Monster Children

Not only is Tabitha McGregor one of the creative brains behind Byron based THRILLS, she is damn handy with the pencil on paper. If you are anywhere near The Art Park this coming Friday until June 14th, you must go see this show. 

Here is one man that is not shy of a beer at sunrise. We may be three days late, but it's always beter late than never when you get an email from the Prince of Puerto Rico. 

DSL Magazine making damn good stuff again. Dropping 28 May. 

atramental (comparative more atramental, superlative most atramental)

1. of, or relating to ink; inky; black

New campaign, new logo, few new riders, few beers. Awesome.

Everyone's favourite shoe pusher, Clae, has just dropped a fresh batch of kicks. Some are a little fruity, but most are very dope. Spend your money on these and keep Pippis accustomed to the lifestyle he requires. We only see Pippis at our Christmas parties these days, but after the last one he is banned, or rather we got banned from our favourite little boat (the Sea Messenger), because he puked all through it. Cool story? Nah, not really. 

Sure NYC looked fun, but for those of us south of the equator, the MC X Vans launch party in Coolangatta was a doozy. We nearly drowned on the roof-top of the Greenmount Motel so the wet weather option of Neverland Bar was initiated. A big thanks to Johnny  and his team at Neverland for helping out when the shit hit the fan. Thanks to VANS for throwing the shin dig and supporting us like you do as well as our beverage sponsors Corona, Old Mout cider and Santa Vittoria water! Finally, cheers to About LST Night for the happy snaps. Check out the rest of the photos from the night on their site - About LST Night.

And a gratuitous plug for his new shoe - sans this look.  More of this going on now. 

Who hasn't NYC artist Todd DiCiurcio drawn? Side-of-stage, charcoal in hand, Todd creates his pieces in rhythm with the band in question. From Guided By Voices to Grizzly Bear to Edward Sharpe and even Jon Bon, TDC scribbles away. In this clip TDC spends a week near the beach at the La Casa Artist Residency, drinking beer and drawing Australian band MT Warning. Check below for the feature story.

Q. You started drawing as a youngster. Who would you say has influenced you and your art the most?

A. Drawing is something I've always known. I grew up through certain events that affected me very deeply, as everyone does. Being able to express those things through the idea of mark making filled me better than any drug, it became a world I could control. Everything that was happening around me was fueling it. The surf and skateboarding scene was at a peak in the late 80s, which was a huge ongoing influence for me. I was always a surfer even though I was living on a farm in Pennsylvania, the ultimate "shoobie". It was revolutionary [to me] and I still draw influence from that time to this day. My Mother always encouraged me to create, I lost her to brain cancer when I was 14 but she's always around me. I can sense her.   

Q. Your first live drawing show was with Guided By Voices back in 1999. How did that first event come about?

A. GBV was the zenith of underground music while I was studying. My studio was a collaborative magic bus of artists, clingers, girls, animals and any freak that wanted to create in the moment. Boundaries were decimated, fires were lit, acid was dropped, arrests were made & great collaborations were forged.  

Q. How did it develop from there? Did Guided By Voices spread the word to other bands? You’ve drawn some pretty awesome artists…Dinosaur Junior, Grizzly Bear, And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Broken Social Scene and ….Bon Jovi! Livin’ on a prayer! What was that like?

A. It wasn’t until 3 years after I graduated did the opportunity to draw GBV present itself when a friend asked me to paint live for one of Jim Faherty’s parties. Right then and there, the live drawing process became a dogma of creation.  I would discover bands and ask them to collaborate, I remember finding some CD’s in the trash one day here in Brooklyn and there was this one CD that had no writing; only a graphite drawing I liked on the cover, which I later found out to be Grizzly Bear. I met The Killers at a Saturday Night Live after party, a guy saw my drawings and tapped me on the shoulder who ended up being Ronnie from the band. I drew them live on stage at Central Park in the coming weeks. Jon Bon Jovi is the most incredibly talented & generous person you would ever have the pleasure of meeting let alone collaborate with. Every band is a different story from start to finish the adventure keeps me high for sure.

Q. You mention in your La Casa video that you need to be moved by the music to live draw a band. What is it that gets your attention? Is it about the song or the live performance?

A. My drawing process needs to be done strictly during performance, but not performance based. I would be reacting to the music, start when they start and end when they end. The goal is always to create a dialogue between mark making and the music.

Q. Is there anything you do to prepare for a live drawing show?

A. I have a bit of a ritual before a show; I size the paper to the board that day, I sharpen about six or seven soft charcoal pencils cut in half at the show and I like to pull apart a kneaded eraser. I can't create fucked up at all, it just doesn’t work for me…that said I do enjoy a drink afterwards. 

Q. You love to surf and you’ve done some surfboard art. Any interesting collaborations you’d like to tell us about?

A. I have a residency titled "Draw Us Sin" at the P3 Studio in the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas  (April 17th - May 12^th) via Art Production Fund. Expect next level shit to happen here. If you are in Vegas during this time be sure to stop by. You never know who will be there...

Q. Can you tell us about your experience at La Casa? With a live band on the deck (MT Warning) and a world-class break out the front it must have been easy to take?

A. La Casa brings out something in an artist, it enables one to pivot and explore a side of their work they may have never been able to get to. That's what La Casa is to me. We laughed, we cried, we surfed, we wrote music, we made videos, and we lived life. Working with Taylor Steele broadened the arc in my work enabling me to apply my sense of composition to the film medium, and that makes our collaboration as ‘Evil Twin’ quite remarkable.

Todd is represented by Westwood Gallery, SoHo, NYC 

Finally a clip with Kelly Slater not being the best at everything he does - via La Casa 

Westerly is a feature length documentary about Perter Drouyn who was one of surfing's first superstars. In the 80s he disappeared from the surfing community completely. Peter is now living life as a woman, Westerly Windina. 

A Kickstarter has been made to fund the documentary, with a bunch of pledges available including a Skype session with Westerly, a custom surfboard or even surfing with Westerly.  

Click on through to the Kickstarter here, to find out more and watch the trailer.  

Sunnies in time for summer by THRILLS 

And all the profits go to some amazing charities. Awesome. Check it here - Auction ends 28 November. 

Remember that little bit of curation we embarked upon with O'Neill earlier in the year? Here's the end result. That Jack O'Neill sure is a cool looking cat, hopefully he will now have the Geoff McFetridge, Thomas Campbell, Mark Penxa and Liam Gerrard pieces hanging on all four walls of his of dining room. It's been a pretty amazing project with well over 100 individual art pieces entered and you can see the vast majority over here. Well done Jack! 

Sometime MC logo producer, collaborator, guest editor and all round good guy Evan Hecox recently spent a week at the La Casa house, sipping cold tinnes and creating artworks. Here is the result. 

Everyone's favorite girl in surf, Kassia Meador, has worked with Roxy on a line of wetsuits. No longer do wetsuits have to be the most unflattering attire for females.

Last night at Monster Children Gallery saw the unveiling of the Australian leg of O Encontro Dos Rios: Photography by Jonathan Mehring and Converse skateboarders Raymond Mollinar and Kenny Anderson. A big thanks to Converse for bringing this show from Los Angeles to Sydney. Continues until 4th December with pieces around the $200 mark making damn fine and original Christmas presents. There's not many left so hurry up and have a look.