GAD! Zine

    I still remember an art club meeting in high school. Yep, I'm taking it back that far. The purpose of the meeting was to decide what design to put on the art club t-shirts, which we'd sell to students to earn money for the art department. Being a snotty artist-wannabe punk rocker who subscribed to the D.I.Y. ethos even then (especially then), I suggested that we hand-paint the shirts ourselves with acrylic. Each shirt would be a one-of-kind piece of art. High School students can be surprisingly receptive to the art of their peers. My stuff back then looked like crap, but the students at the time would have you think I was a genius. And most of them hated me. Imagine if I was cool! With individuals painting in different styles, that meant that we weren't stuck with just one design that may only appeal to certain people. Customers could pick the shirts that spoke to their style or interests. I knew that the paint would hold up to repeat washes, because I'd already pa...

    The epitome of Neo-Glam rock. Is there such a subsect genre? There is now. Coming from “tha ATL”, the band bears such a distinction honestly; their sound is really what the New York Dolls or “Aladdin Sane” era Bowie might have sounded like birthed upon the musical landscape of somewhat more modern times, instead of what the sleeve credits suggest. The quartet hails from Atlanta, and their lush, densely-layered sonic palate gives me hope for the future of southern-based artistic product (ooooh, the most scintillating of tense and uneasy of alter egos saddled upon this thang called “ROCK AND ROOOOWWLLLE!”) . The band currently has two releases: A self-titled EP from 2013, and “Heavy Petting”, a full-length (I never get tired of giggling whenever I see that written or hear it anywhere) from this current year of our Jon Lord, 2016. The EP is a little more feisty, more on the UK 77 punk side of town as far as the bands catalog is concerned, specifically “Bat On A Leash” whic...

  My musical endeavors, the GAD! Zine, and this blog can all be traced back to one inspiring cassette that I purchased when I was a kid: Faith No More's debut album, We Care A Lot. Early FNM introduced me to the sounds of punk, post-punk, metal, even a touch of rap that I could stand. The vocals were truly unique, with lyrics that could be abstract and enigmatic one moment and so utterly relateable and down-to-earth the next. The music that would accompany this new poetry was dark and menacing and catchy and unencumbered by any preconceived notions of a particular blueprint or specific style. This album completely opened my mind to not just a whole new world, but to an entire universe of creative possibilities. I've often said that if it weren't for punk rock, then I'd have been a lot more successful, but I would've killed myself. So, in a way, Faith No More saved my life.     Needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled when Kolbey and I were given the opportunit...

    Chris Lee has passed away. Unless you knew him, I don't know if I can stress just how significant he was. If you did know him, you're heartbroken like me and you don't need anyone to tell you. But I have to write this.     Chris was the most recent singer of the long-running Huntsville Alabama metal band Envain and even before that had done his share of kicking ass with other bands for years. He was a thoughtful, intelligent man who threw all boundaries away the second he took the stage or barroom floor. He embodied the D.I.Y. punk rock aesthetic. He would sport patches and even tattoos of his favorite local bands. He loved them. When the singer of The Devil's Got A Hold On Me, Nate Baugh, passed away, and the band made the hard decision to turn an already-booked show into a tribute, Chris didn't hesitate to step up and sing. He made no attempt to copy his fallen friend, he just did everything he could to entertain. Blood, sweat, and tears literally followe...

[Originally appeared in Sink Approach vol. 1, self-published in 2005] Interview by  Adam Harmless and Darlene Vile In August of 2003, the long wait was finally over for fans of the legendary New York punk band the Ramones with the theatrical release of “End of the Century: The Story of The Ramones”. The critically acclaimed documentary delves deep into the pink and fleshy psyche of the now-defunct band, and exposed a highly dysfunctional but brilliantly prolific group of musicians. Jim Fields, who co-directed EOTC with Michael Gramaglia, gave us at Sink Approach insight into the exciting world of the Ramones, and the documentary filmmaking process in this in-depth interview.  SINK APPROACH : Most of the folks in the Ramones camp are life-long New Yorkers. Where did you grow up? Did you go to college? JIM FIELDS : Michael Gramaglia and I are friends from early on in high school. We grew up in southern Westechester, about 30 minutes from mid-town Manhattan. I moved to...