What This is and Why I Liked J Church

Ooooohhhhh shit... he's blogging now. Recording the esoteric details of his mundane existence, writing about music that no one knows, talking about the bands he's in, the parties he's going to and giving his opinion on the last gig he went to whether anyone cares or not.

Well, not quite...

A couple of years ago I placed an order for the Storm the Tower 7" and the StT split with J Church, a band that I grew up listening to and have always held in the highest regard. It was through the label Honey Bear which, coincidentally, was run by one Mr. Lance Hahn, who WAS J Church.

Myspace was a new thing at the time and so was being able to talk to some of the great artists I've always admired. I began writing to Lance on a pretty regular basis, even though we weren't bosom buddies. Our correspondence usually consisted of me asking about the 50 different projects he was working on, such as the book on anarcho punk he was writing or the records he was going to put out, and him giving me an update. Heck, I signed up for the Honey Bear Newsletter which was always a great read.

I figured I was pretty much 'interviewing' him anyway so I might as well do a legit one and started planning out this here blog. Unfortunately I never got the chance to interview Lance, he died late last year after slipping into a coma. The man who sang 'New York Times Book Review' which I would listen to on repeat while skipping most of my last year of high school, 'The Track' which I would sing along out loud to with my best friend when we were on the phone together and 'Society is a Carnivorous Flower' – the only 18 minute song ever written that I feel is too short.

I've lost my fair share of friends and family but for some reason this hit me pretty hard. But it did get me off my ass to at least try to do something to document these people and their work and let them know what impact they have on people who are in a totally different time zone.

I made a wish list of all the musicians, artists and visionaries that I had always wanted to know more about. I started trying to get in touch with them and asking them if I could interview for this 'thing' I was starting up with some friends here in Hong Kong, which has a good independent thinking community, but where a lot of the underground music I enjoy is hard to come by and unreachable if it's older than five years.

Within a week I found my inbox flooded with responses from some of the great minds behind my favourite bands, books, art etc. Nathan from Capricorns, Dwid Hellion from Integrity, Spencer Moody from the Murder City Devils/Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death, the list goes on... I was over thee moon when I got a response from Ben Snakepit who, not only created the most addictive and voyeuristic look into a man's life you'll ever get in comic book form, but was the last bassist for J Church. For the most part these people were happy to answer some questions, and some of them like the members of Coalesce, were psyched when they saw what i sent them, things like that gave me the drive to not make this another half-assed idea that would die after the first few posts.

As I told them, I'm not going to be asking generic things about influences, crazy stories from the road etc. Nor was I looking for bands doing the rounds promoting their latest album. Google that stuff and you'll get it all from 50 other sites. I limited myself to 10 questions per interview so I could narrow it down to the burning questions and not walk away from it feeling like I wasted any opportunity by asking something typical or just plain stupid.

Another thing is there's no deadlines or any set schedule for these posts. I'm giving no pressure to any of the people who agree to answer my questions and my day job as a TV reporter is all about deadlines. Aside from the interviews I'm going to write a bit about the people for those not in the know and review some of the work.

Thanks to everyone that's been kind enough to answer my questions. If I interviewed you than you've done something that's had a profound impact on my life.

And to you, dear reader, whether you like what I'm doing here or not, please check out the work of the people I'm talking to if you haven't yet. I'm sure you won't regret it.