Otherworld Cottage and State Records are both celebrating Andy Pearson's Fear and Loathing multi-page pictorial interview with Travis Pike

Lois Tozar of State Records called the "Fear and Loathing" Zine interview superb and detailed, and warned that copies of the State Records release of Travis Pike's "Watch Out Woman" b/w "The Way That I Need You," both songs taken directly from the optical soundtrack for the 1966 cult movie, "Feelin' Good," while still available, are now in short supply.

Travis first posted his salvaged music clips from the 1966 movie "Feelin' Good" on YouTube in October 2016, and since then he's been interviewed and reviewed numerous times on blogs and music magazines like Shindig, Goldmine, and Ugly Things. His recent celebrity having led to so many interviews, I asked Travis if he felt like he might be repeating himself.

"Not really," he replied. "Even when I'm being introduced to a new audience, the interviewer gears his questions to their unique interests. Most recently, the focus has been on my sixties music, but now, my more recent works are being discovered, too. When you think about it, I've worn a number of hats in the entertainment industries, and I've always been a storyteller. At seventy-three, I've no end of stories to tell – and some of them improve with each telling."

The two most recent interviews in Psychedelic Baby, and now in Fear and Loathing, have run to 20 or more pages, so I asked him if he was concerned about a modern audience's short attention span.

"Not really," Travis answered. "I trust the interviewers to know what will work with their audiences. Readers like to read, especially when it's about their favorite subject – and if that subject is music, they should find these interviews both informative and entertaining. When the interview is conducted via email, I take time to research my replies for accuracy, and provide enough material to allow the interviewer, or editor, to select what they want and trim it down to the size.

"Lenny Helsing, for his Travis Edward Pike Story for "Psychedelic Baby," wanted to know about my most memorable live performances, so I sent him stories of several, thinking he'd select the ones he thought would most interest his readers. Apparently, Lenny thought they would all be of interest.

"When Andy Pearson and I began working on his piece for "Fear and Loathing," I was under the impression it would be serialized and published a section at a time, over a period of months, so I was surprised when it appeared online, all at once. Andy's in-depth interview explores my musical history, and my subsequent entertainment industry activities as well. And he closed it with excellent reviews of several of my properties currently in release!

"Andy also picked up on the way so much of my early career was linked, if not dictated, by my automotive misadventures. Frankly, I had never considered my career from that perspective."

For anyone who hasn't read any of Travis' previous interviews, his first published song was the title song for "Demo Derby," his father's 28-minute action featurette, about a NASCAR-sanctioned motor sport competition, centered on smashing up cars for entertainment, with prize money for the driver of the last car still running.

Terry Hagerty
Los Angeles, California