Tag Archives: mind spiders

Underground Soundtrack

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Many thanks to Roz Morris for featuring me this week on the Underground Soundtrack, which explores the music that accompanied the creation of a novel. In my case, Forest of Fortune came out of the ambient droning of slot machines, the frenzy of punk rock, and chaos of an unexpected death. 

When the anger passed and the sadness moved in I turned to Dillinger Four’s Civil War, the saddest punk rock record I’ve ever heard. The songs are suffused with melancholy that I drank up like the cheap vodka I drank on the long drive to and from the Indian reservation every day.

Read the rest of the soundtrack. If you’ve never seen Jay Reatard play Blood Visions live, check this out. This also seem like a good place to link to “The Haunted Casino” which the Mind Spiders wrote and performed for the Forest of Fortune book trailer. 

The Forest of Fortune book trailer is here! The trailer, directed by Santa Fe filmmaker Jason DeBoer, features blurbs by Patrick deWitt, Fiona Maazel, Scott O’Connor, Teresa Svoboda and Jerry Stahl, and music by Texas garage rockers Mind Spiders. The song “Haunted Casino” was written exclusively for Forest of Fortune.

“The Haunted Casino” was my working title for the book and while that sounds like a Nancy Drew mystery I used it because I never wanted to forget that the characters trapped inside of Thunderclap Casino were all haunted by one thing or another in ways that baffled them entirely.

I’ve been a fan of Mind Spiders since 2011 when they released their first album on Dirtnap Records so I’m thrilled to be able to work with Mark Ryan on this project. (You should buy all of their records now, especially this one.) They’re also featured on the cover of Razorcake #80. Incidentally, the name Mind Spiders comes from the science fiction short story “The Mind Spider” by Fritz Leiber. 

Enjoy and please share! 

Razorcake #80

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The new issue features an excellent interview with Mind Spiders with cover art by Kiyoshi Nakazawa. Not only is Mind Spiders one of my favorite bands, they’ve written a song for the Forest of Fortune book trailer. Super excited to share this with you when it comes out next month. My column for this issue is a tribute to Dave Brokie aka Oderus Urungus lead vocalist for GWAR. I didn’t know Dave but having spent my adolescence and undergrad years in Virginia, he was an example of creative nonconformity at a time when I really needed it. Rest in Power Oderus.