Sorry Miss. Muffin has been MIA the past two weeks. Slutty Muffin Headquarters and the studio of Miss. Brittney Cat have relocated to a new place of residence. This is my first day back up and running online so emails have been piling up and photos are in folders to be edited. We will be up and running next week with an amazing local artist and maybe even a giveaway!? The muffin has surprises up here sleeve!
Sprinkles and Kisses,
Miss. Muffin
Have a Happy Halloween and I’ll see you next week!
Mr. Batty is made by Brittney Cat at BrickWall Studio, Happy Halloween
Thanks Johnny Bopp for coming out to the studio in the rain this week for photos and art talk (hence his rain covered shirt).
1.What is your name?
Johnny Bopp
2.What is your quest?
I quest for life survival skills.
3.What is your favorite color?
I’m partial to greens as they usually signify life and nature, and for that radioactive glow, there’s none better.
Art by Johnny Bopp
4.How long have you been painting and where did you get your start?
Talented from an early age, i won all the arts awards in grade school, and designed many event T-shirts in high school. After earning a B.F.A. in Sequential Art from the Savannah College of Art and Design, I relocated to Louisville in 2008 where I have been painting first skateboard decks, then canvases and now offer prints of my work as well.
5.The characters in your work have a theme–you call them ‘Mugs’. What was the inspiration for all the teeth and eyeballs?
The ugly mugs I paint evolved from me exploring extreme facial close-ups with bold, graphic line work and clean, bright colors. I try to vary the bulging eyes and toothy grins, not only because I find them to be the funniest parts of the face to draw and paint, but to give each creature a different personality as well.
Ary by Johnny Bopp
6.What have you been listening to while painting lately?
I usually prefer background TV or movies to background music when working, and even then it wouldn’t be a favorite show, just some documentary stuff or some seedy reality show. Anything to make me focus on the work at hand, really.
7.Any awesome art projects that you’re currently working on or looking forward too in the near future?
I’ve recently purchased a few long boards to paint, and would also like to have t-shirts available by the end of the year.
Art by Johnny Bopp
8.Who are your 3 favorite artist or 3 biggest artistic influences?
I’m a big fan of Charlie Adlard’s work, as well as Eric Powell and Simone Bianchi. Recently, I’ve been ‘digging’ horror artists such as Jeff Gaither, Billy Tackett, and Dick Starr. Influences include apotropaic art, or art that wards off evil spirits, such as gargoyles or other protective imagery from any culture, past or present.
9.You display your work at a lot of horror conventions. Where and when will you be set up next?
Look for my booth at Scarefest in Lexington, KY November 5th-7th.
Photo By Brittney Cat
10.What’s a typical day like for you?
I sling coffee full time, but always have room to fit in sketches or get in a few hours of work each day when I can.
Visit Johnny Bopp’s website to see more of his work and order a print or buy an original! Stop by the 930 Gallery on Saturday October 16th from 12p-6p to check out his booth as well.
Richard, Joseph and Nick of Hippiedigger, Photo by Brittney Cat
I had the opportunity to hang out with Richard from Hippiedigger for a bit and interview him:
1.What is your Name? How did you guys come up with it?
Hippiedigger. I’m a huge South Park fan and on one of the episodes hippies invade the town and Cartman builds a machine called the Hippie Digger to plow through the crowd. That is the origin.
2.What is your quest?
To kill more people at a live show than Great White. In the meantime I’d like to do more production work and maybe do some film scoring.
3.Who’s in the band and what instruments do they whore out?
The heart of the band is Joseph Webb and myself. He does guitar/lap steel and I do synth and programming. We’ve had Dennis Stein play some electronics with us for a for shows & Chris Weltmer played live percussion with us for a while too. It’s looking like Nick Beach will be doing at least a few shows with us too.
Richard of Hippiedigger, Photo by Brittney Cat
4.How long have you guys been playing together?
Our first show was August 1, 2009. My friend and tattoo artist Rodney Adams asked me to provide some music for the Twisted Images open house party. I had some ideas and called Joe and Dennis and practiced for two weeks and did our first show (yes, it was very sloppy).
5.How would you describe the bands music/sound?
I’d have to say it’s a combination of trip hop, industrial and noise.
Joseph of Hippiedigger, Photo by Brittney Cat
6.Three musical influences for the band?
It’s pretty obvious that I’m influenced by Nine Inch Nails. I listen to A LOT of hip hop too. Somewhere in between there. I was listening to a lot of Telefon Tel Aviv and Fever Ray when we decided to make an album.
7.You guys just recorded your fist album–give me some details.
Sure, it’s called “Good Time Armageddon Music”. It’s pretty dark and noisy. The artwork was done by S8N who is an awesome artist at Twisted Images. I did all the programming and synths, Joe handled the string duties. Joe also released it through Kill Noise Collective which is his “community label” for all our and our friends musical endeavors.
Nick of Hippiedigger, Photo by Brittney Cat
8.What is a normal practice like for you guys?
Total debauchery, we break everything!! Actually, it’s just us making noise.
9.When is your next show and where can Hippiedigger be found on the interweb?
The Halloween Bash with SCANNERS & Xcapeartiz. There will be other special guest there too. October 30th at Uncle P’s. Costumes are totally encouraged. You can look us up on Facebook, Myspace, Reverbnation and all that stuff.
10.You are also in production on a hip hop project called Murk-a-Troid, tell me about it.
Ahh, Murk-a-Troid! Yeah, that is my project with Crash. Dude has hosted LOTS of shows, he’s a veteran in the local hip hop scene. He did a song with Hippiedigger and it was decided we had to make more songs. We have played 3 or 4 shows and are about halfway done with our album. You can catch a little preview of that at The Halloween Bash as well or look us up on the internet.
I was able to snag a bit of time with Adam from Prideswallower for a quick interview:
1.What is your Name? How did you guys come up with it?
Our name is Prideswallower. One of the original name ideas was “Relationshit”. I guess that Prideswallower just had a better ring to it, haha.
2.What is your quest?
David customizes bad ass vans and Matt turns them into time machines with mathematics, Back to the Future style. I’m simply along for the ride so that I can throw a wrench into the whole thing when we find ourselves in a bad spaghetti western.
3.Who’s in the band and what instruments do they whore out?
Myself, and I play guitar and…gargle? I’m not sure how to describe my vocals. David whores out the bass, and Matt gently makes love to his drums.
Adam--Prideswallower, Photo by Brittney Cat
4.How long have you guys been playing together?
The band has been a band since late 2005. We didn’t start playing shows until 2006. We’ve had a revolving door of members due to college, other people’s bands, so on and so forth…David and I are the longest standing members. Matt just joined the fold this year.
5.How would you describe the bands music/sound?
We host a grunge séance with Hammerhead and Melvins records on in the background. I gargle with gravel and/or marbles in my mouth and occasionally we manage to conjure up Cobain for a second or two. We mostly conjure feedback though.
David--Prideswallower, Photo by Brittney Cat
6.Three musical influences for the band?
Drive Like Jehu, Hammerhead, and Nirvana.
7.You guys were just in the studio recording–tell me about it.
It was really strange, to be honest. A lot of fun, just a new experience for this particular band. We recorded our first 7″ EP a couple of years ago in a practice space with Garage Band on a laptop. That was a lot of fun, and it ended up being completely filled with feedback and noise – which rules, and is a big part of our sound live. We recorded with Trip Barringer at Studio K this time, and he managed to really capture our sound, but it’s not as noisy as the previous record. We’re still in production right now to try and get a grittier feel, but I’m more proud of these songs than ever.
Matt--Prideswallower, Photo by Brittney Cat
8.If you could pick ANY three musicians/bands–dead or alive–to play on stage with who would they be?
I don’t think I’d want to have the intimidating experience of playing with anybody but people I know and respect! However, if I could get drunk with any three bands or musicians, I would probably choose Led Zeppelin in their prime, do PCP with Henry Rollins in the early 80′s, and smoke weed with Black Sabbath in the late seventies.
9.What is a normal practice like for you guys?
It varies. Sometimes I bring in an idea and we hash out a song really quickly and get it done within a practice or two. Other times, we jam and try to write material that way. Jamming usually takes a little longer for songwriting to take place, since we only practice once or twice a week, but some of the cooler ideas come out that way. I’d say we’re pretty focused and productive, and we try to set goals to work toward.
10.When is your next show and where can Prideswallower be found on the interweb?
We’re playing Saturday, October 2nd at the Cropped Out festival with Pissed Jeans, Straight A’s, Young Widows, and more awesome bands. We also have a split 7″ coming out in the next little bit with Straight A’s. You can find us online HERE for now. Thanks!
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Special thanks to Adam because he was unknowingly the inspiration for this photo/interview blog. One day over coffee he reminded me that I should never give up what I love. Thanks.
To give local Louisville artists/musicians a place to whore themselves out. With a few fancy photos and a handful of silly questions.
New artists/musicians will be featured every other Friday(ish). If you or someone you know is interested in being featured then contact Brittney Cat for details.
