KillerPOP Talks With Dave of Nickelpig Media For people that don't know, What exactly is Nickelpig Media? Nickelpig Media is a conduit for creativity. It's an outlet for my creative urges, and a way for other artists and musicians to be heard. How did you originally come up with the idea for it? I accidentally knocked over a gypsy woman at Backbooth one night while dancing to Dodger's "Gather Around." And she cursed me and said "From now on, you must support the independent arts of Central Florida, or be forever damned by the policies of multinational corporations and conservative legislation." What choice did I have? When did nickelpig.com begin? We started promoting our site on Valentine's Day, 2005, with the simultaneous release of our first video game and our weekly webcomic. Nickelpig supports a lot of local Orlando musicians. Which artists have you worked with in the past? We love Orlando's music scene! We've worked with bands like Dodger, Doris Delay, and The Ocean Floor on a number of odd projects. We try to support them as much as we can. We also support a handful of visual artists as well - Joshua Brodsky and Weslie Stephenson in particular. Nickelpig features the ongoing comic strip "Ab Irato" as well as the newer comic "Cassiopeia". Does the Nickelpig family read a lot of webcomics? If so, which ones are your favorites? Ab Irato is coming back from a short school/work-related break, and we have a new comic we're working on called "Dials and Divinations." Oddly enough, I've always been a fan of print comics, and I usually don't bother reading webcomics, in general. I know, that's kinda like a drug dealing saying "I don't touch the stuff, myself." However, there is this blessed little gem called "Momo and Friends" that I'm rather fond of... Probably the most unexpected feature of the Nickelpig Media website is the computer game "Orbles". How did the idea for a video game featuring the music of local unsigned bands come about? Orbles was the product of ten days of sheer boredom while my lovely wife Kimberly was out of town. It's a quirky puzzle game with a rather massive soundtrack - twenty-one songs, if memory serves. The idea to include local music was a no-brainer. It was a great way to promote the bands we love, while offering our players a sonically interesting game. I hear Doris Delay is huge in India these days. What do you think Nickelpig has contributed to the pop culture scene in Orlando? Wow, it's great to think we may have actually contributed something! I hope we've opened people's eyes to some cool music and art. Where do you see it going in the future? Nickelpig Media is an amorphous animal, always changing its focus and widening its scope. In five years, I hope we've landed a publishing deal for our comics, found an audience for our games, and removed the "starving" adjective from some artists here in town. interview by Jack Cusumano MORE INFO: nickelpig.com