chipgallery

Photo of the Day

Sufjan Stevens | The Lakes of Canada

Photo of the Day

Todays photo of the day is by Jim Cooper.

Katy Grannan | Photographer

Katy Grannan was born in Arlington, Massachusetts in 1969 and is an American portrait photographer. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, was included in the 2004 Whitney Biennial, and is in public collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Columbia Tourist Interview

As soon as I got off of the bridge I turned off of the main road to drive down next to the water to park my car. They told me there would be a dirt path next to the Mohawk River and for me just to walk down about 150 feet and they would be sitting there. When I started walking and got a little closer I could see there was some sort of thing next to the water made out of wood. When I got closer I realized they were all sitting in a large lean-to made from rocks and driftwood with a huge tree as the seat wide enough for everyone to sit comfortably, I was quite impressed, especially after learning they made it only while while waiting for me to arrive.

Interview featuring Chris Morin, Derik Healy, and Erik Hiddie

ChipGallery – How was Columbia tourist formed?

Erik Hiddie – Down here by the River, I was riding my bike “Columbia Tourist”

Chris Morin – I thought you found that bike?

EH – No I stole that Bike (laughs) but yeah,

CM – The bike said Columbia Tourist on it

EH – And I said what if we had a band and we named it that and it went from there

CM – We wanted to play for a while, like months right? And we never did, and I was getting a new guitar, a fender telecaster, and Erik said the day you get the guitar we will play, and we did, and we played everyday from then on. That was the summer of 2007

CG – And you more recently joined the band, right Derik?

Derik Healy – Yeah, these guys had a bunch of songs already together, And I really liked everything they played it was really organic and different, and I started jamming with them this past spring

CG – So what effects do you think growing up around here has had on your music in comparison to a big city where a lot of music is going on?

DH – Well for me my grandfather has been playing around here for a long time, he was pretty popular years ago with country music, he was a singer and guitarist, he played right back there at the Village Tavern (points back through the woods to a little old Tavern sitting next to the water). He played acoustic, country and stuff like that, and it was all local.

CM – It’s that minimalist idea of hanging out next to the river everyday for hours at a time, it gets portrayed in the music by the undertones even though we still have more complicated parts, theres still a minimal underlying tone to all of our music which sort of is influenced from living like this.

CG – How do you think that lets the music evolve differently, rather than conforming to a much more often seen Indie style that’s seen in larger cities?

EH – I think it lets it evolve differently because we all have such different tastes in music, like Deriks into Jazz, and I just like so many different artists, and Chris is really into the whole Rock sound, and we all just come together as one, and its just a force to be reckoned with. (laughs)

DH – Also I think that there’s not a lot of other Indie bands in this immediate area, so were not like going to other bands shows and such to compare ourselves too and to let ourselves get influenced by.

CG – You recently played at a café, or a bar, how did that go?

DH – Good, there was some sound issues, you know our first show together and just setting up all the equip is just a new process, I know for me atleast.

EH – But we had a lot of positive feedback so I think it was good

CM – Yeah due to some problems with a mixer we shouldn’t of used we had to start and then start over cause everything got messed up with mics and everything.

CG – You have a show coming up at Valentines soon (Thursday June 25th), so what do you think you’ll be changing or doing different at your next show?

CH – More updated equipment definitely

EH – Or a sound Guy

Everyone – Yeah Yeah

CG – Derik you said Organic before about your style of music, can you explain that a little more and how your music sort of comes together and how it evolves

DH – Well a lot of the time we will be sitting in a room and one of us will have something or something will come up which we sort of start to feel and like, and Erik has tons of lyrics, or something will come up and we will just sort of go off of it and keep playing on it for a few minutes to see what it becomes.

EH – Or later I’ll show them lyrics that I wrote to something we played, You know called blankets or whatever, and see what they think and we will sort of do the lyrics and then Chris will do all of his touches, and we will come up with all the harmonization’s and play off that til it feels right. It’s a pretty fast process to tell you the truth

CM – Yeah we came up with like 15 songs within the month before the show.

EH – Yeah Chris and I came up with an EP in 3 days

CM – Yeah, We recorded “Everlasting Pull”

CG – Yeah, everlasting pull came out a couple months ago right?

CM – Yeah thanksgiving of 2008

CG – How was that recorded? The process was 3 days?

EH – Yeah we recorded it in Chris’s basement on the computer in the pink room

CM – (laughs) yup the pink room

EH – That was fun, I had a lot of fun recording that, we had this crazy heater on us cause we were freezing down there late at night

CM – Yeah that was a lot of fun though

CG – Are there any near future recordings for all three of you?

EH – We’re going to be recording our debut album as soon as possible

CG – Do you have any songs lined up?

EH – Yeah we have around 15 of them right now that are ready

DH – Yeah basically our set list

CG – Do you have a certain style which you’d like to bring out during the next debut album with all three of you guys?

EH – Yeah we’re more of a Rock band now

CM – Yeah weve always talked about doing more of a rock sound and were sort of coming together more with that.

DH – We all switch different instruments too which is really nice

CG – When not doing music what do you guys like to do, besides of course chill down by the river

EH – I like to chill with girls and skateboard

Everyone – Laughs

DH – I like to camp a lot and spend as much time in the woods as possible. Learn survivor skills and go hiking

CG – You guys are still in school right?

CM –We Just graduated and were thinking about relocating

DH – Yeah, I’m in Schnectady community college as a guitar major right now

EH – Yeah we want to do something with videos at some point with humor and such too

DH – Yeah we were talking earlier about how were a band but we wanna do more than just that

EH – Yeah me and Derik wanna have a sword fight before one of our shows which is going to be sick, but I don’t want to be held down to just music, none of us do

CG – Derik I know you shoot photos and such and everyone sort of has their own little art they do. Do you guys think after the debut album there might be a chance of some sort of tour even if just Upstate NY or the Northeastern area.

EH – If were down south id be so glad to do something like that

DH – Im down for whatever man

CM – We’ll have to get a van or something to bring all our shit around in.

CG – If you guys could each choose one person to play with by the fire next to the river, alive or dead, who would it be?

CM – Justin Vernon instantly, but I’d have to say George Harrison too

DH – I guess I’d have to say my Grandfather, play some acoustic guitar with him, or maybe Isaac Brock, something a little more relaxed

EH – Mine would be Jesus Christ

CG – Jesus Christ?

EH – Yup

 

The Peace Within by Columbia Tourist

Thursday June 25th at 9pm, check out Columbia Tourist at Valentines

Christian Storm | Photographer

“Fuck it. Just point the camera at something you think is beautiful and push the button. The rest doesn’t matter.” is Christian Storms statement about the work on his website. And you can see his mentality at hand throughout his work. Christian’s photos have this simple sort of “America, what the fuck happened” look about them, which is what first caught my attention. Christian was raised in connecticut, schooled in the midwest, and now resides in the East Village of Manhattan where him and his work can only progress.

As well as having a sophisticated portfolio himself, Christian was Ryan McGinley’s first assistant and took part in Ryan’s annual roadtrip last year. Check the photos of his experience and the crew traveling accross the United States in his section “Lifes a Gas”

Mikaylah Bowman | Photographer

Mikaylah Bowman is a 20 year old photographer.

Outlaws of the Border

Outlaws of the Border is a site by two people named Lindsay and Gautier from what I understand, and thats about all I know about it. What I really love about it though is the art section, filled with different collages and such which really grab your attention. 

Photo of the Day

Chris Craymer | A book named “Romance”

Chris Craymer just recently launched his new book titled “Romance” which he stated he wants to be “essentially emotinal rather than intellectual or fashion led”. He stated “Romance for me was the perfect vehicle to make pictures which can covey a number of emotions…I wanted to try to make pictures which could be for example sexy, funny, joyful and also powerful and even soulful.”