It’s Friday morning, and I’m asking myself — how, and why, did I end up on a three-way call with a firefighter and a post-hardcore musician? The answer, strange as it might sound, is in harrowing, beautiful shared experience. Call it a “spiritual sickness,” “dependency,” or “substance abuse problem,” but Theo Krzywicki, Anthony Green, and I have all known addiction. 

Though he has suffered at its hand himself, it was years into recovery, as a full-time member of the LAFD, that Krzywicki became acutely aware of the epidemic our world is in today. With 100,000 people dying from overdoses a year, as a trained paramedic, Krzywicki found himself alone responding to thousands. “I’ve been on so many calls where people stood there helpless watching their friends die. It doesn’t have to be that way,” he says, fervently. “We have the antidote and the training — it’s like CPR.” Thus began End Overdose, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, and Krzywicki’s endeavor to educate the public on how to respond to overdose emergencies.

Read more: 10 most criminally underrated Circa Survive songs

In pursuit of an audience who could help the most — those between ages 18-45, for whom drug-related overdoses are the No. 1 cause of death — End Overdose found their sweet spot in the music space. “I would argue the music scene is one of the single most important spaces to connect with if you are trying to reach people,” Krzywicki tells us. From the first event, a naloxone training seminar at the Echoplex following the death of Lil Peep, until now, the organization has gone on to partner with the Los Angeles Nightlife Alliance, AEG, Live Nation, Insomniac Events, collaborate directly with artists, and host demonstrations and trainings, setting up chapters in cities across the country. 

Whether it was at Emo Nite, or when I first saw their HEALTH-branded Narcan kits, it became evident that the crossover between music and addiction existed on the other side of the devastating epidemic as well. There was also an alt audience, harnessing the power of overdose prevention and response, making it relatable and relevant. And not only is music now a major throughline in End Overdose’s work on the ground, but it’s been one in the work Krzywicki has done on himself to arrive here. 

As the lead singer of Circa Survive, Saosin, the Sound of Animals Fighting, and L.S. Dunes — while maintaining a successful solo career — Green has a lot on his plate. Not to mention he’s been navigating recovery, and very openly at that — on his personal platform, where he often shares harm reduction resources and avenues of seeking help, as well as through his music. Through each project, Green has been unabashedly emotional — however, his latest solo album, Boom. Done., overflows with a brilliant catharsis that is unparalleled. Track by track, the guts-baring project navigates the tactile treachery of getting clean and losing loved ones to addiction. To the naked eye, the LAFD and the LP may seem light-years apart, but beneath the surface, Green, just like Krzywicki, is in the business of connection. Connection to his own story, to the audience who seeks it, and, ultimately, to something much greater than the sum. 

THEO KRZYWICKI: All right, so can I ask you a personal question? I don’t want to throw it out. 

ANTHONY GREEN: We’re here. 

KRZYWICKI: Fair enough. We’re here for that. So, I can’t listen to Circa Survive anymore — the album that always fucks me up is On Letting Go. It makes me want to cry. Honestly, don’t think that there’s anything more powerful than the way a song can just get you… What was going on there? 

GREEN: Trust me when I tell you that I understand the sentiment and that I know what that is. I know the feeling of being faded and having music just cut through you because you’re tender. Music that is emotionally charged can have a pretty huge impact when you’re in that type of state. [With On Letting Go], there was a lot going on. I was heavily addicted to Xanax. I had gotten a credit card for the first time in my adult life that nobody saw the bill for but me. And so I ordered bulk from different online pharmacies where you’d get a DVD with another language and some weird graphic on it, and open it up and there’d be a purple Xanax in the DVD case. 

KRZYWICKI: Yeah, that’s insane. I didn’t realize you could do that — I was not ordering. 

GREEN: Yeah, I was really heavily addicted to Xanax and painkillers, but mostly Xanax at that time. And I was all conspiracy theories, 9/11 stuff, everything, the Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission conspiracy, the Federal Reserve… My brain was in a tailspin, and I was hiding so much from everyone… Xanax makes you black out, and I’d wake up a lot of times where I’d have a mess around me and not know what I’d said or what I did, and I’d have these lyrics written, and I couldn’t decipher them. You’re never more anxious than when you’re abusing an anxiety drug…

I was really lost during the making of that album, and I was sure there was an answer somewhere in music, but I didn’t have the right tools to go searching where I was looking. I was in the dark, and I was choosing to be in the dark, but addiction as a theme has been on everything I’ve ever done — and it started pissing me off the last two years. I’m doing these albums, and I’m writing these things, and then you put ’em out and inevitably people are like, “So what’s this about?” And you end up making all this autobiographical shit, and you start seeing the patterns in your life, and you’re like, “I don’t want to be in this state that I’ve been in for 20 years of being addicted to heroin and opiates.” When you really decide to change, you have to commit yourself to feeling the pain and going through whatever you need to go through to fix, and to write, your path. 

And it gets a little bit easier because then you’re dead set in the same way as when you were using. When you shift and you decide, “I’m going to give myself a chance. I’m going to see if this is worth it” — your experience, your life, is always so much better, your relationships are better, and feeling pain is better. Feeling conflict, being wrong, feeling embarrassed and constructive, shame, all those things are important. I crave the life experience now that teaches me those things. I still fuck up all the time, and it is a constant practice, but I never have to use again. Never have to do that. If I make that mistake, I know exactly where that leads me, and if I don’t do that, then the possibility of me making things good is still there. 

KRZYWICKI: I’ve been sober for 13 years. I started using heroin when I was 13. I failed that battle. I went to war, I lost, and now we’re here. Now we’re here talking to you. What is going on? 

GREEN: I pray a lot, and I talk to myself, and I talk to the universe, and I talk to the thing that I think is greater than us. I like to communicate with it, and I ask it to make me a vessel so that I can do what’s needed in this world to help or bring joy. And that takes me out of my default settings that keep me in the center of the universe. I ask it to make me the thing that is going to help other people today. Put me where I need to be so I can be of service to you. You don’t have to feel pressure. You don’t have to feel worried about what you’re doing because wherever the world takes you, you’re going to be of service.

But you can’t be aware and alert and available for that stuff when you’re in that ripping and running zone, self-medicating, and self-obsessed… Part of getting clean is realizing, “OK, how do I clean up how I think? How do I clean up how I live?” It’s not just about getting rid of the habitual drug use. It’s about all the habits. How do I talk to myself in a mode that keeps me in this state of mind? How am I living that keeps me in this state? 

KRZYWICKI: I can imagine, as an artist, your entire life is laid open, in all of your music, all of the time. Creatives always have an innate ability to communicate with people in a way that no one else can. That’s why it’s so powerful when you carry a message to somebody that’s going to hit deeper than one from me. No one knows who Theo is, but when you carry a message, whether you say it, you write it, or you sing it, where does it come from? It just feels so much more powerful. 

When I was listening to your music 13 years ago, I was probably in the worst time of my life, ever. I remember hearing one of your songs and just being like, “I don’t know what this is, but they get it.” And it felt like guidance, which is crazy. That’s as intense with music as I’ll get with you. I’ll never admit to shit, but that cut through something in me. And here we are all these years later, and I’m talking to you, and you’re sharing about how you found something greater than yourself and you developed a process of living while always having your heart out there, exposed. That’s a lot.

GREEN: The things that you hide and repress are the things that are going to end up killing you. For me, making my work autobiographical and living in a way where I talk openly about what is happening in my life has benefited me. But you said that me speaking about my feelings has a different impact than you, and I want to suggest that maybe that is a skewed perception of your view, not just of yourself, but of me and of this whole situation. When you hear an artist and what they’re saying resonates with you, it’s because they have made this connection with themselves, with their emotions, and that connection with themselves feels like a connection with you — because you are the same. We are the same power. 

KRZYWICKI: It’s heavy. Everyone’s just trying to find themselves at the end of the day — and especially these days, when it feels like there’s no help or everybody’s lost, seemingly cut off from one another. We’re all just trying to find connections with ourselves and with the work that we do. It comes down to one person helping another person that makes a bigger impact than anything in the world. Those little interactions are what really make the difference. 

With our organization, that’s what we’ve focused on — one person helping another. That’s why we’ve grown so much. Last year, we doubled the amount of people that we trained to respond to overdose by a hundred thousand people, and over 200,000 people decided that they wanted to learn how to respond to an overdose. And each one of those people wasn’t deciding to respond to their own overdose. They were deciding to respond to someone. I think people really do care about each other. We just forget everyone’s in their own little silo. And the moment that you do something, the moment you tap into that, that’s the unlock button.

There’s societal change that we want to see. Everyone just wants to have peace of mind. They want to have a good life. They want to have things. They want to be cared for. They want to be loved. But I think the most effective way is to put it out there. The moment that you put it out there, you forget all the other stuff, and there’s no better method of help. We see whole communities change right now. And for us, it’s a ton of effort on our part, but we want to do everything we can to make sure that they have that ability. At the end of the day, it seems insignificant. It’s like, “Why would I do this thing? Why would I just get educated? Or why would I just learn about this thing? Or why would I just be willing to help somebody else?” That changes everything. That’s what builds the world. That’s community. 

GREEN: We’re built with this self-preservation that tells us to connect to others through all sorts of things. And just having you and your organization go out and tell people and help make connection does so much for the world. And it would be fucked up to not mention right now that we’re highlighting this issue that is this epidemic that’s happening in the world right now. In a world where there is literal genocide happening in front of our eyes, and the military and industrial complex that sort of controls all levels of information is working overtime right now to try to cover its tracks for the inhumane way that they’re operating in this world. I think people are starting to wake up now and understand what needs to happen. And sometimes on a micro level, making a difference in the global community means taking on something that you can manage and that you can have a direct effect [on]. 

KRZYWICKI: I mean, the problem is everything’s happening at the same time… And whenever you stand up and decide that you’re going to help a cause, there are always going to be people on the other side that tell you that they say crazy stuff. It happens with us all the time. We’ll just say something very innocuous like, “Hey, people shouldn’t die from something that’s accidental.” And you’ll get people on there that think you’re trying to give everybody drugs. They’re like, “Fuck addicts.” It’s like, “Hey, we’re just talking about humans, and there’s a bunch of ’em dying. Can we just make that not happen? We have all the tools here. We work together to solve it. We’re on your team.” 

GREEN: Anytime I make a video and I’m like, “Hey, test your drugs,” I get a thousand people bailing on me being like, “Why would you tell people to do that?” Well, I would suggest testing your drugs if you’re trying to avoid fentanyl because it will kill you. And if you’re trying to do cocaine or ecstasy or some powder substance, you want to make sure fentanyl’s not in there. It can get in there really easily, not intentional, and no dealers like everybody dead. It’s being realistic. I love being able to go to a venue and talk to them about Narcan and bringing Narcan. People are going to use drugs. This world is so hard. I don’t necessarily subscribe to the idea that there are bad and good drugs. I think that drugs just are, and that our relationship with ourselves is bad, and I’m not going out and saying that if you have some great relationship with yourself that you can use heroin in a casual way. But I am saying that I do know people who use fentanyl for pain management and don’t abuse it. And it’s probably similar to people. It’s similar to anybody with a medical ailment that uses something in a medical way that has the proper info on it. 

KRZYWICKI: It’s definitely a complex issue. Because obviously the trope is that if you use anything, you’re automatically categorized as a bad person. But not everybody that uses it is even an addict. One of the things that End Overdose tries to do is change the way that people engage with information. And one of the things that we’ve tried to do is really take a lot of the things that you see all around us all the time that are constantly trying to take our attention, but shape it for good, just like these different messages, like audio feedback, haptics, all sorts of things.

Part of that is attracting people to a cause that’s really good. Obviously working with you, working with artists, working with others, draws people to something that they wouldn’t ordinarily be drawn to. But what ends up happening is they discover that they have what we’ve been talking about this whole time, this innate desire to help others. Go out there and create that connection. It’s been an interesting process for us because we’ve just really been able to form a lot of this community grassroots, and it’s been through little suggestions, little changes, little ideas that people have. What do people want to see, and what do they want to connect with? And for someone like you, what are things that you see that just attract you to connect with them? I think that’s always something that we can all benefit from. 

GREEN: You ever had to have that conversation with somebody where you explain to them why it’s better to save someone’s life than to let them OD? 

KRZYWICKI: For sure. I’ve had to have many conversations like that where they hit you with some abstinence. You see it online more. But in person, someone would be like, “Why does this apply to me? Why does this matter?” And it depends on where that person is at. If someone’s coming off to you aggressively, they’re not interested in anyway. Some people, they’re looking for a fight, but some people say a backhanded comment, but they don’t know if they mean it. And you just challenge it.

You may be the only chance somebody has. You’re walking by, you see something, you’re with a friend, you don’t expect it to happen, and you’re it. You’re going to be the hero today, and you get to decide how you want to show up for that. We did a survey. We had over 29,000 people take the survey, and over 60% of ’em said they knew someone, at least one to up to five people, that had overdosed. And it shows you that if you don’t know someone directly, somebody knows somebody. At least now it’s so prevalent because there was a time where people didn’t know CPR, and we’re asking the same questions. Now it’s like, “Hey, this is a really simple thing to do.” Even if you just call somebody, even if you get on the phone and get someone coming, you’re going to save someone’s life. 

GREEN: Narcan saved my life. Three times. Anybody that likes my music that feels like they’re on the fence about that stuff — just know that. 

KRZYWICKI: Did you use it on yourself? 

GREEN: No. 

KRZYWICKI: Someone else did, right? Who was it? 

GREEN: It was paramedic police, and another time it was a stranger. 

KRZYWICKI: There it is, man. You have to have all of it, and if you don’t have other people, none of us are going to pull through.  

GREEN: Angels. 

KRZYWICKI: Angels.

GREEN: Man, I love it. I love that we have the opportunity to do this, and I have so many good things in my life right now, and there’s a lot of things that I wish weren’t how they were, and I can’t change. But I owe everything I have today to being clean and sober to people like you, to Narcan, to people from AA and NA, to my friends and family. I hope that anyone that’s out there that’s on the fence and doesn’t think that they can do this hears us saying that they can and that there are people that will help them. I hope they start loving themselves enough to try to fix the thing that’s broken, and live a life of true joy. 

KRZYWICKI: Because we need them. Especially the people that don’t think this applies to them. We need them the most.

For most of his life, Jacob Alvarez has sought out items that he could hold in two hands. From comic books to CDs, he has a lot of reverence for physical objects in a screen-damaged world — a tradition that’s followed by some of the most groundbreaking, revered eccentrics across the globe. Think of J Dilla, who found a second home in record shops and had thousands of LPs tucked away in a Detroit storage unit, or John Peel and Haruki Murakami, whose titanic vinyl collections always seem to surface on social media.

Read more: Plushie Love is creating collectible toys of your hardcore heroes

It’s fitting, then, that Alvarez is turning his passion into preservation by channeling his love of alternative, indie rock, and beyond into bootleg action figures with Marquee Marauders Club. Since 2019, he has constructed dozens of small-batch collectibles, typically limited to one-of-one drops, that are supremely original and possess spectacular attention to detail. There’s 6 Feet Beneath the Moon-era King Krule, decked out in the brown suit that he wore during the “Easy Easy” music video, next to Tierra Whack and a shirtless Flea. No two are the same, all are hand-painted and diligently crafted, and each is packaged as you’d see them on the shelves of a vintage toy shop, complete with warning labels and sometimes a lyric from the artist.

Alvarez is a long way from his first figure — a replica of Interpol’s Paul Banks, his favorite band, which gave the project legs — but it’s a grind, chronicling the artists who are defining our current moment. He has dreams of doing something big in collaboration with luminaries like Radiohead — he’s still hoping for new music — and Red Hot Chili Peppers down the line. “I’m just hoping to make stuff that people will think is cool, but I’m always open to anything,” he shares, speaking in front of a wall of framed vinyl from Los Angeles. “What I like about this is that when I get commissions or emails, I may have not even necessarily heard the artist before, and meeting people and making connections brings me into different places that I probably would’ve never been able to go by myself.” For now, though, he’s continuing to immortalize the music he loves with every figure and create an alternative future — one where memorabilia stretches beyond a colored record or tee.

Do you remember the first artist you ever saw live?

Yes, it was in 2012 at the El Rey Theatre here in LA. My dad took me to one of his favorite bands. They’re called James. I think they’re from the U.K. They were pretty big in the ’90s. They had a few hits, but I wasn’t necessarily a big fan of them. My dad, going to school and stuff like that on car rides, would play them over and over again, so it was someone that I was really familiar with. Then when I saw that, I was addicted. It wasn’t even just the music itself. It was, “I need to go to concerts from now on. This is crazy.”

Did seeing them live change your perception and how you listened to their studio songs?

Exactly. Everyone’s staring at the stage, and the band literally [walked] through the crowd from the back and made their way to the stage, and that was something that I didn’t even know that you could do. I had never seen that before, so I was just like, “Whoa, this is really intense,” but in the best way. 

How many shows do you think you went to last year?

That’s a good question. I’ve been trying to do [more] photography, so I guess in general, with that mixed in with going as a fan as well, I would say maybe 80-90. I’ve been trying to up it every year or so.

Your figurines are totally original. How do you determine who you’re going to make — is it based on album cycles, anniversaries, and tour schedules, or is it more impulsive than that?

It’s a good mixture of all of ’em. I think at the beginning, it was basically impulse. What am I listening to right now? Lately, though, I’ve been lucky enough to get more commission work, so I’ll have more people and artists reach out to me, and they’ll want to do something for an album cycle [or] for an anniversary. I also always make a list of things like, “OK, this year all these albums are celebrating 10 years or 15 years or 20 years,” and obviously, it’s stuff that I like or resonates with me. So when that date rolls around, I’m hoping to have things done, with time permitted. My schedule’s all over the place, but I tend to try to do more of those passion projects while mixing in commissions that are asked of me.

And they’re all pretty much one of one, right?

Yeah, for the most part, they’re one of one. I’ll hand-sign ’em and label them one of one or one of 10, whatever. If you got it, you got it. If you didn’t, find it on eBay, but that’s it. I try to keep it exclusive. That’s super important to me.

What are some of the best artist interactions you’ve had with either people seeing your figures online or physically holding them in their hands?

There’s been quite a lot for me. I’m sure there’s many that I’m leaving out, but one that comes to mind was last year, I did Slowdive. Rachel [Goswell] has been following my work for a little while now because I made her something a couple of years ago, but I never sent it to her just because I wasn’t really happy with it, so I ended up redoing something [around] her new look and the album, and then I saw they were playing here, maybe 10 minutes away. Then she invited me to the after-party, and we met. It was really brief because I think they were going to San Francisco the very next day, so they had to get on the bus, but she was super nice about it, and she took a picture and was talking to me, asking me how I do stuff and about the music. Meeting people like that is really nice.

I went to a show with KAYTRAMINÉ, and my friend does work with them, so I said, “Hey, I have this idea. Do you think that they would like it?” And he was like, “Yeah, go for it.” After a couple of weeks, I finally got it done, and I went to the show. Then afterwards, he invited me backstage where they were in their green room. It was a group, maybe 10 to 12 people, and I gave it to ’em, and they were yelling and screaming and hyping me up. To get that [reaction] is cool. It’s a little bit more rare. You don’t always get that interaction with them directly, but it was really special for me, and I was just like, “Well, that’s exactly why I do this kind of thing.”

Does it normally take you a week per figure?

It really depends on how intricate the design is. Just to give myself enough time to be comfortable, I’d say maybe two weeks because the painting process is the thing that takes a long time. You got to do extra coats, get the little details right, because I’m hand-painting the eyes and everything, so it does take some time.

Some of my favorites are the ones with accessories. It feels like they have an extra-special touch, like with The Estate Sale-era Tyler, the Creator carrying the suitcase or Weyes Blood’s dog.

I’m trying to do that more often. It just gets super complicated when you’re doing little mini things. You want to make sure that they don’t break, and you want to get it just right. And to do that several times, it becomes a process. But when you’re doing just one for fun and you have all this time to put energy into it, then I try to do that as much as possible.

I also saw that your figures were used in the Eyedress and Mac DeMarco video for “My Simple Jeep.” How did that collaboration happen?

Well, he’s been following my stuff for a while now, and previously we did a few figures for him in 2021. He’s just that kind of guy that’s into collectibles like me. He has old Simpsons figures. He has a respect for it, like me. Out of the blue, he said, “Hey, you know what? I have this music video coming out. Do you want to maybe do this?” I’ve been hit up to do stuff for music videos before, but it just never worked out or the time frame was super small, so it didn’t come to fruition.

But with him, he gave me some time, and I worked with the team that was producing the video, and everyone was super cool. The director of it, Sandy Kim, is a photographer that I look up to a lot, and I’ve gotten to see her gallery and things like that. And of course, Mac DeMarco, huge fan, got to work with him, too. We had to get mini figures, so almost like the accessories that we’re talking about, but they’re trying to fit into a replica Jeep car. It was really fun, something I hadn’t done before, and it was a learning process. Then from that spawned this marketable thing where we could sell the actual figures from the video, and we did a few of those. It was a really cool experience, and my hope is to get something like that again.

Do you collect anything else?

Yeah, I collect a lot of stuff — whatever piques my interest. I try to get signed vinyl as much as possible, tour posters. Obviously, I have a lot of band shirts. There was a year where I was just buying as many old-school band tour shirts [as I could]. I have a No Doubt one from the ’90s, and I collect other figures. I have some stuff from my childhood — comic books, CDs, stuff like that. Just anything that I think is cool. I try to do this whole thing to fit into that space and just see, “Man, that’s something that a fan would want” because everyone has a T-shirt. Everyone gets a record, but not everyone gets a figure.

It’s really something that you could only get online or at a merch booth.

I feel like there’s a lot more creators now that are coming out. I’ve seen someone that does replica baseball cards now. There’s Legos out there. There’s a bunch of different creatives doing some crazy stuff now. It’s cool to just see everything shift. I know we’re living in a digital age now — Best Buy is not selling DVDs anymore. I’ve always been a person that I like to have stuff in my hands. I like to have the CDs and have the vinyl, so I like that it’s going more in that direction, too, at least with creators like myself that are not super popular. It’s starting to bring about a change.

Marquee Marauders Club appears in our Spring 2024 Issue with cover stars Liam Gallagher/John Squire, Kevin Abstract, the Marías, and Palaye Royale. Head to the AP Shop to grab a copy. 

“I’m excited to be back with my incredibly handsome and talented brother-from-another-basement Shaun Simon penning a story that’s really special to us, and honored the masterful Chris Weston joined us to create a visually powerful and emotionally tangible physical object that is this comic,” Way says. “I’m now more complete getting to share something we’ve wanted to for a very long time, and working with this fantastic group of individuals in the process.”

Read more: Every My Chemical Romance album ranked

“Most people dream of rubbing shoulders with someone who is cool, talented, mega-successful, and who enjoys a wild rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle,” Weston says. “Luckily for Gerard Way, the dream came true when he got to work with me on Paranoid Gardens. It must have been quite daunting for him at first, but once he could see past my notoriety and discover I’m just an ordinary Joe who shares his love for the ’60s TV show The Prisoner, we were able to form a joyous union.

“Along with his equally radical writing partner, Shaun Simon, we’ve created a wild and psychedelic tale that combines Kafkaesque nightmares with sweet Silver Age reveries,” Weston adds. “Within the pages of Paranoid Gardens, you’ll find a curious care-home peopled with aliens, ghosts, and caped heroes recovering from psychotic episodes. The very ground it’s built on is febrile and fertile; and lusted after by the minions of Mammon. It’s the perfect remedy for all those stricken with super-hero fatigue and needing a fix of something a bit more mind-bending and unpredictable.”

Dark Horse describes Paranoid Gardens as “Derek meets Doctor Who…in six psychotic episodes,” and the synopsis reads, “Loo is a nurse at the most bizarre care center around. The staff are not entirely human, and the cases downright unearthly. Aliens, ghosts, superheroes, and more creatures plague its hallways as both doctors and patients and the hospital itself seems to be somewhat self-aware. Loo believes that despite a recent failure at her job she’s been given some sort of higher calling in this mysterious place, and decides to rise to the challenge. Along the way, she must fight her way through corrupt staff members, powerful theme park cults, and her own personal demons and trauma to meet this challenge and discover what secrets the gardens hold.”

Earlier this week, two first-look images from the movie, aptly titled Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, broke the internet. The first trailer is a minute-long tease that pushes some familiar, nostalgic buttons.

Read more: Why Wednesday Addams will always be a cult-favorite goth icon

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice finds Burton returning to the director’s chair, while Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara reprise their roles from the original film. They’re joined by new cast members Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, and Willem Dafoe.

The official synopsis reads: “After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia’s life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid, discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic, and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it’s only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice’s name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice hits theaters Sept. 6. See the trailer below.

This article was originally published on RevolverMag.com and has been edited by Alternative Press.

What’s left to be said about Johnson that hasn’t already? He became a formidable name in the WWE throughout the late ’90s and early 2000s before transitioning into the world of film. Since then, he’s seen intense success that’s led to a slew of memorable movies (The Other Guys, Moana). Most recently, he starred as the titular character in Black Adam — a passion project that “disrupts the superhero genre” — as well as Red Notice and Jumanji: The Next Level. He also recently launched a new skincare line called Papatui.

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You’ll be able to listen to their conversation on Artist Friendly when it hits streaming wherever you listen to podcasts this Wednesday. You can also watch the episode over at Veeps. Before it arrives, make sure you’re caught up on all the episodes of Artist Friendly here and continue checking Alternative Press for more announcements and exclusive content related to the series.

Hardcore is in one of its most thrilling states right now. Turnstile have entered the mainstream with their blinding, full-throttled anthems, and bands like Scowl and Militarie Gun aren’t far behind. So what if you could own a collectible plushie of your favorite bands? That’s exactly what Sophie and Emma Hendry, the masterminds behind Plushie Love, set out to do.

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After years of designing merch and flyers, as well as playing in bands — Emma is in ​​Phantasia, Krimewatch, and fish narc, whereas Sophie sings in Firewalker — the Hendry siblings are using their talents to make cuddly, one-of-a-kind creations. They aren’t a nostalgia trip as much as valuable, authentic pieces of merch, though, just as collectible as a tee or limited-edition poster. Each plushie is singular in its own right, and many are tour exclusives. The Power Trip plush wears an executioner mask and holds a bloody ax, whereas the Turnstile Snoozle possesses supernatural horns and baby pink fur. Glancing through their collection, you can feel the deep love and appreciation for the scene that raised them. Here, the duo details the inspiration behind their lovable and cute creations.

It’s so nice to feel seen by others who fall in the middle of the Venn diagram of hardcore music and stuffed animals. First things first, how did Plushie Love start?

SOPHIE HENDRY: We grew up obsessed with cute things like Furbies, and I don’t think it ever really went away. I had been collecting vintage plushies and living in Olympia for a few years, and Emma had an eclectic collection of cute objects and trinkets at her space in NYC. We started concocting the idea in 2019, during a time when we hadn’t spent much time together, since I moved to the West Coast. We always thought we would start a band together, but it didn’t really happen while living on different coasts and being in other bands. [So] we started Plushie Love as a project we could do together. We set out to invent what we, albeit subjectively, were calling “the most objectively cute” creature on the face of the planet. We viewed it as a scientific study based on research and experiments with proportions. 

EMMA HENDRY: We both had been playing in bands for years and designing merch and flyers. So it was pretty inevitable that our lives in hardcore and punk music would play a role in our plushies. 

What is that intersection of heavy music and plushies all about? It’s super real, however contradictory it seems on the surface. 

EMMA: We don’t go into it with any sort of irony. It’s not so different from buying a T-shirt, just another type of merch you can buy to support bands. We were pleasantly surprised by the demand for plushies by music/plushie fans. I think people enjoy curating their own collections of merch and decor in their rooms as a form of self-expression.

What are your first music memories together? Did you go to a lot of shows growing up?

SOPHIE: First music memories… We grew up in early childhood listening to New Order, the Specials, PIL, Ramones, and Social Distortion, which is what our parents played at home. Throughout high school, we attended all sorts of shows in Massachusetts, in VFWs, basements, skateparks — even the Wise chip factory once. There were lots of hardcore shows at the Christ Church in Medway where we grew up. We didn’t start playing in punk and HC bands until we moved to Boston after high school. 

What’s your process of working with a band on an item? Is it collaborative, or is it more like an ode to the artist?

SOPHIE: We always want input from the band — so it’s definitely collaborative. I’ll usually draw something up as a starting point for the conversation, and we edit from there. For the Turnstile plush, they definitely wanted him to have something special and mystical about him, so we gave him some really weird wings and extra curly horns. Kat [Moss] from Scowl asked for stars on its cheeks. I created a flower design as a starting point, and she showed me her current inspiration/mood board for their upcoming record, so we worked on the colors to make him feel more spooky and alien and neon. 

How did you name the Snoozle?

EMMA: We were inspired by retro toy names that were mashups of cute-sounding words — Furby, WuvLuvs, Popples, Chubbles, Puffkins, Wuzzles. We also wanted there to be a thematic element to the name. Since the character in our drawings looked really sleepy, we wanted to start out with the word “snooze.” 

SOPHIE: Emma came up with the word Snoozle, and I was like, “We gotta go with that.”

What’s next?

EMMA: We hope to make more accessories and unique clothing pieces [and] work with more bands, artists, and small stores that we vibe with. Also, we plan on completing our line of 12 birthstone-themed plushies. So far we have Emerald, Amethyst, Pearl, and Ruby.

Plushie Love appears in our Winter 2023 Issue with cover stars Green Day, 070 Shake, Militarie Gun, and Arlo Parks. Head to the AP Shop to grab a copy. 

Eri Wakiyama creates strange, surreal worlds within her art. Inside, angry-looking girls ride enormous pink birds and beams of light project out of eye sockets like the second coming. It’s all startlingly original. However unsettling her drawings may be, though, Wakiyama is the opposite, laughing frequently and apologizing as her cats creep across her keyboard during the call. “Growing up, it wasn’t that cool to be an artist. It’s nerdy, you know?” she says upon arriving home from her day job at Dover Street Market in NYC. 

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The job is one of many on a CV bursting with high points. Over the last decade, the open-hearted eccentric has shifted from a fashion student at Parsons School of Design to a contender in the city’s vibrant art scene. She’s appeared in Marc Jacobs’ LA Heaven gallery and bagged collaborations with Miu Miu, Supreme, and Calvin Klein, whose collections and campaigns have been warped by her singular style. But through it all, Wakiyama remains a teenager at heart. She rocks bright orange hair and gushes over how she recently saw blink-182’s reunion tour with Tom DeLonge and “forgot how good they are.”

For this reason, Wakiyama was the ideal person to create a companion piece to our Green Day cover, where her juxtaposition between creepiness and cuteness shines. Like Green Day, her work appeals to those who feel misunderstood or struggle to accept their own contradictions. The result is absorbing, as both the cover of the band’s new album, Saviors, and her artwork include burning cars but share little else in common to the naked eye. That’s the allure of Wakiyama, though — she will avert expectations every time.

What were you like as a kid? Were you the type of person who was always drawing, or did that come later?

My first memory of drawing was when I was still a child. I wasn’t a bad kid, but I feel like I was just vandalizing things in the house, like dining tables. I clearly remember it — and this was before elementary. I was born in Japan, but I moved to California when I was less than 2. My first language was Japanese, and I was so shy, so I didn’t speak English properly till maybe mid-elementary. I wasn’t very social and didn’t have friends. So, because of that, I was always drawing on the side instead of running around during recess. Then when I was more into middle school, I bloomed socially, but I was still drawing all the time in my textbooks and everything. I feel like it was just an innate thing. You know when you’re in a lecture in school or something? And for me, my ADD is so bad, and I almost can’t focus unless I’m doing something else. But yeah, I have always been drawing.

I loved the painting you did with the woman in the rain. It looks like everything’s melting, and the raindrops resemble dripping honey. It’s really surreal and psychedelic.

Oh yeah, thank you. The raindrop thing was a very last-minute addition to the drawing. I kind of lost it in the middle of the night. Then I added it to add an element of chaos. It seemed too simple and peaceful without the raindrops. I wanted it to look like it was big raindrops, just melting things away, so I’m glad that you got that vibe.

That’s so wild to hear because that’s where my focus went.

I mean, a lot of the time when I start a painting, obviously, it’s a blank canvas, but it’s hard. The starting is always hard to decide what to draw. Oftentimes, I’ll start something and get midway, and then I’ll have to repaint the whole canvas white again and start again. I just don’t know what I exactly want. There’s always a certain point where it clicks all of a sudden. Then things that I never plan from the beginning start to come. I guess it’s emotionally driven or a random idea. I work a lot in the nighttime, so it just goes off.

Environment plays such a big role in art. How do you think living in New York affects your work? Do you feel like you would be making pieces with a different slant if you lived in Los Angeles or somewhere more desolate?

A lot of people sometimes tell me if I move back to LA or if I even move deep into Brooklyn to have a bigger space, I could focus more on my artwork or have a sense of peace. I think it would be good, and I can probably focus more and be more efficient with my time, and I could probably make a lot more work. But I think when I came to New York, that was in 2005 here for school, it was literally the best decision I’ve made because — and this is so cheesy to say — I really found myself here. New York almost gave second birth to me. 

There’s just so much energy, and it’s so manic at times. But I do think I need that chaos because when I was back home, I felt like it was so [far] away from what is actually happening here. And then I did have a different sense of creativity. I almost wanted this environment, you know? So, it made me always be drawing about things like that. But it was a bit more darker, a different kind of darkness when I was like, “I wish it could be like that.” Then when I’m here, even if there’s still darkness, it feels like it’s very different. It’s powerful, I think. The chaos and the manicness and how I can’t manage my life, all this stuff, it’s good for my art. A lot of people describe it as, “It’s cute, but it’s creepy.” But it’s like peace. It’s innocent, but it’s poisoned a little bit. So, I think it fits my personality. [Laughs.]

Do you remember the first CD that you bought with your own money?

My parents are super Japanese, and what I mean by that is they’re very strict, so they didn’t let me listen to whatever was popular. My friends would be listening to rap or pop music. I wasn’t allowed to listen to explicit music, so if I was gonna buy something, they were there to buy it with me. I think it was a boy band CD. I almost don’t wanna say — I think it was *NSYNC. It was either that or No Doubt. I can’t remember which came first, but before that, it was my dad giving me CDs.

Tell me about the Green Day-inspired art you made.

I’m pretty obsessed with them. “Basket Case” is one of my go-to karaoke songs, and mind you, I’m a horrible singer. When you look at the music videos back then, they’re kind of genius because it was so lo-fi, and they didn’t have the technology like we do now. They had such distinct style, and, working fashion for so long, it’s like, “Oh, my God.” They just knew what they were doing, so I’m really stoked about this. I’ve been working on this, and I’m like 90% done, and then I don’t really know if it’s it, so I might make another one. I don’t know. I’m stressed out because I want it to be good.

What are some of your earliest memories of listening to Green Day?

We were hanging out with a bunch of our skater friends back in middle school. We were really stoked because — I don’t know if I’m mistaken — I feel like they started the band the year we were born. But it was just hard to access it all the time, the music, unless we got the CD. Downloading it from Limewire and Napster was the only way to have it, unless we had a CD. But depending on what group of friends I hung out with, they either were down with it or knocked it down a bit, so it’s like I secretly had an emo phase all my life, basically.

For the unfamiliar, Jenkins is an LA-based writer who launched his career at the nonprofit Invisible Children and, in the ensuing years, has transformed into a bestselling author. He’s released several books, including To Shake the Sleeping Self and Like Streams to the Ocean. His latest, Mother, Nature, is a gripping memoir that documents a mother-son bond, where they retrace a 5,000-mile route that his mother first traveled as part of the Walk Across America book trilogy. Jenkins also serves as the executive editor of Wilderness magazine, and his work has appeared in publications like The Paris Review and Playboy.

Read more: Claudio Sanchez announces The Amory Wars: No World For Tomorrow

You’ll be able to listen to their conversation on Artist Friendly when it hits streaming wherever you listen to podcasts this Wednesday. You can also watch the episode over at Veeps. Before it arrives, make sure you’re caught up on all the episodes of Artist Friendly here and continue checking Alternative Press for more announcements and exclusive content related to the series.

“I’ve been living with this story for some time knowing its secrets and twists, and I’m beyond thrilled that they’re finally going to be revealed…” Sanchez exclusively tells us.

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Ever since 2005, The Amory Wars has acted as a companion to most of the band’s catalog. The story, however, became so complex that Sanchez penned its own comic book adaptation. Together with his co-writer and wife, Chondra Echert, the duo have created an enduring sci-fi tale that upends fans into a universe called Heaven’s Fence. 

“These concepts have lived in [my] head for as long as I’ve been alive, and so I can become territorial [about them], but [my wife] has been immersed in The Amory Wars world for so long that she understands the mechanics of the relationships and the energy of the story,” he shared with AP in 2022. “So, for the most part, those moments of butting heads are few and far between. It’s a committee; it’s not a dictatorship.”

Stay tuned for a release date and more information related to the series.