Memorial Day has come and gone, which means, unofficially, it’s summer. I love these long, carefree days—not that they’ve been truly carefree for quite some time. Not since I was in grade school or whatever, and summer meant I had two and a half months to fuck off. Still, summer feels carefree. Even if it really isn’t.

I still get really excited about Memorial Day weekend, though. It’s like that first weekend you can really let loose and go wild. Growing up on the East Coast, it was like the first time you could safely ditch your jacket and go out in short sleeves. It was probably the first time you could fire up the barbecue—unlike California where you can pretty much do that shit all year round (no matter what you guys seem to think).

Of course, we have this three-day weekend thanks to the service of our brave men and women in the military. Like many of you, I’ve had friends and family members who’ve made the sacrifice and served this country—through peacetime and war—and it’s wonderful that we dedicate a day to thank them. Sure, I usually spend Memorial Day weekend bombed out of my mind and eating a terminal amount of grilled meat products, but I guess that’s just how I show my gratitude.

I smiled as I saw my Facebook feed light up with people excited about where they were going to go or what they were going to do this past weekend, even though it was a working one here at Submerge. Maybe you made the trip up to the Sasquatch Music Festival, or piled in a car and drove down to somewhere on the coast. Maybe you just stayed home alone and ate your body weight in burgers. No matter what you did, I hope you enjoyed yourself. I know everyone has things they need to do, but they often forget that enjoying themselves is just as important—if not more so.

Still, if someone’s having a good time, there are people out there who want you to be miserable. That’s just the way it is. Maybe it’s because they’re assholes, or maybe they think they’re just being helpful, but they just love to be a bunch of fucking killjoys.

In addition to the wealth of holiday plans I saw dash across my Facebook feed, there were also plenty of posts admonishing those having a good time for supposedly not remembering what Memorial Day is all about, namely those who gave their lives in service of our country.

One meme that crossed my path was a photo of a woman lying facedown on the grave of a fallen soldier. Her face was in her palms. Clearly, the person who’d died was someone she held very dear. It’s definitely a photo that just the sight of will tug at many people’s heartstrings. It tugged at mine, but I’m a fucking sap.

The image speaks for itself, but someone thought it necessary to add a caption. “Memorial Day,” it said in big letters, followed by “In case you thought it was National BBQ Day,” as if it was the punch line of a joke.

I wish to God or Whoever that there was a National Barbecue Day, but I’m sure people would feel the need to pontificate about why we should feel guilty about enjoying that too, somehow. Like how people get pissy about Thanksgiving, because some link it to the stealing of America from American Indians, or how others get their panties in a bunch because we get a day off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, because they’re fucking idiot racists.

Whatever, dude. It’s a holiday, let’s just enjoy it. I know why we have Memorial Day. I know there are people out there who have made sacrifices that I could never dream of making. They gave their youth, and maybe even their lives, maybe not for me personally, but for an idea that they wanted to keep our country safe. That’s a really noble thing. It’s so noble that it’s difficult for me to fathom it.

I do give thanks to those who have served in the armed forces. I know that when I’m drinking beers or eating hotdogs that there are people out there who have died so I can do it, but if it’s true that they died protecting our freedom (and I think it is), then I guess people are free to party like they just don’t care on Memorial Day weekend. They’re free to hook up with people they’ll never speak to again in shore towns and lakeside cities all over the country. They’re also free to post things on Facebook that make me feel so guilty, I feel the need to write a column about it.

The Great Gatsby

Rated PG-13

Big summer movies aren’t just special effects and action-heavy blockbusters. Sometimes they’re just loaded with big name casts and tell familiar stories. Such is the case with The Great Gatsby—or at least that’s what you might think. Sure, our protagonists aren’t super powered; our antagonists don’t come from Planet Theta VI in the Glopglorp Galaxy, but to recreate the New York of the Roaring Twenties, director Baz Luhrmann green-screened it to the max in his retelling of one of America’s most quintessential novels. At times, it’s a marvel to look at, but if not for some killer performances by a stellar cast, this new take on Gatsby would have been very difficult to stomach.

If you’ve ever taken an introductory literature class, you’re most likely familiar with the story. Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) moves to West Egg in Long Island, just miles outside of New York City, to make his fortune as a bonds trader. His cousin, the beautiful but somewhat vapid Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), lives across the bay in the even wealthier East Egg with her domineering, white supremacist husband Tom (Joel Edgerton). However, it’s Nick’s next-door neighbor that holds the greatest fascination for him. Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a mysterious man who throws wild parties at his palatial mansion, attended by the upper crust of society looking to let go of their inhibitions. One fateful night, Carraway gets a personal invitation to one of these soirees and his life is never the same.

The movie opens in typical Luhrmann fashion. Time bends as he incorporates modern hip-hop (mostly courtesy of Jay-Z, one of the film’s executive producers) and ‘20s jazz. The camerawork is dizzying; the costumes and sets (or green screens for that matter) are lavish. It’s eye-catching to be sure, but it looks as if it could be a sequel to Moulin Rouge. Unfortunately, these are the finest parts of the film. With Luhrmann in his comfort zone, there is an excitement breathed into this well-worn novel. The modern touches show the timelessness and even the humor of the story—or at least the story’s more surface elements.

Later, as the plot gets heavier, and Luhrmann has to slow down and reign himself in, The Great Gatsby feels as if it’s being weighed down by a dozen anchors. In the climactic showdown between Gatsby and Tom in a posh New York hotel room, poor pacing kills what is an emotionally charged scene.

Perhaps Luhrmann was inspired by the excess of the period, but The Great Gatsby feels over-indulgent, which is a real shame considering a cast this good working with such great source material could have been riveting alone in an empty, unadorned room. Maguire plays the part of the man swept up in a plot that’s way over his head very well, and Mulligan is achingly beautiful in her portrayal of Daisy, the woman who has it all, but doesn’t seem to want any of it. Elsewhere, Elizabeth Debicki seems as if she stepped out of the pages of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel with her pitch-perfect portrayal of Jordan Baker.

But this is The Great Gatsby after all, so where would we be without the title character? DiCaprio was more or less born to play this role, and he doesn’t disappoint. He’s charming, frustrating and vulnerable (even funny when the script allows)—an iconic performance.

There’s a lot of things to like about The Great Gatsby, but most of these things are very skin deep. While the novel is presented more or less accurately, its thematic content is somewhat lost in the film’s focus on the love story between Daisy and Gatsby. At points it feels like a run of the mill rom-com, which probably would have Fitzgerald running to the nearest gin joint for a tumbler of bootleg booze. But you know how writers are.

A few days ago, Ray Harryhausen passed away. I got the news over Facebook, which is where I find out about all celebrity deaths nowadays. Most of the time, I’m not affected all that much, but this one hit me pretty hard.

You may or may not know who Harryhausen was, but he was one of the most influential figures in my life. He was a stop-motion animator who brought myths and gods to life. His film credits include Clash of the Titans, Jason and the Argonauts, Mighty Joe Young and One Million Years B.C. He was 92 years old.

When I was in kindergarten, I had a Clash of the Titans-branded lunch box—one of those tin jobs with the plastic Thermos inside. The front was a relief of the scene where Perseus, riding upon the winged horse Pegasus, stares down the monstrous Kraken, holding the severed head of Medusa aloft. I’d seen the movie more times than I could count. The Medusa scenes scared the shit out of me, so I usually covered my eyes for those, but I was completely blown away by what I was watching. There were giant scorpions emerging from the ground, blind witches, three-headed dogs and all kinds of other critters. I didn’t know who Ray Harryhausen was, mind you, but it was like I was watching magic on screen…the real kind, not that David Blaine shit.

I held onto that lunchbox for years, well into third grade even after some spillage had caused the interior to rust. My mother wanted to throw it out because that couldn’t have been healthy, but I begged her not to. She covered the inside with contact paper so I wouldn’t get sick from sticking my lunch in the nasty old box. Thanks, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day.

Monster movies were all I watched growing up. Anything Godzilla was good. Harryhausen didn’t have anything to do with those, but there was The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Both were favorites that I’d watch over and over again, and both were the result of Harryhausen’s painstaking craft. He’d build fantastic creature models and move them inch by inch, taking pictures with a 16mm camera and then blend them with live actors in such a way that you’d think they were actually real. Sure, if you compare it to the computerized wizardry of today’s special effects films, they’d look silly or childish, but there was a heart to Harryhausen’s work that’s lacking in modern movies.

It wasn’t until years later that I knew that all of these films could be traced back to one man. I admired him endlessly for it. When I was an adult, I had the privilege of interviewing him for another publication, and it was one of the biggest thrills of my life. I had to wake up in the wee hours of the morning and spoke with him over the phone from his home in England. I told him what a big influence he’d had on my life, and he seemed genuinely grateful and humbled to hear it. Here’s a guy who’d influenced important filmmakers like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, talking to me, who doesn’t have a resume nearly as impressive as those guys, and he was still so gracious. It was a moment I’ll cherish forever.

Though I didn’t know his name as a child, Ray Harryhausen was the first person who really inspired my imagination. This past winter, before he passed, I decided to get my first tattoo. I chose Bubo, the mechanical owl who’d helped guide Perseus through his adventure in Clash of the Titans. I got it to remind myself that even though I’m getting older and have a serious day job now that having an imagination is still important. If it wasn’t for Harryhausen, I probably would’ve ended up a banker or something like that. Maybe I should be upset, because if I had gone on to more lucrative pursuits, my credit rating wouldn’t be as shitty as it currently is, but I’ll be forever grateful to him for inspiring me to follow my creative passions. If it weren’t for his films, I probably would’ve never wanted to tell my own stories by becoming a writer. So, thanks, Ray. You will be missed.

Tera Melos may be the band least likely to succeed, but their latest album X’ed Out shows that their ceiling is extremely high

A band like Tera Melos may be stuck in a love it or hate it situation with most casual rock music fans. Their spastic brand of indie rock seems to tinker with the space-time continuum—at once pop-y and prog; enigmatically complex yet surprisingly hook-y. You’d think Tera Melos would be a niche market, and maybe they are, but that market is definitely expanding. When Submerge spoke with the band’s bass player Nathan Latona, Tera Melos was about to play a sold-out headlining gig at Brooklyn’s Knitting Factory. Latona was happy to point out that the band had also sold out a previous show in Chicago, and that demand was so high in Philadelphia, they had to add a second date. It’s a nice surprise for Latona and company.

“I think we’re underdogs in our own mind,” Latona says. “We’re not writing for an audience. Since we wrote the first song, we’re always expecting people to hate it.”

But audiences are buying what Tera Melos is selling, and that should continue to be the case with the release of the band’s newest full-length album X’ed Out. Released April 16, 2013, it is Tera Melos’ second album with drummer John Clardy and reveals a confident and cohesive band.

Fans of the group will get the diversity they’ve come to expect from Tera Melos—that deft genre bending and musical acumen that has been the Sacramento-based group’s signature. However, those who may be uninitiated won’t be intimidated by the band’s intense musicianship. While X’ed Out is far from three-chord pop in 4/4 time, there is a psychedelic catchiness to many of the songs, such as “Tropic Lame,” which is a sugary piece of post-punk bubble gum, full of dirty hooks and squalling feedback. Later, the palpitating guitars and dizzying rhythmic stomp of “Until Lufthansa” keeps X’ed Out’s energy on the rise even as the album draws toward its close. The smooth and open feel of the songs could stem from the calm atmosphere in which the album was created.

“Instead of focusing on [the songs] so much, it was like, this is cool,” Latona says. “I’m not going to overanalyze it in the practice room. Let’s just roll with it.”

Latona took the time to speak with us about the new album and also the death of a metal legend in the following interview.

How does it feel to be selling out shows in big East Coast cities?
It’s great. It’s weird because this is the first little run where this has ever happened. I still expect…like, I’m still in this mindset of, like, I wonder if people are going to watch our band and hang out. But it’s like, oh yeah, they are. For the most part that’s why they’re here.

I saw on your Twitter feed today that you guys were posting shout outs to Jeff Hanneman of Slayer who’d just passed away.
I actually hadn’t even heard of that until just now. I think Nick [Reinhart, guitar/vocals] posted that.

I know it’s really different from the kind of music you guys play, but are you all Slayer fans?
Not really. I probably couldn’t name more than one or two Slayer songs. Even the other day, I heard a song and asked if it was Slayer or Metallica, because I’m not really into either band. But it’s cool. The stuff that I heard, I appreciate the musicianship, but I think it’s one of those bands, if you’re just a casual fan, you probably act like you’re more into the band than you actually are. I think Slayer probably only has diehard fans who know all the shit. Maybe I’ll go through a Slayer phase in a little bit, who knows?

I think everyone goes through a Slayer phase at some point. I did.
The song I was listening to the other day, I was like, if I could separate myself from knowing anything that I knew about Slayer…like, say I didn’t even know what metal was, that I could listen to the guitar work without any preconceived notions, it’s really cool.

I was listening to X’ed Out today. I’d seen something that Nick said in the bio, that you set out to make a simple record, but it didn’t turn out that way. Did you have a mission when you went into the studio this time around?
Not really a mission…mission sounds so predetermined. It was more of just, hey, let’s not beat ourselves up over a lot of this stuff. Let’s allow ourselves a little more leeway when writing a lot of these parts, like, let things be a little more open. There would be a lot of parts where we’d be like, I like what I’m playing, but maybe when we’re recording, I’ll do it this way or do something different. It wasn’t like, this is the way it is. I think we were all open to stuff we’d come up with being a little malleable if need be.

Did that come from more confidence in what you were doing, or in the past had you been hypercritical of your own music?
I think it’s a combination of the two. We didn’t want to write in the way we’d always written, just to keep it fresh. It’s a little bit that we’ve moved on. This is our second record with John, so there’s not all this pressure of what we’re going to do with this new record…The band is established as this lineup, so there’s a little more weight lifted off. It didn’t feel like there was as much importance or seriousness this time around. It was a lot more fun.

You’re growing into your skin a little bit, maybe? Do you feel like you’ve established your sound by now?
Yeah, exactly. It’s funny because you mentioned that we’d planned on doing something a little simpler. I think it’s not necessarily simple, but a lot of ideas are a little more refined with this release.

Where were you coming from with this album? What were the ideas you were looking to explore?
I don’t know. That one’s kind of difficult. We’ve been so busy, we haven’t had time to stop and think. The writing process was really cool. There weren’t times after practice where we were like, fuck, what are we doing? This is so draining. Because it was writing the last record.

What was it about the last record that was so draining? Was it just that you were breaking in a new drummer?
Yeah, it was breaking in a new drummer, and feeling like we had eyes and ears on us from people who did know us who wanted to see what would happen with a new drummer. Like I said earlier, the idea of trying to prove to people that even though we had a new lineup, we would still be an interesting band and write interesting music. I guess with the last record, I felt there was more something to prove than there was with X’ed Out.

As a bass player, how is your chemistry with John now that you’ve had more time to work together?
I’ve always kind of felt like that with him. That’s one of the reasons why we chose him. Being a bass player and part of the rhythm section, he knows how to play with other people, and he’s good to play along to, which is funny. You’d think with drummers that would be a natural thing, but I’ve played with people before, just for fun, and they really don’t know how to play with somebody.

You said before that you’d tried something different with the writing process this time around. What was the process like for X’ed Out?
Since we all live in different places—John still lives in Texas—Nick will send a guitar scratch track to just get an idea for it… when we do get into a room, we have a place to start from. Sometimes the vibe of what I came up with didn’t jive with the vibe of what John came up with or what Nick had envisioned for the song. Instead of being down about that this time around, it was cool. I was really down to edit and have more fun in the room—the feeling of anything is possible when we’re in the room and editing that down. I spent more time editing out my parts when I was on my own time. When I say editing, I do mean what can I take out and do differently? On the last record, I played this range or I would play this busier. Maybe I’m going to go outside my comfort zone. Maybe these two root notes are really cool; maybe I’ll just mash on these a little bit.

It sounds like this process taught you a lot about your own playing.
Definitely. It’s been a progression since the last record, where I started paying attention a lot more to what I was doing and how it fit with what Nick was doing. Like, I’m playing with guys who are really good. I need to do some useless noodling too. With the last two records, that’s become a lot less interesting to me. I don’t like a lot of crazy bass players. I grew up loving Primus, and I think that’s awesome, but I can’t do what Les Claypool does, and I’m cool with that. I can play stuff that I think is really cool and creative, that I feel like is outside the box, but Les Claypool is awesome because he’s Les Claypool. If everyone was able to do that, it wouldn’t be so astonishing to see it.

I’m not comparing anything I’ve done to Les Claypool in any way. I’m just saying the approach and focus for people who are into a band like ours is the playing and the technicality. But I like a lot of plain, complementary Pixies bass lines. I think a lot of that stuff is really awesome. I like the way it complements the songwriting. To me that’s a lot cooler and more impressive at this point.

Tera Melos’ X’ed Out is out now via Sargent House Records. You can see the band live in San Francisco at Bottom of the Hill on May 25, 2013 (TTNG and E V Kain will also perform). For more info about Tera Melos, look them up on the ol’ Facebook (Facebook.com/teramelosmusic).

Evil Dead

Rated R

Evil Dead producers Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell made it clear to the media leading up to the remake of their cult horror movie classic that Evil Dead would be a new vision of horror for a new generation. To bring this new vision to life, they turned to Uruguayan director Fede Alvarez, who wasn’t even 3-years-old when the original The Evil Dead premiered in Detroit. As it turned out, new blood (pun intended) did this franchise very good.

As a diehard fan of the original, I was at first resistant to the idea of a remake. Even when they’re good, it’s difficult to judge remakes on their own merits. I’ll do my best to refrain from comparing Alvarez’s film to Raimi’s classic here, but I fear that will be inevitable. Please, bear with me.

The story is simple. A group of young people ventures to a desolate cabin, a la the 1981 film, where they find a mysterious book and unwittingly unleash a night of unholy terror upon themselves. This time around, though, our protagonists’ decision to isolate themselves in Bumfuck, Nowhere, is not without purpose. Mia (Jane Levy) has been struggling with heroin addiction and detoxing from drugs, and her friends, led by her largely absentee brother David (Shiloh Fernandez), sequester themselves in the remote locale to stand by her as she tries to kick the habit cold turkey.

The cabin used to be Mia and David’s family’s retreat but fell into disrepair over the years from lack of use. But in the time the siblings have been away, others have used the dwelling for their own nefarious ends, and the woods surrounding the cabin have become infested with ancient demons. Things go from creepy to absolutely terrifying when Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) goes poking around in an ancient tome that he has no business messing around with.

Evil Dead is exactly six minutes longer in runtime than its predecessor, but seems to get less things accomplished plot-wise. Alvarez, who also co-wrote the screenplay spends more time on characterization than delving into the mythos behind the evil that lurks in the woods. The film is still tight because he sticks by his choice, but feels emptier than the original somehow without a clear understanding of what’s going on.

I promised that I wouldn’t compare it to The Evil Dead, and I’m sorry. But I swear I’ll leave it at that. While Evil Dead clearly takes cues from the original, it really is its own monster—a savage, unrelenting and frightening monster the likes of which has been lacking from horror movies for the past God knows how many years. In some respects, it is Evil Dead for a generation of horror fans weaned on the flaccid torture porn of the Saw and Hostel franchises. Horrible things happen to these characters—especially Eric, who becomes sort of a human pincushion by film’s end. Nails are driven through bones, people chop off their own arms…it’s nasty, gnarly stuff, free of the campy grotesqueness of the original (I swear I’ll stop now).

That being said, this is as visceral a film experience as you’re likely to have this year (and probably next year for that matter). Alvarez manages to capture the extreme gore and violence with such an artful eye it’s almost beautiful. Pale, muted colors paint a grim and foreboding picture of the forest surrounding the cabin, and wonderfully crafted creature makeup creates nightmarish demons that still appear to have a human soul.

For horror fans, this is a must-see in the theater. It’ll make you think back to a time when horror movies made you squeamish and cackle with terror, and not just because they pulled that bullshit you-think-it’s-the-psycho-killer-but-it’s-actually-a-cat sort of way. You’ll jump because there’s a flesh-hungry demon lurking behind the bathtub shredding off its own face with a shard of broken glass. Tread carefully into those woods, my friends, and don’t go alone.

Jason Mewes has had his share of ups and downs, but he’s living proof that getting old ain’t so bad

Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes have been embroiled in Generation X’s signature bromance since the early ‘90s. As Jay (Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith) in the runaway indie success (in a decade of runaway indie successes) Clerks, the two forged an unlikely, yet iconic, screen partnership that has lasted for decades. Their onscreen bond, however, pales in comparison to the off-screen friendship the two have shared over the years, which has been marked by many ups and downs due to Mewes’ substance addiction. Mewes is clean now, however, and the Dynamic Duo is back together once again in animated form in the new film Jay and Silent Bob’s Groovy Cartoon Movie, which explores the characters’ super hero alter egos Bluntman and Chronic.

Our originally scheduled interview with Mewes was cancelled and rescheduled due to illness. However, two hours after our original interview time, Mewes called us back unexpectedly, ready to go. The following is a transcript of our conversation. As it turns out, Mewes’ new healthy lifestyle has had some drawbacks.

Hi Jason, are you feeling better?
Not really, but I had another interview, and I was going to cancel that one, too. It’s goofy, but I’m trying to do this juice cleanse. My buddies were telling me that it makes you feel really good and all that, and all I’ve got is this really, really bad headache and I feel horrible. And it’s only been half of a day doing it. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to hold out. The thing is, I don’t even know how good it is for you… My buddy said it’s really good, he felt so much better afterwards. I was like, OK, let’s try it. But it’s weird. I’m used to eating. I drink a lot of Coke and sugar. I feel like that’s giving me a bad headache.

I saw on your Twitter that you were trying a juice cleanse. I’ve always been morbidly fascinated with those. I don’t think I have the willpower to pull off something like that.
I’m learning that right now. I was like, yeah, I can do it for three days. That seems easy. Now it’s been like, seven or eight hours, but by the second hour, I was so hungry. If I’m doing two interviews, and it’s like an hour long, I’m like, if I’m hungry, I’m going to go make food. I keep doing that. I’m like, Oh, I’m going to go get food. But I can’t do that. I can’t eat food. I’m going to see what happens. I don’t know if it’s worth the headache. I’m not going to give up and eat a double-double Animal Style or a pizza, but something lighter I think.

How do you like doing voice work as opposed to acting on camera? Is it more difficult for you to get into voiceover stuff?
I do like the fact that you can just get in there and you don’t have to get in makeup and hair and getting wardrobe on and all that stuff. I love that, and I love seeing the animation, because you can be playing a monkey or a dragon or something like that…

Do I like it better than acting? I’d say I like them both equally, because acting is cool too. You get to put on cool clothes and shoot the guns and make out with girls. Especially being married, it’s sort of a loophole. I get to make out with attractive women if it’s written in the scene. It’s not bad! But both are lot of fun.

Honestly, I love everything about the entertainment business. I’d really like to direct more. I directed a music video and a PSA…it was a small PSA, but I still got to direct, and that’s a good feeling. And producing was awesome—getting to start something and watching it get finished. Everything to do with that, and traveling, and having people watch it and laugh, or when they get close to laughing but not laugh, all that stuff is just amazing.

You mentioned that being an actor is like a loophole for making out with other women. I saw a vampire movie you’d starred in, Bitten, on Netflix, which had a few racy scenes. How does your wife feel about stuff like that, and were you married at the time of that movie?
We were dating. She was onset for a couple of scenes. Luckily, she’s pretty cool with it. For one, I think she knows I’d never do anything. But I think she knows it’s the acting. Sometimes she’ll make funny little comments like, “You looked like you liked that too much,” so she’s always busting my chops. She doesn’t really care, which is good, because you’d hear on the set, “I told him I had to make out with someone in this scene and now he’s all pissed off.” Luckily that’s not the situation. My wife’s involved with the company and being a part of the travel and everything. Now we do these podcasts where all I talk about is sleeping with women and tea-bagging them and weird stories that have happened to me. When we started dating, I never really told her how many girls I’d slept with. Now through the years of doing the podcast [Jay and Silent Bob Get Old], she’s like, you never told me there were that many. I was like, well, you know, I didn’t think it was necessary to tell you the exact number. She likes that I’m working and not sitting around, because there have been moments when I relapsed, after we’d been dating for a couple of years, I relapsed, and for a period, I’d just sit around and be fucked up, and I was lying to her. In her head, I think she knows that I’m working and I love it, and that’s all there is.

I was listening to the podcasts today, a recent one you did. Is it a trip for you to think that you do these live events for quite a few people, and they come to hear you bullshit back and forth for a while? They’re basically just coming to hear you and Kevin have a conversation.
It is odd. And people will say they’ve traveled a four-hour drive or something like that. It’s surreal to think that it’s been going on for over 100 episodes. I remember wanting to do a podcast with Kevin, because I’d filled in for Scott Mosier once. We did it in Kevin’s office. I’d never thought about doing one live. Then we did one live, and I was like, wow, this is exciting. You could feed off the energy of the audience. I thought maybe we would go and tell the stories that I got high, and Kevin was pissed and upset, but then I got sober and then I didn’t and maybe it would go for 30 or 40 episodes and then we’d be out of stories, but then we just kept thinking of more and more. Now we’re traveling to Australia, London and Scotland, and I’m just like, wow, people want to hear us talk and we’re all the way in Australia?

It’s pretty surreal. The whole thing is.

Me being where I am is surreal. I didn’t plan on acting, I was roofing, and then Kevin said, “I wrote a character for you, and he’s based on the way you act—how you’re obnoxious and pull your balls out all the time.” I was like, sure. Now it’s 20 years later…

I remember seeing Clerks as a teenager. It’s crazy to think something that was done for such a small amount of money made such an impact. I don’t want to make it sound pretentious or anything, but everyone I know can quote that movie.
Yeah, it’s awesome. I can only imagine how Kevin feels. He talks about it, but, yeah, he had a bunch of people talking in a convenient store, and it changed his life—and my life. Him writing me in there, and the movie getting picked up changed both our lives. It’s surreal and amazing.

You were talking about some of the stories you’ve told on the podcast, and I heard Kevin say that this is like an effort to keep you on track with staying off drugs. And you’re really open on the podcast about pretty much anything. Is there anything you draw the line at?
Not so far. I feel like there hasn’t been much. Again, the whole purpose of that is that it does help. There hasn’t been anything, because I figured after telling people the first 10 episodes that I was shooting dope in toilet water, if people thought I was disgusting and didn’t respect me after that, then it didn’t matter what I said after that. I feel like being honest, and to me it helps. There hasn’t been anything I haven’t wanted to talk about yet, which is good, because I want to do more.

With characters like Bluntman and Chronic, the drug references are there. Being a recovering addict, is that something you’re squeamish about, to explore that kind of humor?
No, the character is a pot head, and I have nothing against pot. I think pot is good. I really think it helps people with illnesses who can’t eat. My mom was sick and passed now, but she couldn’t eat unless she smoked pot or took Marinols, which are THC pills, so I’m all for that. I don’t crave that, and I don’t crave alcohol. I like alcohol and getting buzzed and going out dancing and hooting and hollering, but I don’t crave that. That’s what the characters talk about. They don’t talk about smack or crack or oxycodones, which were my drugs of choice.

I heard on the podcast that Kevin is working on Clerks 3. Have you gotten a glimpse of that script yet?
Not yet. I hope that all works out, honestly. I hope that after we tour Canada and the United States with the cartoon and things go as planned, we’ll go into Clerks 3 right after that. I know that Kevin seems really passionate about the story he wants to tell, and I think it’ll be the perfect way to do a Clerks trilogy and put an end to that universe. Even though Clerks 2 was the last View Askew thing, but I feel like a Clerks 3 would just add to it. So hopefully that pans out.

Middle Class Rut pushes their boundaries on their latest release

Sacramento natives Zack Lopez and Sean Stockham reached new heights when their band Middle Class Rut struck rock radio gold with the single “New Low” in 2010. Now the band is back with their sophomore release, Pick Up Your Head, which not only expands the band’s boundaries musically, but also will see their live roster grow.

Stockham discussed MC Rut’s new members and the process behind creating Pick Up Your Head in the following interview.

Zack and I were talking about how you put a band together for the road. How does it feel opening up MC Rut to new musicians?
At some point during the recording of the record, it became obvious that there was no way we were going to be able to do these songs as a two-piece, unless we used computers and that never felt natural. So, I think we knew we were going to have to try to find some people, and that’s the shittiest thing you could do. It’s sort of like going out and looking for friends, because not only do they have to work musically, but you have to like them and you have to spend a lot time with them, and they have to be able to work for peanuts because we can’t pay people a ton of money. Through our little network and other friends, we found a group of dudes. We just got into a room and instantly started playing a bunch of songs. We didn’t even give it a chance to see if we liked each other. It worked so well musically, so we went down to Austin [Texas] that was our first outing as a full five-piece band and had a really good time. We felt that the shows were really good, and we get along really well with these guys. We’re stoked, but I don’t know how people are going to feel about it. I’m guessing that a lot of people who like our band like us because of the two-piece thing. Not to bring up another obvious two-piece band, but if you went to see The White Stripes, and there were a lot of other people on stage, you’d be like, “Aw man, I just came here to see Jack and Meg.” I’m hoping people are a bit more open-minded to it. We can’t do something just because people expect us to do it, or because that’s what we’re known for. That sounded gimmicky to us, and believe me, if we thought we could pull it off as just a two-piece band, it would be so much easier and so much cheaper to do it that way, but at least for this run off this record, we’re going to do it like this. We might experiment doing some songs as a two-piece and the rest as a full band. I don’t know how it’s going to work yet, but we like these dudes, so we hope everyone else does too.

The shows went well in Austin, but it sounds like you’re a little bit apprehensive…but the musical chemistry seems good, so I guess that’s the most important thing.
Yeah, I think that’s the thing. Once you have a really good show where everyone is jamming together on the same page, it just feels good and you stop worrying about it. Like I said, my apprehension comes from how the few people who actually know our band and like us will react to it, but it feels good so far.

Zack and I were talking about all the stuff you used on the record as percussive instruments—hardwood floors, pots and pans. What kind of stuff are you bringing live?
He’s pretty creative and got into the whole idea of trying to come up with different things to make these sounds. He’s got a couple of brake drums from an old truck, a couple of trash can lids from Home Depot. He’s put cymbals on top of other cymbals and broken them. Everything is trashy and loud. There’s no shakers or anything like that. It’s almost like Stomp!, just loud and nasty shit to hit. I’m sure it’s going to be something that evolves over time too.

From the sound of it, it doesn’t sound like you’ll have to worry too much about people not being into it.
I don’t think so. I think it’s going to be fun, more fun than in the past. Anyone who’s that closed-minded who’d only like our band as a two-piece, I could take or leave those people.

Being a drummer and having someone else to feed off of, have you noticed the songs changing from your end live? Did it reenergize any of the songs for you?
We haven’t played all that much old stuff yet, all the stuff I’ve been used to playing for years. I’m curious to see if that changes at all, if he’s playing with me. The new stuff, that was probably the biggest challenge of this new stuff, the drums and the guitar are just background. They’re playing supportive roles to the vocals and the overall song. Eveyrone’s playing the supporting role. When Zack and I first started this thing, jamming as drums and guitars and screaming into a microphone, it’s was just a barrage of shit happening. The hardest part has been having to calm down a little bit and actually having to listen a little while you’re playing and remind yourself why you’re having to chillax a little bit because there are all these elements that are happening. I don’t need to distract from those by being crazy drummer guy.

When I was talking to Zack, it sounded like the songs are built backwards in a way by starting with the percussive parts and then building the songs around that. Being a drummer that must have been a pretty neat feeling.
I love that the result is always a really beat driven song, and I think that’s something we’re never going to get very far away from. We both feed off that beat. We could write an entire song to no music as long as there’s just a beat happening, probably a lot easier than we could write a song if there was no drums but just a guitar line. That’s how the one song that I wrote lyrically on this record started out. I was jamming just drums in the room, I recorded a couple beats and then I went out into a room and started singing acapella over these beats. We’re definitely very beat oriented.

It sounds like how a rap song would be written.
It is, man, and that’s why we’ve always felt something in common with that kind of music. Maybe we don’t really know what that means or how to fit that in, but we’ve spent a lot of time collaborating with hip-hop people because there’s something in common with that.

You can hear that in the way you were talking about how the beats and the music are just background to the songs.
That’s always been the two different sides of this band from the get-go. We’ve had that one side that’s guitar and drums rock ‘n’ roll music that’s written that way, with Zack and I in the room jamming for hours and hours until something comes out. Then there’s the other side where the two of us are in the lab with a computer and a pair of drumsticks to hit whatever’s around you in the room to build a beat like someone would build a beat for a rapper. It gives you such different results. It’s almost two completely different sounds. I love those two sides of our band. We’ve found even more success on that side of things, with songs like “New Low”…”New Low” was totally put together that way. It was built as a beat on a toolbox and over the course of a day, just building, building, building and adding to that song. The same song could not have came out if it was written from our normal positions behind the drums and guitars.

Has this sort of hip-hop producer side of the band won out more on Pick Up Your Head?
Yeah, this album is definitely more beat-based, and assembling the songs in a totally different way. We’ve been jamming together for so long. We found a tape we’d made that was dated 1996. You could imagine that if you’re doing something for so long, you can get a little bit bored. If I’m always behind the same drum kit, and he’s always behind the same guitar, things are going to sound reminiscent of things you’ve already done years ago. I might have my go-to beat that I play, and his go-to beat that he plays. It was like, what do we do? The only thing you can do is totally rearrange the process and do something completely different. What’s awesome about that is that it’s not only this breath of fresh air and you get this new sound, but you get this new excitement for doing it, because it feels like something new. It feels like it did when you were a kid and you first started playing music and everything was new, but now we’re 30 years old, we’ve been doing it for half our lives or longer. We need to switch things up and keep things fresh.

Did you listen to that old rehearsal tape you found?
We don’t even need to. We don’t really need to listen to that one.

There’s a lot of layering on these tracks. Did you hear right away what each songs needed or was there an experimentation factor behind that?
Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes it’s really obvious. Sometimes the song asks for what needs to be added. Then sometimes you’re listening to it and it sounds a little light or a little empty. It was everything from A to Z with these songs. Some of them came really easy and were maybe a bit more minimal, and some of the other ones were a bit of a struggle to get them out.

Did you produce this one yourselves also?
Yeah, and that’s the other thing. We’re not used to going into the studio and saying, OK, we’re going to make the record on this date. It’s an ongoing thing. I guess we’re just used to that. We’re also used to combining the writing and the recording process all into one. We try to do that still. We try to go into a room and just write, but we don’t have a whole lot of luck doing it that way. The computer or whatever’s being used to record has to be ready and running, because that’s just the way we work.

So you’re just constantly working on stuff?
That’s why the idea of working with your traditional producer kind of guy, we just really don’t know how that would work. Maybe with these new guys in the band, we’ll do something that’s more straightforward. Maybe we’ll write a couple songs during sound checks that will be rock songs, and we’ll have someone come in and produce it in the traditional way. As long as we’re doing more—I don’t even know what you’d call it—like assembled beat stuff, that stuff is just going to have to grow organically.

Pick Up Your Head will be released by Bright Antenna on June 25, 2013. In the meantime, you can be sure to get a taste of the band’s new material and expanded lineup when they play Cesar Chavez Park in Sacrmento on May 10 with Jonny Craig and others. Best part? The show is FREE. Check out the video for “Aunt Betty” online at Mcrut.com. If you’re in the Sacramento region, grab our current issue to read our companion interview with Zack Lopez.

Last week was certainly a banner time for civil rights in America. On March 26 and 27, 2013 The U.S. Supreme Court conducted two days of hearings in regards to same-sex marriage, specifically California’s Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriages, and the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which limits federal benefits and interstate marriage recognition to heterosexual couples. Clearly, both of these things are highly discriminatory. The Supreme Court’s decisions on these matters, however, were slightly murkier.

I’m not sure how anyone can look at either Prop 8 or DOMA and not say, “OK, that’s kind of fucked.” I’m not an alarmist, but if you can’t see that either is no different than saying African Americans have to use a separate bathroom from whites, there must be something wrong with you. If you believe either of these should exist in the world’s shining example of a democratic society, how can you even exist in a cultural melting pot such as this? Maybe we can find you a country that’s more homogenous. I’m sorry to offend you (OK, I’m not), but it’s true. It’s tough love, dude.

And please don’t quote the Bible to me. I’ve read the Bible. I know all about that little chapter all the way back in Leviticus where God’s all, hey, dudes, don’t sleep with dudes. I promise I won’t point to the part where it also says you shouldn’t wear clothing woven of two different materials. Shit was rough back when the Old Testament was written. Having a bunch of ridiculous rules was most likely a necessity for the survival of the species. People didn’t have the life expectancies that we have now. There weren’t doctors or over-the-counter cold remedies. Our ancestors were wandering the desert, dying of flesh-eating plagues and probably getting mauled to death by saber-tooth tigers or pterodactyls or whatever was alive back then. We have Burger Kings now. I’m not sure all those rules really apply any more.

So, God said so just doesn’t seem to hold water any more, especially considering Jesus came along later and said, “Bro, love your neighbors” (paraphrasing). If you take religion out of the equation, what’s really the problem? I don’t see why it matters who marries who. It’s marriage; half of them don’t last anyway.

OK, wait, I’m not a cynic. I believe in love (or whatever). I’m sure it happens to people all the time. I’d bet it could last, too, regardless of whether it’s between two men, women or a woman and a man. I’ve seen the Twilight movies. I’m a romantic. I guess that’s why this whole thing bothers me so much.

It was a pretty big deal that the Supreme Court would hear these cases, and really it’s about time. A solid majority of Americans support same-sex marriages and 80 percent of Americans ages 18 to 29. Clearly, it’s a matter of time.

For two days, the highest court in the land heard all kinds of arguments on both sides and fired back quips and questions to attorneys and to one another. In the end, not much really happened, other than a lot of people changing their profile pictures on Facebook (it was really confusing for me). The Supreme Court didn’t really weigh in on whether same-sex marriage was legal or illegal. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, believed to be the swing vote between the liberal and conservative factions of the Supreme Court, admitted that he was worried about the court being asked to wade in “uncharted waters.”

Change is difficult. It takes time, but clearly it will get there. Just the fact that cases like these made it to such a high court indicate that, eventually, marriage will be the equal right for all Americans, as it should be. And hey, since we’re on the topic of marriage, as it turns out, I’m a registered minister and would love to officiate your ceremony. Gay or straight, Pastor Jimmy B. does not discriminate (it took me days to come up with that slogan). The best part is, I work cheap, as long as you have an open bar at the reception. Just throwing that out there.

So be emboldened, people, and be happy that a day of marriage equality is not too far off. In the meantime, please, do me a favor. Change your profile pictures back to normal. You made your point and I support you 100 percent, but I have a hard enough time remembering who’s who without everyone sporting the same profile picture. It’s one of the drawbacks of my advanced age.

– By James Barone
jb@submergemag.com

Black Mackerel’s brand of metal is a musical punch to the gut

Music has gotten progressively safer since the ‘90s—even metal. Nifty programs like ProTools have smoothed out a lot of the mistakes that used to make records sound more human, and the heavy use of effects have made guitars into sorts of musical science projects. These aren’t necessarily bad things—just another step in the constant evolution of rock music. Still, that’s why it’s refreshing to hear a band such as Black Mackerel, Sacramento’s grungiest and most primal metal band.

Black Mackerel’s frontline consists of Rotten Scotty Gardner (vocals and guitar) and Scott Clayton (bass and vocals), a couple of working class guys you’d be hard pressed to find a photo of without beers and cigarettes in hand, they say. They have day jobs and responsibilities—Gardner has an 11-year-old daughter—but armed with their instruments, the duo is capable of unleashing unholy levels of whoop-ass through their music. On Feb. 28, 2013, Black Mackerel released Fight or Flight, the band’s first album, which is adorned with a beheaded chicken on its cover.

It’s just eight-tracks deep, but it’ll only take a quick listen to realize the cover image is quite fitting. Songs such as opener “Poison Death Motor” and “Good Friend” are grueling, bottom-heavy grinders sure to get your gut rumbling and your head banging. Powerful riffs, brutal bass hooks (“Evilkenevil” is as catchy as it is heavy) and the full-throttle drumming of Slade Anderson punctuate what is sure to be one of the most memorable local releases of the year—in any genre.

The intense interplay of Gardner’s guitar work and Clayton’s bass playing stands at the forefront of the album. It’s a sort of sludgy stew—hot, chunky and wholly satisfying. Clayton, a guitarist by trade, brings a guitarist’s mentality to playing the bass.

“I keep the bass on the bottom end…but I totally play it like a guitar,” he says. “I just treat it like it’s a four-string rhythm guitar. I can slap-pop and do all that shit with my fingers. I could probably be a real bass player if I wanted to, but that’s not really how I want to play. I want to be rhythm guitar on the bass.”

“Scott is like the lead on the bass, and I’m more of the rhythm,” Gardner interjects. “We do everything a little bit backwards.”

Forwards or backwards doesn’t seem to matter, whatever they’re doing is working. But Black Mackerel almost didn’t make it this far. The band actually formed back in 2004, but with the passing of original drummer Kenny Mackrel, the band’s namesake who took his own life back in 2007, Black Mackerel’s future seemed unsure.

“We were going to quit, but Kenny’s brother Dennis told us don’t quit, keep it going,” Gardner says. “We went a couple of years with another drummer, and it was good, but it was kind of stagnant.”

Enter Anderson, with whom Gardner and Clayton also play alongside in thrash-punk forefathers Condemned?, a band that holds the distinction of having one of the first releases on venerable metal label Nuclear Blast. Gardner says that Anderson is “one of those drummers who won’t stop playing in practice.” This left Gardner and Clayton with two choices, “get mad or just start jamming,” Gardner says.

Gardner credits Anderson with getting the current incarnation of Black Mackerel up and running.

“I don’t want to stroke him too much, because when he reads this, he’s going to think he’s the bee’s knees,” he jokes. “He was kind of the catalyst for everything we’re doing now. Everything just started to pick up songwriting and gig-wise. He just started to pull it together somehow.”

“Slade’s been in every band there ever was,” Clayton adds. “It certainly didn’t take that much to make it work.”

Gardner describes Black Mackerel’s writing process as “open ended,” in which everyone has a say as to the direction of the songs. Given Anderson’s always-be-drumming mentality, and Clayton and Gardner’s eagerness to keep up, new songs can happen at any time.

“These guys will write something while I’m in the bathroom sometimes,” Clayton says. “Those two are just going off while I’m taking a piss. I’ll come back and I’ll hear a song, I’ll be like, ‘Don’t stop doing that!’”

Gardner even wrote a song on a short-scale Fender guitar belonging to his daughter, who also sings and plays violin; however, she has yet to develop an ear for metal.

“She’s into New Direction, or One Direction or whatever the fuck that is…Nicki Minaj and all that. I’m hoping she’ll get over it, but whatever,” he says. I don’t care what she’s playing as long as she’s into something good like music.”

Gardner says that a lot of songs Black Mackerel has written since Anderson joined the group didn’t even make it to Fight or Flight, though they may be released at some point down the road. And Clayton adds that the band is looking to write more songs to progress their sound even further.

The band’s immediate future, however, will involve playing shows here and there to promote Fight or Flight.

“We all have bills and day jobs, so we can’t take off more than four or five days at a time,” Clayton says. “We love going on the road. If they’d pay us, we’d be doing it all the time.”

He says he hopes Black Mackerel will make a run up to the Pacific Northwest soon, but in the meantime, the band will play a special show with Kill the Precedent and Murderlicious on April 12 in Sacramento at Blue Lamp. The show will be a benefit for their friend Tricia Duncan, who was badly injured after a fall. Duncan suffered some brain damage from the fall and lost her job and apartment as a result. Proceeds from the show will be donated to Duncan.

Music may not be Gardner and Clayton’s only concern, but having family obligations or day jobs hasn’t been a death knell for Black Mackerel. If anything, those things have enhanced their drive to create music.

“I think it keeps us in touch with reality,” Gardner says. “It gives us something to write about. You can’t love or hate anything unless you’re exposed to it. Dealing with people and everything every day, that’s where I get some of my influence. People piss me off, so I write aggressive songs about it and get it out, and then I feel better later. It’s therapeutic.”

Clayton adds, “It does keep us grounded. I would quit my day job if I could and just go play music for a living. It’s kind of tough to juggle, but you do it. It’s a labor of love. If I didn’t play, I wouldn’t get up to work in the morning. I’d probably be a miserable drunk by the railroad tracks.”

It may be a juggling act, but the guys in Black Mackerel are handling it really well. The band may be something of a throwback to a wilder time in music, but they’re putting forth a sound that’s just as vital and stirring as ever.

“I just wanted to do something different,” Gardner says. “There aren’t too many bands in Sacramento like us. I wanted to do something heavy and loud.”

If that’s the case, mission definitely accomplished.

Check out Black Mackerel, Kill the Precedent and Murderlicious at Blue Lamp in Sacramento on April 12 at the Tricia Duncan Benefit Show. In addition to great, heavy music, there will also be raffles and baked goods for sale. Entrance is just $10, and the money will go to a very worthy cause. If you’d like to listen to and purchase Fight or Flight, go to http://buriedinhell.bandcamp.com/releases.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

Rated PG-13

As far as entertainers go, magicians are simultaneously the most schmaltzy and awe-inspiring. In Las Vegas, where everything is more grandiose, the schmaltz and awe become even more magnified. This is the world of Burt Wonderstone, a mostly bare-chested purveyor of illusions. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone chronicles his rise and fall, and though there are some ho-hum moments, the film has enough bright spots that trick you into believing that what you’re watching is pretty good.

Wonderstone (Steve Carell) is a bullied child with an inattentive mother. He finds a friend in magic, Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi), another young boy ostracized from his peers, and the two strike up a lifelong partnership that blossoms into a lucrative career performing magic in their own theater at Bally’s in Sin City.

Burt and Anton’s “magical friendship” is having problems, though. Some 30 years after they first met, their show is beginning to unravel. Burt has become an insufferable egomaniac, overindulging in alcohol and women. These preexisting problems are exacerbated when a new breed of magician, Steve Gray (Jim Carrey), bursts onto the scene. Gray is a parody of David Blaine and Chris Angel. He’s a street magician with a bad boy image whose tricks are more self-mutilation than magic.

With Gray’s fame and momentum building, Anton devises a stunt that will update his and Burt’s image, but when that goes horribly awry, the two go their separate ways, and Burt eventually loses everything.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone follows the typical pattern of rise, fall and redemption. It’s a story so familiar that you need only to be barely conscious to follow along. Horrible Boss’s screenwriter John Francis Daley also has his hand in this film, and while the latter was considerably more interesting, Burt Wonderstone, should strike a chord with anyone who grew up watching David Copperfield specials on television. (Copperfield even makes a cameo.)

There are some moments that plod on, such as when Burt comes to the realization that he’s been a complete tool to everyone who’s ever cared about him. It’s a slow road to recovery for the former top magician, punctuated by cheesily scored montages. Though just 100 minutes, it was enough to make The Incredible Burt Wonderstone feel much, much longer.

There are some great comedic moments along the way, though, including some hilarious sight gags. There’s also a great cast at work here, doing their best to make these utterly ridiculous characters feel like real people. Carell really douches it up for this role, and does so convincingly. He still imbues his character with enough likeability, though, that you actually hope he’s able to turn it around. Gray is the perfect role for Carrey—big, bizarre and cartoonish, which are all in the veteran comedian’s wheelhouse. Though Gray really only serves as the foil to Burt and Anton’s glitzy and glamorous brand of magic, Carrey does shine in limited screen time. Buscemi is great as the likable putz; and Olivia Wilde more than holds her own among a trio of heavy hitters, flashing a great deadpan delivery and sharp comedic timing as Burt and Anton’s assistant Jane. Alan Arkin wonderfully rounds out the main players as the old, retired magician who inspires Burt to get back on his feet.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone doesn’t have many tricks up its sleeve. It’s not going to dazzle you with smoke and mirrors. It’ll probably just make you chuckle a bit, which might not exactly be magic, but it’s definitely not a bad thing either.