Fuck the Gap! It’s time to get yourself some proper party attire. Local designer, DJ, and party kid – Lord Hastings Chesterfield, II is hustling a line of tees like no other. We recently had a chance to chat with the very bizarre genius behind ACIDHAUS T-SHIRTS, and here is what he had to say:
El Rex> A recent blog of yours demands, "a thousand nitrous fiesta balloons to be sent heavenbound", my question to you is - what do you think jesus would be like on nitrous?
Lord Hastings Chesterfield, II>> Haha, haven't the slightest. I would actually like to ponder the idea of jesus on nitrous…for a while
El Rex> It definitely warrants some time
LHCII>> Jesus on nitrous might be like Kurt Cobain… like a “raving” Kurt Cobain… like a raving schizophrenic Kurt Cobain, but that's just my immediate knee-jerk answer. Jesus on nitrous might be just the kind of messiah kids need today… someone they can understand, someone who speaks their “language.”
El Rex> Enough about Jesus, tell me about yourself
LHCII>> Well, hmm… I delivered mail in Reading, where I attended college, one summer… summer of ‘96
El Rex> Wow, you were a mailman?
LHCII>> Yeah! Not a career mailman, though. But I almost got tackled and mauled by a huge dog once. I slammed a door shut in its face just in time.
El Rex> Scary.
LHCII >> Another time I almost lost the mail truck down a hill. I parked it and apparently the hill was so steep that I should've engaged the emergency brake. As soon as I got out and slammed the door…the thing started rolling down the street, alongside the curb.
El Rex> What happened?
LHCII>> I thought for sure my life was over.
El Rex> You and the person at the bottom of the hill!
LHCII>> Then it hit the bumper of the car parked further down the hill…the mail truck stopped, and then that car started rolling a little…but then that car stopped too!
El Rex> So, do you draw inspiration for your tee shirts from your days as a mailman?
LHCII>> Haha, no…not really. I drew my inspiration from the vibe of the old acid house sound… and from my weird dreams… and my weird imagination… and from animal spirit guides that came to me in a vision in the midst of a sweat-lodge ritual. What I hear, essentially, in acid house, is kind of a dark, primordial otherness that is expressed similarly in all of the above. I guess I'm kind of going for a sort of even mix of abrasive (or “acidic”, “over-saturated”) and smooth (“amorphous”, “ectoplasmic”).
Oh, and here’s another inspiration – I kind of had this feeling back in the summer of 2001, that acid house would be making some kind of come back. Maybe not blatantly, but at least as an important influence in underground/indie music and style. I had read this really great book back then called Class of 88 by Wayne Anthony, who wrote from his first-hand experience as one of the first (and extremely daring) entrepreneurs of the original UK acid house parties (‘88-‘90), which were basically the first raves. His story blew my mind. Chaos, drama, adventure, spiritual elation, near-death experiences, and of course music, drugs, and dancing. Extreme vibrations, people were living within. After reading this book, I decided I wanted to superimpose my impressions of acid house onto our current cultural spectacle. And if I don’t, someone else will be chosen to come forward and do it instead. (laughs)
El Rex> Who, specifically, were you listening to?
LHCII>> It wasn't until about 1990 that the label 'Wax Trax' kind of crossed over and introduced the acid house sound to the largely punk/gothic/industrial/alternative scene that I felt myself to be a part of at the time.
The first bands I remember from that era were like KLF, 808 State, Lords of Acid, Psychic TV, Meat Beat Manifesto and then all those Wax Trax bands from Chicago like Revolting Cocks and Thrill Kill Kult. The first time I heard of “rave” was 1991 with that obnoxious "James Brown is Dead" song by LA Style. 808 State were definitely my favorite. That was when I used to go to "alternative dance" clubs: Breakers, Trocadero, Revival, Pulsations, Shadows. There was one in Reading, as a matter of fact, at that time -- The Loft.
At the Loft, there used to be the occasional group of skinheads that would show up and threaten to beat someone up for their doc marten boots.
Ah, the "good old days"
To purchase one of Lord Hastings Chesterfield, II’s psychedelic tees visit
Acidhaus
