Meet Jonah Livingston aka kisscharge, a staple in the unseen music scenes bubbling under the surface and the brains behind the zine, Information Dominance Zine. As fans of his work, we wanted to shoot him a few questions about the gritty world he’s documenting and get some of his photos up on the site. Jonah is right in the thick of it, one of many keeping the spirit of Richmond’s true underground alive and kicking.
Tony: Who are you and where are you from?
Jonah: I shoot photos, play drums in Loud Night, and love sipping tropical cocktails. I moved here from Boston about ten years ago.
Tony: What scenes around town do you like to check out?
Jonah: I’m trying to hang out with anyone that’s motivated and inspired, working hard to keep the weirdo music and art scenes flourishing. I love seeing what the Warehouse/Material Room folks are doing, the handful of houses/industrial spaces throwing hardcore punk metal freak gigs, Vinyl Conflict shows and art events, Dark Entries at Fallout, all the international punk gigs Beach Impediment does, Holy Shit Fest, Chungo’s Grotto, Gritty City, Bedspread, Studio Two Three, Broadstreet Bullies, etc. There’s so much going on in this small town, so many groups of people all orbiting each other and doing rad stuff.
I also just found out about the fest Persistent Vision is doing – I first came down to hang in Richmond a million years ago for one of the “last” Pg 99 shows, so I love that that band is back playing and that scene is still going and evolving.
Tony: How did you get into photography?
Jonah: I started when I was in like 7th or 8th grade, just shooting my friends skating and farting around. I eventually figured out that you could hit up some of the bigger venues and promoters and ask to get photo passes to shows, and I did that for a while. I had no idea what I was doing, but I would just shoot any shows I could get into. It was like half big metal tours and half DIY gigs around Boston, and then I’d just send the photos to magazines or music blogs. I fell out of it for a long time, but in the last 6 or 7 years, I got really inspired to get back into shooting and started bugging photographer homies like Reid Haithcock and Michael Thorn to help me actually learn what I’m doing. Now I’m fully sucked into bringing my camera out all the time and capturing awesome stuff.
Tony: What do you enjoy about doing it?
Jonah: It’s something about trying to distill an event, a person, or a place into a frame. Like a four-band show could be hours long, but you get to pick the handful of tiny moments and decide how you want them remembered. You’re looking around at people’s faces, shapes in the room, or light sources and trying to figure out on the fly what’s memorable or interesting. Are you trying to catch happiness, anger, intensity, or what? You’re seeing what is being offered and trying to grab it.
Tony: Obviously, you have seen a bunch of local bands, what bands should people be checking out?
Jonah: Off the top of my head: Ivy Creep, Artificial Brain, Public Acid, Ultimate Disaster, Battlemaster, Inter Arma, Destruct, Enforced, Mel Mechete, Prisoner, ASM, Suppression, Left Cross, Fried Reality, Lazer Dracula, Division of Mind, Private Hell… but there’s so many more.
Tony: What do you love about Richmond? What don’t you love as much about Richmond?
Jonah: No love to VCU and the blood-sucking developers trying to make this city as boring, shiny, and profitable as possible. All the love to the rusty untouched corners of this town where you can still go to DIY shows or hang at the river in peace. No one is like “thank God, another Chipotle. I always wanted to live in a mall.” People want a city that fosters interesting art, food, and culture. That’s what makes this place special.
Tony: Any shout outs? Photographers or artists that people should check out.
Jonah: Huge shout out to Michael Thorn / Razorblades and Aspirin zine and Reid Haithcock / Aesthetic Control on YouTube.
Also, Chris Larson, Charlotte Mooney, Erik Philips, Glossed Over Photo Club, Laura Horowitz, Aly Hansen, Steven Meston, David Morton, and tons more obviously. Shout out to Mike Baker for all the cool demons and my wife Ellie, whose art continues to blow my mind.
Give Jonah a follow at @kisscharge
Check out Information Dominance Zine HERE
Main photo: Lazer Dracula and Vermin Supreme, photo by Jonah Livingston
