Take a glimpse into the mind of King Garbage, an artist, producer, and local Ashevillian. This is what he had to say to ten questions from the Imprint team.
1. What would you say influences your work the most?
I love good movies, objectively good movies. Fantastically impossible, unrepeatable feats of human will. Movies take more hands and money to produce than music, so it’s inspiring to watch something that turned out good, as the act of moviemaking makes music look easy. Audio and visual together is such a difficult world, and yet make the best of drugs. A question I like to ask is, can you produce visuals from music? That to me is a goal, reversing the formula, that is a challenge. Try to make something that makes you see and feel, it’s heady and yet you can’t fake it. You gotta push hard over long periods of time to make something cool. Can the music be an Obi-Wan inspired hologram that you open up in 200 years and see what someone was saying/feeling? Who cares? I’ma sucker for a good flick that makes you feel! #inspired
2. What keeps you in Asheville?
Asheville is cool, Bi-Lo in Black Mountain was my favorite place in the whole world, but that’s gone now. Hopey has stumbled from the sweet and serene path imo, so now I like West AVL ingles (#WINGLES) and Patton/Leicester HWY ingles (#PLINGLES). Some of the most underrated shit happens in this town, and no one even talks about it, and that drives me wild. Portland is frothing at the mouth to be this boring and cool. Check out Cowboys at Westgate, or Oriental Pavilion, or Yoshida Express, or Candler just in general, these are experiences you just will not want to have anywhere else. These are the reasons I love you Asheville, my sweet little suckling cinnamon bun.
3. What’s your most treasured piece of art?
Hmm, I got my van from Mike Holstein- he plays with Holly Hopkins (singer), and Jay Moore (in MeHim), so we were building guitars and my truck engine blew out, he’s out in Marion- which isn’t getting any closer to the highway btw, so he sold me my sweet angel- Hildy. She’s grey, she’s reliable, and her gentle ceiling lays low like a divorce court mandated safety blanket. I got rid of the 2 middle seats for the space. Hildy is my finest work of art, she makes me proud. I strive to work as hard as she does. She is my sweet gentle chariot.
4. What advice would you give to an artist that is currently in a creative rut or low point?
Yes ruts are part of it, there are more ruts than there is road. Don’t expect anything. Never stop looking, it literally never stops, try to be elastic but stick to your guns, know which is which and so on. If you are good at learning, and can take a punch and keep moving, then you got a shot. Your dad questions your true sexuality, also buy one of those cinnamon brooms at the exit in Ingles, it will bring you luck.
5. What are you listening to lately? – Artist/Album/Song on repeat
Bizarre Inc.- I’m Gonna Get You, dime it like Eddie, and show em why you came!
6. Favorite candy?
If this was the gym, a 5 pound plate would be somethin crazy, like an Exotic Skittles, or a lifesavers soft gummy, the color of catholic guilt themed stained glass. I’m sweatin just thinking about it. But you need these to find your sweet subtle gains. 10 pound plates equate to an almond joy-DARK CHOCOLATE- don’t come around here with milk chocolate, I will laugh you off the premises and banish you from my friend circle permanently. Those people make me fucking sick, they are disgusting, terrible, inbred milky celibates with a predictably unique desire for the occult.
35 pounders are a very large bag of gummy bears, they cost $6.55 at ingles and it’ll last you 2 days if you’re lucky.
45’s are generic Reeses from FRESH Market, oh my sweet lord baby Jesus, they are hotter than sin on pizza.
7. What’s an affirmation you live by?
Keep Goin’
8. How else do you like to express yourself artistically?
I like to draw but music takes up all the time, exercise and French seem to have found their way into the mix, and I love arguing with people, I think debate is a beautiful thing. Fast food drive-throughs have quite an exhilarating energy, if I made enough money I’d work at cook out, become a writer, and just collect stories from people, like a barnacle on a pirate ship.
9. Miniature golf or go-karts?
I’m a pure bred race kart man, I dominate the kart, I live and die by the kart.
Mini golf is for left brained happy wife happy life zealots yearning for the axe.
I grew up running in PA, 3 seasons a year. My friend’s uncle had a golf cart with a gas powered blender on the back. The golf cart had a snow mobile engine in it, so it could hit 80 on a straightaway. He used it to go to parties in the woods with his friends because he had committed insurance fraud, and people thought he couldn’t walk. Truth was he was drunk and just plain crashed a semi truck, the brakes were fine before he crashed it he said. So he was good with putting together go karts, and we would raise hell all day on those things, until the sun went down, then we would duct tape flash lights on them so we could see in the dark. So he lived next to the running track and we would take them up to the 4 lane rubber track and zip through the hurdles, the best of times.
Go Karts, because life is for the living.
10. Write a haiku from your current state of being.
Hungry heart and soul,
The Hot Dog King awaits you,
The griddle is hot
