An interview with the man behind Nerf Jihad
April 3rd 2007 10:38
Nerf Jihad #4
Following on from yesterday's reviews of the various issues of Nerf Jihad, I thought I'd put up this old interview I did with Matt Ford, the writer of the zine.
Matt, tell me about Nerf Jihad, when did it start and why?
What was the first letter you ever wrote in your whole life?
If you mean just a letter in general, then I'd say it was a letter for this international pen pal program my primary school was a part of. But if you mean a letter more in the fashion of what I do now for Nerf Jihad, I think I wrote a silly and sarcastic letter to U2 when I was in year nine after finding their fanmail address in an issue of Smash Hits or another publication of that kind. I never got a response.
They say only 1% of all people with a valid complaint to make will actually go to the trouble of sending a letter... why do you think this would be?
You also run a distro... what was your thinking behind setting this up?
Yeah, Mighty Beehive mail order. The main reason for starting it up was the fact there weren't really any distros or stores that stocked anything by a lot of bands who I was interested in purchasing music by. Missing Link in Melbourne had some of it available but they were charging around $20 for stuff that I could sell for about $7 if I went directly through the band or label. I just think instead of complaining about not being able to purchase the music I like anywhere or complaining about stores charging too much, it'd be far more positive to start my own mail order and do it the way I think it should be done, while making the music cheaper for anyone else who might wanna buy it. In a small way I also hope that it might direct some attention towards the bands in turn maybe making it more justifiable for them to travel over here and play some shows.
What do you aim to do with this distro?
Just to keep building up a catalog of what I consider awesome music. Originally I had intended to not stock Australian bands music just for the fact that domestically it's always going to be cheaper to get it directly from them, but recently I've had a lot of orders from the US, Japan and UK so it might be a good idea to make some Australian music I like available for people overseas to order from one source. I'd like to start stocking zines sometime in the near future as well. Aside from that, I generally aim to promote the idea that punk rock music should be cheap, while supporting bands who have a bit of a DIY ethic, and don't just mimic the industry at large.
Is there a certain criteria that this distro adheres to?
Well the main thing is that I want everything to be sold at a fair and reasonable price. I think $20 per CD is pretty ridiculous, especially when it's bands or labels or distros involved with the independent or "punk" community. I like the idea of people being able to spend $20 and get three or four releases in return, postage covered. I'm also a fan of distros that people run based on their personal tastes. There's a lot of distros that just sell music by anyone who will deal with them, and I think that's kind of impersonal, more so when they don't even provide their own description of the record, and just copy some bullshit from the bands bio. But yeah, mostly I just want everything to be inexpensive.
What sort of music does your distro stock? For example, if you’re a fan of ------(insert band), who should they check out on your distro?
Well, all the releases available fall under "punk" one way or the other. If you're into bands like Crimpshrine or maybe American Steele you should check out the band Drunken Boat who are probably one of the best bands going around at the moment. Howling, midwestern sounding punk rock with interchanging male/female vocals, played with lots of passion and honesty. One of the most refreshing sounding bands I've heard in a few years. They've got a 7" of their own and a split with the band Bent Outta Shape and they're both available at Mighty Beehive. I also recommend Defiance, Ohio's CD "Share What Ya Got" which is really amazing folk influenced punk rock played acoustically with a violin and cello in the mix. Think early Against Me! except friendlier and played from the heart. Their new record is coming out on No Idea Records so you'll hear a lot more from them in the future anyway.
You mentioned in your zine that there was some flack due to the word 'Jihad' being in the title... does this make you angry?
Not so much angry, but confused. I can understand Grandma seeing it and knowing the word has some relation to Osama Bin Laden bringing down the WTC and all those evil Arabs, but I'd like to think people wouldn't be so precious and quick to judge something based on a title alone, or just not get caught up on the title despite the actual content. Certainly not people who are into zines anyway. But at the same time, I understand that certain words can make people feel uneasy, and personally I think the title gives off a bit of a negative vibe, so I imagine I may change it to something a bit friendlier in the future.
You mentioned in one issue that you did some stand-up comedy... how did this go?
It went pretty good. All the judges on the night told me my material stood up pretty well and that I should keep at it. If that was just something they said to everyone, I'm not sure. One of them even gave me the contact of a guy who had some sketch comedy TV show on the cards, saying that some of my material would translate really well to television. I got in contact with him, and he asked for me to send him some samples of my work, but I flaked out due to not being too proud of anything I had come up with. I'm gonna try and follow it up one day.
Any plans to continue doing stand-up?
Yeah, maybe sometime in the future. I'd definitely wait until I had some really good material that I considered genuinely original and for the most part more "timeless," meaning that it's not just commentary of current events or recent pop culture. But yeah, I'd love to give it a real go sometime.
Were you all that conscious of trying to develop your own style of humour?
For sure. I had stacks of material written out, and I spent ages trying to whittle it down to what I thought covered topics that weren't all that typical, but at the same time not just things that I find funny. One thing I didn't want to do was rely on "gross out" humour, or things that are related to taboo subjects. Like I had a small amount of material about European beastiality laws, which my friends happened to think was really funny, but I decided against using it because I often know when people talk about that kinda stuff I think of it as being cheap, as you don't have to do much in the creative process to make beastiality funny for most people. It's the same with the "battle of the sexes" bits that so many comedians have. It's cheap, because they know the majority of the audience will hear it and nudge their partners and say "Oh my god, that is so true, I really do like to go shopping while you'd rather spend time with your mates!" or vice versa.
What do you think the most important thing would be in regards to doing stand-up?
Just having what you'd consider solid and creative material. There are so many guys who go on stage at new comic nights that don't have any actual material. Like they just get up and try and be funny in a spontaneous and zany way by interacting with the audience. They probably do similar stuff when their with their mates and get told they're really funny and go into it thinking they're really witty individuals, but it's going to be a bit different when in front of a room full of people who have each paid ten or twenty bucks to be entertained.
How's life on the Central Coast? Are there enough things to keep you interested in life? Or is this the sort of thing that drives one to starting distros, making zines and doing stand up comedy?
You can keep busy doing one thing or the other, but it's always pretty quiet up this way in regards to anything I'd actually consider interesting. I mean, you can find shit to do if you're into playing the pokies or going to a club with overpriced drinks and shitty top 40 music blaring. Or you can always be treated to a killer set by one of the state’s millions of sterling cover bands that seem to pack out any live venues weekend after weekend. And if you're really lucky a band of the Belowpar variety may be playing a show at the local shopping centre. But yeah, alleviating boredom is definitely a reason or doing a zine or running a distro.
What would you like to see in more zines?
I'd just like to see more zines in general. I remember a few years back when Beanz Baxter was still around it seemed like there were a lot more being made. It often seemed like you'd be able to pick up one or two new ones a week. But specifically, I'd like to see more zines of the personal variety that are more than just doodles, photocopy art, poetry and journal style text talking about sadness or boredom. Like people actually writing about stuff... sharing ideas and stories, y'know? But yeah, it'd be really awesome if zines took off again. They're always entertaining to read, even when they're shit.
What would you like to see in more bands?
I'd like to see more local pop punk bands of the Screeching Weasel, Dillinger 4 variety. I've never been able to get into the majority of hardcore, so I'd love to see less hardcore bands, along with all that metalcore and lego man haircut emo stuff. I'd love to see some Australian bands that are more DIY in approach, maybe making their own CD's and selling them for a few bucks. Another thing that sucks is that most Australian labels seem to be giving up on good old mail order in exchange for getting their releases into stores where they'll cost $20 and I think that's pretty sad. Most of all I'd love to see some good Australian punk rock bands that have a bit of an identity.
What's your opinion of today's television?
Television seems to be making a real comeback. We had a fair few years where people were embarrassed to talk about liking television at all and it got to the stage where anytime it was brought up the only response you'd hear was "I don't watch much television." However, in recent years there has been a fair few new shows that have come along which are not only funny, but also intelligent and they've given the medium a bit of merit once again. The best is clearly Arrested Development which is easily the sharpest, funniest and most creative comedy show in what is probably a decade. Australian television seems to have just given up on shows that require actual writers, which is pretty sad.
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