Hello and welcome back to REPLY ALT. As previously mentioned, I had to take a short break from the newsletter game to finish the first draft of my book, so thanks for the patience. As a writer who takes pride in meeting deadlines, I am pleased to report that I stuffed everything into the mailslot at the eleventh hour. All 140,000 words of it. People keep asking how long that is in pages. I’d imagine close to 600? So yeah, it’s a big boy. I promised myself that if I met my deadline I would treat myself to a meal so outlandishly stupid that it would nearly kill me. So I went to Grill Em All, which is a heavy metal-themed burger joint in LA, and got a Behemoth, a bacon cheeseburger whose buns are grilled cheese sandwiches. Very excited to provide updates on the book soon (spoiler: it rocks), but in the meantime let’s get back to the world’s only email newsletter about music, REPLY ALT.
Oh, and also, I did an interview about my “work” recently if you’re interested. Reading it back now, I am realizing that I truly sound like an abysmal person. Apologies to anyone who knows me in real life! To quote my man Drew from Single Mothers, have you ever met anybody who so badly wanted to be hated? Here’s a prime example me being a doom boy when asked even the most basic of questions:
Tell us: What (all) do you do? Bonus points if you show us how you got to where you are today.
I am a writer of little acclaim, a troublemaker of mild renown, and a corporeal mass of 200 lbs.
The way I got here was that in every single choice I was presented with in life, I took the path that seemed more adventurous but was actually very stupid.
Hey speaking of Doom Boys (fucking flawless transition), I did a little podcast episode today with Luke Bentham from The Dirty Nil. The band has a new album out called Fuck Art and we talked a bit about how I 100% gifted them that title and they failed to give me any credit no big deal whatever I’m not even mad about it.
Luke’s a fascinating guy in that he’s a consummate showman. In my opinion, the most talented frontperson around right now. If you’ve seen the band live, you know what I’m talking about. He’s got his stage outfit (usually some sort of studded shirt adorned with lightning bolt/stars), plus the bubblegum chewing, the friendly crowd work, and the next-level guitar moves. He is the kind of frontperson you don’t see too much anymore—someone who is just an unrepentant, bombastic rockstar. Never, ever phoning it in. Just going for it every single night. But the interesting part to me is that, although he takes the lightning bolt shirt off at the end of the day, he never really takes off the persona. It took me about five years of knowing him to realize that that’s just Luke. The man is always on.
So please enjoy this chat with the very charming Luke Bentham and listen to The Dirty Nil’s Dan Ozzi-titled album, Fuck Art.
All photos by me. Don’t use without permission or risk getting your lil ass kicked.
Also, below is my favorite song from Fuck Art:
Burn the earth, drain the sea
Light a fire, looking for me
I'll be gone, down a hole
Faster than you can say, "Damage control"
What a fuckin’ lyric.
At Home with The Dirty Nil's Luke Bentham