Interviews: Ed Trask (Avail) and Heather Gabel

We're happy to bring you a unique interview today which features artists Ed Trask of Avail and Heather Gabel interviewing each other about their music, life and art. Trask, who along with drumming in the beloved Richmond-based band is a well-respected artist, who was named ""Top 40 under 40" in Richmond for his art.

Gabel is of course, the artist responsible for much of Alkaline Trio's striking merch and imagery and has also produced merch designs for My Chemical Romance, AFI and The Lawrence Arms. She continues to work as an artist. The two artists recently put together an art show in Chicago.

We've included some of both artists' work in the interview. You can find more of Ed's work on his site and more of Heather's on hers.

You can click Read More for the details.

Heather Gabel interviews Ed Trask

You painted an elementary school! Kids will remember it always as
a part of growing up; that's got to feel pretty awesome- what would
you consider your most exciting/rewarding artistic accomplishment
ever?

I've worked painting murals with a lot of kids through V.C.U.programs,
different elementary schools and residency programs, and every time
I'm overwhelmed at how talented these kids can be and how visually
untainted they are. These kids quite often will just attack a wall
with paint and then after, take full ownership of what they have just
painted.

I swear I learn something from every kids approach to making
art. But the most rewarding thing is to realize that you have actually
showed a kid that freedom can be obtained through creativity- whether
it be painting, music, writing, e.t.c.

When you stand back from a finished mural you've worked on for weeks
with 20 kids there is nothing cooler for you and the kids.

Which have you been doing longer, playing drums or painting?

As a kid, I always painted and was creative, but when I turned 11 and
was given my first drum set it was on! My world revolved around
playing drums every waking hour and learning every Judas Priest, Black
Flag, Black Sabbath, Dead Kennedy's and Kiss song I could. Though I
always copied skateboard logo's and record covers , the real practice
of painting came to me my freshman year of high school.

My favorite piece of yours is a dark landscape
(http://edwardtrask.com/art/paintings/gallery2/index.php) silhouetted
tree braches frame a dusky river. it's so " balmy summer night" It
harnesses something real and fleeting timelessly with such feeling-
do you have a favorite piece of yours? Something you feel exceeded
your own expectations?

Thanks.. Yea I did a painted a old three story doctors office /
residence for a family in front royal Virginia one year. The building
had been torn down many years ago and as I worked from old pictures I
could feel the life that filled the building.. The painting was shown
to the old doctor , whom was 99 years old trying to hold out to
100.This family had never seen their father cry but one look at the
painting and the man was in tears and instructed the nurses to hang
the painting next to his bed so he could see it till the end.

He
explained that the painting captured what that building had meant to
him.. A building and a practice, a dream, that he had built from
scratch.. that now is a shitty gas station. I turned colored plastic
and canvas into something a person wanted to take to the grave.. wow..

Your collected works look like a slideshow of Richmond. is that a
conscious decision that you're making or is it just a case of art
imitating life?

I think Richmond , as a conservative southern city which is just
inundated with history, from the slave trade , civil war and
industrial revolution, mirrors a lot of other cities in the country.

The old buildings , the westbound trains, the old jaded conservative
Southerner, the beautiful river, the landscapes on the outskirts of
town, they all represent a kind of lost past that I look to for
inspiration.. I love this city..

Are your kids interested in art? do you guys paint together?

Eleanor , whom is 4, has had her first show of paintings at a cafe and
it was awesome.. I put a bunch of colors with brushes in front of
canvas's and she goes off. We showed 6 of her paintings and 3 of mine
and the response was overwhelming.. I bought her a small little Gretch
drumset but she hasn't responded to it like painting. O.K. maybe I
bought the drums for myself. As for my 5 month old Loudon,well that
little dude can drool and spit up some real masterpieces..

Ed Trask interviewing Heather Gabel

There seems to be a kind of dark under belly side to some of your
work. At times I see a weird vaudevillian, Edward Gorey, Dame Darcy
kind of macabre image, and other times an almost optimistic literal
collage .It seems you always have some really cool hidden symbols and
meanings. Do you think it's important to use metaphors, irony, and to
have a lot of hidden symbolism attached to your work or can it
sometimes be just about the image and nothing else, to let the viewer
decide? In other words, when you're working do you have any real
hidden agendas?

I completely do have a hidden agenda every time. The piece is always
about something, masked and disguised as it may be, it is always about
a specific thing. I don't expect people to get it, in fact, it'd be
scary if they did because most of the subject matter is really
personal. When I do photography it's always about something just
looking cool, being interesting and pleasing to the eye. There's no
message or meaning. I don't get anything other than visual
satisfaction from taking pictures but painting is different for me in
that respect. Personally, I can appreciate art for either reason, I
don't think one is necessarily more important than the other in terms
of me being able to appreciate something, however substance boosts
visual appeal in any case. Even if you don't know what motivated
someone to make something you can tell there's something, a drive, an
idea, and that strengthens the graphic.

In your fine art you have a wonderful use of contour in your line
work and you produce great compositions that are immediately pleasing.
Is this a byproduct of your commercial band side?

Maybe. I've always responded to arresting, graphic images in other
people's work so I think it makes sense that that's what I would try
to do with my work as well, be it design for bands or a painting or a
collage.

Skulls, Illuminati, the Masons, all have played a major hidden role
in how our society breathes. Of all of the secret societies and such,
which creeps you out the most?

I can't choose one since I don't know much about any of them but I
kind of like it that way. Although I've always been initially turned
off because most of them, as far as I know, don't allow women (or if
they do, the women are totally a different group run by the men but
still don't get in on all their secret activities) I like that there
are these modern day organizations based loosely around secrets. It's
like there could be real magic or something since they are so tight
lipped about everything. Even if nothing really all that cool is going
on I can appreciate the ritual and costumes at the very least.

Do you still love the life on the road and how long can you
actually see yourself being on tour, if you still tour at all?

I will always love some aspects of it, the camaraderie, the traveling,
the spirit of perpetual youth, but there are also things about it that
get old fast. Like sleeping in a bunk instead of a bed, not having
anywhere to be alone, not having any space to do yoga, not being able
to shower if you want to, not being able to rest and get better if
you're sick. I toured with Alkaline Trio for 10 years. We started in a
van and eventually started touring in a bus. I took a job this past
summer on the Warped Tour so I could hang out with my husband while
working instead of touring with Alkaline Trio.

I thought I'd go back
to touring with them but so far they have done 2 tours and I haven't
joined them (although I'm still doing merch designs for them). Being
in a relationship where both people are touring is next to impossible
unless you're fine with hardly ever seeing the person you love…which
I'm not. I'm not saying I won't ever do a tour again but it's
definitely not a priority. I enjoy spending time with my husband
(which is more often than not spent with him on tour) and having time
to do art when I'm home.

I can see myself spending time with Tom on
tour as long as he's doing it but I'm excited for the next chapter of
my life and of our lives together. I mean, 10 years, selling shirts! I
have more to offer than that.

Your husband uses his loud voice and musical talent to make a
difference, or at least try to get people thinking about one . You, on
the other hand, have used your artistic talent to do the same. Is
there a bigger impact when art, music and protest come together and as
an artist do you feel any kind of responsibility to make a political
statement?

I think there is definitely a bigger impact when they come together.
They are all the same idea, just different vehicles, so having more
than one present amplifies the other and vice versa. Crass is the
perfect example of that combination. Their album art always perfectly
mirrored their music and their politics. While I don't feel an
obligation in the traditional sense (I'm not thinking about my
responsibility to the people that will see my work when I am making
something) my beliefs and ideas, politically as well as personally,
come across in my work.

There are overt feminist themes to my work but
I don't expect people to see them all the time. Personally, I've found
that if you are trying to make a specific statement with your work, be
it a song or a painting, it can come across as really contrived while
just doing what you're moved to do will always be superior because
it's real and honest. Your politics will still be there because it's
part of you, they'll just take on a different shape or sound.