TERMINAL ESCAPE / ESCAPE IS TERMINAL blogs - Interview w Robert Collins

Pôvodný rozhovor s Robertom Collinsom, ktorý pod prezývkou Wizard prevádzkuje skvelý, nadupaný blog plný kaziet s hard-core/punkovou a alternatívnou muzikou. Blog má názov TERMINAL ESCAPE (http://terminalescape.blogspot.com/). Rob vlastne robí dva blogy - ten druhý je zameraný na live nahrávky a volá sa ESCAPE IS TERMINAL (http://escapeisterminal.blogspot.com/)
Mrkni sa na ne, určite niečo zaujímavé objavíš.


Rozhovor je v angličtine, ale plánujem ho preložiť. Na druhú stranu, väčšina návštevníkov tohto blogu je zo zámoria.




1. Rob, please, introduce little bit yourself. And tell us what was inspiration for create of your blog? What is the aim and why did you chose title TERMINAL ECSAPE?


40 years old, living in San Francisco. Been playing in bands and touring for half of my life. I started the blog after I received a cassette collection from a friend in the UK - many tapes from early punk bands that had never made records or played outside of their towns and I wanted to share them. Most of those tapes have already been posted, and now Terminal Escape is probably 75% current bands. The name is the title of a STEVEN B. GRENADE cassette (from that original collection).


2. Your blog is running longer time and you´re posting very systemathicly and regulary. How did you found time for almost every-day posting?


I don't know. I think it's been three years since my wife and I have watched a movie without the sound of a tape rolling in the background. I probably average one hour per day working on the blog (either ripping tapes or writing about them). I have the physical tape for everything I post - maybe it's ridiculous to keep it so strict, but it's the rule I started with, so I will keep it as long as I'm doing Terminal Escape.

3. And whats your opinion to tapes by the way, cos today it is not popular medium isn´t it? All your posts are made from tapes. Why do you prefer tapes?


Tapes get talked about a lot these days, and certainly in the US they are becoming much more popular. I think that cassettes, CDs, even records are starting to be just the "thing" that people hold. Most people are listening to music through MP3s, I think even most record collectors want the record for their shelf, but listen to the sounds more digitally. So for this reason I think cassettes are perfect - you can make a small pressing (50-100 pieces) for quite cheap, and you don't need to worry about "limited" stuff since most people will hear your band online anyway. As for older bands, in the '80s and most of the '90s, the cassette demo (or live recording) was THE format, and so there are thousands of bands that only exist on cassette...until someone puts their music on the internet, of course!


4. When did you start with tape-trading? Did you tape trade with someone from Czechoslovakia before 1989? Are you still tape trading ? I think real tapes.


I was never a tape trader, and don't really trade music now either. I am terrible at mailing things, and really terrible at keeping in touch with people (especially through the post).

5. Bands on your blog are mainly in HC/punk/noise-punk or crusty way, but sometimes you are putting also some psychadelic-rock, garage punk, synth-punk or goth (also some SKA is included!) rock bands. What are your musical preferencies?


I think the blog pretty well reflects what I listen to: mostly HC/punk, but with good bits of noise, goth and experimental sounds. I am a big fan of '70s rock (both underground and mainstream) and a lot of '50s-'70s country music, but very little of this makes it onto Terminal Escape.


6. I like, that you include bans from many different countries, not only US or UK/Euro bands. Can you write down some top 10 list of your "East Euro/Third World" punk/rock bands? And which bands actually rulez in your country?


The fastest way to discover how little someone actually knows about bands from other parts of the world is to ask them for a list!! But here we go, in no particular order:
F.P.B. (Czech), RATOS DE PORAO (Brasil), STRAIGHT ANSWER (Indonesia), TEST (Brasil), FRACASO (Venezuela), TOUCHED BY NAUSEA (South Africa), PURRKUR PILLNIKK (Iceland), AUTOPSIA (Peru), DEAD ENDS (Philippines), PEACE OR ANNIHILATION (Indonesia)...of course Polish bands are well documented, but I love ARMIA, DEZERTER, SIEKIERA, TILT, TZD XENNA, MOSKWA, etc.
As for the USA currently, there are a LOT of great bands: REPLICA, KONTAMINAT, NO SIR, I WON'T, COPS, MUTANT VIDEO, RAD, SADICOS just to name a few.

7. Do you have some feedback to your archive work? What gives you motivation for continue?


I guess part of the motivation is ego? It feels nice to have someone say "thanks" for making a post, or to leave a comment about a band they had never heard before. Also, I try to make Terminal Escape into something that I would enjoy, so that makes it easier to keep making the effort. It's nice when other people like it too, but the main thing is that I am happy with the content and with the result.


8. Not a long time ago you ve started new blog – ESCAPE IS TERMINAL. It is focused on live recordings. Why are you start another specialisated blog just for live gigs recordings?


I receieved a bunch of live cassettes from a woman in SF who was an active tape trader in the '80s/'90s, and some of the shows just didn't really seem to fit with most of the stuff I posted on TERMINAL ESCAPE. There were a lot of other live recordings that I had been keeping to the side, waiting for....(I'm not sure what I was waiting for?), and it seemed like a good idea to make a blog for something more "specialized." I probably post there once or twice per week, and obviously the interest is much smaller, I probably get about 10% of the traffic on ESCAPE IS TERMINAL, but where else can you get live SUBTONIX, ATROCIOUS MADNESS and NAKED sets?


9. Tell us short about your other music activities – writting about music, playing in bands, etc...


I write demo and record reviews for Maximum Rocknroll since I moved back to San Francisco in 2008. I play bass in CONQUEST FOR DEATH and NO STATIK.

10. And what do you do as a job, employment? Do you have a enough of free time for all your activities?

I work as a sign hanger through a San Francisco labor union. My job take a huge amount of my time, unfortunately, but it does still allow me to tour (though not as much as I used to, of course). There is never enough free time.


Cheers and thanks!!!

Robert


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More interviews with bloggers:


http://muzika-komunika.blogspot.sk/2009/09/blog-of-today.html

http://muzika-komunika.blogspot.sk/2010/02/http433rpmblogspotcom-interview.html

http://muzika-komunika.blogspot.sk/2009/09/httpstilon-c60blogspotcom.html




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