AUSTIN PRICE (SCRIPT)

GREY MATTER – BURN NO BRIDGES:
“One of my absolute favorite punk (ok, so post-hardcore) songs of all time. Catchy, intelligent lyrics, a fantastic tension that builds and builds and then explodes, only to go back into hiding before it explodes again, and one of the catchiest hooks of all time really make this one a keeper. It expresses a certain punk philosophy and aesthetic that I’ve always associated the Garage Rajas with, particularly Reginald, so I always give it a listen when I’m grappling with writer’s block or simply brainstorming new ideas.”

THE JAM- GOING UNDERGROUND:
“An obvious one, or did you miss the first track? Really,that song started it all: it gave me the idea for our first story arc (which had begun as a one-shot 20 pager, actually. Imagine how rushed that would have been!), set the tone for the series that I wanted, and probably has more listens on my itunes than any other (80-something, the last time I counted).”

RADIO BIRDMAN- ALONE IN THE ENDZONE:
“There’s no concrete association between this song and Garage Raja (excepting one scene from much later in the series that comes directly from this song, but it’s pretty minor over all), but one always gets me to thinking about the other. Maybe that’s because when I’m not writing Garage Raja there’s nothing I’d rather be doing more, and when I’m not listening to Radio Birdman (particularly this song) there’s nothing I’d rather be doing more. “The Two Great Tastes That Tastes Great Together,” and all.”

KING CRIMSON- IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING:
“There’s a VERY specific reason for this one that you kids won’t understand for the next few years, but trust me: when you do, it’s going to be a hoot. It wouldn’t be an understatement to say that this song really has influenced in a BIG way the direction of the story; hell, this element of the story has roots in Matt’s and my first joint interpretation of the comic, which was a mess of dystopian conspiracy-theory and political intrigue. Most of that nonsense was worth scrapping, but this little tidbit has staying power, I tell you!”

RUSH- THE SPIRIT OF RADIO:
“The obvious reason this song’s included is that it’s an inspiring number: it can’t help but pick up my spirits when they get to flagging. No, really, for all of the grief Rush gets for being nerdy and pretentious, they’re really something else. If you’ve gotten so cynical that you can’t appreciate this kids, well, you need to give them another chance and soon. The less
obvious reason for this choice is that, again, this song inspired some ideas that are integral to the overall plot of the story, details you’ll soon be more than familiar with.”

FORGETTERS- TOO SMALL TO FAIL:
“Here’s another one of those songs that’s only connected to Garage Raja because I’m an emotional twit who gains emotional strength via aural osmosis. You won’t find any of the lyrics or themes here reflected in Garage Raja at any point (not that I know of or plan to introduce, anyway), but there’s nothing that puts me in a mood to write like this diddy. Blake Schwarzenbach really is one of the finest lyricists working today.”

WILCO- JESUS, ETC.:
“Again, not a song that has any real connection to Garage Raja, but I can’t help but associate it with our ongoing adventure because it’s perfect writing music. The actual process of scripting can be so frustrating, so overwhelming, or so scary depending on the day that I need to clean myself up a bit before I sit down to write. If I don’t, well, things get messy and garbage spills in that only serves to slow the process. Thank god I have music like this to clean out all of the psychic noise and make me sane enough to put fingers to the keys, or else you’d only ever get the worst of me.”

THE JAM- IN THE CITY:
“This one might seem self-evident (our second album is subtitled “In The City””, there are more references to The Jam in the first album than there is actual content!) and that’s because, well, it should be. It’s one of those perfect little youth anthems that really does express so well the prevailing attitude of the comic.”

“All things considered, this comic never would have happened without The Jam; in their own way, those lovely clowns are partially responsible for the creation of this comic. I wonder if they’d accept co-creator credit one day?”

IWASAKI TAKU- LIBERA ME FROM HELL:
“There is no other song in the UNIVERSE that gets me to thinking about writing like this one does: I don’t know what it is about the combination of hip-hop, opera and over-the-top theatricality that sends me over the top, but it does. Without fail it cracks open the dam of my mind and gets those ideas flowing, good or bad. Perfect driving music; if I was only allowed one song to bring along on road trips, this would be it.”

THE DOORS- THE END:
” I’d be remiss not to include this one here, even if I’ve grown to loathe it over the years. Despite all of the baggage that comes with this one – all of the counter-cultural, hippy gunk of the 60s and 70, all of the self-righteous bullshit that came with bands like The Doors and all of the self-satisfied nonsense they pumped out – I still think there
were some interesting ideas, a few pieces of scattered mythology that Jim Morrison dredged up but never had the guts or brains to develop into anything cool. So, in the grand tradition of artists, I re appropriated some of the ideas and am doing my own thing with them. Though they’ve disappeared with the conclusion of Album 1, make no mistake: we haven’t heard the last of the lizards, the mile long snake, or the whispers of their long-slumbering king.”

MATTHEW J. RAINWATER (ILLUSTRATION)

THE PILLOWS- CRAZY SUNSHINE
“Had it not been for The Pillows and their contribution to the soundtrack of the little anime known as FLCL, Garage Raja would not be. Simple as that. Now at the time, the comic wasn’t called Garage Raja, and had a completely different vibe going on, but that was the seed from which Ned, Reginald, and Alex arose. Just on the basis of the plot of the show alone, Haruko’s Rickenbacker bass guitar model 4001 and her willingness to use it in so many combat situations was a whiff of fresh air for your’s truly, I’d never seen anything like it (So you can guess where we got some of our ideas from)! But then there was the soundtrack, and The Pillows were just the sound that show needed. The Pillows have what I would define as the quintessential “garage rock” sound; warm and messy, just the way I like it. It’s difficult selecting just one song from The Pillows repertoire, because they’re all amazing, but “Crazy Sunshine” is the one that I keep coming back to the most. It’s one of those songs where I mumble all the lyrics (because they’re Japanese, you see) right up until the chorus, belt out that long whining “Crazy Sunshine” and return to mumbling. There are very few songs that compel me to do this.”

FRANK ZAPPA- PEACHES EN REGALIA:
“This has slowly turned into my theme for Ghurnst, a character who I had no hand in (completely Austin’s invention), but who has grown on me exponentially. It’s just the right amount of silly and serious that I like about Frank Zappa, but there’s a lot I like about Frank Zappa. Don’t let me go on or this will turn into a dissertation on the man and his work.”

THE JAM- THE BEAT SURRENDER:
“This is the song that I imagine plays non-stop underground where the Mod’s party in their eternal night time. Once again, The Jam, go figure! This song has a party sound, a celebration sound, the kind of music you play at the birth of a new child, a graduation, or because you want to get the guys and gals together. It’s one of my favorite sounds.”

“I have been told multiple times that the Modfather resembles Paul Weller in appearance, I do not however, claim any intention in this.”

FREDDIE MERCURY- MR. BADGUY:
“This song got me through art college in more ways than one, it was responsible for my senior class project and also may be responsible for future events in the story. I can’t listen to this song without thinking about Garage Raja now, the two have intertwined. Also, is not Freddie Mercury the greatest vocalist who ever lived?”

THE WHO- 5:15:
“Another art college song,there is an undrawn Garage Raja related script laying around somewhere that I wrote sometime ago based off of this song. This was when I still thought that I could write these things, before Austin gained full reign. This song has some of that underground Mod feel too, but its a different kind of tone, darker in fact.”