Orange Seeds

Orange Seeds: Arms

Photo by Dominick Mastrangelo

I recently received an e-mail from Todd, whose full-time band Harlem Shakes has been tearing it up all year, stating the band is on Summer Vacation and he is focusing again on Arms. Last years UK release Kids Aflame will be released this fall in the US on Gigantic Music, and Todd has some big things planned for Arms. I thought this would be a good time to rerun the interview I did with Todd back in May of 2008. Enjoy!

Originally published May 30th 2008

I have heard it said that everyone has a song to sing, but I tend to translate that in a looser sense. Everyone has something that they were meant to share. Something that sets them apart, something that moves them toward greatness. It could be in song or art, it could be in writing or storytelling, it could be in any talent that you possess. The process of using your talent, recording your album, painting your pictures, that is life at it’s fullest.

Orange Seeds: Tony Philippou

Tony recently launched a new blog documenting his progress in preparing for a new show with Easo Andrews this October in LA. A year and a half ago I had pleasure of talking with him about his unique style and subject matter.

Originally published January 9th, 2008

One of the more important roles of the artist throughout history is to take the unknown and the abstract and filter it through a brush onto the canvas. Most people, religious or not, are familiar with the traditional image of Jesus. It is an image that has been handed down generation after generation without question or concern. However, it is virtually impossible to confirm exactly how Jesus looked. Where that may not be an issue for organized religion, the artist's mind starts wonder and invent, creating his own personal image of Jesus or Judas or anything other figure or image. The artist has the ability to create their own visual reality.

Orange Seeds: Tao Lin

When I talked with Tao Lin two years ago he was still in the beginning stages of what now is a vast empires of internet activities. His latest venture is into the realm of publishing and his imprint Muumuu House. Tao contributed an audio piece for the upcoming Orange Pulp Vol 2 which will be released digitally in the next week or two.

Originally published June 7th, 2007

Orange Seeds: Matthew Curry

Matthew Curry was recently involved in a mural at the Faesthetic curated “This must be the place” show at the Scion Space in Culver City. He finally seems to be getting the attention he deserves. I felt it was the perfect time to bring back the interview I did with him on August 22nd, 2007.

Originally published on 8/22/07...

Graffiti turned art may be too simple of a statement, but Washington DC based artist Matthew Curry applies many of the elements of graffiti when creating his pieces. Graffiti is not simply about tagging, and having your name visible to the world. The end result of graffiti is an amazingly complex series of images layered upon one another to create a richness in both color and texture. It is as if each piece is a case study of a small fragement of a much larger mural on a bridge underpass or on the side of a train car.

Orange Seeds: Blake Butler

Originally published: April 19th, 2007

Of each writer that I have interviewed I have asked the same question: "How has the internet affected you as a writer?" I have received a number of varied responses, and I was never sure what I was really looking for with that question. However, Atlanta writer Blake Butler, has giving me a reason to continue to ask that question. In his response to a different question he states the following: "I also love flash because I love online publishing, and I think it's hard to read things longer than 1000 words or so on a computer". It seems that the internet has possibly created, and completely and lovingly developed flash fiction. It is the immediacy of our society that has demanded flash fiction, shorter chapters in novels, and much more tightly edited and compact poetry. These new styles allow the reader to sample many different writers in a short amount of time without feeling like they are missing something. Flash fiction has many of the same qualities of longer prose, but it is much more concise.