Bryan Scary and The Shredding Tears

Full version of interview here; an edited version appeared in Useless magazine Issue No. 4.

When I meet Bryan Scary at the Mercury Lounge, he’s apologetic about the smell of his jacket, a Victorian military coat that looks like it will fall apart with just one false move – the entire spine is ripped up and refastened with a row of safety pins. “We just got back from tour,” he explains, “and it hasn’t been cleaned in a while.” It’s a sweltering summer day in New York City, so you wouldn’t expect crusty costumes to fare very well in such heat, but luckily there’s air conditioning, and, I tell him jokingly, the smell won’t show up in the photograph he and his band are about to pose for. They’re dressed up like a cartoonish crew of Victorian Village People– there’s the newsboy, the bank robber, the cowboy and the mad scientist. And then there’s Scary, the decaying dandy in pinstriped pants with shifting, devilish eyes that you sense are amusedly sizing you up from behind dark shades and underneath the shadow of a top hat.

On “Turning”: A Conversation with Antony Hegarty and Charles Atlas

Published in Blend (Netherlands), Andy Warhol special issue, November 2007.

It has been almost a year since Antony Hegarty and Charles Atlas toured Europe with their collaborative project entitled “Turning.” It’s a meditative piece on transformation that features thirteen “beauties” placed individually on a rotating turntable, a live video feed mixed by Atlas and a musical performance by Antony and the Johnsons. As Antony sings, a single beauty stands still on stage, moved by the turning pedestal. Behind the band and Antony, their faces are projected onto a giant screen, filmed by two cameras with a delay, so that as they turn away from one camera, we always see the front of their faces. Atlas layers images on the spot, creating a mesmerizing live portrait with Antony’s haunting voice and lyrics forming the psychological soundtrack. Think Warhol’s screen tests, but on a larger, more public and more spiritually dense scale. But whereas one senses an emotional detachment between Warhol and his subjects, after hearing Antony describe the almost psychic bond he felt between himself and his models – all female, but with diverse, unique experiences with their gender identity – you realize that “Turning” moves well beyond the simple relationship of object and objectifier. It is far more complicated, and when you get down to it, holistic, than that. The performers and the audience are watching each other, the camera, Antony, all reacting to and interacting with each other in a way that comes, well, full circle.

Tales of a computer-age punk: Black Moustache at Don Hill’s

Originally published in Fashion Wire Daily on Nov. 13, 2003

For whatever reason, the thin mustache on the thin man is an image that will forever be branded as the ultimate symbol of sleazy cool. Whether sported by John Waters, bad-boy photographer Terry Richardson, or the anonymous trucker hat-wearing Williamsburger, the mustachioed man has a firm place in the hipster universe. Last year’s teen issue of the latest holy bible of hip, K48 magazine, even featured an advice column written by a Mr. Moustache, who humorously offered his wisdom that upper lip facial hair could be remedy for any number of teen problems, from struggles with authority, to making the school’s dance team. So I have to admit, I didn’t go to see the band Black Moustache at Don Hill’s last Friday because I’m a big fan of the music. Naturally, I went for the mustaches.

Black Moustache is the brainchild of Spencer Product, Kenan Gunduz and Mike Skinner, who started the project earlier this year “to see what would happen if they meshed rock ‘n roll, punk, and electronic music.” Black Moustache is a part of the next generation of electroclash, or rather, “outsider electronic music.”

Formerly one of the resident DJs at electroclash nights at Club Luxx, Black Moustache frontman Spencer Product used to perform under the stage name Prance, his over-the-top Prince-like alter ego. Black Moustache, with their emphasis on raw punk rock underlined by solid dance beats, are definitely trying to position themselves as a “post” electroclash act. However, the only thing that distinguishes the band from former “electroclash” acts is that they’ve foregone the categorization. But that’s a very punk rock move, and the result: more Clash, less electro.