Hank Reavis' Goose Mix
Something we love bringing to you at Post Up Radio is a wide variety of music, you never really know what you’ll hear next. This week’s mix by our guy Hank Reavis is full of slower jams, perfect for sitting on the balcony as the sun rises earlier and sets later each day.
Hank Reavis is a painter and visual artist from Seattle, who mainly works with airbrush as his medium. His paintings have been shown at New Image Art, Whaam Whaam and Beyond The Streets to name a few. His most recent work is a foray into clothing, where his illustrations have been used on hoodies by Salomon X Better Gift Shop, and a capsule with one of our favorite brands, Big Ant. The pieces sold out quickly on their website, but are available for a limited time on Better Gift Shop’s website. Cop up before it’s too late. While we’d love to show you all of his paintings, we don’t have enough space in this newsletter. We highly encourage you to head over to his website to check the full archive, and if you want to purchase a piece, you can do so through his profile on Artsy. This is a mix we’re really excited about, having known Hank for years to be someone who always has one earbud in, and that you can consistently count on to show you music you’ve never heard before.
Hank Reavis’ Goose Mix is now streaming on Post Up Radio
Continue reading for our interview with Hank, some pictures of his work and a full track list for the mix.
What got you into airbrush painting?
There were a few factors at once, during my time at Western Washington University I was living with my friend Nils aka RIQ50 who bought an airbrush to play around with. This was at the early wave of our generation getting into it, in 2015 or 2016. It was such a natural transition from spray paint, it was more or less the same thing but on a smaller scale. I was also drawn to the fact that I could make T-shirts if I wanted to, and the immediacy of the medium is really satisfying. I worked with this guy Jesse aka Evilbone who put me on to airbrushing really early. We met while we both worked at this restaurant called Skillet, and he invited me over one day after work to mess around on his airbrush. Our other coworker Jono is probably the reason I’m into art at all, he gave me a box of oil pastels which was the first medium I messed around with. Jono and Jesse are largely responsible for getting me into art.
Where do you like to pull your influences from?
A lot of it comes from memories and personal experience, something will happen and way after the fact I’ll think about how weird it was, and that maybe it’d be fun to paint. A lot of my pieces are POV or have a perspective where the viewer is positioned in first person, being taken into the painting. At the root of it, my work is an intentional misremembering of situations I’ve lived. An exaggerated version of a specific moment in time.
What is it about the 90s Austin alt-country scene that you love?
My parents both went to UT Austin in the 80s, and were into artists like Jerry Jeff Walker and Jason Isbell from Drive-By Truckers. Everyone hits a point where they look back at what their parents were into and realize “that was really cool.” I wasn’t alive when all the grunge bands were coming out of Seattle in the late 80s and early 90s, but there was a similar type of movement happening with alt-country in Austin at the same time. I actually went to Austin with my mom after my dad passed to spread his ashes in places that they spent time, and we ended up going to an Uncle Walt’s Band concert, which felt like a full circle moment.
What was your favorite music from Washington state growing up?
I really love Nirvana, Kurt Cobain is one of the best artists I’ve ever heard do interviews. He’s eloquent in a way that’s not pretentious, but you can still tell he’s incredibly smart. I also love this band from Olympia called Earth, one of my favorites of all time.
What music to you like to listen to in the studio?
I’ve been listening to a lot of Beat Happening and this band called GAS. I tend to put a full album or a mix on so it’s continuous. Any time a friend sends me a playlist I’ll play that so I don’t have to think about queuing up new songs, and I can find new music at the same time.
You did a cover for Miami legend Pitbull aka Mr. 305, how did that come about?
These two people at Mad Decent sent me an email asking if I’d be interested on working on an upcoming project, but didn’t tell me exactly what it was for. I was down, and it turned out to be for an upcoming Pitbull single. It’s so far away from what my vibe is, but I loved that aspect of it. They made me create three mockup designs, and the only interaction I know that I had with Pitbull was an email from his manager that got forwarded to me. The email just said “Pit likes this one” and I have this image of three interns holding three sheets of paper and Pitbull pointing at one, totally silent.
Who’s an artist you’d love to do cover art for?
I think I’ll have to go with Miley Cyrus, would love to do a cover for her. I’m on a Miley kick right now, if you ask me in two weeks I might totally hate her music, but right now I’m into it. I like working with smaller artists too, I have a great relationship with Fish Narc and had a really good experience working with him. He had a cool vision for the album and I’m glad he tapped me in to work on the project. But if I had one dream job, it’d be for someone crazy big like Miley or Justin Bieber.
Music to cook to: 10 Hour Ambient Cafe Atmosphere YouTube Mix
Music to drive to: Riq50, 98.9FM The Bull or John Tesch’s radio show on 880AM
Music to work out to: Sade - Lovers Rock
Music for a cocktail hour: Corinne Bailey Rae - Corinne Bailey Rae
Music that’s a guilty pleasure: Miley Cyrus - “Slide Away”
Music to Post Up to: Someone Else DJing !
Hank Reavis’ Goose Mix Track List:
Riq50 - Pixelated Shawty
Drive-By Truckers - Goddamn Lonely Love
Team Sleep - Ever (Foreign Flag)
Jerry Jeff Walker - London Homesick Blues
Patty Griffin - Rain
David Gray - Please Forgive Me
Eiafuawn - My Friends Are Cosmonauts
Sade - Lover’s Rock
Drive-By Truckers - A World Of Hurt
Elliott Smith - Dancing On The Highway
Lucinda Williams - Fruits Of My Labor
David Guetta feat. Kid Cudi - Memories
Uncle Walt’s Band - High Hill
Fousheé feat. Lil Wayne - Gold Fronts
Lit - Miserable
Miley Cyrus - Fade Into You (Mazzy Star Cover)
Crossfade - Dead Skin
Keyshia Cole - Love
Aphex Twin - Iz us
You can follow Hank on Instagram, check out his website, buy his capsule with Big Ant and buy his paintings online.