Odd Jobs
Odd Jobs: Hollywood Undead’s Always Been Cannabis Entrepreneurs — But Now They Do It Legally
George Ragan and Jorel Decker of Hollywood Undead are far from the first musicians to credit cannabis with helping their songwriting. But while countless rockers since the Beatles have used marijuana creatively and recreationally, few are as connected to the business side of the plant as the artists known as Johnny 3 Tears and J-Dog. Having technically launched their cannabis-growing careers more than a decade ago Ragan and Decker have seen their business grow alongside the industry. From illegal house grows to a premium (and legal) cannabis brand called Dove and Grenade, the duo have spent nearly as much time in the greenhouse as they have on the stage over the years. SPIN spoke with Ragan via Zoom about his dual careers, the growing industry, and where Hollywood Undead and Dove and Grena...
Odd Jobs: Pulley’s Trey Clinesmith Brings Punk Rock to Hollywood Film Sets
Of all the veteran punk rock bands with a claim at having the most unique jobs outside of the industry, there’s a good chance that Pulley would finish in first place. Not only is singer Scott Radinsky a former MLB pitcher, but guitarist Trey Clinesmith also actively works as a camera operator for several popular TV shows (Modern Family, The Good Place, Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer). Hell, Pulley’s other guitarist, Mike Harder, works on jet planes when he’s not on the road. While one could argue that they all have “odd” jobs, it was Clinesmith who spoke with SPIN (while shooting HBO’s The Sex Lives of College Girls) for this week’s edition of Odd Jobs. Photo by John Stradling SPIN: How did you end up working as a Hollywood camera operator?Trey Clinesmith: Being born here in Los Angeles, my ...
Odd Jobs: Cartel’s Will Pugh Brings His Pop-Punk Legacy to the Golf Industry
Cartel may no longer be the full-time band they were a decade ago, but the Georgia pop-punkers’ shift to part-time status has allowed singer Will Pugh to follow his other lifelong passion on the golf course. The lifelong golfer went from one of the better-playing rockers on the planet to entering multiple facets of the sport’s industry itself. What began as a hobby of building and custom fitting clubs for himself and his friends quickly turned into a full-time job with Edel Golf — a relatively small brand that sees eye-to-eye with his belief that clubs should be made specifically to fit their users. SPIN spoke with Pugh via Zoom to hear about balancing his two very different (yet surprisingly connected) passions and how one career opened him up for another. Courtesy of Will Pugh SPIN: Obvi...
Odd Jobs: Fiddlehead’s Patrick Flynn Goes From the Stage to the Classroom
Patrick Flynn could teach people a thing or two about being in a band. After his initial run with 2000s Boston hardcore mainstays Have Heart, Flynn picked up the microphone again in 2014, this time for one of the best bands on the planet, Fiddlehead. But Flynn could also teach people a thing or two about history. For that matter, he actually does teach plenty of teenagers about it as a high school history teacher. It works out for the vocalist, as his Fiddlehead bandmates are content to primarily tour weekends and school breaks, and his colleagues and students are fairly understanding about his summer job not exactly being like everyone else’s. SPIN spoke with the frontman about how he balances life between the stage and the classroom, the similarities and differences between lyrics and le...
Odd Jobs: How Bouncing Souls Bassist Bryan Kienlen Came to Own a Tattoo Shop When Not On Tour
Tattooers and musicians have been connected at least since Janis Joplin was publicly inked by Lyle Tuttle in April 1970 — six months before her death. But while rock stars have spent plenty of hours in tattoo shops over the decades, few of them actually took the plunge into the industry itself. Bryan Kienlen of the Bouncing Souls is one of those artists. After beginning his passion for tattoos back in the late 1980s, Kienlen spent some time away from the industry while touring with the New Jersey punks. In 2010, once the Souls had evolved into more of a part-time endeavor, the veteran bassist returned to his other passion, apprenticing under a pair of respected and well-known tattooers and learning the ropes at other people’s shops before opening one of his own. Now the proud owner of Anch...
Odd Jobs: Hot Water Music’s Chuck Ragan’s Double Life as a Fly Fishing Guide and Sauce Entrepreneur
If you took a Family Feud-type survey of who the punk scene considered their version of Paul Bunyan, Hot Water Music’s Chuck Ragan would likely be the number one answer. How many other multi-decade punk rockers have a fly fishing business, their own sauce company, and a partnership with Traeger Grills? With Hot Water Music becoming more of a steady part-time gig since their 2008 reunion, Ragan has been given more time to pursue his other passions — many of which receive the same intensity and dedication he brings to the songs that have won fans over for 13 studio albums (four solo and nine Hot Water Music) and a mess of other releases. And that doesn’t even include when he launched the greatest acoustic punk rock traveling party of all time, the now-defunct Revival Tour. From tou...
State Champs’ Derek Discanio Doesn’t Want His Streetwear Brand Defined By the Band
For the last year and a half, State Champs singer Derek Discanio has been building his own brand outside of the band. That’s not to say that the New York-based pop punkers are going to be slowing down anytime soon, but rather that Discanio’s streetwear line, Steez, won’t be counting on the band’s existing success or looking to ride its coattails. Instead, Discanio is looking to expand Steez outside of his existing platform to reach streetwear fans who’ve never heard of his band before — reaching fans new and old through both online drops and an in-person merch tent for festivals and events that may or may not involve State Champs. With Steez now looking into retail distribution and expanding into hosting its own events and other endeavors, SPIN spoke with Discanio about where the brand has...
Odd Jobs: NOFX’s Erik ‘Smelly’ Sandin Shapes Surfboards as Pickle Stix
When it comes to veteran punk rockers with non-musical gigs they’re passionate about, Erik “Smelly” Sandin has a resume longer than most. From motocross to boxing, the NOFX drummer has often found secondary careers to keep him busy when he isn’t on tour. But when COVID-19 forced the band into a lengthy break for the first time in nearly 40 years, Sandin turned another one of his hobbies into another new business. Sandin had been shaping surfboards out of his Long Beach, California garage for family and friends for years, but he decided to make it into a full-time job (when not touring) during the pandemic. Appropriately named Pickle Stix, Sandin’s custom-shaped surfboards are made to order and designed for each individual customer. SPIN spoke with the NOFX drummer and entrepreneur about hi...
Odd Jobs: Bayside’s Nick Ghanbarian and Chris Guglielmo Turned Their Coffee Addiction Into Punk Rock Roasting
Nick Ghanbarian and Chris Guglielmo of Bayside are far from the first musicians to have a love of coffee. Hell, caffeine’s been one of the key ingredients in keeping bands running for as long as the two have both existed. But while other artists are merely fueling their addiction as consumers, Ghanbarian and Guglielmo took things a step further by launching Legal Speed Coffee Roasters in early 2017 and becoming the suppliers rather than the drinkers. What started as a little passion project evolved into a legitimate business, with the Orange County-based company selling its goods directly to consumers à la carte via their website, on a subscription basis, and even through independent coffee shops. With Bayside still actively touring (they’re currently on the road with Thrice), the band’s r...
Odd Jobs: Bad Cop/Bad Cop’s Jennie Cotterill is Punk Rock’s Best Cake Baker
Like many other musicians, Bad Cop/Bad Cop’s Jennie Cotterill got hit pretty hard when live music shut down because of COVID-19. She and her bandmates had just kicked off a European tour, were just a few months away from releasing their third album, The Ride, on Fat Wreck Chords, and were generally preparing for a year full of punk rock. When those plans fell through, Cotterill needed both a new form of income and something to keep her busy to stave off some quarantine-induced depression, and thus Jennie Bakes Things was born.As an illustrator-turned-baker, the new business gave her the opportunity to combine her art skills with her baking talents — all without having to leave her Southern California home. While she’s spent much of the last year and a half figuring out the ins and outs of ...
Odd Jobs: Four Year Strong’s Alan Day May Be the Youngest Christmas Tree Farmer in Massachusetts
For some people, being the frontman of a pop-punk band for 20-plus years would be a full-time job and then some. But for Alan Day of Four Year Strong, that still leaves him enough space to follow his other real passion: Christmas. But while others might just deck out their house with lights or visit every mall Santa, Day turned his passion into a business. He and his wife bought a farm in his native Massachusetts with the specific goal of selling Christmas trees (and other farm things too), and the singer/guitarist suddenly found himself living a very different lifestyle when he wasn’t on the road with Four Year Strong. Now, the annual Four Year Strong Christmas show (which happens after the holiday itself) marks the end of one busy season for Day just before he goes back to his main job. ...
Odd Jobs: Relient K’s Matt Hoopes Found New Musical Success With 1981 Inventions Guitar Pedals
Odd Jobs is a new series that takes a look behind the curtain of professional musicians’ secondary careers and side hustles. If Matt Hoopes made his biggest mark on the music industry as the guitarist for pop-punk/Christian rockers Relient K, most people would’ve considered it a successful career. Eight studio albums (plus a pair of Christmas albums and one covers project), a song that you couldn’t escape for a chunk of the mid-2000s, and nearly a quarter-century standing next to singer Matt Thiessen’s curly blond hair is more than most accumulate. But in 2018, Hoopes launched 1981 Inventions, a company based around a single guitar effects pedal that he’d spent years perfecting. The pedal (named the DRV) sold out immediately. It earned rave reviews as a slightly brighter and refined take o...
