thirty days of the u.s.a. - brought to you by kane strang

Backstage at Baby's All Right in Brooklyn (our first US show).

 In March I toured America with my bandmates Rassani, Ben and Peter. We drove over 7000 miles and played about 25 shows, starting in New York and finishing up in LA. These photos are all from our first week in the country.

Parked up in New Jersey after Ben's first attempt at driving in America. 

The view from a Dunkin' Donuts carpark. 

Airing out the van in DC.

Ben. 

Our green room in Durham, North Carolina. There was a punching bag and I did an interview with a guy called "Mad Dog" in there.

A strange building next to a petrol station we stopped at. 

 I'm still sad we didn't have time to check this out. 

Peter in the south.

On the way to Texas.

interview: marina sakimoto (shunkan)

"[F]rom Los Angeles, now in New Zealand," reads Marina Sakimoto's bio on Twitter. It's not a typical transition, but Marina's story isn't typical...and neither is the music that she makes for her band Shunkan. Marina grew up in a L.A. suburb called Santa Clarita. Her sudden move to Invercargill was prompted through a surprisingly profound encounter on Omegle. Several months after the move, she released Honey, Milk and Blood on Shunkan's Bandcamp and, in June, シュンカン I also found its way online. "Shunkan" is Japanese for "moment" and that's certainly what Marina is living in.

What went through your mind when following through with this huge change from L.A. to Invercargill?

I couldn't really stop and think about what I was doing. Of course I planned it out, but when I had to execute that plan, I couldn't think of all the people I'd miss or how life was going to change... I just had to do it.

Where do you think your interest in music and pursuit of making it came from? Is this what helps you get through big life changes?

I have no idea. That's kind of like asking, "so, where did your interest in eating food come from?" and responding with, "I don't know. I have to because I have to eat, otherwise I would die." At this point, it's a natural instinct.

Music influenced all of my big changes in life. It can influence you to become powerful or stay in bed for days at a time. It's quite convincing.

How do you think living in such a remote place like Invercargill contributes to your music?

It's great because I feel like I'm the only one doing what I'm doing here, so I am my only influence and there isn't any noise in the way. I have a clear distinction of what I want my music to sound like.

I loved your remake of Pavement's "Elevate Me Later" featured on NME! Does Malkmus have any influence on your music?

Thanks! Well, he's been a huge influence on my music as far as its attitude... it keeps me grounded, especially on stage, when those jitters creep up.

What bands have you encountered recently in New Zealand that have got you excited? Were you surprised by the music scene here?

I mean, I had looked up Flying Nun before coming here, but there are a vast amount of bands here that are more high quality compared to most of the bands I heard back home... New Zealanders have a thing or two to teach the world.

Kane Strang is like Rivers Cuomo and Jeff Mangum all in one - what an incredible songwriter. Caroles is everything I want in one sucker punch - raw, '90s emo/screamo and noise to fill up a room. Doprah is unlike anything I've ever heard and familiarised myself with - trip-hop, yeah, sure, but there's more to it than just one label...there are very talented people in that band. I should probably stop there because everyone excites me and I'd be sitting here for an hour listing every one of them.

I noticed your love for anime. I have a similar kind of obsession! What makes you drawn to anime? Are you ever like me and become obsessed with certain characters or anime?

Ha, nice! I've been visiting Japan since I was a baby because I'm half Japanese and half of my family lives over there, so I've always been familiar with anime and Japanese culture in general. I didn't really get into anime though until recently.

Yeah, I definitely do get obsessed quickly. I still think about "Welcome To The NHK" and I finished that weeks ago... I think everyone has a special relationship with every anime they watch.

With the start of 2015 soon approaching, what does Shunkan have to look forward to? Any big plans?

We're looking forward to recording very soon and prepping for the new album. I'm really excited for what's to come.

interview: oriana reich (brand consultant)

Oriana Reich is my version of a career (and life) star. She grew up in New York, went to university in London and now works in Hong Kong (with frequent travelling for her different businesses). Oriana stayed with my family for a week on Great Barrier Island and in the short time she inspired me with her worldly outlook, knowledge of style and fascinating life stories.

You have two successful businesses - one based in Hong Kong, the other in Los Angeles - that's amazing! Can you tell me about them? Chariots on Fire was born one night in San Francisco around 2005. It has been the creative 'baby' of Ritz Yagi and myself and taken different guises over the years. Its most recent one is a shop in the westside of Los Angeles, in Venice. The business is owned by Ritz, but we work very closely on all aspects of the shop –from the overall strategy, our buys, and display – down to what colour our tissue paper should be. It's tempting to say that it is a curated space, but that word is so overused. We like to change things, and think about different themes and collaborations that will be exciting to people at different times of the year. Our shop works more like a live magazine where we are both editors. Chariots on Fire is ultimately a space that tells a story of travel, design, history, and craftsmanship presented through objects. From the beginning, Chariots was always more then a shop, it is a place where we can connect people with artists and makers. For most of our time working together, we have been living on opposite sides of the world, meeting up in various places to seek out the sublime and beautiful and inspire each other, and others. The Joinery is my branding and design consultancy in Hong Kong, where I have lived for almost 11 years. I work with various types of clients – from fashion to pharmaceuticals – on both brand strategy and communications design. Over the past few years, I have been working on the revival of an old French lingerie brand from the 1930's called Scandale. This business is about problem solving and forming relationships with clients. Knowing how to listen, understand, distill a particular vision and be able to creatively communicate it to a wider audience – this could be through a brand story, logo, image creation or words. The longer I can work with a client and have the opportunity to really evolve things together, that’s where satisfaction comes from. Often it's more about the process then the final result. Process takes you to new places.  What influence did growing up in New York and a mother involved in textile design have on your personal style? Growing up in New York meant growing up very quickly! I grew up in Tribeca in the 1980s and 90s - an interesting moment when there were still galleries and studios in SoHo and an eccentric community of artists and creative personalities living around us. There was a vivacious spirit in the city at that time – for New Yorkers anything goes, the more you can define a individual style for yourself, the better – New York is a city of confidence and often the way one can express that is through their personal style.  So dressing definitely became a form of expression. Much after school time was spent in the '"Garment District" at my mother's various offices over the years – from her own studio to larger corporate environments – which meant I was often surrounded by creativity, color and fashion. I had a lot of contact with young designers that worked for my mother, they had a pretty adventurous sense of style and were a huge inspiration, they knew how to combine old and new, and I learned how to shop in thrift shops and flea markets through them. My mother also adores colour – she taught me how to combine and wear it with confidence. One of her jobs was to research the latest trends in fabrics, colours and textile through shopping trips to cities in Europe and Asia where she would acquire samples and take photographs of retail shop windows. This was before the Internet and trend reports or books…so I had a lot of exposure, which made me quite fearless when it came to experimenting with my own personal style.  When she returned home from work trips, the ritual of unpacking the suitcases was sacred. I would get to see the latest designs and fabrics from abroad, coupled with an education on each purchase as she explained why she bought each piece, what was interesting and 'new' about it, understanding about different fabrics, quality, print and weaving. Through her I learned how to really appreciate good design – understanding the idea timelessness, respect for the process of making and how to recognise quality. So I look for these things when shopping for myself and I bring this spirit with me when seeking out goods for Chariots on Fire.
How were you involved with i-D Magazine? I first came to i-D during college, with my Saint Martins mates, Ritz Yagi and Shay Lam, who were given the opportunity to work on a special project with i-D. At the time, we were sort of working as a team on creative projects and together we helped with the first i-D publication for Taschen, Smile i-D 20 Years of Fashion and Style. I remember one of the first things we did was organize an archive of i-D magazines from the very first issue to the last. That was quite a feat and what a treat to see how it was born. After this book was published, I stayed on and assisted in the Art Department, helping with layout, preparing and organizing content that was going in the monthly issues. During this period I was lucky to be working with a wonderful creative director, Laura Genninger, who was consulting creative director for the magazine so between her and Terry Jones, it was a pretty special learning environment and i-D always felt more of a family then an office...lots of fond memories! How has living in Hong Kong changed you? Living in Hong Kong enabled my entrepreneurial spirit, it's a 'can-do' place, and different from other places I have lived in that sense. Living as an expatriate here allowed me to explore Asia and entirely shift my cultural perspective - living and working both with and against a framework that is very different to what I was familiar with. The pace is extremely fast here. People always say that since I am from New York I should feel at home, but I never understood that because Hong kong is so much more intense when it comes the pace of life and work. In fact there is very little time for life outside of work. Can you tell me three things about life in Hong Kong that most people wouldn't know? 1) Hong Kong is made up of 70% unspoiled countryside and mountains, so walking, hiking and beach trips on the weekend are a regular part of life.

2) I take a double-decker tram to work everyday; Hong Kong has the world's largest fleet of double-decker tramcars.

3) Cutting or washing your hair during the Chinese New Year is considered bad luck -  so all the hair salons are packed in the few days before the holidays - make your appointment well in advance!

What does 2014 hold for you?

Change!

the incomprehensible guide to road tripping across the states [3]

My America diaries come to a close in perhaps the most bizarre of all places, the city of Las Vegas. Although visiting the city exemplified our underage-ness, we still had a very interesting experience which included seeing an incredible Andy Warhol exhibition (including an interactive installation), admiring a hugely expensive Jeff Koons piece, spotting several baby blue Lamborghinis, lunch at Hooters, several strip shows, witnessing a middle age man have a heart attack, riding the New York, New York roller coaster at sunset and being overwhelmed with thoughts about sex, poverty and gambling. It was suffocating, dream like and completely beyond my comprehension of the world.

xx
Lou

florida sunset

I witnessed one of the most entrancing sunsets in Florida.

xx
Lou

the bizarre world of cruising [bahamas]

The final stop off on our luxury Caribbean cruise was the tax haven Nassau. Cruise ships around the world are licensed in Nassau due to its tax laws/lack thereof and the exploitation shows. Nassau was the most confronting port in terms of cultural and economic disparities. By this stage in the trip, I felt slightly repulsed by any association with the crowds of tourists swarming from the cruise ships, unfortunately association was inevitable. As Zane and I made our way past the docking gates, groups of hagglers surrounded us offering their taxi services and gifts of jewelry (that they made you pay for as soon as you touched). Most tourists then took the transport to the famous Atlantis resort, however Zane and I decided to do our own exploring.

Turning left at the town square led us down a road with abandoned buildings lining either side. Although the buildings were empty, the traffic between them was ceaseless - slowing occasionally when a battered horse dragging a wobbling tourist or two trotted by. Through a gap in the buildings we sighted the famed Atlantis resort - however the barbed wire and port-a-loo made everything feel dismally dystopic. We decided to return the way we came.

The other side of the town square offered a more in depth insight into daily life on Nassau. I ignored the designer and jewelry stores and made a steady path towards the famous straw market - excited for my first real market experience of the trip...but I shouldn't have bothered. Every stall in the market was the same and no one was very happy to see you. Sighting a pile of bags with Hello Kitty woven onto the front was my final straw (hehe) - painful cultural assimilation expelled me from the market place.

The destroyed, colourful object outside the market matched my mood. The endless guys offering us Cuban cigars and weed didn't help either (although in retrospect, it was kind of amusing). Neither did the tiny beach. Nor did the overcast weather. The only thing that made Nassau O.K. was a sneaky little upstairs bar called Tropicana. Zane and I basically planted ourselves at a table on its balcony and proceeded to drink countless bottles of cheap Caribbean beer. As we drunk, we scorned the tourist couples with their matching outfits as they waddled by below us (these were the same people who got all excited and bitchy whenever they saw us drinking alcohol).

Unless you're just really, ridiculously old and/or enormous, cruising the Caribbean... just ... don't. It simply can't be good for you.

xx
Lou

the bizarre world of cruising [st. thomas]

Our next port day was at an island called St. Thomas. As I made my way off the boat, the first cultural discrepancy I was confronted with was an abandoned bar located only steps away from a cluster of expensive designer stores (including Louis Vuitton) - I could have been anywhere in the world and nowhere in particular. Past the stores, was a long concrete path that leads to the island's center, but I noticed most tourists paid for the shuttle service - their bellies quivering at the thought of exercise.

In pouring rain, with a constant stream of traffic hindering the view, St Thomas' harbor was a dismal site. There was no beach, no bright umbrellas, not even a glimpse of superficial island culture. The only thing to do was look around the stores - yet all the goods on sale were the same in each store and, for that matter, the same on each island.

After being followed and taunted by a local who was still drunk from the night before, Zane and I were in abysmal moods. However, things turned around when we literally stumbled across Camille Pissarro's birth place (there is minimal signage marking it). It is fascinating to think the grandfather of modern art was born in a place so physically distant from the art centers of the world. Yet, despite the awe I do have a word of warning - enter Pissarro's birthplace at your own risk. The small home has been converted into a shrine, worshiping the midlife-crisis sufferer, with rows and rows of paintings of the sunset and palm trees lining the walls.

xx
Lou

the incomprehensible guide to road tripping across the states[2]

After waking up to a snow covered town, we drove towards the Grand Canyon in search of one of the world's greatest wonders. Unfortunately, before we even left Flagstaff, we were build over by a particularly enthusiastic cop - I guess the car's complete lack of licence plates had something to do with it. Strangely enough - that was the only time we were pulled over on the trip.

Driving across the States is a bizarre experience. The altitude change from the Grand Canyon to Tucson, Arizona was made obvious by the replacement of cacti instead of snow. However, it was still very cold. In Tucson we went to an airplane graveyard and museum where you can see literally thousand of airplanes being pulled apart and recycled. If you go on a guided tour you'll be simultaneously terrified and fascinated by the development of these war machines. The Flying Fortress is probably the most horrifying machine I've ever seen - no wonder so many didn't return home.

I've already written a post on Marfa but, in the context of the road trip as a whole, it's by far a highlight and perhaps a good way to reinstall faith in America. The straight, long roads of Texas surrounded by fields, tumbleweed, strange cloud formations, train tracks and distant hills are beautiful to travel. Every now and then you pass bizarre, tiny populations of hicks. Often, in the distance, you'll see Border Patrol vehicles raising dust and dirt across the fields. The border crossings are out of control! On that note, driving through New Mexico was a shocking experience - it's improvised with shanty town housing. For part of the trip you can even see the border between the States and Mexico, it is marked by a strangely unassuming fence.

Apart from the cute German town of Faust (in Texas) and a lovely place we stayed in Alabama, the rest of the trip turned into a blur of interstates, fields, smog and rain. It is hard to maintain energy to do anything when you're cramped up in a car and all you can see is rain. So if you're planning a similar trip - numerous stops and non-interstate routes is an absolute must.

xx
Lou