Top Five Overlooked Horror Film Scores by ian stanley
It’s almost Halloween so I thought I’d celebrate the season by examining the music of horror movies. Initially I thought of compiling a list of my favorite horror movie soundtracks, but after a little while this idea proved to be way more difficult than I assumed. For starters, how does one differentiate between a score and a soundtrack? There are tons of classic film scores like those for Halloween, The Exorcist, Suspiria, and The Omen. Then on the other hand there are great horror soundtracks that go beyond being a score like those for The Lost Boys, Return of the Living Dead, Fright Night, and 28 Days Later. So what I decided to do was cut all of those out and focus on something much easier to pin down: my favorite overlooked horror film scores. With a more defined task at hand I set to work rifling through my DVD collection, pouring over YouTube clips, and finally settling on these five film scores. I geeked out big time over this list so I hope you enjoy it.
5. Ennio Morricone – The Thing [1980] The scores to John Carpenter movies tend to get overshadowed by the score of his first film, Halloween. It’s easy to see why this is since the main theme to Halloween’s score is pretty much synonymous with the holiday itself and has come to represent the sort of definitive horror movie soundtrack. And yet here I am talking about Ennio Morricone’s score for Carpenter’s The Thing instead. Known mostly for scoring the Spaghetti westerns of his friend Sergio Leone (A Fistful of Dollars, The Good, the Bad & the Ugly, Once Upon a Time In the West), Ennio Morrico made the jump to horror in 1982 with John Carpenter’s The Thing. Matching the taught, claustrophobic atmosphere of the film beat for beat, Morricone’s work here feels as sinister as the shape-shifting monster on the screen. With those (now iconic) cold, plinking strings Morricone managed to establish the film’s atmosphere and reflect the terror of what was to come.
4. Asei Kobayashi & Micky Yoshino – House (Hausu) [1977] I’ll admit that I’m relatively new to Nobuhiko Ôbayashi’s House, but that doesn’t make it any less of a classic in my eyes. Truly a feast for the eyes, the film is a trippy, psychedelic journey that might not always make sense, but it is always fascinating to look at. Based on a story that Ôbayashi’s young daughter wrote, House proves that heaping on tons of crazy visuals (i.e. blood-spewing cat paintings, carnivorous pianos) can more than make up for lack of story. The accompanying soundtrack by Asei Kobayashi and Micky Yoshino is as crazy to listen to as the film is to watch. It’s playful, somewhat childish and it sounds like music that could come from a theme park for mental patients. Fitting the crazy visuals like a hand in a glove, the music House will take you on a journey unlike any other.
2
3. Fabio Frizzi – Zombie (Zombi 2) [1979] Film composer Fabio Frizzi frequently collaborated with Italian gore master Lucio Fulci on his movies. He did notable scores for classics such as The Beyond and City of the Living Dead, but I believe that the shining jewel in his crown is the score that he wrote for 1979’s Zombie. In order to cash in on George Romero’s hugely successful Dawn of the Dead (know in Italy as Zombi) the creators of the film named it Zombi 2, branding the film as some sort of unofficial sequel. Nowadays the films are regarded as unrelated standalone classics and for good reason. While both films are extremely violent, Dawn is somewhat playful and fun where Zombie is dark and gritty exploitation. Fitting the nasty vibe of the film (as well as its Caribbean island setting), Fabio Frizzi’s score reflects the darkness of horror films while also looking to the exotica genre of the 1960’s for inspiration. It’s a weird combo but it definitely works.
2. Riz Ortolani – Cannibal Holocaust [1980] Holy cow what a horrifying and depraved movie Cannibal Holocaust is. There is graphic rape, murder, cannibalism, and more than one actual onscreen animal slaughter; and yet the film holds a special (albeit dark) place in my heart. What does that say about me as a person? I don’t know, we’ll let the therapists sort that one out. Anyways, Riz Ortolani’s score for this sleazy foray into exploitation is surprisingly amazing. Instead of delving into cheaply produced background fodder of typical horror films, Ortolani composed some truly beautiful music that is deeply juxtaposed to the savagery unfolding on the screen. With titles like “Adulteress’ Punishment,” “Crucified Woman,” and “Savage Rite,” this weirdly ironic score is one that is not to be missed!
1. John Harrison – Day of the Dead [1985] (It was no contest when it came to selecting my number one favorite overlooked film score. It was always going to be Day of the Dead.) After working with the iconic band Goblin for the score to1978’s Dawn of the Dead, George Romero decided to aim for something a bit more conventional for his 1985 follow-up Day of the Dead. George turned to friend and collaborator John Harrison to score the film and the resulting collection of music was nothing short of magical (in my opinion). Truly a product of its time, the score for Day of the Dead turned out to be largely electronic and oh so thoroughly 80’s. And sure it’s mostly synthesizers with cheesy electric guitar solos, and yes, it makes the movie seem terribly dated, but the music here is just so thoroughly charming and catchy that you can’t help but fall in love with it.
3
this issue is brought to you by a very happy birthday.
Single of the
Week
This week’s single comes from Now, Now’s album Thread. “But I Do” was the first song I visited when the album was relesed, and remains my favorite track on the record. Hopefully we’ll hear it when the band has their television debut on Jimmy Fallon on November 7! 4
Carly and Kyle’s Infinite Playlist by kyle kuchta
For about four years now, I’ve made my fiancé mix CD upon mix CD upon mix CD, sometimes for special occasions, and sometimes just because I had a backup of love songs that she needed to hear. I pride myself on these CDs, and they are probably one of my favorite things to do for her. Over the years, I’ve compiled about 300 songs for her, but here are ten we love and that mean most to us. 10) “Cinderella” – Langhorne Slim 9) “I Love How You Love Me” – Camera Obscura 8) “Walkin’ My Baby” – The Trashmen Yes, even over “Surfin’ Bird.” 7) “I Was Made For You” – She & Him 6) “Daylight” – Michael Runion 5) “You and I” – Ingrid Michaelson When Carly and I thought that we would sing songs at our wedding, these were two that we considered singing. Michael Runion’s “Daylight” is a really, really pretty song, and Michaelson’s “You and I” is also cutesy, and we can’t help ourselves. 4) “Air Mattress” – Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band We’ve slept on our fair share of air mattresses during our relationship, and this song just kind of encompassed how much we liked that. As well as how much we like each other. You can’t even take it, I know. 3) “Love Me Tenderly” – The Felice Brothers The Felice Brothers may have been the first band we really loved together, and this song is a love song of sorts. So easily this was the one that we enjoyed most. Second is probably “Your Belly In My Arms.” 2) “Beekeeper” – David Wax Museum This one is kind of a big deal. The David Wax Musuem helped me propose to Carly with this song at the 2011 Newport Folk Festival. I won’t ever forget the second they stopped playing the song as I was pulling the ring out of my pocket. I said, “So, I wanted to do something special…” and Carly knew. Then and there. 1) “Grow Old With You” – Stephen Lynch So if “Beekeeper” was our engagement song, this must be our….yes, WEDDING SONG. We really, really, like this song and liked the musical and we didn’t want to pick a typical wedding song. So this is the one. Spoiler alert.
5
the art of storytelling I.
by john maher
I hadn’t thought much of him until he gave me a mixtape. (That’s not true. We were best friends by then. But it’s better for the story.) It was the end of senior year and we were bored and anxious and ready to move, and we made each other mixtapes like they were artifacts of our struggle and diving boards to our freedom. I never loved the 80s but he made me love them. The Replacements and Beat Happening. Mazzy Star and Hüsker Du. Alter me, alternative. Music would never be the same. There were no storytelling songs on the mix, but the point, I hope, is made. II. Before a few years ago, hip hop meant nothing to me. I turned it off when it came on the radio. It wasn’t as bad as metal but it gave me a headache and I saw no art in it. My later dive into poetry hammered that irony home. So did Outkast and Mobb Deep. Has a story ever been told better than in “Trife Life”? Can you beat Aquemini for exposition? Grace Paley could maybe do it better, but not really anyone else, and even that’s debatable. Funny, how something I thought I hated could blend poetry and fiction, my two great loves, with such haunting elegance, such violent grace. III. When Moral Orel chose to use the Mountain Goats in its soundtrack, two of the greatest storytellers of the new millennium were united. Who would have thought it—a hardcore rocker turned lo-fi folk storyteller and a Claymationchampioning “comedy” writer? Blame it on harrowing roots or sheer perceptiveness. It doesn’t matter. We found it, that something special, in a place completely unexpected. IV. The Hold Steady in Albany during a storm-induced outage—huddled around each other, acoustic set with candles lit, recounting tales of failed loves over six ringing strings. It felt like coming home even though we knew it wasn’t. V. We tell stories in fragments more often than not. Sometimes, we tell them whole. Sometimes, the stories bleed through even when we don’t want them to. The stories of our upbringing, our character, our loves and hates and ups and downs and everything in between—they all come out through little movements in the shoulders, hints of tone in text, how quickly we finish that drink. We all narrate our lives quietly, going off on our quiet hero’s journeys. Why else do stories, above all else, mean so much? --Ten great storytelling tracks: 1. Outkast, “The Art of Storytelling, Pts. I and II” 2. The Mountain Goats, “Riches and Wonders” 3. The Hold Steady, “Stevie Nix” 4. Binary Star, “Glen Close” 5. The Smiths, “Half a Person” 6. Joni Mitchell, “Cactus Tree” 7. The Kinks, “Waterloo Sunset” 8. Atmosphere, “Always Coming Back Home to You” 9. The Band, “Acadian Driftwood” 10. Townes Van Zandt, “Pancho and Lefty” Oh, and Mobb Deep’s “Trife Life,” in case you missed the point above.
7
NOW NOW an interview by the miscreant
When I was sixteen, I was the entertainment editor of my high school’s newspaper. I was the in-house music guru, wrote regular columns, spent hours drooling over the words of my hero, Chuck Klosterman. For one issue, I walked into the staff’s brainstroming meeting with a record that needed to be front and center of my section. I had come across Now Now Every Children’s record Cars in an ad next to an article about Death Cab For Cutie. I sent the band a message on Myspace with a copy of my review and a few inconsequential questions about press photos or something. They were full of thanks and grace, no less. Five years later, I look back at my review, admittedly, with a bit of a cringe at the references I make. But despite my awkward nods, I said something that remains true, I think, to the band’s music today. Even then, they had this ability to write songs that transcended “mood.” Their music cuts to your heart in so many ways, their songs can move you in several emotional directions at once. Though they’ve grown tremendously as artists, the band still boast the same raw songwriting talent.
In the review I predict, “Of course, they won’t stand to be your average underground sensation.” And they haven’t. Though the years have brought trials, Now Now are hitting a stride that has been long in the making. I feel infinitely blessed to get an opportunity to catch up with them now. Enjoy. 8
THE MISCREANT: I just saw you guys when you were here in London. Did you guys enjoy your stint in England? When was the last time you were here? NOW NOW: The shows we just played in England are some of my favorite shows we’ve ever played. That whole tour was incredible. Prior to those shows we hadn’t been overseas in about 3 years. THE MISCREANT: Every time I’ve seen you, you’ve sported some pretty hilarious between song banter. What’s the most ridiculous thing you each have said on stage? NOW NOW: This is such a difficult question. I feel like every couple of shows we say something on stage that we will step away from the mic all looking at each other questioning what just happened and how we got to that point. There was a show recently where I said something about all Americans being terrorists. I also subjected everyone at a show to a rant about Britney Spears being the best pop artist of this generation. There are also a lot of uncomfortable accidental innuendos. THE MISCREANT: How has touring with Thread differed from your previous tours? How have you guys evolved your live performance? NOW NOW: When we recorded this album we tracked all of the main tracks (drums and both of our guitars) live. Which we had never done before. So I think that helped get us in the right mindset for how these songs need to be performed. We have always done little piece by little piece at a time in the studio. But this way I think helped us see the bigger picture quicker. We also kept our live show in mind while writing for this album which we have never really done before. So touring with this album has been way easier than previous releases. THE MISCREANT: Thread has a lot of strong themes throughout every track. How would you categorize these ideas? What songs, to each of you, are the most important? NOW NOW: The main concept of this whole album is a sense of reaching for something. It could be anything. A person, a feeling, a time. Anything you feel like is out of your reach. To me the most meaningful tracks are “The Pull,” “Colony,” “Magnet” and “Thread.” 9
THE MISCREANT: How did going into a studio with a label change the experience of recording the album? NOW NOW: We recorded the album before we knew of any label interest. So it was a little scary for us not knowing what was going to happen with the finished product or if anyone would even want to put it out. THE MISCREANT: What has your previous experience with labels been like? How do you think working with Trans Records is different? NOW NOW: Working with a label can be a blessing or a bit of a challenge. As a band you always want the freedom to do exactly what you want on your own schedule. When you work with a label there is always a little bit more structure. Which always takes a little bit of getting used to. But working with Trans has been amazing. Everyone on the team is so supportive and encouraging. They are the one label that we have had in mind that we wanted to be on but never thought it would happen. So it has been incredible for us. THE MISCREANT: You guys have been steadily growing as a band for quite a while, now. How do you guys feel about the path Now, Now has gone down over the past several years? NOW NOW: It has been a stressful and chaotic few years for us. As a band and personally. We have gone through a lot and learned a lot about ourselves and how we need to operate as a band. Everything that we’ve gone through has brought us to where we are now so I don’t regret any of it. This year has been really rewarding and it feels good to be finally moving in the right direction. THE MISCREANT: You really seem to have an awesome relationship with your fans. How do you guys make sure to keep connected with them? 10
NOW NOW: The internet is a really important tool for us to keep connected to people. At shows we try to be at the merch table as much as possible so anyone that wants to reach out to us can. THE MISCREANT: Speaking of which, you guys obviously have a great relationship with each other. What experiences, specifically, do you think have brought the three of you closer together? NOW NOW: We have gone through a lot together. I don’t think there is one specific thing that has connected us. We have to have a good relationship with each other in order to not be miserable. We have to interact with each other on stage every night so it is really important to protect our relationships with each other. THE MISCREANT: What are your guys’ musical backgrounds? Favorite musicians? Bands who influence you? NOW NOW: We all started young. There was at least one person in each of our families that had a guitar or a piano sitting around that we could pick up. One of my only memories I have before playing any instrument is getting a puppy when I was 4. We were all in band in school. Brad and I were in every single musical activity our schools offered. When I was thirteen I saw Jimmy Eat World. That was a pretty life altering moment for me. I also listened to a lot of Death Cab and The Cranberries growing up. THE MISCREANT: What do you guys each play in the car when you’re on the road? NOW NOW: Everyone that drives usually just puts their ipod on shuffle. So it is a pretty even mix. I usually listen to pop or rap. We listen to a LOT of Britney Spears. THE MISCREANT: What’s next for you guys? More touring? Any other projects we should keep on the look out for? NOW NOW: When we are home from the tour we’re on now with Motion City Soundtrack we will have the month of December off. We’re going to try and write a little and relax and recharge. Then hit the road again in January/February. 11
The Top 5 Halloween Themed/Titled Songs by matt boswell The air gets a little colder as the leaves on the trees change colors. Bonfires and pumpkin carving become more common each night. Fall is a wonderful season, and with it comes one of the greatest holidays of the year, Halloween. A time for horror flicks, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, and of course, lots of candy. There have been a few bands and artists to pay homage to this wonderful time of year, and these songs are some of the most memorable. “Halloween” by AFI (from All Hallows EP) I’ll start off by saying that this song is actually a cover, originally by The Misfits. However, AFI’s All Hallows EP is an album I have in heavy rotation every October and this song is simply terrific. The lyrics work almost like a checklist for Halloween such as, “Bonfires burning bright, pumpkin faces in the night, oh I remember Halloween”. After about 1:48 of blistering punk music, it progresses into very creepy haunted house-esque music to capture the holiday theme. “Halloween” by Matt Pond PA (from Several Arrows Later) This song is on the opposite end of the music spectrum for the AFI track of the same name, but it’s just as great. Despite the title, this song has very little to actually do with Halloween, but that doesn’t mean it still isn’t a fantastic song. It’s a pretty chilled out and mid-tempo song, but the guitar part still gives it a fairly bouncy feel. It’s certainly a song that would fit a drive past colored trees and pumpkin patches through the cool autumn air. 12
“I Put A Spell On You” by Screaming Jay Hawkins (from I Put A Spell On You) Screaming Jay Hawkins is arguably the godfather of the “horrorcore” or “shock rock” subgenre in which later acts such as Alice Cooper, Mariyn Manson, and Ozzy Osbourne all laid their claims to fame. However, what puts Screaming Jay Hawkins ahead of the rest is that based off of his singing and the backing music, you can be convinced he was legitimately insane and this wasn’t an act at all. The best part of this song though, is that Bette Midler sings it in the second greatest Halloween movie of all time, Hocus Pocus. “Thriller” by Michael Jackson (from Thriller) This is that iconic song that will be playing at whatever Halloween party you end up going to. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. There really aren’t many people I’ve ever met who complain when “Thriller” comes on. The music video always creeped me out when I was younger, and the spooky Halloween feel lives on even now. “This Is Halloween” by Danny Elfman (from The Nightmare Before Christmas) You probably read the post on “I Put A Spell On You” and thought to yourself, “Whoa, Matt. Hocus Pocus is fantastic, what Halloween movie could possibly be better?” The Nightmare Before Christmas. That’s what movie is better. Now sit back down. The best known song from this film is the perfect Halloween song. It has the perfect feel, lyrics, and it just makes you think of Jack Skellington running around. Anytime I hear it, it’s bound to put a smile on my face. Anytime I hear it around Halloween or Christmas time, I need to go sit down and watch it. Speaking of which...time to go find my copy.
13
WERW PRESENTS:DUM DUM GIRLS, MATH THE BAND + DUMB TALK THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11 SCHINE UNDERGROUND
photos by elizabeth scafuto
14
15
Born Howling by andrew mcclain
What is pop music primarily about? Well, it’s mostly love songs, right? That’s a pretty huge umbrella that covers lust, yearning, sex, heartbreak, etc. We’ve got some of those overlapping into “melancholy,” which would be an entire column on the pop music table of elements if there were one. Melancholy bores me when I’m happy and bums me out worse when I’m sad – I’ve never understood the appeal of listening to Elliot Smith for more than 4 minutes at a time, so I tend to appreciate his songwriting skills from a distance. All that to say, I’ve seen a common thread between the last two new releases I’ve gotten deep into. And neither of them are about love at all. One of them gets a little melancholy, but not too badly. They’re both about the inner fight to be alright. The first is the Mountain Goats’ “Transcendental Youth,” the second is the upcoming Titus Andronicus album “Local Business.” Between the two of them, there are a half-dozen of the greatest songs that simultaneously capture the feeling of being absolutely broken and the feeling of total triumph. “Transcendental Youth” opens with John Darnielle giving the listener some fatherly advice - “play with matches if you think you need to play with matches” and the insistent chorus “just stay alive.” “All the self-destructive stuff I did to myself when I was younger was vital, and I did it to stay alive,” Darnielle says. “So therefore it was all good. The only time it’s not good is when it hurts anybody else. Short of that, anything you do to make yourself OK, is OK.” The song, “Amy aka Spent Gladiator 1,” is about the late Amy Winehouse. Darnielle told Time Magazine, “When Amy Winehouse died, I wrote the first ‘Spent Gladiator’. That’s what people don’t say when drug addicts die—that they are
16
mentally ill, that it is a disease. I felt really sad and I thought about all the other Amy Winehouses in the world who aren’t famous, whose deaths go uncelebrated. Then I was sort of off to the races thinking—writing about people who were suffering with various psychic ills.” Another highlight from the first half of “Transcendental Youth” is “Cry For Judas,” which features a totally bitchin’ horn section and the line “I am just a broken machine and I do things that I don’t really mean.” “Local Business” is a little lighter fare from Titus Andronicus’ sophomore release “The Monitor,” which was a concept-heavy album that somehow managed to have the Civil War and New Jersey be their two main governing conceits. Frontman Patrick Stickles became known for his deeply confessional lyrics (go read the lyrics to “The Battle of Hampton Roads,” the 14-minute closer from the last album – it’s devastating to see in print, much less hear – toward the end, he throws in a “and I’m sorry, dad, no, I’m not making this up”) and generally looking like an escaped POW, all bearded and emaciated. “The Monitor” is emotional and thematically strong enough that there will probably always be a strong contingent that calls it their best. When you follow up something like that with something a little more concise and full of pop hooks, it’s not going to get great reviews. “Local Business,” musically, is very upbeat and features some of the gnarliest guitar hooks since Cheap Trick or Thin Lizzy (two visible influences). There’s bits of Weezer c.1994 thrown in there. But lyrically, it’s just as vulnerable and self-loathing as it ever was, with one track simply titled “My Eating Disorder.” But the album kicks off with the hilariously self-aware and wordy line: “Okay, I think by now we’ve established [that] everything is inherently worthless / and there’s nothing in the universe with any kind of objective purpose,” over a driving, upbeat guitar. It’s a great contrast to have – I think both these artists understand something crucial about people of a certain disposition (like myself) who often feel as terrible as people who love melancholy music, but we have to pretend like we’ve got some fight left in us. And to do that, we need an insistent guitar hook, a ratty snare that won’t quit, a bitchin’ horn section, and a vocalist who sounds like he might not make it, but maybe we will.
17
PASSION FOR FASHION by miss tori cote
While some people don’t take fashion all that seriously, I think that it can say more about someone than the shit that comes out of their mouths. Obviously there are some exceptions in the book, but a lot of people dress to express and/or impress. While there is nothing wrong with dressing to impress, (fuck it, we all do it sometimes okay??) you gotta be a miscreant sometimes, or all the time, and do your own thing. While there are many characteristics that make up miscreants, I think fashion, or lack of fashion in some cases, is real important for us Miscreants. My first fashionista miscreant moment was probably in middle school. One day I woke up and decided I was going to wear only pink ballet flats and tshirtpolo combinations everday allday., I lived in a pretty conservative affluent white town when I was thirteen, so all the straight-haired-hooped-earing-abercrombie-nerdgirls made fun of me. I didn’t know what a miscreant was when I was thirteen, but I’m pretty sure since then I’ve done whatever I goddamned pleased. For the last two years I’ve been all about minimal color, shorts-andtights, and dresses. But god only knows what’s going to happen in the future. Maybe 2013 is the year that this miscreant lady decides she is going to wear only silky colored things. Fashion Week might be there to show the world what’s trendy, but miscreants don’t need to be trendy they just have to keep it real. When I see myself, I have no idea what my clothes say to other people. I’m not dark and I’m really mysterious, but yet sometimes I go days where not wearing black isn’t an option. What does this say about me? Better yet, what does this say about my music taste???? (you can just add me on last.fm ~vlcote~ if u wanna try and figure it out IDC) Music, fashion, and being a miscreant are all so tied together in my head that they have this awesome hot love triangle going on that just never stops. I can’t even begin to explain the fashion in music that I’ve loved in past years. Gwen Stefani’s bindi, Regina Spektor’s sailor hat, Elvis Costello’s glasses, Wavves’ sweatpants, even Britney Spears’ plaid skirt ruled. Even when fashion is bad in music, for example the meat dress, it still breaks boundaries and is meant to be representative of an artists personality or music. To me, being a miscreant is doing whatever your heart sings and owning it. If you wanna paint your toenails and you’re a boy, why the fuck can’t you. You want to wear tye dye but don’t want to be seen as a ‘hippy imposter’ – please get over yourself. Music and fashion are supposed to be representative and expressive of and for YOU. If you don’t care about fashion, that’s cool too, because there are tons of ways to self-express. Maybe you’re expressing yourself by wearing sweatpants, I don’t know how but there’s a way to do that. The bottom line is that you have to do you, because you are a miscreant and that’s what we do.
18
GET A DAMN JOB ALREADY by ben houck
“You don’t miss college. You might think you were less tied down then, but think about it. Now that you have some money you can afford to go wherever the hell you want. Take a flight to Costa Rica for few days.” - Zach “The Party” Lombardi Yes, you need a job. Yes, the economy is making employers scared to hire. No there is no one good way to get a job. GREAT! As a miscreant, I didn’t want to succumb to corporate nonsense and didn’t believe a damn word that was coming out of any career finder website or office. After my experience, I broke down my entire job search into three major tips: 1) Apply directly through company websites under “Opportunities” or “Careers” 2) Don’t just send a resume and a cover letter. 3) Don’t be afraid to ask for extra non-monetary compensation to make living affordable. 1) Apply Directly: 42. That is the number of applications it took to land my first two jobs out of college. 7 is the number of responses I ultimately got. My numbers were bad for several reasons. I felt as if I needed an entire class on applying for jobs by the time I was done, and not just the smoke some professors blew into too many heads. I aimed for a decent paying job in public relations or writing for some awesome company in the music and entertainment industry. Use what I went to school for right? Anxiety was cranked up as unwanted teenage jobs called back to see if I would return that summer. My favorite meme quickly turned to Charlie from Sunny: “Oh get a job? Just get a job? Why don’t I strap on my job helmet and squeeze down into a job cannon and fire off into job land, where jobs grow on jobbies!” Applying for jobs on national job search sites was nothing but good practice in resume and cover letter writing. These were hopeless. Exploiting college connections to reach for higher level local jobs sounded promising, but often led to positions I simply didn’t have the chops for yet. Months of steadily applying went by and it was already March of my senior semester. Scraping for ideas, how do you really get a job? I threw out the old model and wrote down my interests. I ended up with a list of companies and products I enjoyed regularly. Even if wasn’t going to get a job using my major, at least I would be connected to some guitar line, or cameras or snack food I liked. Who doesn’t want to be first to try the new Ben and Jerry’s ice cream first even if it means
20
being an accountant? As desperation set in I thought, why shouldn’t I try them for a job? Not necessarily serving ice cream at their tourist trap in Vermont, but doing jobs separated by the college degree: accounting, human resources, management etc. Applying directly through company websites got me responses that led to interviews and eventually my first two jobs at companies I liked, but weren’t on my college major radar. Looking for jobs on company websites got my resume into the inboxes of a real, often well paid human resources teams who cared about who they were hiring. 2) Send Something Extra Barney Stintson from HIMYM has excellent job search advice. The obvious is to suit up. Secondly Barney Stintson has a personal commercial selling himself. A video of him doing random awesome stuff with explosions and americana in the background. It sounds ridiculous, and sending something like that certainly feels ridiculous. No it doesn’t mean you are more qualified but it certainly made the day of the human resources team reviewing your materials. I sent a brochure that expanded on past jobs and acted as a portfolio of my photography work, graphic design work, and listed the publications I had written for. It was colorful, a little goofy and I winced at it when I hit send on the email I attached it to. However, at every interview I did after that, the human resource people commented on it fondly. At one job it was literally the thing that got me the interview for the job first. Don’t just send a black and white resume and a cover letter that will get lost in the human resources heap. 3) Extra Non-monetary compensation Big companies are about the bottom line. That means saving money on wages. That means entry-level jobs don’t have any hope in asking for monetary raises or bonuses. However, asking for other resources like housing, or meal plans that does not affect a “wages” line can give you and the human resources department something to smile about. They get to hire a quality employee for cheap and you get an affordable lifestyle. To most people, free or cheap housing makes any wage under $10 an hour livable. During an interview to do advertising at a theme park I was offered $8 an hour. I thought this is ridiculous. An employer asking me to do college grad level work making less than I did at my high school job and I have to pay for housing, electric etc? I loved the idea of the having a job that worked with graphic design, my skill base and roller coasters. The job sounded fun. So I asked the man interviewing me to make that salary livable for me. He ended up using a company connection to get me extremely cheap housing. I wasn’t living like the Donald Draper of roller coasters, but I had money after paying rent making just $8 an hour. Most importantly, I wasn’t working on the family farm. That job eventually led to organizing a music festival featuring Miscreant darlings Swear and Shake. My second job offered free lunches to entry-level employees. It certainly helped. Best of luck job searching Miscreants!
21
THE WANDERER RETURNS by queen karen edith millar
And so, I pen my first piece back on the side of the Atlantic where the whole ‘Across The Pond’ notion developed - and how do I feel about it? If I’m honest, pretty shitty; British people can’t make coffee / bagels / turkey wraps / cookies or pour a vodka on the rocks the way you damned Yanks can. The weather is colder here, it rains a lot and there are far fewer men who bear striking resemblance to Justin Vernon, so needless to say this self-made New Yorker is more than a little homesick for the $8 cases of PBR and the vast and varied selection of American Spirit that Williamsburg so generously showcases. 22
What have I been doing since I’ve returned, I hear you ask? I have a new job working with the wonderful people at indie label, Full Time Hobby, and through that have discovered a new band I’ve been crushing on to the max, Pinkunoizu. A Danish band currently based in Berlin, they describe their music as sounding “like Star Wars, or other popular pieces of thrashing family entertainment.” With that descrption alone, what’s not to love? Check out debut album, ‘Free Time!’ Personal fav track is ‘Time Is Like A Melody; if you don’t think it’s fucking awesome my opinion of you has rapidly declined and you obviously didn’t even have any taste in music in the first place. In terms of British bands, I must admit I haven’t taken much of a chance to re-immerse myself in the scene back over here as of yet; for once not because I’ve been listening exclusively to Bon Iver but because I’m constantly discovering great (relatively) new American acts (Thanks Brooklyn Vegan’s twitter feed over CMJ). Hugely digging Mac Demarco right now; and yes, Miscreant Records’ golden boys, Dumb Talk DID act as support to them last week. They’re kind of a big deal. In the interim between me actually sorting my life out over here and finding some great British (like the pun?) music for you to have an eargasm too enjoy my playlist for this week. It’s suitably depressing. PEACE. PLAYLIST FOR OCTOBER 26 “Words” – LOW “Dodecahedron” – BETH JEANS HOUGHTON “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” – BOB DYLAN “Hollow Mountain” – EFTERKLANG “Sure As Shit” – KATHLEEN EDWARDS “I’m Still Here” – TOM WAITS “Baby’s Wearing Blue Jeans” – MAC DEMARCO “It Soon Will Be Fire” – RICHARD YOUNGS “Missing You” – John Waite “She” - JEFF LYNE 23
WANT MORE MISCREANT? Dearest Miscreants, A few weeks ago, I attended my first gig here in London -- a few of my fellow miscreants abroad and I went to see Now Now at the Enterprise. It was amazing to see one of my favorite bands, music I feel like I grew up with, in a whole new environment. It is such a great honor, and is ever so apt, to have them on a cover of one of the issues that we put together while studying abroad. And thank you so much to everyone who submitted to this very special issue. It feels so great to continue to have new faces in each issue -- hope it inspires more folks to submit! Also, of course, it is amazing to have my friends who have been there since the beginning keep sending their work in. It’s exciting to see people tie in their experiences abroad, like Tori has in this issue. So, it’s time to submit your own work for issue 30! Submissions are due November 6, and our friends from Stereocure will be gracing the cover. Submit your top 10 lists, your concert photos, your essays on your favorite Prince record (cough, Batman), or any other writing you’ve done about music. Email your work or any questions to themiscreant@miscreantrecords.com. Look to miscreantrecords.com and the Miscreant Facebook for more info on the music you read about here and more! All my love, The Miscreant
P.S.
Check these bad boys out!
SPLIT / SLIME BOYZ + cwabs SUPERCRUSH
Bad Cello / Takes Double Double Whammy
The Chiller pt.2 / Various Chill Mega Chill
Nixon’s Mess / The Plums Prison Art