Keba: Why did you start making art in the first place?
Travis Millard: I don't know!
K: What sorts of things did you draw when you first started?
TM: Things i saw in monster movies, graphics from skateboard
magazines, dumb little characters, bizarre unfinished comics, .. little has
changed.
K: What's your medium of choice and are there any mediums that you
would really like to experiment with?
TM: Just a pen and paper is fine with me. if things get fancy
i'll break out the brush and ink well, but i like to keep it simple.
K: What does music do for you while you're doing your art work?
TM: It melds it.
K: What are your favorite records of all time?
TM: The Embarrassment "Heyday
1979-83"/"Blister Pop", any Harvey Milk
album, both Coptic Light albums, Dr. Alimantado
"Best Dressed Chicken in Town", Company Flow "Funcrusher Plus", Earles and Jensen "Just
Farr a Laugh", the Monks "Black Monk Time",
any ((Sounder)) album, Comets of Fire "Avatar", Eugene McDaniels
"Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse"/"Outlaw", The Dust Dive
"Claws of Light", The Descendants records, Dead
Kennedys "Plastic Surgery
Disasters/In God We Trust,Inc.".. too many to list.. i'll stop here.
K: Who are some artists that you really dig?
TM: Mel Kadel, my brother Brett Millard, Michael Sieben and all
those Okay Mountain folks, Mike Aho, Rich Jacobs,
Matt Furie, Albert Reyes, Scott Teplin, Jay Howell,
Skinner, Richard Colman, Barry Mcgee, Mark Todd,
Esther Pearl Watson, Rusty Jordan, Souther Salazar, Jeff Soto, Shepard Fairey, so many more.. I should stop.
K: What was the name of your first zine and what was it about?
TM: it was called "My Life is Built on Lies", and was
a pretty nowhere adventure featuring mundane confessional moments with
strangers... it was super dumb.
K: The stuff you did for Megapuss is really cool...how did that
get together?
TM: Greg Rogove and Devendra Banhart
moved in next door and we met at the mailbox. They recorded the Megapuss record
there and asked my lady Mel Kadel and I to do the art for it. It was a lot of
fun putting things together for it, those guys are pretty far out and into the
weird... plus it's an excellent record!
K: I love how some of your pieces sort of make a mockery out of
everyday things. Like the hand sanitizer one that shows you what's in the
00.01% of the germs that it doesn't kill, as well as the cross section pieces.
Is humor an inspiration of yours?
TM: I enjoy an occasional chortle.
TM: I enjoy an occasional chortle.
K: I also really like the ones where you have people looking into
a mirror and the reflection is opposite of reality. Those are
probably my favorites. What inspired you to make them?
TM: Looking too far into the mirror.
