My very first interview is with Shane Bugbee.Who is one of those folks that is either adored or despised by people.I hope you guys all enjoy the interview.I didn’t want to do a all artistic questions.I really wanted to have some human questions in there.Also Shane’s wife Amy just started a new foodie endeavor making vanilla extract which you can find at http://www.worldsgreatestvanilla.com/ Anyhoo Enjoy!
Ugly Shyla #1 Who,what,why,when wear. AKA who you are,What you do,Why you do it,When you started and where are you from?
Shane:What do I do? well, I cause trouble for some, fun for others… I live as close to my animal as I can…
Why do I do what I do? politics has always driven me if I have to have a reason, but there is never one reason, or seldom is there ever one reason… I’ve always been the odd man outside of the outside… I communicate and express myself in ways others either don’t get or they get too well and what they get, it’s deep inside of them, it’s animal and it reminds them they have given up and in, and drone on to only dream of the free and brave animal they once were.
When? well, like most creatives who take on the job title of artist, you could say I started as a kid with crayons and play dough or that I was just born this way… I’d say my official start was when I said fuck it, dropped out of school, ran away from home, lived on the streets, lived in my car and had nothing but me to understand… and I dove into zine publishing and stole time at kinkos and would bother the kinko folks to help me with the design programs and, kept moving from there, slithering side to side… prior to that, a very rich teacher, just before I dropped out of school, gave all of his students $100, maybe it was $20, but it seemed like $100, I think it was $100… he gave us the money to start a business…
I remember one guy bought and sold weed… I used my money to buy porcelain clay and I built and sculpted a mickey mouse head to sell and a bong to use and a strange monster guy to hang on the wall… when I presented my stuff, the teacher told the class I was a natural artist, especially because I made something of use, something I wanted to look at and something to sell to buy more art supplies… he asked why I thought a mickey mouse head would sell, I told him I had read somewhere that mickey mouse -
A. always makes newborns smile.
B. mickey was the most viewed and most popular art of our time.
I thought those were two really good reasons it would sell… the teacher bought the mickey head.
Where am I from? well, I was born in lubbock and lived my youth in the suburbs of chicago, dropped out the day I turned 16, ran away, lived on the streets of chicago, and on couches, and have since been run out of a couple of towns due to my expression. today, I’m a child of the world and an adult too old to start over someplace else.
US:#2 Why do you care enough to make art?
SB:I’m not sure I do always care… I’m starting to think I’m just close to my animal.
I’m not sure that the “artist” is anything more than an outdated, museum oddity… what I’m saying is art isn’t that special when I look at the animals sing or nest, it just seems to be a form of communication and expression and maybe even pride in what you do… pride and/or survival… like, I need to build a nest that works and impresses the mate.
Animals impress and dominate with more than physical might, you also have to have mental and creative might, which I believe is naturally held in higher esteem than physical might, and the physically mighty know this, so they do what they do and bully and beat down the creative and the intellectual and the creative intellectual.
And the strong of mind survive and find ways to enlighten their foes who, continue to try and cripple the mindful.
Evolution is slow, but as I type this out and get ready to email you and think… how many bullies are using email, geeking on the net, loving texting and video chats, and let’s not forget the fucking basics, like aspirin, all those punk-ass bullies succumb to the science minded whether they’ll admit it or not.
US:#3 When did you realize you were going to be a artist,what was that “OMG I’m a artist now” moment for you?
SB:I think I sort of explained this in the first question, but to be honest, I hate the fucking titles of any kind being applied to me… being called an artist has made me feel uneasy since the first day I was called an artist… I guess I’d say, the OMG moment was really the day I gave in and accepted the title. and I was like OMG, I’m fat and old and selling out my own beliefs just because it’s easier this way, because, if I try to explain that I do a lot of things, or that I don’t like titles or jobs or “have to” moments and, if I have to make this art for the rent, it becomes work I do for others and that means I’m no longer a free man… art or not. if I have to do it, I accept it, but I for sure hate the title as it only serves to remind me of my servant status and maybe worse, the artist title/servant feeling drives me to my entrepreneurial talents, talents that also go against most of my inner beliefs and politics, so either way I’m fucked… the only thing worse would be to create “art” that serves the purpose of distraction, that serves to keep those droning on or even something that comforts those who drone on… if I were to be titled an artist or an entrepreneur who created a TV show that made you forget that you also trade/slave away 5 days for 2 and work at pointless, meaningless gigs… that to me, that would be the worst… and it is the worst, trust me, one time, I created a soda pop company… I used my creative powers for what??? money? to fill landfills? give the world disease? I guess you could say survival, but, and I know this will sound strange, there’s a lot more to life than survival… maybe I should say, there’s a lot of things about life that are on par and equal with survival.
#4 What are some of your other favorite artist, or works of art.In ANY medium music,visual art ect? Feel free to provide links.
hmmmm…. this fluctuates a lot. presently…
skinner man – http://www.theartofskinner.com/
dave archer – http://www.davearcher.com/
wayne martin belger – http://boyofblue.com/
yuta sakakibara – http://shoppingcartfullofpinkturd.tumblr.com/
sean aaberg – http://goblinko.com/
sean schock – http://seanschock.blogspot.com/
and you too shyla, I’ve dug and sung the praises of your stuff forever.
US:#5 Who is a artist you relate to?
P.t. barnum, colonel sanders, gg allin… hell shyla, that’s a good question and hard to answer without deep thought… I’d say I relate to the artwork, not always the artist… the artist might paint/sculpt/write/film something that I relate to but once I get to know them, I might hate them… but I’m still fond of the art that attracted me to them… it’s that saying, beware of meeting your idols… I can remember, I was doing a zine and really wanted an interview with mike muir from suicidal tendencies… I scored the interview and it was the worst… I could have swore we were going to hit it off, after all, I really related to him… after the interview I was crushed… still love and relate to that first record though.
some art that comes to mind that I’ve related to…
the film over the edge, the first kiss record, the first metallica record, all slayer up until south of heaven.
US:#6 What advice would you give other artists like you?
SB:There are none like me. you wish you lived as full of a life by your own means and magic… I’d advise to understand business first, creatives are a dime a dozen, an artist is a job and it has to be treated as such… that means contracts and insurance and lame ass shit like that… you spend a 1/3 of the time having fun and making shit, the other 1/3 getting it seen on walls or shelves or stocked in stores and the other 1/3 selling it/ marketing it.
US:#7 What piece of art was the most emotionally difficult for you to work on.
SB:The last one I did, I worked with my wife and creative partner, amy, on a book and video that talks about our downfall at the hands of family and witch hunters from a small minnesota town… we are honest to a point of shame… it took us 4 years plus, maybe 5… it took so long because it was so damn hard and revealing… so yea, the book and film we just wrapped up, the suffering and celebration of life in america (http://www.usaodd.com/).
US:#8 What do you hate the most about being a artist?
SB:The title. the feeling that I’m a monkey in a zoo or a museum piece for the exhibition “before we were civil” or “the beast of the field” or “when we used to try and communicate… the days before mind reading, mind control and mind washing”.
when most treat the important calling of artist as unimportant or as something trivial or useless when it should be the exact opposite… the only thing other than art that creates a civil society is science.
US:#9 Have you ever had a paranormal experience?
SB: yes, if we’re going with the outside of the norm definition… a great deal of my personal existence could be called a “paranormal experience”… if we’re talking mystical shit… how would I know? I might live my entire life thinking I heard voices or saw a ghost only to have science of the future totally explain the phenomenon, I consider myself an agnostic in the sense that I appreciate the great unknown and I put the little faith I have in science and love.
US:#10 What is your motivation? Drives you,what do you believe,what are you fighting against or for?
SB:To understand me. my beliefs, my politics, to wield my desire and influence the change I think is needed… I believe we are natural hypocrites, it goes along with evolution… we have to learn and based on what we learn and experience we change or better yet, add to our already natural beliefs.
I would say, the first issue that drove my drive was the PMRC stickering of CDs/music, it was my first understanding of censorship, I just couldn’t understand ANY restrictions to communication/expression… so, I’d say my ultimate fight is to be free and for others, who also want that, to be left alone so we might create our own new world.
as I’m old and it’s all downhill from here, I’m starting to think, maybe my drive is less about politics and more about being remembered, to leave something behind, to be loved where I wasn’t loved and for revenge… yes, definitely for revenge.
US:#11 What type of Situation did you grow up in?
well, growing up in it, I thought it was normal… to sum it up. abusive and ignorant. I was born in a trailer park in lubbock, texas, we moved at an early age so my memories have always been thru photos… when amy & I recently visited lubbock, the trailer park where I was born was still there as were the puppies of the dog I was named after… and, as I was looking around, a lady came out of a trailer, she looked like my mother had when I was a newborn, and I could see the ignorance in her eyes… she just didn’t know any better… I think part of it was, my parents were just ignorant and stressed out and took it out on their kids. I hate them to this day for that and, no longer talk to ANY of my family, sounds sad, but once I started kicking these ignorant dolts to the curb I felt a hell of a lot better… and really, I’ve seen a LOT of old folks die off, guess what?? no matter how kind they were, someone in their family tries to fuck them when they are dead or dying… fireman, pope, criminal… it’s not how many say good bye, it’s the quality of person you grow with… or maybe life is too short to hang out with assholes who make you sad all the time.
so my situation, to sum it up… think the film ‘over the edge’ meets the film/book ‘precious’.
US:#12 Have you ever had to deal with somebody copying your art work,and if so how did you deal with it?
SB:many times. I’ve tried everything. I’ve witnessed all of lowdown tricks that can be pulled and thought up and executed, even lower, lowdown tricks… I’ve been influenced by art and have downright stolen ideas and even have even bootlegged popular and horrible ideas… and there’s not a damn thing I could do to those who took and there wasn’t must those that felt ripped off by me could do either.
without some money and power on your side, you are fucked… simple as that.
if money and power wants your idea, they might ask, they’ll most likely never care for your answer and will just take it and, there is nothing you can do. period. I mean, there is, but what are you? a creative, needing to create or someone who dreams of unlimited time on this earth?? the older I get, the less I care to fight, only to make and leave behind… my art, my expressions, collaborations, publications, my basic human communications… I crave genuine experiences like those of the swallow or the turtle or the dog… I can’t have those in a court room, I can’t make shit in a court room.
I find other creative ways for revenge… for instance, the court of public opinion… here’s a site I set up when a sponsor ripped us off at the start of our trip ( http://adamcurryisadouchbag.blogspot.com/ – the original domain of http://adamcurryisadouchbag.com now goes to the book that speaks of his betrayal ) this stunt helped and was instrumental in bringing down a 26 million dollar company.
end of the day, our stunt probably hurt a lot of folks who needed the gigs, the guys on top, they’re rich, they move on and do it again.
US:#13 What was the most terrifying moment of your life?
SB: heheheee… shit, I’m betting that actual moment is still hidden deep in the recesses of what’s left of my mind… so deep let’s hope it never come out.
I’ve been shot at, twice, I’ve been threatened with a gun, in person, three times, I’ve received numerous death threats via phone and mail, I’ve had to fend off three separate home invasions, I’ve been picked on and bullied in school to the point I sympathize with and want to be an advocate for school shooters, and yet nothing, and I mean nothing, tops being beaten by your parents, beaten so bad you run and crawl and hide like a rat under your bed, only to have that flipped over on you as both your father and mother attack, one beating me with a belt as the other smashes the most cherished of toys, to watch your mother take your little brother by the ears and smash his head thru a wall, to be beaten by boards as your dog is chained in the garage and her snout/mouth taped shut so it couldn’t bark for help as you were beaten… shit, typing this, I’m not sure how I’m still alive, why I still try, what I communicate for…. that shit was a living hell and thinking about the monsters my parents were, if I filmed a re-enactment it would disturb the most hardened… it would terrify most reading this… I was arrested once for residential burglary, I spent 6 weeks in a count jail and would have to take the county transport bus over to court, the person that was in court before I was one of the chicago rippers serial killing crew … they’d tell tales in court of this guy pounding 2×4 boards up a prostitutes’ cunt and cutting her tits off… this was the case the judge would hear before mine… when I was up to bat, a psychotherapist, my psychotherapist testified and told some stories of my life… the bailiff had tears in her eyes and at times looked terrified, which she never gave off as the serial killer’s exploits were read off in the finest of court room poetry.