Rubin Recommends

(Part of The Weekly Check In series)

Paul D’Elia is an amazing artist and musician. I think he’s played in like 20 punk bands over the years. I remember going to the Museum School in Boston and seeing his artwork and loving it before I even knew him. I think I first met him when Sheffield was shooting promo shots for a band he was in called Cut The Shit. More important, is the story of how he met Jon Cheese and Sheffield in 1997. I’ve got a transcript of the story right here…

Rubin: Is it true you met Jon Cheese while driving on Route 80 in New Jersey, cause he saw some punk stickers on your car?
D’Elia: “Yeah 100%…. he almost ran me off the road, and nearly hit two other cars while trying to see who I was and then came up to me at the show we were both driving to and said, “Hey I saw you on the way down here, did you see me? I’m Jon who are you?”"

And here we are…

Rubin: What are you currently working on or just finished that you’re excited about?

D’Elia: Well, at home I just finished screen printing the 7″ record covers for my new band called Broken Patterns…. that should be out within the month on Six Feet Under Records. Before that, I had just finished printing 3 new art prints which will be up for sale soon on Etsy. I’m currently working on the design for a Cro Mags west coast tour poster and trying to finish writing the last few songs for the Broken Patterns LP…. procrastination is a total bitch, though… at work, I’m just researching right now for the summer 2010 graphic tee line and trying to keep all the papers from landing on my desk.

Rubin: Where have you traveled so far this month?

D’Elia: I don’t get out too much these days, but some of my wife’s family was just in town visiting for a while so we took them all down to the San Diego Zoo! That zoo is pretty cool, but really I just love San Diego so I’ll take any excuse to drive down there. Even though I’ve lived in California for almost 4 years now, that drive down from LA will always make me feel like I’m on tour.

Rubin: What’s your favorite music right now?

D’Elia: 7″s are my preferred format for listening to music, and I picked up a bunch of great ones that have been totally killing me lately…. mainly the Suspect Parts debut EP, the Ex Humans 7″ on Full Breach, the Marked Men / Birthday Suits split, Psyched To Die 7″ on Grave Mistake, both Mean Jeans records on Dirtnap, and any of the Estranged 7″s you can get your hands on are awesome! A bunch of my friends from the east are doing a new band called Failures that make some seriously blistering hardcore, check out their LP if you can. Beyond that, i think I play The Nerves anthology that was finally released earlier this year about twice a day or so, and I am constantly pirating late 70s – early 80s punk and hardcore mp3s from sweet blogs like Killed By Death and 7″ punk.

Rubin: Best food you’ve had in your neighborhood lately or while you were traveling?

D’Elia: There is a new place that opened up in my neighborhood called Number 9 Noodles that is quickly becoming my most reliable comfort food on those weekdays where I just have too much shit to do to want to cook dinner as well. it’s just a really stripped down menu of a few Vietnamese dishes that are done REALLY REALLY well, and the decor is very high modern and minimal which I am always a sucker for. Seriously, if i could just eat fresh spring rolls every day for the rest of my life I’d die a happy man. also, the staple “Friday night date” restaurant for my wife and i has been The Veggie Grill in El Segundo for nearly a year now! their whole deal is to be the first national entirely vegan fast food chain, and with 3 locations now open in the LA area I’m rooting pretty hard for them! The food is absolutely incredible and you get to sit in an Eames molded plastic chair while you eat it!…. heaven!

Rubin: Anything else you want to mention?

D’Elia: Man, i need a website BAD! also, I could use a couple extra hours in the day, or maybe just a well-trained team of helper monkeys following me around. Thanks for thinking of me Rubs! You’re the shit!….now move back to the best city in California already!