Blastbeat Mercy

Ryan Scott has a Wife(ish), 3 beautiful daughters, a neurotic dog and a morbidly obese cat. He lives in Hastings, NZ, a town which smells of fried chicken and cheap bourbon. Blastbeat Mercy is a love letter to the rhythm lords of the world.

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I’m trying to get away from posting my thoughts along with the comic but this week I’m feeling a weight... This is also why I’ve removed the dialogue from this weeks page.

This time last year I was diagnosed with Cancer... Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma to be precise. People that know me or my work know the story so I won’t go into detail but I’m better now.

In the process of making this page I realised that if I take away the dialogue it doesn’t hugely affect the narrative but it DOES and another layer of meaning which reflects what I’m feeling on a personal level.

I’m also taking a step away from heavy music this week and I’m gonna share something from one of my favourite hip hop artists, B. Dolan.

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I’m kinda tired and sore this weekend so I’m just gonna leave this converge clip here!

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This page is going live a day later than I had hoped because I completely rewrote the narration at the last minute, this way is better.

The accompanying track has also changed at the last minute, I WAS gonna post a super heavy and thrashy HIMSA track but I’m feeling ever so slightly melancholic. For that reason Baroness gets the nod instead.

I have finally finished inking the book I’m working on, so that’s freed up time to start some more blastbeat pages. I have so many ideas and directions for this story which I’m super excited about! Stay tuned!

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This page presented me with a problem... how to show visually the cacophony of a really shitty band. I have plenty of experience playing in shitty bands, but how to capture that in just a few panels?

With cacophany in mind I’m going to throw a little ZEKE into the mix. These guys have long been one of my favourite bands, ever since I first stumbled upon them in the late 90′s. To me they are the perfect Rock n Roll band, passionate, loud and dangerous...

ENJOY!

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I often find myself envious of writers and artists who can tap into their souls and create work which is deeply personal and sincere. I’ve tried to do it, believe me I have. Maybe I just have a problem being sincere. I do love reading comics of that ilk however, and currently Rufus Marigold by fellow kiwi creator is blowing my mind! Don’t take my word for it, go and take a look for yourself.

http://rufusmarigold.tumblr.com/

Anyway, back to the silliness at hand! The one time I played battle of the bands with my old band (probably 15 years ago) I feel backwards off the stage mid song. I’d like to think that I recovered gracefully, barely missed a beat and that nobody noticed but they would be as deluded as our belief that night that we could actually WIN battle of the bands.

Here’s a little ‘Nice Hooves’ to kick off your weekend!

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Welcome welcome welcome to ‘Blastbeat Mercy’, a story which has been rattling around in my skull for a while now. This is very much a love letter to drumming and the music which has been the soundtrack to my life. As with anything i do, I’m always interested in what you think so please feel free to express your opinions in whichever way seems best.

Of course what would an adventure comic about drumming be without an epic soundtrack and this is no different. This is a new beginning for me, and something of a new voice as a creator so let’s kick it off first with ‘New Noise’ by Swedish noise punk legends Refused! 

For the time being I’ll be posting a new page each saturday so mark it on your calender or whatever it is you kids do these days. Thank you for taking the time to read it!