AMP Magazine Blogs

Built on Respect - heidiminx and Porcel get to talking.

2009-07-07T23:03:11-05:00

So, for my first blog, I thought it would be cool to talk with Porcel (Youth of Today/Judge).
After a random late night call, I realized that we shared some similar viewpoints, and life experiences—and thought the best way to convey them was with us asking each other questions.
Here’s the first part!

JP: Heidi, I met you briefly at the Black n Blue Bowl this year when Bold played, you were dragging me out of the crowd every 10 minutes or so to do interviews in the back room! Strange, because a few days later I was flipping through Amp magazine at Borders and I saw your interview in there and I was thinking “check it out, the interview girl got interviewed!” I must say, I was really impressed with the article and your work with Built on Respect. How did you first get into Buddhism?

HM: I’m laughing over your first question. It was funny, because you were actually one of the people I wanted to discuss Built on Respect with at BNB Bowl, and at the end of the day I said, “Shoot, I didn’t get to talk to Porcel because I was handling the interviews.” I guess everything comes full circle. But, to answer your question, I was given the book “The Teaching of Buddha” by my father MANY years ago. It sat on my shelf for ages, until one hot summer night, my friend Ames and I were sitting on the front stoop of her building. I realized I had hit a brick wall and wasn’t really learning anything, and that I desperately missed it. I started to read that book, and actually tried to recruit Ames to a couple of dharma classes, but that didn’t really work. Funny part of that story though, I inadvertently introduced Ames to Noah Levine, who several years later, became her husband.

OK, word association—as quickly as you can, tell me what these mean
to you:

JP:
Spirituality: The eternal occupation of the soul. By that I mean we are all spirit souls inhabiting these different bodies and preoccupied with our temporary pursuits in this world, but deep down what is the activity that will nurture our true, eternal essence? Finding the answer to that question is what spirituality is really all about.

Religion: Religion to me is when we try to take spiritual pursuits and box them within the confines of culture and nationality, which generally leads to sectarianism and an “us vs. them” mentality, and at worst people flying planes into the World Trade Center in the name of God. Better to focus on what brings us together instead of what separates us.

Dharma: I love the Vedic aphorism “dharmashya sukashya,” which basically translates as “Always try to do the right thing and you’ll always be happy.”

Dogma: Whether you’re talking about religious dogma or even something like veganism or straight edge, getting caught up in rules and regulations without understanding the purpose behind them or where they are ultimately trying to bring you to leads to fanaticism.

Music: Music to me is a very spiritual thing, in that they both have the same objective, which is to take what’s in your heart and express it.

And, which two do you think go together the best, why? See above answer!

My return question… well I want to know more about Built on Respect and your plans with it but we’ll get to that. First I’ll hit you with this (I have this theory that you can tell A LOT about people by the way they answer these simple questions)… What are you top 5 favorite records, books and movies?

HM:
Records:
Social D - Mommy’s Little Monster
Dirty Water - Dirty Water
Bruce Springsteen - Devils and Dust
Warzone - Don’t Forget the Struggle, Don’t Forget the Streets The Who - Quadrophenia

Books:
Lexicon Devil
Dharma Punx
Valley of the Dolls
Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
Memoirs of a Geisha

Movies:
Samsara
Gone with the Wind
The Commitments
Sunset Boulevard
Another State of Mind

So after hitting up your MySPace - I realized we been to the same Maharaja’s palace in Jaipur. That place was amazing! What IS your favourite thing about India?

JP: India is awesome because in the small villages I usually go to, even though materially speaking the people are poor, life is simple and uncomplicated and because they based their lives around their spiritual beliefs, the people are happy and treat each other well.

Contrast that with America where we have all the money and comforts in the world but a lot of the time people are depressed, overweight, stressed out and addicted to alcohol or some other kind of medication, legal or illegal, just to get through the week. Every time I fly back from India and into JFK I just get the feeling that America has become such a consumer “rat race” of a society that we’ve overlooked some very fundamental life lessons that people elsewhere in the world take for granted. Kind of refreshing to get that perspective.

So back to you… Do you think that being into punk somehow prepared you or laid the groundwork for you becoming a Buddhist and do you see any similarities between Buddhism and the punk ethos?

HM: I get asked this quite a bit, I actually just commented on it in an interview I did with Shawna Kenny, who I think you know as well! Here are my thoughts:

I think that punk was always about questioning: Is this right? Is this just? Can it be changed? When I was younger, I knew things were wrong, or unjust, but I wasn’t skillful in my approach to change them. So, as most young punks, I was angry. I went to shows, I was destructive to myself, I knew something needed to change, but I wasn’t sure how yet.

Dharma taught me a lot, even things like Lojong, or Tonglen — patience, and taking and giving. Once I got a firmer grasp on understanding anger — how to transform it — then a whole new world opened up.

I think punk taught me how to question, and dharma taught me how to answer, so the two are inseparable to me.

So - what IS happening on the music front for you?

JP: Bold is going to Europe in August and then we play Liskfest in California on Sept. 5th. After that there’s been rumblings about going to Japan and Indonesia in February, we’ll see how that goes. I may start a new band if I can find some time between earning a living, my kids, my clothing company (truetilldeathhq.com) and other
responsibilities. I remember being young and unencumbered, ready to rock the world without a care in the world—what a special time that was! Now that I’m older I’ve traded some of that for my kids—and I wouldn’t have it any other way! Love’s a funny thing…

THE RAVEN’s Official Blog (Entry #2)

2009-06-12T18:53:10-05:00

Hoi Hoi,

Just wanted to let you guys know a couple of exciting things that are happening for us. One we are officially releasing our E.P all over Europe on July 3rd! So you will be able to walk into your favorite store (probably not available at a sex shop!) and pick a copy of our E.P! This E.P has a completely different design then the one your used to seeing, this one comes with a 6 page booklet with lyrics and pictures and so on.

We are also going to be hitting the studio this year and start recording our full length album. Be very excited! We are

The second exciting news is that we have a shot at having our song One Last Time, on New Moon’s soundtrack.

If you want to help us out please visit Youtube - The Raven - One Last Time and watch the video and tell the crew at New Moon (they are listening) that we should be on the soundtrack. And if you’re not convinced check out some of the trailers that fans have made with our song in them.

P.S: I got a new tattoo.

Rock on

-Davey-

Confessions of a Merch Dude : Joey Bradford of Thieves & Liars (8th Entry)

2009-05-14T17:47:47-05:00

Confessions of a Merch Dude

Follow Joey Bradford (Bassist/Vocalist of Thieves and Liars) as he’s on the road with Dredg on their North American tour, as Dredg’s official merch guy.

MAY 14th, 2009:

San louis obisbo today. Abc gum is all the rage.

ROCK&ROLL

Joey B

Confessions of a Merch Dude : Joey Bradford of Thieves & Liars (7th Entry)

2009-05-12T17:46:03-05:00

Confessions of a Merch Dude

Follow Joey Bradford (Bassist/Vocalist of Thieves and Liars) as he’s on the road with Dredg on their North American tour, as Dredg’s official merch guy.

MAY 12th, 2009:

Just got a trailor blow out in fresno. Load in is in 20 mins and were stuck in some neighborhood… awesome.

ROCK&ROLL

Joey B

Confessions of a Merch Dude : Joey Bradford of Thieves & Liars (7th Entry)

2009-05-07T17:42:20-05:00

Confessions of a Merch Dude

Follow Joey Bradford (Bassist/Vocalist of Thieves and Liars) as he’s on the road with Dredg on their North American tour, as Dredg’s official merch guy.

MAY 7th, 2009:

Yesterday was my birthday. This morning I woke up trapped in my bunk that was entrirely taped up and covered with cardboard… I love being the merch guy!

It was a sweet way to spend the last night on the bus. Cali bound!

ROCK&ROLL

Joey B

Confessions of a Merch Dude : Joey Bradford of Thieves & Liars (6th Entry)

2009-05-01T21:29:59-05:00

Confessions of a Merch Dude

Follow Joey Bradford (Bassist/Vocalist of Thieves and Liars) as he’s on the road with Dredg on their North American tour, as Dredg’s official merch guy.

MAY 1st, 2009:

Last night a new opening band joined the dredg tour called Judgment Day. They are freaking amazing! Violin, Cello, and drums. CHECK IT OUT! So stoked to watch them every night.

http://www.myspace.com/judgementday

ROCK&ROLL

Joey B

Confessions of a Merch Dude : Joey Bradford of Thieves & Liars (5th Entry)

2009-04-30T21:38:43-05:00

Confessions of a Merch Dude

Follow Joey Bradford (Bassist/Vocalist of Thieves and Liars) as he’s on the road with Dredg on their North American tour, as Dredg’s official merch guy.

APRIL 30th, 2009:

From day off on the panama beach to rainy day in baton rouge. This weather is beat! Check out our sweet ride though!

Rock&roll

Joey b

THE RAVEN’s Official Blog (Entry #1)

2009-04-28T20:01:36-05:00

Confessions of a Merch Dude : Joey Bradford of Thieves & Liars (4th Entry)

2009-04-27T17:28:51-05:00

Confessions of a Merch Dude

Follow Joey Bradford (Bassist/Vocalist of Thieves and Liars) as he’s on the road with Dredg on their North American tour, as Dredg’s official merch guy.

APRIL 28th, 2009:

By the way. We met paull rudd a couple days back in the chelsea market in New York!

So I was walking the dudes to the major leauge baseball studio to do an interview for major leauge soccer… apparently they share a building. Anyway, on our way there, we passed a little coffee spot in chelsea market and noticed paul rudd(every funny movie you have seen in the past 5 years) was sippin esspresso in plain view of the world! As much as we didn’t want to be “that guy” dredg’s publicist (who was with us) realized the rarity of the situation and asked him to snap a photo with us.

Dude turned out to be awesome and asked about the band and chatted a bit. It wasn’t until we parted ways when I realized how rad it would have been to say “I love you man” or “clueless was a masterpiece” I blew it...

After paul rudd, we went up for the mls interview and the dudes had me sit in for the questioning for my 3rd dredg press apearance. Video to come soon. East coast is legit.

Rock&roll

Joey b

Confessions of a Merch Dude : Joey Bradford of Thieves & Liars (3rd Entry)

2009-04-26T17:25:31-05:00

Confessions of a Merch Dude

Follow Joey Bradford (Bassist/Vocalist of Thieves and Liars) as he’s on the road with Dredg on their North American tour, as Dredg’s official merch guy.

APRIL 26th, 2009:

Just opened my eyes and looked at my phone. Its 1pm… its getting to the part of tour where I forget mcdonalds stops serving breakfast at 1030am.

Day off today. Time to catch some florida raaays!

Rock&roll

Joey b