Who's That Guy? Crooked Fang revealed!

You've seen him peering out at you from both of the Crooked Fang covers, on interview posts and promotional spots for the book, but he's remained nameless. Carrie Clevenger has kept his name under her hat for a whole year almost to the exact day, which was when the photo shoot was done down at an Austin bar, aptly named The Tavern.

The time has come to reveal his identity and close the mystery of Who IS that guy?

Meet Greg Enkler, a real bassist for a real Austin band, Powderburn. Yes ladies, he's the genuine article! To give you an idea of what Greg is like, I asked him a few questions.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, Greg. How did you come to be the "face" of Crooked Fang’s Xan Marcelles?

Behind the scenes at The Tavern - Austin, TX

Well, let’s see… I’m originally from New York, a town called Carmel about an hour north of New York City. I’m Irish/German/Greek. I’ve been a musician literally my whole life. There are pictures of me at the age of 3, sleeping on a guitar case, who knew 30 years later I’d still be doing that?

Other than that, I play bass in my band Powderburn, I ride my motorcycle, I’ve become a pretty decent cook and I’m gonna be marrying the only girl who’s been able to put up with my shit for the last 10 years.

Becoming the “face” of Xan, that was pretty much a fluke. I almost turned it down because I thought they were kidding. But it literally took an email and a phone call to get me to do it.

When you heard "Vampire Bassist” what went through your mind? I heard your fiancée had a good laugh…

EVERYONE had a good laugh at that. I asked my band, my girlfriend (we don’t use the term fiancée… it’s entirely too French) my family, my boss at the warehouse I work in, they all just started laughing, like genuinely amused laughter. Not at the book, or the concept, but at the thought of ME being a “model” for anything. But as I started telling them, “well, he plays bass, rides a motorcycle, chain smokes, hides in the back of a bar and just wants to be left the fuck alone.” Everyone pretty much had the same reply… “So… it’s you.”

At one point I was asked if Carrie had been spying on me. The similarities started to get a little weird.

As far as what went through my head, literally the first thing I said was “I’m not gonna fucking sparkle… I want that in my contract.” Apparently that made Carrie laugh as well.

All the ladies want to know, is the motorcycle on the cover of Crooked Fang yours?

Yep. And honestly, it’s probably the part of this that I’m the most proud of. I actually got the bike in the book changed to the one I ride. I had taken it to the photo shoot because at the time it was my only mode of transportation. And when I pointed it out to Carrie, well, I guess she liked it enough to run with it.   

You did a great job capturing the character of Xan in your photos. What were you thinking while posing for those shots?

 Honestly, nothing. I hate having my picture taken in general. But I’ve also got a lot of experience doing photo shoots with my band. But sitting in a bar holding a bottle of booze, or a bass, it’s all pretty much a natural thing for me. The strangest part was the bike, cause I had never had a bike for any other photo shoots.  

Will you be on the cover of more Crooked Fang books?

             That’s the plan. We’re currently working out the details for the next shoot.

Author Carrie Clevenger and Greg Enkler

Have you read any vampire fiction? If so, did you like it?

           The sum total of the vampire fiction that I’ve read is the first chapter of Crooked Fang and the Just My Blood Type story. And I liked the Crooked Fang stuff so far, now that the book is out I can read the rest of it.

            



Was there any book you read as a child that made a big impression on you? Still does?

If you ask my mother, it’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Apparently I used that for every book report I ever had to do until I got to high school. Unfortunately, High School and my twenties cause my childhood memories to be a little hazy.

How long have you been in the band Powderburn?

Roughly 12 years. 

What made you choose bass?

It was half necessity, half inevitability. I was always trying to start a band, and could never find a bass player. So I would do it, just so I could get the band going. In reality, I was always supposed to be a bassist. Guitars just look too small on someone who’s 6’3”.

You write a lot of Powderburn’s music, do you play other instruments?

I do. I play drums, they were technically my first instrument. My dad quickly taught me guitar so he wouldn’t have to have a drum set in our tiny apartment. So I still play guitar, I’m no guitarist, I just play enough to write the main parts to songs I’m working on. I kinda sorta half ass play piano. You can hear the peak of my piano ability on our song The Lights Go Down. It’s not much to write home about.

Where can we buy Powderburn’s music?

All the main online places, iTunes, Reverbnation.com, Bandcamp.com, Amazon, and I’m sure there’s more.



Lightning Round:

Favorite song of the moment?

The kids who wanna play with the dead. – Lordi. If you haven’t heard this band, you need to.

Favorite male fronted band?

Iron Maiden

Favorite female fronted band?

Drain STH. Remember them?

Favorite bassist?

Mike Inez – he’s played with everyone. Alice in Chains/ Ozzy/ Slash...

Favorite guitarist?

Slash.

Favorite lyric?

“The highway’s jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive.” – Springsteen.

Favorite book?

Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential
Favorite movie?

The Boondock Saints or Goodfellas. Hard to choose.

Vodka or whiskey?

Whiskey – Specifically Jameson.

So tell us what's next for Greg Enkler? What's in the queue?

        Who knows? I know I’m up for the cover of the next book. Powderburn is slated to release some new music later this year. And I get married in May. Anything past that, I have no earthly idea. I’m not big on making plans.

Thanks Greg for coming by!
As Greg mentioned, Powderburn is available in many digital formats:

Bandcamp
iTunes
Amazon
Powderburn's Facebook page


If you still haven't gotten your hands on a Crooked Fang book, check out crookedfang.com!

Crafting the Musician, Carrie Clevenger tells her secrets

When I set out to write Crooked Fang, I didn’t think about how difficult it would be. All I had was the idea of a vampire that lives in a tavern and plays the bass guitar. I could hear his dialogue and see his friends as clear as if they were standing in front of me. What I didn’t realize was that musicians are a different sort of artist, and not the sort of character you can write half-assed. There’s equipment, specific jargon and slang that a real musician employs. They generally can set up their own equipment and know the parts of their guitars. They experience something wholly unique performing on stage.

I am not a musician in any aspect of the word. Although I own three guitars, including the five-string blue ESP bass that my character plays in Crooked Fang, I can barely pick out a simple tune. But guitars are pretty and look lovely sitting there on their stands beside my desk. Call them expensive inspiration. It wasn’t until I hefted a bass guitar of my own that I got a feel for the piece. Asking questions from real musicians helped me get familiar with the bass guitar’s parts.

I subscribed to a few music magazines and bought singles of others that looked useful in my ongoing research. I started immersing myself in the rich live music scene here in Austin, Texas. I was lucky I already lived in a Mecca of music resources.

I never stopped asking questions. I watched tutorials on YouTube. I played tabs on both the guitar and bass. I watched friends set up their gear for live shows. And the whole time I listened to how they talked, both to me and to each other. A new language, casual and exclusive only to those in the real ‘know.’

A musician creates or emulates music, which means they have to know music themselves. As a result, my music library went from a paltry 30GB in my iTunes to the present size of 120GB. I explored not only classic popular hits but underground cult favorites as well. Bandcamp proved to be a fantastic resource for finding even more indie groups with either free or inexpensive downloads of fresh music.

I had a sort of mentor, and I mention him with great thanks and respect in my book, Stephen Canner, who answered a good deal of questions about music history and the not-so-magical routine of gigs and touring. He started the fire of my need to discover everything out there. And there is so much music that we humans have created, even in the past fifty years. Once one puts all of the progressions together in the mind, one can easily see the evolution of music in action.

Applying it to Crooked Fang was a breeze after that, and I only needed to double check a few terms because of all the exposure I’d gotten to the whole feel of being a musician. Again, I turned to friends in the industry to confirm I’d done a good job of representing their culture.

Another issue I came across was respectful reference to the Navajo, or Diné as they are called amongst themselves which felt like walking through a minefield. I managed with a little outside help but that’s a blog post for another day.

Crooked Fang is a vampire tale, but it’s not about vampires. Xan Marcelles is a bass player, kind of an asshole with a soft spot for women’s wiles and troubles and a vampire. Sequestered away in a tavern in teeny Pinecliffe, Colorado, he’s content to take up a chair, pluck a few strings, and keep a drink close to hand in order to stifle his darker nature.

When a blue-haired girl and her abusive boyfriend have a public spat after a Crooked Fang show on Halloween, Xan intervenes, not knowing that his gesture of chivalry will change his quiet lifestyle. With zombie-like creatures, faces from his living past, even possibly a ghost, Xan is forced out of his comfortable space and back into the world…at least for a little while.

Crooked Fang is an urban fantasy, first in the Crooked Fang Series, published by Katarr Kanticles (print) and contracted by Lyrical Press (ebook). For more on Xan and Crooked Fang, visit http://www.crookedfang.com/

On Amazon:
ebook
print AKA dead tree

Official Blurb for Crooked Fang:

Sometimes a vampire's past can bite him in the ass.

 Xan Marcelles--bassist for Crooked Fang, vampire and full-time asshole, is content with his quiet existence in the backwoods of Pinecliffe, Colorado. But life at the Pale Rider tavern is set to become a little more complicated when he gets entangled with a feisty, blue-haired damsel and her abusive soon-to-be ex-boyfriend.

 To add to his woes, he’s gone from hunter to hunted, and his past returns to haunt him when a phone call draws him back to New Mexico. With the help of friends from his living past, he must get to the bottom of a murder, and figure out where he stands with his lover and his band, all while keeping one step ahead of his enemies. Hiding won’t be easy for him, especially with a mysterious woman dogging him every step of the way.

____

Carrie Clevenger landed in urban fantasy when she couldn’t decide between humor and horror. She writes in multiple genres, often blending several just because she can. You can learn more about Carrie at http://about.me/carrieclevenger