ES2: Chicago interview with Gooby and The Goddamn Batman of Ego Likeness

I probably should have let Ego Likeness know how I operate when it comes to doing interviews.  I work my interviews like a conversation. One question at a time this way people can get responses out and it actually flows. I'm not sure why, but I've been told this interview would only be done if I referred to myself as "Busty" and in the middle of the interview Steven decided he was "The Goddamn Batman" and after it was all done, Donna said something about "Gooby" so that is now going to be her pet name in this interview.. Now that we all have our alter egos ready for this interview... here we go.

"Busty": A lot of people reading this may not be too familiar with Ego Likeness, I myself don't want to butcher any back story. Donna, why don't you give us a little history lesson. (Side note, I have complied with all demands on how I am to conduct myself and address myself... let's do this thing.)

Gooby: Well, Busty, Steven and I got together, started dating, and started a goth band sometime around 1997 or 98. It was pretty straightforward goth, and we found ourselves wanting to do something that incorporated our other influences, (and so help me, if you ask me what our influences are -as every single interviewer EVER has done- I'll cut you) so we started Ego Likeness. The goth band broke up and then we got married in 1999. We released our first full length EL album in 2000 or 2001 (I can't remember) with the help of a friend at the time, then did the next two albums with Dancing Ferret. We signed with Metropolis for 'Breedless' in 2010, and will be releasing the next full length at the beginning of next year. So in the past 12 years, there have been numerous members, numerous shows and tours, a couple of nervous breakdowns, and many, many miles put on our van.

"Busty": I will have to admit, I didn't know a whole lot about Ego Likeness untill the WTII Minifest last year. That was my first opportunity to hear you and see the live show. I was blown away. I love the stage presence and your voice with the music matches up perfectly. I know a lot of this scene seems to have a lot of acts that don't have women as the vocalist or the main focal point of the band. Have you found this a challenge at all to get people to notice Ego Likeness? (Don't worry, Steven... I have questions for you too...)

Gooby and The Goddamn Batman: Goat hunting

"Gooby": Thanks. We've been at this a long time, and I do often think about why we haven't made more of an impact, considering we sell well, get good reviews, people enjoy the shows, we get to open for some of the biggest acts around, etc... You may well have hit the nail on the head. It seems that in this scene female fronted bands don't get taken as seriously, though I can't put my finger on why. I think sometimes there is this attitude of "Oh, that's one of those bands where the guy does all the work and the girl -usually his girlfriend- is just there as eye candy." It is still a bit of a boys club out there. More than once before a performance, people have assumed that I was either the merch girl, or at best, the keyboard player. To be fair, though, with some pretty major and awesome exceptions, (Ayria, I:Scintilla, Sensuous Enemy, Hansel und Gretyl, to name a few who are ) some of the female singers for darkwave/ industrial bands I've seen could stand to step up their game a little. Confidence and a strong stage presence go a long way.

"Busty": Well, from the show I saw last year, you have the confidence. So do the other bands you mentioned as well.

Merch is an interesting transitional topic for me with your band. Ego Likeness had one of the most awesome merch tables I have ever seen. Why? Most of it wasn't "band" merch. There was art. Some crazy creepy stuff blended in with skulls and bones and they were turned in to necklaces and pendants, things of that nature. How did that all start? Is this something that was done by necessity to "change it up" a little bit and stand out?

"Gooby" : Well, you see, Busty...we are starving artists. We have no real skills beyond making things, so we've had to survive on what we know. Steven -who, incidentally, requested we refer to him from here on out as "The Goddamn Batman"- is an artist, and we are both writers, in addition to being musicians, and really- it's all tied together for us. When we started touring, we realized pretty quickly that CD and Tshirt sales alone weren't going to cut it - gas, food, van repairs, supplies, places to sleep - it adds up fast. Sometimes, some of those things are covered, but you're not going to get a swank room at the Super 8 every night, you know. Having all of the art and books and jewelry makes a huge difference in our income. And, as you said, I think it does help us stand out a bit. Nothing sadder than a nearly empty merch table.

"Busty": (Jesus, "The Goddamn Batman" needs to stop making so many demands. Anyway...) I tend to keep my interviews short (minus that Caustic one cause Matt and I talk like little girls when you get us together). I want your music and your live performance to speak for itself. If you've never read any of my other interviews, I have a staple in them. I watched a lot of game shows as a kid. So... it's time for...

The Lightning round! Five quick questions or statements, and five quick or wordy answers to them. It's going to be a little different this time because of who I'm interviewing and the fact that "The Goddamn Batman" should probably respond to at least one of these questions. So, questions 4 and 5 are specifically meant for him.

1) Band you can't miss at the ES2 show in Chicago:

2) Best book you've read in the last six months:

3) Your favorite meme:

4) Electronic Saviors and Jim Semonik:

5) Goat:

"Gooby" : 

1) Gothsicles

2)  "Gooby": JG Ballard "Myths of the Near Future"
TGDBM: Peter Watts "Blindsight

3)  "Gooby" : Dolan Duck (it's sooo dumb, but all I have to do is think "Gooby plz" and I crack up)
TGDBM: Insanity Wolf

4) He's one of our heroes, though he's still not going to make 'Yak' happen.

5) They have horizontal pupils and FUCK YEAH GOATS.

Also, thanks! You're a good sport, Busty! xx

"Busty": No, Thank you. I have fun doing this. I'll see you at the end of the month for the show.

"Gooby": We're so excited! ; )

Electronic Saviors 2 : Chicago Release Party Interview with Jim Semonik

Electronic Saviors 2

Once again I bring you a round of interviews from the world of Industrial music. This time we focus our attention on the Electronic Saviors 2 : Chicago Release Party that is being held down in Chicago at the LiveWire Lounge on June 30th.

What follows is my "interview" conducted with Jim via email the last couple of days.

I'm piecing it all together now.

It's been a long strange trip for me and my arm. I started messing with it when I was nineteen and I got a small tribal squidish looking thing on my shoulder. That was all that would be on there for quite a long time. It was easily hidden by my shirts so I wouldn't have employers looking at me strange when applying for jobs. 

Barely any ink

Triloback

This picture just seems so bare now without anything showing on it. After I started thinking about what it was that I wanted to do with it, I continued on with my back which has been a work in progress for years as well. 

I kept thinking over and over about what it is I wanted to do for my sleeve and even then while thinking of that, I got my Chinese "Peace, Love, Harmony" on my stomach. If you have never had a tattoo on your abs, I don't recommend it. It feels like you're doing crunches or planks the entire time the needle is drilling in to your flesh.

Peace, love, harmony

Finally I started thinking about my kids and that I wanted something that represented them but in a way that I enjoyed and was special to me. I decided to go Chinese. I love Asian culture. The style, the look, the history. Love it. So, my daughter was born year of the dragon. That is where my dragon came from.






Next came a mistake, I got not only my Leo zodiac on me, but I also got a Gemini on me as well. I'll let you figure out why that was a mistake. But, At this time I decided to add a little more Asian flare. This is where the koi came in. The top one covered up my previous shoulder tattoo and it was the start of my arm being completely done.

With this one, I didn't heal well at all. It wasn't from a lack of care either. I felt very raw from this session for now reason at all. I decided it was time to find a new artist.

That's where Tom Aldana at Superstar tattoo came in. I was introduced to him and we hit it off right away. I had a few ideas, he had a few as well on what we were going to do and we started with a "rebirth" of my arm and my life. He got to take a crack at it, so he did a cover up of the Gemini with fire (which oddly enough, Leo is a fire sign) and put in the phoenix. At this stage, it was black only on it.

After healing fantastically on this one and seeing how it all ended up, I decided Tom was the guy that was going to work on my arm from now on. It was time to get my son's tattoo put on me. Both he and I are year of the tiger. That is where this one fits in. I've never really been much of a color guy either. The design I sent Tom was just the black tribal with the red eyes. He called me up the day of the appointment and goes, "yo, Rusty, we're putting color in this. It's gonna look awesome."

I was scared. the only color I really had was the fire and the Leo. That was only a little bit of shading. I was really pleased with what he came up with. Once again he out did himself to a point where I told him to put color in to the phoenix. The last piece I needed was my demon. This is a bit symbolic to me as I have had a lot of demons keeping me down over the years. This demon was put in to keep the others away.

This brings us to the big project... figuring out how it all fits together. The original plan was to have a multi colored brown tribal in the back like a tree that would have cherry blossoms on it. Well, about a month ago I got the idea to "stitch" it all together. Fit all the pieces of my life in to one spot. Frankenstein style.

We started somewhere around 6 after I got some food in me and drew on my arm for almost two hours. Tom knew what was up and I told him that it was his arm to do with now. I'm done giving direction. "Make it work."

Around 8pm we got started with the ink. The new gun he's got seems to really let him move quickly and accurately. It was nice to see how fast he was going compared to the other pieces he had done on me already.

There were points where I would look down and I had no idea that he was working another color or doing some accents on the stitches until I actually looked at where he was in the process.

I've learned over the years that I can take a beating when it comes to the needle of a tattoo gun. There are parts on me that are more sensitive than others. Ones that I just could care less about and go about my day. But I found out that I have two spots in particular that just don't jive well with me. My wrist, and my inner elbow might be the worst I have experienced so far in my life.

These wrist was painful because I couldn't control my hand. I was pressed down so I couldn't move and the needle getting dragged over my tendons was not pleasant.

My fingers would twitch, I'd make a fist without knowing it. I joked with Tom that he'd get a finger in the belly button and it would be his fault.

The inner elbow was one I did not expect.



I don't have a nice history with surgical needles. I hate them. Giving blood, IV's whatever. I'm in pain in that area for days on end. Must have some crazy bit of nerves there or something. The Frankenstein patch took about 20-30 minutes alone. He wanted to get it done right.

When you're upside down from what is being worked on, you can't really see what is going on in the mind of the artist. You don't see things in their perspective. I sat in that chair until about 12:30 this morning and there were times I had no idea what I was looking at. "Why is he shading it this way, why is that line there, why did he choose the colors he did?"

I told Tom last night again, "This is YOUR arm now. I trust you're going to finish it right."

We have one more session left to go. At least we have pictures of the outline from this time. We thought we were going to get more done, but we just did not have time. Once more session, then I'm done for a while.

The countdown to Tampa has started.

Road Trip!

In just a couple short weeks, the lady and I are going to take our first road trip. We're heading to Tampa for some fun and sun (more fun than sun, actually).

The last time we went to Tampa, it was right around Labor Day weekend 2010 (I know this because we started classes right after we got back). We flew down that time, got a hotel and a rental car, but only had a few short days there. She already knew everyone there. I was just meeting everyone for the first time.

Since then, we have strengthened our friendships with these people thanks to the joy and amazement of the internet and social media. We already know what we're doing on Friday and Saturday night. Sunday, I want to head out to a baseball game if it's not too hot. The rest of the time we will play by ear. It's going to be good.

The road trip thing just kind of happened thanks to the economy. We don't make as much and airline prices suck. I did the math and round trip in the car for gas is just as much as one round trip plane ticket for us. Also, there is adventure involved. Will we kill each other on the way down? Who knows. It's going to be fun. This also lets me not have to go through TSA checkpoints, take off my shoes, belt and whatever else. I won't have to sit in a seat that is too small for even skinny people. I am not going to have to worry about my arthritic body swelling up and then decompressing for 8 hours after the flight. I won't have to pay extra baggage fees for her 80lb's of club gear. I'll just be in MY car. A place I know I can handle for hours on end with the lady I love the most.

The next couple of weeks are going to be fun getting everything together. At least I have hotels set already. That is the good part.

I'll make sure to get pictures here. We're also going to get a YouTube video or two up of the trip. Should be a good time.

...tomorrow will be AWESOME.

Look, I had a not so good day. What did I do about it? I decided tomorrow will be awesome.

Join in the fun. I hope tomorrow is awesome for everyone.

Be Awesome Wednesday on Facebook