Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Sci-fi-surrealist-soul

Zack Wentz’s new project, (Charles) Book&Record, blurs the line between, well, books and records.
Zack Wentz’s new project, (Charles) Book&Record, blurs the line between, well, books and records.

“I often wonder what isn’t antiquated now. It seems like just about anything is almost auto-antiquated right out of the box. That aside, history has been rendered pretty much horizontal because of the internet, so it seems like people creating can pretty much start, or borrow from, any point.” The preceding words are from author, musician, publisher Zack Wentz.

A collaboration of his with hip-hop producer/filmmaker Taj Easton and Shelby Gubba involved spending a year and a half filming and recording in obsessive secrecy, but (Charles) Book&Record doesn’t plan on incorporating any of their 50-plus songs in the “seasons” of their film project, Bad Dreamer. Confused yet?

Sponsored
Sponsored

While sitting inside Wentz and Gubba’s Sherman Heights home, (Charles) Book&Record explains that they are in the process of documenting this nonlinear storyline from Charles himself, the fictional, parenthetical character whom Wentz and Easton allude to throughout our conversation — as if some sort of amorphous entity was overseeing everything, including our talk.

Wentz, who drummed and sang in Kill Me Tomorrow, is no stranger to storytelling, and the line between his stories and music-making has been blurred in the past. For example, his sci-fi novel The Garbageman and the Prostitute worked in conjunction with the Kill Me Tomorrow album of the same title. In addition, Wentz is also founder and editor of New Dead Families, an outlet for underground writers.

“There’s actually a better, more concentrated audience for literary/underground/indie fiction right now, but it’s still more time-consuming and expensive to publish a book than just about any other type of thing. This audience is mostly made up of other writers. A lot of it’s simply going online. Publishing is looking a lot younger, peer-driven. A big part of why I didn’t approach my part in (C)B&R with another book is both because I wanted to do something different and because it’s not a way we could evenly collaborate here. Storytelling will always be at the core of all art and entertainment, no matter how abstract, or even self-referential.”

The music (Charles) Book&Record produces is not easily categorized. In an attempt to describe a possible new genre, let’s try: post-electro-nu-beat-narrative. The band offers up “sci-fi-surrealist-soul.”

Their debut album Leftover Magic is accompanied by a triptych of videos (and their accompanying songs), which you can access from their website: charlesbookandrecord.com.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Issa aide collaborates with Ukrainians

Carlsbad's Tracy Slepcevic, Warrior Mom, and her ties to RFK, Jr.
Zack Wentz’s new project, (Charles) Book&Record, blurs the line between, well, books and records.
Zack Wentz’s new project, (Charles) Book&Record, blurs the line between, well, books and records.

“I often wonder what isn’t antiquated now. It seems like just about anything is almost auto-antiquated right out of the box. That aside, history has been rendered pretty much horizontal because of the internet, so it seems like people creating can pretty much start, or borrow from, any point.” The preceding words are from author, musician, publisher Zack Wentz.

A collaboration of his with hip-hop producer/filmmaker Taj Easton and Shelby Gubba involved spending a year and a half filming and recording in obsessive secrecy, but (Charles) Book&Record doesn’t plan on incorporating any of their 50-plus songs in the “seasons” of their film project, Bad Dreamer. Confused yet?

Sponsored
Sponsored

While sitting inside Wentz and Gubba’s Sherman Heights home, (Charles) Book&Record explains that they are in the process of documenting this nonlinear storyline from Charles himself, the fictional, parenthetical character whom Wentz and Easton allude to throughout our conversation — as if some sort of amorphous entity was overseeing everything, including our talk.

Wentz, who drummed and sang in Kill Me Tomorrow, is no stranger to storytelling, and the line between his stories and music-making has been blurred in the past. For example, his sci-fi novel The Garbageman and the Prostitute worked in conjunction with the Kill Me Tomorrow album of the same title. In addition, Wentz is also founder and editor of New Dead Families, an outlet for underground writers.

“There’s actually a better, more concentrated audience for literary/underground/indie fiction right now, but it’s still more time-consuming and expensive to publish a book than just about any other type of thing. This audience is mostly made up of other writers. A lot of it’s simply going online. Publishing is looking a lot younger, peer-driven. A big part of why I didn’t approach my part in (C)B&R with another book is both because I wanted to do something different and because it’s not a way we could evenly collaborate here. Storytelling will always be at the core of all art and entertainment, no matter how abstract, or even self-referential.”

The music (Charles) Book&Record produces is not easily categorized. In an attempt to describe a possible new genre, let’s try: post-electro-nu-beat-narrative. The band offers up “sci-fi-surrealist-soul.”

Their debut album Leftover Magic is accompanied by a triptych of videos (and their accompanying songs), which you can access from their website: charlesbookandrecord.com.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego seawalls depend on Half Moon Bay case

Casa Mira townhomes sued after losing 20 feet of bluffs in storm
Next Article

Colorado governor Polis’ days in La Jolla canyons

Why Kamala might not run for Calif. governor
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader