Speaker 1: And joining us now live in studio. Let me get
that mic up here. We have a crafty k with
that camera on you there too, because you've got you've
got some cool stuff to show us. But of course
from also on Facebook, you're my art by KF, My
art by KF and of course uh chaotic photography, that's
the KF right yep. So it's wonderful to have you here.
We met through Terminus Underground, right is that's where we
met initially. Yes, you've you've taken I was talking about
you at the top of the show today talking about
what's coming up, and I did mention that you've many
of the photographs, the great photographs of artists, especially performing live,
have been taken by you. Those are your pictures.
Speaker 2: I every time I'm able to get there and the
bands are playing, I talk to them. I get the
permission to like be up their butts with my camera
because I like to get the shots that nobody else gets. Yeah,
and yes they do. You use my phone, But I
don't consider myself a photographer. I'm an artist, so I'm
going to use whatever medium I have at that time
that's going to fit that project. Yeah, and then take
them and then when I develop them, I have them,
well I don't have them. I give them to andre
and at Terminus and he puts them in the frames.
And we have the Hallway of Fame, Yes, of Terminus.
So if you play there and I'm able to capture you,
you go into the hallway.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, Hey, do me a favorite. Can you
just turn that mic towards you a little bit? Yeah,
and now just so it's like you're talking straight into it. Oh, perfect, perfect. Yeah,
the MIC's are a very the very sensitive. I just
want to make sure everybody can hear you. Okay, no,
that's uh yeah. And I always tell people too, the
first time you go to Terminus, it's kind of like
walking into another world, you know, especially when you go
into that room. You know, Well, the hallway is impressive,
right because the last time i've Jenny and I were
there for the open house, and I think at that
point there was already some of your pictures that you
had taken that were put up, and it was like, wow,
this is really cool.
Speaker 2: Yes, Eleanor has allowed me to keep my art up there,
like twenty four seven. Yeah, yeah, which I am willing
to share. But I'm the rock star member, and as
a right now, I think I might be the only
artist artist, but I do believe she has another rock
star member. Now I'm not sure what his medium is.
But I started painting a year and a half ago,
and before that was all pencil. Oh, and I finally
was like, you know what, I'm going to try this out,
and all of a sudden, I just started painting everything. Yeah,
and I absolutely love it, and I just keep building
my art into every If it interested me, I'm going
to do it. So I just now I got into
taking pictures.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Wait, so did the did the photography come later? That? Like?
What what came first? In terms of your of your
creating art.
Speaker 2: So I've always done pencil drawing, Okay, pencil and paper
like you will never take that away from me. Okay,
I can bring it everywhere. I can create what I
want with that in any kind of setting. And then
I started a little bit with photography, but not as
much as I've been doing now. Okay, I've always done crafting.
And then just like I said, a year and a
half ago, I started really painting like I did paintings,
but I never wanted to show anybody really Yeah, and
then I had, like, you have that event in your
life that either pulls you down brings you up.
Speaker 1: M hm.
Speaker 2: Mine pulled me down and I refuse to sit down
and refuse to lay down. So I made it bring
me up. And people started seeing it and they were like, no,
we got to get we got to get this out,
we got to get this out.
Speaker 1: And I was like what.
Speaker 2: I was like, no, no, no no. And my boyfriend
Eddie set up my my Facebook page and my Instagram
page for me and just started putting my art out there.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Is something that we talk about a lot on
the show is uh. In fact, it came up with
my my previous guest, Jamie Higgs.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: Is you know, using art, whether it be visual art
or music or whatever art it is that you're creating,
using it as really sort of a form of therapy
and working through things because sometimes it's hard, especially and
Jamie and I talked about this specifically, Sometimes it's hard,
especially when you're dealing with you know, major life events
or any kind of trauma, you know, to to talk
about that stuff and to be able to emote everything
that you're dealing with, but using art as a way
to kind of channel that and that that expression and
working through, working through your feelings and then what winds
up happening is not only is a great therapy for you,
but it also is something that other people can connect with.
So it's a way of you help yourself and you
also wind up helping other people too. Well.
Speaker 2: Mine wasn't. Mine wasn't so much for therapy for me.
It was getting people to understand how I felt.
Speaker 1: Sure, Sure it was because being able to communicate that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's how I communicate. I'm not very good
with words, as you can hear now, but through my art,
I can express myself. I can tell a tell how
you can feel it. You can see how I'm feeling
or what I'm trying to say versus me actually trying
to say it. Because I talk NonStop. I'm ADHD, So nope,
everybody kind of tunes me out sometimes.
Speaker 1: The ADHD. Does that play a role in your art?
Do you think?
Speaker 2: Oh, definitely, there's a specific reason.
Speaker 1: I'm curious about that. So, I don't know if you're
familiar with doctor Kevin. He's from Nashua, doctor Kevin Ross Memory.
I think Eleanor, Yeah, Eleanor knows him. I've known doctor
Kevin for like twenty years and he's amazing. But he's
done a lot of work in a d d adhd.
He's written some books. One of the books he's written
about it is called Managing the Gift, and the premise
of the book is, look, if this is something that
you have or maybe your child has, this is not
this is not a disorder, this is not a bad thing.
This is not uh something you have to figure out
how to overcome. This is something you should use because
people with this are creative and and there's a there's
a lot of things if you use it correctly. There
are a lot of things about a d d adhd.
That's that's how he puts it, that that can actually
be very helpful and useful to you and accomplishing things
and also and specifically in being creative.
Speaker 2: Oh definitely, like you can my friends six minds combined.
You can ask him. You give me one idea, I'll
give you twenty. And it's why you're trying to solve
one thing. I've already solved it. I'm working on something else.
And it's my hyper focus where it calms me down,
It just kind of centers me. My mom calls it
he gans the world, and I just get stuck in
it sometimes though that I forget everything else.
Speaker 1: Really. Yeah, So it's got hyper focusing. That's another thing
that comes with it. Yeah.
Speaker 2: It's got its curses and it's got its blessings.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean I think I have
a little bit of that myself, because I tend to
I can really kind of hyper focus on things. And
I remember doctor Kevin and I having a conversation about it,
and he said, yeah, Matt, you've definitely got some You've
got some of these straits.
Speaker 2: In the eighties, nobody was diagnosed with that. We were
just kids and we were hyper and watching we got
set next to the teacher.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly exactly. So do you ever is it ever
a challenge in terms of of, you know, because you're
using your art to try to communicate things to people
that are not easy to communicate with words. Does that
generally is that pretty easy for you to express yourself
that way or do you ever run into challenges with
that where maybe you create art that is not that
you feel is not adequately portraying what it is that
you're trying to get across.
Speaker 2: When I do pretty pictures, yeah, I can create the
most beautiful, pretty flowers and everything like that and like
how I'm feeling in that moment, but you look at
it and it's it's to me personally, it just feels generic, okay,
And my art sometimes gets a little darkish, I guess,
And it's not for everybody, but the ones that do
understand it and can feel it. There's there's like a
group for that. But I can create art for all
types of groups, sure, I just and I also try
to fit it into what I'm doing. Like New Hampshire
Underground Terminus they did the punk rock Masquerade and I
was like, oh my gosh, I'm like I have to
do this. So I created masks in case people didn't
bring their own, they could purchase them. And I don't
sell any of my art for expensive prices because I
feel I want my art to go out and it create.
It just builds something in me to create more when
somebody wants to buy my art. And so I created
like a couple of them, and then I did a
couple more, and then I ended up with like fifty
of them and I have five left, so it was
like amazing, And then I went on to the next
show she did, and I created what was it like
zombie boxes? Will you survivor will you die? Like pick
your fate? And I had things inside them, so like
I loved just creating things for things. Yeah, and it
just I don't know, my brain just starts like firing
off and I can't stop.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I'm always amazed at you know, Jenny, she
makes some incredible painting and it's uh, and you know,
my brain is not like I have no in terms
of visual art. I have no artistic ability whatsoever. You know,
Like if you asked me to draw a person, I
could draw you a stick figure. That's I'm very comfortable
with acknowledging my my lack of ability in that area,
you know. I mean, I'm artistic in other ways, like
I'm a musician. I can create music and whatnot. But
I can't create any kind of visual art at all.
I hate it so much. So I was aware of
this from a very young age. When I was a kid,
I hated art class. I went to Saint John's Regional
and Conquered from grade two to grade eight, and these
art teachers would come in like once a week or
once every other week. It seemed like it wasn't very consistent,
but and I would feel like like me and probably
a couple of the other kids in the class to
have about thirty kids, but I really felt this. I
felt like they were trying to force me to be
artistic in a way that was not possible. I even
have a very specific memory of this. We're painting, We're
using watercolors or something to paint this stuff, and I
remember just sitting there at one point I remember this,
This memory sticks with me. I was in grade school.
I don't remember what grade, but I'm sitting there trying
to paint this picture, and at a certain point, I'm
just painting the same tree over and over. I'm just
going over and and over because I'm trying to look
busy at that point, because I got to look like
I'm doing something. And then the art teacher actually comes
over and says to me, Matt, you're just painting the
same tree over and over. And I'm like, oh, that
didn't work, you know what I mean. But I recognize
that in myself, pretty young, I have no ability in
that zone. So I always marvel at people who do,
because you know, I look at Jenny's paintings it's like,
how did you do that? Like, because my brain can't
you know what I mean. Or Jenny makes this incredible
macroma and I'm like, my brain can't do the math
because it's geometry.
Speaker 2: I've tried macromay and I can do plant hangers. Yeah,
but what she does there's like this too much counting
and it's wild. Yeah, I've tried it. It's fun. It's
kind of you know, just sit there, nothing to do,
and yeah, you can create something.
Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, and she'll and she'll tell you she's
not good at math, but clearly on a subconscious level,
she's very good at geometry because you have to be
to do that, and she does it. It looks almost effortless.
That when she does it, she'll she'll make stuff. During
the show. She'll be she's not here today because she's
got an event, but you know, she'll be sitting over
there just making stuff. And then at the end of
the show she says, oh, look what I made. It's like,
how it's incredible. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Actually I failed art class, you like, in the in
grade school. I got a's in it, and then towards
high school, junior high, high school, I started failing and
it was because they were like they were like you
said they want. They were like forcing you to do
certain things, and then I would do it and They're
like you didn't do it this way, and I'm like,
I'm not that artist. I can't do that right, like
I put the effort in. I did what I could do.
Or they're like there's too much. I'm like, I don't
I want all that there, right, they're not enough there.
I'm like I don't want anything there, and they would
get frustrated with me, and I was just I didn't care.
I'm like, I'm going to create art. Yeah, and that's
what I do. I tried playing the clarinet in sixth grade.
My mom told me to stick with the pencils. I
was my my family's musically inclined.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: My uncle played in a band when I was ten,
so like early nineties. It was the Wounded Hearts. He
was the drummer.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: He was actually the first band I ever did art.
Speaker 1: Four oh no kidding.
Speaker 2: He asked me to create something for their band T
shirt or something like that, and it was a hand
I drew. I drew a hand holding an atomic heart
and it was bleeding okay, and they didn't. I guess
go on or something happened. I'm not really sure. I
was sure, I was ten sure, and then I'd forgotten
about it for all these years. And then the next
one I started doing art four was six months combined, okay.
And from there I've done Temple Mountain, I did photography
for Jesse Jesse Rustin.
Speaker 1: And Jesse was here last week.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then I did the album cover for Lacey
who am I? Yes, yes, yeah, I'm hoping to continue
to do more like that for other bands, especially the
newer bands, like I want them not to use AI,
like please, you guys don't use AI. Find the artists
like myself. And there's so many of us out there
that are like I got nothing to do. Yeah, And
I don't charge, like I said, I don't charge a lot,
especially for new bands. Sure, sure because all of us
are starting out. So who the heck has all that money?
Speaker 1: Right? Right? If you're just joining us crafty K is
that the right thing? And your Facebook handle my art
by KF, my art by KF. I have a mental block.
Speaker 2: Well, well it's my first and it's my initials. Okay,
So everything I do in my art. Instead of writing KF,
I do a heart with a K on it.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: That way it kind of combines everything together.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay and KF chaotic photography, right, Yes, so you
spelled photography with an F. So for people looking for
you online, where's the best way for people to find
you online?
Speaker 2: I use Facebook more than I do Instagram.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Instagram only allows you to post so many pictures at
a time, but Facebook I can load one hundred and
something on there.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, so you mentioned AI. This is another subject
that comes up all the time on the show, whether
it's whether it's about visual art or certainly about music.
I'm really curious to explore that subject with you a
little bit. I mean, I mean what, like, like what
is what is it that you tell? So what do
you tell? What do you tell musicians who you work
with when you're when you're having that conversation with them? Uh? Well,
like like, what what's kind of your pitch to say?
Please don't use AI. I know it's tempting, but please
don't do it. And here's why, Like what do you
say AI?
Speaker 2: You can put in the words and you can describe
what you want. AI will pop something up. Who's to
say that's not going to be used for somebody else's description.
It could be just a little bit of different color,
It could be used a little bit of different that.
And yes, same thing with artists, but you don't have
that freedom and openness of can we change this a
little bit? Can we change that a little bit? Can
we tweak this? Can we tweak that? Can we add
in this? Can we take this out? Because you're trying
to get a computer to understand what you want, right
and you not that doesn't always happen. Yeah, so then
you're just like, you know whatever, We're just going to
go with it, and you're not totally happy with it.
But with me, I could take a I can take
an eraser out and just yeah, I'll take that right out,
all right, I'll move this, and we can choose the
colors you want, We can choose the form like painting, pencil,
pen photography. You have more options than you do with AI.
I mean AI is great to use for some things, sure,
but not for everything.
Speaker 1: Right right, yeah, I mean my own experience with it,
I can tell you it's hard to get it to
understand sometimes exactly what it is that you're looking for
it is great for some things, but when it comes
to graphics, when it comes to images, actually my first
time trying to make any kind of an image. We
had done we had done a segment on the show
about I don't know if you follow it at all,
there hasn't been any new news on it, but the
Daryl Hall versus John Oates lawsuit, that whole legal drama.
We had done a segment on the show about it,
and I tried to get Dolly three to create I
needed a YouTube thumbnail and I wanted an image of
Daryl Hall and John Oates in a boxing ring and
they're boxing. I thought that would be funny. And this
was my first time trying to create a graphic using AI,
and it actually wouldn't do it. And I guess it's
got a rule about putting celebrities and violent situations or
that was because it actually told me why it couldn't
do it, and.
Speaker 2: See me, I don't have I don't have any restrictions.
Speaker 1: Right exactly exactly. Yeah, what ended up happening was so
I couldn't do the boxing thing, and I kept working
with it and trying to get it to compromise with me.
So what I finally came up with was it created?
And I didn't even ask it to do this. Interestingly,
it didn't offer to give this to me specifically, but
it offered me an alternative. But I went ahead and
created the alternative it was offering me, which was Daryl
Hollan John, Oh, it's playing chess. And then it said
you know, because it said I can't give you the boxing,
but I can give you this, and it just created
it because like, oh, that's interesting. And then I asked it,
can you put angry faces on them? Make them look angry?
That was willing to do, and so that's what it
came out with. They're they're at a chess board and
they look mad at each other.
Speaker 2: It's a peaceful competitive.
Speaker 1: Sport, right, right, So it was willing to do the
angry face and it kind of looks like them. It
doesn't exactly look like them, but yeah, well.
Speaker 2: Like and my other thing, like I said earlier, is
you give me one you can have that one idea,
and my brain will just start popping things and I'm like, well,
what if you did, what if this?
Speaker 1: What if that?
Speaker 2: Or what do you think about this? And it starts
getting other people's brains going in there sure, like oh,
and then they start getting a bunch of ideas. Yeah,
it happens all the time in my little circle.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. So you've done a lot
of work with six minds combined, right. Yes, that's because
we were talking off air about you know what should
we play for music? Coming into the segment. That's my
favorite song of his. I love yeah, I love that.
The we had we had Rick on the show. It's
probably more than a year ago. Now it all becomes
a blur. But I remember telling him too, I said
that that song, that's one of those songs that after
I heard it, I would wake up with it playing
in my brain because I always, like a lot of us,
you know, when I wake up in the morning, there's
always a song playing in my mind, and uh, you know,
I have that little wake up playlist, and that was
that was the first one I would hear for a
long time. I would just wake up in the morning
and here you know that you got this.
Speaker 2: It gets stuck in my head when somebody says they
can't do something, yeah, and then all of a sudden
they start singing yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So you've you've done a lot of work with him, right.
Speaker 2: Yes, I've known him since I was fourteen fifteen, Yeah,
and he started becoming six minds combined, and he asked
to create, Like I've created a few things that created
his album cover for him. Okay, the front and the back, Okay,
the back of it is just his mind exploding with
all the all the songs, Okay, and the front was
his idea, and I took what he gave me for
what his image was, and I put it into a painting.
I've done his new logo which is going to be
coming out, and I'm not sure if I was supposed
to tell anybody that I love you. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: A little teaser there. That's good.
Speaker 2: There's a movie.
Speaker 1: Do we know when? Do we have an e ta on?
Speaker 2: I'm not sure yet.
Speaker 1: Okay, I do know.
Speaker 2: He's got some new merchandise coming out. He also will
be having a new video or champion that I'm working.
I'm helping work on excellent and it's going to be
something me and him I have Like we always talked
about making a comic book together, really, yes, and it
kind of goes along those lines a little bit. I
helped him with running through a mansion. I helped video
film it. That's not the right word, but me and
Eleanor we both did that. They put it together. I
had this after hearing that song. It was like again
just sparks flying in my head and yeah, you know what,
and then we we should do this in the mansion.
And then when we went to the mansion, we were
not allowed to videotape. We even got like followed like
like towards the end, like on the grounds, there was
like some security guy walking behind us.
Speaker 1: Well, so, so I'm really curious about this. So what
So you went to a mansion, did you like where?
Like what mansion?
Speaker 2: The Breaker House? Where's that Rhode Island?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 2: So we went down there and that place was huge.
I would not want to ever have to clean it.
Speaker 1: So you went there with the intention? So is that
it's hard to get.
Speaker 2: Something open to the public. Yes, I mean, did you
pay a fee to visit it?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 2: You could take photography, but you couldn't videotape anything use
it for like social media.
Speaker 1: Things like that. Did you did you know that going in?
Speaker 2: Or did not until we got there?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 2: But we did like get some good shots like small
little here, and there.
Speaker 1: So how did you how'd you do it?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: Did you have to do it kind of covertly or
how did how does that work? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I mean there were some things that I was like, dude,
do it now?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, But.
Speaker 2: So that idea kind of went just like and then
I was like, you know what, everybody's mansion is their home.
It's there. It's so I was like, how about we
do it in a house. Like a person's mansion is
their home. It doesn't have to be an actual mansion,
right right, Like their mansion is their home where they
and it. It ended up working out, which was amazing.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, oh interesting. What now what did you end
up doing with the stuff that you took in the
actual mansion in Rhode Island? Anything?
Speaker 2: There's some clips of it in the video vide what
we could use that wasn't so much like showing anything interesting?
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, but it was.
Speaker 2: It was fun. Yeah, try to be sneaky and do
it like we were breaking.
Speaker 1: The law right right, Hey, it's all rock and roll,
right do you?
Speaker 2: So?
Speaker 1: Do you do a lot of album covers? I?
Speaker 2: After I did six Months Combined, Temple Mountain reached out
to me and I did I did his album cover
for Lonely. He sent me a clip of it and
now immediately I was like, I got this and it's
the picture of a guy sitting on a bench with
a woman woman's face up in kind of like the clouds,
and he's just sitting there like kind of just defeated.
It's sad, you know, Lonely. And then after that, Jesse
Rustin asked me to do for some work for him
and he wanted photography, so we went to his studio
and did photography there. And then after that was who
Am I? And Thracks? So I did their album cover
for Hot Wax.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and.
Speaker 2: She gave me the color scheme and I was in
there and I was trying to think of things to do,
and I took an image of Racks on the drums
and Lacey on the keyboard, and then her wife had
done a record, so I took the record and then
I made it look like it was melting wax coming
down and creating them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a cool record.
Speaker 2: Created them and it's amazing to see that painting and
the color of lights that Lacy does. It changes the
colors on the painting. It's so trippy. It's awesome.
Speaker 1: That must be exciting too, to have an When you
have an opportunity to work with someone who is very visual,
you know obviously what what who I am in thracks,
what they're doing, it's very visual, right, So to be
able to that must be that just must be fun.
Speaker 2: I love it like I love music, I love art.
I do like people, not all people, because the world
the way the world is, but it's I love the
open creativity, the the compassion, the encouragement. Like nobody's trying
to compete with each other, and when there's people trying
to compete with me, I'm like why, I'm like, you
do what you do. I'm going to do what I do.
Like I don't call myself anything other than an artist,
and if I see something I want to do, I'm
going to try to do it. And I did that
even in all my jobs. I delivered pizza, I worked
at daycares, I sold luggage, I worked for a sewer company.
I like and now I've been in pharmacy for twenty
two years. But it's because there's also a whole lot
of paw that work. What do you do there? And
it's the same thing with my art. I have no
idea how to paint. I have no idea what I'm doing,
but I wonder if this will work?
Speaker 1: How do I do this?
Speaker 2: And then it Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't.
And there are some canvases. Let me tell you, there
is a lot of layers of paint, lots of it
because if I don't like it, I just paint over
it and start to Yeah.
Speaker 1: And now, what do you mean about like like people
trying to compete with with you? Like what like is
it is it competitive in terms of you know, like
doing doing artwork for musicians?
Speaker 2: Is that No? I think competitive is like you're always
going to have that, Like it's just like a job.
You go in for your interview, you get hired or
you don't get hired. That part's not the competitive part.
It's when people start talking bad about your art or
about how you do your art really or like, oh,
like they did that, Like I don't like that. If
you don't like it, then just do what we've always
been told is if you ain't got nothing nice to say,
don't say anything at all, Like I'm not going to
know any different. But when you start saying bad things
about somebody's art instead of encouraging them to do or
do better, that just brings that person down. They don't
want to create the art, and then they suppress.
Speaker 1: Is that is that like like other artists like criticizing
your process or something.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't mind criticism whatsoever.
Speaker 1: Oh sure, constructive criticism is exactly fine.
Speaker 2: But when you're just like downing somebody because of what
they do or how they do it or what they
used to do it, or you know, anything like that,
it's just it does take. It takes a little bit
from you and it kind of like ouch, like what
did I do? And then at the same time, I'm
the type of person that's I've doubted narcissists, and I'm
like the best way to deal with somebody like that,
I'm gonna keep doing what I do a smile at
my face, and I'm just gonna do it better. So like,
bring it, but I'd rather not the negativity of things
like that around me. So like musicians playing and somebody's like, ugh,
like you might not like it, but don't tell them
if you have some constructive criticism on it, like hey,
I didn't really like that because and then say why Yeah, yeah,
don't just like I don't like that, right. Well, it's
like you just it's like watching the show and you
get all the way to the end and then it's
a cliffhanger and you're like, wait, wait, what happened? What happened?
And then you never know. It's the same way of
going I don't like it. Why tell me like, right,
because I might create something you don't like, but tomorrow
might create something you love.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, exactly exactly if you are just joining us.
We have a crafty k from Chaotic Photography and my
art by k F that I get it right. Cool,
I'm glad I got it right. Sometimes I worry I'm
suffering from adult onset dyslexia. But uh no, And we're
having a great conversation today about art and about you know,
working with musicians. Is there anyone you've worked with who
who presented a unique challenge in terms of where it
was maybe difficult to find the right aesthetic for what
they're doing, maybe for their album cover or I mean,
I don't mean that in a bad way, you know,
but but just is there anyone you've worked with who
it was it was it took a little more to
kind of figure out where to go with it.
Speaker 2: I did have somebody come message me about Creed about
what they want for their album cover. Yeah, and I asked,
they want like a certain like background, see like an
apocalypse kind of thing, and I'm like, yeah, like I
couldn't do that, Like what kind of medium do you want?
They wanted like a photography. That's more difficult because you're
not going to get the right colors, you're not going
to get the right kind of visual. And also talking
through Texas so hard because it's hard to understand, like
see their thought process, and I haven't. Like I did
send a few things and it just wasn't there. So
he's just moved on, I believe to somebody else that
might be able to do it, because I wasn't able to.
But I at least offered a few things. It was
almost like, like I said, an interview, Yeah, well.
Speaker 1: That can be hard to write if somebody because somebody
might have an idea, I might have a vision in
their mind, but they can't find the right words to
communicate it, you know, And that's what's.
Speaker 2: My that's what I do with my own. Yeah, I
can't think of certain words. Yeah, the correct words to say. Sure,
I do it through my art and when someone's trying
to tell me something because they can see it but
they can't get it into words. Yeah, but they don't
have the ability to put it on canvas or paper either,
So like I can understand that being the most frustrating thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, like uh, you know, like like me,
someone who has no visual artistic ability. If I you know,
if I'm trying to communicate to somebody, like sometimes I
don't know the like I don't know the vocabulary of
you know, for what I'm trying to tell them that
I want, you know, just to see artistically. Yeah, that
can be. That could be tricky. Now, how does it
work in terms of you coming to work with some
of these artists? Do they approach you? Do you approach them?
Does it depend?
Speaker 2: So? After I take after I take photos of them
when they're playing, I show them a few of them
that I have done, and I send that I send
them photos and the only thing I ask for for
those is photo credit.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I also offer if you need any artistic
guidance or any work done, anything like that, just reach
out to me and we can see what we can
work out. Yeah, so I don't push it. Yeah, like
either because I don't like I don't like I don't
like those pushy people, or like, you know, I can
do this, I can do this, like buy my stuff,
buy my stuff right right, Like I hate selling my
own stuff. I am not good at it whatsoever.
Speaker 1: Well, the interesting thing though, is for what you do,
you kind of you really have an advantage and that
you can you can show them what what you can
do right up front, right like if you're if you're
taking pictures and you can show them, look, these are
some photos I took of your live performance or whatever
it was you. Then they see they can see right off,
right off the bat that you're legit. You obviously know
what you're doing because you take great pictures.
Speaker 2: And I have my art hanging up in the hallway exactly.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yes, New Hampshire Underground and Terminus has been like it's
they've been a blessing. Eleanor has helped me in so
many ways this past year and it's only been a year. Yeah,
I feel like I've known her for ever really Yeah,
and she's helped me more ways than she can imagine.
Like she's always like, what do you because I don't
care about status. I don't I don't care about any
of that. And she's like, what do you I'm like,
you what you're doing for me? And they let me
put so much art up and all over there, and
I love it and I appreciate it so much because
of my creativity. I'm like, oh, there's blank space on
that wall.
Speaker 1: No, that's that's amazing. When you're taking pictures of like
say you're taking pictures of someone performing live, is there
is there kind of a method to that, I mean,
or are you just like, oh, this, this would make
a good shot, I'm gonna take this picture or I mean,
do you have a strategy for that or do you
just kind of do it instinctively or I just do.
Speaker 2: It instinctively, like kind of like candid. Yeah, they I
tell them. I tell them all, don't look at me.
I'm not there. Like if I do cross that green line,
step on me, step over me, just keep playing. Sure,
I'm going to get the shot, but you need to
continue to play right. And I do apologize to people
out there that when I'm in their shot, because I'm
sure there's like some shots that people like. I like.
Getting back to where the drummer is and getting photos
of the crowd. Yes, because the crowd doesn't get to
see what the band sees, right, And then I'm taking
pictures of the band of what the crowd sees that
the band doesn't get to see.
Speaker 1: I love those personal like, I love those kind of pictures. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I like seeing both sides, and sometimes like seeing the crowd.
I like to show them because sometimes they're just like
standing there sure, and I'm like, hey, it's just some
yeah yeah, yeah, but it just shows how many people
like you get to see both sides, so that it's
both sides of the story.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's Yeah, that's a great way of putting it.
When you when you tell somebody, hey, I need a
candid shot, don't don't look at me, just do what
you're doing. Do some people struggle with that?
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah they do, because like they'll look at me
and smile. But six Minds Combined is the only one
that I have allowed to We have a he's got
to pause, and I got to get the shot because
he moves so much, okay, yeah, and sometimes like his
I'll go to get that great shot in his hand,
or he moves his face and he I'm like, so
we have like these like make eye contact and he
kind of pauses just like his movement, so I can
get the shots.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, okay, yeah, because.
Speaker 2: I'm like, dude, I'm like, I would be raised so
many photos.
Speaker 1: But it's cool that you have that understanding with him
and he gets it obviously, and he's able to accommodate
that and you're able to work together that way. That's uh,
that's great. Oh, I want to make sure we don't
forget this. You showed me something off air, a book,
and we do have for those For those watching online,
you'll be able to see this because she's holding it up.
And if you're if you're just listening, you know, radio
is theater of the mind, you'll have to imagine this.
But but this is really cool. Okay, So tell us
what you've got in your hand there.
Speaker 2: So this was a book. It's called Kaw c Aw
by Clay hurt Bus. I am really sorry Clay if
I just butchered. So back in the early two thousands,
we worked together and he was writing a book and
he's written several and he asked me if I would
do some artwork for him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I was like yeah.
Speaker 2: I was like, that would be awesome, and he's just
going to publish it and everything, and he had some
medical issues and I'm not sure what happened in between
all the time that I've seen him to the time
he published it, because he had moved, okay, and I
finally we finally contacted each other again through Facebook just recently,
and he published the book last year in twenty twenty four.
In the book, because he didn't know my last name,
he didn't put my name in there as an illustrator.
But when you look up online about the book, it
says my name as the illustrator. But when he had
found me on Facebook, my name was my name and
my daughter's name. Okay, so the illustration name is Kegan Lily. Oh,
so I think that is going forward. Might be my
new illustration name.
Speaker 1: Oh that's cool.
Speaker 2: But the book is in English and every single language
you can think of on Facebook. Wow, it's Chinese. This
one's English and Chinese, and it's double sided. But my
art at it's old art from before it kind of
got a little more talented. But it's it's amazing that
he saved him. Ye, and like my art is international now.
Wild and just seeing it in a book, I was like,
I've always wanted to be an illustrator of children's books
and stuff like that, but yeah, it was. It's really
a awesome feeling to that's crazy. Wow, everything that I
have wanted and everything I'm working for actually getting there.
And I got to thank Eddie for a lot of it,
because if he didn't push me to open my Facebook,
and like, he just supports me a lot, especially with
my photography. We'll be at the show together and then
all of a sudden running off to take photos and
he sits there and watches me paint for hours. Yeah,
create whatever, I'm creating it, but he he supports me,
doesn't That's great? Yeah, try to be like you're painting again,
right right? And I have gotten paint on like so
many things, even our own even our own comforter, and
really I paint like I have paint on me now.
But he supports me in.
Speaker 1: It, and yeah, I love him for that. Yeah that's wonderful. Yeah, yeah,
absolutely no, It's so important to have a creative partner
for for people watching on video. Why don't you hold
that up one more time? Yeah, so people can see
it and then and where can people get that book?
Speaker 2: Facebook? I mean not Facebook, Amazon, Amazon?
Speaker 1: Okay e a w And did he did he inscribe
that for you too? Did he write something inside of it?
Speaker 2: Because I saw he said Kegan, thanks for the beautiful artwork.
Speaker 1: Very nice. That is so cool. And so that was
a surprise right when that came out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because he said I published the book and I
was like, no way, And so I looked it up
and he sent them. I bought one prior to him
sending it to me. My mom's like I want that,
Like you can have it because he's sending me one.
And he sent me two of them, a hardcover and
the soft cover. The other one's English and Swedish no kidding,
and he wrote in both of them. But it was amazing.
And it's so weird to see my artwork in there
because I remember doing it and then just the style
of it, I'm like, yeah, that's totally art.
Speaker 1: That's extremely cool. So what's kind of your your long
term trajectory do you think or do you know, like
do you want to do you wanna do you have
like a focus, like like is it is it doing
artwork for for album covers? Is it photography is it
do you know?
Speaker 2: Just doing art where it I don't want it to
be a job. I love doing art. I don't want
it to become a job because really, if you think
about it, if that's where you're gonna go, I gotta
go do this. I gotta go do this, Like you
don't want to do it because you have to. I
want I do it because I want to do it
because I have that freedom of it's my like, it's
my getaway, my break, it's my Higans world. But it's
the minute it becomes a job, I'm like, I'm not
interested anymore. And I want to just be able to
do it or don't do it right. And I mean
I loved I love doing it, so don't get me wrong.
I'm not going to be like I don't want to
do that. But if there is something that I'm just
I'm just not in the mood for it, or I
don't have the time, I want to be able to
say I'm sorry, I don't have the time to do this.
And then but I know other artists because I've met
some amazing artists.
Speaker 1: Oh I can imagine and yeah, Lily's.
Speaker 2: Amazing, and I met Chelsea she's an amazing photographer, and
there's so many options, especially meeting all through New Hampshire Underground.
They have Andrea and Eleanor has brought so many of
us together, Like I finally found like a group I
can relate to and belong to and like feel comfortable
and not like at one of those fancy, like little
cliche art gallerries and everyone's kind of like snubbing you.
And because I mean obviously I don't dress like I
belong in there. I paint on my own pants.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Jenny had her art hanging there at one point,
which was really cool. And and actually, you know I
mentioned earlier we had Jesse Rutstein along with Caleb Caleb
Dyer here on the show last week, and we met
Jesse at Terminus during the open house.
Speaker 2: Yes, he actually just played on last weekend.
Speaker 1: Oh right right, yeah, after yeah, after the It was
the same same weekend as the interview. Yeah yeah, so yeah, No,
they've done They've done a wonderful job there, and you're right,
bringing people together absolutely absolutely so. Now, if somebody, you know,
because a lot of musicians listen to the show, a
lot of industry people, if somebody wants to work with you, Like,
what what's the best way for them to reach out
to you?
Speaker 2: This message me on Facebook? Yeah, like through Facebook Messenger. Yeah,
I'm really horrible about my email, which I try not
to be. But my email addresses on my business cards.
But it also has my Instagram and my Facebook on there.
Speaker 1: Okay, and how do they find you on Facebook? Again?
Speaker 2: But my art by kf All one word okay? And
then it's got a picture of a pink and black lily, yeah,
which I put that on my business card for my daughter.
Speaker 1: Oh okay.
Speaker 2: It's a show her that it doesn't matter when you start.
You can do whatever you want to do. You can
create things.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, I think that's really cool.
Speaker 2: Even she's benefited. Her first concert was Green Jello, Yes
Jelly at Terminus. Yes, she passed kindergarten screening and she
got to go through pool noodles with man speaker.
Speaker 1: Nice. Yeah, that was quite a night. Yeah, that all
happened because Green Jelly or Jello, I never know which
to call him. They had been on the show. And
then Bill was talking to Jenny about you know, where
can we play in New Hampshire when we come back
through And then Jenny connected with Eleanor and worked on
that and getting that all booked and that was a
lot of fun, although when they were on the show
that day. So it's probably one of my most favorite
interviews ever, but also the most nerve wracking. I think
I hit the dump button because we're on an eight
second delay in case anything, you know. I think I
hit the dump button five times during during that, and
the whole time I was just sing here like, don't
get me fired, don't get me fired.
Speaker 2: I'm being surprised by my own self because the F
bomb is like I'm Irish. Yeah, it's just it's the
word like in Ireland. Yeah, so it's natural, and I'm like,
don't swear.
Speaker 1: No, You've done great well. The thing is, though, that
the trick is to not not worry about it and
overthink it, because so many people they come on the
show and they're like, oh, I hope I don't swear. Oh,
but I don't swear, And it's the people who worry
about it, you know, they worry about it and then
then it ends up being fine. But like I tell everybody,
we're on an eight second delay, so if the worst happens,
I can catch it. But but no, I think I
think when when those guys were on the show, I
think I hit the dumb button five times total. And
it wasn't all swears a couple you know, there might
have been a drug reference. I was uncomfortable with, you know,
just anything it went in doubt. I reached for the dump.
Speaker 2: Slim had a really big effect on Lily, like she
wanted she has a Yuku Leley, but like she wanted
to be a rock jammer.
Speaker 1: Oh that's cool.
Speaker 2: She would have me take she had me take a
video and then send it to her. Yeah, and it
was It's cute because Slim ended up sending her a
video saying like happy birthday to her. It was like
really great, Like it's just showing that these other artists
inspire other people. Yeah, it doesn't matter what age group.
And Slim was afraid, like she would scare Lily at
the show, and because Lily was kind of like, oh,
what are you wearing? Yeah, and that was her biggest thing. Oh,
Lily wasn't afraid of her, but she was like what
are you wearing? And then after that she's like I
want to be like her, I want to be a
rock star. I was like all right, go for it kid.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, oh that's cool.
Speaker 2: That's very and now she's on to now she wants
to be a Samurais or whatever thing.
Speaker 1: Okay, fair enough, well, uh Kegan crafty k, thank you
so much. This has been wonderful. Thank you. We'll definitely
do it again in the future. And uh, I think
we should probably close out with who I Am track
from Hotwax. Hostly can maybe glow to end the segment,
and thank you everyone who joined us today on the show.
Of course Jamie Higgs in the second hour and in
the first hour we had three times seven both via
WhatsApp all the way from the UK. And if you
missed any part of today's show, it will be up
in just a little bit at Wmnhradio dot org and
at my website Matt Connorton dot com. Jenny is not
here today, but she is at an event or on
her way to an event, going on and conquered, so
make sure to keep up with everything she's doing. Go
to Jencoffee dot com. She's doing a lot of great activism.
I'm so proud of her. And if you want to
keep up with everything I'm doing, you can go to
Matt connorton dot com. And this is SummerSlam weekend, by
the way, so keep an eye on your social media
because at some point Eric Pilcher and I are going
to do a live stream of Tough Bumps, probably tonight's
night one of SummerSlam, So we'll probably go live after
that and talk about what we saw on what happened
and all that good stuff, and we might do another
one tomorrow. We'll see. So there's a lot going on
and so please just just keep an eye on the
socials and you'll be able to see it all. Let's see,
so I think, yeah, so we'll end with this, We'll
end with glow. This is from who I Am and
Trax and their new release called Hot Wax and Crafty k.
Thank you again, thank you and uh oh and if
you miss any part of today's so it'll be up
in just a little bit at wmnhradio dot org and
my website Matt Connorton dot com, and we'll talk at
you a little bit later.