very friendly

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Very Friendly is a comic book project that present comic stories from the world of 'experimental' and elecronic music in a subjective manner. The original idea for this comic came about in late 2002 when i was sketching on ideas for The History Of Electronic Music and i suddenly got the idea of making a comic book on the life and works of the inventor of Musique Concrete, Pierre Schaeffer. That story never materialized (but might do some day?) and shortly afterwards i found myself working on some stories based on my own experiences and meetings with musicians and people running record labels in the underground expeimental music scene. However, the project soon ended up in hibernation since i lacked the motivation to get it published around this time and i wasn't until after The History of Electronic Music was published that it came back to life. Early in 2008, i had a meeting with Maximilian Moulettes who is the head of the record label Komplott here in Malmö and he approached me with an offer to produce a comic magazine for his label which puzzled me at first but after a while i realised that this was an opportunity to bring the old Pierre comic idea into life. Shortly after that it also dawned upon me that i wanted to expand the story on all the characteres that were in the above mentioned book in the shape of comic book stories so there you have the basic outlay for Very Friendly! Very Friendly #0 (or the 'teaser' issue) was published in late 2008 and presented a story from 1999 when i made a trip to Los Angeles and met up with musician and visual artist Steve Roden and the owner of Ground Fault Recordings; Eric Hoffman ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Very Friendly #1 was published in april 2009 in an edition of 300 copies and featured three stories; A Fetish for Trondheim - on my first meeting with the norwegian noise master Lasse Marhaug in 1998, Just another Scandal in Paris - on the world premiere of Desérts by Edgard Várese (his first piece for orchestra and sounds on tape) in 1954. Throbbing Gristle at the Cryptic One Club, 1978 - on a pretty strange gig in London by Throbbing Gristle in a club located underneath an old church(!) and it was also accompanied by a nice poster of Edgard Várese and Pierre Schaeffer as well as a 7" with soundtrack music for the Trondheim story by Lasse Marhaug himself! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ what people say about VF#1: someone on Twitter: "»Very Friendly« är utan tvekan den bästa serietidning jag läst på år och dag. En ren fröjd!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chris Carter (from Throbbing Gristle!) on Twitter: "Very Friendly: a new 'experimental electronic music' comic featuring a wonderful (& true) TG story and a 7" vinyl" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ed Pinsent, The Sound Projector - from the web "Very Friendly #1 is a comic book and record package from Komplott, written and drawn by Ronnie Sundin. Regular readers will know we have a lot of time for this self-effacing Swedish composer, having interviewed him in a previous issue and noting his oneiric, dreamlike (and sometimes very quiet) records with great interest. I keep forgetting he’s a fellow cartoonist. This comic book of his is so irresistible I feel like ordering a copy of the previous issue (#0) just to pick up the thread of his chain of thought. There are three stories here, each demonstrating a different aspect of Sundin’s writing skills. “Just another scandal in Paris” may have the most immediate appeal to our readers, as a fairly straight depiction of the notorious Deserts concert by Edgard Varèse, with its dead-on portraits of the composer (and of Pierre Henry and Xenakis also). That’s a documentary strip of sorts, well-researched and accurate too. We’ve also got “A Fetish for Trondheim”, a slice-of-life autobiographical strip, and the utterly charming story of Ronnie’s visit to Norway and his first meeting with Lasse Marhaug. The trip was packed with mildly perplexing events, all of which are greeted by Sundin’s bemusement or surprise (resulting in some priceless drawings of facial expressions). A trip to the recording studio is limned with the most brilliant and innovative depiction of noise-making I’ve ever seen in comics – wild sound effects and all! Which brings us to the last piece, “Throbbing Gristle At the Cryptic One Club 1978”. It’s an imaginary depiction of this Throbbing Gristle performance, one at which Genesis P. Orridge apparently became somewhat unhinged live on stage due to personal reasons, resulting in a mad performance from him and bewilderment for the rest of the band. The drawings of the band members are uncanny – maybe not strictly in terms of photographic likeness, but in body language and demeanour; and the depictions of live music playing are packed with accurate detail, and highly inventive in approach. What’s impressive is how Sundin appears to have reconstructed the event from close listening to a bootleg LP of the concert, some careful research, and hefty doses of his own imagination. Due to its honesty and truth to the spirit of the music, it’s without doubt the best example I’ve seen of this sort of thing, worth a million of the dreadful sort of unimaginative fanzines that slavishly copy photographs of Elvis or The Clash in their misguided attempts at “accuracy”. Wonderful, a great read which I recommend! Oh, there’s also a seven-inch record inside which is great too. Trondheim Tapes Revisited is by Lasse Marhaug, and in remaking the tapes of noise that date from the same time as depicted in the comic, he’s tried to imitate the comic book panel format and structure his cut-ups in sequenced blocks. Listen to the record as we read the comic, is Lasse’s advice; “they’re meant to work together”." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Very Friendly #2 was published in november 2010 in an edition of 300 copies and featured three stories: Walk Like Zombie Man Ronnie goes to Spain to play a couple of shows in Barcelona and Valencia, meets some funny people and faces some awkward silences. Decoder A portrait or interpretation of the German underground cult movie from 1984 which starred F.M Einheit, William S. Burroughs and Genesis P. Orridge. Muzak, Surveillance and Sound Terrorism. German Links How moustaches and motorways can be linked together. In a very German way... Very Friendly #2 also includes a 7" vinyl single with two tracks by Franscico López.	LATEST ISSUE : Walk Like Zombie Man Decoder German Links includes Francisco López 7" Facebook ----------------------------------------------------------------------- press clip from Dagens Nyheter : photo: Ed Pinsent
Very Friendly # 2 - Decoder from ronsun on Vimeo.
ronnie sundin 2008-2009

Very Friendly is a comic book project that present comic stories from the world of 'experimental' and elecronic music in a subjective manner.

The original idea for this comic came about in late 2002 when i was sketching on ideas for The History Of Electronic Music and i suddenly got the idea of making a comic book on the life and works of the inventor of Musique Concrete, Pierre Schaeffer. That story never materialized (but might do some day?) and shortly afterwards i found myself working on some stories based on my own experiences and meetings with musicians
and people running record labels in the underground expeimental music scene. However, the project soon ended up in hibernation since i lacked the motivation to get it published around this time and i wasn't until after The History of Electronic Music was published that it came back to life.

Early in 2008, i had a meeting with Maximilian Moulettes who is the head of the record label Komplott here in Malmö and he approached me with an offer to produce a comic magazine for his label which puzzled me at first but after a while i realised that this was an opportunity to bring the old Pierre comic idea into life. Shortly after that it also dawned upon me that i wanted to expand the story on all the characteres that were in the above mentioned book in the shape of comic book stories so there you have the basic outlay for Very Friendly!

Very Friendly #0 (or the 'teaser' issue) was published in late 2008 and presented a story from 1999 when i made a trip to Los Angeles and met up with musician and visual artist Steve Roden and the owner of Ground Fault Recordings; Eric Hoffman

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Very Friendly #1 was published in april 2009 in an edition of 300 copies
and featured three stories;

A Fetish for Trondheim - on my first meeting with the norwegian noise master Lasse Marhaug in 1998,

Just another Scandal in Paris - on the world premiere of Desérts by Edgard Várese (his first piece for orchestra and sounds on tape) in 1954.

Throbbing Gristle at the Cryptic One Club, 1978 - on a pretty strange gig in London by Throbbing Gristle in a club located underneath an old church(!)

and it was also accompanied by a nice poster of Edgard Várese and Pierre Schaeffer as well as a 7" with soundtrack music for the Trondheim story by Lasse Marhaug himself!

"»Very Friendly« är utan tvekan den bästa serietidning jag läst på år och dag. En ren fröjd!"

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Chris Carter (from Throbbing Gristle!) on Twitter:

"Very Friendly: a new 'experimental electronic music' comic featuring a wonderful (& true) TG story and a 7" vinyl"

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Ed Pinsent, The Sound Projector - from the web

"Very Friendly #1 is a comic book and record package from Komplott, written and drawn by Ronnie Sundin. Regular readers will know we have a lot of time for this self-effacing Swedish composer, having interviewed him in a previous issue and noting his oneiric, dreamlike (and sometimes very quiet) records with great interest. I keep forgetting he’s a fellow cartoonist. This comic book of his is so irresistible I feel like ordering a copy of the previous issue (#0) just to pick up the thread of his chain of thought. There are three stories here, each demonstrating a different aspect of Sundin’s writing skills. “Just another scandal in Paris” may have the most immediate appeal to our readers, as a fairly straight depiction of the notorious Deserts concert by Edgard Varèse, with its dead-on portraits of the composer (and of Pierre Henry and Xenakis also). That’s a documentary strip of sorts, well-researched and accurate too. We’ve also got “A Fetish for Trondheim”, a slice-of-life autobiographical strip, and the utterly charming story of Ronnie’s visit to Norway and his first meeting with Lasse Marhaug. The trip was packed with mildly perplexing events, all of which are greeted by Sundin’s bemusement or surprise (resulting in some priceless drawings of facial expressions). A trip to the recording studio is limned with the most brilliant and innovative depiction of noise-making I’ve ever seen in comics – wild sound effects and all! Which brings us to the last piece, “Throbbing Gristle At the Cryptic One Club 1978”. It’s an imaginary depiction of this Throbbing Gristle performance, one at which Genesis P. Orridge apparently became somewhat unhinged live on stage due to personal reasons, resulting in a mad performance from him and bewilderment for the rest of the band. The drawings of the band members are uncanny – maybe not strictly in terms of photographic likeness, but in body language and demeanour; and the depictions of live music playing are packed with accurate detail, and highly inventive in approach. What’s impressive is how Sundin appears to have reconstructed the event from close listening to a bootleg LP of the concert, some careful research, and hefty doses of his own imagination. Due to its honesty and truth to the spirit of the music, it’s without doubt the best example I’ve seen of this sort of thing, worth a million of the dreadful sort of unimaginative fanzines that slavishly copy photographs of Elvis or The Clash in their misguided attempts at “accuracy”. Wonderful, a great read which I recommend! Oh, there’s also a seven-inch record inside which is great too. Trondheim Tapes Revisited is by Lasse Marhaug, and in remaking the tapes of noise that date from the same time as depicted in the comic, he’s tried to imitate the comic book panel format and structure his cut-ups in sequenced blocks. Listen to the record as we read the comic, is Lasse’s advice; “they’re meant to work together”."

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Very Friendly #2 was published in november 2010 in an edition of 300 copies and featured three stories:

Walk Like Zombie Man
Ronnie goes to Spain to play a couple of shows in Barcelona and Valencia, meets some funny people and faces some awkward silences.

Decoder
A portrait or interpretation of the German underground cult movie from 1984 which starred F.M Einheit, William S. Burroughs and Genesis P. Orridge. Muzak, Surveillance and Sound Terrorism.

German Links
How moustaches and motorways can be linked together. In a very German way...

Very Friendly #2 also includes a 7" vinyl single with two tracks by Franscico López.