Who's behind...Bananas Magazine???

This section of "Who's behind..." will show us the character(s) behind things happening in the garage & r'n'r scene.  We will try to cover labels, magazines, bands, festivals...all around the Globe of course!! Hope you like it!  First interview is dedicated to Bananas Magazine...a zine published in NYC by five rock'n'roll mental teens.

(Chris dj'ng at "Girl with Bananas" party 

at Groovie Bar Malasaña jul'11)

Q. Please introduce yourself: name, city of birth, city where you live, what do you do for living…
 

Hi, my name is Christophe Lopez-Huici. I was born in Paris and I’ve been living for nearly 10 years in NYC. I’m a free-lancer illustrator and animator.

 
Q. When and why did you start this Bananas Magazine adventure?

I think we first talked about starting a ‘zine late 09 and the first issue came out some time in the summer of ’10. I’m actually not sure because we forgot to put a date in issue1.

(Nacho Louie and Chris at Louie's Bar Malasaña)

 

Q. How many people collaborate with the fanzine?
 

Well, there are the five of us who started the zine. That’s Charles, Shimmy, Brandon, Alessandra and me. Then, there are some people who write in every issue like Todd who does the tabs to classic 60s nuggets and Frank who writes about vintage porn. We also have guest ‘writers’ to talk about festivals, international garage scene etc…I think you’ve been writing in every issue since issue 2, no? Ah, we also have a new guy, Tom, who’s gonna write and review records in each issue from now on. He’s a French guy who books shows in Paris and recently started his own label, Howlin’ Banana!

 (Javi Fumestone & Elisa concentrated..)

Q. You don’t seem to have a fix number of releases per year…in my opinion this is real punk attitude…are you planning to force yourself to a fix numbers a year or that’s against your “company policy”?

 We’d love to come out with a new issue every 3 months, but it’s just not happening. Some bands take a REAL long time to get back to us and that usually delays the whole thing. Some people ask if we do subscription. That’s always a good laugh, cause we never know how many issues/year we’re gonna put out. We’ re aiming at September for #6. Let’s see how late we’ll be. Anyway, we’re a FREE zine, people can’t expect too much from us!
 

Q. Are you happy with the readers response/feedback?
 

A lot of people tell us Bananas is the best thing to read while taking a shit! That’s the best compliment!

(Julieta Pandoro wants to speak to you...)

 Q. Have you ever thought in colour print or you prefer b/w?
 

We love b&w. Plus color would be expensive. If we ever make more money with ads, we would like to be able to ship the mags for free instead of asking people to pay for shipping. If we make even MORE money out of ads, then we might think of color. In other words, Bananas has a good chance to remain b&w.
 

Q. I’ve realized the last pages dedicated to records review is increasing number by number…do the bands contact you or you choose who is being reviewed? 

We receive much more promo stuff than when we started. That’s one of the reason we have more reviews in the most recent issues. I buy a lot of stuff as well. Sometime bands contact us but we’ll only review them if we feel they’re good. We try not to give bad reviews anymore. If we don’t like something, we just won’t talk about it.

 

Q. At the end of every issue we can follow your Bananas Mystery…tell us something else about it!!!! How did the idea came up?
 

I can tell you how it ends! Joe realizes he’s not really Gene’s dad and he commits the irreparable! No, seriously, we just write each segment in 2 minutes before sending the final copy of the mag to the printer. I honestly have no idea what it’s all about.

 

(Chris and Mr. Bratto...crazy illustrators 

get along together!!)

Q. You've previously commented you work as illustrator&animator...regarding illustrators & designers…I'm sure your readers would like to know where your references come from...can you please tell us which are your favourite ones of all the ages? You prefer classic or modern? Japanese school? European? U.S? And maybe a “must” in your collection…
 

I don’t know much about designers…My all time favorite illustrator would probably be Moebius. I also love Robert Crumb. There’s a lot of illustrators I love in all kind of styles, Joe Sacco (check out his comic book about the Miracle Workers), Bilal, Steinberg, Sempé, Roland Topor. Then lots of stuff I love from record covers, posters or random illustrator books, but I have no idea who any of those guys are. I love some more classic stuff as well, such as German art from the 20s, 30s, Otto Dix, George Grosz, those kind of guys who draw some really grotesque characters. One stuff I DON’T like is the 50s art that is so over-used in the garage imagery!

 

Q. Plans for the future? Any other special art or music activity you would like to be involved in?
 

Knowing my musical skills, I’m afraid my involvement with music will never go beyond Bananas Magazine and doing art for bands, but I sure hope those 2 things will keep going strong.
 

Q. Chris…Garage Punk ruins your life?
Garage Punk saved my soul! 

Thanks for you time Chris!
Bananas forever!

www.bananasmag.com

Get your free copy in Madrid before they dissapear at: 
Louie Louie Bar, Weirdo Bar, In Dreams Café, Harvey's Café and Coco-Bar.