I'm gonna cry

My friends(hostages) and I (tied them down and forced them to) watched the Texas chainsaw massacre one and two(I held them at gun point and kept wiggling happily) and I had silly little thoughts about my favorite little spleens :33(I love them so much it physically hurts)

I bet playing hide and seek w/ them would be a special kind of fun! Ik I have a lot of request for smiling friends and I pinky promise to get them done rlly soon this is just a little self indulgence

Hide and seek with the sawyer family!!!!!! Yeah!!!

Bubba

They are so bad at it, it hurts. Listen, they are so big and bulky and too excited to play, they can’t hide anywhere and they aren’t that creative.

Cabinets are a no go, under the bed is laughable, I think they’d be the type to try and hide under a bunch of stuffies

They’re most likely to be hiding in closets and maybe the bathroom, probably behind the couch is a good place to look

Although you can easily find them cause if he sees or hears you getting closer they might start to giggle, it’s just so much fun!!!!

But when you do find them, the chase is fucking on. They may not look it but they are quick, bubba just has a hard time rounding corners quickly so that’s where they have trouble :((

When you do finally tag them, they’ll squeal and grab you, spinning you around. THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!! You two may get told off but it’s worth it

Bubba finding you is a pretty similar story. They are very observant but they’re still pretty giggly. Also with their loud ass stomps you can hear them coming and quickly change spots

When they do find you, oh fuck it’s over, doesn’t even think just quickly grabs you and hugs you tight. THEY WON!! It’s a lot of fun but low key scary when you can hear their foot steps approaching.

Nubbins

Loudest person you’ve ever met, how hard could it be? Once that game starts and you finish counting that boy is GONE

Although nubbins is pretty tall at a generous 6’2 he is skinny and loves small spaces so he quickly finds the smallish space he can cram himself in

A space you’d never think of looking and he is silent, it’s like he disappeared off the face of the fucking earth. He’s happy too, he doesn’t get bored which is surprising.

Nubbins will just lay there happily day dreaming til someone else unintentionally finds him and he cusses them out. Then you find him

Nubbins doesn’t care for the chase as much as the hiding so you easily tag him, he just can’t wait to find you :o))))))

You can also hear nubbins, but his is more, taunting. He likes to pretend he’s hunting you, and oh boy, it feels like he’s threatening you. You can hear him from the hall “heeeeeere kitty kitty k-kitty kitty kitty, where are you?” Your blood runs cold

Sitting in your hiding space steadying your breathing praying he doesn’t find you, there no hell you’d be able to out run a man who spends all day racing cars to scrap dead animal corpses off hot pavement!

When it goes quiet and you think you’re in the clear. You peak out and don’t see anything, so you swallow your fear and quickly stalk out to go and change hiding spaces. Then BAM!! He got you! Ha! You should see your space

He howls as you scream curling his body around yours, he eats up your terrified screams. He just hugs you tight and lays on the ground as you squirm trying to get away, he’ll pepper the side of your face with kisses as he pinches your cheeks. You’re so cute when you’re scared!

Choptop

Oh Robby rob, oh dear Robert bobert, you asked him to play hide and seek, for fun! What’s the harm that could happen! You know this man a little eccentric, but you had zero clue what you got yourself into. Playing hide and seek, with a VIETNAM war vet

He agrees, excited as fuck. Never have you seen him agree so quickly to something. Before you finish saying the words he’s making you count to ten.

First round goes fine, it’s completely normal and not weird. He hit under a bed and then chased you around the house when he found you. Fun!

Next round, you looked around giddily, looking where trying to find him. You searched the whole house trying to find that man for 20 minutes. That’s when you stood in the living room and felt, something went drip onto your forehead. You looked up, HE WAS ON THE FUCKING CEILING AND HE SPAT ON YOU!!!

Laughed as you tried to tag him, taunting you and spat on you some more until you got a step stool and he just dropped, landed on all fours and scrambled away faster than god

You had to have nubbins AND bubba help you catch him. That man was unstoppable. He only relented after a while cause he wanted to have his turn seeking.

Waiting patiently for footsteps and you heard none. You figured maybe he was at the other side of the house. That’s when you glanced slightly and saw, a glimpse of a smiling man in your peripheral. Two inches away from your face.

Screaming you dashed for the exit with him hot on your trail. Chop was toying with you the entire time. Laughing, he was always just behind you. He could have caught you easily but just wanted to see you run from him

Have you seen where he was chasing stretch and he just leaped onto the bridge and climbed on. Yeah he did that to you, that man was not messing around

As soon as it started it ended with you cornered and panting, he didn’t even break a sweat. He just gently pats your face and says “got ya!” Before shouting ‘nam worl’ loudly and cheering.

He’s the whole reason I made these head canons, I don’t want to play hide and seek w/ him

Drayton

The biggest fucking party pooper. Every time you ask he always says “I’m too old for that kiddy shit.” Or “are ya trying to kill me? I ain’t spending my afternoon chasing you around”

His favorite is “how about I go hide in the living room with the tv and you go find a damn to give me.” Dick >:((((

If in the one is a TRILLION chance he says fine, to shut you up it’s a pretty normal game to be honest

He isn’t one for running around so he doesn’t put much of a fight. Just sorta “oh ya got me! Happy now?” Yeah, you are, now it’s his turn

Is a really good seeker he just doesn’t like to run. If you try and make him chase you he’ll just give up cursing “I have other shit to do than play CHILDRENS game” like down chill out

Okay listen, deep down he does find it, a LITTLE fun and likes seeing you and his brothers play but don’t play with him. He doesn’t have time for that shit 😭😭💅💅

“Solo Acoustic Guitar Stands Outside of Time.” An Interview With Dylan Golden Aycock

This interview originally appeared at North Country Primitive on 5th May 2015

Scissor Tail Editions of Tulsa Oklahoma is one of the most consistently interesting record labels around at the moment, with a series of excellent releases from amongst others, Sarah Louise, Scott Tuma, Nick Castell and, of course, the label’s founder and head honcho, Dylan Golden Aycock. His tune, Red Bud Valley, is featured on Tompkins Square’s recently released seventh volume of the ever-dependable Imaginational Anthems series and he continues to release new work in his various guises at an almost unreasonably prolific rate. North Country Primitive caught up with Dylan as he puts the finishing touches on the forthcoming solo follow up to Rise & Shine and as Scissor Tail gears up to put out new albums by Dibson T. Hoffweiler and Chuck Johnson.

Can you tell me a bit about your musical journey? What has brought you to a place where playing solo acoustic guitar seemed like a good idea? Living in Oklahoma as a kid in the pre-internet 90s, the only access to music I had was the radio and skate videos. I got really into hip hop through skate videos and also discovered groups like Tortoise, which I probably never would have encountered any other way. My dad and brother both play folk music and I guess hip hop was an involuntary rebellion on my part. My first instrument I saved up for was a turntable set up - I got way into turntablism and this competitive turntable stuff called beat juggling. It’s still probably the instrument I’m most comfortable on, but I haven’t turned them on in years. I picked up the guitar pretty late in the game, about the age of 24. Five years ago I bought my first guitar, a 12-string Alvarez. I got really obsessed with it, just as I did with turntablism and electronic music in my teens and early 20s. At that time I was just yearning for something simple and satisfying that I could play if the power grid ever went out. I also didn’t like the mental image of a 60-plus year old me behind a set of turntables. Hip hop and beat music is a young man’s game, and I didn’t really like keeping up with all the new shit coming out. If you want to be a professional DJ you have to be up on all the new stuff and I just really didn’t care about all that. I also quit around the time that CD turntables became the new standard and vinyl DJing was on its way out. What would you say are your main influences, musically or otherwise? Do you see yourself as part of the American Primitive tradition of solo guitar? I was really influenced by my older brother Jesse and some of the music he was listening to in his room when we lived together after high school. He turned me onto Bill Frisell and Daniel Lanois, which was a big influence on my interest in pedal steel guitar. My dad introduced me to some of my other favorite artists - Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, The Innocence Mission… I can’t downplay the role that discovering Peter Walker, Suni McGrath and Robbie Basho played in me taking the guitar seriously. At that time in my life it really spoke to me and was an acceptable way for a white kid from Oklahoma to sort of lean into Eastern Raga music. As far as the American Primitive thing goes, everyone wants to shun the title, because no one wants to be pigeonholed and I understand that, but there’s no avoiding it if you play instrumental acoustic guitar in open tunings, unless you’re Michael Hedges. You can’t be upset if listeners are drawing comparisons to Fahey, Basho and so on. I say just accept it and further the genre: it’s not like there’s a ton of people carrying the torch anyways. Norberto Lobo is one of my favorite guys playing acoustic guitar, and he’s one of the hardest to label. Same with Blackshaw, They’d both be a stretch to label as American Primitive. I think some of the stuff I record could definitely fit in that genre, but I also get pretty bored hearing just acoustic guitar compositions - a lot of it starts to blend together. Most of my recordings employ some kind of accompanying instrumentation, whether it be pedal steel, synth or some kind of bowed classical instruments. I’ll even take cues from my days making electronic music or hip hop and add samples to some of the guitar stuff. You seem to have been involved in about half-a-dozen different groups and collaborations, including Talk West who appear to have released about four albums in the past year or so! Do you see yourself as a collaborator who also makes solo recordings, vice-versa or neither of the above? Do the different approaches satisfy different musical urges for you or are they all part of a continuum? Living in Tulsa, there’s a limited number of collaborators that I can record with live who are into the same stuff as me. I’m definitely really happy with the recordings I’ve made here with friends, but I find myself recording alone way more often than in group setting. The Talk West project is a solo project, and I have a hard time calling those recorded moments songs, since such little thought goes into each one. It’s a real thoughtless and meditative project for me. It’s also nice to hide behind an alias where anything goes. Everything I’ve released as Talk West have been improvised, usually recorded to tape as one track, one take. I’ll sometimes edit or add sounds in post if I really like the initial recording, but the base is always improvisation. It’s definitely the most enjoyable project for me. Anything involving improvisation is going to be really satisfying. I did a couple of albums with Brad Rose that were really fun (Angel Food, Mohawk Park) - sort of drone projects - and I’ve contributed pedal steel to a handful of projects over the years (Mar, Robin Allender, M. Mucci). There’s some plans to collaborate on an album with James Toth of Wooden Wand and I’m doing a split with Tashi Dorji later this year that I’m really excited about. You released Rise & Shine on Scissor Tail, but your subsequent solo albums have been released by different labels.  Is this part of a conscious effort to separate yourself as a musician from yourself as a label owner? Or are you more prolific than you can afford to be?  Or do you just like spreading it around a bit? I like to spread it around. It’s validating to release on other labels with artists you respect and helps build connections and sense of community. Rise & Shine was a really personal album, recorded over a couple of weeks while my dad was in the hospital for a heart attack he had on Valentines Day 2011.The initial release was lathe cut on the 14 chest X-Rays from the surgery. The personal aspect of that album was my reasoning for self releasing. I never wanted Scissor Tail to become a vanity label, though I don’t judge anyone who self-releases on their own imprint, since in a lot of circumstances it’s the only way to make any money on an album unless you tour a lot or release on larger labels like Drag City or Thrill Jockey, who press in larger quantities and split the the profits generously with the artists. One of my favorite artists is a guy named Zach Hay, who has self released three LPs, each one under a different name. He turned me down on releasing his stuff and I also tried to see if he had any interest in being on that Imaginational Anthems compilation this year and he turned that down as well. I highly recommend checking out his albums: Bronze Horse, The Dove Azima, and Green Glass, which came out last year and I got to do the album artwork for the release. I really respect his artistic integrity and vision for each release, which is apparent on each album.

What made you decide to start your own label? Was it originally simply as a vehicle for your own releases or had you always intended to release stuff by other artists? The label started as a way to release various recordings my friends were making that they were sitting on or didn’t think were good enough to share. In Tulsa, I feel like a lot of the musicians in town hold themselves up to really high standards. Most the musicians around here take influence from the rock gods like Clapton and JJ Cale and overlook or just don’t know about all the folks who are making careers doing more original or experimental music. It’s a consequence of growing up cut off from any kind of underground scene and living in the radio bubble. My brother and some of our friends growing up would mess around with instruments and electronics for fun and the recordings would just end up buried on a hard drive somewhere. I felt they were really good and wanted to share them with people, so that was the initial motivation for starting the label. I have to give credit to Brad Rose, who runs Digitalis Recordings, for letting me hang out at his apartment and bug him with questions. Is there any particular label ethos or principle you work to? Not really, I just think labels should be transparent with where their funds go. The cost of production and so on. When it comes to tapes, I run Scissor Tail the same as every other tape label, where 20% of the stock goes to the artist. With vinyl, I’ve been doing 60/40 split with the artist - 60 to the artist, 40 to the label. I think the indie-industry standard is 50/50 profit split, which is what I’ve done with a couple of the more recent artists, who were kind enough to suggest that to me. Immune Records has a great ethos - as well as the labels I mentioned earlier, Drag City and Thrill Jockey. Am I right in thinking you proactively seek out the music you want to put out rather than responding to demos? It’s about half and half. Most of the tapes I put out came to me as demos, but a few of them were open invitations. The LPs on the label were mostly sought out. The only one that came in as a demo was this new album by Chuck Johnson that should be out in June. What are you looking for in an artist when you’re deciding what release? You’re building up  an impressive body of  work. Are there any releases you are particularly proud of? I’m interested in music that has a timeless feel, which is why a lot of the releases on Scissor Tail are guitar or drone related. Solo acoustic guitar, in my opinion, stands outside of time to a certain degree. If you were unfamiliar with Fahey, you could hear one of his albums and not know what decade within the last 60 years it was recorded. The same parameters don’t necessarily apply to drone music, because it’s generally electronic and that sort of limits the time frame when it could have been recorded, but it still has the same effect on the listener because of how minimal drone music tends to be. Gavin Bryars’ Sinking of the Titanic sounds as amazing today as it did in 1970 and will sound amazing when the sun burns out. Could you tell us a bit more about the Bruce Langhorne reissue? That release certainly put the label on the map. I just got lucky and wrote to him at the right time and offered him a really good deal. He’d been approached by a few labels to release it over the years, but I think it was just a timing thing or possibly the previous offers weren’t to his liking. The attention to packaging and presentation is consistently high, which for me at least, is an important aspect to running a label that puts out physical releases. Could you tell us a bit about your approach to this? Packaging and designing is my favorite part of running a label. If all I was doing were financially backing albums, I would have quit a long time ago. I really enjoy playing a creative role in each release, whether it be designing the artwork, doing the letterpress printing in my garage or seeking out other visual artists that fit the music. It’s really satisfying when it all clicks. There’s a lot of creative decision making that comes with running a label that keeps me constantly inspired. What’s the deal with cassettes? Do you just like the format or is it about cost and convenience for short-run releases? Is there anything consciously retro about using them? I love tapes! Everything about them. I love the nostalgia, the size, the sound, the fact that they make ripping music a pain in the ass. If you don’t offer downloads, someone has to spend a lot of time recording a tape to digital, separating the tracks, then bouncing them down and uploading them to the internet. It’s a whole process, and I just like the idea of manufacturing rarity, which I know is a bit controversial among the music community, but I’m all about it. Tapes are definitely also about cost: there are so many tapes I would have loved to put out on vinyl, but just didn’t have the funds. Also If you’ve ever been to a festival or music convention, people hand out CDs like business cards. In my opinion, it completely devalues the listening experience, where with tapes and vinyl, you have to sit down and take time to listen to. Can you tell us what you’re listening to at the moment? Any hot tips or recommendations? I’m listening to Kurt Vile a lot. I think he’s one of the best songwriters around. I also really love this album by Stephen Steinbrink that came out in 2013 called Arranged Waves. I’ve really been trying to seek out happier, less melancholy music lately. It seems to be hard to find outside of gospel, reggae, and traditional African music. I do listen to a lot of celtic music - Nic Jones, Andy M. Stewart, Dick Gaughan, Andy Irvine, Kevin Burke… I’m also pretty obsessed with anything Madlib puts out and another hip hop producer on Stones Throw, by the name of Knxwledge. Can I be a guitar nerd and ask you what you play and what you like about them? I lucked out three times via Craigslist and was able to acquire a 1949 Gibson LG2 in damn near mint condition for $350. I also play a 1921 Weissenborn Style 1 that I found on Craigslist in Florida. The guy who had it bought a storage unit on auction and there was a guitar inside that he knew very little about and so I snagged it from him for pretty much dirt cheap. My electric is a low end Mexican Tele. My pedal steel was a steal - haha - got it for $800 off a meth head in Tulsa who played in a cover band called Whisky Stills and Mash. It’s a 60s double neck Sho-Bud. I’m also fond of those lawsuit Suzuki guitars. What’s in store for you next - both in terms of your own music and Scissor Tail? I’m finishing a follow up to my first LP, Rise & Shine. It’s been in the works for the last two or three years. I also have those collaborations I mentioned earlier with Wooden Wand and Tashi Dorji. And then a lathe release with a bunch of other guitarists, Daniel Bachman, Tash and some other folks. That’ll be out on a really great label called Cabin Floor Esoterica probably later this year. A Talk West tape with Sic Sic out of Berlin in a couple weeks. As far as Scissor Tail goes, there’s quite a few things coming out this year. Chuck Johnson’s new LP called Blood Moon Boulder, which I’ve been busy letter pressing all the jackets for this last month. An album by another Oakland based guitarist and friend of Chuck - Dibson T Hoffweiler - that will be out May 7th. There’s a handful of tapes about to drop and an LP by Willamette that should be out in the Fall or Winter depending on how quickly we figure out the album art. Lotsa stuff brewin. Anything I should have asked you but didn’t? Nope, all bases covered. Thanks!

https://scissortail.bandcamp.com/

A gay footballer: an interview with Tony Quindt

„Two pro players want to come out, but…“

Interview: Jannik Schneider

In 2009 amateur footballer Tony Quindt ended the „game" of hide-and-seek he’d been playing for years and came out as homosexual to his team and the public. Ever since then he’s been committed to the cause of gay footballers, generating a lot of public interest. His connections span professional football as well. In an interview for SPOX’ week of Taboos in Football he explains about the difficulties of coming out and the acting talent of gay pro footballers.

SPOX: Mr. Quindt, earlier this year an exchange between Thomas Hitzlsperger and Clarence Seedorf at a FIFA congress went viral on social media. Seedorf had enquired, with honest interest but also quite resolutely, why Hitzlsperger cared so much about informing the public about his sexual orientation. The German answered that public declarations and coming-outs would be necessary until they became a normality, and got predominantly positive feedback for it. What’s your take on the situation?

Tony Quindt: I approve of his answer as well as the wide coverage it got. Mr. Hitzlsperger’s wish for a piece of normalcy for himself and all of us homosexual footballers, athletes and people from other lines of work is understandable and a step in the right direction.

Many people hoped his outing in 2014 would open the door for active footballers. But for the most part, nothing happened since. Why is it still so difficult for professional footballers to come out?

I had high hopes back then, too, maybe too much so. I expected several to join him soon. Maybe the timing of his outing, a few months after the end of his career, was too late. The reactions back then weren’t purely positive, especially in religious circles. In some parts of society and football as well, there was yet a need for education. There were public statements like „I don’t know how I would have felt if I’d had to share a shower with a gay teammate at the same time.“

Jens Lehmann said that in a talk show.

Yes, but it wasn’t just him. There are still a lot of reservations, sometimes publicly stated, sometimes off the record. In order to come out a footballer needs confidence and security. The latter isn’t always a given with football clubs, on any level. A lot of factors have to align. The player would have to be sure that his team, his coach, the board and even the sponsors will stand behind his decision. We’re far away from that in the Bundesliga. Still, Hitzlsperger’s coming-out was a step forward. Other footballers saw the reactions and can now assess it for themselves.

Thanks to your public work you’re well-connected. Did you know he was gay before his outing?

Although I know a few gay Bundesliga players, I didn’t know about him. An official coming-out helps the gay scene get more acceptance. But I do learn a lot and know who’s gay and who isn’t.

The American footballer Robbie Rogers decided to come out in 2013 after a slump in his career in England, initially he retired while only in his mid-twenties. A while later LA Galaxy successfully encouraged him to come out of retirement.

Another positive example. He was accepted within the MLS. And I’m sure he made his contribution to American society in general and a lot of gay people can identify with him.

He’s been quoted as saying  „We [gay footballers] are such great actors, because we’re afraid to let people know who we are.“ You’ve made that experience yourself in amateur football before coming out, is that true?

At home I was free of all of that, but being at my football club, with my teammates that I liked very much and had known a long time, I couldn’t be myself, due to my homosexuality. I was always anxious and tense and had to be careful: What do I say? How do I move? Does that look masculine? I was afraid and didn’t want my colleagues to find out and ostracise me.

What consequences did that have on the pitch?

I was always the quiet one. But I played roughly, sometimes too rough, to come off especially manly. And it went on seamlessly after the game, when the team went for a beer together and talked about women. I wanted to belong so I had to join in on the conversations and just made up stories about picking up women. I constructed a whole parallel world. With stories about women, girlfriends, more and more details. At some point it became very exhausting to keep up a believable front. One lie followed the other, story after story. There came a point where I didn’t know myself anymore what was true and what wasn’t. This mental stress finally led to the decision to end it all and come out.

Did this game of hide-and-seek impact your performance as a footballer?

Definitely. The difference was noticeable. After my coming-out I was freer on as well as off the pitch. I wasn’t so occupied with myself so much anymore, didn’t have to constantly check and keep up my façade, I was just myself. Tony, playing football with his lads. I felt really good, really free. It was such a relief.

And your team?

A lot of teammates told me months, even a year later how positively the coming-out affected my personality as well as my performance as a player. Apparently it was plain to see.

Do you think that’s applicable to professional football, though?

For sure! The pressure to perform is even much, much higher there.

It’s about nuances.

That’s why you cannot appreciate enough the achievements of so many gay footballers. If the need to hide went away, who knows what would be possible. If a Bundesliga player came out officially and the club, the fans, DFL, DFB and politicians supported him and at the first game afterwards created a general atmosphere that put the player along with his team at ease, that would certainly send out a positive signal. And that player maybe wouldn’t remain alone for long

But a coming-out can have negative consequences, too. There are probably several users thinking, “he can talk, playing only in Kreisliga [District league, 7th tier]”. What reactions did you get?

In my club there weren’t any negative reactions, none at all. Of course there were bound to be one or two guys who were uncomfortable, but they never let me know. Instead I got a lot of encouragement, congratulations and was engaged in conversations about it. And the crowd always cheered for me - and in the village that meant a lot of pensioners with thoroughly conservative views. For example as I was about to be subbed in the cheers got really loud. I’m getting goosebumps just talking about it. That motivated me very much, I’m not taking it for granted.

What about the opposing players and fans?

That’s what surprised me most of all. Players from other teams approached me before the game and wanted to talk to me. I had expected a lot more head wind and negative comments. And when the players from the opposing team are so positive, the fans don’t say anything either.

And in the heat of the battle, during a game, in contentious situations, there were no insults, no inappropriate comments or homophobic slurs?

No. No situation that would fit that cliché.

You said you knew gay pro footballers. Can you give us any insight into how they manage to arrange a life in professional competitive sports with their secret private life?

By now everybody should be aware that there are gay Bundesliga players. And they keep up this - in quotes - perfect life for society. The successful athlete with a pretty woman in a perfect relationship. There are special model agencies where you can book women for public appearances, relationships and also fake marriages. So in public they do everything that a real girlfriend or wife would do.

Do all gay players do that, without exception, because it’s something like an unwritten law?

Well, there are many who handle it that way. But there are exceptions, who just officially live alone and don’t care what people make of it. But all approaches have one thing in common.

Being?

Whether in a fake relationship or single: all homosexual footballers put in a lot of effort in order to be able to live their sexual orientation in secret - or just to meet their boyfriend.

This mental pressure and the fear of being caught has to be inhumanly heavy?

There are cases where gay footballers actively got separated from their agency women because they couldn’t stand it any longer. Thomas Hitzlsperger, too, before his coming-out was engaged to get married to a woman. This game of hide-and-seek, the mental pressure that comes with it, I don’t think anybody can endure that for too long.

On the one hand, no professional footballer feels ready to come out. On the other hand society protects their secrets. Nothing is leaked to the public. How does that compute?

When gay players out themselves to their circles, the gay scene or towards journalists, it’s always about agreements. After all, the player’s actual existence is at stake. Say a player was outed against his will by a journalist or a group. What would happen?

He’d deny it.

Exactly. But on the whole, that would be much worse for the player than the hiding beforehand. With this new extra pressure he’d have to try and keep up delivering his performance on the pitch, arrange his private life and keep up his whole attitude towards life in general - all while being especially watched by the media and consequently, the public. But from what I’ve seen of these agreements in the past years, no journalist would dare. I think, anyway, that the press plays a special part here.

Which one?

Gay footballers who don’t want to come out have to be protected. An involuntary outing is no good to anyone.

Let’s get back to your own story. Did you have a concrete plan after making the decision to come out?

I did take a little time to prepare. But there was a lot of spontaneity as well. I didn’t know and was afraid how the teammates would react. These fears: What do I do if they don’t accept it? That completely preoccupied me. Because I greatly enjoyed playing in this team, so there were a lot of What-ifs weighing on my mind.

So how did you go about it eventually?

I brought a man along with me to a team party and introduced him as my boyfriend (smiles).

Wow! Quite forward.

Yes, that provided plenty to talk about (laughs). But in the long run it absolutely was the right decision.

Do you know of any German professional footballers generally willing to come out? Or is the general attitude „Hell no!“

I’ve heard of two footballers who have talked to each other about it and are thinking of doing it, but only in a group with other players. They don’t dare if it’s just the two of them.

The English Football Association’s chairman Greg Clarke stated six months ago that he’d talked to several gay footballers of the Premier League and encouraged them to have a synchronised coming-out which would get a lot of public attention. At the same time he advised against trying it on your own.

I’d approve of that. Provided there’s an organised plan for it. Rushing into something badly thought out, without proper preparation, with a sensitive topic like this one could become problematic. Some clubs have sponsors from regions that are not that far advanced where education and tolerance are concerned and it could blow up in their face.

Why do these two German players have reservations?

Because with only two players, especially as they don’t play for the same club, the focus would be very much on them. If suddenly more clubs had gay players the situation in the stadiums would get easier, as well.

In what way?

If there are homosexual players in both line-ups, neither fan group will sing homophobic chants.

So to make a note of that: There are two Bundesliga players that intend to come out.

Yes, it’s true. But as I said: They don’t dare yet. And I can understand them. Bundesliga with everything to it is something else entirely. Those two think the entire construct as such isn’t ready yet.

Are DFB, DFL and German football in general doing enough for the education about and acceptance of homosexuality?

Especially where the media’s concerned there’s still a lot to improve. Not just for the national associations like DFB. The regional associations, too. There’s a lot of talk - I myself have been to talks with my regional association in Schleswig-Holstein. But too little action.

What do you mean in particular?

I organised a tournament against homophobia with my club in Elmenhorst and the association supported me, they provided jerseys for the winners with the slogan „Schleswig-Holstein kickt fair“. But beyond the gesture I didn’t recognise any true intention to do something.

Do you have concrete ideas?

Several. Borussia Dortmund had a special "day of action" surrounding a Bundesliga game. Why don’t other clubs? No other Bundesliga club in recent years thought of this actually quite simple idea. Though Berlin’s football association has been exemplary for years now. Beyond that I’m campaigning for the issue to be part of the training of coaches and referees, as a compulsory subject! Coaches and refs have such a huge influence in professional football. Concerning the associations, the magic word is publicity.

Amateur football reflects a large part of society. Over the years have footballers gotten in contact with you when they wanted to come out or for advice?

I always get messages and feedbacks when I’ve done big interviews like this one. A lot of great messages, but sad stories as well, and notes of discrimination. Those just make me shake my head. Those messages aren’t just from footballers, but people from all kinds of different sports, referees as well. It seems it’s especially tough for them.

What do you mean?

There’s a referee with over 30 years of experience that got into touch with me. Ever since it became known that he’s homosexual he’s not been allowed to work anymore-

Excuse me?!

That’s what I said. I asked for the reasoning. They said that because he’s into men, there’s a danger of him favouring players because of their attractiveness. So he was put on leave.

By a regional association?

As far as I know by DFB. I was speechless, it’s a classic instance of double standards. On the one hand they want to campaign against homophobia and support Hitzlsperger’s statements. And then in a concrete case like this in amateur football they’re acting like that - DFB themselves.

Let’s talk about more pleasant things. In addition to the league you play for a gay football club from Hamburg. Are all the players from the gay football club also active in, as you call them, hetero clubs?

The club, by the way, is for lesbians, too, and the ages range from 16 to far into the 40s. When I joined I was the only one who also played competitively, it was a pure-hobby team. By now there are three players who play for another club - all of us for Elmenhorst.

Three’s still very few.

But you mustn’t forget: A lot of them come to Hamburg especially for the community. Everybody in that team is gay. For the duration of training nobody has to pretend or hide. We thought about registering with the league. But we weren’t enough people. But for those who want to be more serious about it there are fewer obstacles now than there used to be - at least in my club. We’ve organised friendlies as well. The gay team greatly appreciates my team’s tolerance. Nobody’s discriminated against, that’s why the other two transferred to us.___

Jannik Schneider, the interviewer and editor of SPOX, wrote on twitter that they’re following up on the story of the referee who was put on leave and trying to get more, reliable information

Oh, how I want to break free

(No, not like that, Jim. Sorry.)

Or, the story of how silly old me found out exactly how wrong she was about quite a number of things.

The thing about me is that I take so many things for granted that I never really stop to think about them - unless it is by complete accident, or as a consequence of something life unexpectedly throws at me. And when that does happen, everything feels so blindingly obvious in retrospect - though it wasn’t at all before realisation finally dawned on me.

I grew up somewhat terrified of what other people would think of me. I don’t know why, I just did. It felt as if the world would suddenly crumble to pieces around me if I made the wrong move, leaving me in the middle of the debris without any way to fix it. I thought I was supposed to never let other people see my flaws, my quirks - even my own feelings. 

It was all about living up to society’s standards - both the actual ones, and those I sort of made up in my head. It was as if I had to play a part all the time, and that was the price I had to pay if I wanted other people to tolerate me - and maybe, just maybe, want to be my friends, just a little. 

I honestly haven’t the faintest idea where my conviction that most people didn’t want to have anything to do with me came from. Why I thought I’d better avoid physical contact and any other possibly unwanted interaction, because it might repulse the recipient for some reason. And I’m not good at making friends, which means that before I found fandom, the only friends I ever had were from school. (And later on from work, because outside fandom I sort of need an environment where you are forced to see each other most days in order to start relaxing about new people, and eventually want some of them to be my friends.)

All of this made the process of seeking out someone’s friendship about as pleasant as pulling teeth. Wanting to approach them without knowing how to do it - how ‘normal’ people do it; all the while trying really hard to hide what I perceived to be my worst qualities, and dreading I would end up making a slip, which would in turn result in the person in question running for the hills. Each and every of my supposed or real missteps would invariably get me into a panic, as I frantically tried to backtrack in the vain hope the other person might not have noticed. And then, I would keep running the scene over and over in my head, until I convinced myself I’d better distance myself altogether from the target of my affections. Only, I would inevitably be drawn back to them at some point, because I’m like a child who wants things too much and simply can’t stop trying their hardest to get them. 

(Things got somewhat more complicated on those instances when I though I also had a crush on the person I wanted to be friends with. Even though in retrospect it was most likely only a platonic crush, and me being my weird self.)

It wasn’t only about people I wanted to be friends with though. I felt as if the world was constantly watching me, waiting for me to make a mistake so that they could laugh at me and call me out for not being a proper human being. And the fact that I’m anxious by nature doesn’t help, not to mention my wobbly self-esteem and my poor understanding of social rules in general.

Then, one day, something happened. Well, it wasn’t really a one-day thing, more like a series of small steps that finally added up to a quantum leap - if you allow me the quantum mechanics metaphor. I am after all a scientist, albeit more in name than anything else. 

I was thirty when I finally found my first job. (And the only one I’ve ever had so far, but let’s just leave it at that.) I can’t say I was pleased about being in forced proximity with quite a number of strangers, some of them quite obnoxious too. However, over the course of time, and a process of trial and error, I started to realise something that came quite as a revelation to me.

The world wasn’t about to end if I simply allowed myself to be sometimes.

Up to that point, my motto had always been ‘If there is a chance of failure, you’re better off if you don’t even try’. Only, I could never completely stick to it when it came to those things that mattered the most to me, the ones I desperately wanted for myself, for whatever reason. At first it all boiled down to my weird little dance around those people I happened to have a friend crush on - trying to get close, beating a hasty retreat, repeat ad lib.

And then - something quite wonderful happened. Fandom had been my shelter of choice before, but that was nothing if compared to what the Finnefandom turned out to be for me. I found a place where I belonged, at long last. And it wasn’t just about Cabin Pressure being absolutely brilliant, just as well as everything about John’s work - on balance, I think I might love JFSP even more - so much as it was about the lovely and amazing people I got to know through it. 

John, of course, is an absolute sweetheart. I mean, he’s funny, kind, and a fantastic writer and performer on top of that. I wanted to meet him so desperately I took a plane to Berlin all by myself in order to attend EuroAirdotCon - me, the person who could worry herself to knots about taking a train to a nearby town. And I’m so glad that I did, because it completely changed my life - and so much for the better.

John wasn’t the only reason though. There are so many wonderful people I’ve got to know thanks to the Fandot, and I wanted to meet them in person as well. Which I did in Berlin, and on many of the trips that followed. I discovered that I was in fact capable of travelling alone, much to my own surprise - the occasional missed flight notwithstanding. All it took was finding a reason strong enough for me to want to do so, and facing things one step at a time rather than letting myself panic about the possible outcomes.

And yes, I can now confirm that the only way you know you fail is if you don’t try. (Yup, I’m quoting Christmas Carol 2: Boxing Day. The Mighty Fin for the win!) If I cast my mind back all I can do is marvel at all the fantastic people and places I discovered through this - it’s no secret that I’m more than a little in love with the UK now, even though I have mixed feelings about the referendum and everything that followed. I have lots of friends within the Fandot, and I’m still in awe that I got to actually meet and talk - well, babble, actually, but still - to my favourite people in the world; that is to say John, Simon (bless him), Carrie, Margaret, Lawry, and also Peter Davis from The Monster Hunters. (It’s such a pity that I never got the chance to see Matthew as well, but I still get to have silly and slightly weird monster-related conversations with him on Twitter, so there’s that.)

Oh, and Robbie Hudson too. Because, yes, apparently one fandom leads to the other, and I love everything and everyone so much. 

And if there is one thing the Finnefandom has taught me - as well as the incredibly inspiring character that is Arthur Shappey - is that I am in fact allowed to just be myself. That it is in fact so much fun, and that’s all that matters in the end. Trying to be kind, and have fun. Those are the Two Things To Do Before Or After You're Thirty, and may John be blessed for showing us as much, both through a sketch and so much more. 

I am no longer afraid of the world falling on me if I fail to conform to its ridiculous standards. Self-doubt can still rear its ugly head on occasion, but in the end it doesn’t matter because it’s not the boss of me anymore. 

I have broken free at last, against all odds. I can dance to my own music now; and if people who can’t hear the music think I’m weird, or deluded, or utterly crazy - well, it’s their problem, really.

I’ve fallen in love with a bunch of fandoms and the people they come with, and believe me, it’s so much better than any ‘romantic interest’ could ever be.

“Cobra Kai Season One” (2018)

Television

10 Episodes

Produced by: Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald

Featuring: Ralph Macchio and William Zabka

Amanda: “What is going on?”

Anthony: “Dad is about to fight this guy.”

Daniel: “Amanda, just please go inside. This is between me and Sensei Lawrence.”

Amanda: “Yeah, you two seem to have this pretty well in hand. Just a normal Saturday afternoon, a couple of grown men about to kick each other into a pool? You know, as much as I would love to watch you and your childhood karate rival duke it out, I kind of don’t want to get any blood on the patio. So what do you say we try to resolve this over some breakfast instead?”

Daniel: “You want to go inside?”

Johnny: “I could eat.”

There is no way that this spiritual sequel to the ‘Karate Kid’ franchise, “Cobra Kai” (2018) should have worked, it was a new entry into a dead. ultimately futile series (especially after the last two entries) being streamed on YouTubeRed (a new service) with original as well as nearing sixty-year-old leads that have both been defined by their roles in the original “Karate Kid” (1984). But what the creators, producers and writers have done, wisely, is to create a story that seems as natural as the original, taking what was so great about the first one, transplanting it to a new time but in the same location with updated references as well as the use of some cunning flashbacks to the original movie, not hiding the ages of the players as well as being able to see the supporting characters of that original, including Noriyuki “Pat” Morita, Elisabeth Shueand Martin Kove. There definitely is a reliance on the original movie, the creators have taken for granted that the audience viewing this will have at least a passing familiarity with the movie, in particular the relationship between Danny and Johnny as well the pivotal role that the now deceased Mr. Miyagi played in both of their lives. In many other cases this sort of storytelling may have been a weakness but this is such a beloved movie that it does not hinder the narrative one iota, or the way in which the audience is informed in regard to characters motivations throughout the ten episodes.

“Cobra Kai” takes place 34 years after the original film and follows a “down-and-out Johnny Lawrence, who seeks redemption by reopening the infamous Cobra Kai karate dojo, reigniting his rivalry with a now successful Daniel LaRusso, who has been struggling to maintain balance in his life without the guidance of his mentor, Mr. Miyagi. The show is about two men addressing past demons and present frustrations the only way they know how: through karate.”

Running parallel to the conflict are the story arcs of Lawrence and LaRusso’s students. For instance, there are the students of Cobra Kai: a group of picked-on underdog teenagers who find a camaraderie and self-confidence under Johnny’s tutelage, only to take their mentor’s aggressive philosophy too far as they begin to degenerate into the notorious thuggery of former Sensei Kreese’s era. In contrast, Johnny’s estranged son, Robby Keene, comes under the wing of Daniel, who proves a positive influence to the boy as he begins to seek redemption while learning the philosophies of Mr. Miyagi. Meanwhile, Daniel’s daughter, Samantha, is caught in the middle of these conflicts as she learns who her true friends are and a better path to follow.

Of course when dealing with a reimagining or a sequel of something that was created over thirty years ago the one word that screams louder than any other is nostalgia. In many cases the word nostalgia can mean to evoke feelings from the past, while in and of itself nostalgia is not negative it can be when linking it to movies and television shows. This is because many reboots and sequels are unimaginative, looking for a quick easy way to make audiences happy, taking shortcuts as well as relying on goodwill from the past. However, in the case of “Cobra Kai” what the creators have done is keep the story and action rooted in the present but with a clear foot in the past. This works extremely well as it reminds us what we loved about “The Karate Kid” but takes the characters moving them forward into the modern day, not relying per se on actions in the past as well see new rivalries from as well as some kind of understanding of past actions.

It is vital for this show to exude nostalgia, something I am not a fan of as life by its very nature is all about change, everything and everyone changes so as a society we should always be looking to the next hill, embracing newness as well as embracing the change that will be inevitable for us all. One of the key reasons that nostalgia works in “Cobra Kai” is while we are re-introduced to the characters as well as being forced to confront their old age as well as their new situations the flashbacks are reassuring in that we know these people, as well as their motivations, with their new lives in the present we accept them more readily than meeting them cold. The other reason that this new show works is that it reminds us of a time where life was a little slower as well as more recognisable, as opposed to the world we find ourselves in now with upheaval in almost every walk of life – particularly politically, can it be a coincidence that the original was made under a Reagan Republican government?. It is no surprise that the flashbacks are juxtaposed with scenes from the present, as well as diminishing as the new story takes hold, we start to enjoy not only the older characters new journey but also the new characters that in turn have their own arcs – linked to the previous narrative.

Unlike the original that revolved around the character of Danny this new show mainly takes the point of view of Johnny, his issues, his past and where he is trying to be with the life that he desperately wants, as well as the correcting of the mistakes of his life since the conclusion of “The Karate Kid”. This is one of the strengths of the new show as we see where he came from as a child as well as his non-apologetic character that seems to steam through life despite his attitude or his disdain for so much that would normally be the opposite to the perceived norm. What is interesting is the way in which Johnny’s attitude changes in small ways but enough to make him a sympathetic character, sometimes more so than Danny, which is saying something, especially after the way the original movie ended. As with Johnny we see Danny as a more complicated person than anyone could have imagined, he makes many mistakes with his relationships, more so than he would like but like Johnny he keeps moving ahead no matter what. What is interesting as well is something Johnny does not have, the way in which Danny’s wife makes comments about decisions or situations that he finds himself in, she is an anchor who actually keeps Danny’s worlds stable. Sure Johnny has his star pupil but both of them lack perspective or experience so they seem to continually move through life without any idea of consequences.

Returning to their iconic 1980s characters are stars Ralph Macchio and William Zabka as Danny and Johnny respectively who both bring very different traits to their characters. Zabka is the one that is the revelation as a multi leveled character who shines in this second go at Johnny, as the lead he knows when to play the comedy as well as the drama, he also has chemistry with everyone he shares a scene with. What is great is to see him playing comedy to the extent he does, he has some of the best lines in the show as well as all the great scenes. Macchio was of course one of the great young actors of the 1980s but in the 1990s and 2000s became more known for playing himself particularly on television. What is great is to see him not in an ironic way as Danny, not only that but as an adult with issues of his own away from Karate – he really has to make some decisions that impact not only himself but his family – Macchio knows this character so well that it is easy to forget that he is a talented actor.

I loved this show it had everything going for it in terms of drama as well as comedy. It also is not afraid to comment on the current political climate as well as improving on stereotypes that existed in the 1980s when the source material was produced. It also is not afraid to look back while maintaining its narrative firmly in the present, as well as being as original as anything else on television at the moment.

Episodes:

Ace Degenerate– Thirty four years after losing to Daniel LaRusso in the 1984 All Valley Under-18 Karate Championship, Johnny Lawrence struggles to make a living as a handyman while Daniel runs a successful car dealership chain in the San Fernando Valley.

Strike First– Miguel begins his karate training with Johnny bullying him for his asthma and low self-esteem. Johnny is informed by the health department that the dojo needs a lot of work before he can officially teach students. Meanwhile, Daniel and his wife get into an argument after discovering that Samantha has invited her friends over to their home for a pool party in their absence. While reconciling with his daughter, Daniel finds out that Samantha is romantically interested in a boy called Kyler and offers to invite him to a family dinner.

Esqueleto– Johnny tries to recruit more students to the dojo and Daniel decides to chaperone the school Halloween dance. Miguel’s karate training is stepped up as Johnny urges him to use the Cobra Kai creed of “Strike hard. Strike first. No mercy” in his everyday life and urges him to attend the Halloween dance.

Cobra Kai Never Dies– Robby learns of the new dojo and is embarrassed by his father’s recruitment methods. Meanwhile, a LaRusso Auto billboard is vandalized and evidence leads Daniel to suspect Johnny as the culprit.

Counterbalance– Miguel shows improvement in both his karate skills and his general health. Daniel tries to make a shady deal that could shut down Cobra Kai, but hurts innocent business owners in the process. Samantha’s heavy-set classmate Aisha Robinson joins Cobra Kai despite Johnny’s initial misgivings about training girls.

Quiver– Daniel tries unsuccessfully to persuade Samantha to go back to karate. The footage of Miguel’s fight at school goes viral and brings many new students to the Cobra Kai dojo but Johnny cannot suppress his old ways and bullies them, embarrassing Eli in front of the entire class

All Valley– Johnny uses painful methods to train his new students. Miguel asks Johnny for advice on girls and Johnny manages to give him a boost of confidence which leads to Miguel asking Samantha out on a successful date.

Molting– Despite Daniel’s strong objections, the All Valley Sports Karate Board decides that Cobra Kai is allowed to compete in the All Valley Karate Tournament, so Johnny ups his game with additional training and unconventional methods steals one of the motorcycles, and rides off to confront Daniel.

Different but Same– After Johnny’s car is burned by Daniel’s cousin and his thugs, Johnny confronts Daniel at his home. However, before they come to blows, Amanda quickly defuses the looming fight with an invitation to peacefully discuss the matter over breakfast and they reach an agreement: in addition to Louie being fired, Johnny would receive a trade-in car from their business in compensation.

Mercy– Cobra Kai returns to the annual All Valley Under-18 Karate tournament with a full team led by Miguel. Robby too participates as a fighter unaffiliated with any dojo.

Streaming review: “Cobra Kai Season One” (2018) “Cobra Kai Season One” (2018) Television 10 Episodes Produced by: Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald…

"Solo Acoustic Guitar Stands Outside of Time." An Interview With Dylan Golden Aycock

This interview originally appeared at North Country Primitive on 5th May 2015

Scissor Tail Editions of Tulsa Oklahoma is one of the most consistently interesting record labels around at the moment, with a series of excellent releases from amongst others, Sarah Louise, Scott Tuma, Nick Castell and, of course, the label's founder and head honcho, Dylan Golden Aycock. His tune, Red Bud Valley, is featured on Tompkins Square's recently released seventh volume of the ever-dependable Imaginational Anthems series and he continues to release new work in his various guises at an almost unreasonably prolific rate. North Country Primitive caught up with Dylan as he puts the finishing touches on the forthcoming solo follow up to Rise & Shine and as Scissor Tail gears up to put out new albums by Dibson T. Hoffweiler and Chuck Johnson.

Can you tell me a bit about your musical journey? What has brought you to a place where playing solo acoustic guitar seemed like a good idea? Living in Oklahoma as a kid in the pre-internet 90s, the only access to music I had was the radio and skate videos. I got really into hip hop through skate videos and also discovered groups like Tortoise, which I probably never would have encountered any other way. My dad and brother both play folk music and I guess hip hop was an involuntary rebellion on my part. My first instrument I saved up for was a turntable set up - I got way into turntablism and this competitive turntable stuff called beat juggling. It's still probably the instrument I'm most comfortable on, but I haven't turned them on in years. I picked up the guitar pretty late in the game, about the age of 24. Five years ago I bought my first guitar, a 12-string Alvarez. I got really obsessed with it, just as I did with turntablism and electronic music in my teens and early 20s. At that time I was just yearning for something simple and satisfying that I could play if the power grid ever went out. I also didn't like the mental image of a 60-plus year old me behind a set of turntables. Hip hop and beat music is a young man's game, and I didn't really like keeping up with all the new shit coming out. If you want to be a professional DJ you have to be up on all the new stuff and I just really didn't care about all that. I also quit around the time that CD turntables became the new standard and vinyl DJing was on its way out. What would you say are your main influences, musically or otherwise? Do you see yourself as part of the American Primitive tradition of solo guitar? I was really influenced by my older brother Jesse and some of the music he was listening to in his room when we lived together after high school. He turned me onto Bill Frisell and Daniel Lanois, which was a big influence on my interest in pedal steel guitar. My dad introduced me to some of my other favorite artists - Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, The Innocence Mission... I can't downplay the role that discovering Peter Walker, Suni McGrath and Robbie Basho played in me taking the guitar seriously. At that time in my life it really spoke to me and was an acceptable way for a white kid from Oklahoma to sort of lean into Eastern Raga music. As far as the American Primitive thing goes, everyone wants to shun the title, because no one wants to be pigeonholed and I understand that, but there's no avoiding it if you play instrumental acoustic guitar in open tunings, unless you're Michael Hedges. You can't be upset if listeners are drawing comparisons to Fahey, Basho and so on. I say just accept it and further the genre: it's not like there's a ton of people carrying the torch anyways. Norberto Lobo is one of my favorite guys playing acoustic guitar, and he's one of the hardest to label. Same with Blackshaw, They'd both be a stretch to label as American Primitive. I think some of the stuff I record could definitely fit in that genre, but I also get pretty bored hearing just acoustic guitar compositions - a lot of it starts to blend together. Most of my recordings employ some kind of accompanying instrumentation, whether it be pedal steel, synth or some kind of bowed classical instruments. I'll even take cues from my days making electronic music or hip hop and add samples to some of the guitar stuff. You seem to have been involved in about half-a-dozen different groups and collaborations, including Talk West who appear to have released about four albums in the past year or so! Do you see yourself as a collaborator who also makes solo recordings, vice-versa or neither of the above? Do the different approaches satisfy different musical urges for you or are they all part of a continuum? Living in Tulsa, there's a limited number of collaborators that I can record with live who are into the same stuff as me. I'm definitely really happy with the recordings I've made here with friends, but I find myself recording alone way more often than in group setting. The Talk West project is a solo project, and I have a hard time calling those recorded moments songs, since such little thought goes into each one. It's a real thoughtless and meditative project for me. It's also nice to hide behind an alias where anything goes. Everything I've released as Talk West have been improvised, usually recorded to tape as one track, one take. I'll sometimes edit or add sounds in post if I really like the initial recording, but the base is always improvisation. It's definitely the most enjoyable project for me. Anything involving improvisation is going to be really satisfying. I did a couple of albums with Brad Rose that were really fun (Angel Food, Mohawk Park) - sort of drone projects - and I've contributed pedal steel to a handful of projects over the years (Mar, Robin Allender, M. Mucci). There's some plans to collaborate on an album with James Toth of Wooden Wand and I'm doing a split with Tashi Dorji later this year that I'm really excited about. You released Rise & Shine on Scissor Tail, but your subsequent solo albums have been released by different labels.  Is this part of a conscious effort to separate yourself as a musician from yourself as a label owner? Or are you more prolific than you can afford to be?  Or do you just like spreading it around a bit? I like to spread it around. It's validating to release on other labels with artists you respect and helps build connections and sense of community. Rise & Shine was a really personal album, recorded over a couple of weeks while my dad was in the hospital for a heart attack he had on Valentines Day 2011.The initial release was lathe cut on the 14 chest X-Rays from the surgery. The personal aspect of that album was my reasoning for self releasing. I never wanted Scissor Tail to become a vanity label, though I don't judge anyone who self-releases on their own imprint, since in a lot of circumstances it's the only way to make any money on an album unless you tour a lot or release on larger labels like Drag City or Thrill Jockey, who press in larger quantities and split the the profits generously with the artists. One of my favorite artists is a guy named Zach Hay, who has self released three LPs, each one under a different name. He turned me down on releasing his stuff and I also tried to see if he had any interest in being on that Imaginational Anthems compilation this year and he turned that down as well. I highly recommend checking out his albums: Bronze Horse, The Dove Azima, and Green Glass, which came out last year and I got to do the album artwork for the release. I really respect his artistic integrity and vision for each release, which is apparent on each album.

What made you decide to start your own label? Was it originally simply as a vehicle for your own releases or had you always intended to release stuff by other artists? The label started as a way to release various recordings my friends were making that they were sitting on or didn't think were good enough to share. In Tulsa, I feel like a lot of the musicians in town hold themselves up to really high standards. Most the musicians around here take influence from the rock gods like Clapton and JJ Cale and overlook or just don't know about all the folks who are making careers doing more original or experimental music. It's a consequence of growing up cut off from any kind of underground scene and living in the radio bubble. My brother and some of our friends growing up would mess around with instruments and electronics for fun and the recordings would just end up buried on a hard drive somewhere. I felt they were really good and wanted to share them with people, so that was the initial motivation for starting the label. I have to give credit to Brad Rose, who runs Digitalis Recordings, for letting me hang out at his apartment and bug him with questions. Is there any particular label ethos or principle you work to? Not really, I just think labels should be transparent with where their funds go. The cost of production and so on. When it comes to tapes, I run Scissor Tail the same as every other tape label, where 20% of the stock goes to the artist. With vinyl, I've been doing 60/40 split with the artist - 60 to the artist, 40 to the label. I think the indie-industry standard is 50/50 profit split, which is what I've done with a couple of the more recent artists, who were kind enough to suggest that to me. Immune Records has a great ethos - as well as the labels I mentioned earlier, Drag City and Thrill Jockey. Am I right in thinking you proactively seek out the music you want to put out rather than responding to demos? It's about half and half. Most of the tapes I put out came to me as demos, but a few of them were open invitations. The LPs on the label were mostly sought out. The only one that came in as a demo was this new album by Chuck Johnson that should be out in June. What are you looking for in an artist when you're deciding what release? You're building up  an impressive body of  work. Are there any releases you are particularly proud of? I'm interested in music that has a timeless feel, which is why a lot of the releases on Scissor Tail are guitar or drone related. Solo acoustic guitar, in my opinion, stands outside of time to a certain degree. If you were unfamiliar with Fahey, you could hear one of his albums and not know what decade within the last 60 years it was recorded. The same parameters don't necessarily apply to drone music, because it's generally electronic and that sort of limits the time frame when it could have been recorded, but it still has the same effect on the listener because of how minimal drone music tends to be. Gavin Bryars' Sinking of the Titanic sounds as amazing today as it did in 1970 and will sound amazing when the sun burns out. Could you tell us a bit more about the Bruce Langhorne reissue? That release certainly put the label on the map. I just got lucky and wrote to him at the right time and offered him a really good deal. He'd been approached by a few labels to release it over the years, but I think it was just a timing thing or possibly the previous offers weren't to his liking. The attention to packaging and presentation is consistently high, which for me at least, is an important aspect to running a label that puts out physical releases. Could you tell us a bit about your approach to this? Packaging and designing is my favorite part of running a label. If all I was doing were financially backing albums, I would have quit a long time ago. I really enjoy playing a creative role in each release, whether it be designing the artwork, doing the letterpress printing in my garage or seeking out other visual artists that fit the music. It's really satisfying when it all clicks. There's a lot of creative decision making that comes with running a label that keeps me constantly inspired. What's the deal with cassettes? Do you just like the format or is it about cost and convenience for short-run releases? Is there anything consciously retro about using them? I love tapes! Everything about them. I love the nostalgia, the size, the sound, the fact that they make ripping music a pain in the ass. If you don't offer downloads, someone has to spend a lot of time recording a tape to digital, separating the tracks, then bouncing them down and uploading them to the internet. It's a whole process, and I just like the idea of manufacturing rarity, which I know is a bit controversial among the music community, but I'm all about it. Tapes are definitely also about cost: there are so many tapes I would have loved to put out on vinyl, but just didn't have the funds. Also If you've ever been to a festival or music convention, people hand out CDs like business cards. In my opinion, it completely devalues the listening experience, where with tapes and vinyl, you have to sit down and take time to listen to. Can you tell us what you're listening to at the moment? Any hot tips or recommendations? I'm listening to Kurt Vile a lot. I think he's one of the best songwriters around. I also really love this album by Stephen Steinbrink that came out in 2013 called Arranged Waves. I've really been trying to seek out happier, less melancholy music lately. It seems to be hard to find outside of gospel, reggae, and traditional African music. I do listen to a lot of celtic music - Nic Jones, Andy M. Stewart, Dick Gaughan, Andy Irvine, Kevin Burke… I'm also pretty obsessed with anything Madlib puts out and another hip hop producer on Stones Throw, by the name of Knxwledge. Can I be a guitar nerd and ask you what you play and what you like about them? I lucked out three times via Craigslist and was able to acquire a 1949 Gibson LG2 in damn near mint condition for $350. I also play a 1921 Weissenborn Style 1 that I found on Craigslist in Florida. The guy who had it bought a storage unit on auction and there was a guitar inside that he knew very little about and so I snagged it from him for pretty much dirt cheap. My electric is a low end Mexican Tele. My pedal steel was a steal - haha - got it for $800 off a meth head in Tulsa who played in a cover band called Whisky Stills and Mash. It's a 60s double neck Sho-Bud. I'm also fond of those lawsuit Suzuki guitars. What's in store for you next - both in terms of your own music and Scissor Tail? I'm finishing a follow up to my first LP, Rise & Shine. It's been in the works for the last two or three years. I also have those collaborations I mentioned earlier with Wooden Wand and Tashi Dorji. And then a lathe release with a bunch of other guitarists, Daniel Bachman, Tash and some other folks. That'll be out on a really great label called Cabin Floor Esoterica probably later this year. A Talk West tape with Sic Sic out of Berlin in a couple weeks. As far as Scissor Tail goes, there's quite a few things coming out this year. Chuck Johnson's new LP called Blood Moon Boulder, which I've been busy letter pressing all the jackets for this last month. An album by another Oakland based guitarist and friend of Chuck - Dibson T Hoffweiler - that will be out May 7th. There's a handful of tapes about to drop and an LP by Willamette that should be out in the Fall or Winter depending on how quickly we figure out the album art. Lotsa stuff brewin. Anything I should have asked you but didn't? Nope, all bases covered. Thanks!