Interview Ten: Abi Vasquez (Underdark / YURI)

I'm back from the dead! I'm podcasting in person for the first time! I'm using new software to edit the show! Here's my discussion with the one and only Frog Person Plus. We talked about visual art and getting started in tattooing. We talked about making weird folk music. We talked about all kinds of good stuff. You'll have to listen to find out more. You can find Charlie on Instagram here: @frogpersonplus You can listen to Frances Pylons here: http://francespylons.bandcamp.com You can listen to Cherry Chain here: http://cherrychain22.bandcamp.com

Two new episodes in the space of a week??? Don’t get used to it! Here’s my discussion with Abi about Underdark and YURI. We talked about the process of joining a very good black metal band at age 29, co-writing a cyberpunk novel remotely with a friend, and feeling vaguely hopeful about the future. Enjoy.

This episode was recorded in June. We had a load of technical difficulties at the time so I avoided editing it for over 3 months. It’s done now - I’ll rewrite the description later. Anyway, here’s my discussion with Chris about all things Self Defense Family, Twin Cisterns, Thee Visitors, composing for television, and the Great Outdoors.

James spoke with Charlene Elsby, the hyper-productive Canadian author who only writes books with one word titles (thus destroying this show’s episode-naming convention. They talked about making the most of being forced to change academic disciplines, writing about murder realistically, pumping out books left, right and centre, the difference between Clash Books and Porcupine’s Quill, mutual friends and reference points, and genuinely enjoying television designed to kill as many brain cells as possible.

James spoke to two dudes named Tyler about the JRPG they made together called Shadows of Adam. They talked about life-changing coincidences, game-breaking bugs, surviving Kickstarter, Switch ports & DLC, and playing jazz music for the Navy or some shit. Welcome to GameBoy Summer.

James had a really enjoyable chat with Daniel Eastman about his first poetry book ‘Watertown’ (to be released in May 2021 through Back Patio Press). James and Dan talked about the happy accidents that saw this book come to life, working with Back Patio Press (as editors, publishers and friends), Raymond Carver, and Trailer Park Boys. Dan also read a couple of pieces from Watertown at the end of the episode so stick around for that. Nice.

James had the pleasure of chatting with Christopher Barling about the decade plus Chris has invested into making heavy music, his (positive and negative) experiences touring Europe with Hang the Bastard, MINE, Group of Man, and Inhuman Nature, his debut photo-book ‘Stray Dogs’ published through Strange City Press, and a load of other weird and whacky stuff. Join us.

James had a really insightful chat with Lindsay Lerman about both of her books published by CLASH, her PHD in Philosophy and how that relates to her work as a translator, her role as an editor at Black Telephone Magazine. (This episode comes with a content warning for a mention of rape between 1:10:00 - 1:14:00)

James talked with Shwin Bhandari about playing to your strengths, learning new things, their music (Night Swimming / Give Up/ Red Terror) and all kinds of other great stuff!

James has never read Moby Dick before and it shows. Go follow Tex on Twitter over at @thatsqueakypig, read his book HECK, TEXAS published by Atlatl Press, and check out his podcast Mumbo Jumbo (A Movie Podcast) on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.