Spilling the Ink with Red Robin Inker Ray McCarthy!

By: Aaron Z. Lee

Ray McCarthy is a comic book inker known for his work on DC Comics’ “Adventures of Superman”, “Batman: Shadow of the Bat” and Marvel Comics’ “X-Force” and “What If?” books. After a hiatus from the comic book industry to go back to school, Mccarthy has begun inking regularly again on issue number six of the DC comic book “Red Robin”.

When did you decide that you wanted to work in comic books?

Hmmm. I didn’t start reading comic books till I was probably around 8 years old, but I did fall in love with the medium right away. I would say right around 8 or 9 years old. As I progressed from there, I started drawing my own little cartoons and comics for my family. You might say I had a “captive” audience.

Who were your heroes in the field of comic book illustration when you were growing up?

Without a doubt it would have to be Walt Simonson at the very top of the list. I actually corresponded with him by mail and he was always very supportive. It was great when I finally got my first big break into the comic book industry and one of my first conventions was working alongside him and his wife. Other illustrators I looked up to were Bernie Wrightson for his incredible ink work and Ernie Colon who had a style that wasn’t that different from Simonson. Both Colon and Simonson were slick and stylish and had ties with the commercial art and design industry.

What was your big break into the world of comic books?

I think working in the production department was my big break. Starting from a bottom department and getting to see the inner workings of DC really helped guide me and make connections I would need later on. Eventually I convinced Mike Carlin to give me a shot over Curt Swan and that helped pave the way to finally go freelance. When I was eventually given some covers to do over Travis Charest, that pretty much booted me into the comic artist arena. All of the sudden I became well known for my detailed work as an inker.

How would you describe the job of an inker?

Wizard magazine asked me this question and I still stick to my answer. Inkers are like the punctuation on a sentence. The sentence can stand alone, but the punctuation defines it and gives it clarity. Our job is to make sure that the penciller is shown in the best light possible, while at the same time helping out the story as much as possible. You want to really make sure that the pencils are clear and crisp (depending on the style) and also that perspective and lighting is given the right amount of detail.

What are your tools of the trade as an inker?

My tools are a Raphael brush size #1, a set of rapidograph pens, a jar of white-out, and a magic rub eraser. I also have many different circle and oval templates and rulers. Last but not least is my computer as most of the work nowadays is scanned and uploaded.

What is a day in the life of an inker like?

I wake up around 6:30am to get my kids fed and put on the school bus. Then I’ll drink a cup of coffee, have breakfast and catch up on the news. I start work around 8:30, and then I usually work till around 11pm at night and sometimes later. I’ll take an hour break here and there just to get away from the desk, but you’re talking long hours when it comes to freelance. You have to be disciplined and stick to your deadlines.

After a hiatus from comic books you’ve decided to take up inking duties on “Red Robin” how did this come about?

I scratched up some new samples and then traveled to New York City to visit the DC offices in person. I have more than a couple of friends that still work there, so I was able to get shown around. Previously I had called up some editors so that I was able to schedule my appointments all for one day. While I was there I ran into Mike Marts who was familiar with my work from years ago. He gave me a story in the upcoming Batman: 80 page Giant and then I got a break on the first cover by Marcus To. Mike and Janelle really liked what I did, so it was a matter of seeing if I could do this on a regular basis. Things worked out and I got offered the gig. I still have to see what Dexter Vines did on issue #7 to see what the difference was. I have no idea whether Dexter was just a short job, or whether they were considering him for this book also.

How has the industry changed since you last inked a comic book regularly?

It’s very computerized now. Everything I do is scanned and uploaded to a secure FTP site. I eventually want to play around and get a tablet so that I can try and digitize my inking.

Who is your favorite comic book character?

Now that’s a good question! This is really the first time I’ve actually sat and thought about it. I really liked the old Manhunter character and I think he wasn’t really handled very well. I also like the Rom: spacenight series by Marvel though that really dates me. Hellblazer by Vertigo has been a fun series, as well as Sandman. That’s really a tough call! There are so many interesting characters, and some haven’t had their full potential utilized yet.

Who are some of your favorite artists you’ve worked with?

Barry Kitson was great just because he was such a personable guy. He would give you the shirt off his back. If you are talking art, I loved the stuff I did with Travis Charest and also Jim Cheung had a really nice style on X-force.

Who are a few artists that you’d love to work with?

Adam Kubert would be a good one. Jim Lee, or Gene Ha would be a few others.

What advice would you give to aspiring comic book artists?

Be persistent. You need to have a thick skin and learn how to take criticism. (Not all of it is constructive!) Learn how to work quickly and efficiently as you’ll have some nasty deadlines! Don’t always take the direct route. Sometimes it’s great to get some other printing experience under your belt before approaching one of the big comic book companies. It shows you are professional and you can get published.

What is your favorite part about being an inker?

The freedom of being a freelancer is a really great perk. Also the comic book culture itself. I love the fans and the friends that I know in the industry. It’s really a great medium to be part of! There’s nothing like the excitement of a big comic-con with all of the fans and special guests. There’s so much to see!

The Brighton Port Authority - Superman

The Flaming Lips - Waiting For a Superman

Party Down with Arcade Eden!

The UK's brother-sister duo Arcade Eden, Lawrence and Clare Welling, sound like a funky amalgam of The Ting Tings and Crystal Castles. Their jam "Black Light" is set for a December 7th release. If you're in the mood for some deer antler disco balls and some high waisted sparkly shorts check them out.

I just can't get over those sparkly shorts... is this a new trend? Am I morphing into a grandpa, overly concerned with dress of today's youth? Either way I'm eager to hear more from these two.

Arcade Eden - Black Light (I Haunt Wizards Remix)

Arcade Eden Myspace

Tahiti 80 are Buzzing with Activity!

French band Tahiti 80 is set to release their fourth studio album “Activity Center” on November 24th. These feisty Frenchmen have crafted another euphoric pop masterpiece, rich with chiming guitars, twinkling keyboards and waves of pure fist pumping pop rock. From the opening track “24x7 boy” it’s clear we’re in for a bit of a changeup from their last album, 2005’s “Changes” as the band has opted to forgo the big beats that won them a spot on the 2007 FIFA official video game with their single “Big Day” and have steered towards a rawer live band sound. Don’t fret party-goers, there are still beats to bop along to, just pushed back in the mix slightly.

Tahiti 80 formed in 1993 in Rouen, France and is made up of vocalist and multi instrumentalist Xavier Boyer, guitarist Mederic Gontier, drummer Sylvain Marchand, and bassis Pedro Resende. Although they’ve been making music since 1993, Tahiti 80 first caught my attention with their 1999 single “Heartbeat” which rides along on a bubbling synth line and skittering beats that are perfect for a rollerskating rink. Their 2005 release “Fosbury” was another experiment in finely produced danceable rock songs with a thumping electronic twist and some gentle little folk songs peppered in to round out the tracklisting.

Once “Activity Center” gets rolling it really doesn’t slow down, like a horse chomping at the bit, Tahiti 80 plays potential singles one right after another. First it’s the contagious love tune “All Around” that wouldn’t be out of place on a montage video of people enjoying an afternoon at an amusement park. Then it’s their actual first single “Unpredictable” where Boyer laments over a woman in his life who is, you guessed it, unpredictable. The cut and paste animated promotional video for the tune featuring Boyer navigating the watercolored French countryside searching for his lost love accents the tune perfectly with its glittering crescendo and cheesy smirks and winks. Then it’s on to the guitar squealing “Brazil” that should get even the most rigid music listener tapping at least one toe. Following that the French quartet drops the beats per minute down a bit for the swaying slow song “Fire Escape.” Not wanting to lose your attention, Tahiti 80 quickly diverts you to the progressive funk of “One Parachute”. Following this slow growing number are a few tracks that are finely made but don’t stick as much as the earlier songs. It’s not until “Come Around” that the listener’s attention is grabbed again with energetic guitar riffs and a frenetic horn section as Boyer earnestly requests someone to “Come Around”. From here the album floats to its conclusion with the gently jangly “Whistle” before coming to a full stop with “Ear to the Ground”, a song that captures perfectly the mood of a lazy late afternoon walk through fallen leaves.

“Activity Center” distills both Tahiti 80’s precocious songwriting and raucous playing into one easily digestible package. There moments of pure melodic beauty and moments of absolute wall of noise bliss, but it never gets too far away from the cleanly produced songs that Tahiti 80 has become known for. My hypothesis for their newfound embrace of their live sound is that, like their fellow French band Phoenix, who also put out an excellent album this year with “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix”, they grew tired of depending on programming and electronics for so much of their sound and just wanted to play their tunes. Tahiti 80 sounds like they’re having so much fun on this album, who could blame them for dropping the processed Casio beats and going live with their uplifting bubble gum pop meets pop rock tunes.

Tahiti 80 - One Parachute

Tahiti 80 - Whistle

Tahiti 80 Myspace

Exclusive Interview with Jimmy Gianopolis of Pretty Good Dance Moves!

I had a chance to correspond with Jimmy from the up and coming electro dance group Pretty Good Dance Moves (PGDM) about the beginnings of his band their ties to Bjorn from Peter Bjorn and John and what's in store for their future.

How did you guys meet up and form "Pretty Good Dance Moves"?

We are old friends. Aaron had a ton of old vintage synthesizer and keyboards and actually lived below a recording studio. I picked up a few drum machines and learned how to use them. Together we started making music. I really wanted to get some female vocals on our tracks so I called my friend Genevieve and she brought it.

How did the name "Pretty Good Dance Moves" come about?

We started making music just for kicks and wanted a name that was "Pretty Good". So we came up with Pretty Good Dance Moves. Originally I think our intentions were to make basement thumping, electro screaming, punk anthems.... It didn't exactly end up quite there.

Why not name yourselves "Really Good Dance Moves"? Do you feel that there is value in being modest about your fancy footwork?

To be honest i dont think either of us can really dance with out trampling those around us. However, i think... I think... Aaron thinks he is a good dancer.

Your sound is a great combination between beats, pleasing melodies and heartfelt lyrics that's on par with fine work by artists like Dntel and Sally Shapiro, who inspires you to make beautiful music?

We are huge fans of Kraftwerk, Album Leaf and bands like that. Aaron and I both have a pretty thick collection of deep cuts that we enjoy regularly. I do like Jimmy Tamborello and what he does with Dntel. I watched this youtube clip of him showing off his gear in his home studio, pretty fresh.

Bjorn from PB&J appears on your newest track "Leave Me Alone" how did you get him in on the track? Is it true that he also plays keyboards in the band?

Ha ha, no he does not play keyboards in the band but he has a bunch of his bands gear stashed at my place here in Brooklyn and I did do a little tracking with his Casiotone MT-68. I ended buying one off of eBay for 50 bucks! I met Bjorn a few years back in some basement bar in the east village. We liked each others music i guess, we talked about collaborating together. About 6 months later I sent him some tracks and "Leave Me alone" was cut.

Your video for "Demons Dancing" looks like it was a blast to put together, what was the process of making that video like?

Kristen [Schaal of Flight of the Concords fame] dug the track so I asked her to be in the music video, that was the easy part. Nick was the hard one to convince. I saw him at some dive having some sort of dance off, it was weird, it was amazing! I told him I was shooting a video in a few weeks and asked him if he would be in it, he responded by saying; "I don't do videos, sorry." It took a little convincing and a few beers for him to say yes but he agreed to do it. We're buds now. They were both a blast to work with. I remember it was really hot out and I had to catch a flight about 3 hours after we all met up to shoot it. We shot it in about 2. I have tons of great footage that didn't make the video, super funny shit !

Do you guys get out and DJ at clubs? If so, what's the most enjoyable aspect of doing that?

We do actually. People pay us to play tunes we like, its amazing! We have DJ'd opening for bands that we dig like Crystal Castles and Raveonettes. It's definitely a perk, getting to spin at rad clubs.

Your live show on KEXP was compelling with all kinds of electronic and organic (Flute!) eclectic bells and whistles, are you planning a tour anytime soon?

Oh man! I flew in to Chicago a few nights before we did that and we had never performed live before, never even practiced really. The flute was a little joke between all of us, kind of like "lets see if we can pull this off"! Our live set is a lot different now but that was really fun and nerve wrecking! We plan on touring in the near future, we love playing for boys and girls.

Pretty Good Dance Moves - Demons Dancing

Pretty Good Dance Moves - Leave Me Alone (Ft Bjorn from PB&J)

Pretty Good Dance Moves Myspace

Make Way for Glide! An Exclusive Interview with the Dark Dance Rockers from Chicago

It seems that Chicago is bursting at the seams with awesome new bands. Add to that list The Glide, whose new album "A Future for the Dead" is a celebration of everything sweaty, synthy, and rockin'. The band is made up of singer/guitarist Darius Lafkas, keyboardist/programmer Jason Little, lead guitarist Hector Segura, bassist Nick Lazas and percussionist Trevor Warren. Their core shaking bass, persistent beat and off kilter guitar solos are perfect for the Halloween season. Very Fun, but just dangerous enough to be exciting. I spoke with them about the origins of their band, their inspiration and their wildest moments touring so far.

Where does the name "The Glide" come from?

Darius noticed a function on a synth/keyboard called "glide" which controls the "slide" between two notes, like sliding on a guitar, or portamento. Later on I found this to be ironic since we became a really electronic oriented band.

How did all of you guys get together to form the band?

Most of us were friends in high school and played in different bands together.

You guys have a very dark dance rock sound, beyond obvious comparisons to The Moving Units and Muse what are some of your influences? and some we might not expect?

We actually never heard of The Moving Units until you mentioned it, they're pretty groovy though. Most of our relevant influences would range from old schoolers like New Order, Dépêche Mode and The Cure and more recently The Faint, Presets, Muse and Nine Inch Nails. Some of our favorite artists who may have not influenced the music directly would be Tom Waits, Pink Floyd, Phil Collins and Tears for Fears.

The Chicago music scene seems to be exploding with great new bands, how does it feel to be living in such a talented city?

It's great being in a city where the local scene actually means something to concert goers. We started off playing shows to 10-20 people and now play shows to 200-300 people and it's amazing. That's only possible because you can fit 3-4 awesome bands on a bill

In regard to your songwriting process, do you have really specific ideas about a song and its production or do you leave some room for improvisation?

Darius writes 90% of the music on his own at home. He's really gifted at finding great sounds and working out parts until they feel right. The rest of the band comes to writing sessions, different members at different times, and we discuss parts and composition and work out the concept/lyrics. We record everything ourselves so most of what you hear on the album was intended, we don't really rely on "happy surprises" that pop up when recording in a limited amount of time.

Despite your aggressive sound, you still have a few songs that are more or less love songs. Would you describe yourselves as romantics?

Absolutely. We're all really big softies on the inside, we just need an outlet to make observations about the things that bother us in this cruel world.

What's the wildest moment you've experienced at a show so far?

We were playing a show to about 200 people and in a really rocking part of a song the circuit blew, we assumed because we rocked too hard. The audience chanted "bring it back!" over and over until the power came back and we picked up from exactly where the power blew. It was a pretty awesome feeling to have people chanting for us.

What's the weirdest moment at a show you've experienced so far?

My PC malfunctioned at our record release show and a mutual friend of ours who happens to be a PC tech and happened to be in the front row hopped up on stage and fixed the computer, only sacrificing 10 minutes of our set. If he wasn't there, we wouldn't of had a show.

The Glide - This is Everlasting

The Glide Myspace