world do it, who would it be?"After about ten seconds we thought of Gary. Hiswork for Pee Wee's Playhouse was the first artthat I encountered that encouraged me to beweird and fostered the idea that things don't haveto make sense. So, we wrote him a letter and heresponded saying he liked the stuff and would dothe cover. He's a fantastic man and the genuinearticle.

How'd the deal with Flameshovel come about?Well, we really needed some representation andwe had just recorded Fresh Rot, which we knewwould do at least o.k. in the right hands, so westarted talking to people and seeing what was outthere. Our buddy Miles talked to James about usI guess a few days before I emailed him asking ifthey were adding to their roster. We started talk-ing and trying to sort something out. There werea couple of other labels with some open interest,but we had this meeting with James and Jesseand they just were such genuine, wonderful,hard-working dudes that we canceled the showswe were going to play for these other labels andsaid 'fuck it'. I don't think I've ever been happierwith a decision I've made. They are great friendson top of it all and it's been a real blessing.

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Ethan also plays in The Watchers and Kevinalso plays in Perfect Panther, how do you spiltup time between each band? Is Mannequin Menjust a side project for those other bands, or theopposite?Well we've all always had multiple projects goingon which I think is great. You need to do differentshit and I think in Chicago, it's real easy to join ahundred bands because there's a bunch of greatstuff going on. But I don't think of it as side proj-ects or anything like that, it's just a good time.

I've read that Kevin works at a PR Firm andEthan is an artist, what other occupations tothe Mannequin Men hold? Would your ratherwork a 40 hr week or play in Mannequin Menfull time?Rick works delivering magazines and doing oddmoving jobs, recently just started working at anorganic food grocery store down here, Sethie istaking some time off the grind and just DJingand playing shows.... I think the answer to thelast part of that question is obvious...MannequinMen.

Ethan played in ska bands the Skalars andSkavoovie and the Epitones in the past, howwas playing in those bands compared to play-ing in Mannequin Men? How come your presssheets don't mention you as an ex-member ofthose bands, those could be great sellingpoints?Eth looks back on that stuff with the fondest ofglances, but I think it's just a different aestheticnow. Ska was HUGE then and I don't thinkMannequin Men are at that stage yet, hopefullysoon, but not yet. The craziest thing is that Kevinactually got Ethan's autograph after a Skavoovieshow before they had ever met each other, andhere they are nine years later playing in the sameband.

You once played a Halloween show dressed upas Velvet Underground, playing only covers,any plans to do this again?Well we did CCR last year and that was a riot too,but I think that maybe we need to just let that liveon in memory and not beat it into the ground.But who knows, we had talked about having ourfriend Beth Swierczewski be Blondie and backingher up since she was such a believable Nico forthe VU.

Rider: SamPhoto: Laura Austin

Echo Mountain ParkPhoto: Laura Austin

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Rider: Spencer Pratti - Switch HeelflipPhoto: Sam Mcguire

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