"Lux Interior passed away." I heard those words and wanted to yell across the room. A whaling banshee in heels. A creature from the black leather lagoon. A legend at the top of cult status and here in 2009 he has passed on.

The music of The Cramps made you want to hold on for dear life while each chord made you feel a little closer to insanity. The primal beats raging through your body like a hypnotic time warp. No one was safe from wanting to shake their hips like some cave-dwelling beast just discovering fire for the first time. Lyrics always dirty and devious, dominating you into submission, but never once leaving you wanting to yell any kind of safe word because it always just felt too damn good.

I will surely miss seeing those rockin' bones scream and hiss in the beautiful catastrophic frenzy that was and always will be Lux Interior. I always thought that if there's one thing I'll miss when I die it's definitely going to be the music, but I know Lux will be there waiting for us all for the ultimate and biggest show of all the ages to come.

R.I.P. Lux Interior

1946 - 2009

you'll truly be missed by us all.

Jeffrey Lee Pierce Documentaries

I really wanted to like 'Ghost On The Highway'. The whole experience of seeing the film screened at the Redcat theater a couple years back in LA was all in all a good one. Everyone there seemed to be genuine Gun Club fans, and most people had actually known Jeffrey at one point or another. I went the second night of the screening. I had actually missed a few friends of mine step up to the mike the night before to sing covers of Gun Club songs backed by members of the original line-up; a truly surreal experience for them, I'm sure. The second night brought Kid Congo on guitar and Thalia Zedek on vocals. Zedek couldn't have been a better choice, really. Set aside the fact that I was already an admirer of her work, her somewhat androgynous, world weary voice fit Jeffrey's songs perfectly. Her unpretentious approach also really added to the whole experience. You could easily tell that she wasn't there to do anything but pay homage to the man. (By the way, if you haven't given Thalia Zedek a listen, you really should. She's an oddly overlooked talent.)
The film itself left me feeling unsatisfied. First of all, there was no live footage of the band throughout, nor any footage of Jeffrey, to no fault of the director. They simply couldn't obtain the footage legally. The accounts of Jeffrey from past band mates pretty much ranged from cynical to negative. There were obviously painful memories that had not healed themselves. That's okay, proper documentaries aren't meant to appease the fan. And surely, any aware Gun Club fanatic would know that Jeffrey was a sometimes volatile eccentric.
My problem really lies with the fact that there weren't many contrarian views. I felt like Jeffrey's body of work had taken a back seat to stories of him pissing people off and ego tripping. Luckily I've had the opportunity to discuss Jeffrey with my friend Cypress Grove, who recorded the album 'Ramblin' Jeffrey Lee with Cypress Grove and Willie Love' and who was very good friends with him. Where were the voices like Cypress' in the documentary? People that understood him, and saw his genius?
Cypress sent a copy of "Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues" to the Swampland house. It's a slightly less known Jeffrey Lee Pierce documentary that's out now. It's somewhat voyeuristic and subtle. Jeffrey diligently sits at the guitar working on blues songs. His passion shines through. There are scenes where he seems lonely and lost. Others where he's wielding swords and talking history. Cypress and Nick Cave have cameo appearances...two people that were there for him at his lowest points. I get the impression by watching this footage that it's a pretty authentic representation of Jeffrey's character. Of course, he knew he was being filmed, and a certain amount of posturing is expected. However, this film get's Cypress' seal of approval, and that tells me that it's worth watching.
I'm not discouraging anyone from giving 'Ghost on the Highway' a chance. I would however, take it for what it's worth. I definitely recommend "Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues" to any die hard fan.

Why Swampland exists

Just a little back story to give you some sense of our intentions. 

There were a small group of us who felt connected by our interests, and some deeper quality. Old, rusty, broken down things peaked our interest. Found bones, stretches of isolated desert, abandoned buildings, books brimming with information, paintings and woodcarvings, words dripping with truth, obsession, love and death. And the music...always the music. No other form of expression seems quite so complete. The words, the moods, the sounds, the phrasing, the energy, the images evoked... music really is the backdrop for it all. 

Our passions were so brimming that they needed an outlet. A place where we could essentially link our interests. Make them relate. Allow artists to find each other. A collective experience, where we could all stimulate each other into realizing our dreams, no matter how chaotic and possibly destructive they might be. In other words, we aim to gather together a community of relentless artists who seek something other than the mundane and derivative. We are all outsiders here, but there might be enough of us to build some sort of shelter.  

Hello from the Swamp

After a long delay and much deliberating over whether or not we should put Swampland into print, we decided on creating this here blog as a way to update all things Swampland on a more consistent basis in between actual issues, which you will be able to view at swamplandzine.net. 

Please keep checking back as we will be updating this page frequently!