Alex is the author of  the zines: hetic lifestyle, thermodynamics and cupcakemonsters.  When we analyse the issue stats (which being good zine librarians we do from time to time), Alex’s zines always come out near the top. So even though we have interviewed Alex once before, it was a long long time ago so we thought we best do it again. 

Many zine makers start making zines because someone else encouraged them to do so, would you say this was true in your case? How did you get into zines? Were your first attempts similar to CupcakeMonsters?

The first proto-zines I made were little comics about skateboarding. My mum had an amzing collection of independent comics and small press publications from the 60s to the 90s and I spent hours reading them as a kid and then trying to make my own. They were all one-offs and I never really shared them with many people. My first attempt at a recognisable zine was with my girlfriend, in sixth form. It was called Print and was all about the music we were into. That was inspired by Blink, from A Low Hum, showing me some of his old zines from before the magazine went professional. I started Cupcakemonsters in seventh form and my other zines flowed on from that, with each encompassing different aspects of my interests that didn’t sit well within the music zine format.

CupcakeMonsters is an awesome name for a zine. Where does the title come from? What does it mean to you?

The name came about through a word association exercise. I’m not that personally attached to it to be honest- it’s just been around for so long that it’s impossible to change. I’m very cheerfully resigned to using it for the rest of my zine-life, though.

 I’ve noticed that your zines reflect a lot of thinking and planning. How long does it take you to put a zine together? Where and when do you usually make them? Do you have a studio in town? Do you personally find the process of making them enjoyable or a bit overwhelming?

It takes an age. Mostly in finding enough people I want to write about and then emailing back and forth, over a period of weeks to put the interviews together. The actual design and production is comparatively rapid. I’ve set the design in stone now, which simplifies things- I used to go nuts thinking of new things to do but now I always use hand cut layouts, typeset in Lucida Console on black backgrounds. It’s very nice and simple. I do manage to speed things up by doing almost all of the content myself. I enjoy all the work but I do find it quite intense. I’m a very driven person, though and I do think I thrive on stress more I’d like to admit.

Much of your zine is about music and you seem to know a lot about music and music technicalities, yet you can transfer your knowledge in a very simple way. How did you come to know so much about music? Do you play music yourself? How do you come up with questions to ask a band?

I play music and I’ve been involved in experimental and independent music culture since I was quite young. I first had an illustration in A Low Hum magazine when I was sixteen and I started regularly going to shows and playing my own music at around the same time, which was about seven years ago, now. In terms of communicating my ideas or knowledge about music, I firstly only ever choose to interview people who I find inspiring, challenging or exciting. So I’m lucky in that I’m able to select people who generally have something fairly profound to say about making music or art or whatever they’re doing. Secondly, the most important thing zines do is communicate new or challenging ideas to a wider readership. So I’m really focused on sharing those interviewees’ illuminating and interesting conversations with a wider circle of people than would normally hear them and in doing so in a way that’s engaging and accessible. So it’s great to hear you appreciate that aspect of the zine. I guess I feel it’s fundamental to what I do.

You interview a lot of internationally recognised bands and artists. How do you get access to so many bands? Do you have a job that allows you to go to the backstage area? Is this how you tend to photograph them so close? Do you have any funny anecdotes you would like to share about interviewing music artists?

I’ve never really had any sort of official permission to shoot photos or get on stage or whatever- I haven’t worked for a music magazine or anyone else for years so, in one sense, I guess the photography I’m able to do is a measure of how much anyone can get away with, without relying on some sort of official credentials. To be fair though, I am lucky to know, and to be friends with, many of the people I write about and photograph. That trust and familiarity does really help to create good photos.

I meet most of the artists and musicians I cover in Cupcakemonsters through my work as a musician and show promoter. Many of the people I write about have either played shows with one of my musical projects or have had me put on a show for them in Wellington. Recently, I’ve been having lots of bands stay over at my house while they’ve been on tour, too. It’s really nice to chill out and cook with new and exciting people and to go for strolls. Play scrabble. Nerdy stuff like that.

Thinking of anecdotes is hard. Most of the things that I end up laughing about are fairly private and only really make sense in the very limited context that I shared with the person while I interviewed them. As far as funny stories go, this is weird/nightmarish one that I laugh about in hindsight: I once played a show as OCELOT, one of my solo projects, at Happy, the day after I got back from an Australian tour. I came down with a vivid, burning flu on the plane home and, very soon, I was on four types of cough medicine, trying to keep my throat open so I could sing. I skipped sound check before the show and got dinner with my partner but I made the mistake of ordering Mapo Tofu, which is the oiliest, spiciest Chinese dish, ever. It didn’t stay down long. I spent the hour before the show running in and out of the toilet, before I finally went on stage, performed my set and was apparently very entertaining and intense. I remember sweating profusely and feeling like I was going to faint. I can’t  really recall what happened for the rest of the night. I ended up home, with all my gear, in the morning, and was sick for a week. Fun times.

Do you follow any music blogs and/or art blogs you would like to recommend us? Explain why you like them.

I don’t follow many blogs but I do like photo blogs. High Places do a beautiful one as does Reggie from GCRG. A general image blog that I was recently introduced to (and which I’ve found pretty cool) is I’m Revolting. It’s got some nice stuff on it. I really like my friends’, Toby and Tom’s blogs, too. They’re completely different but both excellent.

The mixtapes of you zines are awesome! Could you make a mixtape for us?

Sure. I try and get other people to put them together, wherever I can. Just to get that diversity of ideas and interests. But here’s a playlist of stuff that I listen to all the time. I’m really into cold synth music at the moment, the LA minimal and emotive synth sound , in particular. Bands like Silk Flowers, Zola Jesus, Former Ghosts and Tearist spring to mind as good examples of that kind of stuff.

A Zine-Making Mixtape: J Dilla- Safety Dance; Silk Lettuce Whitney Houston- LA Lakers; Manifest Destiny- Zola Jesus; You Keep Me Under Your Spell- Desire; Port Isabel- Led Er Est; We Want Our Things- Nite Jewel; Not In Love- Robert Smith/Crystal Castles; Shallowtears- Light Asylum; Chin Up- Former Ghosts; IxC999- White Ring; Skullcrush- SALEM; Egyptnlvr- oOoOO; 4th Wall- Xeno and Oaklander; Trust Me- Zola Jesus

Let’s now focus on the design of your zine which is just as impressive as its content. Your illustrations are really beautiful and they tend to have a consistent style: lines, triangles, dots… What inspires you to make them? Can you describe your art?

The illustrations and design elements in the zine are quite different to my art practice generally, although they do have a lot in common with my design for records and music posters. I guess I’m inspired by Aaron Cometbus’ zine designs, Bruno Munari and Ray Eames’ illustrations, Bridget Riley’s Op-Art patterns and woodcut printing effects, which are how I produce many of the images in my zine.

Type designers, like H N Werkman have also been a big influence on the simplicity of the layouts. In general, I guess I’m trying to achieve the most striking effects with the least intrusive of means. I don’t really have any of my art on the web but you can see some of my collages here, from a residency I did in Whangnui earlier this year.

I really enjoy the quotes you put at the beginning of the zines. Where do you get them from? Are you a “quote collector”, do you keep them in a little book or something?

The quotes usually come from one of the interviews in that issue. I really like plucking out illuminating and/or deep sentences from the interviews and using them to set the tone for the zine. I guess I do collect quotes generally. I’m a fairly pretentious dude so I am known to use them in conversation. Otherwise they’re stored in a box in my head that says ”Open With Care”. My favourite quote, which probably describes and guides all my work more than any other, is by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the author of The Little Prince, it goes: “The artist knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add but when there is nothing left to remove”.

Let’s now learn a bit more about you! Where did grow up? What is your favourite childhood memory? Do you have any favourite visual/performance artists? What music videos do you like and why? Did you go to uni? If yes, what did you study? Open your fridge – what can you see in it? What is your favourite piece of clothing and why? What zines do you like and why?

I grew up in Wellington, in the house where I currently live. At the moment, I look after it for my Mum, who is away most of the year teaching snowboarding in Japan. I don’t know if I could pick a favourite memory. I spent a lot of my childhood making up stories and living in an exciting, parallel world of my own making. I guess the memory of that sort of freedom is kind of wonderful. I pick that.

My favourite artists and musicians are too numerous and varied to name. Those are impossible questions to answer in this context! If I had to pick one for each… I would say Ray Eames is my favourite visual creator and Arvo Part is my favourite musical creator. Those two could art-direct my life, if I had to choose.

Meredith Monk, Laurie Anderson, Talley Beatty and Nam June Paik are among my favourite performing artists. My favourite music videos are all by Kate Bush. She’s pretty unique and stunning. Running Up That Hill and Hounds of Love are my most cherished of hers. I also really like Mind Playing Tricks On Me by Geto Boys.

I spent four years at Victoria University. I graduated last year with a BSc/BTeach conjoint degree in Chemistry, Environmental Studies and Maori Studies. Right now, I work as a librarian at Wellington High. In my fridge I see noodles, tofu, sprouts, curry paste, zucchini, aubergine and spirulina. I am obviously a vegan. My favourite piece of clothing at the moment is an army-green bomber jacket that my ex-girlfriend gave me. It’s ridiculously comfy and matches all the other muted colours I wear.

I like zines that are honest, clearly written, lively and have a sense that they need to exist. Like when you pick them up, you just feel that their stories need to get told.

Thanks Alex!