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21st Century FuckNuggets!
Part I
LUNCHMEAT
Interview by Rhonda Baughman
Let’s all get on the same page here: 2009 sucked balls.
If you do not agree, get off my page as I will find out who you are and stick a shovel in your eye socket for having a great year, while my year was filled with painful introspection and Xanax. Bully for you, though, really – if your year was grand. Now go get my shovel. And bring some Xanax.
It was the year of LUNCMEAT, however. So I can’t really quibble. This brilliant little ‘zine actually helped me face a few cold, dark, gray days in Ohio – and while playing with my VCR, this little ‘zine may have actually made me shiver a bit, too – and not just from the cold. Based out of the depths of PA, LUNCHMEAT pays homage to VHS, “celebrating the obscure and esoteric”, as the yummy covers dictates. Should Ohio and its easty neighbor procreate, I think the rest of the US should start fucking running, or as least praying for a sea floor spread tectonic plate shift as fast as possible. The new continent will thus be named: FuckNugget.
In my two part series, 21st Century FuckNuggets!, I will introduce you to the top two media items of ’09. May the year RIP, but may these two golden fucking nuggets of intellectual interest live on ….
Begin Interview with Josh Schafer:
RB: What is your position with Lunchmeat?
JS: Well, I guess you could call me the co-founder, co-publisher, co- editor, and a contributing writer / designer. "Co" precedes the majority of those titles as I started LM with my good friend and colleague Ted Gilbert. We share all of the responsibilities as far as publishing, editing, shit sorting etc.
RB: If not the founder, so to speak - who is - and how did this obviously brilliant idea materialize?
JS: Ted and I met each other when he started working at Relapse Records with me. We started to get to talking about common interests and found that we both have a fervent passion for film (along with books, comics and other radical media). We started to realize that a great deal of the stuff we loved watching wasn't available on DVD, or least hadn't been done justice on the format. We both liked to write, so we decided to throw LM together. We had no idea if people would dig it, or even care, but the reaction has been tremendously awesome. It's a cool feeling that there are so many people out there that care about this format and these flicks!
RB: Who understood the need for a VHS 'zine, exactly? Who came up with the title?
JS: I guess we both did, really. Nobody else seemed to be covering the format. It kind of blew our minds because there were just SO many flicks released on VHS, horror and exploitation especially. I mean, like I said, we had no idea if people were going to dig it, or just not give a shit, haha. We really just wanted to do a project together, and have it be something that we were way stoked on. - We both threw around titles for the zine on our lunch breaks. I threw out Lunchmeat because it's one of my favorite independent obscurities and it was a bit comical as we always discussed it over lunch, and we were always eating sandwiches we brought from home packed with, you guessed it...haha
RB: Do you have a planned run or are you playing it by ear?
JS: We've increased the amount of books we press with every issue and have every intention of keeping that direction. We really just gauge it off of how many we sold last time, what we can afford etc. People are picking them up, which is fantastic; we want to keep doing this for as long as humanly possible. We would like to put the older issues back in print, too. We are still a relatively small operation, and we put all our own personal funds into the ‘zine, so as soon as we have the means to get the first couple issues back in print, we will do it up lickety-split.
RB: What are your thoughts on Blu-Ray and Hi Def?
JS: Meh, it's hard to say. I'll be the first to admit I am not versed on it, haha. I have watched a few Blu-Ray discs and I see HI-Def stuff all the time (yeah, I am into football! Go birds!), and it's undeniably cool to see awesome transfers of flicks and see stuff like you are actually there, but that stuff doesn't really do it for me, I guess. I love popping a video into my VCR and seeing some grainy, old-school stuff. It adds to the atmosphere for me; It has that charm that defeats technology. Call me crazy, but that's just what tickles my fancy.
RB: Have you an expansion/article planned on laser discs? Vinyl soundtracks?
JS: It's funny you mention that. I have been considering doing something on Laser discs because I see people picking them up on eBay for super cheap. I have always championed VHS as a cheap and effective way to build up your film library, so Laserdisc seems a viable way to do that as well. Only thing: where the hell do I get a laser disc player? ha! I am sure eBay has the answer to my trouble. - And Yes! Love soundtracks and scores. I run a small vinyl only label on the side and we have released scores from a few films.
I am actually getting together a piece for a future issue that deals with some soundtrack / score stuff and also a treasury of other horror Lps like Vincent Price reading horror tales, eerie sound effects, vintage horror radio shows and lots of other ghastly goodies on vinyl. I have gathered a collection of sorts over the past few years and I am really stoked to be able to put these slabs of awesome in the limelight (however small the scale may be ; ) So, yes, look for both of those topics in future issues! We really just want to bring more and more stuff into the zine to make it as cool and fun as possible, staying in the mindset of the obscure and esoteric of course! We will always have VHS at heart, though.
RB: Do you ship both nationally and internationally? How far have some fans ordered a copy of the mag.?
JS: Oh, yeah, we ship anywhere and everywhere. We've sent stuff to Canada, the UK, Australia, Belgium, Greece...all over really. Next step is to be able to ship to outer space. That might take a while, though. Getting advertising out there is astronomical.
On Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/aestheticproductions
http://www.myspace.com/lunchmeatzine
Josh’s Relapse Records bio: https://shop.relapse.com/info/staff.aspx?PersonID=72946
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