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Hrvoje Bubić | Intervju s Brian Walsby
Hrvoje Bubić
Brian Walsby je američki ilustrator, autor stripova, glazbenik i karikaturist. Za SolinLive govori o svojim radovima,inspiracijama, suradnji s poznatim novinarom Legsom McNeilom te o budućim planovima
For the beginning, please tell us about your influences as cartoonist(you mention a lot Charlesa Schultz as inspiration) and musician, since you are huge music fan, I would love to compare you with Robert Crumb
Well, I would say that Charles Schultz was a huge inspiration and so was Mad Magazine of the early seventies, all of those artists and writers in there but especially guys like Mort Drucker. I never was a comic book sort of guy until later when my little brother Marc started to get into them and then I would borrow his X Men and Teen Titans comics and got into them. But that was near the end of high school.A lot of music obviously influenced me a lot, a lot of rock music and things like Kiss and the Beatles and everything in between…Queen, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, so much more…and then hearing punk rock and later what would be called hardcore, Germs, Black Flag, X, Minutemen, Saccharine Trust, so much more. I was grateful to use the punk rock movement as sort of a home base for doing stuff, I was excited to draw stuff and have pen pals and stuff like that in say, 1983 through to the end of 1986, those were my years for doing that. It was very exciting and quite a fun time. I appreciate the comparison to Crumb. I love him and think he is very brave and fearless but don’t think I have a lot to do with his stuff, ha ha.
Your comic art is mostly based on popular culture as well rock music, there is a sort-of autobiograph comic books MANCHILD and MIDDLE AGED REBEL, you also design t-shirts for bands, but I notice that band Melvins are your big inspiration, is there a special connection with Melvins and is it true that you quit your daily job just you could joined them on tour and did you also collaborate on Please kill me website?
I did quit my job to go on tour with the Melvins, which sort of became my seasonal job but it wasn’t as dramatic as how that sounded, it was more gradual. I have been friends with the Melvins since the summer of 1986 and I owe a lot to Dale and especially Buzz. They like having me around, I guess. And have kept employing me for the last almost ten years. They continue to be a big inspiration to me in a lot of ways. As far as Please Kill Me and the website, I met Legs McNeil about five or six years ago, I think. He liked my artwork style and wanted to work on stuff. Which we did for awhile, and the end result is on that website. We made plans to work on a book, sort of. A comic book in the style of Please Kill Me and the prospect was exciting. We did some stuff, about a fourth of it and then he basically blew me off and never talked to me again or explained anything. I have no idea why. I haven’t really talked about this before. Legs is an alright guy but he kind of acted like you didn’t exist unless he needed something. Whatever.
As musician you played drums in lots of punk rock & hardcore bands, which I would love to mention bands like Scared Straight, Willard, Shiny Beast, Patty, Duke Syndrome, Double Negative and now you play with Davidians. Please tell us more about your bands you played and did you ever play with members of Corrosion of Conformity?
I played with Mike Dean and Woody Weatherman of Corrosion Of Conformity in like 1989 or 1990 I think, it was a side project of old COC songs that were never recorded and some new stuff those guys wrote. And a Blue Cheer cover. It was called Snake Nation. It sounds kind of half assed, mainly because the production is pretty bad. If there was anything I was a part of that deserved another chance to do it again, it would be Snake Nation. I think all of us would do a much better job if we did it now in our old ages, but that’s the way it goes I guess haha..Davidians broke up almost a year ago due to a lack of interest in everything. We were good but couldn’t get anywhere, and like I always say, the only thing worse than being in a band that sucks, is a band that is actually pretty good that no one gives a shit about. I haven’t played drums since. Either I am retired or something special will pull me back in. But I don’t have to do it. All the other bands you mentioned were all fun and good. Luckily, I haven’t been in any terrible bands, even if they were just little known local acts. Thanks for asking.
You are on scene since 80’s, developing your own style of drawing. Since I mention a lot in my interviews, as a independent artist is very hard to get on top with strong competition, what is secret of your success?
I haven’t stopped, and this is all I can do. I work a lot, and don’t have a regular job and somehow I have made it work for eight years so far. Maybe I am motivated by terror. Being self employed is very difficult in the best of times. I am actually working on a book that talks about that sort of thing. Stay tuned.
For the end, what are your future plans, new MANCHILD,MIDDLE AGED REBEL, Davidians and would you ever stop by in Split,Croatia?
I am working on a book right now, no plans for any of the other stuff that you brought up. I appreciate your interest, and thanks for asking me to do an interview! Take care, Brian Walsby
PRIJEVOD!!!
Za početak, molim Vas recite nam o svojim utjecajima kao karikaturist (spominjali ste Charlesa Schultza (tvorac Charlie Browna, op.prev.) kao inspiraciju) i glazbenik, pošto se veliki ljubitelj glazbe, volio bih Vas usporediti s Robertom Crumbom (poznati karikaturist i strip crtač, op.prev.)
Pa, rekao bih da je Charles Schultz bio velika inspiracija tako je i bio Mad Magazine (satirični časopis, op.prev.) ranih sedamdesetih, svi ti umjetnici i autori tada, ali pogotovo kao Mort Drucker (karikaturist i strip crtač za časopis Mad, op.prev.). Nikad nisam bio tip od stripova sve dok je moj mlađi brat Marc počeo zanimati i tada bih ja posudio njegove X-Men i Teen Titans stripove te se počeo zanimati. Ali tada je već bio kraj srednje škole. Dosta glazbe je očito utjecala na mene, dosta rock glazbe i stvari kao što su Kiss i Beatlesi i sve između……Queen, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, mnogo toga…..i onda slušajući punk rock i kasnije što će bitinazvano hardcore, Germs, Black Flag, X, Minuteman, Saccarine Trust i mnogo toga. Zahvalan sam što sam upotrijebio punk rock pokret kao neku vrst početne baze za raditi stvari, bio sam oduševljen crtanjem stvari i što sam imao prijatelje za dopisivanje i sličnim stvarima, recimo 1983. do kraja 1986., to su bile moje godine za raditi to. Bilo je vrlo uzbudljivo i zabavno. Cijenim usporedbu s Crumbom. Volim ga i mislim da je veoma hrabar i neustraživ ali nemislim da imam puno veze s njegovim stvarima, ha ha ha.
Vaši stripovi se baziraju na popularnoj kulturi kao i na rock glazbu, tu su još neku vrst autobiografski stripovi MAN-CHILD i MIDDLE AGED REBEL, također dizajnirate majce za bandove, ali sam primjetio da band Melvins su Vaša velika inspiracija, da li ima neka posebna povezanost s Melvinsima i da li je istina da ste dali otkaz na poslu kako bi im ste se pridružili na turneji i dali ste surađivali na web stranici Please Kill Me (knjiga o punk rocku, op.prev.) ?
Dao sam otkaz na poslu kako bih mogao biti na turneji s Melvinsima, što je u neku ruku postalo moj sezonski posao, ali nije tako dramatično kako to zvuči, bilo je to više postepeno. Prijatelj sam s Melvinsima još od ljeta 1986. te mnogo dugujem Daleu (bubnjar, op.prev.) i Buzzu ( gitarist i vokal, op.prev.). Voljeli su da se družim s njima, pretpostavljam. I što su me stalno zaposlili zadnjih deset godina. Oni su i dalje velika inspiracija za mene na mnogo načina. Što se tiče Please Kill Me i web stranice, upoznao sam Lega McNeila(autor Please Kill Me, op.prev.) otprilike pet do šest puta. On je volio moj stil i htio je da radim na stvarima. Što smo uradili neko vrijeme, a krajnji rezultat je na toj web stranici. Imali smo planove za rad knjizi, otprilike. Strip u stilu Please Kill Me i perspektiva je bila uzbudljiva. Napravili smo par stvari, otprilike četvrtinu i onda me samo otpisao i nikad više nije razgovarao sa mnom niti mi je ništa objasnio. Nemam pojma zašto. Nisam o tome ranije razgovarao. Legs je dobar momak, ali bi se ponašao da nepostojiš osim ako mu nešto treba. Uglavnom.
Kao glazbenik, svirali ste bubnjeve u dosta punk i hardcore bandova, od kojih bi volio spomeniti bandove kao Scared Straight, Willard, Shiney Beast, Patty, Duke Syndrome, Double Negative i sada svirate u Davidiansima. Molim Vas recite nam više o svojim bandovima u kojima ste svirali i da li ste svirali ikada s članovima Corrosion Of Conformity
Svirao sam s Mikeom Deanom i Woodyem Wheathermanom iz Corrosion Of Conformity, tamo negdje 1989. ili 1990. Mislim da je to bio usporedni projekt od starih pjesama od COC koje nikada nisu bile snimane i neke nove stvari koje su momci napisali. Kao i obrada Blue Cheera. Nazvana je Snake Nation. Zvuči pomalo napola napravljena, uglavnom zato što je produkcija bila poprilično loša. Da postoji bilo što u čemu sam imao udjela što zaslužuje drugu šansu za ponovno uraditi, bilo bi to Snake Nation. Mislim da bi svi mi bolje odradili svoj posao da smo to uradili sada u našim odmaklim godinama, ali tako to ide, ha ha ha. Davidians su se raspali prije skoro godinu dana zbog nedostatka interesa od svih. Bili smo dobri ali nismo nikuda mogli, i kao što uvijek kažem, jedina stvar koja je gora od biti u bandu koji nevalja je da band stvarno dobar ali nitko ga nešljivi. Od tada nisam svirao bubnjeve. Ili sam u mirovini ili me nešto posebno ponovno privuće natrag. Ali nemoram to učiniti. Svi bandovi koje si ti spomenio su bili zabavni i dobri. Srećom, nikada nisam bio u groznim bandovima iako su poznati kao lokalna dijela. Hvala na pitanju.
Ti si na sceni još od 80’ih, razvijajući svoj stil crtanja. Pošto sam spomenuo dosta u mojim intervjuima, kao neovisan umjetnik je veoma teško doći do vrha s jakom konkurencijom, koja je tajna Vašeg uspjeha?
Nisam prestao, i to je sve što mogu učiniti. Radim dosta, te nemam stalan posao i nekako sam uspio raditi osam godina dosad. Možda sam motiviran terorom. Biti samo-zaposlen je veoma teško u većini slučajeva. Zapravo radim na knjizi koja govori o takvim stvarima. Ostanite sa mnom.
Za kraj, koji su Vam planovi za budućnost, novi MANCHILD, MIDDLE AGE REBEL, Davidians i hoćete li ikako doći u Split, Hrvatsku?
Upravo sada radim na knjizi, nemam planova za te stvari koje si spomenuo. Cijenim tvoj interes, i hvala što si me zamolio za intervju. Čuvaj se, Brian Walsby
