Vice Style

Fashion's new pyramid

PAM sort of equals pyramids. Since anyone fashionable will be bored of pyramids, what's the new pyramid?
Pyramids stand for Egypt, which stands for an ancient culture that set its eyes on the future, exciting gods, spiritual and technological advances, cool hairstyles and eye makeup, scandals, sandals, and, of course, UFOs. The new pyramid is the Tokyo tower, a sort of Japanese red edition of the Eiffel Tower. It’s a transmission mast, complete with wax museum with replicas of Manuel Gottsching, Mount Rushmore, Faust, and Brad Pitt dressed as a cave man—a role that he’s never played—all with E2-E4 on loop. There’s a vending machine that engraves your photo on a keychain and the Masonic club of Japan is in the basement. The Tokyo tower is a true feat of the idiosyncrasy and idiocy of humankind these past 50 years.

Tell me about PAMbooks.
Publishing is a dream come true. We love books and love publication as art. We’ve made and make various zines, artists' publications and books. PAMbooks is a way of working with other artists and photographers. These books are edited, published, and mostly designed by us, and feature artists that make work we love. I love finding a low run, low budget book of some famous or unknown artist or photographer, probably more so than the fuckoff, big name monograph. Making little books, which might be found by some future person, rules.

A lot of streetwear brands try and do art or books or whatever, but it almost always seems as if the guys behind it are too stoned to do anything that might innovate on any level. You do some interesting stuff, so congratulations to you. You’re not a high fashion label either though. Should I be confused?
We’re not a streetwear brand and high fashion wearing is pretty limited. Yes, we make clothes that can be worn on the street, at home, to raves, to art galleries, or riding a bike, because we believe in a healthy, exciting indoors and outdoors lifestyle. We are also not conservative in any sense, but we don't have to be loud and avant-garde just for the sake of it. Our clothes are meant to subtly show that the wearer is somewhat different to the normals. As in, the actual normals, but also the usual skateboarder, the stereotypical raver, goth, and even that loudly dressed avant-garde arty kid.

I read that you described PAM and fashion in general as "searching for new worlds". I fucking love that, it makes so much sense. Can you elaborate?
We are! Every great record, sleeve, artist, film, or movement we reference generally has the same feeling, and even if it’s dated now, it will still look otherworldly. I used to think we wanted to escape from the crap that surrounds us, but that’s too defeatist. We want to search for new worlds, even if we have to help invent them—which we do.

Our friends making their own new worlds, with the view to transcend the banality and times we are living in, like ESP (Lovefingers); or MASH (for cycling world renegades); Jun Takahashi of Undercover with his great quote: "no gods, no masters"; Thomas Bullock; Boredoms EYE; and here in Melbourne, the kids at Y3k and Fixxed.

When we share our little world with our friend’s worlds around the globe, they make for a bigger new world. Oftentimes we’ve all talked about buying a mountain and dividing it up from the top down. We’d all make our new worlds, which would come closer together as we reach the top. The pinnacle, where each world converges, would be the holy mountain, a place for parties, shared experience and the spiritual.

Actually, talking of Holy Mountain, the film is so fabulous, so adept, so full of spirituality and the quest for knowledge, rejection of Christianity and the rest. And then, ultimately, there’s a joke in it: "Zoom back the camera," and then, "Real life awaits us," so director Jodorowsky is saying it's just a fucking movie!

It seems like an artist who doesn't work 24/7 won't make it, so working with your wife sounds like a great way to have your cake and eat it.
It’s definitely amazing working with Shauna. Our work is a huge part of our lives; if we didn't work together, we wouldn’t see each other. We get to hang out all the time. I don't know how other couples can do it when they only see each other evenings and weekends.

I hate calling art work. Work is something that sucks. Art is something that happens when you live it. I'm trying to live my life in a way that the lines between practice and work, life and love are all blurred to the point that they are one thick superhighway line. That includes being married, working, living and loving together, rearing a child, sharing a house and studio and office, all in the same space. I’d love it if everything we ever do inspires PAM, and vice versa.

This quote of yours—“New forms, new people, new races, the people we haven't seen yet”—is a really exciting way of summing up fashion. What’s new at the moment?
We had a kid lately, so the most exciting new person is Odette, and so far she loves Detroit techno. We try not to refer to her as a girl; her clothes aren’t gender specific, nor will she have a religion, so hopefully she’ll really have an understanding of the cosmos. I really want the haircut for her from Lone Wolf and Cub and can’t wait to see her draw.

Starting afresh and forming your own way is an exciting prospect. History holds us back. Breaking down tradition, religion, and social customs holds possibilities for the evolution of the human race. Of course society needs some controls, but what if it was controlled in a positive, new way that celebrates life, love, and creativity—a way which perhaps linked us closer to loving nature, didn’t mean excluding your fellow human, a life which isn’t full of news of pain and torment?

Growing up in a "new" country such as Australia, a promised land of immigrants, makes the idea of starting anew seem really possible.

New people? Does that equal transhumanism?
If transhumanism is possible, we'll all just be floating heads, full of information and communication, therefore the only fashion we'll actually require will be hats. We won’t need bodies or the internet, so online stores won’t exist. There won't be any high street shops either, as floating heads don’t need cars. Only malls full of hat shops, and food shops, because heads have mouths.