Metal Mark Gilsonic/GRNY x HD

The new CD by the hyper-melodic pop thrash band Hayaino Daisuki comes packaged in a DVD case with a small, glossy zine. As with most projects that involve vocalist Jon Chang, it obsessively and painstakingly touches on hardcore videogames, Asian cinema, comics, and other cool stuff. I was stoked to see a familiar name listed as a contributor, manager Mark Gilson of the GRNY shop, and had to ask him more about his role in the project.

GR: When I got a review copy of Invincible Gate Mind of the Infernal Fire Hell, it didn't come with the zine. Now that I see the complete package, I think I got ripped off. As a contributor to the zine, how do you see the relationship between the music and the reading?
MG: Well, I can't really blame Hydra Head, those booklets aren't cheap. On one hand, Jon Chang is a guy who's known in metal circles for being a creator as well as a performer. There are definitely folks who look forward to everything that he brings to his projects--stuff like really stylized packaging, slick T-shirts, and a general sense of design. Then there are folks who just want to hear the music. I suppose the rationale is that a reviewer should be focusing on the music, but I would probably have felt ripped off, too. It definitely adds to the record as a total package.

GR: We run a pretty tight ship at GR, and everyone seems to work overtime. When did you find time to contribute to it?
MG: Actually, all my contributions to the zine were done while I was still working for GR part-time. I wrote my tribute to suitmation in about an hour, and Scratch Trigger Era is a project we've been working on for years, so we know those characters inside and out.


GR: Your ode to suitmation and Gamera 2 is quite spirited. How long has that rant been bottled up in you? Did you recite it? Type it standing up?
MG: Anybody who knows me knows it's really not so hard to get me to rant about anything. I think I banged that out in a single sitting. It definitely benefited from Jon's type treatment, which makes it a lot more energetic. I remember kind of dashing it off and sending it to Jon, and then when I saw it again in the booklet for the first time in months it was a much better read. I've always loved Godzilla. Still do. He's probably my favorite pop-culture icon of all time. Guys like you and Eric who grew up on the West Coast got exposed to a broader range of sentai and kaiju stuff, like Ultraman and Giant Robot, but in NYC we had the 4 O'Clock Movie on Channel 7 and their monster movie weeks. Gamera 2 is so good precisely because Gamera was so bad in the '70s. It's one of those great examples of when somebody is allowed to approach a project with love and care and wonderful things happen. That movie is fantastic. It's the exact opposite of the American remake of Godzilla where Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich approached Godzilla as a huge joke and thought anything they put on screen would be better than the classics. And they failed miserably. (See what I mean about how easy it is to get me to rant?)

GR: Out of all the indie comic artists out there, how did you wind up having Stan Sakai illustrate the strip that you and Jon wrote? Usagi Yojimbo is old school!
MG: Isn't that nuts? Stan Sakai drew a comic I wrote; I still can't wrap my head around that. When we originally talked about having an STE comic in the new zine, Jon told me he didn't think I should draw it. I took it hard at first because I'd always been the primary character designer for the whole Scratch Trigger Era universe, but the idea was really to boost the profile of STE. I'm at best an amateur illustrator, so I realized it would be better if I didn't do it. I thought about dream artists that I'd like to have involved, and came up with Adam Warren and Stan Sakai. Aim high, right? We contacted Adam first, and he had other commitments. By this, time the story focused on I/O and Voranga and I thought that Stan's art would really resonate with those particular characters–"a boy and his 'bot," we were calling it. When Jon contacted Stan, he was willing to do it. It came out great, and Stan deserves credit for supporting indie creators.

GR: I like how the zine covers cute, old, and geeky stuff, and not just the trendier things involving gore or hot women, which metal more typically celebrates. Can you talk about that in relation to HD?
MG: Well for one thing, Jon hates that trendy metal stuff with a passion. I tend to embrace metal warts and all; it's amazing and at times completely ridiculous. HD is really all about Chang and Matsubara wanting to play together. It's like a mutual respect society. GridLink is kind of the serious manifestation of that and HD is the lighter side. I mean, the band's name translates as "We Love Speed." When GridLink played their first show in Osaka in 2006 Jon, Michelle (now his wife), and I all camped out in Matsubara's home in Kyoto with his wife and cat. We all had such an amazing time, and I think that sense of fun and metal-tinged good times really bonded us all, and I feel like HD is kind of a extension of that.


GR: Can you talk about the role of metal in your life? Its relation to your taste in art, music, and culture in general...
MG: Metal has been a good friend who's always there for me. I do listen to other kinds of music--and I've even drifted away from metal from time to time over the years--but I always come back to it. It's kind of a male thing, but not exclusively. It's been like my gateway drug to all sorts of things. When the guys on Earache records started doing electronic projects and working with John Zorn, it made me interested in those styles of music. Great album cover artwork made me want to know about the artists who did them and what kind of stuff they were into. I always read the thank-you lists to see what bands guys in bands I liked listened to.

When any of the bigger bands come around and I can catch their shows, I see guys that I've known from our little East Coast scene for years. I call them "The Old Men of Metal." It's been a common bond between us, between all metalheads really, but I don't feel like it defines ANY of us, if that makes any sense. There are guys who will never cut their hair or wear anything but band T-shirts--I know lots of them. I may look more nerdy than metal, but I saw Metallica with Cliff. Metal has made me friends across the world and allowed me to have some really unforgettable times. It's the soundtrack to the imaginary movie about my life.

GR: Is it true that you're going to leave Giant Robot and join DragonForce?
MG: Personally, I have zero vocal chops. When I used to go to wrestling events and yell all night, I'd be totally hoarse the next day. I was tempted to send that (link) to Chang, though.