I first met Nick DuPey at The Chattanooga Fest a number of years ago. His band Giant Tiger was playing. They were fantastic. He is a handsome man, a great front man and just an overall sweetheart. Since then, we’ve played several shows together and destroyed quite a few brain cells.
Nick has put music full time on a hiatus and has been spending time on his new business Young Monster. He was kind enough to let us know a bit about it.
Dry Ink: How did Young Monster come about and when?
Nick DuPey: Young Monster started out when me and my buddy Heather Lacy got a local art grant from Create Here in Chattanooga to make posters and clothes.This was about a year and a half ago. Basically, we wanted to get some money for a space where we could make posters and clothes for our friends bands, make art and collaborate.
DI: How many folks are involved in it?
ND: Well, Heather moved on as she was too busy with her bands and touring so I teamed up with a couple of other local designers Zach Hobbs and Alison Burke. Then my buddy Scott Campbell got involved and he is still working with us down in New Orleans. So roughly four folks collaborating and printing at any given time.
DI: Do you have an office or workspace?
ND: We have a 2,000 square foot shop in a business incubator in Chattanooga. It’s a big old space that is totally haunted. Makes for really fun nights when we are all on our lonesome scaring the shit out of ourselves!
DI: And do you keep regular business hours?
ND: We all have day jobs and work like little gnomes at night. Its super hectic and we are looking forward to the point when we can make rock posters and clothes full time. Right now we just have folks email us and we work through the web. Someday maybe we will have a proper store front.
DI: Since you’re all musicians or fans of music I am sure you have a radio on at all times when you’re working. What have you been listening to lately?
ND: We have shop favorites that are pretty standard. Steely Dan is always on. Then we slide into the Funkadelic… Maggot Brain quite a bit. Lil Wayne “The Carter III” is recent pleasure of mine. The Hidden Spots are on constant rotation too; the new album “100 Million Voices” is brilliant and damn near perfect. Listening to the Replacements right now.
DI: What is your specialty if there is one?
ND: We specialize in design. We are trying to build a design brand, not just a print on demand sort of shop. We are all designers and artists first and foremost, so right now we are pursing design clientele.Â
DI: What is the main goal of Young Monster?
ND: The main goal for YM is to expand into a fully functioning design/art studio. Design clothing, toys, skateboards, album covers - basically all the stuff we love. We would love to get together enough money to help our friends put out their music, too. Have a little record label that puts out 7″ records - design and print the sleeves - and sell a few. We have so many amazingly talented friends that we would like to help in making their music be seen and heard. Would love to see a Tom Cheshire/Eric Nelson split someday.
DI: And what does the future hold? What’s next? Any short or long term plans?
ND: Right now we are working on a lot of Halloween shows. Have a Harlem, Hidden Spots, Shell Shag, Big Kitty poster due this week along with several halloween gigs. We will be helping our friends Night of the Wolf put out their 7″ by the end of the month. It is amazing and we are hand generating all of their sleeves. We will also be heading to SXSW in the spring for Flatstock - the big poster geek get together - so we need a ton of work to get wild with there. The near future is looking excellent - we are stoked!
DI: Thank you so much and good luck. We will help get the word out about you guys. I would like to see a Tom Cheshire/Eric Nelson split someday, too. Fingers crossed.
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