Ball of Wax Audio Quarterly

Ball of Wax likes songs about books and Ryan Bartek likes writing books about those who make songs. Bartek and Ball of Wax are a match made in heaven.

Those with a decent memory will remember a post from March 2011 heralding the upcoming arrival on the continent of a US-born musician/journalist/novelist/traveler looking to delve deep into European music scenes – with an angle to making a follow up to his take on underground music scenes across the states named The Big Shiny Prison. I had the pleasure of meeting Ryan during the making of his epic road book, and have maintained a keen eye on his many fantastic journeys and artistic endeavours ever since (e.g. the grindpunk band A.K.A. Mabus, the antifolk/acoustic leanings of Jack Cassady, or his spoken word tour across the US promoting the findings from The Big Shiny Prison and beyond). Upon hearing he had completed the first stage of his European adventure, I had to pick his brains on his most immediate thoughts with regards to what is his second incredible feat of independent explorative ethnomuscological journalism. Continue reading →