Section: The Black List - Columns

This coming month, we have a killer change of pace in our On the Road with Stertch Fuck’n Jeans feature. Not only are we segueing from rock ‘n’ roll to goth-wave dance … our weekly guitarist/correspondent is … yes … *GASP* … FEMALE! For the next four weeks, we’ll be following Cassandra Luger from Crüxshadows as the Florida band tours Europe.

A bit about Crüxshadows (from their website)
One of the most enduring acts of the entire Darkwave subculture is the Florida based group The Crüxshadows. Originally formed in 1992, The Crüxshadows have consistently delivered their positive message through the portal of synth pop hooks and dark electronics to a massive international fan base of followers. From their self-released debut, the 1993 album Night Crawls In, right through to the present, The Crüxshadows have formulated their success out of old fashioned hard work.  They have logged an impressive one thousand plus performances in over thirty countries via their many marathon-like tours.

With the release of the seminal Telemetry of a Fallen Angel (existing in a few incarnations prior to Dancing Ferret Discs’ version in 1997), The Crüxshadows enjoyed their first defining moment courtesy of the infinitely catchy dance floor anthem “Marilyn My Bitterness.” With additional strong releases including The Mystery of the Whisper (1999), Until the Voices Fade (1999) and Paradox Addendum (2000) backed by lengthy tours, The Crüxshadows were able to build a legion of diversified fans consisting of everything from jarheads to gamers to anime & role playing enthusiasts.

Although The Crüxshadows maintain a strong fan base in their native United States, their most perceptible success seems to be  focused in Europe.   It is not uncommon for the band to share stages with the likes of Ladytron, Prodigy, The Cure, or even Bjork. The 2002 Tears EP topped the Deutsche Alternative Charts for months, a practice that has continued with all subsequent releases soaring to the DAC’s Top 10. “I don’t think we’re actually more popular there (In Europe)” says Rogue, Crüxshadows’ forntman and mastermind, “It just seems like there is more access to our fans.  What we do has more acceptance by the powers that be.  In America it feels like all of our victories are covered up or are unacknowledged by the media.”  2002 also saw the release of their fifth full-length album Wishfire; a fan favorite that featured the Euro hit “Tears” and a number of other dark dance mainstays. Similarly the follow-up album Ethernaut (released in 2003) brought the band what has become one of its most notable tracks, the European club anthem entitled “Winterborn (This Sacrifice).”

In 2006 the band would seem to breakaway from their underground moniker.  The addictive single “Sophia” impressively debuted on the Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales Charts in September at position #1, replacing Beyoncé in the top spot while landing  #7 on the Hot 100 Singles Sales Chart.  “We couldn’t believe it, doors began to open.  It was as if we couldn’t be ignored anymore, after a decade and a half we seemed to be getting some respect.  The local news in Florida even put us on the nightly news to get our take on the whole thing”, the frontman recalls.  The following year was pivotal for The Crüxshadows; in May the band successfully toured China performing at the Midi Open-Air Festival in Beijing, in the presence of many thousands of new fans. Later that year the band released the highly anticipated Dreamcypher album that contained yet another Billboard #1 Dance Single with the song “Birthday.”  This time the band climbed into the #2 spot on the Hot 100 Singles Sales Chart.  With Dreamcypher, The Crüxshadows melded their fondness for 1980s Synth Pop/New Romantic sounds with modern Euro dance nuances into perfection.  Dreamcypher joins the aforementioned shimmering “Sophia” and “Birthday” with the guitar fronted “Defender” and the majestic sounding “Eye of the Storm.”  The infectious disc would become The Crüxshadows’ best selling album to date both in the United States and abroad.

The following year witnessed another single marching up the Billboard charts.  “Immortal” continued the bands musical string of hits. While The Crüxshadows spent most of 2009 touring in Europe, the band still managed to release yet another successful Billboard charting single in America.   “Quicksilver” debuted just in time for their annual appearance at Atlanta’s famed Dragon*Con Convention before an impressive capacity crowd of several thousand of their most loyal fans. “I think the new single, and really the most recent releases in general, are our most polished and well written work” says Rogue, “but there are still those in the scene, and in the business in general, that just think the whole thing is just dumb luck.”  Seemingly too pop for many critics and too underground for the industry, the band has apparently found the perfect balance for the people who matter the most to them; their fans.

Get more info about the band at Crüxshadows official site
Check out some Crüxshadows videos

We had a chance to ask Cassandra a few questions before she set off on tour.

LS Webzine: How long have you been w/ Crüxshadows in it’s 17 years together?
Cassandra Luger: I’ve only been with the band since April of this year but it feels like a lot longer. Spending almost every day with your band makes you feel like you’ve been there forever

LS: There are currently 7 members in Crüxshadows – how well does that work while touring? Do you all get along, really?
CL: we actually have nine people on the road with us and I’d say that the hardest thing about being on the road in Europe would probably be the fact that we currently use a nine passenger van so we’re all packed pretty tightly. Some days are worse than others, but we get along really well. It’s just the right group of people in the right room.

LS: How long have you been a musician and was guitar your favorite? Have you been in other bands?
CL: I’ve been playing music since I was a whopping three years old when my grandmother would take me to piano classes and I’d sit under the keyboard for the entire lesson. I didn’t start playing guitar until I was in high school and taking it for a class but I fell in love with it. I’ve been active on the Tallahassee music scene for the past few years, making merch and all that but the Cruxshadows is the first band I’ve been in.

LS: The band’s motto is “Live, love, be, believe,” – do you have to tattoo that anywhere to be a band member? (Just kidding). Seriously, do you all contribute to the songs, musically and lyrically?
CL: We all do believe in the motto but no one has gotten it tattooed…yet. Rogue is definitely the primary song writer but we all are able to contribute musically, and make our parts our own.

LS: What’s your favorite place to play a live show? How was it performing for the 2009 Gothic Cruise?
CL: My favorite place to play this pas year was definitely M’Era Luna, I was looking out at a sea of people to the horizon line. It was my third show…ever. It kind of made an impact. I loved playing on the Gothic Cruise but it was hard to jump around like a maniac on a moving boat. Every time I’d leave the ground and land, the floor would be in a different place.

LS: What’s your number one must have fashion accessory (or accessories….!)?
CL: I would definitely say that the thing that I NEVER take off would be my rings, four on my left hand and five on my right. I’ve been collecting them since I was young and I wear them everywhere. Even when I play.

LS: How easy is it to stay looking great while on the road? Any insider secrets?
CL: Seeing as I didn’t start voluntarily wearing make-up or styling my hair until I was almost seventeen I’ve had to figure out a lot of things on the fly, but I’ve learned that eyeliner pretty much fixes everything. And if I’m too far gone, Jessica can usually fix those problems.

LS: Anything you want to say the Lip Service fans our there who have never heard of Crüxshadows ?
CL: I would say that you fashion addicts need to go and check out the website! Why haven’t you gone yet? What are you doing still reading this? The interview is over…Go! :-)

…..and then we woke up and brushed off the all the dirt. Zurich was killer. It turned out that we were staying in the same hotel as the Jonas Brothers. I was a little bummed to find out that the 100 girls waiting in the rain weren’t there for Prima D, but we signed autographs for them anyway.

Italy Italy Italy! What can I say? It’s heaven on earth. Pizza & Peroni all the way. I’d go back tomorrow if I could.

Now about the last show…Green Day has a tradition of pranking the opening band. We got it pretty good! The details are a little blurry. Before we went on, they filled all of our water bottles with vodka, so I was already hammered before the 2nd song. Let’s just say that by the end of our set, the stage was covered (and I do mean COVERED) in toilet paper, vodka, shaving cream, tequila, confetti, feathers and Gold Bond powder. To get revenge, we ran up on stage in matching track suits during their set and flashed some mangina to the band. It was pretty nasty!

**note from the Webmistress … We have some evidence and photos coming soon. In the meanwhile, we have a taste of the Prima Donna and Green Day prank madness in this crazy bit of video**

Green Day is the absolute best band to go on tour with! I wish I could do it all again!
=Kevin Preston=

Chad Cherry and I share the same exuberant passion for horror and exploitation movies. In fact, when we start talking about what we’re gonna cover next it’s hard to narrow it down to one idea! But this month we wanted to do something extra special so we decided to cover one of our favorite directors: Abel Ferrara.

Much has been said on Mr. Ferrara so rather than drag over the same boring facts you’ve heard a thousand times, We’d rather touch on his brilliant films and what they mean to us. Evil Sex rocker Chad Cherry does offer this little bit of insight into Ferrara’s early days: He directed a very awkward and confusing porno movies under his alias, Jimmy Laine, with the quaint title “THE NINE LIVES OF A WET PUSSY”. He stars in it but he doesn’t do any of the olr’ in and out, if ya catch my drift. That’s right! Ferrara knows how to get this party started with a skin flick. Well done Mr. Laine. He also went by Jimmy Laine when acting in THE DRILLER KILLER (which he played the lead in) and Ms.45. (He plays the first rapist.)

Ahh yes, Abel Ferrara you had me at-

BAD LIEUTENANT: Originally one of the first movies rated NC-17 for sexual violence, strong humping situations, naughty language, and hardcore drug use … and it’s a police lieutenant that does all this! A corrupt, smacked out, cocaine sniffin’, angry sex addicted, badge wearin’ po-po. To serve and inject! Bitchin’ dooods.

Harvey fucking Keitel. I really can’t say enough about this incredible actor. BAD LIEUTENANT is my favorite movie that Keitel has ever starred in. What Ferrara was able to pull out of Harvey was truly Oscar worthy. I still cry during the church scene. This movie is so raw and honest, one of Ferrara’s more poetic films. It’s really sad that the “remake” looks like such crap. Then again I’ve been assured that it’s not really a remake. They just took the name. – And that my friends is what we call “saving face”.

THE BODYSNATCHERS: Okay this movie has been done SEVERAL times. Seriously there’s a version of it to fit your every mood. You have the 1950’s Don Siegel b-movie classic, that creepy 70’s version with Leonard Nimoy and the fucking human head dog (that STILL gives me nightmares), the shitty Nicole Kidman thing, and right in the middle is Ferrara’s early 90’s version with the sexy Gabrielle Anwar. I can never really decide if I like this movie or not. The higher budget feels a little weird for one of his films. There is this overwhelming sense of dread throughout the whole movie that’s very intriguing. I still watch it about once a year.

Plant like pods that take over earth by killing off humans while they sleep and replace their bodies with emotionless carbon copies that work together to take over the human race!!! This must be based on a true story because … well holy shit!! I think it’s happening right now!!! I’m outta here!!!!

THE ADDICTION: A black-n-white gem of a flick. Out main girl Kathleen who is a philosophy student, gets attacked by a woman that bites the hell out of her neck and drinks her blood!!! And you know what’s next right? You guessed it punks. “SYMPTOMS OF VAMPIRISM”. Say bye, bye to sunlight Kathleen. My favorite scene (and you will understand why) is when out lil’ blood sucker savages some poor shmo’s jugular at her graduation party. And then takes it up a notch by participating in a chaotic blood soaked, killer vampire orgy!!! Hello sexy town!!! If you really pay attention to this movie it’s an allegory about drug addiction. Oh yeah, and one more thing … Christopher Walken.

But this is the best (my opinion rules) …

DRILLER KILLER: Oh yes … truly one of the greats in exploitation cinema. I think it was this movie that made me develop a lifelong crush on Ferrara. Maybe it’s because he plays that starving artist thing so well! It’s the perfect film for when you’re having one of those days. You know the kind where you want your roommates, lovers and family members to drop off the face of the planet? Just put this flick in and you’ll feel better. Promise. I love that after 30 years the gore still holds up in this film! Powerful, scary, and sexy, this movie has made a lasting impression on me.

The 1979 grindhouse slasher cult classic that was banned in the U.K. and in Germany. It’s one of the “first video nasties” in the United Kingdom, and has that great sleazy grainy film quality to it. Our boy Abel Ferrara not only directs this bastard of a movies but also stars as Reno Miller, a struggling artist and bum hater. A.K.A. “Driller Killers”!!!

The British punk band THE DAMNED (Hell Yayeah!) refer to this baby in their song “Nasty”, a Swedish crust punk band dawns their name from the title, the Danish psycho-billy band THE NEKROMANTIX (Currently on tour with ROB ZOMBIE), U.K. punk rockers DISORDER, and the U.S. death metal band MORTICIAN (who use wicked samples from this puppy) all have songs inspired by DRILLER KILLER. Alright now, that shit ROCKS!!! Hey Reno, are you wearing lipstick and drilling people to death? Oh, I guess you are. Artists. So creative.

And we can’t forget …

MS.45: Not gonna lie … this movie is the reason I wanted to be a model/actress. A very dear friend of mine loaned me an un-abridged copy of this when I was 17. I was completely blown away by it. Zoe Lund plays the character of Thana, a mute seamstress working in New York. After being attacked twice in the same day she takes revenge on all men. Lund portrays a great deal of strength while still maintaining her feminine side… with a performance that is truly something to marvel at. Ferrara has an understanding of the female that surpasses most men. Pretty safe to say that I’m in love with him.

So that wraps up our little tribute to Able Ferrara. These films are just the tip of the ice! He continues to out stupid good movies on the regular. If you’ve never seen anything by him, I hope this column has persuaded you to seek out his work!

Here is a small sampling of posters and images of Abel Ferrara’s work:

Now what have Chad Cherry and I been up to ?

I rarely have time off from THE LAST VEGAS with all the touring, filming, grave diggin’, TLV astro physic teachings, ect … or from writing the sound tracks to the mayhem all you humans create, but when I do, I like to get dressed up in all my bad ass LIP SERVICE stage clothes, put on some blood red lip stick and hit a night on the town Driller Killer style. (Did I just write that? Yes I did.) ROCK ON ABEL for making kick ass flicks, AND ROCK ON LIP SERVICE for making every one so goddamn hot! See you all next time, and I’ll see you all on the wild side. – CHAD CHERRY.

These last few months of 2009 have been wicked productive for me! Not only have I been keeping up with my SCARS BLOG (scarsmagazine.com/blog/nos-blog/) and writing for LIP SERVICE but I’ve also taken on a new project. I’ve joined forces with the amazing folks of CIRCUS HOOKER (chsregime.com/) and am now in development of my own site! Soon you will be able to see hundreds of my photos and videos in one handy dandy place! How cool is that? Rest assured I will be wearing some sexy Lip Service in the photos …

Here is a tiny sample of photos from the Goddess of Gore site:

Nos photo credits:

photos 1 – 2:

photography by: Wicked Illusions

photos 3 – 5:

photography by: Chad Michael Ward

A launch date hasn’t been set yet but Lippy fans will be the first to know!

Can’t wait that long? Well I also have my own merch site set up! myblackumbrealla.com) Signed Nos prints and DVDs are available for your pleasure! – Nos

Greetings from Lippy land, another great weekend has passed with lots to tell!

I took a day trip down to Hawleywood barber shop (at 2234 4th st) for the true old school experience! This men-only sanctuary offers the best in rockabilly and classic cuts but also caters to guys like myself who know the meaning of, “It’s not just a hair style it’s a way of life.” Hot towels, straight razor shaves and barbers who dress like gentleman gangsters gives this place I vibe that has to be witnessed to understand! I decided it was time for a slight change and chopped the back of my Mohawk, going for the classic “shark fin” angled sharp and tight! Jimmy hooked it up and I was stoked with the result.

4th st has a cool strip of Vintage and alternative shopping that’s worth a trip, and I was soon cruising for new Lip Service accounts, meeting some great folks, making some contacts, then heading back to Hollywood for a night at Clockwork, drinks dancing and good times!

Saturday I hit the Redwood Bar downtown for the Chop Tops from Santa Cruz, a great little bar with an old school “Barbary Coast” vibe that also hosts a great Sunday afternoon country/rockabilly scene. The Chop Tops raised the roof with their brand of revved up rockabilly and I got a chance to meet and hang with them before and after the show. At one point Sinner, their towering singer drummer, helped break up 1 of 2 fights (one a girl fight) out front before their set. I think it just pumped him up, as he was a madman on the stage, and everyone left sweaty, and stinkin’ of PBR!

Dragged my ass out of bed early Sunday morning and took a road trip out to Big Bear for an early season day of snowboarding! Had a blast and me and my girl Angelic brought our friend Reptyle from Hawaii, who got to see snow for the first time on his birthday!! Great day! Cant wait for the season to really kick into gear.

Back to the adventure this week finds me hard at work with the Plastic Hassle team designing the new Service menswear line catalog. I went from sales, to model, to writer, and back to more sales by the end of the day. Had another meeting today, where the graphics artist Jason Redwood unveiled the next batch of Service designs. I’ll keep you posted when the first 4 designs are up on the retail site and, let me tell you, the next 6 are badass!!

In regular Lippy news, we are preparing for a trade show in Hong Kong, then going back to the Halloween & Party Expo in Houston Jan. 23-26th. The Expo is a great costume and Clubwear show we have not done for at least 5 years. We are getting ready to introduce our new packaged costume line, that we will feature at the show along with our classic costume and dress-up styles. After that, Magic in Vegas, then on to London for the London Edge trade show. Sometimes looking at the calendar can give me anxiety but then again its exciting and all part of the adventure we call LIP SERVICE!!!!

I threw in a couple photos from my band Jetboy’s gig with Alice Cooper which I finally got today courtesy of Danni Valdez at Shutter to Think photography and as always he did a great job capturing the moment.
Have a great week, and remember…..
Fashion+Music=Life

Mickey Finn

Don’t forget to check out Mickey’s hot, new band, Cold Blue Rebels, at Bordello Bar on November 28th!

Good morning from LS headquarters,

I am blazing thru my column this week, a bit late as I was swamped with sales yesterday and had rehearsal with my new Psycho band last night “Cold Blue Rebels” featuring Danny Dangerous and Joe Normal form the Zeros and Spaz Draztik from the Glamour Punks.

The Rebels have our 1st show this month on Saturday the 28th @ The Bordello Bar 901 E. 1st St. LA CA 90012 downtown. We will be sharing the stage with Igor Spectre, and Experiment Perilous, and debuting our raucous brand of Psychbilly with tracks such as Worm Hole Hooker, Hellblock 13, Pumpkin King and more! The theme of the night……Spooky, and if you have not been to Bordello yet you have to check it out, great ambiance with vintage kind of Victorian, burlesque vibe (sometimes burlesque dancers) with couches and nooks and a great old school bar.

Of course there will be some free giveaways courtesy of Lip service! So break out your best ghoulish attire and come have a drink with me and the rebels!

In LS news the designers are working feverishly as always on next summer and Fall styles and we had a meeting to discus some new groups including White Fishnet, a Pirate influenced group and a new Bag/purse line!! Of course, awesome stuff!

A lot of building and expanding has been going on down here with a net upper deck above the sales office to accommodate more employees and some fresh paint here and there as well as a cool spiral staircase in our blood red sales office! We just received the new Holiday posters, which are awesome and should be available on the LS retail site soon!

Well in off now to an appointment with the Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood to sell some sexy freaky LS goodies and of course do some shopping for my baby! Sorry to be brief this week but the world waits for know one and time is my enemy, oh so much to do!!
Until next week, work hard, play harder, and sleep…………never!!!

Mickey Finn
Aka: Mickey Rebel
Aka:DJ Meilo

Both 02 shows were rad! We heard there were 20,000 people at each one. People were even fainting during our set. When we got to Sheffield, they were having a giant Halloween party. We didn’t dress up this year, so we just told everybody that we were the Jonas Brothers.

Manchester was insane. We checked out some of the nite spots on our day off and saw a couple of street fights. They were pretty gnarly. Those kids like to headbutt! The concerts in Manchester were some of the best for sure. I love all the rock & roll kids out there!

After Manchester we got on the road back to London. After our show at Wembley, I strapped on my guitar to play with Foxboro Hot Tubs for a small club gig at 2am. It was wild! Pure Lushotology! If you don’t know about the Tubs, look us up…stat! The drink of choice is usually Pabst Blue Ribbon, but since we couldn’t find any, we drank anything and everything we could find. The flight to Munich that night was a bonafide puke party…..and you know those are always the best!

We checked out the legendary Hofbrauhaus in Munich for some hair of the dog. We ran into some really drunk Aussie kids and ended up hanging with them until we passed the fuck out…

xoxoKevin Preston

Hey Lippy Lovers,

So I survived another birthday!! Somehow!! After a great photo shoot with my new band “Cold Blue Rebels” early in the week I booked our first show with Tiger Mask Productions @ Bordello on Sat. 11/28 more on that next week!! And then started prepping myself for the weekend party!

I hooked up with my crew on Sat. mid-day and we began to get into our “Road Warrior” characters. I became “Wez” the mohawked mad man played by actor Vernon Wells, and yes I was serious about it! Drew, the owner of LS, and I went through a phase where we walked around in every day life dressed, and in character of the road warrior. We even ate cans of dog food (actually refried beans) like Mad Max did and, lost in our post apocaliptic world back in the 80s, the rest of my crew did their best to be inventive and did a great job of looking RAD as only fashion freaks can do!!

We piled into my girl’s ‘74 Olds hearse and turned heads down the Sunset Strip to the Paladium for the Rob Zombie concert, where we hooked up with my good friend Danny Dangerous (bass player of Cold Blue Rebels) and his lady Anita, who were decked in classic day of the dead style! After a few $14.00 beers (of course I didn’t pay), we pushed our way up front to check out “Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures” from Austin, Texas, who gave a great performance of horror country twangy, cool retro spookabilly that truly warmed up the building crowd. Next was Nekromantix, my all-time favorite Psycho band, who delivered a killer set, winning over the mostly-clueless crowd and opening minds to the world of Psychobilly!!

I almost got bounced by security for trying to start a pit when some lame chicks decided they didn’t like me bumping into them, when my 5-foot-something girlfriend was going apeshit hitting the ground a few times only to hop back up and rock even harder!! I really wasn’t that crazy; those chicks just should not have been up front for a rock show if they didn’t want to get there shoes scuffed!! Know what I mean?!?!?!

So Rob Zombie takes the stage next and clearly must be loving life!! I have seen White Zombie and Rob a few times and this tour clearly has the $$ behind it! Giant flames, huge screens with great graffix, and effects galore!! Tight band and killer drummer, his voice is what it is and out of breath from rock all over the stage. It wasn’t the “sounds just like the record” kind of show, but it was a REAL rock show and, by the end, I was satisfied and spent!!

Rolled on out of there and back to my house with the crew where ridiculous debaucherous partying went on ’til sometime Sunday afternoon, then slipped into a coma until the alarm clock snapped me back to reality and I dragged myself to LS headquarters for that job I love!! Meanwhile I have this fucked up cold for like 3 weeks that refuses to quit because I refuse to slow down and, trust me, I will beat it this week!!!

So check the new pics, and tune in next week for the exciting adventures of, Mad Mickey Finn aka: Mickey Rebel, aka: DJ Meilo and remember Music + Fashion= Life!!! Work Hard, Play Harder, and Sleep Little!!!!
Luv Ya
Mickey Finn

Okay, I will have to plead guilty to being an unabashed fan of the darkly tinged art our resident gore whore, Nos, and her photographic collaborator, Wicked Illusions create with staggering frequence. So much so that, when given the chance to play in their sandbox, both I and the WebMaster jumped in with both feet. Our friend, writer R.H. Stavis, checked out the gory goodness on My Zombie Pin-Up and wanted to submit some photos for their calendar contest.

side note: Make sure to vote for Rachel’s submissions at My Zombie Pin-up and help get a fellow Lippy Addict into their next calendar!

Of course, that meant we only had a week to prepare. And we’ve never shot anything even close to this complicated. And we don’t exactly have a mess of cash burning a hole in our pockets.

Yet, we said, “Fuck it! Let’s do this thing!”

Undaunted and filled with giddy anticipation, we forged ahead with the killer cool concept Rachel brought to the table. She wanted to bring to life a character from a short story who awakens from plastic surgery to find she now has a killer rack in the wrong sort of way. This is the story of how to pull off a zombie pin-up photo shoot with no time and virtually no budget.

The first step, after deciding on a concept, was to determine how in the hell we were going to pull it off without resorting to heroic levels of photoshopping. Now, it seemed, all those lame grade-school art projects would not have been in vain. Rather than try to build out something the day of the shoot with liquid latex, I dragged out an old LA Weekly and a flour/water mixture to go with paper mache. This was not only great for saving prep time, but would give us a prop which could be used again if needed for a reshoot.

So, step one: Get some flexible wire and build out frames to use as the base of the paper mache piece.

Of course, all those old craft projects being WAY in my past, I kind of forgot how fucking insanely long paper mache takes to dry. Even after an initial blast with the blow dryer and sitting in an airy space all night, our critical FX pieces were downright gunky and awful. SHIT!

Helpful Tip: If you have FX pieces with extended drying times, try to make them as far ahead of the shooting day as possible (unlike big dumb-ass me).

Fortunately, the WebMaster is as clever as he is yummy. Using a couple of spare fans, he created a drying rig that had our paper mache completely set up and ready for painting in just a few hours.

Step two: Apply paint/latex/etc to FX props.

The paper mache concept appeared really late in the game, much later than the WebMaster’s trip to the lovely Hollywood Blvd costume/make-up store. So, we improvised. I had a mess of light and white colors of nail polish for French manicure, so used that to cover the newsprint and provide a deathly pallor for our killer rack.

Fabulously gothy black polish gave us a nice gaping mouth, and several reds provided the blood-covered lips.

Now it was actually time to start the real shooting prep.

Step three: Get your lighting set up.

Once again, the WebMaster was there with some MacGyver quality resourcefulness. Using a large job site light rig we got years ago from that home center place, we had the overall brightness we needed in the room, but not the effect we wanted. So, my clever husband pulled the stand out from under his keyboard, set it on its side, and used it as a base for clip-on spot lights.

Step four: Prep your model

We had it pretty easy, really, to get Rachel ready for her zombie pin-up photos. Outside of makeup and hair, which called for nothing too extensive (just pin-up with a touch of gothy goodness), we just needed to get the killer zombie boobs in place. With some strategic tearing of her shift and a bit of spirit gum adhesive, we were in business. All that remained was adding some blood … lots and lots of blood (and, added bonus, zesty mint blood … Mmmmm!).

Helpful Tip: If you are using a spatula, spoon or (in our case) chopstick to fling blood in a spatter pattern, do it on a covered or non-porous surface and away from anything you don’t want to permanently look like it came from a crime scene.

Fake/stage blood is awsome shit but it does have its funky drawbacks. It is sticky as hell and will quite possibly stain porous things. It will also tend to get everywhere if you’re not careful. We didn’t put down cover on the floor and are still finding little bitty bits of sticky on the wood floor quite apart from where I was flinging it.

Step five: Shoot some kick-ass photos!

One thing we’ve learned in our dabblings into photo and video shoots, the best time to think about the shot you want is NOT when the model is ready and waiting.

Helpful tip: Know what you want and make a plan on executing your shoot ahead of time.

The model will most likely also have some great ideas, but always know the shots/poses you want before you start shooting. If you’ve not done a particular style before (as we hadn’t done a pin-up of any style), look around and see what body positions, facial expressions, and angles you think will work for your model and shoot. If need be, be ready to show that to them, too.

Okay, that’s the extent of the shooting. But if you’re like us, you’re certainly not done yet!

Step six: The post!

There will generally always be some little tweaks and retouching to a photo, whether it be tinkering with lighting effects, adjusting the levels, blowing out or blowing up the color, you name it. But, with a zombie pin-up, that’s just the beginning of all the wonderful things you can do to enhance your shot.

In this case, I really wanted to keep Rachel’s natural beauty intact, so didn’t play with filtering and the like. Instead, I used my photoshop time to add some nasty teeth and a darting togue to make the killer zombie boobs look truly lethal. Then I added a soft lighting effect to create the look of a floodlight spotting our zombie heroine.

Well, that’s it, really. Our very first zombie pin-up shoot. With a little creative MacGyver-ing, it’s really not as daunting as it seems to get something pretty solidly cool. We won’t be meeting the level of Nos and Wicked Illusions, but we had so much fun it really didn’t matter in the end. We have a cool set of photos and Rachel will have some deadly submissions for the My Zombie Pin-up contest.

To put an end to the FULL story, we were so jazzed after our zombie pin-up shoot, we set up a gore shoot (starring ME) immediately afterward. Perhaps I’ll share those with you another time.

Until the next time …

Hey party people! Well, I survived the Alice Cooper show and The Pismo Moto session with the boys and I’m now suffering through the week, counting the hours until my birthday party weekend begins!

The Alice Cooper show was packed and my band Jetboy took the stage at 8 o’clock and completely destroyed it, delivering one of our best sets to date! Great sound and lighting with a huge stage, and we were treated great by Alice and his crew. Alice put on a great show and at 61-yrs old showed no signs of slowing down or mellowing out! This tour features many old classics such as opening song, “Schools Out,” “18,” “Only Women Bleed,” “Welcome to My Nightmare” and many others. And Alice is killed three times during the show – (guillotine, hanging and lethal injection…)! He took the time to hang out with us at the end of the night to chat and told us he enjoyed our set. We got some fun pictures with him and he also signed my original “Welcome To My Nightmare” LP.

I was back to work on Friday still reeling with excitement from the mid-week party, with piles of work to catch up on. After a long day it was straight home to rest up for Saturday’s excursion up to the Pismo Beach sand dunes for some pure adrenaline riding! There were six of us from the Lip Service crew and on our 250 and 400 cc Quads, we spent four hours blazing through the dunes.

We blasted over every sick jump we could find and organized some race courses to compete against each other for the sheer rush! Only one of us got hurt (not too bad), and I crashed one time leaving my quads steering bent, although I roosted it for the rest of the day anyway! Great day and great bonding experience for a group of us that have worked very hard to develop the new “Service” menswear line in a matter of weeks, in order to make the deadline for Spring delivery. We all got to know each other a little better and just enjoyed the “Dude” thing! Pismo is a beautiful place and makes for a fun exciting day. I highly recommend checking it out!

Well I’m off now to get ready for a photo shoot with my brand new Psychobilly band, “Cold Blue Rebels,” featuring members from the Zeros and Glamour Punks. Formed only 2 months ago, we will soon be ready to start booking shows, but more on that next week!

Until then -  keep it sleazy, work hard, play harder and remember…Fashion+Music=Life!

Mickey Finn

** from the webmistress: Thought you all might like to see a sneak preview of the kick-ass group Mickey has put together. Check out the new Service collection, which will be available in Spring 2010! **

Dear Readers,

Sorry for the late blog. My memory has been pretty cloudy lately. Since I last wrote, I’ve done 16 shows and a lot of other things…

Spain was an absolute blast. Those kids really know how to rage. In Paris, things got nuts. We celebrated Aaron’s birthday with a booze cruise around the city. I’m still amazed that nobody fell overboard. We drank as much Rebel Yell as there is water in that river.

Germany reunited us with our dear friend Texas Terri. We also got to hang with Campino from Die Toten Hosen, which was pretty bitchin as well!

Scandinavia is fucking gorgeous. In Sweden we ended up hanging with our buddies, Eagles of Death Metal, on our night off. After that we were drinking homemade moonshine in somebody’s basement. When we woke up, we barely made it to our interview with Rocket Radio, “The Rock Home of Stockholm.”

So, Amsterdam…yeah. Well, we had a great time. Somehow amidst all the debauchery, I still had time to feed the ducks.

We just finished up some crazy shows in Ireland and Scotland. They are some of the most genuine fun-loving people I have ever met. Right now I’m sitting backstage in what’s said to be the best entertainment venue on planet earth, the O2 Arena. This one’s for Michael!

Kiss Kiss,
Kevin Preston