A
few of our readers have asked me over the last few months to try and
get an interview with today's guest. I thought what the hell. I'm
also doing this as this dude is one of my main influences in starting
Sludgelord. He's single-handedly created or influenced the whole
Sludge/Doom/Stoner Webzine/Blogging Culture that is currently going
on today.
He's
responsible for one of the best Doom/Sludge/Stoner
Webzines on the net – The Obelisk – which he operates by himself
on a daily basis. His articles, reviews and features are always
brilliantly well written and hugely entertaining where he is admired
by fans, critics and bands alike.
I'm
talking about the legend that is HP Taskmaster or as we known him by
as JJ Koczan. JJ has kindly agreed to an interview with me and I'm
really honoured to be doing this as I'm a huge fan of his work and
the dedication he gives to the music that we all know and love.
Ladies
and Gentlemen – JJ Koczan.
Hi
JJ. Thanks for doing this interview. Really appreciate and I know how
busy you are. How are things with you today?
Doing
alright, thanks. I appreciate the kind words in the intro up there.
I’m sure there are plenty of people who’d argue against stuff
like “brilliantly well written” and “hugely entertaining,”
and I don’t think I’d go anywhere near “legend” so much as
“guy who posts things on the internet,” but very nice of you to
say in any case. I get complaints sometimes about walls of text and
things like that, so I know there’s no way to please everybody, but
I’m very fortunate that there seem to be people who dig on what I
do with the site. And thank you for taking the time to put together
this interview.
Obviously
most people know about your website – The Obelisk. How did the idea
for The Obelisk come about?
The
Obelisk was an extension of a column I used to write for the magazine
Metal
Maniacs called
“Feast of the Obelisk,” which was kind of my answer title-wise to
Emissions from the Monolith – something that said “stoner rock”
without actually saying it. A kind of dogwhistle to those who’d get
it. An obelisk also being traditionally phallic, there’s an entire
level that’s just a big joke, and I think that’s pretty
appropriate as well. Metal
Maniacs was
a pretty extreme metal publication.
I
worked as the Associate Editor under Liz Ciavarella, whom I continue
to respect and admire, and we’d get complaints about dedicating
space to heavy rock and doom – this was circa 2007-2008 – and I
recall ending the last column with “Eat a dick,” which was about
as plain as I could say it. When that magazine tanked early in 2009
following the US economic collapse in late-’08, I started The
Obelisk as an outlet for all the reviews I wasn’t yet caught up on,
so at least the people who took the time to send me stuff to write
about would have something to show for their effort. That was the
last weekend of Jan. 2009. I recall thinking I’d just put up one
post every other day or something like that, no big deal. It’s kind
of snowballed since into what it is now since that time.
Was
it a struggle at first to get The Obelisk known amongst the
Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal community? How did you get The Obelisk known
amongst readers and bands?
After
Metal
Maniacs
went down, I used to double-post my reviews on StonerRock.com, and I
think that turned some eyes onto what I was doing, and then when that
site went down late in 2010 and I put up the forum (with the
gotta-mention assistance of Slevin, a good, kind, patient friend who
has helped me with technical stuff since we registered the domain and
installed Wordpress), that brought it to an entirely different level.
People have been supportive of the project all along, though. I don’t
think it’s the biggest site in the world, but it’s very important
to me, and my hope is that carries over into the actual execution of
things like reviews and interviews, special features, podcasts, the
radio stream, and so on. I suck at self-promotion.
I
post links on Facebook and Twitter, but I’ve never been a salesman.
I’d rather keep my head down and keep writing, so that’s what
I’ve always concentrated on. Again, I’m fortunate that people
have been so open to my project and that it’s found an audience at
all. It wasn’t something I thought would happen, and it’s not
really something I was shooting for like, “I’m gonna start a blog
and people are going to read it and it’s going to be awesome.” I
just wanted to write and didn’t have another outlet anymore. I
don’t want to say it was a panic, because I don’t really remember
it that way, but I was newly unemployed in 2009 and needed an outlet,
so that’s what The Obelisk became. I feel lucky that it has
whatever reputation it has, but honestly that’s something outside
of me that I can’t really do much to control. I just want to keep
writing.
Did
you have any struggles/setbacks when you first started The Obelisk?
Well,
when I first started, I hosted the site through Yahoo and it was a
god damned mess. It would crash all the time for no reason and it was
just shoddy hosting. I switched companies (again, with the help of
Slevin) pretty early on and it’s been much better since. But
conceptually, I never had a set idea of what it was supposed to be,
so it’s not like there was a goal I was worried about hitting. I
remember being really, really stoked when I had 700 people view the
site in a month. More than anything I’ve ever done, I’ve
approached The Obelisk as a work in progress and let it develop over
time. It’s not something I’ve tried to force. I’ve said, “Okay,
I’m going to try this and see what happens,” a lot, but never, “I
want it to be this thing and it’s not.” I’m a pretty systematic
person generally. I like organization. So for me to step back and let
it become its own thing over time is rare and special to me on a
personal level.
I
think it allows me to be prouder of what it is now because it wasn’t
part of a master plan. Of course, I wanted readers all along and I’ve
worked to spread the word on what I’m doing – I still do that,
and I’m still thrilled when new readers check in or say hi or
comment on a post, whatever it might be – but I like to think the
shape of the site is still changing and what it is now on a
day-to-day level might not be what it is a year or two from now, if
I’m still fortunate enough to keep it going at that point. In terms
of setbacks and struggles, being open to letting it evolve on its own
avoided a lot of those kinds of problems. At least that’s how I
feel about it. For me, it’s always just been about writing and
music. So long as I’ve got that, the rest can and will work itself
out over time.
You
run The Obelisk as a One-Man Operation. Was that an easy decision to
make? Would you ever be open to the possibility of people joining The
Obelisk?
At
the time I made it, it was about the easiest decision I ever made. I
had spent five or six years working in print media in one capacity or
another and was fed up with the declining state of the industry,
writers behaving like children, egos other than my own,
mismanagement, crap money, on and on and on. I knew I wanted The
Obelisk to be my thing. Very early on, I took a lot of cues from what
MetalSucks was doing – that kind of internet-brand snark – but
the tone of The Obelisk changed over time became what I feel is a lot
truer to my own voice and how I think about music and how I relate to
it. I’ve had offers from writers around the world who’d like to
come aboard, some of them friends I’ve made over the years, but
I’ve never really taken on anyone else because ultimately I don’t
want to rely on anyone or change the voice or tone of the site. I
don’t want to say I’d never do it.
A
couple years back, I hit up a few artists I respect – Tim Catz,
Mario Lalli, Ben Ward, Tommy Southard, Ben Hogg, Chris “Woody”
MacDermott from Mighty High – to do columns for the site about
things other than music. Ben Hogg wrote about growing up in the
South, Tim Catz about ‘70s heavy, Tommy Southard about craft beer,
Mario Lalli about whatever the hell he wanted. It worked for a while,
but gradually people sort of faded out of doing it. Woody still turns
in a piece every now and then and I’m happy to run it when he does,
because he’s a fantastic writer and his take on ‘80s metal is
second to none, but I don’t think it would really be fair for me to
expect anyone else – anyone – to be as dedicated to the site as I
am. It’s not theirs, and it would never be. Someone that passionate
about it probably would’ve started their own thing already and
(rightly) told me to screw off. Never say never in rock and roll, but
for the last six-plus years and for the foreseeable future, I’m
happy to keep it to myself.
What
I admire most about The Obelisk is your in-depth reviews and articles
on a daily basis. You must be a machine cranking out all those
articles. Where do you find the time? As they're all so brilliantly
written and well researched.
I
feel like every time I go back and look at something I wrote earlier,
all I do is find typos and run-on sentences and things needing
correction, but again, thanks. As for finding the time, that’s just
something that’s evolved over the last few years. The site’s
become a bigger and bigger part of my day, and now it’s basically a
full-time job that makes no money. I’ve been unemployed for the
last 13 months, and I have no children, so other than the odd bit of
housework or an errand for my wife or something I need to do that day
whatever it might be, I’m able to focus a lot of my attention on
the site. Kind of like when I started it, it’s all I’ve got.
Learning to research and try to get things right the first time is
something I’ve had to train myself into doing.
I’ve
been wrong so many times about things like lineups, where a band’s
from, whether it’s their first or second album, this kind of thing,
that I’ve learned to check my impulses, to stop and go back and ask
myself if I’m really sure about that and is there a way to check
before I actually write it? A lot of it at this point is also down to
experience. I usually have a pretty good sense of how I want to frame
a review or a given article before I go into it, and I think about it
in terms of what there is to say about a given record, what’s the
story of that record, how does it relate to the band’s past work if
there is any, what’s different and what’s the same, what’s
working, what’s not working.
A
major criteria I use for whether or not I’m going to cover a band
is if I think there’s something to say about them, and I don’t
have nearly enough time to keep up with everything I’d like to
cover – for years now that’s been my biggest argument with myself
in terms of taking on a staff, actually – so that’s an immediate,
natural kind of filter that has been very useful for me over time.
Does
The Obelisk ever interfere with your personal life where you think –
I need a break from this before I go insane? I do at times with The
Sludgelord.
My
wife could probably give you a better answer to this question. Monday
through Friday, most of my day is accounted for, and that doesn’t
count going to shows, traveling to fests, things like that, so yeah,
it eats up a good amount of my time and I can think of numerous
instances where that’s put it into conflict with other aspects of
my life, but it’s a big part of who I am. Something I never
anticipated when I started the site was how much of my identity it
would consume. There are bummer days, of course. I have a tendency
toward the negative anyway, particularly as regards myself and my
work, so absolutely I get bogged down and what the hell am I doing
this for, etc.
The
last year as I’ve been out of work has been particularly hard.
Money is tight, I’ve got bill collectors calling me every day and
what am I doing? I’m sitting here worrying about when I’m going
to have time to review the Lamp of the Universe record. It’s
absurd. But one thing leads to the next, as it has all along, so my
answer is always just to keep plugging away at it, doing the work,
and seeing where it ends up later. Most days I’m running at a
deficit – viciously behind on this news story, that review,
whatever it is – so I’m constantly playing catchup with myself.
It’s exhausting, but it’s important to me and it’s a big piece
of who I am as a person, so I don’t really have a choice but to
keep it going as long as I can. I know nothing’s forever, but if I
didn’t feel the need to do The Obelisk in the way I do, I wouldn’t
be doing it. It’s a reason to get out of bed in the morning.
It’s
put me in touch with people all around the world, from New York to
the West Coast to Europe to Southern Africa to China and Japan and
Australia and New Zealand. On the occasion I’m actually able to
step back and realize that – and that’s not necessarily every day
while I’m sitting on the couch trying to grab links to go with a
press release feeling like every professional decision I’ve made in
the last decade and a half has been wrong – I can’t really see
myself doing anything else with my time.
When
did your writing career begin? Did you write for other publications
before starting The Obelisk?
I
always wrote. For as long as I’ve been able to write, I’ve been
writing. I wrote as a kid, an adolescent and as an adult. It’s all
I’ve ever wanted to do, and more, it’s all I’ve ever been able
to do. I’m completely useless at nearly everything else. Even
things an average person has no trouble doing – holding
conversations, simple tasks – I’m an absolute wreck. I watch
other people go about their lives and I’m in awe. Writing is the
one thing that I’ve been able to carry through years of miserable
failure at everything else, and writing about music came around first
when I was in high school, writing for the paper.
I
remember I wrote like a 500-word review I’d been assigned about the
Van Halen record with Gary Cherone from Extreme singing on it and
went on about how bad it was. That was probably the first time I
wrote about music, rather than stories or poems or essays. I did
college radio at WSOU in New Jersey, and got an internship from there
at The
Aquarian,
a local alt-weekly. Took over as editor of The
Aquarian in
2004, full-time while I was still finishing school, got married that
same year. I had a weekly column for metal and other heavy stuff –
I remember reviewing YOB’s Catharsis
after having my mind utterly blown by it in 2003 – and developed my
process through that, then went to Metal
Maniacs in
2007, which sort of refined my niche style-wise to where it is now as
I found I wasn’t nearly as qualified to write about death metal as
the death metal writers, nor was I as into black metal as the black
metal writers.
It
just happened to be that what was really speaking to me was the heavy
rock and doom stuff – way less “metal,” in the traditional
sense. I wound up back at The
Aquarian from
2010 until 2013, while also doing The Obelisk on the side, so I
always had other places I wrote for. I’ve thought about trying to
get back into print, but time’s limited and there don’t seem to
be any shortage these days of people writing about the stuff I’d
want to cover.
You
are considered a pioneer amongst the Doom/Sludge/Stoner
Blogging/Webzine Community. Do you take notice of accolades like that
or do you just focus on your own work?
Am
I? I was hardly the first. StonerRock.com was before me, and The
Sleeping Shaman and Hellride Music, among others. Chris Barnes, Lee
Edwards, Rob Wrong, El Danno, Johnny Arzgarth, numerous others, and
there are people who’ve come since who I think make a bigger impact
than I do. I hear from people every now and again who say they enjoy
the site, or better, have gotten some use out of it, and I really
appreciate that, but I’m way too close to it as a project to see it
in some larger context as having an impact.
I
don’t know if it has or hasn’t or how that kind of thing might be
quantified. I appreciate it when people comment on something or share
links and help me spread the word that way, but I have no idea of
what the general perception is of the site since mine is so
different. I’m centered on what’s coming next, what needs to go
up tomorrow and that kind of thing. If people are into it, that’s
amazing – I’m continually astounded anyone might give the
remotest crap about anything I have to say about anything – but for
me it’s the work. I put my head down, keep working.
The
Doom/Sludge/Stoner Blog/Zine culture has exploded over the last few
years. Tons of great sites starting to appear and promote the world
of Doom, Stoner and Sludge. Do you feel there's enough room for all
of us or that it's becoming a bit of a crowded scene?
No
question it’s bigger than it’s ever been, at least in terms of
reputation and people who are into it. It’s not like the internet
is going to be full or hit a quota of heavy rock and doom blogs, but
there are ebbs and flows to just about everything, and things will
get bigger and thin out over time as trends and tastes change and
people move onto other activities in their lives and so forth. I see
things people post on social networks and what comes in as part of
press releases and what makes a given band’s press quotes and so
on, but don’t really have much time to keep up with what’s out
there since I’m working on my own thing.
If
there’s five minutes I can spend reading someone else’s review or
working on my own, I’m going to write every time. But if someone
feels passionate enough about underground heavy of whatever sort it
might be to start a blog with the intent of promoting or helping to
spread the word about it, I don’t really see why that would be
something to complain about. It used to be fanzines, now it’s this.
It doesn’t always result in the best critique – not that a more
established, “major” publication does – but it never did.
Again, I put my head down, keep working. Ultimately, how many sites
there are covering the same bands has very little to do with me, and
sometimes if I see something getting really hyped up, it’ll
dissuade me from checking it out.
I
missed the boat on Uncle Acid’s Blood
Lust
that way, since I tend to figure if everyone and their mother is
talking about something, I don’t need to. Truth be told, what
little objectivity I have, I’d rather hold onto than be up on what
everybody else is doing. That said, if there’s a community of
like-minded people that can develop over international borders and
other cultural concerns to find common interest in a kind of music or
expression, the only person I can see complaining about that kind of
thing is a complete asshole. I don’t know that I’ll ever feel
like I’m a part of that community, but I wouldn’t argue against
its development.
How
do you feel about sites such as Cvlt Nation and Noisey starting to
make a name for themselves amongst the Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal
community? Some say it's a good thing and some say it's a bad thing.
I think it's a good thing as more publicity the better for the bands
that we love.
I
feel like fans of underground music, who’ve sort of made the effort
to dig into a style and its practitioners, come to feel a sense of
ownership over that particular piece of aesthetic real estate, and so
when someone else comes along, notices something cool happening and
steps in to spread the word about it, there’s a bit of, “Well
who’s this Jonny Comelately on my lawn?” You saw it in black
metal perhaps most strikingly in the last decade, first with the
ascent of Nachtmystium, then with Liturgy and Deafheaven. What other
sites do ultimately has little to do with me.
I’ll
admit I laughed when NPR started doing track premieres and that kind
of thing and people were all like, “isn’t it amazing that
National Public Radio is supporting underground music?” since
they’re the biggest public network of AM/FM communication in the US
and it would’ve been hilarious to have Robert Siegel or Michele
Norris on All
Things Considered introduce
a review of the new Electric Wizard album on the drive-time news. I
actively try not to pay attention to what other people are doing. If
Noisey or CvltNation or whoever want to support doom and sludge,
right on. I don’t really know anyone at CvltNation, but I’ve
worked with Fred Pessaro, who’s now at Noisey and used to be at
BrooklynVegan, and he’s a solid dude who’s passionate about
music, so I have a hard time begrudging his having an outlet to
expose a more mainstream audience to underground artists, even if
Rupert Murdoch owns five percent stake of Vice. Good for Fred, and
good for the bands if it helps the bands. Pitchfork, Noisey, NPR,
whoever. Go get ‘em. There’s plenty of doom for everyone. I don’t
own that shit and neither does anyone else.
We
all have a musical history or journey to the bands we love and
respect now. What was your musical journey? Which bands got you
involved with your love of music?
When
I was about 10, I stole a handful of CDs from my older sister. One
was C.O.C.’s Blind,
one was Alice in Chains’ Dirt,
and I’d say those two were pretty pivotal. One of the first CDs I
owned (not stolen) was Master
of Puppets.
I dug Primus early on, and a lot of the stuff in the ‘90s that was
kind of between rock and metal but didn’t really have a place as
“heavy rock” yet. I’ll 100 percent admit I missed the boat on
Kyuss early, and Sleep too. I didn’t get into them until I was in
college, but in high school I found stuff like Amorphis, Anathema,
Sabbath, and that started me exploring underground metal and rock
until I wound up where I did.
I
didn’t have parents who were super-into rock and roll, playing me
bands from the ‘70s and that kind of thing. I was born in 1981, so
I’m old enough to remember life before anything and everything was
right there on the internet to be discovered. I’m jealous of kids
now who, even if they’re vaguely interested, can type a band’s
name in and listen – mostly legally – to everything they’ve
ever recorded. My journey was much clumsier. Maybe more organic in an
analog sense – that is, it wasn’t like I turned 15 and said “I
fucking love stoner rock and that’s the end of it” – but my
tastes shifted naturally over time. In college, in 2003, I decided to
start what was called at the time a “specialty show” focused on
heavy rock and doom. I had been getting into heavy stuff both from
the area like Puny Human and Atomic Number 76 and from around the
world like Colour Haze, Dozer and Los Natas, Orange Goblin, Acid
King, as well as Kyuss, Sleep, the stuff Man’s Ruin put out, the
stuff Tee Pee and Small Stone were putting out, Wino’s bands and so
on, so it made sense, and it gave me an avenue each week to share
that exploration with an audience. I miss doing that sometimes, but
in a way, the site is an extension of that same idea. The ground
covered has broadened, but it’s still a matter of sharing that
exploration, and I’m just lucky anybody bothers to check in on
where it’s going.
You
go to a lot of gigs and music festivals at home and abroad. What have
been your favourite gigs and festivals you've been to over the last
number of years?
I
see it’s in the next question as well, but I’d be remiss if I
didn’t immediately note Roadburn first here and the genuinely
profound effect it’s had on how I experience music. The last seven
years, I’ve been lucky enough to travel to the Netherlands for the
fest and what I’ve seen and experienced there has quite seriously
changed me as a person. But generally I try to go to as many shows as
time and money will allow. My wife and I moved to Massachusetts about
two years ago, and not as many tours come up here as hit, say, the
Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn, but I manage to keep busy. I went to
Desertfest in London twice and that was also pretty amazing and I’m
itching to get to Germany to cover Freak Valley one of these years if
they’ll have me. I’ve seen some amazing shows, but I think what
has had the biggest effect on me, at least in a non-fest setting, was
being able to go on tour.
I
did some time in bands and stuff and never really got out for more
than a weekender, but twice in 2014, the guys from Kings Destroy were
kind and generous enough to invite me along with them. I did two
tours last year: 10 shows in the Spring on the West Coast with Kings
Destroy, Pentagram and Radio Moscow, and a counterpart Fall run on
the East Coast with Kings Destroy, Pentagram, Radio Moscow and Bang,
and both were amazing. They each had their ups and downs – I
remember being so sick in Pittsburgh on the fall tour that I actually
left the show and went to lay down in the van – but I love the idea
of traveling, and the chance to make being on the road a part of my
life was something truly amazing and I was incredibly thankful to be
there for the ride.
There
was some talk of my doing another run this spring with a different
band in Europe that didn’t pan out logistics-wise, but I hope to do
more of that kind of thing in the future one way or another. If it’s
writing and music at the top of my passions, travel isn’t far
behind, but money is of course a major constraint. Hard to justify
booking a plane ticket to Berlin when Natty Grid is calling
threatening to turn the lights off and the student loan people are
filling buckets for cement shoes.
You've
been heavily involved reporting on Roadburn the last couple of years.
What was that experience like reporting on such a prestigious
festival? How did you get involved reporting on Roadburn?
Again,
Roadburn is like nothing else I’ve experienced. I started in 2009,
right around the time the site got going, though at that point I
covered it for BrooklynVegan rather than myself. From 2010 on, I
wrote reviews of Roadburn for The Obelisk and it’s grown into the
highlight of my year each year. This year and 2014 have been even
more special for me personally because the fest started the daily
fanzine, the Weirdo
Canyon Dispatch,
and I’ve been able to work as the editor with Lee Edwards from The
Sleeping Shaman, and been able to see more of the inner workings of
how it comes together while it’s happening and the amazing people
who make it happen, Walter and Jurgen, the crew at the 013 venue in
Tilburg, and of course the artists themselves.
One
doesn’t always think of a festival as a creative act, but Roadburn
brings an idea of artistry to the event. Each year progresses from
the last, so that to look at it six years down the line, it might
seem strange, but year to year it makes sense. It’s a creative
progression like one might observe with bands from one album on, and
I take great inspiration from Walter and how he’s been able to
change the conversation about what underground music encompasses,
expanding the reach of his fest while also remaining true to its
roots. It’s an incredible, generational achievement, and I’m
humbled and so fortunate to have been there the last seven years to
see it continue to unfold. People ask me all the time what’s it’s
like and I tell them, “Roadburn will change your life,” because
it absolutely will. My process covering it has become somewhat
harrowing. What I’ve done at least the last four or five years each
day at Roadburn is write the review that night. So, for example, this
year, I took notes on bands and took pictures all day, and then at
night when back to my hotel room, sorted through that and put
together the review itself, got it all organized and posted before
the next day started. I might finish at five or six in the morning,
and have to get up at nine to go work on the ‘zine, but it’s
done.
Not
something I’d be able to do every weekend, but Roadburn is special
and I’m more than willing to give up sleep in order to put
everything I have into covering it. I see people socializing at
Roadburn, hanging out outside and all that and it’s awesome, and
I’m happy to say hi and whatnot, but for me, I’m usually running
on my way somewhere else, to see something or try to get to a given
stage early so I can get up front to get pictures of a band. It’s
become part of the ritual for me, going from one place to the next
like that. That and massive, embarrassing, heart-palpitating amounts
of coffee. That’s definitely part of the ritual as well.
We
got to talk about Vinyl Records which plays an important part in the
bands that we love to promote. Are you a vinyl fan yourself? I am.
Spend way too much on WAX!!! - Still got about 12 records on
pre-order.
I’m
probably not as huge a vinyl guy as one might expect. LPs are
expensive, and I feel like people enjoy owning the vinyl but still do
even more listening to the digital versions that are usually included
anyway. When someone sends me vinyl to review, I give it priority,
but it’s more out of respect for the increased cost of producing
and shipping an actual record as opposed to sending a link through
email or even a CD through the mail, rather than an actual preference
for the format.
Record
sleeve corners are easily bent, the vinyl itself is fragile, and I
don’t really have $500 to kick out for a cool hi-fi system. I have
kind of a dinky turntable that I use to listen to stuff that’s sent
to me for review, but I’m not a vinyl hound by any means. For the
volume of music I’m interested in purchasing, for me to spend $25
on this or that special edition of each one would put me out on the
street, and then I still wouldn’t be able to listen to that in a
car without plugging in an iPod. I’m definitely a physical media
guy, and I’ll take vinyl over “here’s my Bandcamp” any day of
the week, but as a general policy, I don’t chase down LPs because I
wouldn’t be able to live.
If
I can get something on CD, I’m happy with that. I dig the vinyl
aesthetic, and I think it makes a lot of sense for the heavier end of
rock, which is rooted in a modern update of a traditional ‘70s
sound, tapping into that era and filtering it through current
production, etc., but if the merch table’s set up, the LP is $20,
the CD is $10 and the tape is $5, I’ll buy the CD and the tape.
I’ve managed to amass what I’d consider a respectable amount of
vinyl anyway – a few shelves – and I’m the kind of obsessive
jerk who, if I said, “Okay, now I’m going to have a real vinyl
collection,” would have to go and re-buy everything I already owned
on CD, just to also have it on LP, so between room to store it, money
to buy it and time to listen to it, I’m better off trying to avoid
it when I can. It’s become the format of record for heavy rock and
doom, though, so sometimes there’s just no getting around it, and
that’s fine. That’s probably a lame answer.
The
cool thing would be to be like, “Hell yeah, I love it and get as
much as I can!” but on some level too, I feel like it’s really
special when a band or a label thinks enough of what I do to send me
their wax, and if I was to chase down every little thing that came
out on vinyl, I’d almost be cheapening that expression. I don’t
have a ton of vinyl, but what I’ve managed to get is important to
me, because I feel like it was sent out of respect for the efforts
I’ve made and because someone thought enough of my work to want to
let me have the richest experience of their own.
What
is your verdict on the indie vinyl labels starting to appear? Ripple
Music, STB Records, Pink Tank Records, Helmet Lady Records, Lay Bare
Recordings, RidingEasy Records and a whole ton of other fantastic
labels that are starting to appear?
I
don’t really see how it could be a bad thing if more people are
stepping up and helping to give bands an opportunity to reach a wider
audience. I’ve worked directly with all the labels you listed and
found them to be passionate individuals interested in supporting
quality music to as many ears as possible. The sort of boom that the
last couple years has seen internationally in terms of the labels
really only indicates how much of a market there is for this kind of
thing right now. That will change over time – ebbs and flows in
everything, again – but at the moment there’s so much coming out
that it’s impossible to keep up with all of it, and if being able
to find something new and/or exciting to listen to every day of the
week is a problem, then it’s a good problem to have.
When
I was doing research on this interview, I came across your page on
the Metal Archives Page. Nice. I didn't know that existed. Not many
people get their own page on that site as they can be quite strict on
what’s defined as Metal. So if you're on that website you’re
definitely classed as Metal. I didn't know you used to be part of a
band – Maegashira. Do you still participate in performing and
writing music at all?
Yeah,
I guess that settles it: I’m metal. I don’t know who put that
page up there, but thanks. If I’ve got nothing else going for me,
I’m on Metal Archives, which is more than a lot of bands can say –
though if the people running that site see this, they might take me
down, so maybe I should just shut up about it. They’re kind of on
the fence in terms of what heavy rock stuff they let on, but
Maegashira was pretty sludged out and my vocals sort of ran a gamut
from cleaner stuff to screams and growls, so yeah, I can see where
you might hear it and say it was metal.
I
was in that band from 2005 until late in 2010 when we broke up –
guitarist George Pierro and bassist John Eager have a new band going
called Tarpit Boogie, who are definitely worth checking out – and
there are a lot of really good times I remember from making music
together with them and the two drummers we had during that time,
Steve Moraghan and Joe Wood, the latter of whom also plays in Long
Island’s Borgo Pass. I was in other bands for a while after that
ended, one with Joe and Ken-E Bones from Negative Reaction, and a
band from Long Island called Moth Eater, but nothing really panned
out. If we were making that Maegashira record today, I’d probably
advocate for making it shorter than it was (it was over 50 minutes),
but beyond that, I stand by everything we did during our time
together.
We
had a second full-length in progress at the time we called it quits
and I still have the unfinished tracks on my hard drive, but I don’t
think a reunion’s in the cards. Good dudes, but everyone’s kind
of moved onto different things. Since I moved to the Boston area, and
especially being out of work, I’ve given some real thought to
getting back into a band and trying to make music as part of a
collective unit again in whatever style it might be – part of me
would love to do a grindcore band, just because it’s so not
doom
– but the time and the people would have to be right and I don’t
think anyone I know up here even knows I was ever in a band, so it
hasn’t been a priority compared to working on the site.
If
you could provide any helpful advice to someone wanting to start a
Doom/Sludge/Stoner website. What would it be?
“Don’t?”
I don’t know. I guess just make sure it’s something you really
want to do, and try to do it with some manner of perspective. Most of
the advice I’d have to give someone looking to start a site would
probably be more about developing a critical voice, from a writing
aspect, rather than covering doom or stoner rock or whatever, since I
think that’s more important than just finding a style of music and
working to promote it blindly because it fits in that category rather
than thinking about it critically, trying to put it in context of
what’s come before and might come after and really getting to the
narrative heart of a given record.
It
makes much more sense to me to try to find things that really speak
to you and explore why that is and what they’re saying than to hop
on something because someone else says it’s cool or because it’s
new. Maybe that’s not doom at all. Maybe it’s covering a comic
book convention or something, but if it’s honest to what hits you
on a deep level, that’s more important than what style of music it
is or where the trend happens to be at the moment. If there’s
someone passionate enough about starting a website covering heavy
stuff that they feel like they’re actually going to do it anyway,
they probably don’t want to listen to my advice anyhow, because
they probably have their own ideas about how they want to do that,
and those ideas are probably a better fit for them than anything I
might be able to offer. I guess just stay away from needless
hyperbole or any kind of “scene drama” and write as much as
humanly possible and you’ll be fine. Let the rest shake itself out
as it will.
Well
JJ – Thanks for doing this. Really appreciate the time. Do you have
anything to say to your legion of fans out there?
Man,
it would be awesome if I had a legion of fans to address, like if I
could tell a legion of people it was time to rise up and start
throwing Molotov cocktails at everything in sight because the
revolution is on, but I don’t. If there are people who appreciate
what I do in any number at all, that’s amazing, but I don’t see
myself as somebody who’s an opinion leader or who has throngs out
there hanging on my words. I’m 33 years old, and most days, I sit
in my pajamas on my couch in front of a laptop screen and take way
too seriously the act of posting on the internet reviews, videos,
press releases, etc., about bands I do or don’t dig.
I
don’t imagine that if I stopped doing that tomorrow anyone would
blink or think twice about it, they’d just go find one of the other
10,000 sites out there doing pretty much the same thing and see what
they had to say about the new Electric Wizard instead. Most days I’m
too busy kicking myself for being a defeated wretch of a human being
to think about having fans or anything like that. I’m just trying
to keep working, and I’m going to continue doing that for as long
as I can. I deeply appreciate the time you took to put together these
questions, all the kind words through the whole thing and the
opportunity you’ve given me to run my mouth. To any and everyone
who takes minutes out of their day and bothers to check out my site,
thank you. It means more to me than I can properly express, and it’s
the reason I bother to get up in the morning, even late as I do.
Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. That’s what I have to
say.
Words
by Steve Howe and JJ Koczan
I
want to thank JJ for his time and his valuable and honest insight
with this interview. Thanks JJ. Keep up the great work my friend.
Visit The Obelisk for more fantastic news, reviews and interviews
within the world of Sludge/Doom/Stoner Metal and everything in
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