A Letter From The Editor

A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

(photo by Stephanie Smith)

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Just like the McRib, for better or worse… Buddyhead is back!

I'm writing this letter cuz it's been a while.

Just wanting to say hi again and welcome in the old school heads from back in the day, as well as my new friends alike. I started this website back in 1998 out of sheer boredom and with the intent of shedding light on things I didn't think got enough attention. I also wanted to make my friends and myself laugh our asses off. Well, fast-forward a few lifetimes, it’s now 2024 and this site has been gone for a while yet it seems no one has taken our place and there’s still a glaring lack of independent voices in our corporately dominated world. So here we are to fill that void again just like we've been filling up your mom, you're welcome chat!

So like that, we back.

We back to combat mediocrity, stamp out wackness and to spread art and knowledge to the best of our collective ability.

BUDDYHEAD DOT COM

Gonna start putting content up on here now that the site is built. Shout out to everyone from the Buddyhead discord who made this place happen. I love ya all for your help and continued imput cuz this spot is very much a work in progress.

For starters, we are going to focus on three main sections around here. News/Gossip, Zine and Reviews. The first one, News/Gossip is just what it sounds like, news pieces and due to popular request - the classic Buddyhead Gossip section will also be returning in some form or another. No promise that'll be funny. The zine area will be for any written / video features, interviews, essays and the like. The reviews section will be much like the old Buddyhead record reviews except we’ll not just be reviewing music, we’re opening it up to reviews of everything and anything. Send us things to review! And yes, the Axl Rose rating system is returning! We’re giving the people what they want finally!

If you wanna be down and think you got what it takes to be part of Buddyhead: we are currently accepting applications for designers, writers and content creators who share this vision and would like to contribute to this project. If you are into not getting paid and down for the scene, then shoot us an email at [email protected] with some examples of your work. Don’t cry if I don’t write you back right away.

ON THE LASH: THE BUDDYHEAD MOVIE

We are in the process of making a movie about Buddyhead. It's also about The Icarus Line, the time before everyone had a cell phone and social media, Los Angeles, the early 2000's punk scene and more. It's a project compiled of over 250 hours of DV tapes, thousands of 35mm photographs as well as our combined experiences. We’ve wanted to make this film since I shot this footage about 25 years ago.

If you'd like to help us make the movie we wanna make and the movie you wanna see, please donate to the Indiegogo Campaign. If you can't donate, please share the link with anyone who might and be able to help us.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

_It’s the birth of the internet, it’s the death rattle of the old world and its story of Buddyhead and The Icarus Line. It’s a time capsule constructed from over 250 hours of mini DV tapes and thousands of 35mm photographs shot between 1998 and 2005.

Co-directed by Travis Keller and Joe Cardamone

Produced by Shepard Fairey and Elgin James

Unseen footage and unheard stories featuring: The Icarus Line, At The Drive-In, Murder City Devils, Ink & Dagger, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, 400 Blows,, F.Y.P, Le Shok, Cave In, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Shat, Fugazi, Elliott Smith, Mars Volta, A Perfect Circle, Primal Scream, Kevin Shields, Autolux, Iggy Pop, Greg Ginn (Black Flag), Keith Morris (Circle Jerks), Queens of The Stone Age, The Distillers, Nine Inch Nails, Wesley Willis, Blink 182, The Get Up Kids, A Perfect Circle, Dead Meadow, Battles, The Evaporators, Jimmy Eat World, AFI, The Blood Brothers, Reggie and the Full Effect, Les Savy Fav, Bauhaus, Mike D, Andrew WK, The Neptunes, Fred Durst, Steve Aoki, Courtney Love, Axl Rose, Marilyn Manson, My Chemical Romance, Avenged Sevenfold, Korn, The Vines, Moby, Weezer, The Strokes tour bus, Stevie Ray Vaughan’s guitar, Calvin Johnson, Boy George, Bono and Nardwuar.

This is the film about me and my friends.

It was a time before Instagram, before Facebook, before any social media. It was before blogs, before Vice and before Pitchfork and before everyone had a camera in their pocket.

This is the story of Buddyhead.com, one of the first independent music websites on the internet as well as boutique record label. A DIY webzine that was getting 9.5 million hits a month, putting the music industry on blast via the gossip page, record reviews and interviews. And let’s not forget turning down $9 million dollars multiple times during the dot com bubble.

It’s also the story of the Los Angeles punk band The Icarus Line, the last true rock n’ roll gang in my opinion. A bunch of dropouts and misfits when they started, without a dime to rub together but they still managed to continuously put out art and travel around the globe multiple times over. A band that was a love letter to the Southern California underground which gave birth to them. This is the story of how they navigated the rough waters of independent and major labels alike, the music scene they infiltrated, the shows they played, the records they made, our travels around the world on tour and everything and everyone around us.

This is my story about rock n roll, the music industry, art, the beginning of the internet, punk, Los Angeles, putting records out, doing it yourself, being on tour, friendship, drugs, not giving a fuck and being true to yourself despite what everyone else says.

We were fiercely independent and stubbornly resilient. We didn’t wait for permission. We were making new friends. And we were making fresh enemies. It was us VS the world and we went in swinging. Courted and feared by major record labels. Too rock n’ roll for the punk establishment and too punk for the mainstream.

And we were definitely… on the lash!

This is our story._

Deadline did a feature on the movie here.

AMERICAN PRIMITIVE

American Primitive is the art collective and production company I am a part of along with Joe Cardamone, Sean Cardamone and Jacob Mendel. We’ve got over 50 music videos under our belt, a script movie Joe wrote in production and we’ll be make the Buddyhead Movie as well. You can view our work on American Primitive

LOST ANGELES

IMG_2139 2.png In the spirit of the DIY venues we came up on, we’ve opened a pop up art space called Lost Angeles in the Pico Union district of Downtown Los Angeles. Built and run by Joe Cardmone, Sean Cardamone and myself it’s a place we can make art, stream and hold events occasionally. Who knows how long something this cool will last so come check out the community we building and enjoy it while you can. Follow the Lost Angeles IG for updates: lost_angeles_1457

UPCOMING EVENTS

December 16th: Jozef Van Wissem will be performing a live score to a screening of the 1922 classic "Nosferatu" starring Max Schreck. Gather with us for this rare and special event. Tickets are limited, purchase here.

906B21A0-3625-4581-8644-0A96E6E43F71 copy.jpg December 21st: the return of Real Cool Time our monthly night market. Vinyl vendors, vintage sellers, tattoo artists, good vibes and beer. All vinyl DJs: House Shoes, La Cosecha, Discos Del Alma, Skeletone Joe and Buddyhead. RSVP here.

BUDDYHEAD PATREON

If you dig what I’m doing, another way to support is joining the Patreon. I post extras of everything there, memes, photos, videos, everything. Get first looks at all my projects, iPhone dumps, rants and group chat with me. Buddyhead Patreon

LINKAGE TO FOLLOW