Freeissue 15

A Whisper in the noiseThe Hang ups

jamiel nowparvarfour letter lie

The Umbrella SequenceEarthology Records

november Snowboards

SATURDAY, NOV. 20TH:ALL-NIGHTER LOCK-IN

TIME: STARTS AT 9:30 PM

FRIDAY, NOV. 26TH:POWERCAMP

TIME: STARTS AT 9:00 AM

DECEMBER 20TH - 22ND:MONDAY - WEDNESDAY

WINTER BREAK CAMP #1TIME: STARTS AT 9:00 AM

SATURDAY, DEC. 25TH:CLOSED FOR X-MAS

DECEMBER 27TH - 29TH:MONDAY - WEDNESDAY

WINTER BREAK CAMP #2TIME: STARTS AT 9:00 AM

JUNE 10TH - 12TH, 2005:DAMN AM

SKATEBOARD CONTEST

UUppccoommiinngg 33rrdd LLaaiirr EEvveennttss

830 Florida Ave SouthMinneapolis, Minnesota

763 79 SKATE (75283)www.3rdLair.com

Buy MoreBuy More

Swimmer’sear issue

fifteennovember 2004

editorschris pernula

adam sever

contributorsashley brookinsKimberly brown

blake carsonlaura pernulamaria schmitt

Dave Lehl

On the cover: Jeff Meyer photo: Dave Lehl,

courtesy of winter park

Here: The black dahlia murderphoto: Kimberly brown

contact us:P.O. Box 2076

maple grove, mn 55311swimmersearmag@yahoo.com

There has been an evil trend plaguing thepages of nearly every boarding magazine I havecome across in the past couple of years. Thattrend, my friends, is the party photo. The partyphoto never appears alone. It is always accompa-nied by ten, twenty, or 1,000 similar pictures,sometimes taking up an entire two-page spread.The party photo usually coincides with a brief,half-assed paragraph on a video premiere, gallery opening, or contest afterparty. Sometimesthere’s no text at all, just a bunch of images of red-eyed, shiny-faced no names with a drink in onehand and the other around a companion in true “Ilove you, man” drunkard fashion. If they do havea free hand it’s always giving a totally cool ges-ture, such as the shaka brah, the devil horns, or theultra-rebellious middle finger.

The party photo gives you a chance to seeyour favorite pro outside the realm of their respec-tive sport. It gives hope to those who look up toprofessionals in admiration. You may not be astalented on a board, but you can definitely get ashammered as the pros if you put your mind to it.Maybe even more hammered! If the subject in thephoto isn’t an athlete, it’s usually a person no onehas any interest in seeing, like a team manager, avideographer, or someone’s girlfriend. Last yearSnowboarder Magazine featured some photos froman X-Games afterparty, one of which was of therapper Coolio. Coolio? What the hell. Is it 1995?Who invited him to an X-Games party? Whowould invite Coolio to ANY party? It was as if someone had purchased a digital camera earlierthat day and was a little too anxious to try it outand get their money’s worth.

Images of drunk people aren’t exactly toppriority when I’m looking for a good read. I cansee them pretty much any weekend. Sometimesweekdays. It’s really nothing new. But I guess if you’ve got a few extra pagesto fill or if someone backed out on an ad deal, there’s really no other alternative. Next time we’ve got some space, we’ll be sure to include pics of people you’ve never met, puking on each other with dopey grinson their faces.

anditory arty hotosMM PP PPMEMO:

VarianceRed Hot Media-on-Media Action

Variance

Strike Anywhere

Shadows Fall

As I Lay Dying

Get your dance on

Dunc Gets TweakedBy Gary PaulsenDell Publishing

This is a story about two best friends, Dunc andAmos, who constantly argue like an old marriedcouple. When they’re not bickering with one anoth-er, they’re making up, holding hands (seriously) andcomplementing each other with phrases like “You’retremendous at everything you do.” So anyway,Amos has a cousin named Lash, who’s a pro skaterfrom San Diego. Of course, the author makes Lasha mindless skateboarder who can barely put togethera sentence. And when his sunsoaked brain doesmanage to put his thoughts into speech, it comes out

as one word Ninja Turtle crap like boned, rad, trip-ping, tubular, and of course, tweak. Lash has atotally awesome prototype board with frictionlessbearings, but some thieves in raincoats steal it andthe real action begins. Dunc, Amos, and Lash setout to find the board and to win the SkateboardNational Open. Along the way, parrots shit on peo-ple and monkeys make out with innocent youth (seecover illustration of monkey grabbing crotch). Agood book for kids. One thing that caught myattention was when the author described the win-dows of a run-down apartment as “holes in acorpse.” Gross. In retrospect, I would have beenbetter off paying a fifth grader to read and reviewthis for me. I just wasted 45 minutes of my life.

Top Photos: Ashley Brookins Bottom Photos: Chris Pernula

2004. Elizabeth, New Jersey

Loop is a Chicago-based distro run by Billy Roberts, an old classmate ofmine. This is by far my favorite online distro. Each zine has a littlereview so you know what you’re getting yourself into. Click on the title ofthe zine and you get info on the author. Too cool. Loop offers a wide vari-ety of zines on a multeity of topics with no shipping charges. Check it outat LoopDistro.com. Here are just a few that I have received...

Subtitled “Mostly About Girls,” this 80-page hand-written masterpiece by Seth Emily is a retrospectiveon every girl he’s ever been involved with, fromelementary school all the way to his wife. For lackof better comparisons, it kinda reminded me of HighFidelity. Lots of wonderful stories, some humor-ous, some sad. But not too overly-emo, which youmight expect from something on this subject matter.I highly recommend this one if you’re consideringbuying something from the site.

American’t #5

PeeThis features stories about peeing from several dif-ferent writers. There are a few funny parts, but Iwas kind of hoping for more laughs considering thetopic. The yellow cover is a nice touch. Speakingof pee stories, one night in the summer, all the kidsin my neighborhood got together for a game ofGhost in the Graveyard. We were all gatheredtogether under a tree in Ben Presley’s backyard.Ben had been hiding in the tree and began peeing,hitting my neighbors Jeff and Cole. Cole looked upand got pee on his face. Everyone screamed and ranand I just fell over laughing.

If you didn’t know the author of this strange zine,you’d think it was created by either a kindergartneror an insane person. This is a story about a cow anda toaster. They’re in love. They go shopping inAntarctica. The cow buys the toaster an igloo madeout of frozen boogers. And it goes on from there. Idon’t want to spoil the ending for you. The draw-ings are just as absurd as the text.

The Adventures of Eustacia H. Cow

Tora!Tora!Torance @ The Uptown Bar Photo: Chris Pernula

The Life & Times of Sheldon Grubs #1

Sheldon Grubs is a funny guy. He collects fakedog poop, and owns over 1,000 pieces fromacross the globe. When he was a kid, he playedwith an Idaho potato and pretended it was ababy. His Aunt Rhoda used to be a fluffer, andhis dad’s favorite phrase is “You do the math.”Check this out to learn more about the life andtimes of Sheldon Grubs.

Tight Pants #10

I don’t know Madeleine, butshe seems like a very inter-esting person. Lots ofexclamation points and sillyillustrations give off a fun,energetic feel to this zine,along with the fact that shelikes cereal and sour gummicandies. Reading her storieskind of made me want tomeet her in person. I imag-ine running into her atExtreme Noise. She’s buy-ing hair dye and I’m lookingfor an Ela CD. Being that

she’s such a friendly character, I’m completely at ease withapproaching her. I tell her how much I enjoy her zine, andshe admits that not only has she never even heard of mine,she probably wouldn’t read it if I mailed her a copy. Beingin a record store, our conversation ultimately leads tomusic, wherein she discovers that I’m less into punk ,more into indie rock. Her inviting smile quickly sours asshe explains that she’s late for a bus and has to be on herway. Moments later I see her driving west on Lake Streetand I wonder to myself why she would need the bus if shehas a car. Damn, even my fantasies end up rejecting me.

These Arms Are Snakes“Oxeneers or The Lion SleepsWhen Its Antelope Go Home”Jade Tree

As a follow up to the 2003 “This is Meantto Hurt You” ep, TAAS have made a fulllength that is more original than mostbands I’ve heard. These Arms Are Snakes

don’t like to be lumped into one genre. I can’t compare them to anybands because the sound they make is so inventive. The only badthing about this album is track number six, “Gadget Arms.” It’s near-ly all instrumental and it seems like it drones on forever. And the factthat it’s eight minutes long doesn’t help. Every time I come to thatsong I skip over it. If you liked their ep, odds are you’re going tolike “Oxeneers...”

Tegan and Sara“So Jealous”VaporIf I had to describe “So Jealous” in oneword, it would be “infectious.” This is byfar one of the catchiest albums I have heardin a long, long time. Every song soundslike it could be a single. There’s no filler.It’s just one poppy tune after another. Each

chorus will stick in your head and you’ll find yourself singing alongand tapping your feet after only one or two listenings.

The Velvet Teen“Elysium”SlowdanceI don’t listen to Radiohead or Coldplay butI can easily see bigger publications likethose dicks over at Spin comparing thisgroup to larger bands of that nature. Ibought this CD for the song Forlorn, and itturns out the rest of the songs are pretty

good too. Huh. The track Chimera Obscurant clocks in at a whoppingtwelve minutes and fifty seconds. If you like piano, check this out.Not the band P:ano, the actual instrument. But since I mentioned it,check out P:ano while you’re getting this.

Rilo Kiley“More Adventurous”Brute/Beaute One day while vacuuming, I decided to dothat six degrees of Kevin Bacon thing tosee how easily I could link former childactors Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett.After thinking about it for about 30 secondsit hit me. Most people remember Blake as

Pinsky from Salute Your Shorts, but he was also on Boy Meets Worldwith Ben Savage. Ben was in Little Monsters with his older brotherFred, who starred in the 1989 film The Wizard with Jenny Lewis.There may be an even easier connection, but I thought that was prettydamn good considering I haven’t seen either of those movies in overten years and I stopped watching Boy Meets World like... weeks ago.I can imagine Blake and Jenny going out for drinks after a long day inthe studio, having a few too many and totally ripping on the Savagebrothers. Cracking jokes about their hair and awkward on-cameragrowth spurts, the pair would then start quoting their favorite linesfrom The Wonder Years, slurring tripe about Winnie Cooper or Pauland his nerd frames. “What was it like kissing Fred?” Blake will ask.And Jenny will just do the finger-down-the-throat gagging motionwhile the two burst into uncontrollable laughter. Later, when thingshave calmed down a bit, Jenny will admit to feeling bad about pokingfun at her former co-star. And Blake will confidently reply, “We cando whatever we want. We’re rock stars.” Damn straight, Blake.Damn straight.

VarianceThere’s a war inside of me

Variance

Joan of Arc“Joan of Arc, Dick Cheney, MarkTwain...”Polyvinyl Records

New band members, new label, newrecord. This is by far Joan of Arc’s mostapproachable album yet. If you haveheard previous Joan of Arc albums, you

know what I’m talking about. JOA’s previous albums had songs butthey were not played in a typical song structure; they were often con-fusing and just plain difficult to listen to. “Joan of Arc, Dick Cheney,Mark Twain...” is like previous Joan of Arc albums, but in a nice newwool sweater. Sure this CD sounds like past Joan of Arc, but thatnew wool sweater makes it look damn good.

Zycos“Zycos”Post Parlo Records

When I first listened to this new album byZycos, I didn’t much care for it. But astime went on and I listened to it over andover again I began to fall in love with thisCD. I fell in love not only with the music

but also with the CD itself. With it’s shiny plastic and slender frame,Zycos is what every man has searched for. We gazed at each otherfor hours one night, talking about what we could be if the worldaccepted our love for one another. It all would have worked out butmy wife caught me and Zycos in an awkward situation under the bedsheets. I told her it’s not what she thinks, I was just listening to it, Iswear. She kept calling me sick, and a perv, and told me over andover again that I needed help. She didn’t care. I told her to give it alisten and she would feel the same way I did about Zycos. Shekicked me out of the house that night. But the strangest thing hap-pened the next day. She called and told me she understood my lovefor such an album. Now we all live together, and sure it looks creepywhen we hold hands in public, but at least we’re happy.

Harlots“The Woman You Saw is the GreatCity That Rules Over the Kings ofthe Earth”Feeling Faint Productions

According to drummer Jeff Lohrber, theconcept for this album deals with the natu-ral destruction of society that occurs over

a period of time. You can’t have a beginning of something without anend, and the music reflects the idea that you wouldn’t know whatgood experiences were if you didn’t have bad experiences to comparethem to. The tracks switch back and forth from heavy and vicious toslow and melodic, so don’t skip around on the disc. Just listen all theway through from beginning to end. It will be worth it.

Son,Ambulance“Key”Saddle Creek

“Key,” the new album from Joe Knapp’sSon, Ambulance can be described as asemi-epic piano driven, guitar supporting,intelligently written piece of work. Someof the songs are seven to eight minutes

long, which may cause boredom for people with short attentionspans. I’ve listened to the album a few times but it doesn’t seem verymemorable. That doesn’t mean its not good, it’s just so long and it isa lot to take in. I suggest downloading one or two of his songs offhis website, to test before you buy.

Voice in the Wire“Signals in Transmission”Eyeball Records

The lyrics are great. Sounds like punkrock. The good kind. Reminds me ofMPLS’s The Crush. Features JasonShevchuk of Kid Dynamite and NoneMore Black, and Chris #2 of Anti-Flag

doing guest vocals on a few tracks. All around “Signals InTransmission” is a very solid rock album This band could easily bevery popular if the right/wrong people heard this CD.

Blood Brothers“Crimes”V2

If you thought the vocals were high in“Burn Piano Island, Burn,” then you’re infor a surprise. This guy can scream soloud that it sounds like a female vocalist.What you can expect from “Crimes” is the

same spazztic rock that you heard on their last album, but a lot better. I’ve seen Blood Brothers twice at the Triple Rock, and it was prettymuch the exact same show both times. Hyperactivity and convul-sions add up to an interesting live performance.

The Faint“Wet From Birth”Saddle Creek

When I first heard this album, I was a littlelet down. All the hype and anticipationthat had built up in the downtime afterDanse Macabre had my expectationsthrough the roof, so when the release date

finally arrived I was kind of like “That’s it?” Fortunately, after sever-al listens it grew on me, and I realized my first reaction was far toojudgmental. “Wet From Birth” has that rock/electronic hybrid soundthat so many bands have attempted to emulate but very few pull offwithout sounding like a new wave cover band. Their live show in theMainroom was killer as always. The projections went haywire for afew minutes, but the band seemed more upset than the audience.They just wanted to dance. And dance they did.

Valet“Life on the Installment Plan”2024

I had this friend who was the funniest per-son I had ever met in my life. This kid wasborderline insane. After knowing him for acouple of years, his attitude and personalitydid a total 180, as if his parents started

slipping Ritalin into his meals. I never really figured out the true rea-son. I guess the weight of the world finally crushed his spirits. I had-n’t seen him in over a year until the CD release show at the Turf Clubfor Valet’s “Life on the Installment Plan.” I asked him what he’dbeen up to, and it turns out he’s a valet. How ironic. Valet’s soph-more release isn’t a vast departure from their previous sound, but theydid put a lot more work into the production than on “The Glamor isContagious.”

The Faint Photo: Ashley Brookins

You Idiot #1-3

You Idiot is put together by Nate from theband Rivethead, and I can honestly saythat it is my favorite zine. I picked up #2and liked it so much I had to go back andbuy the others. I have never laughed somuch at anything in print. This is hilari-ous. The writing is witty and sarcastic,and the content is perfect for ridicule.Nate examines such topics as anti-drugvideo games, comics, and commercials,celebrity albums, strange books, and a lotmore. One of my favorite articles is

Dollar Store Reviews, in which he takes a hard investigative look atthe Godzilla Killer Key Chain and Magnetic Locker Lingo.“Everyone knows it’s Swoosh as hell.” Check these out for a goodlaugh. Multiple laughs actually.

VarianceAutumn will show us the beauty of dying

Variance

Pick Your Poison #1-4

This is Nate’s other zine. Unlike YouIdiot, Pick Your Poison is mostly shortstories about growing up. The majority ofissues one and two involve his junior highand high school years, but there are a fewmore recent tales mixed in as well. Issuefour is all about crappy jobs he hadbetween the ages of 19 and 21, like SuperAmerica and temping at Pilsbury. I thinkanyone recently out of high school canrelate to these tales about being confusedand despondent, wondering what the next

step is once you’re out in the “real world.” Issue three is myfavorite. Nate picked words out of the dictionary and wrote shortstories based off of those words. Each story is only a couple pagesat the most, which makes it an easy read if you have a really shortattention span or ADD. Take it with you and read a story whilewaiting for a bus, on your lunch break, or in the bathroom. Nate GangelhoffPO Box 8995Minneapolis, MN 55408www.pickyourpoison.net

Industry #2

Industry is a full color, glossy, perfect-bound magazine on the Twin Cities music,art, fashion, and culture scene. What sets itapart from normal magazines is that it’s aquarter-size publication, making it the mostportable mag since The Journal. Issue onedidn’t really grab my attention but numbertwo is packed with good stuff. It’s got aninterview with artist George Thompson, a

short conversation with Slug, an I-Pod commentary with MikeMunzenrider, and a lot more. They’re free all over the place, sopick one up. www.industrympls.com

Into The Void #2

This is a short zine out of Duluth. It’s aquick 16 pages, four of which are CDreviews. There’s also a couple veganrecipes, some photos, and some writingabout art. The purpose and motivation isthere, so it can only get better with futureissues. One thing I found funny but proba-bly shouldn’t was the section where hethanks people under the headline “Cheersto:” followed by the headline “Fuck you

to:” and at the top of the Fuck You list was “The deer that ran intome.” He’s obviously referring to an accident involving a car, but thefirst mental image I got was a deer on it’s hind legs actually runninginto him, maybe while jogging or in a crowded mall. I need sleep.Not A Puppet16 W. 58th Ave. N.Duluth, MN 55807

Duckbox #1

Duckbox has the classic cut & paste look toit with a thicker stock for the cover, whichmeans you can whip it around the room orlet a car slam on it’s brakes while drivingover it and it will remain resilient. Themain feature in this issue is an interviewwith Jawbreaker drummer Adam Pfahler.Did you know that his favorite movies areThe Wizard of Oz, Blade Runner, and TheBad News Bears? Now you do! If you’re

at a party and someone starts talking about Jawbreaker, drop that lit-tle ditty of info on them. People will worship you for your vastknowledge of obscure pop trivia. Rick2440 Lyndale Ave. S.Minneapolis, MN 55405

Unarmed #47

Unarmed is an “adventurous poetry journal,”and features poems by people all over theUS, along with a few from Canada and theUK. A lot of good work crammed into onetiny booklet. Send in a poem of your ownand maybe you’ll see it in a future issue.1405 FairmountSt. Paul, MN 55105www.unarmedjournal.com

This thing is just bizarre. The box even admits it with the phrase “MysteriousAction.” It also lists such features as forward and wheelies, reverse and sideslip,spinning action, movable arms, and music. Well, they got a few of those right.There’s no remote control or anything, you just turn it on and itspins around on the floor (minus the wheelies) while headache-inducing music screams from it’s bowels. Christmas music. Yeah,I don’t really get it either, but it plays the tune “Santa Claus isComing to Town” in a pitch that I thought only dogs were capableof hearing. The “movable arms” merely rotate about 90 degreesup and down, which really isn’t a deciding factor worthy of being

printed on the box. “The arms move? Holy shit! I wasn’t gonna buy it but damn, that’scool!” The top of the board says “Burger Boy,” which I’m guessing is the full name of thetoy, but the word “Boy” is covered up by one of his shoes. It also says “Dash!!” on the tail.

The ridiculous box and it’s exclamation point-riddled phrases were what firstdrew me to this toy. “Tired of skating the same old curb?” “Up the rampand down the stairs!!!” “Give it some fast lines and big airs!!!” “Get readyto bust some moves!” I thought about it for a while and realized that Iindeed was tired of skating the same old curb, and was ready to bust somemoves. What kind of moves you ask? Well according to the box, Popshove-it!, Ollie, 360 shove-it!, Backside 180 slide!, G-turn!, and Walk theDog. Woah, dude, you can walk the dog with this thing? I thought that wasjust a yo-yo trick. The park consists of a halfpipe, a set of “stairs,” and awedge ramp. The halfpipe has an incline of about five degrees, and the setof stairs is just a ramp with some mild waves in it. Nevertheless, I set up thepark and whipped out the instructions, eager to get some moves busted. TheG-turn sounded pretty badass so I looked that up first. It was actually justanother way to say manual, which confused me because there was no turninginvolved whatsoever. Oh well, how about a shove-it.... or maybe a bigspin?I found those to be easier said than done considering the feet are permanent-ly adhered to the board. “Well shit, what can this thing do?” you may bewondering to yourself. Um... much like our pal Burger Boy, it’s a pro atspinning around in one spot. If you play your cards right with the remotecontrol, you may be able to get the little dude to ride in a semi-straight lineand hit the ramps, but the figure is so heavy that it goes far to slow to actu-ally get any “big airs.” Or any air for that matter.

Above: Misled Youth

the hang upsthe hang ups

An Interview with Brian Tighe

The Hang Ups have been around for quite a while. To what do you give credit for your longevity?I would say friendship is the reason we've been around so long. Lord knows it hasn't been commercial success thatholds us together. Jeff Kearns is one of my oldest and dearest friends and has been an artistic and critical guide forme since I met him in '86 at MCAD. Aaron, Marcel and Todd have become some of my closest friends too. Andnow, more recently Jim Petroski, our awesome new drummer seems to fit right in. We get together to practice andthere's a lot of joking around and good times. We're lifetime musicians and we enjoy each other’s company.

How has the group changed over the years? Well, there have been quite a few different players over the years and the way the songs shape up has so much to dowith the character of each player. I mean, Steve Ittner's harmonies and drumming style were central to the H.U.sound from the beginning until his gradual departure. John Crozier's guitar work also played a huge part, creatingcounter melodies and textures that helped define the songs. The current lineup has its unique character too, which Ithink we are still discovering. Our influences have changed over the years as well. As a three piece in the early dayswe were pretty affected by Dinosaur Jr and My Bloody Valentine. I almost never listen to those records anymore. Iwent through a huge Kinks phase that really affected my writing in '98 and '99. These are just examples.

How has Minnesota's music scene changed, in your opinion?I don't really know. We definitely have a rich tapestry of songwriters and musicians in Minneapolis. I'm very excitedabout some new acts that seem very focussed on creativity and originality: Arctic Universe, Best Friends Forever,and The Chris Danforths to name a few. There's a freshness and humor to each of them. They don't follow a particu-lar structure laid out by someone else. I like the fact that there is not one dominating style in the music scene thesedays- it allows for more variety.

You've put out four full lengths since your formation. Would you say that you believe in quality over quantity?Definitely. Although I think you can still have artistic integrity and crank out lots of material. I think for some artiststhe act of releasing lots of material, even the not-so-good stuff, is important to their process. I think being too guard-ed about what you release can be counter-productive as well. I just honestly haven't had enough material to releaserecords more often.

Have you guys toured at length? If so, what was it like?We lived the life of road dogs in '98 and '99. I have many fond memories but I'd have a hard time doing it again. Wereally bonded as friends and the band became more solid in the process. We just had a reallyhard time developing a strong audience outside of the midwest, so a lot of the shows were poorly attended and it getshard to see the point after a while. All the time spent driving, moving gear and waiting around in order to play ashow to fifteen people gets old after a while.

Some of my friends have heard your latest album and have compared you to The Beatles. Would you agreewith that?I'd be lying if I said I didn't love The Beatles. There has never been a more powerful combination of songwriters inone group, at least on this planet. If you believe in life on other planets perhaps there is a group better than Beatlesout there. I'd like to hear them.

Have you ever thought of touring with The Busy Signals and calling it "The Telephone Tour?"I don't know if Howard Hamilton III would want to tour with us. You know, I often forget that the name "The HangUps" has anything to do with the telephone. For us, the name came from having "hang ups" aboutpresenting songs to each other, back in the early days when we took it all too seriously.

Who are some other local acts that people should know about?Well, definitely the ones I mentioned above, but I'd like to add The Carpetbaggers, Mike Gunther, Heavy Sleeper,Sideways, Luke's Angels, TVBC, Mandrew, Stephanie Says and Faux Jean.

What does the future hold for The Hang Ups?I'm really focusing on songwriting right now. I'm on vacation in the Rocky Mountains hoping to have some smallbreakthrough. Every songwriter works differently and I almost exclusively begin the process in working with chordsand melodies, and when I'm satisfied, add lyrics to that framework. But I'm curious about reversing the process,starting with words and seeing where they take me melodically. Let the words set the mood and build the song fromthere. We'll see what happens.

THE JAMIEL NOWPARVAR INTERVIEW

THE JAMIEL NOWPARVAR INTERVIEW

Age/Location 20 /MPLS skate house 2005

What is your opinion of MN's skate scene?Personally, I like the scene here because justabout everybody is down with everybody.

Who do you look up to? Locally I look up to Chad Benson and SteveNesser, and all around I look up to Daewon Song,Kenny Anderson, Paul Rodriguez, and MarcJohnson.

Favorite spot?As of right now I’m feelin' the murphy ledges, thefront benches.

What do you do when you're not skating?When I’m not skating it’s usually eating, sleeping,perhaps watching a movie, or searching the webat all my favorite sites.

Who do you ride for right now?Fobia, Venture, Hubba Wheels (you know the ones with the dope ads in every mag), Nike, and I’ve been getting stuff from Zoo York.

What are some trends in skateboarding that need to end? Girls’ Pants. I mean come the fuck (can I say fuck?) on. What’s the deal with all these girls’ pants wearing fuckers? Tight pants I won’thate on but to go out and get a pair of women’s jeans is pathetic. I wonder if it even crosses their mind that they are cross dressing.

What do you want to see more of?I just want to see some creative skating.

What do you see in the future of skating? It’s either gonna go ape shit with rails or get really creative.

Are you a lover or a fighter? Well that all depends on what kind of mood I’m in. If I’m in a real shitty mood then I’mdown to brawl but other than that I guess it goes the other way.

Ollie

Switch Flip 50-50

You had your own part in Open Iris. What was it likefilming and being a part of that video?It was kind of weird because I wasn’t supposed to have apart in it. But then I just started filming a couple trickshere and there, then all of the sudden I had enough footagefor a part, so he gave it to me. But to this day I only likeabout three tricks in my whole part.

Are you filming anything for a future video?Currently I’m filming for the Fobia vid but I am almostdone. I have like two more tricks to film. Then I gotta filmfor my friend Dan’s vid called H.A.A.B. Vid’s gonna beoff the chains. Then after that I have to see what I can getfor Benji Meyer’s new production.

You've participated in a lot of contests like Damn Am,Midwest Melee, Top Shop, etc. What is your opinion oncontests?I love contests. For me they are just a great time and agood place to meet people.

Do you consider yourself a competitive person? I don’t consider myself a competitive person at all. I justlove the hype that you get from skating with a bunch ofgood people. It gets me stoked to skateboard.

How would you compare contests to street skating?Contests are way different than street skating ‘cause in a contest you have to make all of your tricks in a row and in streetskating you kind of just skate spot to spot learning new tricks.

Who do you like to skate with?I like to skate with Humble, Dan Buck, Dirty D, my brother Jahan, Chad Benson, The Munz, Wes, Vinbucktu, Casey Mode, and Eddie K.

What keeps you skating?I love doing it. Waking up and thinking of new tricks to try and learn and having dope sessions with your whodi's. That’s what it is right there.

“What’s the deal withall these girls’ pantswearing fuckers?”

Backside Noseblunt

Nehemiah @ Segue Cafe, 2004. Photo: Blake Carson

Affinity @ The Foxfire, 1999. Photo: Chris Pernula

Wow, where do I begin? I'm risking it all and saying that Modest Mouse was the best concert I had ever been to. I can’t seem to collect mythoughts enough to start my own little review of the concert. Starting at the beginning, and going in chronological order of events often works,does it not? So that is just what I will do.

My sister, Kristin, and I arrived at First Ave. in Minneapolis around 4, which was two hours before the doors were to open. There were about 20people in line in front of us, already waiting patiently. Kristin and I just stood around, watching cars drive by, chatting about the people aroundus, and hoping the sky wouldn’t drop the rain that seemed to loom in the clouds. Our place in line was right next to a locked door with an openmail drop. And through that door we could hear Modest Mouse rehearsing (if that’s what it’s called). It was a mini treat to hear them live, andnot yet see and hear them simultaneously. Some guys in front of us also took part in standing in the doorway, listening to mic check-one-twos,faint talking, and Modest Mouse practicing parts of songs.

There were a number of people walking around looking for tickets to buy. The concert had sold out almost immediately after tickets went onsale. I bought them the minute they went on sale earlier this month. I now feel lucky to have been able to see Modest Mouse perform. There wasone couple who were looking for tickets, and I don’t think they were able to get any, which was unfortunate. The guy was rather cute, and Icouldn’t figure who he looked like. At one point I said to Kristin, “That guy looks so familiar...I don’t know why... He looks like...” And I wasthinking, and she said “Jack White.” Yes! He did! It was somewhat creepy, but amusing all the same. We ended up giving unknowing peoplearound us nicknames for the fun of it. Yeah, we had to do something, anything, while waiting for two hours.

People started to get restless as 6pm approached. The line moved forward and people started standing closer to each other as to get ever closer tothe entrances. When the doors did open, the line moved smoothly, and people were frisked, pockets emptied, and cigarette boxes and camerasand the like checked for anything suspicious. Entering the dark club, Kristin and I hurried our way up to the front of the floor, and we took outusual concert places right in front of the stage, off center just a bit, arms on barriers. We ended up waiting until 7:45pm, when The Walkmentook stage. It was a bit excruciating waiting for so long, but I guess it was all worth it in the end.

With The Walkmen on stage, things warmed up fast. Literally. It seemed as if there was very minimal air circulation and air-conditioning seemednot in existence in the place. But I will put up with my sweat and 20 other peoples’ sweat soaking me to see Modest Mouse any day.

I really liked The Walkmen. Broken Social Scene was supposed to open as well, but I didn’t hear of any reason why they didn’t take stage. TheWalkmen reminded me of a couple different singers/groups combined. I won’t dare say who, because that’s my opinion, and some people willmost definitely think otherwise! I really enjoyed their music, though. I plan on buying their music. I’d heard of them quite a while ago, and so Ifinally heard their music.

After the Walkmen left, the crowd waited and sweated for Modest Mouse to get allready to take stage and rock out. The place was getting hotter by the minute- at leastwhere I was. It may have possibly been different elsewhere in the place. ModestMouse was so awesome! It’s so difficult to put into words how awesome they arelive! I was so excited. I was able to sing along with almost every song. Isaac wassweating like crazy. I ended up getting shoved towards the middle more, and I wasright in front of him on the floor. For that reason, my photos that I took were mostlyof him. I wasn’t close enough to the other band members, and the drummers I could-n’t even see since the stage is about five feet up.

Modest Mouse ended up playing a number of songs- some older, most from GoodNews For People Who Love Bad News. The set list consisted of: 3rd Planet, TheView, Float On, Interstate 8, Black Cadillacs, Wild Packs, Doin the Cockroach, SatinIn A Coffin, Bukowski, Paper Thin Walls, Oceans, Bury Me with It, Infinite Math,and encore songs: World At large, One Chance, and Cowboy Dann. I’m not a hun-dred percent certain that they played every song. I could be wrong, but for some rea-son I’m not sure if Infinite Math was played. Isaac looked as if he was going to diefrom the heat and his own sweat before leaving stage to allow the crowd to cheer thegroup back on.

It’s impossible to put into words how good Modest Mouse’s music is live. The rockout parts, the loud parts of songs, are so much more intense and Isaac really belts outthose lyrics. The guys were friendly, and chatted with fans a bit. Between songs, afan asked “How’re you doin’ Isaac?” He replied “How am I doing? I’m moist...”There was some discussion about need for a n air conditioner, a wishing box (somecardboard box in the middle of the stage- What was it used for??), and various otherlittle chattings. There was this one cute fuzzy dog figurine on stage- they would occa-sionally, between songs, pet it (for good luck?).

I have to say that those roadies for Modest Mouse were some of the nicest. At theend of the concert, most of the crowd dispersed, while a few people remained at thebarriers, myself included. I was hoping to get ahold of a set list, but didn’t think I’dget one. I just wanted to have a little memento from a concert I enjoyed more thanany I’d ever been to (and I’ve been to quite a few). I asked the roadie (who had anursing cat on his shirt) for a set list. He peeled Isaac’s list off the floor, but since hecouldn’t reach my hands, he set it on the stage in front of me. Me, being a measly 5ft 3 inches short, couldn’t reach it. I tried leaning over the black metal barrier, butwas held back from reaching by about five tall people (including Kristin) all aroundme. One other 6 foot tall guy next to me grabbed the list and triumphantly walked offwith it. The roadie got really upset and yelled “HEY...HEY!!” and told the guy togive the list to me. Ok, I did feel a little bad about that, but he WAS handing it to me,and I wasn’t able to reach it. The list was soaked in sweat, which was sort of gross,but who cares, right? I thanked the nice roadie and swam my way with the hundredsof other fans out the doors. I noticed that the floors to the place were literally coveredin sweat. They were wet and slippery. Sweat or something else. I don’t know whatelse it could be. Beer? People weren’t throwing water around. If they were, I wasoblivious to it.

A few days before this concert, I had driven down to Iowa with my sister to seeIncubus in concert. That concert totally left an open wound, so to speak. I don’t knowwhy. I just left the concert in the worst mood, and I didn’t feel like going to anymoreconcerts. It just did some nasty stuff to my mind. That concert was huge- so packedwith people, it was hard to breath. I didn’t enjoy it much, and it just messed up myconcert going obsession. I went to Modest Mouse in a bad mood- I wasn’t lookingforward to it in a crazy crazed fan state of mind. I didn’t want to get at First Ave.early, because I felt it’d just be dumb. Why wait to get a good spot by stage, whenI’m just some insignificant fan? But, I was completely content afterwards with wait-ing in line for two hours, and waiting for another three hours for Modest Mouse totake stage. It was so worth it. I highly recommend anyone to go see Modest Mouse ifthey have a chance. Incubus left me a wound- a scar- that hurt me and made me won-der about why I attend concerts. Modest Mouse was my band-aid. I’m not going tobig concerts anymore- I’m sticking to music I really like and smaller club concerts.They are so much more fun.

The Cheapskate’s Guide to Off-Season Snowboarding

One major defining aspect of thesnowboard is it’s sharp metal edges,so using it as some sort of cuttingutensil was the obvious first choicewhen it came time to decide how Iwas going to apply it to my daily rou-tine. I thought about using it as anaxe and testing it on a tree in my frontyard, but other than fueling my hatredfor nature and fulfilling my desire todestroy everything living, it reallywouldn’t have served any practicalpurposes. The next idea was to use itas a carving knife, specifically for afully cooked turkey. Seeing as how itwas 7 o’clock in the morning, I was-n’t really in an “eat an entire turkeyby myself for breakfast” kind ofmood. I felt like eating toast instead.Then it hit me. Butter knife! Jibbershave been known to dull their edgesanyway, in order to avoid catching ona rail and breaking their faces or los-ing their teeth. Plus, I had been but-tering all winter long on the fresh cor-duroy, so bringing my skills to thebreakfast table was an easy transition. Photo: Ashley Brookins

Toast of the Town

Snowboards are pretty expensive con-sidering they only get used a fewmonths out of the year for a lot of us.About halfway into this past summerI noticed a fine layer of dust coatingthe topsheet of my board and realizedjust how seldom I actually get to useit. Determined to get my money’sworth all year round, I set out to findas many uses for it as possible. Hereare a few of the better ideas. There’sa lot more that I didn’t add so useyour imagination and get more bangfor your buck.

Living on your own, you learn to become careful with yourmoney and thrifty with your purchases. Why buy LuckyCharms when you can get the generic stuff that comes in abag for a fraction of the price? Why buy a new CD for overtwelve bucks when you can download and burn them withouteven leaving your bedroom? And why drive to IKEA, fight-ing the swarms of rabid consumers for that chic coffee table,when a perfectly good snowboard can easily be transformedinto a table with the help of a couple stolen cinder blocks?Pure genius. I liked it so much, I invited my grandmotherover to have tea with me. She added booze to hers. Weird!

Photo: Laura Pernula

Photo: Ashley Brookins

Tea For Two

Iron MaidenAfter hotwaxing my own board for years, I was pretty confi-dent that I’d be able to pull this off. It was essentially thesame thing I’d been doing all along, minus the wax, plus anarticle of clothing. I didn’t have an ironing board of my ownand this truly was the next best thing. It’s a good thing Icleaned off all of the old wax in the spring, or it would havereheated and jacked up my entire wardrobe. And those twodollar thrift store t-shirts don’t grow on trees, kids.

Give us a the who, what, when, where, and whys of TrafficSkateboarding?Traffic was started in 2003 and it is based out of Philadelphia. I solely ownit and I run it out of my house.

How has business been going with traffic and who’s on the team?Traffic has been running smooth. I have opened up a lot of accounts in ayear including most of all the major distributors. I have a few internation-al distributors as well but I hope to pick up the rest of the world prettysoon. I work well with my manufacturers and keep the communicationlines open so my boards and shirts get done in a timely fashion.

Rich Adler and Andy Bautista are the two main guys I have been push-ing but Brannon John, Aaron Szott, Henry Panza, Shaun Williams andMike Bouchard are all guys I give boards to on a regular basis. I just start-ed to give boards to Pat Steiner and Lee Berman as well which I am pret-ty stoked on. I want more like supporters than team riders, people whobelieve in what Traffic represents but are their own person with their ownstyles.

After New Deal went out of business, did you think about going toanother team or did you want to start Traffic right away?I wondered why about PopWar and I thought maybe about Zoo.

How is it going from being on New Deal, to running your own com-pany?Going from being just a rider to doing mostly everything is a big transitionbut it was time and somebody had to do it.

How does being a rider for a company compare to being the boss ofthe company?

A rider is easy. Running things and catering to others is always going tobe difficult.

Do you design all the graphics for the decks and shirts?No, Mike Stein has done mostly all of my graphics. I put my input in ofcourse.

One of Traffic’s shirt designs has the tagline of “the lost art of skate-boarding” on it. What are you implying with that statement?To push is a lost art of skateboarding.

How does Traffic compare with all the other skateboard companiesout there?I have always tried to be unique with my skating so the same goes for mycompany. Traffic has a meaning, a way of thinking. Most companies arejust cool art or a gimmick of sorts, not all of course but very few still anymeaning behind their brand.

What are you planning for Traffic for the future?I am going to let things happen.

What is a typical day for Ricky Oyola?Too boring for a skateboarder to read.

How do you balance skateboarding and your family?With a strong wife.

What do you look for when you go out skateboarding?A new challenge.

How do you keep skateboarding from not getting boring?Build what my mind sees.

Has the way you skate changed over the years?Sure, I dont practice as much as I used to or be on my board as much asI used to. I have to use my time more wisely these days.

When you skateboard are you concerned about having a filmer orphotographer their to document it?Not always but at this point anything that I think would be good in avideo part I will film it same goes with photography.

What skateboarders do you think have unique style and creativity?I have always like Quim Cardona and Jake Rupp but I am into the kids Iskate with like Damian Smith, Rich Adler and Jack Sabback. Bobby Puleoand the list could go on and on.

Do you think there is creativity in skating these days?Not as much but watch STATIC II.

How do you feel about skating in demos and contests?I am not really into them.

If you were limited to skateboarding one thing for the rest of your life,what would it be?The streets.

Where has skateboarding taken you, and what is the importance oftraveling to you?I have traveled many places and have stayed for a good amount of time insome of those places. I always loved being a part of somebody elses scenefor a few months. Barcelona is all you need to know. Traveling has beenthe best thing about my career of skateboarding.

How do you feel when people say that to be big in skateboarding,California is where you should be?That is old and I havent heard it for many years.

In an article about you in the 1st issue of the Skateboard Mag, it men-tions that you built a cement wedge up to a steep ledge, do you findyourself building more permenent obstacles or more temporary ones?The idea of permanent but it usually doesnt end up that way.

How important was Love Park to the Philly scene, and is the Phillyscene better or worse now that its gone?Love was huge no doubt but Philly the city is the root of all good skatingout of here.

At what point did you decide that skateboarding is what you wantedto do?At 15 years old.

If you hadn’t started skateboarding, what do you think you would bedoing?A truck driver

Who are your current sponsors and is their anything else you’d like toadd?AutoBahn Wheels, Drop Backpacks, Black Magic Grip, Krux Trucks andLost Clothing.

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Stars of the Small ScreenStars of the Small Screen

Interview with Jacob Swogger and Aaron Hagebak

How did the idea of releasing a DVD come about?JS: You'll notice tour footage laced throughout the

DVD. A local up-and-coming multi-media company,. Flash Mob Media, wanted to shoot a video with us

and we did that and that turned into a "documentary"of sorts featuring a struggling band working to

make their way, which is where the tour footage came from. After the 1st Ave. show, we looked atthe footage when a few friends said that they

would love to see us sell something like that.

How long did it take to put together?JS: I guess a relatively short amount of time. With allthe footage we had from tour and whatnot already shot,it was just putting it all together after the 1st Ave show.It took about a month or so.AH: Matt "The Silence" Novak has been recording usfor the past year at shows, in our homes, on tour, takingbaths, and getting fit at the gym. Once he realized thathe had about 80 hours of tape and wanted to create theDVD it only took about 2 weeks to compile the fin-ished product.

“Her eyes meet with the five of us, creepyporno music starts, fade to black.”

“Her eyes meet with the five of us, creepyporno music starts, fade to black.”

Where can people find it?AH: You can buy it online at our website (www.theumbrellasequence.com), www.revhq.com, andwww.ohevrecords.com, as well as Cheapo, the Electric Fetus and other places around town.

Where did the idea for the Pushing Nevada music video come from?JS: That was the Flash Mob guys’ doing. They came up with just about everything in that video.

Has Ryan been the victim of voyeurism in real life?JS: No, Ryan's just a bastard.

The end of the video shows the young woman revealing her footage to a crowd that includes Ryan, the subject of the footage. What do you think happens next?JS: Her eyes meet with the five of us, creepy porno music starts, fade to black.

How did you guys become a part of Ohev Records?AH: I know a guy who knows some people that sometimes take care of a dog for the receptionist of Revelation Records. The dog really liked a song called Love Song on our demo and he hooked us up with Rev, who called in a favor with Ohev. They have been really nice to us, and they give us posters and pins and stuff.

Photos: Chris Pernula

Do you have plans to release another full length in thenear future?AH: We have about six songs that we are playing liveright now that are not on any records. We have aboutthree more songs that are still being worked out in ourheads and with our instruments. I would assume that byNovember we will be ready to start committing some ofthese rock songs to tape.JS: We are really trying to find ourselves again. Nickwas a large part of the band that is no more. So we arereally trying to figure out what we sound like and whatkind of sound we have.

What was it like playing on the lane of a bowlingalley in Portland? Is that an average occurrence atthat bowling alley?JS: Oh man, it was fun. We were not even supposedto play that night. But we decided to try and play ashow. It is what they usually do. It could be a lot offun if there were people there.AH: One part that you didn't see is when Ry wasturkey-neckin' around the "stage", and he wasn'twatching where he was going and stepped out on thelane. Those lanes are slick and Ry slid into the pinsand got a strike. It was awesome.

How would you describe your songwriting process?JS: Democratic for the most part. Songwriting is thehardest thing to do on the planet. It is like trying todecorate a house you just bought with 3-4 girlfriends,each of whom have different tastes and are valuedequally. It can be pretty rough.

What's in Ryan's backpack? Drugs? Midgets? 1 million dollars?JS: One million doll hairs.AH: Nick left us with one of his fingers as a memen-to. Ryan carries it around with him everywhere. It'sendearing, but kind of sad.

What happened to Nick? Was he eaten by a shark, as his greatest fears would suggest?

JS: He fell in love and moved to Holland. No shit.AH: He was actually eaten by pull-ups. It's not funny

so don't laugh.

NOvE MBE Rs nowboards

How and when did November Snowboards come about?November 2001. During a really dramatic hike in the alps with my wife, Iliterally stopped and looked around at one of the most amazingpieces of scenery that I had ever seen and decided that I reallydidn't like my job that much and that I needed to make a changebefore it was too late.

What did you do before November Snowboards?I was a multimedia producer. I designed, produced and pro-grammed interactive cd-roms for corporate clients like AlinaHealth Systems and AOL. A good gig, but really stressful at timescoupled with sitting behind a desk for eight to ten hours a day.

Was it hard leaving your job to start November?I actually started November about nine months before the jobended. AOL posted the largest quarterly loss in corporate history -and they were my bread and butter in my last job - and my job kindof dried up. It was a drag at the time because my wife was about sixmonths pregnant, but things worked out and I was able to segue intothe snowboard business pretty smoothly.

How has the response been among local riders?At first like with anything new, there was some apprehension amongriders to try something different. That has changed a lot, but there arestill the riders who will only ride what they see in the magazines. Ithink there will always be a segment of the population who cares somuch about what others think and has to conform. Last season, whichwas our second, was like day and night compared to our first season.We really got a positive response from riders. We also had a team thatwas raging at comps, so I'm sure that helped. Local riders gave us alot of feedback on the ride and some of those things were incorporatedinto the new boards for this year. All in all, I would have to say thatthings have been positive.

Have you run into any difficulties basing your company in MN?The biggest difficulty is that we don't have the mountains to test in sowe have to travel. Not a big deal. There may be a perception that a MNboard can't be good, but a lot of those people are riding boards fromChina and Indonesia, so go figure.

Could you explain the process of putting a board together? How longdoes it take?A simplified explanation of the process is that it is like making a sand-wich. Getting the materials ready to go into our press takes about threehours per board. The materials all get stacked in the press wet with epoxyresin and then pressed for about twelve hours. When the boards come out,they need to be cut to shape, finished, decaled, and finally base ground.

An Interview With Jeff Dale

Does running November provide a living income, or do you havea side job to help pay bills?Right now November supports itself. I still take freelance multime-dia jobs to earn an income.

What do you do in snowboarding's off season?Build boards, design the website, put together our team for theupcoming season, order materials, make capital improvements. On a

personal level, I skate bowls, camp, kayak, travel, hang out with my daughter and wife.

How does the price of November Snowboards compare with other major brands?I think it's a great price for what you get. We are in about the same price range as a lot of the Forum, Burton and Ride boards.

What sets November apart from other snowboard companies?While the big companies have a lot of resources at their disposal and can do a lot of things on a bigger scale than we can, we - as a smallcompany - can do a lot of things that they can't. We are extremely accessible to our customers and really stand behind our product. We doa lot of demos and encourage riders to ride our boards before they buy to really get a feeling for what we are all about. If a customer orperspective customer has a question and they call us, chances are that either myself or my partner will answer the phone or return theiremail. More than anything, we understand that not everyone is going to like our boards, and we're not going to try and sell a board tosomeone who it won't work for. We are small enough that we still have a conscience and want to do the right thing.

A cool thing about your company is that you'll let riders test out your boards for a few days to see if they like it. Have you had anyproblems with people not returning the boards?Never. Like you said, it is a cool thing. I think our customers sense that and want to be cool in return.

After testing your boards, how many people have bought them?A lot. The majority of people that demo the boards love them, and a percentage of those people become our customers.

How many people work at November?Myself, my partner Todd Underhill, our team man-ager Ryan Olmstead, and our Duluth representativeJeff Bullert.

Ri chard Ri st

Jon Thei s

Who is on your team?Richard Rist (19) - Richard is a pretty amazing rider. He rose up through the ranks last year and became our #1 guy on the team. Hehas amazing athletic ability and does really well in comps. Last year he either won or came in the top three of every comp he compet-ed in.

Maize Diffley (17) - Maize was a park rat that used to hang around and bug us. He started helping out with demos and continued toimprove. Somewhere along the way he really stepped it up and started going super big. He had a great year last season and did reallywell in comps.

Brennan Swanson (14) - Brennen is the #1 ranked 14 year old slopestyle rider in the US (as ranked by USASA). He is our first riderwho will be competing on the national level. He is also a member of the Sports Illustrated NextX team and won best trick at the Smithrail jam last season. He also rides with the 3rd Lair inline pro team.

Jason Kaas (19) - We met Jason after he, Maize, and Richard held the podium for a big air comp (Richard 1, Maize 2, Jason 3) andslopestyle comp (Jason 1, Richard 2, Maize 3). The three became friends and there was good chemistry there so we picked him up.

Alex Grolla (15) - Alex is probably the rider who I am most excited to see this year, mainly because he is like an alien that picks upthings so fast and has such rapid progression. After his second season he wild carded into USASA nationals and placed 24th out of near-ly 100 competitors. He trained at Windell's in Oregon in June and has a rail setup in his backyard where he sessions for four hours a dayduring the summer.

Adam Stromwall (19) - Adam is our newest rider. He goes really big and does really complex switch-axis tricks that are really hard tounderstand. He is a really strong all-around rider and can do all of his tricks off of both his heel and toe.

Ma i ze D i ffley

If Burton or another major snowboard brand wanted to buyNovember Snowboards, would you do it?I don't think so, at least not yet. We are having so much fun buildingthis company and are really excited to see what it becomes in thefuture. We didn't get into it for the quick buck, and I don't think wecould put a price on it yet.

Does November manufacture any other products besides snow-boards like wax, clothing, bindings, etc...?No.

You've had a lot of coverage from local press (Pioneer Press andKare 11), have any of the snowboarding magazines mentionedanything about November?There might have been some mention in the local section onSnowboarder, but we're not placing ads in the magazines so theyprobably don't care too much about us yet.

How did the Kare 11 story come about, and why did they keepcalling you Jeff Gale when your name is Jeff Dale? They arereporters, right?I'm not sure how the Gale thing happened. The Kare thing wasgreat exposure. Pretty whitebread, but that's the audience. Forwhat it was they did a pretty good job. November isn't reallyabout me anymore, so it's cool. Props to KARE for wanting todo a story on us.

About the Pioneer Press story, you said that some of the things that you said in the story, you actually didn't say. Is that true?It's true, but again, the exposure was good. I don't really want to rip on local media because they give us great exposure. If it was real hardnews I'm sure they would have been more careful about the facts. All in all they did a good job.

Do you have any demos or contests planned for the 04/05 season?We are going to be demoing for sure at Buck Hill, Spirit Mt. and Tyrol Basin. We have gotten a lot of interest from individuals at other resortsas well. In addition to the Midwest scene, we are also doing demos in Colorado and possibly Montana. We will definitely sponsor some compsif we are approached, probably more in Duluth and at Buck.

Do you have any plans for a promo video or advertisements?There is a DVD in the works, we just need more footage. I don't think we'll have a problem with that this year. Advertising is expensive, so wewill probably rely heavily on demos, tradeshows, and guerrilla marketing.

Do you plan to have your boards available in more shops?We will be in the ALT and also have boards on display at 45 Degrees in Stillwater and Midwest Mountaineering in Mpls. There might be somestuff happening in Colorado, but otherwise it will all be direct.

Ri chard Ri stWhat goals would you like to meet with November?I would like to see the brand grow and become known for being the great, high quality, high performanceproduct that it is, and do it all without selling out or compromising. It is great to see really great ridersputting the boards through their paces and really pushing the limits of what they as riders can do.Obviously, I'd like to see more great riders on the boards riding all over the world. I really have no interest in having a business that I can't be proud of or stand behind 100%. If I'm able tomake a living and do the things that I like to do that would be great, but it's not the primary goal. In theend, November has always been about building the best product to get down the hill with. I'm really happywith the way the boards have been received and want to do the things that are required to allow that tocontinue.

FOURFOURLETTERLETTER

LIELIE

How did you guys form as a band?

Brian: When we started, John and I basically decided that we really wanted to do a band. John didn’t play anything at the time but

was willing to learn anything. That’s how badly we wanted to do it. He knew Karl through soccer and Karl was best friends with

Connor, so that’s how I met those two kids. And then I was friends with OC and knew he played guitar and we threw it all together

and started going at it.

Kevin: I joined up with them after breaking off from Red From Winter. It was a crazy band that made no sense so I'm sure the guys

were a little scared at first to even let me try out.

Who are some of your musical influences?

Brian: There are so many; everyone in the band has different bands and artists that influence their style of playing. For me it is defi-

nitely Underoath.

Kevin: I grew up on blues but what got me writing and playing this kind of music was Endthisday and Nehemiah. So basically

Coma Eternal. I also have a lot of history with Blink 182. And of course who can forget my unabashed love affair with Poison gui-

tar player C.C. Deville.

Has being a fairly young band caused any difficulties as far as booking shows, drawing crowds, etc.?

Brian: Not really, I've never really had that hard of a time booking shows. All it takes is a good sounding email and some constant

follow ups. Our friends have always really supported our band and we've done a good job bringing our music out to the right crowd

and kids just grab on and go with it.

Kevin: Yeah, we can't play strip clubs... yet.

How did you get involved with Rezistance Clothing?

Brian: I pretty much just contacted those guys and they happened to be looking for an unsigned band at the time and they really

liked our sound.

What are your thoughts on MN's music scene?

Brian: It has it’s ups and downs. There are a lot of good bands and a lot of not so good ones, but everyone is trying to do their own

thing and get ahead. I mean it can be competitive at times, but bands around here seem to always be willing to help out and do

shows with other locals. There are also some really good venus here too with great people who run most of them.

Who are some of your favorite bands that you've played with?Brian: Definitely Nehemiah, they would have to be the best. Also The Spill Canvas, and The Fallback is always great.Kevin: I had a blast playing with The Sleeping. Then of course The Semester, Nehemiah, With Dead Hands Rising. And who can forgetThe Fallback. Love ‘em to pieces.

Has the change of guitarists affected your material in any way? Brian: It’s only gotten betterKevin: Wow, a question about me. Can I answer the question if I'm the new guitar player? I think I brought more of a punk influence tothe group. Giving it more emotion than technique.

What do you think of Segue?Brian: I think the Segue Cafe is always a fun place to play for us just because all of our friends come out to hang out and it’s just alaid back atmosphere. There are some weirdos there I’ll admit, but you get that everywhere haha.Who do you think is the most underrated band right now? Brian: The Semester, those kids are seriously so good. Kevin: Hmmm, I think that Tricia Yearwood is very underrated. Most overrated is LeAnn Rhymes. Tricia totally wrote and sang that ConAir song first. Scandalous.

Where does the inspiration for your lyrics and music come from? Kevin: Well, lyrically I'm sure a girl fuels Brian's poetic passages. Musically we make music that suits our personalities. We love hard-core and metal but we like girls. So we try to balance so everyone will like it.You're going to be putting out an EP soon. What can you tell us about it, and how will it differ from your demo?Brian: We are super excited for our EP. We have been writing like crazy and the new material is going to blow the demo out of the water.We might be doing the recording through my school Musictech because it all will be free. We’re working hard at it though and will forsure keep everyone updated when it’s near completion.Kevin: We will be demoing the EP before we record it in a real studio. It's gonna have a lot more energy and flow than the demo had.Plus there's more songs than the demo. Cha ching!

Could you give a little history on how and when the band formed?The band officially formed in late-2001 with Nick Conner, the drummer, and I. I had triedto put together the band in the two years previous to meeting him but was unsuccessful. Nick and I decided we wanted to avoid heavily using guitar, so I started askingaround for a violinist, cellist, and French hornist and found some great people. Later we added Chris Rocha with electric bass.

Where did the name of the band come from?I guess maybe for a whisper of truth, first and for most. Or the little truthsI think I feel in a shit-fucked world with a lot of people yapping solutions. A Whisper in the Noise also came from the feeling of anonymity I felt in theworld at the time. I used to walk into record stores and see the thousands of records that people so painstakingly created displayedso superficially in the fluorescent-lit isles go almostcompletely unnoticed. For what could I do that wasbetter? And most of them only seemed to onlylast there for a year or so. Not to mention thecountless other forms of art struggling on the back-burner waiting to be noticed. I was one of manyartists that wanted to be noticed but didn't wantchange for it. But wanting to be noticed is apointless aspect of art anyway, which makes"a whisper in the noise" quite ironic, which I like.

How would you describe your music to someone whohasn't heard it?Orchestral garage rock.

Who or what are some of your musical influences?Bob Dylan, Philip Glass, and Daniel Lanois. Many of theIcelandic exports. Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, andTori Amos when I was younger.

Influences outside of music?Errol Morris, Charles Bukowski, and bad governments.

You toured part of the midwest in '03. How was that experience and do you plan to tour more of the U.S. in the future?The midwest seems to be a hard place to make enough money to evenpay for gas unless you have your shit together. I have no problem sleeping on people's floors and barely eating, but I'm not going to waste my time going in debt for six people to show up at someshit club again. I love traveling, but I'd rather be at home writing better music if that’s what touringis going to be. Pointless touring is a good way to burn yourself out, and I plan on doing music formy lifetime. We will tour the U.S. again when we have our shit more together but not until then.

Could you describe your songwriting process?Initially, I'll come up with simple little scratch ideas that sound cool to me and archive them. Later, I'll build some form for them.I like writing slowly over longer lapses of time. All of the songs we've done so far have started like this. Next, I'll introduce therough versions to the band and figure out how to perform them. At first, I wrote out most all of their parts. Now, part-writing is abit more of a blend of that approach and each of the members creating something independently.

How did the writing & recording of 2d differ from Through the Ides of March?Through the Ides of March was the recording of songs previously written, and 2d was an experimentation of writing songs whilerecording them around four pieces by another band. Plus, I recorded 2d myself (minus the base tracks for If Thousands), and itwas my first studio recording experience by myself.

How long did it take to put together the wooden packaging for 2d?Christian from If Thousands did it. It took a couple months.

Were your shows in London and Iceland the first time performing outside of the U.S.?Yes.How was that experience?It was great for the most part. We will go back again soon I hope. People are obviously far more art-oriented there. Yet, theworld is a little fucked up right now for a U.S. band playing outside of the U.S. with our country’s foreign policies and all.Not dangerous or anything, just a little off putting in some ways. I don't know if this is a good example, but there was a pubwhere some jackass came up on stage and told us to go back to America and that we sounded like a bad rip-off of Godspeed.Strangely, the same kid came up to us a week later at another show and told us how much him and his friends like our band.

Have you ever thought of adding more instruments to the group?It might be fun to try something with a small orchestra. Working with If Thousand was adding people too. No plans to addany permanent members though.

Who have been some of your favorite artists to perform with?I'm not sure. Any of Dave King's bands, Cloud Cult, Shellac, and Umbrella Sequence I guess.

What is your opinion on Minnesota's music scene?Some people are very cool, but overall it is a constipated and pretentious scene too focused on trying to be like yesterday andother places with awful mainstream media coverage to gamut. But then again I'm in a good mood today, and that describesmost cities.

A lot of your music sounds like it could be a soundtrack to a film. When you're writing, do you ever have visualimages that could fit with the song?Mood or sentiment more so, I guess. I do have visual images that pop in my head with each song though too. We are in theprocess of adding video to all our live shows again.

What are some of your likes anddislikes of live shows? Howwould you compare them to play-ing in a studio & recording?I think I need to quit being so timidas a front man and get out of myshell more but that is about it rightnow. The other members in theband are great though. I like per-forming live as much as being inthe studio as long as people arepaying at least some attention.Otherwise I guess we could be justas well playing in our living room.

What can we expect from yournew material that you're puttingtogether this summer and fall?It is hard to say. We are going outof state for most of the recording.Once we start tracking the firstbunch of songs in August, we'llhave a better idea.

All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. Alland no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All workno snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work andsnowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and noboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no sning makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboamakes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboardingJen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makesdull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen agirl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dullAll work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. Alland no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All workno snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work andsnowboarding makes Jen a dull girl.All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no sboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no sning makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboamakes Jen a dull girl. All work and no snowboarding makes Jen a dull girl. All work and no

Jennifer SherowskiSenior Editor of Transworld Snowboarding

How did you become senior editor of TWSnow?I grew up in Colorado and was a pro snowboarder, or at least trying to be all through highschool and college. I rode for Sims for a lot of years, and they paid for me to travel all overand shred. I'd go to college in the summers and falls and then ride in the winter. But when Ifinally graduated in 2000 I was ready to move on and "do something" with my life. So Imoved to California for an internship at Bluetorch in Hungtington Beach. Five days after I gotto California, Bluetorch shut down all their print publications and canned everyone. Thank godfor that, cuz I really hated HB. I heard about a job at Transworld Snowboarding Business,Transworld's trade publication, and moved down to San Diego to do that. A few months afterTWSBiz hired me, the then editor of TWSNOW, Andy Blumberg, hired me on the print magedit staff. The rest is history.

What are some of your responsibilities as senior editor?Each editor is responsible for a handful of columns, plus on average about a feature per issue.But I edit pretty much all the copy that goes into the magazine, as well as helping Kurt Hoy,the editor, with page maps and all that other B.S. Sourcing photos, fact checking, caption writ-ing, and copyediting. Being a magazine editor is pretty much doing EVERYTHING exceptmaybe running the goddamn printer to put a magazine together.

What is the best part of your job? The worst part?The best parts: writing-I love everything about it. Working with five of my very best friends.We are a team and a little family and all that cheesy shit. Traveling for work and having it bemore like vacationing, snowboarding and out on the town and all with a company credit card.Good shit, for sure. The worst part: I get paid very poorly, like the salary of a social worker orsomething. And of course there are all these other benefits, but a person has to make endsmeet, ya know? Also, dealing with advertisers. Companies who advertise always think thatwhen they buy ads they are also buying editorial, which is NOT the case, at least we try tomake it that way.

What advice can you give to kids that want to do what you do? One of the most important things about working for a magazine that covers a scene, be it snow-boarding or whatever, is being part of that scene, first and foremost. You can come in with theshiniest journalism credentials and if you know nothing about snowboarding, you're not gettinganywhere. So get out there and get in the mix.

If you started your own magazine, how would it differ from the one you work for?I would let everyone live wherever they wanted and get things done by using email and holdingmonthly meetings on the beach in Barcelona.

You've contributed writing and photos to The Journal. Are there any other publicationsfeaturing your work? I send stuff into The Journal because I am down for the cause- I think it's an amazing publica-tion... not trying to do too much, just enough, and with a point. But I also submit to a bunch ofmy friends' little zines. I also write freelance for European snowboard magazines when I get achance, because I'm broke, too.

What do you think the importance of an underground zine is?The importance is freedom to make exactly what you want to make. Because I can't tell youhow many times one of my cooworkers or I have said, "I just wish I could make my own damnmagazine." But when you think about it, we are making our own magazine- twsnow, but itdoesn't feel like it. There's too much B.S. and too many hands in it trying to make money.Zines are honest because they are what they are, crappy, worthless in the traditional sense, andmost importantly, not for making money.

Do you have a favorite zine?The Journal, It Was Snakes, Mayonnaise.

What would you be doing right now if you didn't work at Transworld?Having a mid life crisis. Oh wait, I am anyway.

Allworkandnosnow-wboard-dingmakesJen adullgirl.Allworkandno

now-wboard-ding

EarthologyEarthologyR E C O R D SR E C O R D S

Some people are leaders, and others are followers. We can sit back and watch problemsunfold in front of us, expecting the proactive people to step in and help, or we can take actionand be part of the solution. As the creator of Earthology Records, Craig Minowa is a definite

leader. Donating 100% of it’s profits to various organizations, Earthology is the only non-profit record label in existence. Read on to learn more and support this noble cause.

Who are some of the environmental charities that Earthology supports?Earthology provides technological support to the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund, EnvironmentalAssociation for Great Lakes Education, Organic Consumers Association. Monetary support goes to the OrganicConsumers Association, Native Energy, and a variety of other smaller programs...for example we just completed a bene-fit for the Idaho Green Party, a benefit for a documentary on water privatization and diversion's impact on indigenouspeoples of Canada, and have a benefit for Fair Trade coming up in October. We also provide tabling at all of our shows.The tabling is open to all environmental nonprofits, but regular tablers include the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Networkand Fund, Environmental Association for Great Lakes Education, Organic Consumers Association, Great Lakes United,Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund, Environmental Association for Great Lakes Education, OrganicConsumers Association, Sierra Club, Institute for Sustainable Agriculture.

Cloud Cult Photo: Chris Pernula

What groups have released material on Earthology Records?Cloud Cult is Earthology's major breadwinning band with airplay on over 400 radio stationsand Top 20 CMJ and AAA North America charting. Earthology has released 4 Cloud Cultalbums. The label has also released two albums from the band Atticus Finch out ofCalifornia. They have received some airplay on the West Coast. They've got a sort of ColdPlay kind of flavor. Earthology has also released an album called "Gonzo Science" which isan interesting sort of hip-hoppy album with this narrator talking about conspiracies of alltypes...from JFK to aliens. Some other projects Earthology has released include: DreamMusic for Little Wizards (scientifically designed music for baby's with colic), and an IdahoGreen Party compilation benefit CD (featuring Built to Spill). In the short term, we're look-ing at possibly releasing a new artist out of NY called "Emily Is", which is this sort of blendbetween techno, hip-hop, folk and spoken word. Another Cloud Cult album will be releasedin April of 2005.

Could you explain how the wind-powered studio works?Earthology's studio is located on an organic farm. We have volunteers come out and work onthe gardens, and we are working to establish an ecologically sustainable intentional commu-nity on the farm. Many of the studio walls are made from a board called Homasote, which ismade out of 100% recycled newspapers. Our decks are made of 100% post consumer recy-cled plastic. All of the heating and cooling is provided by a geothermal system we installed.It's pipes buried 25 feet down in the earth that circulate into the building, bringing warmtemperatures from the earth inside during the winter and cool temperatures inside during thesummer. The system cost roughly the same amount as it would cost to put in a basic furnaceand an air conditioner, so it's odd that more people don't do it, particularly considering howwell it works. We're in Northern Minnesota, and the temperatures can get down to 40 belowwind chills in the winter time. Even given that, and pretty cheap windows on the house, thegeothermal system has never let us down and has never even had to work at full capacity.It's guaranteed to last the life of the building itself. We also get used CD jewel cases shippedto us from individual donors around the country who find our website. Amazingly, it's sever-al hundred CDs donated every day. We sift through them and hand clean the good ones forreuse. None of our CDs are made from new PVC CD jewel cases. We'll stop making musicbefore we'd ever start supporting the poly vinyl chloride industry (creates dioxin, which istoxic and a carcinogen). Our CD jackets and booklets are made from 100% postconsumerrecycled paper and printed with soyink. The CDs are cut from polycarbon and the scraps arerecycled into milk cartons. We will soon be sourcing a completely biodegradable shrinkwarp made from corn cellulose. Our wind power is provided via Green Tag programs...thatis where you pay extra per kilowatt hour to have the amount of electricity that you consumefrom the grid, provided to the grid via wind power. This is an option that everyone has andeveryone SHOULD do. It's cheap and if everyone paid that little bit extra to have their elec-tricity provided to the grid from renewable sources, we would no longer rely on coal, gas,incinerators or nuclear power plants. It's easy. We recommend Native Energy (wind powergenerated on Reservations which provides green electricity to you and the tribal memberswith a healthy and sustainable economy) http://www.nativeenergy.com/

EarthologyEarthologyR E C O R D SR E C O R D S

One with an inquisitive mind can’t help but wonder what lies beyond unknown doorways...

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NYC

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Photo: Ashley Brookins

Photo: Ashley Brookins

“Wasting Paper Since ‘98”

Jenny Lewis with Postal Service. Photo: Kimberly Brown

Swimmer’s Ear

P.O. Box 2076Maple Grove, MN 55311