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Adam Chaos was interviewed on 7/16/2004 by email.
Q = Joe Shoemaker
Q: Are Killer Squirrel and Adam Chaos the same person? AC: Yes. I use the name Killer Squirrel for recording and Adam Chaos for my zine. Q: Your zine is called Chaos and Fruit Punch and seems very political as does your music. Are you a political person? AC: I’ve really never thought of myself as political. I mean, I have opinions about political issues, but I’ve never participated in a campaign or stood in the streets protesting something. I don’t know what bills are going through the House and Senate right now, so I guess that’s why I don’t consider myself political. Q: Why don’t you protest? AC: I have my doubts about the effectiveness of traditional protesting. Let me give you an example. There was a group of Darigold employees on strike, and they setup a picket line near my apartment. They had probably 20 people standing on the sidewalk with all sorts of signs saying "Boycott Darigold". Not one sign said why people should boycott Darigold. I later found out that they wanted a guaranteed annual raise of like 35 cents, but the point is that I didn’t learn it from their street gathering. The only thing that I learned from their group was that some people are unhappy with a corporation. No shit. I see this problem with a lot of protests. The idea isn’t focused or clear, and insiders are the only ones who really understand it. Everyone else might as well be watching a circus. Don’t get me wrong, for people who enjoy protesting, go for it. It’s not like I have any better ideas. or anyone who is interested, the Darigold employees settled for a $1 pay cut to go back to work. That’s how the Trickle Down Economic Theory works. Q: How’s the zine doing? AC: I’ve been having some problems figuring out a fast and cheap way to reproduce it. I don’t want to deal with a ton of back issues, so... Otherwise, it’s been a lot of fun. I’m also hoping that more people will submit things for the zine. It’s like the walk of shame to my PO Box most days. Q: If you aren’t printing a large number of copies, are back issues available? AC: I want to sell back issues, but I’m not sure of the best way to do it. I’ve thought about combining 3 or 4 issues into a mini-anthology and selling them like that, but I’m still thinking about it. Personally, I believe back issues are important because they can give new readers an idea of where the zine started, and how it got to the current point. After several issues, I can see how maintaining the back issues could be more work that releasing a new issue. That will be the difficult part. Q: What lessons have you learned that you can share with other new zine editors? AC: Start small. Don’t print 5,000 copies of your first zine. You’re going to sell 15 of them. Only take cash. With a small $2 or $3 check, it’s not worth it. Cash doesn’t bounce, and it doesn’t cost you a fee on your bank account. Depending on your bank, a bounced deposit might cost you a $5 fee or more. Cash, people. Take a risk - the zine writer did. Q: You wrote about releasing a CDR compilation in issue number one. Have you made any progress on it? AC: The Hyped 2 Death lawsuit has really freaked me out, so I’m thinking about just posting the comp. in radio show format on the web like Maximumrocknroll. It would be free, so any pig-headed band that wanted to sue me would have a very difficult time proving that I made any money off of them. The issue could be resolved immediately by deleting the file from my site, too. The negative side of it is that a very small percentage of the world’s population has a computer and Internet connection. Q: What happened with Hyped 2 Death? AC: From what I heard, an ex-band member, who is now a lawyer, from a band that appeared on a Hyped 2 Death comp. sued over copyright infringement. The lawyer didn’tauthorize the song for use on the comp., and he never received any money, so he’s pissed. Even though the comp. probably made next to nothing in profits, the law and the lawyer didn’t care. I believe that Cease and Desist Orders are usually sent to Internet sites, before any lawsuits are filed because no money is being collected. That’s kind of why I’ve started leaning towards a free download instead of a CDR and zine thing. Q: If you received one of those orders, would you cancel the posting? AC: Definitely. I have no intention of helping to promote a band who doesn’t want my help. I’ll take the download off the site, cut their song from the show, and post the damn thing again. Fuck ‘em. There are too many good songs by tons of good bands to waste my time messing around with some dickheads. Q: How long will Chaos and Fruit Punch be around? AC: I would guess 20 years. It won’t be easy, but I’m in it for the long haul.
Q: Those are all the questions I have. Would you like to add anything?
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