Nearly all my writing is influenced – often explicitly – by the music I’m listening to (stay tuned for some playlists, especially for Mayfly). But I’ve also always played music, from the first awful punk band I was in at fifteen, to the much better band I’m playing with now. It’s the flip-side of fiction, it keeps you grounded, sane, and human – not to mention that it’s great source material. I could go on philosophically about the relationship between fiction and music (and I do, in this interview), but suffice to say it’s an important part of my writing.

 

Exploding Math Lab

For the last two years I’ve been playing guitar for this rock’n’roll band, along with singer/guitarist William Copeland and our drummer, Steve. We’ve more recently been joined by new bassist and old friend Jeremy Roberts (we played together from 2004-2006 in No Labels Fit).

Our first EP is out on bandcamp for pay-what-you-want (you can pay nothing, that’s fine, just listen!). Check it out here.

We’ve also released three music videos. Our first video is for Fickle, two minutes of rock’n’roll that gets right to the point. We followed that up with a more experimental video for Love Control, featuring set-design and puppetry (puppetry? puppetry!) by Jeremy. Our latest video for 100 Miles is a hybrid live-action/animation piece, made possible by Jeremy and a team of motion-capture animators at NC State.

We’ve played all over Wilmington NC and we’re planning a tour (tentatively to include the Raleigh-Durham area, Ashville, Charlotte, and Nashville, TN). Stay tuned for updates on gigs and the recording of our full length LP. Also: new t-shirt, stickers, and assorted groupie stuff.

 

No Labels Fit

A long time ago I was in a hardcore band, No Labels Fit. My time playing with them was the inspiration for a lot of my fiction, especially Mayfly. They’re still around and I still love them to death, check ’em out on Facebook and listen to some of the good old shit here.