Full Interview with Inkwell

When did Hot Air Press begin?
Summer of 2007 is when I put out the first zine, but the actual Label/Press didn’t actually have a name/existence until Spring 2008.

What motivated you to start it?
I had lost my mind, quit my job and school and with nothing to do, eventually rediscovered a love for reading and writing.  I compiled and printed two zines.  I was gonna continue doing the same thing and thought it only appropriate to give a name to what I was doing.  Nothing premeditated.

Do you work on any sort of deadlines (like monthly or bimonthly), or do you just publish whenever you voluntarily create material?
Not at all.  I go through stretches of time where I barely write or want to do anything.  The problem with releasing more musical projects at this point is all monetary.

I’m guessing you don’t limit yourself as far as different types of media projects go. Confrim/deny? (Bahaha.)
Not at all. Essentially Hot Air Press is a vehicle for the release of anything and everything that myself and the other people I’m working with, love. I want to expose people to things that they otherwise might not have been exposed to.  Give them something new to enjoy.  Something to talk about.

Your written work is pretty diverse, but do you draw from any common inspiration?

Understanding the extreme difference between liking someone and respecting them. The terror or tomorrow. 6am loneliness. The inability for one to cry. The entire human emotional spectrum when faced with the fact that life is too long and too short at the same time. Watching your friends be completely destroyed by anything and everything. Holding their hands as they walk through the flames and sometimes pushing them face first into it.  Fear.  A general distaste for my humans coupled with an extreme amount of compassion and understanding making it difficult to do anything. Things I find on the streets. Things said to me in passing.  Participating in peer pressure.  Violent thoughts.  Circumstance.  Timing.  Good manners.

Dorchester, MA. Farmington, Hartford, New Britain, Wallingford, West Harford, CT. The Hostage Calm Van and its one red door. My grand desire to live by myself in a cabin in the woods.

Richard Brautigan. Cormac McCarthy. Charles Bukowski. Raymond Carver. Georges Bataille. Truman Capote.  John Steinbeck. Sylvia Plath. Flannery O’Connor. JD Salinger. James Joyce. Ernest Hemingway. Norman Mailer. WS Burroughts. Denis Johnson. Philip Roth. Henry Miller.

Joseph Sulier and Get Born out of St. Louis. Dan and Palm Publications out of SF. Wesley Eisold and the Heartworm Press out of Philly.  The We Da Best Tribe.  YL’s.  Cardboard City.  All of my friends, near and far, old and new.

In reality, anything and everything has an extremely large impact on me. I am simultaneously completely fascinated and terrified of the extreme grandiosity of life and the fact that I do exist. Its a lot of pressure but I’m getting used to it.

Where/how do you distribute?

I carry around an old toolbox with me that has whatever I’m selling in it. I bring it almost everywhere, but primarily to shows.  I occasionally have a big box with stuff in it too.  We bring stuff into our good friends, Redscroll Records in Wallingford. We also have stuff for sale on the website - www.hotairpress.org.  We should be distributing through various other retailers down the road as we release more.

What’s your audience base?
People who like to read and listen to music. Kids at shows in CT. Someone from Norway bought a Mammoth Hunter 7” from us. We’re always looking to find more people to share our work with. Tell your friends.

How has the general reaction been to the zine?

Positive and negative.  I’ve shared a lot of very personal feelings and thought’s and the comments I’ve received has only been positive and a very driving motivational factor in my own pursuit of writing.  I would say the only problem is that I don’t have much of a market in the Connecticut music scene besides the few people who already purchase everything I do and the random people who come from either out of state or don’t typically go to the same shows.  I come from a scene of people who typically indulge themselves in music - not literature.  I’ve sold out of some stuff and I haven’t of others.  It doesn’t really matter to me in the end.  I’d rather 3 people buy my work and really get something from it then sell hundreds of them to people who will let them sit on their shelves.  Adore the goat.

You incorporate music into the whole project too- you recently pressed a florida=DEATH EP- how is working with music for you?
My life has revolved around music for the last seven years.  It was a natural progression I think, to move from working strictly on my own personal writing projects, to putting out records.  I don’t play any musical instruments (just yet) so I can’t put out my own records, so I might as well put out records from people whose music and company I love.  It’s really exciting to be working in this realm because we’re trying to work with a variety of bands which will hopefully open the doors for us to hit a wider market of people.  Hopefully those people who find out about who we are and what we’re doing, will look into broadening their own musical horizons.  A lot of people I know are too close minded with what they listen to, and if I could help them find something new to listen to and enjoy, then I’ve accomplished something.

What takes up the majority of the work in this for you?

At this point, training myself to be a more compulsive writer.  I find it hard to get motivated most days, and I need to get myself to be motivated everyday.

Is there anyone else helping out to share the load?
Hot Air Press is a collaborative entity of myself, Benjamin Levesque (Mammoth Hunter, Cold Snap, Poison Fingerz) and Kevin  Zakszewski  (formerly of Rapscallion Records).  I asked Ben if he wanted to team up last winter and Kevin recently jumped on board.  He’s awaiting his initiation.  That release should be out sometime this year.

Any plans in the near future?

We’re awaiting the arrival of the florida=DEATH records.  We’re working on a little surprise from our favorite Connecticut US Black Metal band which should be out VERY soon as well.  We’re sitting on some cassettes from Baby Grand, a folk/acoustic project featuring former/current/future members of Hostage Calm, Jettison and Make Do And Mend.  That should hopefully be in the hands of the public very soon.  Once Torche gets home from tour, our friends in Homestretch will be able to finish up mixing and mastering their 7” and we’ll be putting that out.  I’ve listened to some rough mixes, and it’s safe to say that it’s going to be my favorite hardcore 7” of this year - and that’s not just because they’re my friends.  It’s that good.  We’re going to do a split label release 7” in the future with Asbestos records featuring Make Do And Mend and My Heart To Joy doing covers of The Smiths songs.  Expect stuff from Birth of Flower, Poison Fingerz, Hostage Calm, Jettison, and more as well.  I just finished up releasing a mini-zine entitled “Randy.” It’s one short story.  I’m also working on a collaborative zine with friends Alan Huck and Mitchell Dubey.  I’m very excited about that.  Christopher Zizzamia should also have a zine out very soon as well which I’m excited for people to get to read.  He’s a great friend and a terrific writer.

We’re not stopping anytime soon.  We’re just beginning.  Thanks for your time.

sorry for any spelling/grammatical errors. its 5am and i feel like crap and am too lazy to go through and fix them.