Chris Lent Interview

After much consideration and time dedicated to come up with some pretty ridiculous questions, I finally got an interview with From First to Last's keyboardist, Chris Lent. Who is currently touring with I Set My Friends On Fire as their touring drummer for the tour World Of Tourcraft with Alesana headlining. Once I came up with a decent amount of questions I figure I could have asked him, I got to it and his answers are nothing short of what we would have expected!

To start off, how has tour been going for you so far?
this has been one of the best tours ive done in a while. There is no odd-man out. everyone is like a brother its pretty crazy for that to happen.

If you had to say you had one funny or just good memory from this tour, what would it be?
Well i have a lot, id say one good memory is when i lost my memory at a karaoke bar then woke up on a couch next to goose.

What's one thing about you that most people couldn't guess just by looking at you?
i love a good beer

If you had to pick one, what would be your favorite candy?
almond joy

What are some of your favorite things to do in your spare time?
write, draw, meditate, write music

What would you say is your best memory of 2008?
there were far too many to choose from so ill just say the blackout tour this fall in the uk.

If you could have any animal in the world for a pet, what would it be?
a fennec fox. the worlds smallest fox

So, what's the story behind your tattoos?
my brother drew up a zombie with tentacles for fun one day. so i got it on warped 06 in a trailer. then on my left arm i have huck finn and jim going down the mississippi river. representing my views on this world. you need friends and you need to always be moving with the current.

What would be your ideal lineup for a concert you'd love to go to?
Dimmu borgir, He is legend and thats it.

What's one thing at least that you're excited about right now?
playing a show tonight and everyday

What sort of mythical creature (besides a unicorn!) would you have to say is your favorite, if you have one?
well mine would never be a unicorn but probably a hydra.

What's the farthest back memory from your childhood?
i can remember all the way back to when i was 2 living in savannah ga playing kickball with my neighbors and learning how to ride a bike.

If you could play with ANY band live, whether they're together today or not, what band would that be?
umm i dont know i feel like ive already played with everyone. i guess maybe the band would be amazing to play with .

Your favorite song as of lately?
big country by big country will always be the best.

If someone likes you, what would be the coolest way ever for them to tell you in your opinion?
they should probably rethink it and not waste their time.

Here is Chris's myspace along with I Set My Friends On Fire's as well: http://www.myspace.com/theheat & http://www.myspace.com/isetmyfriendsonfire
- Nicole

Kevin Kane on beards and vinyl vs mp3

In the beginning we had planned for a large article on vinyl vs mp3 and beards in pop culture. Then Kevin Kane got hold of these questions and there was no looking back. The Sunset Strips are proud to present the first, and hopefully not the last, edition of Kevin Kane on...

vinyl vs mp3

hmmm. instead of restating everything that everyone already knows about both formats, lemme just pick this bone for a sec.

listen, i think i have a pretty fuckin' good set of ears. i still have all my high frequencies, i can hear a TV set being turned on three rooms away, and i carry a pair of earplugs with me everywhere (they're just as essential as my wallet, my cell phone, and my keys). but i can't really tell too much of a difference between the sound of vinyl and CD. vinyl and shitty mp3's, sure, but i don't fuck around with shitty mp3's (my bare minimum is 192), and if you do, then you should be ashamed of yourself.

but anyway. i just wish people would be honest (especially with THEMSELVES) about why they listen to vinyl. not many things make my blood boil more than some goofball with black-framed glasses and ironic facial hair telling me, fucking soapboxing at me, that vinyl sounds "so much better" than CD. dude couldn't hear his way out of a paper bag. go back to the Pitchfork Music Festival, ya goofball.

what i'm saying is that the difference is NEGLIGIBLE and my asshole peers overstate the warmth of analogue instead of just admitting that collecting vinyl makes 'em feel cool. hey, it makes me feel cool too, and when i have my druthers (at home, where my modest collection sits), i opt for vinyl 10 times out of 10. but c'mon, dude. just admit it.

also, mp3's are cheaper. by my latest estimate (i.e. considering the dozens of albums i stole from the internet in the past few days, sitting there on my desktop just to the right of that sexy picture of Naomi Watts), mp3's are free as fuck. thirty bucks will get me an original pressing of The White Album in shitty condition, or a month's worth of spaghetti.

my favorite vinyl release is, i guess, no different from my favorite album in general. i don't really see why I'd differentiate between the two, unless i owned a Godspeed record (i hear they really go nuts with their packaging). actually, scratch that (hah! scratch, get it?): my favorite record is my copy of Peter Gabriel's So. just 'cause he looks so damn sexy on it. why don't more girls have a crush on 1990's Peter Gabriel? seriously, Google Image Search that shit.

my favorite album in general, though, is The Dark Side of the Moon. and it should be yours, too. and if it isn't, then I'll be patient with you until you come to your senses.

obsolete? nah, it'll live on, barring global thermonuclear war. everyone wants something to hold. you can't really caress an mp3. you could caress a cassette, but that'd just be silly.


beards

beards. christ. remember up there when i started that sentence with "not many things make my blood boil more than..."? well, this makes my blood boil more. ironic facial hair, i mean. to my mind, one should only grow facial hair because 1). you think it makes you look better, and/or 2). you're lazy. both of which apply to me, and that's why i have a (very short) beard. i've wet shaved all of 15 times in my life. all i gotta do is shave the neckbeard and trim the actual beard like once every three or four days. it's great.

but these fuckin' guys. these fuckin' guys! y'know, a lot of our parents grew up in the 60's and 70's. lived through the Summer of Love. shit like that. i can't believe I'm going to have to reflect, many years from now, that my peers were these vapid hipsters with plaid button-downs and lensless glasses and tiny, tiny, tiny fucking jeans. it's unfair. i dunno when upper middle class twentysomething males got the memo that beards were in season. from whence do these memos originate? who the fuck exhumed the toy xylophone from its grave and commanded indie bands to employ it? or the singing saw, for that matter? seriously, whose fucking idea was the singing saw?

and so, as with most other things, i can only really jive with what's considered "classic." what's well-established, what's always looked good. to wit, a short, nicely-trimmed (but not TOO nicely-trimmed) beard, and no fucking neck hair. anything else seems (and almost certainly is) contrived.

i make an exception, of course, for older men--i.e., those who deserve it. those who've earned their beard. old dudes are totally allowed to have big disgusting beards. bonus points if they're white, Santa-style. old dudes make beards look truly cool. my asshole peers make beards look like fucking accessories, no more a part of their mega-ironic ensemble than their ugly knit beanies and their cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon. or their extremely expensive sixers. there's no in-between. my favorite bearded man is Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski.

Gypsyhook Review

From time to time, every music listener looks for a breath of fresh air. That's exactly what I found in Sonny Moore's EP "Gypsyhook". While I was familiar with the demos, the songs were changed in the slightest ways that made them even more exciting. Out of the eight song EP, four remixes, the only song I felt should have been left alone was "Copaface 2". The newly lengthened "Mora" mixed an industrial inspired intro with the perfect amount of upbeat drums and electronic sampling. Of the four remixes, I thoroughly enjoyed three of them, all of them pushing the five minute mark or more. The closing track, "Kai Sui" which is a Japanese version of "Mora", left me wanting the record to never really end. Sonny really hit hard with his long awaited solo EP and I'm hoping to hear much more from this project.

Look for Sonny on tour with Hollywood Undead and holding independent headlining shows through out the tour. http://www.myspace.com/sonny

I also wanted to take this time to say welcome to The Sunset Strips! Nicole and I are trying very hard to get this blog up and running and can't wait to see what comes from it.

-Tabitha

Izzibits Interview

When did you start making your own clothing?
In the 9th grade, I was obsessed with big "goth" pants, so I taught myself how to take a pair of jeans and add fabric to the bottom so that they would cover my shoes. I would add crazy fabrics, and everyone thought they were really cool. So then in 11th grade I took a class at my high school called Apparel Development. That class taught me most of my skills that I use today.


What are some of the first things you made yourself?
In my class, I learned how to use a pattern, so the first things that I made from scratch were a pair of boxer shorts. Before that, I would just modify my clothes (ex.
make an XL shirt fit, make wide-leg jeans, make skinny jeans)

What made you opt to make your own things instead of settling for what was available to buy?
I've always loved being different from other people and wearing pretty much the opposite of what was "in".


What are some of your every day inspirations for your pieces?
Colors, crazy patterns, and Halloween. I also love finding things at Goodwill that I can modify.


Who are some of your fashion inspirations?
Shoichi Aoki is a fashion photographer in Japan. He is all about Japanese Street Fashion and I get a lot of inspiration from that. His books are called "FRUiTs".


What are your favorite pieces that you have made?
I love sewing little useful things more than clothing, such as an "backseat organizer" for the car, tote bags, duffel bags, wallets.. things of that sort. I also made a little dress for a show a while back using some "space" fabric that I got in New York that I love.


Do you think you'll keep creating clothing and accessories as you go on and do other things in your life? Or do you want to make Izzibits one of your main priorities in life?
Well, I am at school right now for Mechatronic Engineering (Robotics) so I would like to keep Izzibits more of a side project. Maybe when I'm a crazy, retired, old lady with pink hair, I'll open a store.


What can we expect from izzibits in the future?
Well, I'm going to be pretty busy for the next 4-5 years in school, but hopefully I'll find some time here and there to add things to my website.

You can check out Izzi's creations at http://www.izzibits.com/

-Tabitha