Kamtin Mohager
12/04/03, 07:33 PM
Atticus Clothing has become one of the biggest clothing lines within the past couple of years. With their impressive band line-up, and hot clothes, who could ask for more? Since many of AP.net's readers are very much into the company, I thought "Hey...why don't I interview someone from the company to get more facts about what they do?". So here it is...the interview with Ben Gustin. I got a chance to dig deeper into the line, find out whats next for the company, and discover that Ben loves women more than anything else. Enjoy...
www.atticusclothing.com (http://www.atticusclothing.com)
Kamtin - Ben, my new friend. How are you?
Ben - I'm doing great thank you for asking.
Kamtin - Can you let everyone know exactly what you do for Atticus?
Ben - Well, I guess for a long time I've been getting paid to hang out with my friends in bands. Over the past 2 years, I got to go on tour with TBS, Finch, Recover, Blink, Box Car, FATA, Warped Tour etc etc etc. As for what I actually did, I mostly tried to pick up on chicks, just kidding...no seriously I'm a pervert. Honestly, I met with our national retail accounts, coordinated contests across the U.S., organized meet and greets and when I could I took photos blahh, blahh, blahh. Picking up on chicks sounds way more bad ass, and by bad ass I mean creepy and weird. Now that I'm an old man of 24, my birthday was yesterday, my official title is Marketing Manager.
Kamtin - Alright...many people think Atticus is fully owned by Mark and Tom from Blink-182. Can you give us the facts of how Atticus was started and give us some history on the company?
Ben - It was basically 4 friends who had an idea to start a company based around the things that they liked and run it the way they wanted to. The original group of friends were Dylan Anderson, Jon Humphrey, Mark and Tom. As Atticus started to grow there was a need to bring on more people to help out. Everyone agreed that they wanted the company to make cool products but they also wanted it to be a cool place to work, so they hired their friends, thatıs where I come in. Everyone who works with us is a friend of someone. So its not even like coming into work its basically going to hang out with your friends, oh and we also make some cool shit.
Kamtin - It seems that everyone loved the past two compilations put out by Atticus. Can we expect a third release anytime soon? And if so, what bands will be contributing to it?
Ben - Oh my god, I'm so excited about the next comp! We just started to work on it and I think it will be out in April, but you can't kick my ass if that date changes. Its still too early to say who will be on it, but we are really trying to expand the type of music this time. I have an entire iPod full of music that I want to put on the comp so its going to be super hard to narrow it down. Here are some of my top choices, but this is in no way official, just my choices for who I'd like to see on there: Counterfit, Recover, Murder By Death, Three Inches of Blood, New Finch stuff, The Bled,
Vaux...I could go on forever.
Kamtin - It is safe to say that Atticus and Macbeth are some of the first companies that have fully revolved themselves around music. Within the launch of these two companies (especially Atticus), many new clothing lines that are basing themselves on music and bands have risen within the past couple of years. Do you think Atticus started this new trend of sponsoring bands and basing clothes on them?
Ben - Its not like we were like "MUSIC is so hot right now", we should use music to sell clothes. Its what we all grew up around, and pretty much all we knew anything about. If I grew up building boats, its not like I'm going to start a company building Airplanes, you stick to what you know...I definitely think we are breaking new ground with the way we run our company. But, I've always hated the word "sponsor". We're not paying anyone to wear our clothes. We just support our friends in bands in any way we can, whether its the compilation cd, getting them a van to tour in, running contests with the band, getting a new trailer, help promoting their new record, whatever...The best thing, in my opinion, about working for Atticus is that we can do whatever the fuck we want. We are definitely heavily influenced by music because it is such a huge part all of our lives and it always will be, but we are branching out into other areas too. Music isn't limited by any boundaries, and the same thing applies to Fashion. You'll see the ATTICUS clothing line evolve each year and expand it's depth.
Kamtin - The roster for this company is unbelievable. You guys have amazing bands from Blink-182 and Finch, to Taking Back Sunday and Recover. Do you guys have any new bands in mind to add to the roster anytime soon?
Ben - Are you hitting on me??? Just kidding, thanks...I'm really trying to abandon the whole idea of the "roster" of bands. One of the things that I love about music is its individuality. I don't want people to look at us like a skate company with a "team" or anything like that. We happen to have friends in bands that have been nice enough to support us along the way and we are going to continue to give back to them in every way we can...As far as new stuff, there are some amazing bands out there that I'd love to work with, Murder by Death comes to mind. But we never seek out a band or an athlete, or a celebrity, its all done organically through friends, its a 6 degrees type of thing.
Kamtin - Since this company is so involved within the music scene, the next logical step is to start a label. Can we expect to see Atticus starting its own record label anytime within the near future?
Ben - There's definitely been some talks about it, but it would have to be the right situation with the right people and the right bands. Its always way easier to point out what's wrong with the record industry and the things we all hate about it, but its way harder to actually change those things. I think there are a few amazing labels out there like Fiddler records, I'd be just as happy to work with them as I would be to start our own label for right now.
Kamtin - What are the deciding factors of how Atticus and Macbeth choose a band to add to their line?
Ben - We have to like the music, and we have to like the people. That's it. Unfortunately there comes a point when you can't work with every band that you like because you would just spread yourself too thin. Then you end up doing a disservice to the bands you are trying to support because there just isn't enough of you to go around. On the other hand, ladies, there is plenty of me to go around...call me.
Kamtin - Besides the bands on the roster, what other artists are you really into?
Ben - Good question. I guess a simple list will suffice:
Murder By Death
Death Cab
Bright Eyes and Desaparacidos
2 Pac
Method Man
Battery
Poison the Well
One King Down
Bjork, definitely
Fucking Mars Volta
Coldplay
Sigur Ros
The Faint
Jurassic 5
Muse
No Knife
Pinback
...Dude, I could go on forever thatıs just the first shit that came to my head.
Kamtin - What do you think of the music scene right now. At times, it seems like many bands out there are produced by a cookie-cutter. Are you digging whats going on right now or would you like to see things change?
Ben - I fucking hate that to be a "successful" artist today you apparently need to buy a bunch of sampled beats and make a hip-hop album, or have someone else write your whole album for you. There is a lot of lame shit going on with music right now that I don't understand. Honestly I think there are just too many bands getting record deals...On the other hand there are bands out there working there ass off that haven't gotten the benefits of a giant marketing campaign or media coverage. We try to help those bands as much as we can. Mark and Tom understand this better than anyone and really make a point to help these bands as much as they can, whether its mentioning a band in an interview so kids will check them out, or just being accessible to a band that might have questions about signing a record deal or something that in their ten plus years of experience could help answer. Just because they are a huge act now it's not like they stop listening to music, they still know what it's like to be a band and some things never change no matter how big you get...I guess the most optimistic way of looking at things is to change
our perception of what it means to be "successful", fuck getting on TV, fuck being in all the right magazines, just make good music that you like and that makes you happy, that should be what success is.
Kamtin - Whats next for Atticus? What can we expect to see during 2004?
Ben - I kind of touched on this before but look to see a lot of new products, jeans, shorts, work pants, shorts, corduroy pants, but we're also starting to do lots of fashion type stuff too, we are a clothing company after all and that will always be our focus.
Kamtin - Dude, you totally rule! Thank you so much for taking the time out of what I'm sure is a very busy schedule to answer some questions. Much love my friend, much love!
Ben - Word!
www.atticusclothing.com (http://www.atticusclothing.com)
Kamtin - Ben, my new friend. How are you?
Ben - I'm doing great thank you for asking.
Kamtin - Can you let everyone know exactly what you do for Atticus?
Ben - Well, I guess for a long time I've been getting paid to hang out with my friends in bands. Over the past 2 years, I got to go on tour with TBS, Finch, Recover, Blink, Box Car, FATA, Warped Tour etc etc etc. As for what I actually did, I mostly tried to pick up on chicks, just kidding...no seriously I'm a pervert. Honestly, I met with our national retail accounts, coordinated contests across the U.S., organized meet and greets and when I could I took photos blahh, blahh, blahh. Picking up on chicks sounds way more bad ass, and by bad ass I mean creepy and weird. Now that I'm an old man of 24, my birthday was yesterday, my official title is Marketing Manager.
Kamtin - Alright...many people think Atticus is fully owned by Mark and Tom from Blink-182. Can you give us the facts of how Atticus was started and give us some history on the company?
Ben - It was basically 4 friends who had an idea to start a company based around the things that they liked and run it the way they wanted to. The original group of friends were Dylan Anderson, Jon Humphrey, Mark and Tom. As Atticus started to grow there was a need to bring on more people to help out. Everyone agreed that they wanted the company to make cool products but they also wanted it to be a cool place to work, so they hired their friends, thatıs where I come in. Everyone who works with us is a friend of someone. So its not even like coming into work its basically going to hang out with your friends, oh and we also make some cool shit.
Kamtin - It seems that everyone loved the past two compilations put out by Atticus. Can we expect a third release anytime soon? And if so, what bands will be contributing to it?
Ben - Oh my god, I'm so excited about the next comp! We just started to work on it and I think it will be out in April, but you can't kick my ass if that date changes. Its still too early to say who will be on it, but we are really trying to expand the type of music this time. I have an entire iPod full of music that I want to put on the comp so its going to be super hard to narrow it down. Here are some of my top choices, but this is in no way official, just my choices for who I'd like to see on there: Counterfit, Recover, Murder By Death, Three Inches of Blood, New Finch stuff, The Bled,
Vaux...I could go on forever.
Kamtin - It is safe to say that Atticus and Macbeth are some of the first companies that have fully revolved themselves around music. Within the launch of these two companies (especially Atticus), many new clothing lines that are basing themselves on music and bands have risen within the past couple of years. Do you think Atticus started this new trend of sponsoring bands and basing clothes on them?
Ben - Its not like we were like "MUSIC is so hot right now", we should use music to sell clothes. Its what we all grew up around, and pretty much all we knew anything about. If I grew up building boats, its not like I'm going to start a company building Airplanes, you stick to what you know...I definitely think we are breaking new ground with the way we run our company. But, I've always hated the word "sponsor". We're not paying anyone to wear our clothes. We just support our friends in bands in any way we can, whether its the compilation cd, getting them a van to tour in, running contests with the band, getting a new trailer, help promoting their new record, whatever...The best thing, in my opinion, about working for Atticus is that we can do whatever the fuck we want. We are definitely heavily influenced by music because it is such a huge part all of our lives and it always will be, but we are branching out into other areas too. Music isn't limited by any boundaries, and the same thing applies to Fashion. You'll see the ATTICUS clothing line evolve each year and expand it's depth.
Kamtin - The roster for this company is unbelievable. You guys have amazing bands from Blink-182 and Finch, to Taking Back Sunday and Recover. Do you guys have any new bands in mind to add to the roster anytime soon?
Ben - Are you hitting on me??? Just kidding, thanks...I'm really trying to abandon the whole idea of the "roster" of bands. One of the things that I love about music is its individuality. I don't want people to look at us like a skate company with a "team" or anything like that. We happen to have friends in bands that have been nice enough to support us along the way and we are going to continue to give back to them in every way we can...As far as new stuff, there are some amazing bands out there that I'd love to work with, Murder by Death comes to mind. But we never seek out a band or an athlete, or a celebrity, its all done organically through friends, its a 6 degrees type of thing.
Kamtin - Since this company is so involved within the music scene, the next logical step is to start a label. Can we expect to see Atticus starting its own record label anytime within the near future?
Ben - There's definitely been some talks about it, but it would have to be the right situation with the right people and the right bands. Its always way easier to point out what's wrong with the record industry and the things we all hate about it, but its way harder to actually change those things. I think there are a few amazing labels out there like Fiddler records, I'd be just as happy to work with them as I would be to start our own label for right now.
Kamtin - What are the deciding factors of how Atticus and Macbeth choose a band to add to their line?
Ben - We have to like the music, and we have to like the people. That's it. Unfortunately there comes a point when you can't work with every band that you like because you would just spread yourself too thin. Then you end up doing a disservice to the bands you are trying to support because there just isn't enough of you to go around. On the other hand, ladies, there is plenty of me to go around...call me.
Kamtin - Besides the bands on the roster, what other artists are you really into?
Ben - Good question. I guess a simple list will suffice:
Murder By Death
Death Cab
Bright Eyes and Desaparacidos
2 Pac
Method Man
Battery
Poison the Well
One King Down
Bjork, definitely
Fucking Mars Volta
Coldplay
Sigur Ros
The Faint
Jurassic 5
Muse
No Knife
Pinback
...Dude, I could go on forever thatıs just the first shit that came to my head.
Kamtin - What do you think of the music scene right now. At times, it seems like many bands out there are produced by a cookie-cutter. Are you digging whats going on right now or would you like to see things change?
Ben - I fucking hate that to be a "successful" artist today you apparently need to buy a bunch of sampled beats and make a hip-hop album, or have someone else write your whole album for you. There is a lot of lame shit going on with music right now that I don't understand. Honestly I think there are just too many bands getting record deals...On the other hand there are bands out there working there ass off that haven't gotten the benefits of a giant marketing campaign or media coverage. We try to help those bands as much as we can. Mark and Tom understand this better than anyone and really make a point to help these bands as much as they can, whether its mentioning a band in an interview so kids will check them out, or just being accessible to a band that might have questions about signing a record deal or something that in their ten plus years of experience could help answer. Just because they are a huge act now it's not like they stop listening to music, they still know what it's like to be a band and some things never change no matter how big you get...I guess the most optimistic way of looking at things is to change
our perception of what it means to be "successful", fuck getting on TV, fuck being in all the right magazines, just make good music that you like and that makes you happy, that should be what success is.
Kamtin - Whats next for Atticus? What can we expect to see during 2004?
Ben - I kind of touched on this before but look to see a lot of new products, jeans, shorts, work pants, shorts, corduroy pants, but we're also starting to do lots of fashion type stuff too, we are a clothing company after all and that will always be our focus.
Kamtin - Dude, you totally rule! Thank you so much for taking the time out of what I'm sure is a very busy schedule to answer some questions. Much love my friend, much love!
Ben - Word!