Eric Alcantara of SPIMA (interviewed May 2001) all photos courtesy of E. Alcantara

Give Me That (GMT): I hear you're a bit of a Jack Of All Trades. You play in bands, promote and organize shows, photography, DJ. on the college radio station, and now you're starting an online fanzine? Could you fill us in on all that you do?

Eric (E): Wow, I never considered myself a jack-of-all-trades but I've always considered myself to be spontaneous or else I'd probably die from boredom. As far as playing in bands, I have gone through many changes. I have been playing in the Honolulu underground for about a decade, playing everything from Punk, Hardcore, Indie and now Metal. Personally, I like to play in a more Progressive/Post Punk type sound when I start a band. Our last drummer was from Okinawa, I was really happy with our sound, we were called the Persephone Myth but we never got to play a show because he went back home after all of us graduated from college last fall. I like playing for Spima a lot though, the members and I have been good friends for a long time, the comradery is so strong we are like brothers. With Spima we have recorded, traveled and also play shows here locally. As far as organizing shows, most of my friends in the Hawaii scene are promoters, and sometimes, on my own accord, I like to scout for local talents. I have helped introduce some of the most interesting bands, talents that some of the local scene tries to duplicate but can never really get it right. I have never really put on shows at local venues, more or less have had big kegger parties with a lot of people and live music, and usually the response would be tremendous. As a DJ for KTUH, the University of Hawaii college radio, I have been doing it for that past two years, but I am currently on suspension right now for not doing my monthly commercials for the past year or so. (laughing) Oh well... Spima will be playing KTUH this coming Monday, May 21st. If you want to tune in via Internet, the site address is www.ktuh.hawaii.edu and we will be on from 10-11pm, Hawaiian time. I began my photography by taking pictures of bands at local venues, and I gained an interest in capturing "the moment", either on the dance floor or the energy put out by local talent. I would consider myself a photojournalist if anything, and from all of my experiences, it's a very fun and exciting career. All together I have been shooting for the past two years, but I still cannot believe the luck I have been getting. I will be having one of my photographs published in a hardbound book put together by the International Library of Photography. The book is entitled Digital Memories and will be out sometime late summer. They are publishing a photograph I took while I was in Minneapolis with Spima. As far as the publications I work for, I am a photographer for The University of Hawaii daily newspaper Ka Leo O Hawaii, Honolulu Weekly, Honolulu Magazine and The Associated Press (Hawaii bureau). I did a freelance gig for the St. Petersburg Times in Florida a few weeks back, and I'm also in the process of getting my portfolio together to attend the Eddie Adams Workshop in New York this October. To be honest with you, the idea for making an online magazine came out of nowhere. My actual intent was for me to put up my photography portfolio online, but for some reason I felt like there was so much more I could do with the space (try tripod.com if you haven't already...50MBs FREE!). It wasn't until a night of alcohol that Spima bass player, Keith, told me I should start a magazine. At first I sort of shrugged it off like another drunken idea by the mouth of my comrade, but I then actually reconsidered it. I figure this was a good way to utilize my BA in Literature & Creative Writing, and I still cant write worth shit! (laughing) and photography into another creative outlet. So, well I cheated cause I'm using web builder templates. (laughing) I redesigned the entire site and began Compendium. I have been getting submissions for articles, literature, and artwork from my friends, some here in Hawaii, and some across different parts of the mainland. I'm waiting for a few more submissions, and I can start finalizing it. I can't wait to publish the first issue of Compendium, I'm a little excited, hopefully it should be sometime soon.

Hutchinson

GMT: Could you fill us in on what the Eddie Adams Workshop is?

E: The Eddie Adams is a four-day workshop put together by the nation's leading photographers and editors. They represent organizations such as Newsweek, Time, National Geographic, US, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, People, Life, and Sports Illustrated to name a few. This year the workshop will be held in New York. The purpose of Eddie Adams is to create a forum in which an exchange of ideas, techniques, and philosophies can be shared between both established members and newcomers of the profession of picture journalism. Since I am starting a career of photojournalism, attending the Eddie Adams will be really good for me, but from what I hear, it's not an easy program to get into. Although annually they take a count of a hundred photographers, the competition is still pretty fierce. I just pray that they consider my application for this year's seminar.

GMT: Most of your pictures that I've seen have been in black & white. Do you prefer black & white over color photos?

E: Hmm, honestly that's a really hard one. Personally, for my portfolio, color images seem to tell the story much better, but there is still a strong presence with black and white. Nothing beats being in a dark room working with chemicals and breathing in the toxic fumes just to construct a decent image. Developing color in a dark room is not the same from what I've heard. As far as making prints, framing, displaying or just giving them away as gifts, I personally think that black and white is the way to go. Despite the photography industry going into digital media, it seems new age photographers, like myself, have to look into editing images via computer despite the dark room. Unfortunately, I think that film will become obsolete in the near future, and I would hate to see that happen.

GMT: What are some of your all time favorite live photos taken by someone else, sort of like famous photos?

E: I'm not to sure which image in particular I could call my favorite, I mean there are so many, but my favorite photographers of all time are Sebastio Salgado of National Geographic and Joel-Peter Witkin. Again, as far as the medium of photography is concerned, these two have constructed some of the most amazing photographs I have ever seen, all of them being black and white images. I was lucky to attend a talk and a presentation of Joel-Peter Witkin's work at the Contemporary Museum of Hawaii this spring. Ironically enough, the curator of the museum was a good friend of Witkin during grad school in New Mexico. He got to see Witkin evolve from a starving artist all the way to the photographic icon he is today. I remember at the talk, the curator of the museum dubbed Joel-Paul Witkin - The Last True Modernist. For many, his work is grotesque and a bit hard to look at, but for people intrigued by Witkin's images, they will call him genius.

GMT: What's your typical routine while DJing on KTUH Radio? Are you free to play what you want or do they give you a basic set list?

E: Aside from commercials and live announcements there is no set format really. The good thing working for KTUH is that since it's an alternative radio station, we can play anything that fits into our genre, my time slot is Rock. Like most college radio, every time slot is a different genre and most of the DJs provide their own music, most of the good vinyl and CDs have been stolen from guests brought in by the DJ, it's a shame. I am usually on every other Sunday night, I have a partner and we take turns from 9-12, Hawaiian time. I usually try to spin and play independently released music, but to be honest with you, I started off with the intent to play more of the Acid Jazz, Lounge and more mellow and downbeat tempo music of the Electronica genre. But I figure, hey, what the hell, I can't deny my Rock N Roll roots. Every now and then I invite members of local bands onto my show. It's a way for them to showcase their music, future gigs (even if that's against station regulations) and even allow audiences to hear what other music has influenced their style of playing. Sometimes when band members come onto my show, they don't want me to play their music, but I really enjoy playing their recordings because not only am I friends with a lot of people in the scene, I like to expose their talent to a different audience as opposed to the ones that only go to local shows. One of my favorite things about being a radio DJ is that I always get introduced to new music all the time. Be it by the mountains of records within the KTUH vinyl vault, or the wide arrangement of music my guests supply, I'm always discovering new music, I always get turned on to something new all the time. Sometimes it goes to show how small my world really is, and I'm sure there are eons and eons of really good talent that I haven't even heard yet. I guess you can say that KTUH (and my guests) helps me explore a lot of unchartered regions, both musically and creatively.

GMT: What are the last five CDs or records that you bought?

E: Last music I purchased was Naked Raygun's "Understand" and "Raygun", Tsunami's "Deep End" and Julie Plug's "Starmaker", all of these on compact disc. A friend of mine from Florida, Scott Bazar, also sent me a compendium of cassettes for a current project that he and his father (Steve) are working on. They are called Dog, which is very experimental sounding, and from what I've heard, it's a mixture of Ambient, Be Bop and random noises that Scott constructs with his guitar.

GMT: Which bands, past or present, would you say made things interesting for the Hawaii music scene? which band or bands lit the torch musically for you?

E: I was never around for the Cringer era, but there are handfuls of local bands that have really inspired me to pick up a guitar and start brainstorming. Hmm where should I begin? The most interesting bands to watch were F word C word, The Family Bazaar and Freak Hunt. F Word C Word and The Family Bazaar I have only seen once, But on the other hand Freak Hunt in a way had a Gwar-like stage presence. G-strings, raw steaks and I also remember one show where the members threw a bottle of salsa on the ground and were doing some slip and slide type performance during their set. Yeah, you could imagine how rotten that room smelt. Other bands that lit the torch for me musically was The Catalogs and The Power Pellets, both are defunct. The Catalogs to my opinion played the best pop punk I have ever heard, I remember when the Queers came down to Hawaii, Joe Queer like them so much, he even did a cover of the Catalog song "Another Girl" on their Don't Look Back Down album. Power Pellets were also so reminiscent to the Lookout Records sound, but had more of a Sludgeworth meets Crimpshrine meets Jawbreaker kind of sound. For more of the music I like to play now, I think it was local bands Daughter Element and Choda. Although both are broken up now, when they were around, I never missed a show. Both had that Postmodern Brit Pop Indie Rock sound, and were simply amazing to watch. I was very excited when our band at the time, Mr. Pink, did a show with them when Unwound came to Hawaii.

GMT: Who are some of your current favorite bands in Hawaii right now?

E: Currently, my favorite Hawaii bands are Kite Festival, The Alexander Supertramps and the Quadrophonix.

GMT: Which best describes the present day music scene in Hawaii: up & coming, the best that it's ever been, needs more support, the worst that it's ever been?

E: The early 90's were probably some of the best times I have ever endured. For me, this was also a transitional time in my life, I was just beginning to get to know people as well as establish myself in the local scene. Metal, Skate Punk, Oi and Ska were really popular sounds during this era. I guess it was way more fun back then, everybody who came out to local shows always had a good time, give or a take a skin head "boot party" or two. Yes, Hawaii has skin heads (laughing). The era that I think Hawaii had a pretty darn good scene was during the mid and latter half of the 90's, this was a time when some of the most innovative and experimental sounding bands were coming out. (laughing) when most of the locals band were influenced by Jawbreaker, is what we used to say. Man I don't think I have seen so many Blake Swarchenbach wanna-be's in my life, and I was one of them, I have to admit. (laughing) Popular sounds during this era were Power Pop Punk, Straight Edge Hardcore, and Indie Rock. The members of the band The Catalogs had a system were they would put on local shows and with the money saved up, they would fly bands from different labels out here to Hawaii. As promoters, they named themselves Productiones Picate El Culo or "Dig Your Ass Productions", a bit crude, but that's what they went by. For us Hawaii kids, we really never got too see many good acts from bigger labels like Lookout etc, but The Catalogs made this possible. So in a way, with big names like the Queers, Rhythym Collision, Steel Pole Bathtub, etc coming to Hawaii even promoters from local radio stations could not believe what Picate El Culo could accomplish with one computer, a telephone and cash saved up from local shows. The bands who played El Culo shows would sometimes gripe about how they wanted to get paid but would quickly shut their mouths when they found out they were opening for Mr. T Experience the following weekend. With Hawaii suddenly getting exposure to these mainland bands coming down to play local shows, the scene got bigger and a lot more people came out. Some local bands like National Product, Grapefruit, as well as a handful of others have been lucky enough to make it to bigger and better mainland labels. For me, the mid to latter 90's scene was probably also my most alcohol personified era as well. Man, you know, really I don't like the local scenesters nowadays, all young snotty pretentious little bastards who run around like they know everything. A lot of shit talking, especially with the local online message board, where it seems scenesters gain their popularity by "how many people can I piss off with one post" or who can "retort the wittiest". So far, I think this is probably the worst I have ever seen Hawaii's local underground, sometimes I don't want to play or even stay at shows. But whether I like it or not, these "young snotty pretentious little bastards" are the ones keeping it alive. Some of the better bands have either broken up, but a few of my current favorites are still around. Currently the music that's going around is Post-Metal, and still Indie Rock, and oh yeah, the Sleater Kinney/Riot Girl sound. I just hate hearing that word "emo" already. Most of my buddies from the early and mid 90's scene have either moved away, are completely drugged out, dead, or are just missing in action. When I got to shows now a days, I only talk to people of the older generation, and when I go to shows, I also feel like I'm back in high school again, many young faces. (laughing) maybe that's telling me its already time to move on.

GMT: How did you hook up with that wild man Tony from Blindside? I've heard a lot of stories about him, he was always referenced as Long Hair Tony. I always found that funny, what he's the only guy named Tony with long hair in Okinawa.

E: (laughing) wow! Tony and I go way back. Back in 92/93' when I was a senior in high school, a classmate of mine introduced me to him at a Sonic Youth/Mudhoney show here in Honolulu. From there on, we began a bond of constant Rock n Roll, alcohol and sukebeism. He is like a big brother to me, we have tried to start many projects together within the years, and Spima is the one that has stuck with all of them. A vivid memory I can recall is how he came to watch our band Another Crisis play. I remember in between songs I asked him where he parked since he was still in his uniform, he worked as a bus driver for a tourist agency at the time, that crazy motherfucker parked his tour bus right outside of the venue! (laughing) good ol Tony! The stories about him being a chick magnet are also true, Mr. Nampa as Weldon from Munchkins In The Can guys would call him. Maybe someday Tony will find a way to get us a tour bus of our own.

GMT: What are some of your favorite drinks?

E: (laughing) Damn, I'm hung over right now, believe it or not. Through the bottle, I really like drinking Newcastle, Guiness and Weinhards Ale. Mmm mmm, I'm getting thirsty just thinking about it. So far my favorite beer to drink on tap is the "Snake Bite" (Guiness and Woodpecker Cider) at Murphy's Bar and Grill here in Honolulu. If I'm in a mixed drink kinda mood, I prefer a Mandarin Absolut and Tonic or sometimes a Whiskey Sour, or two or three or...

GMT: Did the Chicken Katsu guys force feed that Weinhards Ale on you while Spima was in Minneapolis?

E: (laughing) naw man, not really. I mean it was there, a lot of it sometimes, but I've gained a taste for Weinhards Ale because that seems to be the beer of choice when I go out drinking with my buds here in Hawaii. I remember when I'd go to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I would see Weldon's rabbits chilling with the plastic or ceramic, I forgot which material, rabbit on top of the Weinhards beer boxes. It was pretty funny. Did I tell you his rabbits attacked me once? (laughing)
 

5. Peanuts or Pretzels?

I'm going with peanuts, probably because they burn longer.

6. Pizza Hut or Dominos?

Good Lord!!! Can you believe that I worked as a delivery guy at Pizza Hut for like 5 years! The money was decent, but I had to suck in my pride when customers would call and then laugh after I greeted them with, "Hello, Pizza Hut delivery, Home of the Stuffed Crust! This is Eric speaking, how may I help you?" The pain I tell you, THE PAIN!

7. Al Green or Marvin Gaye?

Marvin Gaye, without a doubt.

8. Kelly Hu or Lucy Liu?

No way man, "Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon's" Zhang ZiYi

9. Bill Murray or Steve Martin?

Dood, Bill Murray Rocks.

HOME