DEF CHOICE PARIS
THECAST - Leather Motorcycle Jacket
Continuing with their dedication to quality leather garments, New York's THECAST have debuted a new jacket to their expanding leather collection. The 50's inspired motorcycle jacket features heavy motorcycle cow leather, black shearling lining, aged brass hardware, and buffalo checked flannel lining throughout the sleeves (as a side note, DEFCHOICEPARIS certainly advocates smoking cigarettes and hatchet tossing in addition to fine quality leather goods). More information can be found at http://www.thecast.com/.
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Blonde Acid Cult Interview
DEFCHOICEPARIS recently had the opportunity to interview Sonny of New York dynamic rock outfit BLONDE ACID CULT. BAC combine a gritty, NY street-smart attitude with potent funk fueled rock and roll sensibilities to drive their resonating primal and sonic sound. Described as "influenced by Manchester’s Hacienda party scene as much as they are by James Brown drum breaks and punk rock hip hop like the Beastie Boys, BLONDE ACID CULT is really inspired by their own scene of friends, people who paint their hometown in wild colors and trip to independent beats". BLONDE ACID CULT's debut 12" featuring "Shake It Loose" and a remix of "Kick The Funk" by Rory Phillips of the famous Trash Party in London will be available in October courtesy of Ripe Records. Here's what Sonny had to say.
DCP: For those in the Midwest and West Coast who may be unfamiliar with BAC, how did BAC come together and how did you all know each other before forming?
SONNY: Michael and I are brothers so we've known each other for a long time. The Boston Strangler was actually shot across the street from our house growing up. A few years ago I moved to NYC and was living on Suffolk Street in the Lower East Side. Mike had just moved back from LA and came to stay for a bit but ended up moving in. Phil is originally from London and was one of the founders of the famous Trash Party with Erol Alkan. We used to see him out all the time DJing in NY, and at first I thought he was some creepy guy. One night we were at this bar where our friend was DJing and he was drumming on the bar, and I asked him if he was a drummer or just annoying. A few weeks later we were rehearsing for BAC. Damian we had known for a few years from Boston and we ran in to him at a New Years Eve party in NY where he was spinning records and realized he lived in New York. I eventually called him up and he became the bass player.
DCP: You mentioned BAC's debut 12" is out in October. Having only played select shows on the East Coast, is a national tour in the works?
SONNY: Yes. We love America, and what could be better driving around the best country in the world playing shows and getting fucked up. But I think we will be touring the UK next.
DCP: What are your favorite NYC spots for food/drink/debauchery?
SONNY: Wherever we are at is where we want to be. My favorite is Mexican food from this restaurant in Bushwick called El Paisa. Everyone there is Mexican and half drunk. If you put Chuck Berry on the jukebox, all of the people get up and dance. For bars we like Schillers, when our friend Rob DJs. The monthly party that our friend Nicholas does called Circus '68 is always a good place to dance and get drunk. And, if you want to sing "for she's a jolly good fellow" at 4 in the morning, you can always head to the Beatrice Inn. People always try to say that place sucks but you know they just have nothing better to talk about and then go there anyways. The place you can usually find us is at this place Teddy's in Brooklyn.
DCP: What is BAC currently wearing while onstage?
SONNY: We just wear whatever is in our closets. Mostly it is jeans, sneakers and a jacket. If it's cold we'll wear warmer jackets.
DCP: Favorite show experience? Worst?
SONNY: We played a show for some Andy Warhol anniversary thing, and Keith Richards got up on stage and played a few songs with us on stage. We did "Midnight Rambler" and an Ike and Tina song. That was pretty out of this world. The worst show we ever played was with some Icelandic band who were singing about "running in their underwear". It was probably the shittiest thing I've ever seen. I'm sick of weird bands.
DCP: BAC has conquered the U.S, Europe, Japan, Internet, and airwaves... what is your dream tour and where do you settle down after pulling in the millions?
SONNY: I'm not sure about a dream tour. We just want to keep creating music because it's what we do. It doesn't matter if we make pennies or millions or whatever, there's only one place we'd want to live, and that's New York. You can be dead broke or filthy rich in this city, but the best things about New York will always be free.
Featured are photos courtesy of Sonny's blog and the video for "Shake It Loose" is by filmmaker Lance Drake.
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Robert Geller - Spring '09 Collection
Robert Geller's Spring '09 collection invokes a deep understanding in finding the subtle elegance lingering in menswear; dark, brooding, and minacious in their characteristics. Created to emulate the rugged, enduring nature of the Eastern European male, the collection was as haunting as the soundtrack to its debut: Death In June accompanying the collection of Tuxedo jackets, waistcoats, leather jackets, oxford shirts, and striped pants and shorts (eerily close to that of prison uniforms). It seemed a collection like this was overdue as Geller cast his shadow of dark, militaristic, Neo-folk formality over the ever present nod to the classic preppy, anti-establishment rocker sensibility of men's dapper dress. Shown here are images of Robert Geller's Spring '09 runway show.
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What Comes Around Goes Around - Women's Autumn '08 Collection
Building upon their continuous praise of 1960's and 1970's women's silhouettes, the Autumn WCAGA women's collection elevated their aspirational designs this season by incorporating an Art Deco theme to the entire line of silk blouses, tweed pencil skirts, mini and maxi-dresses and coats in leather and faux leopard. According to Creative Director Gerard Maione, "This season, we decided to incorporate the glamour of the Art Deco era to make the collection really elegant. We had style icons Greta Garbo and Claudette Colbert in mind while designing this season." Shown here are images of the Autumn '08 WCAGA Collection for Women.
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Obesity and Speed - Spring/Summer '09
New York's Obesity and Speed will be more readily available this Spring as they recently debuted their new collection, entitled "Nothing Sacred", for Urban Outfitters. Pieces of the Spring collection are available now online at both obesityandspeed.com and urbanoutiftters.com.
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Jeff Von Spangenberg - Photography
San Francisco based photographer Jeff Von Spangenberg offers a brief yet satisfying autobiography: "Young bohemian flees the culturally bankrupt suburbs of rustbelt Detroit." Although the words he speaks regarding himself are short, his photographs potentially reveal more as he works to capture the classic essence of the 1920's and 1930's fashion photographers before him. "The only interesting snippet to mention, in conjunction with my eye for classic beauty and glamor photography anyway, is that not only are most of my influences of the first generation of fashion shooters of the 20s and 30s (Hoyningen-Huene, Horst, Beaton, Penn), but most all of them trained as fine art painters before quitting art school to chase models with a Rollei or Leica. There would be a shift later with Avedon's generation of the 1950s, the strictly photographer replacing debased painter behind the lens. Given that I too trained as a painter would seem to put me in the former's camp, except that I came late to drawing by way of the camera. I'm often absent mindedly wandering in through a back door." Although shooting in the present or 'now', Spangenberg continues to try to remind the audience of the resonating 'always' that is continually tied to our perception of beauty and glamour. Shown here are select photographs offered by the artist.
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a.a. by Antonio Azzuolo - Spring/Summer '09 Collection
Before launching his line a.a., Antonio Azzuolo held prestigious design positions within Hermes, Kenzo, and most recently Ralph Lauren as design director of the Purple and Black Labels. Incorporating his knowledge of elevated design, luxury branding, and the hip sensibilities of English rock and roll, Antonio Azzuolo presented a.a. Spring/Summer '09 as a smart, clean stab at the 'establishment'. Shown here is the a.a. collection for Spring/Summer '09. More information can be found at http://antonioazzuolo.com/.
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