Chunklet (magazine)
Encyclopedia
Chunklet is a Georgia-based humor and music magazine founded by Henry H. Owings in 1993.
. “The main reason the mag started was due to my dissatisfaction with how my writing was handled in the Flaghole,” Owings says, although he has intimated that Chunklet is a sanctuary for self-hating critics.
Since 1993, Chunklet has published 20 issues on no particular schedule. The first 19 of these are out-of-print. The magazine includes this disclaimer on Chunklet.com: “Chunklet comes out with little regard to a set schedule only because the contributors are busy with their other activities such as being in bands, work, family, putting out records, habitual laziness, television, our lord and savior Jesus Christ and internet porn.”
Issues typically revolve around a central theme, such as Chunklet 15: “Is This Guy The Biggest Asshole in Rock?,” Chunklet 17: “Pay to (NOT) Play” (January 2003), Chunklet 18: “The Overrated Issue” Part One (February 2004), and Chunklet 19: “The Overrated Issue, Part Two” (January 2005). Content generally includes interviews with comedians and indie rock musicians, tour diaries, cartoons, prank correspondence, and satirical essays, lists, hipster how-to guides, and advice columns. Some issues contained premiums like CDs, 7” singles or in the case of Chunklet 17, blank checks made out to “Your Shitty Band.”
’ Might magazine
, MAD and National Lampoon. Musically, Owings says the fanzines Conflict (published by Matador Records co-owner Gerard Cosloy
), Siltbreeze, Forced Exposure
, Your Flesh, Touch and Go
, Slash
and Search and Destroy
“were all I ever cared about.”
Chunklet’s caustic, confrontational wit has led to a misconception that Owings and his staff are a bunch of hipster misanthropes who know it all and hate everything.
In a 2008 interview with Rob Harvilla in the Village Voice, Owings explained, “I think we live in a time right now, especially with the Internet, and especially with comment sections on blogs, where everybody can take their potshots—everybody can post anonymously and get their dig in. Fuck that. Everybody knows where I live. Everybody knows that I sign the checks. It has my name on it. You think I'm some kind of chickenshit? Let's talk about the last 10 records each of us bought. Let's talk about how many shows a year we go to. Let's talk about real nitty-gritty stuff, instead of this teeth-clenching hipster fashionista reactionary following of music. Let's talk nitty-gritty. You want to talk history? You want to talk criticism? I'm a fan of all of it. And as a fan, I sometimes take it to extremes.”
Harvilla further explains, “To create the illusion that you hate everything, you have to know everything, and if you're bothered enough to know everything, then you actually must love everything… Henry likens a Chunklet insult to a "Weird Al" Yankovic
homage: Grit your teeth and take it as a compliment.” Owings runs with the reputation, and occasionally issues T-shirts with withering yet self-deprecating slogans as “We’re All In This Together… Except You, You’re A Dick” (coined and designed by Mark Wasserman of San Francisco’s Plinko Design – www.plinko.com) and “I Collect Records Because Pussy Hates Me” (created by the Chunklet staff and designed by Chris Bilheimer to commemorate Record Store Day
2010).
, David Cross
and Greg Behrendt
were on the bill. Since then, Chunklet regularly features interviews with and contributions from such alt-comedy figures as Oswalt, Cross, Brian Posehn
, Maria Bamford
, Janeane Garofalo
, Paul F. Tompkins
, Jon Glaser
, Zach Galifianakis
, Sarah Silverman
, H. Jon Benjamin
, Bob Odenkirk
, and Eugene Mirman
. Oswalt, Odenkirk and Posehn also contributed to Chunklet’s The Overrated Book while Oswalt, Mirman and Galifianakis contributed to The Rock Bible.
In 2000, upon publishing Chunklet 15: “Is This Guy The Biggest Asshole in Rock?” Owings received verbal threats from musicians, labels and music fans “due to shit written in (especially) the Asshole issue.” The issue landed Owings on the 2001 Entertainment Weekly
“It List” as the “It Agitator.”
Similar reactions followed Chunklet 17: “Pay to (NOT) Play” (January 2003), Chunklet 18: “The Overrated Issue” Part One (February 2004), and Chunklet 19: “The Overrated Issue, Part Two” (January 2005).
In late 2008, Owings began repeatedly instructing Chunklet contributors to “fuck with” the existing Chunklet Wikipedia entry. Shortly thereafter, it was deleted for vandalism.
, Oblivians
, Man… Or Astro-man?
, The Minders
, Azusa Plane
, I Am Spoonbender
), tour manager (Comedians of Comedy, Man... or Astro-man?, Servotron) and Grammy-nominated graphic designer and record producer.
Owings launched a graphic design arm, Chunklet Graphic Control, in 1997 and has since designed countless books, magazine layouts, album/DVD/book covers and marketing materials. A selected curriculum vitae:
's Fart and Wiener Jokes on Relapse Records (uncredited).
Screamin’ and Hollerin' The Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton
(2001). Owings and art director Susan Archie received a Grammy Award for their work.
Fonotone Records
: 1956–1969 (Grammy nomination, 2005)
Album Covers
Captain Beefheart
& His Magic Band: Grow Fins: Rarities 1965-1982 (Table of the Elements/Xeric, 1999 – LP version)
John Cale
: Inside the Dream Syndicate, Vol. I: Day of Niagara
(2000), Inside the Dream Syndicate, Vol. II: Dream Interpretation
and Inside the Dream Syndicate, Vol. III: Stainless Gamelan
(both on Table of the Elements
, 2001)
Lewis Black
: Revolver (EP)
(Stand Up! Records
, 2002), Rules of Enragement
(2003 Comedy Central Records
– CD, Stand Up! Records - LP)
Patton Oswalt: Vs. Alcohol Vs. Zach Vs. Patton w/Zach Galifianakis (Chunklet Records, 2005), …And the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company (Chunklet Records, 2006)
Magnolia Electric Co.: Fading Trails
(Secretly Canadian, 2006)
Elf Power
: Back to the Web
(Rykodisc
, 2006)
Book Covers and Layouts
Mr. Show: What Happened? (Squaresville Productions, 2002)
Thesaurus Musicarum: The Pitchfork Year in Music 2003 (PitchforkMedia.com
, 2004)
DVD Covers
We Fun Atlanta (Music Video Distributors, 2007)
Lost & Found Video Night, Vols. 1 – 10 (Cinestrike Films)
, Ted Rall
, Billy Carter, Dag Luther Gooch
(also Chunklets video guru), Andrew Earles, Patrick Gough
, Seth Jabour, Johnny Ryan, Jason Molina, Roger Miller
, David Yow
, Evildesign, Eryc Simmerer, Terry White, Joe Peery, Rich Tommasso, Mary Elizabeth Wine, Will Hart
, Joshua Krause, Mark Wasserman, Ed Wilcox, Ben West, Adam Fuchs, Brian Walsby, Jay Ryan, Paul Hornschemeier
, Gary Flom, Ryan Russell
after which some of the bands performed. Team Chunklet is currently 61-0. Les Savy Fav
claims to have tied and American Analog Set claims that Team Chunklet has forfeited games. No substantiation exists. Chunklet 20: “The Last Magazine Ever Printed” contains a best-of feature with photos from matches with The Arcade Fire
, Torche
, The Hold Steady
, Mogwai
, Death Cab for Cutie
, Magnolia Electric Co., Deerhunter
, Isis
, Les Savy Fav
, Swearing at Motorists
, The Black Lips, The Shins
, Queens of the Stone Age
, Melvins, Underoath
, Qui
, Battles
, Fatal Flying Guillotines, and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
. Vampire Weekend
and Man... or Astro-man? have also faced off against Team Chunklet.
The following bands have actually performed concerts at Whirlyball Atlanta: The Black Lips, Dark Meat, Diplo, Noot D'Noot, Fatal Flying Guiloteens, Mogwai, Growing
, Torche
, Melvins with David Yow, Big Business
, Les Savy Fav, Liverhearts, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Birds of Avalon
, Gentleman Jesse & His Men, Coffin Bound, Carbonas, The Coathangers, The Selmanaires
, Deerhunter, Monotonix
, Matt & Kim, The NEC, All The Saints and Man… or Astro-man?
Chunklet issued three WhirlyBall 7" records with perforated tickets to each match attached to the sleeve. Records/tickets to each show were exclusively sold at Criminal Records based in Atlanta, Georgia. All records feature exclusive material by every band on the bill.
WHIRLYCHUNK-001
Bands: Deerhunter, The Selmanaires, The Coathangers, Carbonas
WHIRLYCHUNK-002 http://theblacklips.blogspot.com/2008/01/chunklet-whirleyball-single.html /
http://itcoversthehillsides.blogspot.com/2007/12/WhirlyBall-show-black-lips-gentleman.html)
Bands: The Black Lips, Gentleman Jesse & His Men, Coffin Bound, Baby Shakes
WHIRLYCHUNK-003 (http://clatl.com/cribnotes/archives/2008/07/11/diplo-and-dark-meat-go-head-to-head-at-WhirlyBall-this-saturday)
Bands: Dark Meat, Diplo
Printed on a single 8.5x11 page folded in fours. Featured an interview with The Muffs
, an advice column, and a small article on Bash & Pop
.
Chunklet 2 (1993)
Interview: Helmet
Chunklet 3 (1993)
Interview: Chokebore
& Guzzard
Chunklet 4 (1994)
Interview: David Grubbs
Chunklet 5 (1994)
The first issue that actually had pages, this came sealed in a “crazily stamped envelope.”
Interview: Shellac
Chunklet 6 (1994)
Chunklet gave away its sixth issue at three concerts, the first two being a double-bill featuring Tar
and Man…or Astro-man? at Athens’ 40 Watt Club and Atlanta’s Masquerade. The other show was the Derby Weekend (April 1994) at the Rocket House in Louisville, KY featuring Rodan (band)
, Shellac and Ruby Falls.
Chunklet 7: (Spring 1994)
Interviews: Man or Astro-man?/Tar cross-interview, Archers of Loaf
Features: Noser Knows, O.J. Simpson vs. Killdozer
Cover design: Henry Owings. Illustration: Billy Nation
Other: Came wrapped in a bellyband.
Chunklet 8: (Fall 1994)
First issue with a paid advertisement. Covers printed on brown paper bags from Winn-Dixie
.
Interviews: Arcwelder
, Air Miami
, Oblivians
, Gaunt
Features: Tech Support Horror Stories, Noser Knows, How to Be Alternative, show reviews
Cover design: Henry Owings
Chunklet 9: “The Pet Issue” (June 1995)
Cover features Owings and his then-girlfriend in front of his car after they had run over a deer. Features art by Jerry Fuchs. Most copies came sealed in a doggy bag with the issue number rubber-stamped onto it.
Interviews: Tortoise
, Jad Fair
Features: Q&A (and band-drawn illustrations) with bands about their pets including: Ashtray Boy/Nice
, The Clean
, Boris The Sprinkler
, The Cows
, Codeine
, DQE
, dis-, Folk Implosion/Sebadoh
, Gas Huffer
, Girls Against Boys
, Guided by Voices
, The Grifters, The Jesus Lizard
, Man or Astro-man?, MX80, Nine Pound Hammer
, Oblivians, The Olivia Tremor Control, The PeeChees
, Rocket From The Crypt
, Pegboy
, Silkworm
, Shellac, Six Finger Satellite
, The Smugglers
, Superchunk
, Thinkin' Fellers. Also includes Owings’ personal accounts of owning pets.
Cover design: Henry Owings. Photo: Jezz Thorpe
Chunklet 10: (Spring 1996)
Interviews: Harry Pussy
, Geezer Lake, Sun Ra
(one of his final interviews), MX80, Thee Speaking Canaries
Features: He Said/He Said, Jawbox
/Pegboy golf outing, Man... or Astro-man? tour diary, Refrigerators of Athens Musicians (including Harvey Milk
, The Martians
{[dn}}, The Woggles), Punk Rock Photo Album by Malcolm Riviera, Fun Things To Do On the First Day of Class, Prank Letters to Corporations, Absurd Band Names. Illustrations by Will Hart of Olivia Tremor Control.
Cover design: Ted Rall
Chunklet 11: (Fall 1996)
Interviews: Spent
, Thee Hydrogen Terrors, Ui
, Flying Saucer Attack
, Servotron, X-Ray Spex
Features: Azalia Snail
tour diary, 9 Types of Record Store Employees, 8-tracks, Lance Bangs
, Firewalking, How to Be Annoying, 1-800-Chunklet, Mr. Yoyo. Features illustrations by Will Hart.
Premium: A 7" record featuring exclusive tracks by Don Caballero
, recorded at the band's second gig. (Two pressings, first with purple labels and two vinyl color variations and one in blue).
Cover design: Ted Rall
Chunklet 12: “In Space!” (1997)
Interviews: U-J3RK5, Bob Moog
Features: Moon Radio, Guru Bob, The History of Krautrock
, Helpful Tips for Pyros, 50 Dorky Things About Drummers, How To Be Annoying, A Don Caballero Ghost Story
Premium: A CD featuring previously unreleased material by Six Finger Satellite, Arcwelder, Man... or Astro-man?, Spatula, Azalia Snail with Harry Pussy, Cash Money, Thee Hydrogen Terrors, Harvey Milk, Hurl, Elf Power, The Quadrajets, The Yips
, Steel Miners, Windy & Carl
, Xerobot, Cruel, Cruel Moon, Stirling and the Azusa Plane
Cover design: Chris Bilheimer
Chunklet 13: “The Quickie Issue" (1998)
Produced in a single day and given away because Owings “was avoiding ‘lucky 13’.” Owings was moved to produce the rush edition when Quadrajets drummer Kevin Young was in an auto accident that paralyzed him from the neck down.
Features: Two pieces Owings wrote for the Flagpole, “a couple dumb articles and a couple small lists written by friends. I don't remember how many were made, but I think it was around 500.”
Cover design: Henry Owings
Other: came with a bellyband
Chunklet 14: “Issue 14 (a/k/a The Mad Magazine Issue a/k/a The Cease and Desist Issue” (1998)
Interviews: The Clears, Boche from the Billions Corporation
Features: Duophonic Super 45s
, Bill Pullman
, Guided by Voices vs. Star Trek
, What's the Most Rock Thing You've Ever Done?, How to Be Annoying at Monopoly, PoMo Spy vs. Spy
(by Ted Rall), Heckling (by Andrew Earles).
Premium: CD featuring previously unreleased material by Portastatic
, The Delta 72
, Tranquil, The Green Pajamas
, Amp
, The Minders
, Brother JT, Operation Re-Information, Irving Klaw Trio
, Therisphere, Log, Neutrino
, Melted Men, The Low Numbers, The Causey Way
and Daphne Diaphanous. Also, fans that submitted and passed an Indie Cred test received a lathe cut 7" by Thurston Moore
.
Cover design: Chris Bilheimer
Chunklet 15: “Is This Guy The Biggest Asshole in Rock?” (2000)
Chunklet’s biggest-selling issue, at 24,000 copies.
Interviews: Steve Albini
, Will Hart, John Reis
, David Cross
Features: Band-A-Minute, Tickle Me Emo, Great Ways to Irritate Publicists, The 100 Biggest Assholes in Rock, Charles Bronson
(by Andrew Earles),
Cover design: Chris Bilheimer
Chunklet 16: “The Shit List” (2001)
The publication’s largest issue ever, at 180 pages. Master copy and backup were among items stolen from Owings’ home in 2002. No electronic version will ever be available.
Interviews: The Fucking Champs
, Lewis Black, Neil Hamburger
(by Jon Wurster
), Nardwuar vs. Bev Davies, Keuhkot
, Subsonics
Features: The SHIT LIST, disc-by- disc review of the Merzbox
, The Final Days of Don Caballero, Rock's Weakest Links, Indietronica, Novelty Rap (by Andrew Earles), The Life & Death of Bob Crane
, The Theremin
, Sniglets, David Lee Roth
vs. Steve Martin
, Shitty Rock Poses (illustrated by Jerry Fuchs)
Cover design: Chris Bilheimer. Photo: Frank Mullen
Chunklet 17: “Pay to (NOT) Play” (January 2003)
Postponed due to the 2002 robbery.
Interviews: Mission of Burma
, Fred Armisen
, Patton Oswalt, Dave Attell
, Janeane Garofalo, Neal Pollack
, Robert Smigel
Features: Mr. Show
tour diary, AC/DC
board meeting, Irony Shirts, Rocktoids, Let Us Name Your Band, Ask Andrew WK, Commanders of the Pit, Tattoo Challenge
Cover design: Chris Bilheimer
Chunklet 18: “The Overrated Issue” Part One (February 2004)
So out-of-print, even Owings doesn’t own an issue.
Interviews: Sarah Silverman, Jon H. Benjamin, Bob Odenkirk
Features: Assholes Across America, Dreamo vs. Emo, Bumper Stickers, Freakster, Croquet with Blur, Sell-Out Pie Chart, Microphone Techniques, Adopt-A-Gutter-Punk
Cover design: Chris Bilheimer
Chunklet 19: “The Overrated Issue, Part Two” (January 2005)
Interviews: The Naked Trucker, Eugene Mirman, Stella
, Tim Kerr
, Joe Bussard
Features: The seven degrees of Winona Ryder
, WhirlyBall vs. Mogwai, Torture Tapes, Promoter Excuses, Daniel Terryfeather, Rock Action Figures
Cover design: Chris Bilheimer
Chunklet 20: “The Last Magazine Ever Printed” (2008)
Interviews: Zach Galifianakis, PFT, Jon Glaser, Sublime Frequencies
Features: Drug Appreciation, WhirlyBall, Rockopoly, Music Journalist App Form, Glad You're Dead, Booking Agents, The Sarge (by Andrew Earles)
Premium: Zach Galifianakis/Ted Leo and the Pharmacists split 7” with exclusive tracks “Up In ‘Dem Guts” (Galifianakis) and “Rock N’ Roll Dreams’ll Come Through (Leo). On colored vinyl, some on picture disc.
Cover design: Chris Bilheimer
, Revolver, Small Changes, Sonic Unyon
(Canada), and Ubiquity.
Retail outlets include Atomic Books (Baltimore), Aquarius Records
(San Francisco), Criminal Records
(Atlanta), Grapevine Music (Boone, NC), Harvest Records
(Asheville, NC), Jackpot Records (Portland, OR), Newbury Comics
(Boston), Mad Platter (Riverside, CA), Pegasus (Berkeley & Oakland), Powell's Books
(Portland, OR), Quimby's (Chicago), Reckless (Chicago), Reptilian (Baltimore), Rough Trade (London), Sam Weller's Books (Salt Lake City), Spaceboy (Philly), The Record Exchange (Boise), Twisted Village (Cambridge), Vintage Vinyl (St. Louis), Waterloo Records (Austin).
As of 8/28/2010 all issues except Chunklet 20 are out of print, however content from many back issues is available on Chunklet.com.
Compiles the majority of Chunklets 18 and 19 along with 40 pages of new material.
The Rock Bible: Unholy Scripture for Fans & Bands (Quirk Books, 2008)
Originally intended as the theme to a new issue, but “exploded into a book in nine weeks.”
(February 2005)
Unedited 2'22" tapes of the first album recorded at the 40 Watt Club in Athens.
CHKCD002 Patton Oswalt Vs. Alcohol Vs. Zach Vs. Patton (with Zach Galifianakis) CD-EP (June 2005)
Patton and Zach drunk, insulting each other at the EARL (East Atlanta Restaurant Lounge). www.badearl.com
CHKCD003 Patton Oswalt ...And the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company (Aug 2006 - OOP)
Features Henry Owings, Brian Posehn, Maria Bamford and Eugene Mirman Recorded at Logan Square Auditorium, Chicago, 2006
CHKCD004 [2008] Patton (OOP) WFMU radio fundraiser premium, limited edition of 700.
CHKCDCOC001-004 [2006]
Comedians of Comedy 3" CDs (OOP) One 3” CD each from Patton Oswalt, Maria Bamford, Brian Posehn, and Eugene Mirman. All exclusive material, packaged with trading cards.
Included with Chunklet 11.
CHK017.5 Les Savy Fav/David Cross 7” (2003, OOP)
Chunklet.com premium for Chunklet 17.
CHK018.5 Jason Molina No Moon On The Water (2004, OOP)
Chunklet.com premium for Chunklet 18.
CHK019.5 Melvins/Patton Oswalt 7” (2006, OOP)
Sold as a memento to the 13th anniversary.
CHK020.5 Ted Leo/Zach Galifianakis 7” (2008, OOP)
Chunklet.com premium for Chunklet 20. Some pressed on picture disc.
Limited edition of 1070 including 100 on clear vinyl and 70 on gold.
CHKLP002 Harvey Milk Courtesy And Goodwill Towards Men (2008)
Initial reprinting of 500 used the remaining original jackets from Reproductive. A vinyl pressing fiasco necessitated a total re-print. The sleeves are letter pressed and sport a thick spine (unlike the original pressing).
CHKLP003 Harvey Milk The Pleaser/Live Pleaser (2008)
Double LP, limited pressing of 1000, with 400 copies on red/blue vinyl, 400 gold/green, 100 clear with splatter, 100 black.
CHKLP004 Harvey Milk My Love Is Higher Than Your Assessment Of What My Love Could Be (2008)
Limited edition vinyl: 100 powder blue, 100 dark gold, 100 clear with splatter
Filmed at South-by-Southwest (SXSW) 2004.
CHKDVD002 Buckshot Boys (2005)
Filmed at All Tomorrow’s Parties in December 2004.
CHKDVD003 (DELETED) South-By-South Death (2006)
Boy Scout-themed production filmed at SXSW 2005. Owings’ lawyer strongly discouraged him from releasing it, but it is available online.
CHKDVD004 Harvey Milk Anthem (2006)
A multi-camera shoot of the final Harvey Milk gig with Paul opening for Melvins w/David Yow at the Chunklet 13th anniversary. Reissued APR09 (2nd edition, CHKDVDCD004.5) with four previously unreleased tracks and an hour of additional material.
Venue: Skate-A-Round USA, Athens, GA
Performers: Man… or Astro-man?
Second Anniversary: October, 1995
Venue: The Landfill, Athens, GA
Performers: The Olivia Tremor Control, Thee Speaking Canaries, Joe Christmas
Third Anniversary: August 31, 1996
Venue: Q-Zar Laser Tag (Athens)
Performers: Servotron
Tenth Anniversary: April 1–3, 2003
Venue: 40 Watt Club
Performers: Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Greg Behrendt, Har Mar Superstar, Oxes, Neal Pollack
Thirteenth Anniversary: October 27–28, 2006
Venue: Variety Playhouse, WhirlyBall Atlanta and the 40 Watt Club
Performers: Zach Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt, Harvey Milk, Melvins with David Yow, Big Business, Elf Power, puppet show
Fifteenth Anniversary: October 10–11, 2008
Venue: 40 Watt Club
Performers: Brent Weinbach, Brian Posehn, Deerhunter, Gentleman Jesse and his Men, Twin Tigers, Mastodon
is seen reading a copy of Chunklet 17 in the first season of America's Next Top Model
.
History
Henry Owings began publishing Chunklet in Athens, GA while freelancing for alternative newsweekly Flagpole MagazineFlagpole Magazine
Flagpole Magazine, often abbreviated to simply Flagpole, is an American alternative newsweekly that focuses on the cultural scene of Athens, Georgia and its surrounding communities. It was founded by Jared Bailey and Dennis Greenia in 1984 and is currently edited and published by Pete McCommons...
. “The main reason the mag started was due to my dissatisfaction with how my writing was handled in the Flaghole,” Owings says, although he has intimated that Chunklet is a sanctuary for self-hating critics.
Since 1993, Chunklet has published 20 issues on no particular schedule. The first 19 of these are out-of-print. The magazine includes this disclaimer on Chunklet.com: “Chunklet comes out with little regard to a set schedule only because the contributors are busy with their other activities such as being in bands, work, family, putting out records, habitual laziness, television, our lord and savior Jesus Christ and internet porn.”
Issues typically revolve around a central theme, such as Chunklet 15: “Is This Guy The Biggest Asshole in Rock?,” Chunklet 17: “Pay to (NOT) Play” (January 2003), Chunklet 18: “The Overrated Issue” Part One (February 2004), and Chunklet 19: “The Overrated Issue, Part Two” (January 2005). Content generally includes interviews with comedians and indie rock musicians, tour diaries, cartoons, prank correspondence, and satirical essays, lists, hipster how-to guides, and advice columns. Some issues contained premiums like CDs, 7” singles or in the case of Chunklet 17, blank checks made out to “Your Shitty Band.”
Style
Owings cites three main comedic and visual influences: Dave EggersDave Eggers
Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is known for the best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and for his more recent work as a screenwriter. He is also the co-founder of the literacy project 826 Valencia.-Life:Eggers was born in Boston, Massachusetts,...
’ Might magazine
Might magazine
Might was a San Francisco-based magazine co-founded in the early 1990s by David Moodie, Marny Requa and Dave Eggers, who went on to describe the magazine's rise and fall in his bestselling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius....
, MAD and National Lampoon. Musically, Owings says the fanzines Conflict (published by Matador Records co-owner Gerard Cosloy
Gerard Cosloy
Gerard Cosloy is an American music industry executive.-Biography:Cosloy was raised in Wayland, Massachusetts, a western suburb of Boston. While he was in high school, he became involved in the local hardcore punk scene, put together many punk shows, and started Conflict, a mimeographed fanzine of...
), Siltbreeze, Forced Exposure
Forced Exposure
Forced Exposure was an independent music magazine published sporadically out of Massachusetts from the early-'80s to 1993, edited by Jimmy Johnson and Byron Coley. It was printed on cheap newsprint with plain design and filled with corrosive yet humorous writing...
, Your Flesh, Touch and Go
Touch and Go Records
Touch and Go Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois, USA.After its genesis as a hand-made fanzine in 1979, it grew into one of the key record labels in the American 1980s alternative and underground rock scenes, Touch & Go carved out a reputation for releasing adventurous...
, Slash
Slash (fanzine)
Slash was a punk rock-related fanzine published in the United States from 1977 to 1980.The magazine was a large-format tabloid focused on the Los Angeles punk scene, though it did not restrict itself to local acts: its first cover featured Dave Vanian of The Damned. It regularly covered such L.A....
and Search and Destroy
RE/Search
RE/Search Publications is an American magazine and book publisher, based in San Francisco, founded and edited by Andrea Juno and V. Vale in 1980. It was the successor to Vale's earlier punk rock fanzine Search & Destroy , and was started with $100 from Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti...
“were all I ever cared about.”
Chunklet’s caustic, confrontational wit has led to a misconception that Owings and his staff are a bunch of hipster misanthropes who know it all and hate everything.
In a 2008 interview with Rob Harvilla in the Village Voice, Owings explained, “I think we live in a time right now, especially with the Internet, and especially with comment sections on blogs, where everybody can take their potshots—everybody can post anonymously and get their dig in. Fuck that. Everybody knows where I live. Everybody knows that I sign the checks. It has my name on it. You think I'm some kind of chickenshit? Let's talk about the last 10 records each of us bought. Let's talk about how many shows a year we go to. Let's talk about real nitty-gritty stuff, instead of this teeth-clenching hipster fashionista reactionary following of music. Let's talk nitty-gritty. You want to talk history? You want to talk criticism? I'm a fan of all of it. And as a fan, I sometimes take it to extremes.”
Harvilla further explains, “To create the illusion that you hate everything, you have to know everything, and if you're bothered enough to know everything, then you actually must love everything… Henry likens a Chunklet insult to a "Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
homage: Grit your teeth and take it as a compliment.” Owings runs with the reputation, and occasionally issues T-shirts with withering yet self-deprecating slogans as “We’re All In This Together… Except You, You’re A Dick” (coined and designed by Mark Wasserman of San Francisco’s Plinko Design – www.plinko.com) and “I Collect Records Because Pussy Hates Me” (created by the Chunklet staff and designed by Chris Bilheimer to commemorate Record Store Day
Record Store Day
Record Store Day is an internationally celebrated day observed the third Saturday of April each year. Its purpose, as conceived by independent record store employee Chris Brown, is to celebrate the art of music...
2010).
Name
Owings lifted the name Chunklet from an ice machine next to which the redneck proprietor was receiving a mani-pedi from his wife and daughter at a run-down convenience store west of Athens.Connection to Alternative Comedy and Indie Rock Scenes
By 2003, as Chunklet celebrated its tenth anniversary, Owings developed hipster ennui with respect to the “regular” rock or indie circuit and expanded his scope to include the budding alternative comedy movement. The Chunklet 10th anniversary party “was where a lot of the stars aligned” as comedians Patton OswaltPatton Oswalt
Patton Oswalt is an American stand-up comedian, writer, actor and voice actor. He is best known for portraying Spencer Olchin in the popular sitcom The King of Queens, voicing Remy from the film Ratatouille and Thrasher from the Cartoon Network original series Robotomy.-Early life:Oswalt was born...
, David Cross
David Cross
David Cross is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian perhaps best known for his work on HBO's sketch comedy series Mr...
and Greg Behrendt
Greg Behrendt
Gregory Behrendt is an American stand-up comedian and author. His work as a script consultant to the HBO sitcom Sex and the City, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, paved the way for co-authoring of the New York Times bestseller He's Just Not That into You , later adapted into a film by the same name...
were on the bill. Since then, Chunklet regularly features interviews with and contributions from such alt-comedy figures as Oswalt, Cross, Brian Posehn
Brian Posehn
Brian Edmund Posehn is an American actor, voice actor, musician and comedian, known for his roles as mail clerk Kevin Liotta on NBC's Just Shoot Me!, a cast member and writer on HBO's Mr. Show, and most recently as Brian Spukowski on Comedy Central's The Sarah Silverman Program.-Early life:Posehn...
, Maria Bamford
Maria Bamford
Maria Bamford is an American stand-up comedian and voice actor. She is best known for her portrayal of her dysfunctional family and self-deprecating comedy involving jokes about depression. Her comedy style draws upon surrealism and incorporates voice impressions that good-naturedly mock various...
, Janeane Garofalo
Janeane Garofalo
Janeane Garofalo is an American stand-up comedian, actress, political activist and writer. She is the former co-host on the now defunct Air America Radio's The Majority Report. Garofalo continues to circulate regularly within New York City's local comedy and performance art scene.-Early...
, Paul F. Tompkins
Paul F. Tompkins
Paul Francis Tompkins , best known as Paul F. Tompkins, is an American actor and comedian.-Life and career:Tompkins was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a receptionist mother and railway worker father. He started out in stand-up comedy in 1986 at The Comedy Works, Philadelphia, PA, where he...
, Jon Glaser
Jon Glaser
Jonathan Daniel "Jon" Glaser is an American actor, comedian and television writer based out of New York City. A graduate of the University of Michigan where he performed in the sketch comedy troupes Comedy Company and Just Kidding with Jon Hein, he is a five-time Emmy nominee with the writing...
, Zach Galifianakis
Zach Galifianakis
Zachary Knight "Zach" Galifianakis is an American stand-up comedian and actor known for his numerous film and television appearances including his own Comedy Central Presents special...
, Sarah Silverman
Sarah Silverman
Sarah Kate Silverman is a Jewish American comedian, writer, actress, singer and musician. Her satirical comedy addresses social taboos and controversial topics such as racism, sexism, and religion....
, H. Jon Benjamin
H. Jon Benjamin
Henry Jon Benjamin , known professionally as H. Jon Benjamin and Jon Benjamin, is an American actor, comedian and writer best known for his voice-over roles as Jason and Coach McGuirk on Home Movies, Ben on Dr...
, Bob Odenkirk
Bob Odenkirk
Robert "Bob" Odenkirk is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer. He is best known as the co-creator and co-star of the HBO sketch comedy series Mr...
, and Eugene Mirman
Eugene Mirman
Eugene Boris Mirman is a Russian-born American comedian, writer, and filmmaker. Mirman currently plays Yvgeny Mirminsky on Delocated, and voices Gene Belcher for the animated comedy Bob's Burgers.-Early life:Mirman was born in Russia to Jewish parents...
. Oswalt, Odenkirk and Posehn also contributed to Chunklet’s The Overrated Book while Oswalt, Mirman and Galifianakis contributed to The Rock Bible.
Controversy
In 1998, the cover of Chunklet 14 titled “Issue 14 (a/k/a The Mad Magazine Issue a/k/a The Cease and Desist Issue”)” resulted in a cease-and-desist order issued from Mad Magazines legal department.In 2000, upon publishing Chunklet 15: “Is This Guy The Biggest Asshole in Rock?” Owings received verbal threats from musicians, labels and music fans “due to shit written in (especially) the Asshole issue.” The issue landed Owings on the 2001 Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
“It List” as the “It Agitator.”
Similar reactions followed Chunklet 17: “Pay to (NOT) Play” (January 2003), Chunklet 18: “The Overrated Issue” Part One (February 2004), and Chunklet 19: “The Overrated Issue, Part Two” (January 2005).
In late 2008, Owings began repeatedly instructing Chunklet contributors to “fuck with” the existing Chunklet Wikipedia entry. Shortly thereafter, it was deleted for vandalism.
Staff
For the first nine issues, the Chunklet staff used pseudonyms. Henry Owings: Heimlich the Bastard, Lisa Brown: Noser, John Burrows: Jason Slatton, Jerry Fuchs: Dinglefairy, Jezz Thorpe: Lucky Ducky.Henry H. Owings – Publisher/Editor/Art Director
In addition to his work as a freelance journalist and magazine publisher, Henry Owings is a prolific concert promoter (with over 1,000 shows to his credit), label owner (releasing albums by Olivia Tremor Control, ServotronServotron
Servotron was a science fiction-influenced rock band active from 1995 to 1999. Members portrayed a collective of robots whose chosen medium for dissemination of ideas was music...
, Oblivians
Oblivians
The Oblivians were an American punk rock trio that existed from 1993 to 1998. In the 1990s, their blues-infused brand of bravado, crudely-recorded music made them one of the most popular and prominent bands within the underground garage rock scene....
, Man… Or Astro-man?
Man or Astro-man?
Man or Astro-man? is a surf rock group that formed in Auburn, Alabama, in the early 1990s and came to prominence over the following decade.Primarily instrumental, Man or Astro-man? blended the surf rock style of the early 1960s like that of The Spotnicks with the new wave and punk rock sounds of...
, The Minders
The Minders
The Minders is a band closely associated with The Elephant Six Collective. Started by Martyn Leaper in Denver, Colorado in 1996, the band's original members included Leaper on guitars and vocals, Rebecca Cole on drums, Jeff Almond on guitar, and Marc Willhite on bass.Leaper formed the Minders in...
, Azusa Plane
Azusa Plane
The Azusa Plane was the psychedelic music recording and performance project of Jason DiEmilio of Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania...
, I Am Spoonbender
I Am Spoonbender
I Am Spoonbender is an American/Canadian multimedia group formed in San Francisco in early 1997 by composer/multi-instrumentalist/producer Dustin Donaldson, with Brian Jackson and cub guitarist Robynn Iwata I Am Spoonbender is an American/Canadian multimedia group formed in San Francisco in early...
), tour manager (Comedians of Comedy, Man... or Astro-man?, Servotron) and Grammy-nominated graphic designer and record producer.
Owings launched a graphic design arm, Chunklet Graphic Control, in 1997 and has since designed countless books, magazine layouts, album/DVD/book covers and marketing materials. A selected curriculum vitae:
Production
Owings produced every Patton Oswalt album and received a Grammy nomination for My Weakness Is Strong (2009, Warner Bros.) He also produced Brian PosehnBrian Posehn
Brian Edmund Posehn is an American actor, voice actor, musician and comedian, known for his roles as mail clerk Kevin Liotta on NBC's Just Shoot Me!, a cast member and writer on HBO's Mr. Show, and most recently as Brian Spukowski on Comedy Central's The Sarah Silverman Program.-Early life:Posehn...
's Fart and Wiener Jokes on Relapse Records (uncredited).
Design
Box SetsScreamin’ and Hollerin' The Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton
Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton
Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton is a boxed set collecting Charley Patton's recorded works. It also features recordings by many of his friends and associates, as well as supplementary interviews and historical data...
(2001). Owings and art director Susan Archie received a Grammy Award for their work.
Fonotone Records
Joe Bussard
Joe Bussard is an American collector of 78-rpm records.Based in Frederick, Maryland, Bussard maintains a collection of more than 25,000 records, primarily of American folk, gospel, and blues from the 1920s and 1930s, believed to be the largest in the world.He was the subject of a documentary film,...
: 1956–1969 (Grammy nomination, 2005)
Album Covers
Captain Beefheart
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
& His Magic Band: Grow Fins: Rarities 1965-1982 (Table of the Elements/Xeric, 1999 – LP version)
John Cale
John Cale
John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
: Inside the Dream Syndicate, Vol. I: Day of Niagara
Day of Niagara
Inside the Dream Syndicate, Vol. I: Day of Niagara or simply Day of Niagara is a 1965 album by the minimalist music group the Theatre of Eternal Music, aka The Dream Syndicate...
(2000), Inside the Dream Syndicate, Vol. II: Dream Interpretation
Dream Interpretation (album)
John Cale: Inside the Dream Syndicate Volume 2, Dream Interpretation, aka simply Dream Interpretation, is an album by John Cale during his tenure with the Theatre of Eternal Music. It is the second in a loose anthology of minimalist pieces, once thought lost, compiled from the tape collection of...
and Inside the Dream Syndicate, Vol. III: Stainless Gamelan
Stainless Gamelan
John Cale: Inside the Dream Syndicate Volume 3, Stainless Gamelan or simply Stainless Gamelan is an album by John Cale, better known for his work as the violist and founding member of The Velvet Underground...
(both on Table of the Elements
Table of the Elements
Table of the Elements is an American record label. It concentrates on re-released and specially recorded experimental music, including many of the great avant garde musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries — John Cale, Tony Conrad and La Monte Young, for instance — as well as...
, 2001)
Lewis Black
Lewis Black
Lewis Niles Black is an American stand-up comedian, author, playwright, social critic and actor. He is known for his comedy style, which often includes simulating a mental breakdown, or an increasingly angry rant, ridiculing history, politics, religion, trends and cultural phenomena...
: Revolver (EP)
Revolver (Lewis Black album)
Revolver is an EP of outtakes made during the recording sessions of Lewis Black's first album, The White Album.The title is a reference to the album Revolver by the Beatles...
(Stand Up! Records
Stand Up! Records
Stand Up! Records is an American independent comedy record label founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota by former -ismist Recordings label head Dan Schlissel...
, 2002), Rules of Enragement
Rules of Enragement
Rules of Enragement is Lewis Black's third album as well as his first for Comedy Central Records. It was recorded at Acme Comedy Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota.The title is a play on the military term, "Rules of engagement"....
(2003 Comedy Central Records
Comedy Central Records
Comedy Central Records is a record label founded by Jack Vaughn and Comedy Central that puts out comedy albums by comedians that have appeared on their network....
– CD, Stand Up! Records - LP)
Patton Oswalt: Vs. Alcohol Vs. Zach Vs. Patton w/Zach Galifianakis (Chunklet Records, 2005), …And the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company (Chunklet Records, 2006)
Magnolia Electric Co.: Fading Trails
Fading Trails
Fading Trails is Magnolia Electric Co.'s second studio album. It is a compilation of tracks from four different recording sessions, including recordings at Electrical Audio in Chicago, engineered by Steve Albini, Sound of Music Studio in Richmond, Virginia, produced by David Lowery, and Sun Studios...
(Secretly Canadian, 2006)
Elf Power
Elf Power
Elf Power is an indie rock band that originated in Athens, Georgia. Currently, the line-up consists of guitarist/vocalist Andrew Rieger, keyboardist Laura Carter, guitarist Jimmy Hughes, bassist Derek Almstead, and drummer Eric Harris...
: Back to the Web
Back to the Web
Back to the Web is the eighth album by indie rock band Elf Power. It was released on Rykodisc in April 2006.-Track listing:#"Come Lie Down With Me " – 2:17#"An Old Familiar Scene" – 4:13#"Rolling Black Water" – 2:32...
(Rykodisc
Rykodisc
Rykodisc Records is an American record label. It is owned by Warner Music Group, operates as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance.-Company history:...
, 2006)
Book Covers and Layouts
Mr. Show: What Happened? (Squaresville Productions, 2002)
Thesaurus Musicarum: The Pitchfork Year in Music 2003 (PitchforkMedia.com
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
, 2004)
DVD Covers
We Fun Atlanta (Music Video Distributors, 2007)
Lost & Found Video Night, Vols. 1 – 10 (Cinestrike Films)
Writers
Brian TeasleyBrian Teasley
Brian Teasley is an American musician from Alabama. He is a founding member of Man or Astro-man? , The Boster & Servotron . Brian has also recorded and performed with the CauseyWay, ShannonWright, Japancakes, Tyro, Watts, The Mono Men, Har Mar Superstar, the Vue and The Polyphonic Spree...
, Ted Rall
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author. His political cartoons often appear in a multi-panel comic-strip format and frequently blend comic-strip and editorial-cartoon conventions. The cartoons appear in approximately 100 newspapers around the United States...
, Billy Carter, Dag Luther Gooch
Dag Luther Gooch
Dag Luther Gooch is a video artist, writer and musician. He is the founding member of the band Otasco. He is also a frequent contributor to Chunklet and has made several videos for the magazine as well...
(also Chunklets video guru), Andrew Earles, Patrick Gough
Illustrators
Aye Jay Morano, Ted Rall, Jerry FuchsJerry Fuchs
Gerhardt "Jerry" Fuchs was an American indie rock drummer, writer and graphic artist. Fuchs was a member of the bands Turing Machine, The Juan MacLean, !!! and Maserati and performed drums live with the groups MSTRKRFT and LCD Soundsystem.-Career:Fuchs attended college at the University of...
, Seth Jabour, Johnny Ryan, Jason Molina, Roger Miller
Roger Miller (rock musician)
Roger Miller is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist best known for co-founding the groups Mission of Burma and Alloy Orchestra.His main instruments are guitar and piano...
, David Yow
David Yow
David Yow is an American musician born in Las Vegas, Nevada and best known as the vocalist for the noise rock bands Scratch Acid and The Jesus Lizard.-Biography:...
, Evildesign, Eryc Simmerer, Terry White, Joe Peery, Rich Tommasso, Mary Elizabeth Wine, Will Hart
Will Cullen Hart
William "Will" Cullen Hart is one of the co-founders of the Elephant Six Collective, as well as the rock band The Olivia Tremor Control...
, Joshua Krause, Mark Wasserman, Ed Wilcox, Ben West, Adam Fuchs, Brian Walsby, Jay Ryan, Paul Hornschemeier
Paul Hornschemeier
Paul Hornschemeier is a cartoonist based in Chicago, Illinois, known for his thought-provoking explorations of the layered complexities of human life in his work.-Biography:...
Photographers
Frank Mullen, Brian McCall, Chris Bilheimer, Dan Monick, Tad KublerTad Kubler
Tad Kubler is an American guitarist, known for his work with Lifter Puller, Song of Zarathustra, and, most-notably, The Hold Steady. He grew up in Janesville, Wisconsin and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.-Education:...
, Gary Flom, Ryan Russell
Chunklet Radio
Eryc Simmerer produced five episodes of the Chunklet podcast “Chunklet Radio” between 2005 and 2008.WhirlyBall
Owings, the Chunklet staff and various friends a/k/a Team Chunklet, regularly challenge indie rock bands to games of WhirlyBallWhirlyball
Whirlyball is a team sport invented by Stan Mangum that combines elements of basketball and jai alai, or rather a combination of lacrosse and bumper cars, with the players riding Whirlybugs, small electric vehicles similar to bumper cars...
after which some of the bands performed. Team Chunklet is currently 61-0. Les Savy Fav
Les Savy Fav
Les Savy Fav is a New York City indie rock band. Their style is influenced by art rock and post-hardcore. The group is known for the stage presence of lead singer Tim Harrington...
claims to have tied and American Analog Set claims that Team Chunklet has forfeited games. No substantiation exists. Chunklet 20: “The Last Magazine Ever Printed” contains a best-of feature with photos from matches with The Arcade Fire
The Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire is an indie rock band based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It consists of the husband and wife duo of Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, along with Will Butler, Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, Jeremy Gara, and Sarah Neufeld. William Butler and Régine Chassagne attended McGill University,...
, Torche
Torche
Torche is a band from Miami, Florida, whose sound is often described as stoner metal, or sludge metal.-Biography:The group was formed in 2004 by Steve Brooks , Juan Montoya , Jonathan Nuñez and Rick Smith Torche is a band from Miami, Florida, whose sound is often described as stoner metal, or...
, The Hold Steady
The Hold Steady
The Hold Steady is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2004. The band consists of Craig Finn , Tad Kubler , Galen Polivka , Bobby Drake , and Steve Selvidge...
, Mogwai
Mogwai
The word mogwai is the transliteration of the Cantonese word 魔怪 meaning "monster", "evil spirit", "devil" or "demon".-Mogwai/Mogui in Chinese culture:...
, Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie is an American alternative rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band consists of Ben Gibbard , Chris Walla , Nick Harmer and Jason McGerr ....
, Magnolia Electric Co., Deerhunter
Deerhunter
Deerhunter is an American four-piece indie rock group originating from Atlanta, Georgia. The band, consisting of Bradford Cox, Moses Archuleta, Josh Fauver, and Lockett Pundt, have described themselves as "ambient punk," though they incorporate a wide range of genres, including noise rock, art...
, Isis
Isis (band)
Isis was a Los Angeles, California-based post-metal band, founded in Boston, Massachusetts, with a career spanning from 1997 to 2010...
, Les Savy Fav
Les Savy Fav
Les Savy Fav is a New York City indie rock band. Their style is influenced by art rock and post-hardcore. The group is known for the stage presence of lead singer Tim Harrington...
, Swearing at Motorists
Swearing at Motorists
Swearing At Motorists is a two-piece rock and roll band composed of Dave Doughman and Joseph Siwinski . They formed in Dayton, Ohio in the early 1990s...
, The Black Lips, The Shins
The Shins
The Shins are an American indie rock band comprising singer, songwriter, and guitarist James Mercer, guitarist/bassist Dave Hernandez, Eric Johnson of Fruit Bats, drummer Joe Plummer and bassist Ron Lewis. Their sound draws on several musical genres, including pop, alternative rock, indie rock,...
, Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age is an American rock band from Palm Desert, California, United States, formed in 1997. The band's line-up has always included founding member Josh Homme , with the current line-up including longtime members Troy Van Leeuwen and Joey Castillo , alongside Michael Shuman and...
, Melvins, Underoath
Underoath
Underoath is an American Christian metalcore band from Tampa, Florida. Founded by Dallas Taylor and Luke Morton on November 30, 1997 in Ocala, Florida, subsequently its additional members were from Tampa, Florida...
, Qui
QUI
Qui or QUI may refer to:*Qui , an American independent rock band*The Queen's University of Ireland...
, Battles
Battles (band)
Battles is an American experimental rock group, founded in 2002 in New York City, comprising guitarists Ian Williams and Dave Konopka , and drummer John Stanier .-Biography:...
, Fatal Flying Guillotines, and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists are an American rock band formed in 1999 in Washington, D.C. and currently recording for Matador Records. They have released six full-length studio albums and have toured internationally...
. Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend is an American indie rock band from New York City that formed in 2006 and signed to XL Recordings. The Band has four members: Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Chris Tomson, and Chris Baio. The band released its first album Vampire Weekend in 2008, which produced the singles "Mansard...
and Man... or Astro-man? have also faced off against Team Chunklet.
The following bands have actually performed concerts at Whirlyball Atlanta: The Black Lips, Dark Meat, Diplo, Noot D'Noot, Fatal Flying Guiloteens, Mogwai, Growing
Growing (band)
Growing is a drone music/ambient music/noise music band formed in Olympia, Washington, and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. The group was founded in 2001 by Kevin Doria , Joe Denardo , and Zack Carlson...
, Torche
Torche
Torche is a band from Miami, Florida, whose sound is often described as stoner metal, or sludge metal.-Biography:The group was formed in 2004 by Steve Brooks , Juan Montoya , Jonathan Nuñez and Rick Smith Torche is a band from Miami, Florida, whose sound is often described as stoner metal, or...
, Melvins with David Yow, Big Business
Big Business (band)
Big Business is a stoner metal/sludge metal band from Seattle who are currently signed to Gold Metal Records.-History:Big Business started as a two piece band composed of Jared Warren of Karp and The Tight Bros From Way Back When, and Coady Willis of Murder City Devils...
, Les Savy Fav, Liverhearts, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Birds of Avalon
Birds of Avalon
Birds of Avalon is a rock band from Raleigh, North Carolina whose sound fuses elements of psychedelic and progressive rock. The band consists of Cheetie Kumar , David Mueller , Scott Nurkin ,and Paul Siler ....
, Gentleman Jesse & His Men, Coffin Bound, Carbonas, The Coathangers, The Selmanaires
The Selmanaires
The Selmanaires are an American Indie electronic band from Atlanta, Georgia.Influenced by the sounds of myriad cultures and eras, The Selmanaires play a musical collage that dances the border between tradition and experiment...
, Deerhunter, Monotonix
Monotonix
Monotonix were a garage rock band from Tel Aviv, Israel. They released their debut EP in 2008 and have toured mostly the United States and Europe, including notable now legendary appearances at SXSW...
, Matt & Kim, The NEC, All The Saints and Man… or Astro-man?
Chunklet issued three WhirlyBall 7" records with perforated tickets to each match attached to the sleeve. Records/tickets to each show were exclusively sold at Criminal Records based in Atlanta, Georgia. All records feature exclusive material by every band on the bill.
WHIRLYCHUNK-001
Bands: Deerhunter, The Selmanaires, The Coathangers, Carbonas
WHIRLYCHUNK-002 http://theblacklips.blogspot.com/2008/01/chunklet-whirleyball-single.html /
http://itcoversthehillsides.blogspot.com/2007/12/WhirlyBall-show-black-lips-gentleman.html)
Bands: The Black Lips, Gentleman Jesse & His Men, Coffin Bound, Baby Shakes
Baby Shakes
Baby Shakes is a music group from New York City. Baby Shakes call their music rock, power-pop and punk, and mentioned also glam and rock'n'roll.- History :...
WHIRLYCHUNK-003 (http://clatl.com/cribnotes/archives/2008/07/11/diplo-and-dark-meat-go-head-to-head-at-WhirlyBall-this-saturday)
Bands: Dark Meat, Diplo
Magazines
Chunklet 1 (1993)Printed on a single 8.5x11 page folded in fours. Featured an interview with The Muffs
The Muffs
The Muffs are a rock band based in Southern California, formed in 1991 and led by Kim Shattuck.-History:The Muffs' leader is singer-songwriter Kim Shattuck...
, an advice column, and a small article on Bash & Pop
Bash & Pop
Bash & Pop were an American alternative rock group formed in 1992 by Tommy Stinson in Minneapolis, Minnesota following the breakup of previous group, The Replacements...
.
Chunklet 2 (1993)
Interview: Helmet
Helmet (band)
Helmet is an alternative metal band from New York City formed in 1989. Founded by vocalist and lead guitarist Page Hamilton, Helmet has had numerous lineup changes, and Hamilton has been the only constant member....
Chunklet 3 (1993)
Interview: Chokebore
Chokebore
Chokebore is an American indie rock band formed in the early 1990s in Honolulu, Hawaii, and subsequently based in Los Angeles, California.-Biography:...
& Guzzard
Chunklet 4 (1994)
Interview: David Grubbs
David Grubbs
David Grubbs , guitarist, pianist, and vocalist, was a founding member of Squirrel Bait, Bastro, and Gastr del Sol. He has also played in Codeine, The Red Krayola, Bitch Magnet and The Wingdale Community Singers....
Chunklet 5 (1994)
The first issue that actually had pages, this came sealed in a “crazily stamped envelope.”
Interview: Shellac
Shellac
Shellac is a resin secreted by the female lac bug, on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. It is processed and sold as dry flakes , which are dissolved in ethyl alcohol to make liquid shellac, which is used as a brush-on colorant, food glaze and wood finish...
Chunklet 6 (1994)
Chunklet gave away its sixth issue at three concerts, the first two being a double-bill featuring Tar
Tar (band)
Tar was an American post-hardcore band, formed in 1988 in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The precursor to Tar was a hardcore punk outfit called Blatant Dissent, which formed in DeKalb, Illinois where singer/guitarist John Mohr and drummer Mike Greenlees were attending Northern Illinois University...
and Man…or Astro-man? at Athens’ 40 Watt Club and Atlanta’s Masquerade. The other show was the Derby Weekend (April 1994) at the Rocket House in Louisville, KY featuring Rodan (band)
Rodan (band)
Rodan was an American math/post-hardcore band in the early to mid 1990s. The best known lineup of the band consisted of Jeff Mueller , Jason Noble , Tara Jane O'Neil , and Kevin Coultas .-History:...
, Shellac and Ruby Falls.
Chunklet 7: (Spring 1994)
Interviews: Man or Astro-man?/Tar cross-interview, Archers of Loaf
Archers of Loaf
Archers of Loaf is an American indie-rock band originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, formed in 1990. The group toured extensively and released a total of four studio albums, a collection album, numerous singles and EPs, and a live album which was released after the band broke up in...
Features: Noser Knows, O.J. Simpson vs. Killdozer
Killdozer
Killdozer may refer to:* "Killdozer!" , a 1944 novella by Theodore Sturgeon* Killdozer! , a 1974 ABC cult classic sci-fi film based on the Theodore Sturgeon story...
Cover design: Henry Owings. Illustration: Billy Nation
Other: Came wrapped in a bellyband.
Chunklet 8: (Fall 1994)
First issue with a paid advertisement. Covers printed on brown paper bags from Winn-Dixie
Winn-Dixie
Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. is an American supermarket chain based in Jacksonville, Florida. Winn-Dixie has ranked number 24 in the 2010 "Top 75 North American Food Retailers" based on 2009 fiscal year estimated sales of $7.3 billion by Supermarket News. and was ranked the 43rd largest retailer in the...
.
Interviews: Arcwelder
Arcwelder
Arcwelder is an American indie rock band which formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1988. Originally named Tilt-A-Whirl, the group changed its name to Arcwelder after being informed by Sellner Manufacturing Co. of copyright infringement....
, Air Miami
Air Miami
Air Miami was a band from Washington DC. The band was formed by Mark Robinson and Bridget Cross, both former members of Unrest, and drummer Gabriel Stout...
, Oblivians
Oblivians
The Oblivians were an American punk rock trio that existed from 1993 to 1998. In the 1990s, their blues-infused brand of bravado, crudely-recorded music made them one of the most popular and prominent bands within the underground garage rock scene....
, Gaunt
Gaunt (band)
Gaunt was a pop punk band formed in Columbus, Ohio, in 1991. The original lineup formed from the ashes of the short-lived and punkadelic Black Juju, and consisted of guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Jerry Wick, bassist Eric Barth and drummer Jeff Regensburger...
Features: Tech Support Horror Stories, Noser Knows, How to Be Alternative, show reviews
Cover design: Henry Owings
Chunklet 9: “The Pet Issue” (June 1995)
Cover features Owings and his then-girlfriend in front of his car after they had run over a deer. Features art by Jerry Fuchs. Most copies came sealed in a doggy bag with the issue number rubber-stamped onto it.
Interviews: Tortoise
Tortoise (band)
Tortoise is an American post-rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1990.-Music:Tortoise's almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization, and the group gained significant attention from their early career. The members have roots in Chicago's fertile music scene, playing in...
, Jad Fair
Jad Fair
Jad Fair is an American singer, guitarist and graphic artist, most famous for being a founding member of lo-fi alternative rock group Half Japanese.-Biography:In 1974, with his brother David, Jad Fair founded the lo-fi group Half Japanese...
Features: Q&A (and band-drawn illustrations) with bands about their pets including: Ashtray Boy/Nice
Ashtray Boy
Ashtray Boy is an indie-rock band based around peripatetic singer-songwriter Randall Lee.-History:The band has been active since c. 1984 and was originally founded as Ashtray Boy and his Country Cousin. During the band's history they have been based in Sydney, Chicago, Vancouver and Melbourne...
, The Clean
The Clean
The Clean are an influential Indie rock band that formed in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1978. Led through a number of early rotating line-ups by brothers Hamish and David Kilgour, the band settled down to their well-known and current line-up with bassist Robert Scott...
, Boris The Sprinkler
Boris the Sprinkler
Boris the Sprinkler was a pop-punk band that formed in Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1992, known for their zaniness and abnormality. Their aesthetic seemed to borrow from Devo and The Dickies. They display a sci-fi bizarro style reminiscent of Buckaroo Banzai....
, The Cows
The Cows
Cows are a post-hardcore/punk blues band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The band formed in 1987 and disbanded in 1998. They were known for a unique mixture of punk rock and blues played with large amounts of noise and surreal humour; their music is often considered noise rock...
, Codeine
Codeine (band)
Codeine was an American indie rock/slowcore band formed in 1989. They released two full-length albums — Frigid Stars in 1990 and The White Birch in 1994.-History:...
, DQE
DQE (band)
DQE, or Dairy Queen Empire, is a band formed by singer/songwriter Grace Braun, New York photographer Chris Verene and former Fat Day drummer Zak Sitter in 1986 in Atlanta. The band later evolved into one built around the core of Grace Braun and her husband/drummer, music writer Dugan Trodglen...
, dis-, Folk Implosion/Sebadoh
Sebadoh
Sebadoh is an American indie rock band, formed in 1986 in Westfield, Massachusetts by Eric Gaffney and Dinosaur Jr bass player Lou Barlow. Along with such bands as Pavement and Guided by Voices, Sebadoh helped pioneer lo-fi music, a style of indie rock characterized by low-fidelity recording...
, Gas Huffer
Gas Huffer
Gas Huffer was an American garage rock band from Washington state. They were known for their formal and comical lyrics and their antic stage presence.-History:Gas Huffer classified themselves loosely in the Garage punk genre...
, Girls Against Boys
Girls Against Boys
Girls Against Boys are an indie rock/post-hardcore band, originally forming in Washington, D.C. in 1988 and currently based in New York City.-Career:...
, Guided by Voices
Guided by Voices
Guided by Voices is an American indie rock band originating from Dayton, Ohio. Beginning with the band's formation in 1983, it made frequent personnel changes but always maintained the presence of principal songwriter Robert Pollard...
, The Grifters, The Jesus Lizard
The Jesus Lizard
The Jesus Lizard was an American alternative rock and noise rock band formed in 1987 in Austin, Texas. They were "a leading noise rock band in the American independent underground…[who] turned out a series of independent records filled with scathing, disembowelling, guitar-driven pseudo-industrial...
, Man or Astro-man?, MX80, Nine Pound Hammer
Nine Pound Hammer
Nine Pound Hammer is an American cowpunk band formed in 1985 by vocalist Scott Luallen and guitarist Blaine Cartwright in their hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky...
, Oblivians, The Olivia Tremor Control, The PeeChees
The PeeChees
The PeeChee All-Season Sensations were a punk band formed in 1994 by Lookout! Records co-owners Christopher Appelgren , Molly Neuman , along with guitarist Carlos Cañedo , and bass player Rop Vasquez .The PeeChees...
, Rocket From The Crypt
Rocket from the Crypt
Rocket from the Crypt was an American rock band led by John Reis, formed in 1989 in San Diego, California and disbanded in 2005.The band gained critical praise and the attention of major record labels after the release of their 1992 album Circa: Now!, leading to a recording contract with Interscope...
, Pegboy
Pegboy
Pegboy is an American punk band from Chicago, Illinois with a relatively large cult following. They were founded in 1990 by John Haggerty , along with his brother Joe Haggerty , Larry Damore , and Steve Saylors...
, Silkworm
Silkworm (band)
Silkworm was an indie rock band active from 1987 to 2005.The members were Tim Midgett, Joel RL Phelps, Andy Cohen, and Michael Dahlquist. Phelps left the band in 1994. Matt Kadane of Bedhead and The New Year played keyboards on Italian Platinum and It'll Be Cool...
, Shellac, Six Finger Satellite
Six Finger Satellite
Six Finger Satellite are an American synthesizer-based post-hardcore band, based in Providence, Rhode Island.- History :The band formed in 1990 around a line-up of J. Ryan , John MacLean , Peter Phillips , Chris Dixon , and Rick Pelletier...
, The Smugglers
The Smugglers
The Smugglers is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 10 September to 1 October 1966.-Plot:...
, Superchunk
Superchunk
Superchunk is an American indie rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, consisting of singer/guitarist Mac McCaughan, guitarist Jim Wilbur, bassist Laura Ballance, and drummer Jon Wurster. Formed in 1989, they were one of the bands that helped define the Chapel Hill music scene of the 1990s...
, Thinkin' Fellers. Also includes Owings’ personal accounts of owning pets.
Cover design: Henry Owings. Photo: Jezz Thorpe
Chunklet 10: (Spring 1996)
Interviews: Harry Pussy
Harry Pussy
Harry Pussy was a noise rock band from Miami, active from 1992 to 1997. The main members were Bill Orcutt on guitar and vocals and Adris Hoyos on drums and vocals. Other members included briefly Ian Steinberg on accordion, and later either Mark Feehan or Dan Hosker on second guitar...
, Geezer Lake, Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...
(one of his final interviews), MX80, Thee Speaking Canaries
Speaking Canaries
The Speaking Canaries are an indie rock group from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
Features: He Said/He Said, Jawbox
Jawbox
Jawbox was an alternative rock band from Washington, D.C., U.S.. Its original members were J. Robbins , Kim Coletta and Adam Wade...
/Pegboy golf outing, Man... or Astro-man? tour diary, Refrigerators of Athens Musicians (including Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
, The Martians
The Martians
"The Martians" was the name of a group of prominent scientists who emigrated from Hungary to the United States in the early half of the 20th century. They included, among others, Theodore von Kármán, John von Neumann, Eugene Wigner, Edward Teller and Paul Erdős...
{[dn}}, The Woggles), Punk Rock Photo Album by Malcolm Riviera, Fun Things To Do On the First Day of Class, Prank Letters to Corporations, Absurd Band Names. Illustrations by Will Hart of Olivia Tremor Control.
Cover design: Ted Rall
Chunklet 11: (Fall 1996)
Interviews: Spent
Spent (band)
Spent was an American Indie Rock band from Jersey City, New Jersey consisting of singer/guitarist John King, guitarist/singer/keyboardist Annie Hayden, bassist/occasional vocalist Joe Weston and drummer Ed Radich.-History:...
, Thee Hydrogen Terrors, Ui
Ui (band)
Ui is an American post-rock/funk band based in New York City, which started in 1990. The group was started by Sasha Frere-Jones and Clem Waldmann. Wilbo Wright joined the group in 1993. The group's songs are often described as "bass-heavy", as the band frequently uses two bass guitars. Other...
, Flying Saucer Attack
Flying Saucer Attack
Flying Saucer Attack was an experimental space rock band that formed in Bristol, England in 1992. David Pearce was the core member of the group, and Rachel Brook was a member for most of the band's lifetime....
, Servotron, X-Ray Spex
X-Ray Spex
X-Ray Spex were an English punk band from London that formed in 1976.During their first incarnation , X-Ray Spex were “deliberate underachievers” and only managed to release five singles and one album...
Features: Azalia Snail
Azalia Snail
Azalia Snail is an American avant-garde singer-songwriter and musician. She is a multi-instrumentalist active in psych folk and indie rock, and played a prominent role in the 1990s lo-fi music scene She was later dubbed the "Queen of lo-fi"....
tour diary, 9 Types of Record Store Employees, 8-tracks, Lance Bangs
Lance Bangs
Lance Bangs is an American filmmaker, documentarian, and music video director who has created videos for Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Green Day, the Arcade Fire, the Shins, The Thermals, Belle & Sebastian, Menomena, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, R.E.M., Mike Watt, Death Cab for Cutie, The Black Keys, Kanye West, and...
, Firewalking, How to Be Annoying, 1-800-Chunklet, Mr. Yoyo. Features illustrations by Will Hart.
Premium: A 7" record featuring exclusive tracks by Don Caballero
Don Caballero
Don Caballero are an American rock group from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The group took their name from the character Guy Caballero, portrayed by Joe Flaherty, on the sketch comedy show Second City Television...
, recorded at the band's second gig. (Two pressings, first with purple labels and two vinyl color variations and one in blue).
Cover design: Ted Rall
Chunklet 12: “In Space!” (1997)
Interviews: U-J3RK5, Bob Moog
Features: Moon Radio, Guru Bob, The History of Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
, Helpful Tips for Pyros, 50 Dorky Things About Drummers, How To Be Annoying, A Don Caballero Ghost Story
Premium: A CD featuring previously unreleased material by Six Finger Satellite, Arcwelder, Man... or Astro-man?, Spatula, Azalia Snail with Harry Pussy, Cash Money, Thee Hydrogen Terrors, Harvey Milk, Hurl, Elf Power, The Quadrajets, The Yips
The yips
The yips can refer to:*Yips, an apparently baseless loss of ability to perform in various sports*"The Yips" , a 2007 episode of the situation comedy How I Met Your Mother...
, Steel Miners, Windy & Carl
Windy & Carl
-Overview:Cited as "A leading light of the Michigan space-rock scene" by Allmusic, the minimalist group formed in 1993 around the core husband-and-wife duo of guitarist Carl Hultgren and bassist/singer Windy Weber...
, Xerobot, Cruel, Cruel Moon, Stirling and the Azusa Plane
Cover design: Chris Bilheimer
Chunklet 13: “The Quickie Issue" (1998)
Produced in a single day and given away because Owings “was avoiding ‘lucky 13’.” Owings was moved to produce the rush edition when Quadrajets drummer Kevin Young was in an auto accident that paralyzed him from the neck down.
Features: Two pieces Owings wrote for the Flagpole, “a couple dumb articles and a couple small lists written by friends. I don't remember how many were made, but I think it was around 500.”
Cover design: Henry Owings
Other: came with a bellyband
Chunklet 14: “Issue 14 (a/k/a The Mad Magazine Issue a/k/a The Cease and Desist Issue” (1998)
Interviews: The Clears, Boche from the Billions Corporation
Features: Duophonic Super 45s
Duophonic Records
Duophonic Ultra High Frequency Disks Limited, known as Duophonic Super 45s, is a London based independent record label formed by the British pop group Stereolab...
, Bill Pullman
Bill Pullman
William James "Bill" Pullman is an American film, television, and stage actor. Pullman made his film debut in the supporting role of Earl Mott in the 1986 film Ruthless People. He has since gone on to star in other films, including Spaceballs, Independence Day, Lost Highway, Casper and Scary Movie 4...
, Guided by Voices vs. Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
, What's the Most Rock Thing You've Ever Done?, How to Be Annoying at Monopoly, PoMo Spy vs. Spy
Spy vs. Spy
Spy vs. Spy is a black and white comic strip that debuted in Mad magazine #60, dated January 1961, and was originally published by EC Comics. The strip was created by Antonio Prohías.The Spy vs...
(by Ted Rall), Heckling (by Andrew Earles).
Premium: CD featuring previously unreleased material by Portastatic
Portastatic
Portastatic is an American indie rock band founded in the early 1990s by Mac McCaughan. Portastatic began as a solo project for McCaughan, lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Superchunk...
, The Delta 72
The Delta 72
The Delta 72 were an American alternative music band formed in Washington, DC in the summer of 1994, later relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
, Tranquil, The Green Pajamas
The Green Pajamas
- External links :Official sitess "Inspiring Links" section lists various articles and interviews. Warning: Flash site. – interview – concert review* – profile from Seattle Post-Intelligencer* on eNotes.com-Review sites:*PopMatters has * – many links...
, Amp
Amp (band)
Amp is an electronic space rock band formed in London by Richard F. Walker in 1992, after collaborating with David Pearce on the The Secret Garden and the Distance projects...
, The Minders
The Minders
The Minders is a band closely associated with The Elephant Six Collective. Started by Martyn Leaper in Denver, Colorado in 1996, the band's original members included Leaper on guitars and vocals, Rebecca Cole on drums, Jeff Almond on guitar, and Marc Willhite on bass.Leaper formed the Minders in...
, Brother JT, Operation Re-Information, Irving Klaw Trio
Irving Klaw Trio
Irving Klaw Trio was an American experimental rock group formed in Olympia, Washington in the 1990s.The band, named after Irving Klaw, was started when founding members Jeff Fuccillo, Jason Funk and Andrew Price met at the Evergreen State College. Later the group added saxophonist Ryan Polous but...
, Therisphere, Log, Neutrino
Neutrino
A neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected...
, Melted Men, The Low Numbers, The Causey Way
The Causey Way
The Causey Way was a punk/new-wave group formed in 1997 in which the underlying theme was that of a cult operating as a band . The live shows were energetic and in the style of revivalist evangelism. With releases on Fueled By Ramen and Alternative Tentacles, they broke up in 2001...
and Daphne Diaphanous. Also, fans that submitted and passed an Indie Cred test received a lathe cut 7" by Thurston Moore
Thurston Moore
Thurston Joseph Moore is an American musician best known as a singer, songwriter and guitarist of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside of Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label...
.
Cover design: Chris Bilheimer
Chunklet 15: “Is This Guy The Biggest Asshole in Rock?” (2000)
Chunklet’s biggest-selling issue, at 24,000 copies.
Interviews: Steve Albini
Steve Albini
Steven Frank Albini is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman, and Flour, and is currently a member of Shellac...
, Will Hart, John Reis
John Reis
John Reis is an American musician, singer, guitarist, record label owner, and disc jockey. He is best known as the singer and guitarist for the rock band Rocket from the Crypt, which he formed and fronted for the entirety of its career from 1990 to 2005...
, David Cross
Features: Band-A-Minute, Tickle Me Emo, Great Ways to Irritate Publicists, The 100 Biggest Assholes in Rock, Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
(by Andrew Earles),
Cover design: Chris Bilheimer
Chunklet 16: “The Shit List” (2001)
The publication’s largest issue ever, at 180 pages. Master copy and backup were among items stolen from Owings’ home in 2002. No electronic version will ever be available.
Interviews: The Fucking Champs
The Fucking Champs
The Fucking Champs are a three-piece progressive rock band from San Francisco, California. They are known for their heavy metal appeal, based largely around shifting time signatures, guitar harmonies, and lots of rhythm. Most songs are instrumental. They are currently signed to Drag City...
, Lewis Black, Neil Hamburger
Neil Hamburger
Neil Hamburger is a standup comedian character played by comedian and musician Gregg Turkington.-Style:Hamburger's live act, which is quite different from his many albums, features a barrage of question/answer jokes aimed often at celebrity targets, including Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, The Red...
(by Jon Wurster
Jon Wurster
Jon Wurster is an American musician and humorist best known as the drummer for indie rockers Superchunk and recently for The Mountain Goats, as well for his comedic work with radio host Tom Scharpling on the The Best Show on WFMU....
), Nardwuar vs. Bev Davies, Keuhkot
Keuhkot
Keuhkot is a Finnish one man avantgarde band whose only member is Kake Puhuu from Pomarkku. Keuhkot started in 1988. Keuhkot's music has been described as post-punk, industrial or antimusic...
, Subsonics
Features: The SHIT LIST, disc-by- disc review of the Merzbox
Merzbox
Merzbox is a box set compilation by the Japanese noise musician Merzbow, released in 2000 by Extreme Records. It consists of 50 CDs, spanning Merzbow's career from 1979–1997; 30 discs are taken from long out of print releases, while 20 are composed mainly of unreleased material...
, The Final Days of Don Caballero, Rock's Weakest Links, Indietronica, Novelty Rap (by Andrew Earles), The Life & Death of Bob Crane
Bob Crane
Robert Edward "Bob" Crane was an American actor and disc jockey, best known for his performance as Colonel Robert E...
, The Theremin
Theremin
The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
, Sniglets, David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth is an American rock vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality. Roth was ranked nineteenth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Singers of All Time....
vs. Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
, Shitty Rock Poses (illustrated by Jerry Fuchs)
Cover design: Chris Bilheimer. Photo: Frank Mullen
Chunklet 17: “Pay to (NOT) Play” (January 2003)
Postponed due to the 2002 robbery.
Interviews: Mission of Burma
Mission of Burma
Mission of Burma is an American post-punk band formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1979. The band was formed by Roger Miller , Clint Conley , Peter Prescott and Martin Swope...
, Fred Armisen
Fred Armisen
Fred Armisen is an American actor, comedian and musician best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, and portraying off-color foreigners in various comedy films such as EuroTrip, Anchorman and Cop Out...
, Patton Oswalt, Dave Attell
Dave Attell
Dave Attell is an American stand-up comedian and the host of Comedy Central's Insomniac with Dave Attell and The Gong Show with Dave Attell.-Stand-up beginning:...
, Janeane Garofalo, Neal Pollack
Neal Pollack
Neal Pollack is an American satirist, novelist, short story writer, and journalist. He lives in Austin, Texas. Pollack has written six books: The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature, Never Mind the Pollacks, Beneath the Axis of Evil, Alternadad, Stretch, and Jewball. He is a member of...
, Robert Smigel
Robert Smigel
Robert Smigel is an American actor, humorist, comedian and writer known for his Saturday Night Live "TV Funhouse" cartoon shorts and as the puppeteer and voice behind Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog.-Early life:...
Features: Mr. Show
Mr. Show
Mr. Show with Bob and David is an American sketch comedy series featuring former Saturday Night Live writer/actor Bob Odenkirk and stand up comedian/actor David Cross...
tour diary, AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
board meeting, Irony Shirts, Rocktoids, Let Us Name Your Band, Ask Andrew WK, Commanders of the Pit, Tattoo Challenge
Cover design: Chris Bilheimer
Chunklet 18: “The Overrated Issue” Part One (February 2004)
So out-of-print, even Owings doesn’t own an issue.
Interviews: Sarah Silverman, Jon H. Benjamin, Bob Odenkirk
Features: Assholes Across America, Dreamo vs. Emo, Bumper Stickers, Freakster, Croquet with Blur, Sell-Out Pie Chart, Microphone Techniques, Adopt-A-Gutter-Punk
Cover design: Chris Bilheimer
Chunklet 19: “The Overrated Issue, Part Two” (January 2005)
Interviews: The Naked Trucker, Eugene Mirman, Stella
Stella
-People:*Stella , a feminine given name** Stella McCartney, English fashion designer** Stella , Singaporean-Taiwanese singer** Stella Maessen, Dutch singer, sometimes going under the singular name of Stella-Fictional characters:...
, Tim Kerr
Tim Kerr
Timothy E. Kerr is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey right winger who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers and Hartford Whalers.-Playing career:...
, Joe Bussard
Features: The seven degrees of Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
, WhirlyBall vs. Mogwai, Torture Tapes, Promoter Excuses, Daniel Terryfeather, Rock Action Figures
Cover design: Chris Bilheimer
Chunklet 20: “The Last Magazine Ever Printed” (2008)
Interviews: Zach Galifianakis, PFT, Jon Glaser, Sublime Frequencies
Sublime Frequencies
Sublime Frequencies is a record label based in Seattle, Washington that focuses exclusively on "acquiring and exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers," mostly from Southeast Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East...
Features: Drug Appreciation, WhirlyBall, Rockopoly, Music Journalist App Form, Glad You're Dead, Booking Agents, The Sarge (by Andrew Earles)
Premium: Zach Galifianakis/Ted Leo and the Pharmacists split 7” with exclusive tracks “Up In ‘Dem Guts” (Galifianakis) and “Rock N’ Roll Dreams’ll Come Through (Leo). On colored vinyl, some on picture disc.
Cover design: Chris Bilheimer
Availability
Chunklet is distributed by Carrot Top, Emma Marian Ltd. (Canada), Last GaspLast Gasp
Last Gasp is a book and underground comix publisher and distributor based in San Francisco, California.- History :Founded in 1970 by Ron Turner to publish the ecologically-themed comics magazine Slow Death Funnies, followed by the all-female anthology It Ain't Me Babe, Last Gasp soon became a major...
, Revolver, Small Changes, Sonic Unyon
Sonic Unyon
Sonic Unyon Recording Company is an independent record label based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The retail store is located on Wilson Street near James Street North)...
(Canada), and Ubiquity.
Retail outlets include Atomic Books (Baltimore), Aquarius Records
Aquarius Records (store)
Aquarius Records is an independent record store and the oldest record store of any sort in San Francisco, California, established in 1970. Aquarius is known for carrying an obscure selection of psychedelia, metal, and world music, and has an extensive mail order catalog. The store's selection is...
(San Francisco), Criminal Records
Criminal Records
Criminal Records is the name of a UK based independent record label representing basement bands. It was formed in 2004 and focuses of the emergence of the subgenre known as Basement Rock or Basement. They represent over 20 UK bands.-External links:* *...
(Atlanta), Grapevine Music (Boone, NC), Harvest Records
Harvest Records
-References:* Harvest Records collectors guide ISBN 978-5-9622-0021-7...
(Asheville, NC), Jackpot Records (Portland, OR), Newbury Comics
Newbury Comics
Newbury Comics is a New England-based music retailer. Newbury Comics began as a comic book vendor on Newbury Street in Boston. The company was founded in 1978 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology students John Brusger and Mike Dreese. Over the next few years, the focus of the company changed...
(Boston), Mad Platter (Riverside, CA), Pegasus (Berkeley & Oakland), Powell's Books
Powell's Books
Powell's Books is a chain of bookstores in Oregon's Portland metropolitan area. Powell's headquarters, dubbed Powell's City of Books, claims to be the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world. Powell's City of Books is located in the Pearl District on the edge of downtown and...
(Portland, OR), Quimby's (Chicago), Reckless (Chicago), Reptilian (Baltimore), Rough Trade (London), Sam Weller's Books (Salt Lake City), Spaceboy (Philly), The Record Exchange (Boise), Twisted Village (Cambridge), Vintage Vinyl (St. Louis), Waterloo Records (Austin).
As of 8/28/2010 all issues except Chunklet 20 are out of print, however content from many back issues is available on Chunklet.com.
Books
The Overrated Book (Last Gasp, 2006)Compiles the majority of Chunklets 18 and 19 along with 40 pages of new material.
The Rock Bible: Unholy Scripture for Fans & Bands (Quirk Books, 2008)
Originally intended as the theme to a new issue, but “exploded into a book in nine weeks.”
CDs
CHKCD001 Patton Oswalt 222 (Live & Uncut)222 (Live & Uncut)
222 is the unedited version of comedian Patton Oswalt's first comedy album Feelin' Kinda Patton. It was recorded at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia on September 27, 2003. The album has only one track on each of the two CDs...
(February 2005)
Unedited 2'22" tapes of the first album recorded at the 40 Watt Club in Athens.
CHKCD002 Patton Oswalt Vs. Alcohol Vs. Zach Vs. Patton (with Zach Galifianakis) CD-EP (June 2005)
Patton and Zach drunk, insulting each other at the EARL (East Atlanta Restaurant Lounge). www.badearl.com
CHKCD003 Patton Oswalt ...And the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company (Aug 2006 - OOP)
Features Henry Owings, Brian Posehn, Maria Bamford and Eugene Mirman Recorded at Logan Square Auditorium, Chicago, 2006
CHKCD004 [2008] Patton (OOP) WFMU radio fundraiser premium, limited edition of 700.
CHKCDCOC001-004 [2006]
Comedians of Comedy 3" CDs (OOP) One 3” CD each from Patton Oswalt, Maria Bamford, Brian Posehn, and Eugene Mirman. All exclusive material, packaged with trading cards.
Singles
CHK011.5 Don Caballero Waltor/Shuman Center 91 (1995, OOP)Included with Chunklet 11.
CHK017.5 Les Savy Fav/David Cross 7” (2003, OOP)
Chunklet.com premium for Chunklet 17.
CHK018.5 Jason Molina No Moon On The Water (2004, OOP)
Chunklet.com premium for Chunklet 18.
CHK019.5 Melvins/Patton Oswalt 7” (2006, OOP)
Sold as a memento to the 13th anniversary.
CHK020.5 Ted Leo/Zach Galifianakis 7” (2008, OOP)
Chunklet.com premium for Chunklet 20. Some pressed on picture disc.
LPs
CHKLP001 Les Savy Fav Let's Stay Friends (2007)Limited edition of 1070 including 100 on clear vinyl and 70 on gold.
CHKLP002 Harvey Milk Courtesy And Goodwill Towards Men (2008)
Initial reprinting of 500 used the remaining original jackets from Reproductive. A vinyl pressing fiasco necessitated a total re-print. The sleeves are letter pressed and sport a thick spine (unlike the original pressing).
CHKLP003 Harvey Milk The Pleaser/Live Pleaser (2008)
Double LP, limited pressing of 1000, with 400 copies on red/blue vinyl, 400 gold/green, 100 clear with splatter, 100 black.
CHKLP004 Harvey Milk My Love Is Higher Than Your Assessment Of What My Love Could Be (2008)
Limited edition vinyl: 100 powder blue, 100 dark gold, 100 clear with splatter
Filmography
CHKDVD001 Brother Vs. Brother (2004)Filmed at South-by-Southwest (SXSW) 2004.
CHKDVD002 Buckshot Boys (2005)
Filmed at All Tomorrow’s Parties in December 2004.
CHKDVD003 (DELETED) South-By-South Death (2006)
Boy Scout-themed production filmed at SXSW 2005. Owings’ lawyer strongly discouraged him from releasing it, but it is available online.
CHKDVD004 Harvey Milk Anthem (2006)
A multi-camera shoot of the final Harvey Milk gig with Paul opening for Melvins w/David Yow at the Chunklet 13th anniversary. Reissued APR09 (2nd edition, CHKDVDCD004.5) with four previously unreleased tracks and an hour of additional material.
Anniversary Parties
First Anniversary: December 4, 1994Venue: Skate-A-Round USA, Athens, GA
Performers: Man… or Astro-man?
Second Anniversary: October, 1995
Venue: The Landfill, Athens, GA
Performers: The Olivia Tremor Control, Thee Speaking Canaries, Joe Christmas
Third Anniversary: August 31, 1996
Venue: Q-Zar Laser Tag (Athens)
Performers: Servotron
Tenth Anniversary: April 1–3, 2003
Venue: 40 Watt Club
Performers: Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Greg Behrendt, Har Mar Superstar, Oxes, Neal Pollack
Thirteenth Anniversary: October 27–28, 2006
Venue: Variety Playhouse, WhirlyBall Atlanta and the 40 Watt Club
Performers: Zach Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt, Harvey Milk, Melvins with David Yow, Big Business, Elf Power, puppet show
Fifteenth Anniversary: October 10–11, 2008
Venue: 40 Watt Club
Performers: Brent Weinbach, Brian Posehn, Deerhunter, Gentleman Jesse and his Men, Twin Tigers, Mastodon
In popular culture
Elyse SewellElyse Sewell
Elyse Marie Sewell, is an American fashion model. A native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Sewell obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of New Mexico...
is seen reading a copy of Chunklet 17 in the first season of America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model is a reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry....
.