The Counterforce with Aug Stone

EPISODE 41 - BEN SIDDALL FROM THE LODGER

Aug Stone talks to Ben Siddall from The Lodger about their comeback after a decade, new album Cul-De-Sac Of Love, the song ‘Different Drum’, many many rock and pop bands, and much more 

 

@thelodgerband 

https://www.facebook.com/thelodgerband 

https://www.instagram.com/thelodgerband/ 

https://album.link/i/1552769015 

 

EPISODE 40 - PETER BEBERGAL

Aug Stone chats to author Peter Bebergal about his new book Appendix N: The Eldritch Roots Of Dungeons & Dragons, his own D&D games, psychogeography, music, and a whole lot more 

 

Twitter: @peterbebergal 

IG: @peter_bebergal 

http://strangeattractor.co.uk/shoppe/appendix-n/ 

​

EPISODE 39 - HEDVIG MOLLESTAD II

Aug Stone talks to Norwegian guitarist Hedvig Mollestad about her killer new album Ding Dong. You’re Dead, motherhood & her ‘Maternity Beat’ project, Black Sabbath, a Two Ronnies sketch, and much more 

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HedvigMollestadTrio/ 

Twitter: @HedvigMollestad  

Instagram: @HedvigMollestadTrio 

Buy the album: https://boomkat.com/products/ding-dong-you-re-dead 

 

EPISODE 38 - STEVE AYLETT

Aug Stone talks to author Steve Aylett about his new comic Hyperthick, the legacy of Lint, why he finds hens so hilarious, seeing ideas as shapes, treating the reader with intelligence and respect, Trickster archetypes, stand-up comedy, and much more 

 

https://www.steveaylett.com/ 

Twitter: @steveaylett 

 

EPISODE 37 - RIAN HUGHES

Aug Stone talks to graphic designer, comics artist, and author Rian Hughes about his mammoth new book XX, punk rock, unique London nightclubs, book cover vs album sleeve design, and much more  

Twitter: @rianhughes 

https://www.devicefonts.co.uk/ 

https://celestialmechanic.bandcamp.com/ 

 

EPISODE 36 - MARTIN NEWELL

Aug Stone talks to The Jangling Man himself, Martin Newell, about his upcoming reissue of The Off White Album, the new record he’s just recorded, writing a libretto for Rip Van Winkle, his thoughts on The Kinks, Slade, and White Reaper, the cluelessness of ‘the music biz’, and much more  

 

Twitter: @Cleaners_Venus1 

https://thecleanersfromvenus.bandcamp.com/ 

https://capturedtracks.com/artist/martin-newell/ 

 

 

EPISODE 35 - MARK REEDER

Young Southpaw talks to musician and raconteur Mark Reeder about his film B Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989, putting on Joy Division’s only Berlin gig, illegal punk rock shows behind the Wall in East Germany, and much more 

 

https://mfsberlin.com/ 

https://markreeder.bandcamp.com/ 

Twitter: @markreedermfs 

IG: @ markreeder.mfs 

 

https://www.youngsouthpaw.com/ 

 

Young Southpaw: You were Factory Record’s man in Berlin? 

 

Mark Reeder: Well, I knew Joy Division, I knew Ian Curtis even before he was in a band. Rob Gretton, who became their manager, was a DJ at one of the clubs in Manchester. I used to work at a record shop and I’d supply these DJs with all their records, make suggestions and stuff. And when Joy Division actually made their first single, they came into the shop and asked me if I’d put it in the shop and sell it, which I did, of course. An Ideal For Living. So I knew the people who were involved, and I knew Tony Wilson as well. He’d come in every Saturday evening and ask me to put some records aside, any cool ones. So I got really involved with them. And when I moved to Germany, the first thing Rob Gretton said was ‘can I send you some records and you can send them to the radio stations and maybe we’ll get some airplay? You never know, we might get a gig.’ And no one was remotely interested (laughs) in this miserable band from Manchester. They didn’t care. We didn’t get any reaction at all.  

 

YS: And you put on their one show in Berlin. What was that like? 

 

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE TO FIND OUT  

 

EPISODE 34 - HANCO KOLK

Young Southpaw talks to Dutch artist, Hanco Kolk, about his new Meccano book, Billy Wilder films, his soundtrack choices to suit his different working methods, and much more 

 

https://hancokolk.com/ 

https://www.instagram.com/hancokolk/ 

 

https://www.youngsouthpaw.com/ 

 

Hanco Kolk: When I’m sketching, it’s different than when I’m inking. When I’m sketching I need to clear my head. There’s this little voice in my head that says ‘you’re never gonna be there. You’ve fooled the public for 30 years but now it’s over.’ So I have to have real loud music, just to put those ideas out of my head. But when I’m inking it’s just nice lines so different music, soundtracks mostly. I love Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone soundtracks. It has to be a bit theatrical, it has to be big. But when I’m sketching it could be hardcore rap, or metal, or anything. Anything that keeps my blood going.  

 

Young Southpaw: What have you been listening to recently? 

 

HK: A Dutch artist called Spinvis, who is a bit arty but his production is fantastic, his songs are great, and I really love his music. Sometimes you have music that you feel under your skin, like ‘oh yeah, this feels good’. This is that kind of music. He’s also a friend. We met when I was doing artwork for him. Apparently he always wanted to be a comic artist and I always wanted to make music so we live each other’s dreams. What I liked about him first time we met was I was working on artwork for a song of his that is really melancholic, a deep and poetic song, and he came in and took his guitar and made a carnival version of it. Someone who takes himself not too seriously, I love that. That’s how we became friends. Sometimes I draw live onstage with him and the band.  

 

EPISODE 33 - MARK MONNONE

Young Southpaw chats to Aussie indie pop legend Mark Monnone about dressing up as KISS, the Lost & Lonesome Recording Co.’s incredible output, getting cassettes from the rubbish tip, his favourite albums of all-time, The Lucksmiths, and much more 

 

@MonnoneAlone 

https://lostandlonesome.bandcamp.com/ 

 

Mark Monnone: When I met the guys in The Lucksmiths in high school, I really clicked with them. Even though musically it was probably a little bit different than what I was listening to. But it was getting together with people who were quite, I guess, organized and really keen to rehearse and just write songs as much as possible. Up until that point I was basically playing covers and trying to write a few of my own songs, but when I met Marty Donald in high school, he just had notebooks upon notebooks full of lyrics. And I was captivated by that whole aspect. I didn’t realize that people were actually dedicating all their free time to sitting around writing songs. So that was a turning point. 

 

Young Southpaw: What stuff were you listening to then? 

 

MM: Oh man, just like your mixed grab bag of teenage boy stuff. Jimi Hendrix, The Ramones, Rolling Stones, basically bands with great back catalogues that you could dive into. I was really into Creedence. The Kinks. A lot of 60s stuff. Whereas Marty was listening to more 80s indie pop stuff. A lot of The Smiths and Lloyd Cole. So that was interesting, being opened up to a different world of music as well.  

 

YS: Do you remember the first song you ever wrote? 

 

MM: Uh yeah (laughs). Ok so, when I was in about Year 7 or Year 8, through my sister again, I started listening to Midnight Oil. I’m not sure how much you know about Midnight Oil in the States but...  So when I was about 13, 14, I sort of fancied myself as a bit of a political activist (laughs) and I got really into what Midnight Oil was espousing - land rights for indigenous people and nuclear disarmament, things like that so...I didn’t really understand the mechanics of it all, I just had this real surface level passion to fight the power. And I started writing a fair few horrible (laughs) sort of anthems. They were pretty terrible. I mean I’m sort of embarrassed to even tell you that much. I think the lowest point, and my friends bring this up occasionally, was one song that was called ‘Butcher Baker Uranium Miner’ (laughs) and it was just really horrific.  

 

https://www.youngsouthpaw.com/

 

EPISODE 32 - PETER COVIELLO ON THOMAS PYNCHION'S '"VINELAND"

Young Southpaw talks to Peter Coviello about his upcoming book ‘Vineland Reread’ and the wonderful - very funny and very prescient - world of Thomas Pynchon’s novels 

 

Twitter: @pcoviell 

Buy the book - https://cup.columbia.edu/book/vineland-reread/9780231185219 

 

Peter Coviello: As you know, there’s a certain kind of dude who would, like, push Pynchon on you, you know? As a dude who knew a lot and had a lot of information and things like that. And those were not always my dudes. So I was sort of wary. You know what I mean? There’s a certain quality of a very dude-ish delectation around Pynchon that was not really my thing. And so you’re heard of him because you’re in school and you’re reading things, but then after graduation a clutch of my friends had moved to Chicago, I’d moved away and I came back and I got to see them. That was a tremendous joy in the way of being 23, and seeing your friends that you haven’t seen for years, so you’re drunk all the time and you’re just very happy to see each other. And what I realized with this set of friends - John, Laura, and Enrique - is that they’d all been reading this one book. And that book was ‘Vineland’. They were just delighted by it in the way like the way that you’d be delighted by a record. They just wanted to talk about it, and they wanted to fight about like what track was coolest, and I was like ‘alright’. So the first Pynchon I read was ‘Vineland’, which was shattering to me not because I understood it or anything, I just thought it was so funny. There hadn’t been a book I’d read where I had laughed so hard and so self-endangeringly, I thought I was going to rupture something internal. After that I read ‘The Crying Of Lot 49’, which, of course, is smaller and easier to digest and funny. And then I went back to ‘Vineland’. And then it lifted off from there. But ‘Vineland’ was really my first immersive experience. And it was with a handful of other people and that was a way to stay close to them. It was totally like how you fight about a record when it came out. And this was 1994, we had lots of records to fight about, 23 years old as we were.