Switchblade Comb

(Photo by Mojo Marshall)

I first met Mitch Clem seven years ago when I was 19 and living in St. Cloud, Minnesota. I was ignorant to punk rock culture at the time, but Mitch kindly gave me a crash course: mix CDs, zines to read, shows in our basement, and spur-of-the-moment drives across the country. It was also around this time seven years ago that Mitch evolved from writing rants and drawing comics in his zine Summer’s Over to creating “the world’s first online punk comic” Nothing Nice to Say.

Those days seemed like yesterday and at the same time a lifetime ago. Mitch would later move to Minneapolis and then San Antonio spawning a handful of new webcomics along the way including the currently running autobiographical series My Stupid Life. Mitch’s first book of Nothing Nice to Say strips are being published by Dark Horse Comics this October. I caught up with him for a middle of the night conversation to see what’s new and to talk about baseball, music, and his ongoing projects.

Switchblade Comb: So, how about those Twins?

Mitch: Yikes, right? They were my pick for wild card about halfway through the season, but that’s obviously out of the question now. And the rest of our games are against teams that have kicked our ass so far this year, where the White Sox are facing teams they seem to beat. But my fingers are crossed.

SBC: Well, we’ve got that three game home series with the White Sox coming up. Maybe we can pull it off in the end? My fingers are crossed, too.

SBC: Anyway, growing up in the Midwest, what’s the weirdest shit about living in Texas?

Mitch: I never considered myself someone who ever suffered from depression brought on by bad weather. I don’t remember what that’s called. But I never thought about it until I moved somewhere where it never gets below 70 degrees all year and the sun is always out, and I find my mood is substantially better pretty much all the time. I barely ever get bummed out anymore. I don’t even remember the last time I listened to Jawbreaker.

SBC: [Laughs] And what do you miss most about Minneapolis?

Mitch: My friends and my family. Also cheese curds, Spyhouse, Tasty Pizza in Andover, getting fucked up on brandy cokes at the Red Dragon and capping the night off with a bottle of Grain Belt Premium, the Triple Rock… And even First Ave, believe it or not. I saw my first concert there. I miss snow sometimes too, I guess. As much as I like warm weather, and I know this sounds ridiculous, but Christmas isn’t Christmas when it’s 90 degrees outside.

SBC: Agreed. I don’t think I could live any place that didn’t have snow. So, anything on the horizon for your band The Tigermilks?

Mitch: The 7 inch is coming out very soon. As of right now we just need to master the tracks and press the vinyl. After that we have ideas for other songs to do and other records to put them on. Ideally I’d like to put out a series of Tigermilks 7 inches until there’s a decent amount of material, and then put out a CD. But we’ll see how the first record does. I don’t know that the market’s necessarily clamoring for a punk rock Belle & Sebastian cover band right now.

SBC: And obviously that will be on your new record label Facepalm?

Mitch: Yeah, [Facepalm] has two 7 inches coming out very soon, a split between Shang-A-Lang and Brickfight, and that Tigermilks EP. After that, we’re gonna put out a CD of all of Shang-A-Lang’s previously released 7 inches and comp tracks and the like, which will be stellar because they are just the best band in the world right now. They’re certainly up there, anyhow. Top five for sure, and I mean that.

SBC: Very cool. I look forward to hearing those. Moving on to your new book, I know you’ve wanted to put a collection out forever. Can you talk about some of the trials and tribulations to finally getting there and how’d the Dark Horse deal come about?

Mitch: The trials and tribbies, as I call them, were mostly just about me being lazy. At some point, I finally decided, screw it, I’m putting this thing out, and so Zach Miller [of Joe and Monkey] and I got to work on compiling stuff into whatever, making it a book, basically. And it was finished, we were just going through final drafts and touching stuff up when I got an email from a guy at Dark Horse who said he liked the comic and that I should hit him up if I ever wanted to do a book. And so I sent him the finished book and he took it to a pitch meeting and they gave it the thumbs up and then we tweaked crap and now here it is.

SBC: Nice. What’s collected in the book? Color? Any Extras?

Mitch: No color. It is all the comics from 2006 through 2007, so basically the first two years that I started doing [Nothing Nice to Say] solely in black and white. And there’s a ton of extras, the month I did on Joe and Monkey, a few other guest strips for other webcomics, a bunch of new illustrations, etc. Plus a lot of my rambling. Which is more entertaining in book form than it is here, I promise.

SBC: Are you gonna try and put out a collection of the earlier Nothing Nice to Say strips?

Mitch: Yes, I have plans for more books. I have the next Nothing Nice to Say volume pretty much mapped out in my head already. I want to wait and see how this [first] one sells before I can ask Dark Horse if we should keep going, obviously. It won’t benefit them to keep putting out more if this one doesn’t sell. But if it sells and they want to do the next book, I’d have some stuff to draw and then it’s a go.

I’m about ready for a My Stupid Life collection as well, I have over a hundred of those finished, including probably close to ten that never went up on the site. I’ve also been doing a project called Something Great! that’s all direct-to-print only, no webcomic start for those. They’re just quick, silly comics. Some of them have run in Razorcake. I’d like to make a big fat pile of those and then put out a book. And, what else… Whatever. Print is fun!

SBC: Awesome! Any plans for a book or Tigermilks tour?

Mitch: Well. Sort of? We’re not really active; it’s more of a recording project just for fun. But the possibility has come up, maybe as part of a Nothing Nice to Say book tour. Who knows?

SBC: It’d be rad. One of Switchblade’s favorite bands from Minneapolis this year are The Shortcuts. How’d you get in touch with them about doing the cover art for their new record?

Mitch: They contacted me! And yes, they’re great. I was quite pleased to get to work with them, I like their music and they’re the nicest people on the planet.

SBC: Which other bands are you currently digging?

Mitch: All I’ve listened to all week is Not Economically Viable by the Methadones, that album is amazing all over. The Chinese Telephones are really good, Shang-A-Lang, who I mentioned, they’re awesome. I came upon a leak of the new Dillinger Four album, and it is hands-down the best album of the year. Like, by a whole lot. That’s to be expected of them, of course, but, seriously, it’s retarded good. Also, I like the Copyrights, and I’ve been listening to The Incredible Shrinking Dickies at least once every third day or so for the past month.

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READ THE CONCLUSION TO THIS INTERVIEW HERE