Recent Developments - Stanton Stephens

So we decided to change our Depth of Field segment to Recent Developments. It just sounds better. 

 

This weeks photographs come from talented young professional photographer Stanton Stephens. He photographed the Airel Pink/Puro Istinct/Magic Kids show for us. Be sure to check out Stanton's Website for some quality work. 

 

"What is this thing
I call my mind
I look for the things I can't find
Why am i so far from the ground ?"


 

See the rest of the pictures from that night HERE

William Fitzsimmons - Video and Interview

WDDI: I guess you live in Jacksonville Illinois right now? 
William Fitzsimmons: Thats right 
WDDI: Is there a music scene there?Are you involved in it? What brought you there?
William Fitzsimmons: The music scene in Jacksonville would probably be the high school marching band and uh, and maybe the glee club from some local colleges. Its just, its kind of a small farming town, and I guess I moved there because it was um.. it’s a tabula rasa. Ya know? It was a nice blank slate from the places that I’ve been, you know, and people’s live`s that I’ve messed up and messed with. So it was a fresh start

WDDI: What is the worst job you ever had?
William Fitzsimmons: That’s a good question. The worst job I ever had. I mean I’ve had a lot of... I’ve kind of worked a lot of different weird jobs. I was a garbage man for a while. I was a produce boy in a grocery store for a while. I think the worst and best job that I had, it kind of occupies the same space, it depends on what day it was, was when i worked um the psychiatric unit in the hospital. And, ya know, some days were literally amazing they were wonderful. You see people’s lives change right in front of you. You would see people that were stricken with really, really awful psychiatric illness get better. On the worst day you were getting attacked by someone who was psychotic, delusional, or coming down from heroine, crack cocaine. So everyday was different but I’m thankful for that too. I definitely gave me an understanding of the entire breath of people there are I suppose. It allowed me to learn how to have empathy for people when they are at their worst and that’s a very important thing for a therapist and I think for a writer too.


WDDI: You picked up a lot of instruments growing up, and you’ve been doing counseling. Your career both musically and non-musically could have gone any way but it went in the direction that we were talking about earlier. The guy with the guitar on the stage. What shaped that?
William Fitzsimmons: I guess the biggest influence that put me in the place that I am now, and certainly there’s many, I think it was some sort of vague combination of my upbringing with my parents and music being such a big part of the household and my desire to get into counseling and therapy. They both were very important. Today I sort of look at therapy as being the biggest thing because I still feel like I’m doing that work. I mean I’m definitely a musician, I mean that’s what the check says, but I feel that day to day I’m doing the work of a therapist. That’s what the songs are about. Its about helping people, ya know, deal with stuff that they’re going through.
WDDI: Why a songwriter?
William Fitzsimmons: Well, I’d like to get moving away from that, like moving away from the solo thing, wich sort of begs the question of direction. No but I mean it started out as that and it still some at least for the writing process is still basically that. Because that still gives me the freedom to say whatever it is I need to say. There is no constraints of input from other people, even people who might be really good but I still feel like if I’m meant to address individuals in difficulties people have is to put myself in the mindset of the counselor and write from that perspective and you really can do that collaboratively ya know, it just doesn’t work as well. I’ve done things with other people of course but they tend to be more on the musical side.
WDDI: I never understood how people could co-write stuff.
William Fitzsimmons: Co-writing is a beautiful thing.
WDDI: Have you done any co-writing.
William Fitzsimmons: I have, with varying degrees of success. Sometimes it’s a beautiful experience and you’re both on the same page and it creates this gestalt of creativity that never would have happened if either one of you were in isolation. At it’s worst, both people are kind of compromising what they want to say in order to fit into this narrow slot, a finished song. That;s the dangerous part of it but at its best its really beautiful. I feel like I’ve moved into that more but for now it’s been personal experience and those things that I’ve figured out so, you can’t really co-write about personal experience.
WDDI: You really got a big start through Myspace and the Internet. Do you have any views of how the Internet has maybe changed the game of the song? The importance of the song because now things are so disposable. The idea is to get you’re mp3 posted on pitchfork. Do you think that is affecting the way people are writing?
William Fitzsimmons: Any time you introduce a new medium into any field with music or technology, anything like that, it’s divisive and it always branches off into something that's beneficial and good and positive and something that;s subversive and terrible. I think that some people out of absolute necessity and survival have had to augment the way that they might have to present their art but I don’t know if the Internet is really responsible for that. There was a time when people weren’t so concerned with making a song three minutes and thirty seconds and getting to the chorus before forty five seconds.
WDDI: Like with the invention of the LP.
William Fitzsimmons: Right. There’s always people that decide that they are going to compromise in order to fit into, and I don’t necessarily mean that in a negative way, they compromise in order to fit into whatever, a certain box for lack of a better word. There’s also a lot of people who say forget it, I’m not interested. Mark Kozelek is one of my favorite artists, Sun Kil Moon, Dead House Painters, I’ve been listening to his new record that just came out Admiral Fell Promises, and I’ve read some of their reviews, which I don’t really like to do before I buy a record. Some of the hard core fans would say positive about it and the people that you would suspect were more on the fence about it didn’t really enjoy it because it’s very stripped down, and I think it’s beautiful because I just think he doesn’t care if he’s getting up here or if he’s just getting (down) here because he’s doing what he’s suppose to be doing and people that are meant to be reached by that stuff are absolutely reached by it.
WDDI: People respond to honesty.
William Fitzsimmons: Yeah! People respond to honesty, that’s exactly the truth. So I’m inspired by people like that who decide they don’t care if their single ends up on the radio, they don’t even care if  they have a single on the record. Its cliche to say these things because it’s supposed to be very indie and authentic but it’s just true, you tend to... if you’re a fan of music and the history of music then you have to effect people.
WDDI: Just to add on to like the confessional aspect, a lot of you’re songs convey the vanity of life, there’s a lot of hopelessness and struggle. Where do you look for meaning in the whole world that is futile? Where is you’re foundation?
William Fitzsimmons: I suppose I’m grounded in, have foundation in the things I think most people do, family relationships and friends. You know it’s funny, people so often comment on the darkness of the music that I make. I’ve never thought of myself particularly as a dark person. When people meet me personally, they come to shows, they sort of see that I guess. I definitely prefer levity over somberness and I don’t know quite why that is. I guess that’s just how I was raised. I’ve never had difficulty reconciling those things. I think usually I can justify those things by realizing, I think that there is an order to how things happen. There are certainly those things that are very confusing, tragic things, horrible things, and I don’t have explanations for those but I just tend to think things happen for a reason most of the time. We might not know what it is but I guess I’m sort of comforted by that. And most of the darkness that’s happened in my life, well the truth is that I brought it on myself. So I don’t really have anyone to blame but me. To choose to remain in that depressive state would be I think kind of irresponsible. I believe in the idea of redemption and movies dont to me have to end happily but I guess I like when they do most of the time. I guess that’s just the perspective that I live from and I write from. And it’s the experience I’ve had, even though I’ve gone through some horrible things. Now, I look around and I’m doing okay and I don’t mean career wise, I mean as a person psychologically and emotionally. I was honest and confessional about the mistakes I made and the pain I caused to others and those that were brought upon me. I think when you do that you can find forgiveness, forgive yourself and forgive other people. There is just no point of a man in darkness forever.

 

Words: with Mk (from Waaga records)

    We recently got a chance to sit down with MK from Sacramento based labels Waaga (Florene, Fur, Fizzy Dino Pop) and Lefse (Neon Indian).  He told us all about his label’s Denton connection, his thoughts on the music powerhouse Pitchfork, and even gave us some personal advice.
 
 

We Denton Do It: Why do you go by MK?

Mk: Basically, my bosses name is Matt, and he came up to me one day and said, “Hey, we can’t have two Matt’s at Lefse.” So it’s kind of evolved in the past year or so, but you know, I’m rockin it.

WDDI: So do you just go by MK for music stuff or…

MK: Haha, Yeah my friends think it’s hilarious when my people call me MK.

WDDI: So Waaga is an Offshoot of Lefse?   

MK:  Well, the way that we’ve set that up is that we run a company called Banter Media that does management and PR for bands. So that is basically the parent company of everything.  And under that falls Lefse and Waaga. So for the most part, I do a little bit of A and R for Lefse and then Waaga is my project.  I mean, ultimately it has to go through the other guys because they are the ones spending the money, or what little money we have, so they have to make the final call but it’s pretty much up to me.

….Break in the tape…..

MK: (continued) …it’s just kind of led into what it is now, which is namely electro, but we have groups like Power Animal and things like that.  So we like to dabble in everything, in all genres.  I don’t want the label to ever be one genre where we put out twelve electro-records a year.  We really just want to evolve with the climate in what’s going on in music and really try to stay a step ahead of everyone else.  So that’s kind of a rundown of how we do things with Banter and Waaga.

WDDI: So everyone around here (Denton) is excited that you have a several Denton bands, is that all through Paul? (Paul North of Sleep whale and Sunnybrook)

MK:  Yeah, well actually, sort of through all of those guys (Sleep Whale).  They came out to Sacramento and were like “hey, you should check out our friend’s bands.” And they brought a bunch of music for us.  
    So I just kind of checked out Florene first and then just kind of through Myspace noticed that FUR was on Florene’s top friends and Neon Indian’s top friends and really it seemed like Bryce (FUR) was on everyone’s top friends. So I thought, “Shit, I gotta check this stuff out.”  So I did and I was really really into it.  So that was going really well and we put out “Witches” and then Bryce was like, “hey dude, you should check out Avery’s project Fizzy Dino Pop. So I checked that stuff out. And I think Bryce posted it on his Facebook or something.  So I just dropped him (Avery) an email and was like “hey dude, wanna be on Waaga?” I mean that’s kind of the Denton connection
    It’s kind of weird because I’ve never been here before.  It’s a trip.  

WDDI: Haha, so what do you think of the real thing versus the image you had in your mind of it?
MK:  I had no idea.  Actually, shit’s been so busy prepping for the tour so like, this is the first time that I’ve actually been to the square. I’ve just been at Bryce’s house and Grey’s (FUR) house the whole time. I actually haven’t gotten out much. But from what I’ve seen it’s pretty cool. It’s got a small town feel but not quite a city, its like, where do you draw the line because I’m from Sacramento, do you know where Sacramento is?  It’s actually the capitol of California, but yeah it’s a pretty cool town. There are some really awesome bands there now.  There’s a pretty cool little underground scene.  
    It’s weird because I work in an office.  You know you go to work at 9, you go home at 5, you’re tired, so I don’t get to go out as much as I’d like, just because I’m working hard.  So you go home and all you want to do is crash.  I mean I do go out though, quite a bit.  There are some really really cool underground venues there.
     One of them is actually identical to The Majestic Dwelling of Doom, which was really cool.  It’s not in a basement but it’s in the warehouse district.  Dwelling of Doom is rad.  I mean, what they’re doing there is awesome.  They’re doing a great job.  I hope they keep booking cool bands there, no shitty hard core and that garbage.  I mean, I don’t know, are people into that here?

WDDI:  I suppose it’s more of a high school thing, like everyone anywhere I guess?

MK:  Haha, but yeah, I dig Dwelling of Doom.

WDDI: I actually saw Power Animal there recently.

MK: Oh no way.  Yeah they are amazing live, so good.  They actually played in my bathroom. We shoved out all the crap.

WDDI:  Yeah I saw that video on the website.

MK:  Yeah the video was filmed by one of my buddies in Sacramento.  They (Power Animal) have the some connections here.  I mean they’re friends with all the Sleep Whale guys. So Yeah.  Hey you guys wanna go back inside.  They have air condition inside, haha.


…..Back inside…..


Mk (speaking of the Dallas Observer Music Award showcase in Deep Ellum)  : It was nuts.  It was like a mini version of 6th street in Austin or South By.  I mean I’ve been to South By before and it’s just like bam, music all over the place.  Yeah it was cool there.
It seems like everyone in Denton hates just hates Dallas with a passion though.

WDDI: So I wanted to ask about the Florene review on Pitchfork, and Pitchfork in general in relation to how you guys do what you do?

MK:  Well, so the way that I feel about Pitchfork is that they, when it comes down to it, they are good writers for the majority of it.  A lot of thought goes into those reviews and there needs to be an outlet in music for criticism.  Not harsh harsh criticism, but there needs to be an outlet for that.  If not, you’ve just got people only toasting what they like.  So I think that Pitchfork does a really good job of that. It’s kind of a love hate thing to be honest because they are really good writers, but it does hurt when you see something like that definitely. (Florene got a 5.4 on Pitchfork. Quote “it sounds terrible.”) .
     But I do think it’s important for music in general to have something like that,  I don’t know, I do think that too much criticism can be kind of bad, obviously, but you know the only thing for Florene is that they’ll just keep rolling.  I love them, I love their music, so they’re just going got keep rolling on and keep doing what they’re doing.
     I know so many people that there bands have gotten a bad review on pitchfork and the bands stop.  I think that’s the worst thing they can possibly do because it means a lot to even be on that website and they just have to keep pushing and keep making music and keep doing what they love.  If Pitchfork reviews it again, great, but if not, whatever. I mean a Pitchfork review is a Pitchfork review.  Most bands want one until they get one.

WDDI:  Pitchfork just seems like the most obvious way to go for bands these days.

MK:  Oh totally, I mean I’m a Pitchfork addict, I check it hourly, but I think that everybody, when they work in the music industry, they’re job directly correlates to what’s going on with Pitchfork. I mean you have to constantly be up on that and even ahead of that.  I mean I can’t tell you how many times we’ve started working with bands or talking to bands and the next day without even signing a contract with them they’re shit gets on Pitchfork and we’re like, “no no no it’s too soon for that.”
     You know, like you guys, want to be the first ones to post something, everyone wants to be the first one to post something and discover this new cool band.   So yeah, I do like Pitchfork, I think they do a good job for the most part.

WDDI:  How did you start your background in music?

MK:  You know, I’ve always grown up around music, it was always in my house. My dad was always listening to jazz and stuff like that.  I very early got really involved in music. I started playing trumpet really young. I am a classically trained jazz trumpet player so I guess this other kind of music is kind of my outlet to that.
     I was always really into classic rock, so all my friends were like dude you gotta check out these bands.  I was always under the impression that there was no good music coming out right now.  And my friend told me, “dude you gotta hear this record,” and It was like Radiohead’s “Kid A” or something like that.  It was probably around the time “Kid A” came out so ever since then it was like, “Radiohead is amazing” buts that’s very very surface level still.  So I just started listening to that and digging deeper and deeper.  I would spend hours on Myspace, even before I started working in music, just listening to music, And my friends were like, “what do you do all day,” and I was always like, “listening to music.” So now I can do it professionally.  
    Every morning I wake up and I read blogs for like an hour.  I grab my computer and read the first blog posts of the morning.  That’s how I start the day.  Some people go and make coffee.  Well I read blogs.  
     It’s like, the only way to keep up with what’s going on.  I mean I’m definitely a fan of Pitchfork, Gorilla versus Bear, Sterogum, all the big ones, but I definitely read a lot of smaller blogs.  They’re posting shit that pitchfork will post in another month or so.  
    Also, if I have any advice to you, I’d say think if something that nobody else is doing for your blog.  A good example is somebody like Daytrotter.  Those guys started doing really cool sessions.  When they started not too many people were doing that, I mean people were doing that, people have always been doing that, but not to the extent that they were.  I mean, they put where they are from in Illinois on the map for bands to come through and do a Daytrotter session.  
      So I’d say that I’d just think of something really unique, I mean, I know something is out there.

Minor Bummer - Last Minute Announcement

 

    Unfortunately we have a minor bummer to announce about tonight’s No Bummer Summer show at Dan's. We are sorry to announce that TV Carnage has canceled their screening and live appearance due to unforeseen travel circumstances. We are all still excited about the show and hope you can make it out tonight. Sorry to bum you out a bit, but we will surely make up for it with tonight's line up...

    http://www.myspace.com/sextapemusic

     

    Then we have two out of town favorites

    Then finally one of my favorite local talents by far.