SHARK WEEKISSUE #1 JUNE 2013

Shark Week is a bi-monthly street based zine run by myself, Ethan Kernaghan from The Kramers.

This issue has a bunch of different stuff, most notably though an interview with Emil Amos from Om and Holy Sons. Very cool. I hope you reading this are in good health and good spirit and I hope you enjoy Shark Week. If you want to contribute to the zine or even just talk rock and roll, 50s/60s garage punk, freak beat, anti-folk, outsider music or lo-fi. Email me.

eth a n_ k er n a g h a n @h o t mail. c om

EMIL AMOS INTERVIEWI was lucky enough to speak to Emil recently. If you’re not entirely sure who he is; he is the guy behind the drums in Om and Grails and the man behind Holy Sons. He had a whole lot of cool stuff to say and I was so grateful to be able to speak to him. Just thought I’d add, a few months ago when I met Lou Barlow I asked him his thoughts on Emil, “Nice guy” he said. I could not agree more.

As a teenager what made you gravitate to creating lo-fi music?EA:: Sebadoh guided me backwards towards most everything that had set up their template... they led me back towards Daniel Johnston & Jad Fair's "It's Spooky", which single handedly changed the way I saw music could be made.

I heard 'Poledo' for the first time on a cassette walkman in English class around 8th grade and it opened my eyes to what was possible just using handheld tape recorders to make collages etc. Poledo was kind of like that old saying about the Velvet Underground in that most everybody that really understood it went out and immediately started a band inspired by that sound.Then the first time I saw 'The Freed Weed' sitting in the CD racks at Schoolkids Records in around '91 you could tell what was in store. I went up to the counter and asked "Does this sound like that one song on You're Living all over Me?" and the dude was like "no, not at all". And I thought, "he's totally wrong,, this is gonna be exactly like that and its gonna completely change my shit." I went home and listened to the entire record over and over... slowly wrapping my head around it and realizing that I had no interest in other'bands' or normal 'rock music' anymore.

Who were some of your greatest influences in regards to earlyHoly Sons tapes?

EA:: Being of a militantly-strict state of mind about what I wanted to hear, the early Sentridoh 7"s gave me a whole world to exist in.And then "Take a Look Inside the Folk Implosion" was a hugeinfluence because it extended that lawless/playful attitude.And then there were things in Chapel Hill around '91-'92 that were seeping into my head like Polvo. I didn't even know how much of an influence they were until later in college I came across Shapes and it all came rushing back.They remain one of my all time favourite bands and are super great friends too.

Would you ever consider releasing some more of the master tapes that you made in your dorm room as a teenager that you've spoken of?EA:: I just released the biggest collection of those yet in the form of this expanded version of "My Only Warm Coals" on Important Records about a week ago. But ifyou broke up my recording eras from '92 to around 2005 there were roughly about 10 different phases that held their own methods and emotional approaches. Each one has its own distinct personality and atmosphere... the dorm room phase lasted almost 4 years from '96 to '99. I'm digging through that phase now as we speak and have already recovered an entire album of songs that I had completely forgotten about. I should be able to get them readied up for another archival release next year... its been highly therapeutic to go through in its way.

What is your impression of Australia? As you're coming with Om very soon do you enjoy performing here or is it just the same as any place?EA:: No, Australia is definitely special and has a distinct psychological atmosphere. I don't really know why, but there always seems to me to be a more optimistic attitude there than in the US. I mean across the board in everyday life, even down to the wideness of the streets and the general kindness of strangers. I have to wonder if being isolated from the rest of the world has somehow helped preserve a particular world-view there... but I'm sure my impression is still totally stuck on the surface of the culture.

You've spoken about skate boarding being a big thing in your life at least when you were a teenager, do you still listen to the music that you would have around that time? (E.g Black Flag) or does it not resonate with you anymore?EA:: I totally do... if a record was truly great from then, it still makes me feel the exact same way. I realized once walking down the street in Amsterdam on a Grails tour in '06 that I still know every lyric to several Gorilla Biscuits songs... which is kind of weird considering I don't know the lyrics to most of my favourite songs by bands like Led Zeppelin. I guess it just shows how intensely focused you are on the pillars of your subculture when you're a kid.

I read that you played drums with Jandek once, what was that experience like?EA:: Super Great! We did it once in Portland and again in Seattle with the same band. Both sets have been released now on Corwood and you can get'em straight from him. All in all, it felt like travelling to another dimension where all aesthetic things made complete sense between the players and our collective approach was reduced to using pure instinct... locking in on a rare zone... a particularly philosophical focal point. He's part of a very special brotherhood of supra-direct and purely articulated artists.

If you could live your life over would you still be a touring musician?EA:: If I'd have freaked out in the late 90's, let stress go to my headand abandoned the idea of going public with HolySons... I probably would've gone on to become a psychologist or a teacher. Psychology was the ultimate way I'd found to apply philosophy and remain excited about studying the mind without pointlessly fucking around with truth tables or just studying the Greeks or whatever modern philosophers do with their time. Touring isn't quite as

brutal as itused to be nowadays as long as I can sleep enough each day to let my body recover so I can do it all again. It tends to keep me in better shape than when I'm at home and

resets my mind in some emotional sense from time to time. Almostevery record's concept or track sequence comes from when I'm trapped on a plane. It ends up focusing my mind like a laser beam and the next collection of songs always takes shape immediately every time. I just sequenced out 4 more HolySons records that aren't that far away from finishing up. Its ironic because this is also usually the moment the plane hits severe turbulence and you start sweating that no one will ever hear yr life's work.... wish me luck!

By Ethan Kernaghan and friends