Interview With Marc Floyd - AKA: The FLOYDIAN DEVICE The Wizard Behind The Punk Globe Covers
Interview By: Ginger Coyote
Punk Globe: Who better to ask a few questions to than the man behind all the online covers for Punk Globe for the last 15 years. Are you as happy as I am with the current team working on Punk Globe?
Marc: We’ve got so many great people working here. Ginger Coyote directing the show. A lot of really cool people all over the world doing interviews and reviews every month. My lovely Ms. Ligaya has done interviews and also does formatting every month. The amazing Nhell doing all the complicated coding and stuff that the rest of us have no idea how to do! haha
Punk Globe: For this issue, I am asking yourself, Jula Bell (the person who hooked me up with Nhell), and Jim Jocoy – who was at my place 47 years ago helping with the layout and submitting his killer photos. He is the photographer that took the photo of Johnny Thunders and Karla Khaos who helped us book The Anarchy in BC shows with you and JP5 a few years ago. Any thoughts on my choices?
Marc: You’ve always had good instincts for bringing together the coolest weirdos who like to be creative; and give them the freedom to do it however they want to.
Punk Globe: I know your work at The Safe House makes playing in a band full-time difficult; but you do manage to record with folks. Tell us more about your projects.
Marc: Yeah, Ligaya and I run a Safe House for high-risk teenagers in Vancouver. I love that work. We’ve been doing it for 20 years now. I’ve met so many fascinating kids. I tell ya, being a teenager ain’t easy these days. As for the creative stuff.. I’ve worked on two records in the past few years with Richard Duguay who lives down in Los Angeles. He’s an amazing dude.. He’s played with Personality Crisis, Duff McKagan, and been a part of all kinds of cool projects. I was really lucky to be able to write with a guy like that. He just never stops coming up with ideas and is a monster guitar player.. Our first record was called ‘Bad JuJu’ and the second is ‘Beautiful Decline’. I’m working on a solo record right now that I think is gonna be really cool. It’s gonna be a double album with about 20 songs and half of them are like 6-8 minutes long!@# haha. I know nobody listens to music like that anymore. But I’m doing it anyway. Gonna bring back the 70’s.
Punk Globe: Can you give the readers a run down of some of the bands you’ve played with?
Marc: I played with a band called YES LOVEGUN in the late 80s that did some groovy, low budget recording.. Ten dolla songs on a three dolla budget! I played with SMASH L.A. in the early ’90s. That was a crazy time. I had seen Smash before I joined them and they were my favourite band touring around Canada. They were just crazy down and dirty rock n roll. With a singer – Johnny Harley – who was the best frontman I had ever seen. I loved that band.. And out of the blue one day, their bass player called me. They had gotten my name from mutual friends of ours in a band called Age Of Electric. The band’s rhythm guitar player was leaving and they asked me if I wanted to come out to Calgary and jam. I was in Saskatoon.. So I packed up the Vega and hit the road. We practiced for a week and then took off on a crazy two year adventure. I really thought that band was gonna get pretty big. The players were amazing. The singer was crazy to watch. Bob Rock was trying to help get the band a record deal down in the States.. But things just got too out of control and we kind of blew it. But man, it was fun while it lasted. After that, I took a little time off, then put together a band called DEATH VALLEY DOLLS in Calgary. We’d open for any band coming through town… Matchbox 20, Econoline Crush, Placebo, Jerry Jerry & The Sons Of Rhythm Orchestra. We were a band that was just weird enough to fit into any scene! haha.. When I came out to Vancouver, I met my partner Ligaya, and started playing with her band – JP5.. That’s how I got to meet Ginger Coyote – who also sings for the White Trash Debutantes. Our bands played together in Vancouver on the ‘Anarchy In BC Tour’. We hit it off, and I started working with Punk Globe. I’ve always said I’ve been really lucky in rock n roll, and always just kind of stumble into my favourite band in town!
Punk Globe: When putting together the covers each month, how do you put together the overall work?
Marc: I find a main focus that I think is cool.. Usually an image from the biggest interview of the month. I just start throwing ideas all over the place and keep going until something starts to gel.. Then I start kind of cutting and shaping images, putting text on, and adding little bits and pieces of art in the background. When it’s pretty much done, I’ll leave it for a little while and come back and look at it later. I’m a little obsessive/compulsive when it comes to art, so there’s usually something that feels off balance.. Colours, shapes, text.. I just try to keep messing with little details until it feels good… or until I run out of time.. Then send it in and hope it’s done! haha. It’s kind of the way I write songs.. Just go crazy, throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.. Then massage it later with a little extra care! ha
Punk Globe: Tell the readers about how long it takes to get the ultimate cover for the month.
Marc: I used to spend a lot longer in the early days.. Like I would mess around with it in my spare time over a few days – just whenever I had an hour or two. It might take 10 hours to finish.. Now I can usually get a cover done in about 3 or 4 hours.
Punk Globe: You have quite a list of well known people who look forward to seeing your brilliant creations.. Jimmy Cummings, Pauley Perrette, Sharon Needles, Fernando Carpaneda, Jayne County, Cherry Vanilla, Ace Von Johnson, Betty Blowtorch, Donita Sparks, The Kinks Dave Davies. The list is like ‘War and Peace’.
Marc: Thanks! War & Peace with cool rock n rollers!! Working with Punk Globe, I’ve gotten to meet a lot of these ultra-cool cats. I got to do a show representing Punk Globe in New York at the Chelsea Hotel with Jayne County, Fernando Carpaneda, some of the Warhol stars… It was amazing… Three nights of music, art, and so many fascinating characters. One day Ligaya and I went to Coney Island to hang out. We got back to the show late, and found out we just missed Debbie Harry who was hanging with Fernando and some of the other artists. Not getting to meet Debbie Harry was my only regret of a fabuloso weekend! haha
Punk Globe: I posted a meme about Taylor Swift donating to Food Banks, Animals, Truck Drivers and The Swifties found it on Threads. I have gotten 4.9k hits and almost all the comments despise the blob. She has a following of devoted fans. I got a message in Japanese. I asked if it was Shohei Ohtana. I have a crush on him.. He seems like he would be a Swifty…
Marc: Everyone should be a Swifty! She might just save America from fascism.
Punk Globe: I have been reading some of your online writing and your concern that the Orange Menace never get re-elected. Please elaborate on this. I am in complete agreement.
Marc: It is pretty scary to think about Trump getting in and running the show again. In his first term, he had enough adults around to stop him from realizing some of his worst impulses; but I don’t think these people are going to be around in a second term. He’s a 78 year old guy who acts like a teenage bully. And he’s created a movement where reality doesn’t matter anymore. Lying about everything is ok, and as long as you’re loud and confident, you can get away with anything. He’s the ultimate non-stop reality-show for a country that likes to be pissed off and entertained at the same time. I know the Democrats aren’t perfect. They should have moved faster on fixing the border and not waited around for Texas to start flying migrants up to New York City. They keep nominating people to the top of the ticket who have 30% approval ratings with the overall public. And maybe Democrats could lay off a little of the ‘woke’ stuff that gives so much fuel to the right wing media machine. But the majority of the public are on the Democrats’ side for most issues… Gun control, taxing billionaires, health care, pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, etc.. So the Republicans have to lie and gerrymander and cheat to turn their ideas into laws. I say if you have to lie to get your ideas accepted, maybe your ideas need a little more work.
Punk Globe: Did you see the Rachel Maddow interview with Stormy Daniels? The orange stain is hell bent on revenge. She is no longer involved in the porn industry and her legal bills over a defamation suit he has against was mounting. Plus all the threats and MAGA nuts. So happy she made over a million dollars with her Go Fund Me.
Marc: Yeah I saw that. She looks like she’s been through the war having to deal with all this. I would think just spending the night with Trump would have been enough trauma for one lifetime.
Punk Globe: Tell us what the future holds for The Floydian Device.
Marc: I’ll be writing songs until I’m off on my next adventure. Ligaya and I have been putting together a punk rock doc on the most fabulous Ginger Coyote. Covid came around, and we also got into a couple car accidents that ended up in a bunch of surgeries for both of us.. So that kind of slowed down some of our creative process.. But we’re turning the heat back up; and that’s one of the projects we’re working on. More music videos for bands we like.. Interviews with artists we think are cool. I started writing a really dark comic series called ‘Bedtime Stories For Bad Kids’ several years ago. I eventually got enough stuff to put together a book; but then this new mass sensitivity thing reared its’ ugly head; and I don’t think I can put that one out now. It’s a lot of stuff making fun of bigots, racists, sexuality… all kinds of wacky situations.. But it’s so easy for people to get confused.. And they don’t know if you’re putting out your own beliefs or making fun of those same beliefs – no matter how ridiculous you’re trying to be. So they may assume the worst and get the pitchforks out. So that one is on hold for now.. Haha.. But lots more art.. Punk Globe….. Who knows what else will come along. Always be open when the Universe calls with a crazy idea!
Punk Globe: Do you have any internet addresses you would like to share with the readers?
Marc: You can find me @thefloydiandevice on Instagram; and find Ligaya and me at https://www.youtube.com/@ONEFINGERFILMS – where we have a lot of our own music, videos we’ve done for bands, shorts, clips from our Ginger Coyote doc, and a bunch of random weirdness.
Punk Globe: Describe yourself in three words.
Marc: Super Cool Nerd!
Punk Globe: Any final thoughts for the Punk Globe readers?
Marc: Get out in that sunshine and get near the ocean. No matter what city you’re in, always know where to get good coffee.. Take a cold shower a few times a week. Don’t let your mitochondria get lazy. When you write a song, really move into that house. Take your time decorating the walls and putting in cool furniture that makes you happy. Don’t worry about anyone else walking in and not liking what you’ve done with the place. Treat people not like who they are, but like who they could be if they were their absolute best selves. Drive Mulholland at night. Let Wim Hoff teach you how to breathe.. Ask a lot of questions. When you hear new music that you think is really cool, share it with as many people as you can. Don’t let AI write your songs for you.That takes all the fun out of it! Bring the love and ignore the negative. Don’t ever stop doing what makes you happy.
