Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Amigos del art

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Louisville artists Jeral Tidwell and Justin Kamerer have become known well beyond these borders for their dark-tinged artwork, full of fast cars, interesting women, kooky characters, tattoos, decay and beauty. This week, they celebrate the release of their new book, “Amigos de los Muertos” (made in collaboration with fellow artists Roberto Jaras Lira and David Lozeau), and its inspiration, Mexico’s Day of the Dead holiday.

The holiday honors those who have died, and in tribute to the traditional practice of building sugar skulls to be used as part of altars, sugar cookies are planned for the signing at Ultra Pop.

The book began when Tidwell and Kamerer, partners in Crackhead Press, were in Northern California on a business trip. Facebook called them into their headquarters to make some art last spring, and, on a side trip, they stopped into the headquarters of Last Gasp Publishing, a leader in underground comics and books since 1970.

Though the Louisvillians have published their own “Ink Alchemy” book series with another publisher, they were excited to work with Last Gasp, who have also published legends in the field from R. Crumb to Mark Ryden. Ryden’s 2003 book “Blood” offered a template, from its size to its structure.

Kamerer designed the book, which includes a faux leather cover, gold foil stamping, gilded edges and a purple ribbon tucked inside. Having access to Last Gasp’s printing facilities helped produce the high quality publication, which he modeled after “Bible-y stuff.”

“I wanted it to look, at first glance, like it was actually a mini-Bible. Originally, we were going to have it in the tiny pocket ones that they give out on campuses. But then we realized that our art shrunk down that tiny would be a big, blobby mess.”

The Day of the Dead theme also offered a chance to do some drawing in the style of Mexican artist Jose Guadelupe Posada, known for his satirical work with skeletons. Religious imagery runs throughout the four sections of the book, along with the grim reaper, skulls, beasts and other animals.

The locals met Jaras, who lives in Santiago, Chile, when he came to Louisville to visit a cousin. A fellow artist at the UnFair recommended him to Tidwell, and he has returned to work with them. He will be in attendance at the signing on Friday, which will also feature deluxe editions of the book.

“It was cool watching him learn really quickly, watching his skills enhance with us pestering the crap out of him,” Kamerer says.

As a Chilean, Jaras is quick to point out that the Day of the Dead holiday is as foreign to him as it is to Americans. Still, it’s a fun theme for art.

“I’m pretty sure that all four of us are in love with religious iconography, in general,” Kamerer says. “So that’s fun to do.”

Death has always been appealing to Jaras because it’s an integral part of life. “For some reason, unfortunately, Judeo-Christian culture has given it a different twist,” he says. “My intention was to bring some of the cheerfulness and goofiness that permeates both life and death. We’ve become too scared of death, and like my grandfather used to say, we should be worried about the variables, not the constant,” he notes. “It’s the ending of one thing, but the beginning of a new life. That’s the whole purpose behind these flowers coming out of skulls — life coming out of death.”

‘Amigos de los Muertos’
Friday, Nov. 2
Ultra Pop
1414 Bardstown Road
ultra-pop.com
Free; 6 p.m.

c. 2012 LEO Weekly

The Pass moves on up

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The Pass have been taking a shot at surpassing VHS or Beta’s ability to fill up venues with ’80s-style arena-sized hooks, grooves and beats for two and a half years, and now find themselves at the edge of glory. They’ve toured around the country, made popular videos and been heard on a half-dozen TV shows — but can they take it to the next level?

Their second and latest full-length album, Melt, will be released officially on Nov. 6 (though copies will be available at their 18+ Headliners show). It took a couple of years to get here. They wrote 30 songs, recorded 20, then picked 11 favorites.

Bassist Will Roberts is especially proud of singer Kyle Peters’ lyrics this time around. “The lyrics are cool and really original. That’s one of the things that makes us a weird band, I guess; our songs are kind of poppy, but you’ll never hear a lyric like an Ooh baby baby type thing. The lyrics are really deep. I’ve asked (Kyle) before, ‘Dude, what’s going on here?’ He explains them, and I’m like, ‘Oh, man!’” exclaims the impressed New Jersey native. “… ‘I’m not just saying that because you’re my roommate and my good friend. That’s sick!’”

“Psycho” is a song on the new album that Roberts, who wrote the music, points out for Peters’ contribution. The singer came up with a story about a long-term relationship ending, leaving the protagonist in a fragile state. Roberts says the second verse is his favorite on the album: You’ll want to be ready, when the voices start to call your name. / And you’ll try try to ignore, but it’ll fall like rain when you’re trying to stay dry. / And it’ll test your patience, it’ll test your mind.

At first, he hated what he heard coming from Peters’ voice. “Sometimes you can’t tell what he’s saying when he’s singing, that’s just the way he sings … a lot of people have trouble understanding him sometimes, the way he phrases stuff.” When he read what his singer had written, though, Roberts was “amazed.”

Growth has been a focus for The Pass this year. For their first year and a half together, they were happy to just play “straight-up, loud, raucous dance music.” But, Roberts says, “We got better at writing songs.”

They didn’t want to completely change styles, but “you can only do so much, trying to play a four-on-the-floor dance beat and write music to it. We’re sick of it a little bit. We still want to do dance music, but I think that’s why there’s more quote-unquote rock tunes on this album. More song-oriented.”

The band has begun seeing some early success in unexpected places.

“We get random comments on Facebook, like from Arizona. ‘Hey, we heard you in The Gap!’” he laughs. “That’s the coolest thing in the world. I just saw the royalties lately — we’re getting checks for, like, $2,000 from The Limited or something. Like, ‘what?’”

And so far, the biggest challenge they’ve faced is deciding what to be called. “Naming bands is the hardest thing ever. It’s just such an important thing, and everything you think of, you find a reason not to like it. It’s like naming a kid, I imagine — although kids have their own names. You can’t name a band ‘John,’” Roberts laughs. “I guess you could, that would be original.”

The Pass with The Deloreans and Skyscraper Stereo
Friday, Nov. 2
Headliners Music Hall
1386 Lexington Road
headlinerslouisville.com
$10; 9 p.m.

c. 2012 LEO Weekly