Issue 2.5 interview with Virgil Dickerson.

Before we had headed out to Denver back in September for Suburban Home Record's 14 Anniversary, we put together a "Half Issue" of Lubricated that was all things good and great Suburban Home. We asked Virgil a few questions to include in the zine and our good pal, Kalvin Who Floats on Moonbeams created a killer Play Nice monster drawing on a photograph of Virgil.

Support one of the greatest labels ever...
www.suburbanhomerecords.com
Check out more drawings by Play Nice at...
www.myspace.com/istoletheinternet

Lubricated Zine: How did SHR get started (when and where)?
Virgil Dickerson: I was going to college at the University of Colorado at Boulder as a freshman in 1993. My new friends in the dorms turned me onto Punk Rock, Ska, and Indie Rock and it blew my mind. Up until that point, I was all about Hip Hop and R&B. I started giong to shows, buying records like crazy, and just jumping head first into independent music. This love of my local music scene inspired me to start Suburban Home September of 1995 which began as a fanzine. About a year later, we started releasing records.

LZ: What was the initial impulse that pushed you in the direction of starting your own label?
VD: When the label bean in the mid 90's, I only had ears for punk rock and pop-punk so nearly every release we put out fell under those 2 categories. It wasn't til I heard "hobos demos" by Drag the River that I realized there was Country music out there that didn't suck. Drag the River opened my world to a lot of other bands and are a huge influence in the Americana direction of the label. And Drag the River have been instrumental in many of the bands we have put out like Two Cow Garage, Tim Barry, Joey Cape, and even Ninja Gun who contacted us because they had played some shows with Drag the River. We still love Punk Rock and Indie Rock, but Americana/Alt-Country has been a big focus of ours.

LZ: What has been the most rewarding thing about SHR/VC?
VD: Going to a show with one of our bands, looking around and seeing everyone singing along, getting drunk, and having a blast. Getting the occasional letter from a supporter of Suburban Home saying they love what we do.

LZ: What is your earliest musical memory?
VD: I remember an REO Speedwagon cassette that was given to me as a kid that I wore out. I remember an HBO special with Olivia Newton John on her "Lets Get Physical Tour" that I taped onto cassette. And I remember "Mr Telephone Man" by New Edition bumping out a boombox somewhere.

LZ: How many friends through music do you have?
VD: I have no idea, but I feel confident that the number is in the thousands. I talk to people all over the world, on our message board, via email, and am sure I could travel the world and find a place to stay wherever I go.

LZ: What are some bands/musicians you would want to sign if they were still around?
VD: Lifter Puller (Craig Finn's band before Hold Steady), Slobberbone (who I heard just played a show in Chicago), The Snake the Cross the Crown, I Can Lick any Son of a Bitch In Town, The Beatles, Rhythm Collision, Jawbreaker.

LZ; How would you define success for yourself?
VD: I measure success as others should by happiness and by having fun. I can say that Suburban Home isn't the most successful business around, but we have a really good time and love what we do. By that measure, I like to think that I am successful.

On the road with the Revival Tour.

Here are just a few of the many snaps that I took on the Northern California leg of Revival Tour in November. So many memories were made, drinks were drank, songs were sung, new friends united, old friends re-united, and miles traveled Thanks to the Revival Tour for taking me in for a couple of days and thanks for doing what y'all do so well. I have been revived!

Daisy Mae Anderson of the Anderson Family Bluegrass Band also gets credit for some of these photos. I handed her the camera and told her, "The number one rule of photography is to always wear the camera around your neck. The rest is up to you." Daisy is 8 years old and pays the dobro in her family band of of 6. She is an incredible little girl with an old soul.

http://www.therevivaltour.com

Enjoy the snapshots.

Cheers friends,
Vanessa Jean

Possessed By Paul James, Digger Barnes, Chuck Ragan, Ethan and Mark Anderson, and Frank Turner at The Blank Club, San Jose.
Possessed By Paul James hitting the streets in San Francisco.
Jim Ward and Daisy Anderson backstage at Slim's, San Francisco.
Chuck and Jill Ragan backstage at Slim's, San Francisco.
The Revival Tour gang at Slim's, San Francisco

Lubricated Zine and Possessed By Paul James

Konrad Wert of Possessed By Paul James and I were fortunate to have been able to slip away from soundcheck and the hustle and bustle of Revival Tour for a bit to sit down and talk shop backstage at Slim's up in good ol' San Francisco. Before our interview started, Konrad was kind enough to take a request of mine and sing a song for Lubricated.

Lubricated's good pal, Jason Smith of Blackwater Production (who is an amazing film maker whom you may recognize from the Revival Tour documentary, Tim Barry's new video, "Thing of the Past", ect..) hooked me up with a killer set-up for my first very professional interview AND music video. Thanks buddy!

And a huge thanks to Konrad for sitting down with us to do this interview. What a treat it was to have you in the flesh and to spend some time with ya on the road. Good times.

*** You'll be able to check our interview with Possessed By Paul James in the upcoming Issue Three of Lubricated! ***

Cheers,
Vanessa jean

Enjoy Possessed By Paul James singing, "Take Off Your Mask"

City Slicker Coconuts by Charly "the city mouse" Fasano

City Slicker Coconut #5


This is one in a series of short films I have been making about the simple things day to day in Chicago. This one is called "Laundry Mat". It's about a laundry mat.

City Slicker Coconuts by Charly "the city mouse" Fasano

City Slicker Coconut #4


There's nothing wrong with riding bicycles. I think it's great that folks want to get outdoors, exercise and what not.

R.I.P. Jon "Baggage" Pettis

Friday morning we received the awful news that our dear friend Jon Pettis, aka "Baggage", passed away. We met Baggage through our Austin, Texas bastard family of friends and musicians. Baggage played in the insanely talented band, Bankrupt and the Borrowers. Baggage left us before his time was up... but he has left us with fond memories and beautiful music.

We miss you.
We're sorry.
We love you.



Please help Baggage's fiancee, family and friends who lost too much in the fire. Here is the band's official statement...

Bankrupt and the Borrowers official statement:
"As you may or may not know we lost one of our band-mates, Jon Pettis, early Friday morning due to smoke inhalation from a freak electrical fire in his home. His Fiancee along with his good friends and roommates lost everything they owned. We are raising money to get everybody who was displaced back on their feet. At the link below you can make a credit card contribution. If you are in Austin, you can swing by the "Bankrupt House" and make a donation with Cadge. If you want to send a check, send us a message and we will give you the correct address. Remember everything is appreciated and anything helps. Thank you for all the thoughts, love and support we have received."

John Pettis Benefit - Link to Benefit: http://bankruptandtheborrowers.com/c.php?p=349
http://www.myspace.com/bankruptandtheborrowers
http://www.myspace.com/jonpettis

And as Baggage always said, "never go to bed angry"....

two cow garage = no bullshit

we've been fortunate to be able to call many of our favorite bands and musicians our friends, and we especially love it when our friends from columbus, ohio come through town. two cow garage is hands down an amazing band composed up of some truly amazing guys. one word is prominent when talking about the two cow boys... integrity. on and off stage they are simply and completly stand-up men.

the boys just came through san francisco this past weekend on their suburban home tour. shane and micah had a one-off from the rest of the tour and i picked them up from the airport before they re-untied with the van for their show at thee parkside. we had several hours to kill and i got to play tour guide as we explored the streets of haight ashbury. of course we hit up amoeba records. shane bought me the ultimate cassette tape for a buck... country meets the nfl circa 1996. no shit. i'm talking brett farve and waylon jennings singing a duet together. horribly awesome. we grubbed down at a hippie cafe and micah even ate vegetables with his dinner. we grabbed a cup of joe and sat on a blanket in the panhandle park and watched the san francisco fog roll in as we discussed the title of one my favorite books, "live for a living" that i lent the two boys. we piled back in my car and headed across town to thee parkside for sound check and to meet up with the van.

per usual, they ripped it up on stage. they always play with such ferocity and soul that you would have to be a dead fish not to have your blood pumping and your feet tapping. i remember a "drunken clarity" of a conversation i had with shane down in l.a. last spring. i was sharing with him how much i appreciated their intensity on stage and how they perform the same in front of a crowd of 10 or 100, and that unfortunately seems more and more rare these days with bands. shane went on to explain how they place a lot of value on what they bring to the stage. if you are going to play, play hard. no bullshit. hence the inspiration for their song, "mediocre". and yet again, those boys played and sang their hearts out in the city by the bay that night.

we're truly looking forward to having these boys back in town sooner than later. and we're also super stoked for micah's new solo record to come out later this month on suburban home records. yet again, the fine gentlemen down in l.a. at thunder clap super genius (http://vimeo.com/tcsg) filmed another fantastic artist performing another fantastic song. this time, it's micah performing, "american static". check it out, and make sure you have all of two cow's records in your collection. an absolute must.

-vanessa jean

www.twocowgarage.com
www.myspace.com/twocowgarage
www.suburbanhomerecords.com

Two Cow Garage - "American Static" from TCSG on Vimeo.