After giving their album a resounding break-off-my-thumbs-and-throw-them-so-high-I-lose-sight-of-them last week, I thought it was high time to get the guys on the interwaeb and fire off some questions to them ahead of their tour...

Loud Noise and Pictures: When you finished everything with your first album, did you have any ideas of what you wanted to write next? What did you initially set out to create?
Snowman: It took a while to work out exactly what we wanted to do for the next record. Eventually shapes started to appear. We knew what we didn't want to do. We didn't want to make SNOWMAN 2 we had reinvent ourselves and find new ways to play our instruments. We had to restrain ourselves and not rely on old habits and clichés. We had to place obstacles in the way in order to get to our destination via a different route.

LNaP: Can you explain how you ended up with what twothousand.com.au says is '...definitely the weirdest thing you've heard in a while,' and what Polaroids of Androids called '...as graphic and horrifically beautiful as music of this brutal nature can get' ?
S: We explore a dark crevice our collective brain I suppose. That is what turns on the inspirational juices. We followed those paths to the extremes.

LNaP: Were there any strong influences to the band that you thought crept into the album, or did you actively try to avoid outside influences when writing?
S: We tried as much as possible to lock ourselves away and write from a pure headspace. Obviously, influences seep through but they were often visual reference points. A Mark Rothko painting called Saffron was hanging in my song room and that provided refuge and inspiration for some of the songs...the textures and the colours....we tried to recreate in a musical landscape.

LNaP: You're moving to the UK very soon, what do you have planned when you get there?
S: To travel a bit...then to write and record another album....and to live life in a different environment so that we are forced out of our comfort zones and into the deep end.

LNaP: The issues Snowman faced during the making of The Horse, The Rat, and The Swan have been well documented, but what's it like being on the other side, with a national tour, relocation plans, and a totally excellent album to show for it?
S: Quite a relief...we are strangely detached from it. We are all happier now and we are very keen to look forward and write the next album...there is not much time to reflect on the past. The future is unknown and therefore far more mystical.

LNaP: For an album that's only 38mins long, it still maintains a very epic sound to it. How did you shape the sound on the album?
S: Sonically we recorded everything with lots of space between the instruments and the microphones. This gives the sound quite a large spacious quality I suppose. Dave Parkin is a talented man and he has captured the sound that we wanted to create. The songs are also far more stripped back...deconstructed....this allows for each sound to be prominent in the song and the mix.

LNaP: Did you need to cut any songs from the album? If so, do you have any plans to release them?
S: We did cut two or three songs. We have not finished recording them. They did not feel right on the album...I am not really sure if they will see the light of day.

LNaP: What do you have planned after this interview?
S: Pack my bags. Sleep. Get on a plane.

Massive, MASSIVE, thanks go out to Heath and the rest of the Snowman camp for that one. The tour dates are as follows...

Wednesday July 9th, 8.00pm
Jive, Adelaide, SA - With: Baseball and Hit The Jackpot

Thursday July 10th, 8.00pm
Republic, Hobart, TAS - With: Baseball

Friday July 11th, 8.00pm
Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC - With: Baseball and Spider Vomit

Saturday July 12th, 8.00pm
Karova Lounge, Ballarat, VIC - With: Baseball

Wednesday July 16th, 8.00pm
The Zoo, Brisbane, QLD - With: Baseball and Stature:Statue

 Thursday July 17th, 8.00pm
Annandale Hotel, Sydney, NSW - With: Baseball

Friday July 18th, 8.00pm
Annandale Hotel, Sydney, NSW - With: Baseball and Charge Group

Saturday July 19th, 8.00pm
Transit Bar, Canberra, ACT - With: Baseball

So go see them, also because Baseball are pretty fucking special too, and since Snowman are heading O/S...

Whilst going through the latest Boudist links I meandered my way along to this interview with the kids from Hobo Gestapo. I cannot for the life of me remember how I first came across their site, but I was a big fan of Merlin Bronques and Last Night's Party (get the book, endless amusement) and these guys are very much the Australian version, but with a totally Australian flavour (egg and bacon and gravy?). Nooch. I shot the same gig as them once and then came across their photos and was suprised people had become interested in Canberra's partyscene. Self-promotion through linking, not that my photos are in any way indicitive of the Canberra party scene.

Pivot are also doing a headline tour (when not supporting atmospheric 'these guys surely can't be from Planet Earth' ecstasy companions Sigur Ros) to support O Soundtrack My Heart. Hit that.

Bloc Party 'released' a new single. Think Flux, only shit. Stream it here. Don't get me wrong, the whole electronic 'thing' everyone keeps labelling them as 'doing' is cool, but Mercury ain't. Sorry buds. More Positive Tension.

When Nine Inch Nails put up their rehearsal videos the other week, it was only a matter of time until this happened. The segue to the bridge is the best part.

Week 1: Game Reports

Game 1: LVC vs Lockport Gambino Ford (W 1-0 SO)

The BSHL season kicked off Sunday for the crew when they faced the expansion franchise Lockport Gambino Ford. After the '07 season's hot start was interrupted by a mid-season lull (that led to a second-round exit from the playoffs), the crew were anxious to wash the foul stench of losing (and alcohol from the resultant lonely nights) off their breath and get a few quick W's. With rookie Owen Puttock taking the blue-line behind Puttock Sr, Downs & Ozolins, and backed by second-year stud tender Matt Montour, the lineup was looking better than ever.

I originally wrote a horrible synopsis for the game, but since then, I've both hilighted and deleted the loaf of shit. This game was pretty goddamn slow. Not a lot happened. We might have had 5 or 6 shots on net, but, ultimately, this puppy went to a shootout and both Andrew & Matty took a potting trip into the goalie's secret garden. Enough said.

SO:

Andrew - Goal

Chris - Miss

Matt - Goal

Game 2: LVC vs Smoke Show (W 2-1 SO)

Once again, pretty slow game in keeping theme with week 1. #9 managed to put Smoke Show tender Brownson on his backside and easily slip a goal in on the right side. Ellsworth, of the SS, potted an old-school backhand-forehand deke just under Montour's glove late to bring this match to, you got it, a shootout. This time, Ozolins and Downs raped and pillaged Mayer Brownson's Twine-city to take the Crew's second shootout victory of the afternoon.

Chris Ozolins (unassisted)

SO:

Chris - Goal

Andrew - Miss

Matt - Goal

Week 2: Game Reports

Game 3: LVC vs Burlington Schlitz (W 5-0)

We scored a lot of goals+Montour shut the door+they were shorthanded=mercy

Chris (Andrew)

Andrew (Chris)

Chris (Owen)

Andrew (Chris)

Owen (Andrew)

Game 4: LVC vs Meatheads (W 5-0)

You know the math.

Adrian (Chris)

Adrian (Chris)

Adrian (Owen)

Andrew (Adrian)

Adrian (Andrew)

Week 3: Game Reports

Game 5: LVC vs NHL '94 (L 5-0)

We were really shorthanded+Owen is not a professional tender+Foyzee? Foyzee? Beuhler?=mercy

No Scoring

Game 6: LVC vs Pirates (L 3-2)

We actually played, probably, the best we have yet. Andrew was remarkable in net and team defense was, in my opinion, the most solid I've ever seen it in my BSHL years. Imagine what we could do with 4 men versus the Pirates.

Chris (unassisted)

Owen (Chris)

Week 4: Game Reports

Game 7: LVC vs Meatheads (W 3-1)

Smeh game. #9 was sidetracked, impressing the ladies.

Adrian (Chris)

Chris (Owen)

Chris (unassisted)

Game 8: LVC vs Reapers (W 2-1)

2 penalty shots, none of them goals. Ouch. Owen almost killed somebody.

Adrian (Chris)

Owen (Chris)

Week 5: Game Reports

Game 9: LVC vs Cobras (L 3-2 SO)

Really solid effort this week. #9 one-timed a sweet cross-crease dish from Puttock Sr. and Downs sniped gloveside with a rocket from about 20 feet out. LVC was held scoreless in the SO by rookie tender McKeag, and as a result, were downed in a shootout for only the second time in 10 tries. Not bad, there's still one more meeting with the Cobras this year, word in Vegas is we'll take it.

Chris (Andrew)

Matt (Unassisted)

SO:

Andrew - Miss

Chris - Miss

Matt - Miss

The Pencil Chinstrap is the thin line between facial hair and gaycial hair. It's beard meets Etch-A-Sketch. A matte frame around a meaty face.

You see, the regular chinstrap is not enough. It’s way too thick and not nearly as abrasive. For people like Pencil Chinstraps, that facial hair needs to be chiseled down. Into a barely visible, dainty line.

After all, this is not facial hair we’re talking about. This is art. Linear, mathematical douchebag art. While other men are out drinking beer, the Chinstrapper will spend hours measuring, and remeasuring. Use of a protractor is essential.

It must be right angles at the jaw line. The sideburn area must be polished clean. The line must be as thin as possible. If they could get it down to one hair follicle in diameter, they would. In fact, they have a bunch of Guidos in a lab working on that science as we speak.

The Pencil Chinstrap will often be combined with The Blowout, The Fake Tan, and steroid use. Headbands and straight-brimmed hats are optional. Depending on how close you get to New Jersey or Long Island, combinations may become more and more extreme.

In rare instances, you may see a makeshift Pencil Chinstrap drawn on with an Eyeliner Pencil. This may occur when a Pencil Chinstrapper commits "the cardinal sin" -- or for the layman, when they screw up in the shaving process, and break the line. In such situations, the burning desire for a thin line of facial hair may cause a man to act irrationally, and use makeup.

The Pencil Chinstrap is the final frontier for the meathead. They’ve conquered muscles, skanks, tight shirts…and now beards.
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Also Known As: The Man's Eyeliner, The Thin Chin Wrap, Guido Gold, The Mason/Douchebag Line, Thin Tin Tin, The Redneck U
Related: The Blowout, The Fake Tan, The Double-Popped D-Bag

Nine Inch Nails - Discipline

Video von NIN's Haus- und Hofkomiker Meathead

Get the new NIN single "Discipline" for FREE right here.

Meanwhile, it seems some tour pre-production stage ideas have leaked to the internet, so I guess we might as well share them here. Keep in mind it's rough and not finished yet. In real life it will be much tighter.

TR

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posted by Trent Reznor at 2:47 pm pst, from los angeles

comments @ nin.com

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added: in case you wonder about the outfits... KLICK!

comments @ nin.com

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added: veteran nin fans know about trent's definition of soon...

graphic chart by meathead.

MeatHead Hat 

I really been on a mission lately. Well, here is another hat. It’s totally cute. It is from a pattern by Larissa Brown. It is the Meat Head Hat. This is her book that is coming out in the spring! It looks like she did a great job on it. I know I can't wait to get my mitts on it!!!                         

For anybody a bit tech savvy, math literate, history buff, Shakespeare quote machine, or watches the Discovery Channel a bit, we all ran into a Meathead in the course of conversions. It's Lisa Simpson being laughed at by Nelson in the Simpsons. These people when introduced to a novelty idea, learning, they look at you like a dog when it's confused, then promptly make fun of you and your comment. What is that? Say anything smart that involves rubbing two brain cells together and you get snubbed.

They were my friends in middle school and high school. Downstairs in a parent's finished basement, we watched TV. Without disappointment, pointing to the TV, they exclaimed, "She's hot," or "I'd bang her."--oh for goodness sakes, everybody on TV is a good looking, stop commenting on the obvious!

And then, in between all the boobies, asses, beer, girls, bling, and sex, a factoid floats up into the conversion. POW, nerd alert!!! Speak anything beyond tites and ass, two things happen: dead silence or a humor jab to your intellect kidney or the combo: dead silence follow by laughter for sounding like a complete nerd. I thought I got away from the Meatheads, but somehow they got past academic natural selection and made their way up to college.

The evolution on the Meathead, ones who went to college, still made fun for anything nerdy. Now these people confuse me. High school is understandable, but college?! Come on, this is the only environment in my age I can be encouraged for being smart and not be crapped on for knowing some Kant, Civil War, or Dark Matter.

It's as if being smart is up their with bad breath; for some reason it pushes people away. Knowing how things work or why this and that happens is so uncool. Oh, can't speak on the current events or history, that's way too boring. But wait a tick...what about that Daily Show or Colbert Report...hmmm.

At the same time, in another environment, school rewards those who are smarter, curious, or nerdy. College first real world lesson is you are not as smart as you thought you were--so get smarter. Yeah, that first C- is a big wake up call. So you have to study more and develop that noodle of yours to get that A or B. Thus, you become more nerdy; you have to.

You know why we nerds talk about other things beyond beer or Paris Hilton? Because we are bored with such things. We need more. The meathead topics are shallow and boring. How many sides of the infamous argument, "Would I rather bang Crazy Britney Spears 2007 or Upcoming Britney Spears 2001," can we possibly explore?!

I have good news though. Despite all the meatheads around the country, classroom, and friends' basements, the nerds get the jobs, houses, cars, and get married to some good lookers. It yields success and options for life. Just look at the uber nerdy and tell me how uncool the iPhone, Macbook, Zune, Lord of the Rings, Guitar Hero, Spiderman, X-Men and so on, and so forth are now. The owners, developers, and creators are rolling in cash.

Many meatheads don't end up far. They are still located in same place where you went to high school, still going to their community college for the 6th year, knocking up the girl down the street, and working in used car dealership. Here's a measure stick for your life: if you are still doing the same since high school, you are not going far.

Is it ironic that those who made fun of nerds are the same people who sucked at school? Those who couldn't wrap their heads around algebra, American history, Mark Twain, or photosynthesis, instead made fun of those who put the work down to understand it, are same people who doing what? Nothing. Shocking, right?

I know, I can't judge. Our society insist we cannot judge. We can make fun of nerds, but we can't judge meatheads. Well, I just did.

Thank you.