Solid States is the Posies’ first new collection since 2010’s Blood/Candy, and the circumstances surrounding its conception couldn’t have been more different than those of its predecessor. First and foremost were the double-gut-punch deaths of two longtime band members: drummer Darius Minwalla in 2015, and bassist Joe Skyward earlier this year. There was also a divorce and a remarriage for Jon Auer, who, like Ken Stringfellow, now lives in France. Life-changing events aside, the Posies are back with yet another great album. Stringfellow and Auer will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week.
Stringfellow: I recently enjoyed my first visit to Moscow, with Marky Ramone. Of course, in our short visit, a stop by Red Square, the Kremlin, etc., was obligatory, but for me, the best things to see in any city are the most quotidian. Moscow, even in June, was grey, cold and wet—the skies, the buildings. While looking for an elusive shoe repair (long story, not even that good of one), I stumbled thru a doorway, barely marked. And emerged into a covered market, a colorful riot of flowers, wild berries and pickled everything. Locals only. I ended up with a gorgeous, big piece of smoked salmon for a couple bucks, supplemented with blueberries and a 14{e5d2c082e45b5ce38ac2ea5f0bdedb3901cc97dfa4ea5e625fd79a7c2dc9f191}-alc.-vol. Crimean wine (I know, that would have been a Ukrainian wine just a couple years ago; I’m not happy about the Putinic maneuverings, but I open a further bracket here to say that people are what I’m interested in, not their government … with the Russian elections being what they are, it’s not like these people even chose this path), a cab merlot blend. So, a highly antioxidant lunch.
I think the most iconic sight to see in Moscow that’s of the people, for the people, is the Metro system. Much of it was built in the 1930s, with important extensions in the following decades, and hell, they’re still adding to it to this day. 200 stations, and counting. Like many Soviet designs, the idea of the individual is made to feel small, but also safe in the shelter of an all-encompassing, cradle-to-grave collective might. 400-foot escalators descend to huge galleries. Bas-reliefs, heroic bronzes, gilt gewgaws, wood paneling … it’s like a tunnel-shaped hunting lodge designed by Liberace.
The trains I rode on were the original, boxy “A Type,” but there are sleeker trains out there somewhere. I was glad to be on the old-school devices. They may be ancient, but they were comfortable, and much quieter than the squeaky howls of the NYC Subway or the Paris Metro. Now, I’ve made a successful solo navigation of the Tokyo Subway, etc.; I can tell you the Moscow Metro is not for the faint of heart, unless you read Russian. Signage in Latin alphabet was nearly nonexistent; even if you just memorize the names of places … the terminus is not always listed as the destination. I needed a guide, for sure; thank heavens for Elena, the contest-winning designer of the Posies album artwork for Solid States. Elena’s a design student and while working in the campus bookstore, vaguely rabbit-hole-ing thru the internet, stumbled upon the Creative Allies “design album art for the Posies” contest, submitted a design that freely ignored our guidelines, and was, in the end much more imaginative than what we thought we were looking for. She said the images came to her mind instantly, and then it was a matter of carefully drawing, by hand, the complete cover. She sent me a snapshot of her test sketches … and, of course, she did the song title lettering by hand. Remember, she was using letters that she had never really used before. It was fun to see she had to figure out which way an “S” goes, for example.
We took a detour to another line, so she could show me Ploshad Revolutsii station, where heroic bronzes, just a little larger than life size, leap out of niches in the walls: men with guns and grenades at the ready to fight and die for the Motherland, and women with scythes and chickens and what not. On either side of the exit archway, a man holds back a noble-looking guard dog, and it’s meant to be good luck to rub his snout on the way out of the station.
There have been several deadly bombings over the years, a derailment … and one time a company illegally decided to erect a billboard in the city (Dobro pozhalovat’, kapitalizm!!)—the pile driver managing to drive a pile right thru the roof of the station into a moving train, miraculously killing no one. The Metro has survived a world war and was largely built to withstand a third one; in fact, there’s a TV series called Metro that depicts a post-nuclear-war society that lives on in the Moscow Metro network.
Marky’s show in Moscow was immense: 2,000 kids moshing and fist pumping and singing along with every word. I hugged kids and did selfies and autographs for almost two hours after the show. Then it was over, and these kids wandered out into the night, and surely descended into the modern marvel that is the Моско́вский метрополите́н.
