The Material Review

Issue 197: Nigel Cabourn, Donohue’s Steakhouse, Boeing 747, Athens Music Scene, Ian’s Shoelace Site, Buc-ee's and Q&A w/ Hank's Americana

Stories worth reading. Stop indexing the internet.

How Nigel Cabourn Mastered Modern Workwear

“The late British designer built a global following through decades of meticulous collections inspired by vintage work garb and military gear, but nobody wore Nigel Cabourn better than the man himself.” [GQ]

The Last Days of Donohue’s

“Saying ‘goodbye’ to a New York icon from a different era.” [The Old Ghosts]

The Boeing 747 Begins Its Final Descent

“The jet was perhaps the pinnacle of American engineering excellence. Its retirement signals an end to an era of American culture—and ambition.” [The Atlantic]

The Inside Story of the Athens Music Scene

“How did the college football town spawn the B-52s, R.E.M., and Widespread Panic, to name just a few? The maestros and misfits who led Athens’s rise to one of the world’s most influential and improbable music towns tell all” [Garden & Gun]

Ian’s Shoelace Site Is Still The Best Site For Tying Your Shoes

“Ian’s Shoelace Site has been teaching people to tie their shoes for more than two decades. His knots are wonderful. But it is vulnerable to the forces tearing the internet apart.” [aftermath]

Leave It to Beaver

“Everything is bigger at Buc-ee’s” [The Baffler]

A shortlist of things we’ve got our eye on.

imogene + willie hencye natural indigo

SPELLBOUND LIGHT FATIGUE SHIRT

Record Culture Magazine Issue 11

Japanese Kitchen Scissors

Brother Brother Ripstop Shorts

Henry Fisher and Josh Allen of Hank’s Americana

Henry Fisher and Josh Allen are the minds behind Hank’s Americana, a New York-based print zine that has sold out all six of its issues. While clothing is often the way in, topics range from music and books to skateboarding, art, and plenty of other worthwhile rabbit holes. That’s part of why we enjoy it. Fisher and Allen have a refreshing perspective on style, treating it as a byproduct of curiosity and experience rather than an end in itself. We caught up to talk about nostalgia, Bob Weir, old issues of High Times, and what else they’ve been into lately.

Before Hank’s Americana existed, how did each of you end up becoming the kind of people who notice and care about these things?

HF: I’ve always been interested in clothes and culture, but as I got older and learned more about the world, I realized the two are inextricably linked. I distinctly remember being handed a September Issue of Vogue when I was in grade school and being encouraged to form an opinion by my mom. That’s always stuck with me. I’m fortunate to have that sort of foundation to care about this stuff, but it loses its luster when you discover bands and painters you are obsessed with. Jeans and shirts could never blow my mind the same way.

JA: I grew up obsessed with skating, but I never lived anywhere with much of a skate scene. Behold the Internet. An interest in skating grew into an interest in music, an interest in clothing, an interest in visual art, and an interest in tons of other things that at some point had to intersect with one another. Growing up, my only exposure to the fashion industry was peripheral exposure to haute couture and trendy “What’s hot and what’s not” discussions. I never cared about any of that so I assumed fashion wasn’t for me. It wasn’t until much later in my life that I realized I could not have been more wrong.

When did you realize Hank’s needed to exist physically instead of just online?

HF: When I realized there was a lack of fun style coverage for men in America in print compared to other countries. Japan has Popeye, Fudge, Brutus, etc., and France has L’Etiquette. The United States, or a few little freaks living here, have Hank’s Americana. I worked on my high school newspaper on the culture side and then as managing editor. Print media has always been an interest of mine.

JA: Hank’s was a print project before anything else. I was always around and Henry and I have talked at length about the magazine, its purpose, and its contents since its inception, but Henry started this project on his own and I came to the magazine as a creative partner later on. If you’re really trying to learn and explore your interests, at some point you will realize physical media has so much information you cannot readily find online. You can pay $5 to climb the paywall at whatever decades-old media institution, but you can also get a more rare and interesting perspective from the voices who couldn’t afford to build a large media apparatus.

Has your relationship with the project changed as more people have started paying attention to it?

HF: Growth is weird and we don’t care to create to spur it. In a world of optimization and squeezing out every last dollar, we like to be quiet and focus on what we think is exciting and worth chasing, big money be damned. We have full time jobs which affords us a freedom to get weird and chase what we actually love. Independence is something we have learned is our greatest strength, and it’s becoming increasingly important as we start shipping piles of zines around the globe. Happiness is a Hank’s Americana that still feels special and true to us, the guys making the project, first and foremost. If we are laughing and enjoying the process, we couldn’t care less about growth. It started as a twenty page project and a party with 144 Budweisers in a bucket, so we are really just playing with house money at this point.

JA: What he said.

Why do some old things still feel exciting while others just feel nostalgic?

HF: The best stuff has edge and real edge never dulls. When you have the world at your fingertips and it’s all readily accessible, there’s something so exciting about having to dig in and wade around in the weird. There are very few diamonds on Instagram, but the real world is littered with them. I’ve been collecting old High Times, for example — that shit is crazy and so fun. You can tell they didn’t give a rats ass what anyone thought, including the government. Most people today are the opposite — all they care about is what others think. When we are all looking over our shoulder at others, how can you search to define your own edge?

JA: Nostalgia is a yearning for the past. You have to fight the desire for regression and comfort and tread a new path. Referencing Henry’s answer, old High Times issues don’t trigger a yearning for the past because they did not make the 70’s and 80’s look fun for everyone; they existed counter to the mainstream culture, which is what makes them exciting. There are incredible images and thoughts in those magazines that you can take with you into the present day and build upon, rather than sit and mope about missing Larry Levan at Paradise Garage or the Grateful Dead with the full band intact.

Are there people whose style you find yourselves coming back to over and over again?

HF: Of course - so many. My dad, for sure. Gauthier Borsarello is about as chic as they come. Bob Weir in the 80s is also up there — the king of polo shirt and denim in my humble opinion. Iggy Pop — shirts are overrated for much of the year. Last but not least, Sid Mashburn. I started my career in the clothing business interning in their Houston store — working at Sid and watching my dad get dressed for work taught me the rules of menswear so I could grow up to love breaking them.

JA: Dylan Rieder was the first skater I noticed who had a clearly unique style. He had this ease, beauty, and simplicity in his skating that translated into his clothing–dark skinny jeans, sheer white tees and tank tops, slick leather jacket… but it was a style I never felt I could replicate for my body. The Quasi team has always had some really stylish riders on their team, specifically Gilbert Crockett and Bobby Dekeyzer. Of course the best style is authentic, and Stu Kirst has to have one of the most honest styles on the planet–no bullshit, just him with his Bastard t-shirt and decade-old des pair (his wife’s book store, which recently closed) hat flying down a 15-stair set and completely eating shit on his board. I’ve also definitely thought about what Henry would wear if he were looking at my closet, which has validated my inclinations to just freak it in an insane graphic tee or a really fried piece of clothing. In all seriousness, if I have a style north star, it’s Chris Gentile. I’ve always felt clothing is only, at most, half of someone’s style, with the other half rooted in how they operate in the world and carry themselves every day. Not only does Chris have impeccable fashion sense and an understanding of what’s really good in the world of clothing, but it’s impossible for me to look at him–a deeply talented visual artist working across various mediums, passionate shop owner supporting both contemporary fashion and New York surfing, family man in a city and industry that promotes individuality and self-centeredness, occasionally wicked DJ, nerd about everything, and incredibly humble and welcoming person, and say anyone has better style.

What’s something menswear people care deeply about that you’ve personally stopped caring about?

HF: Those guys on Substack telling everyone what to buy. It’s schilling and there’s nothing worse than schilling. You tried on 7 kinds of canvas sneakers? Sick, I tried on one and they look great. I don’t need someone to tell me how to shop or what to wear. It’s my livelihood to know about this bullshit.

JA: When I initially started hanging out with people who were deep into menswear, a lot of them looked like a mannequin. Of course, this is a product of knowing the rules and sticking to them steadfastly. It made me feel like menswear was more about following rules than breaking them. This is why, even if I don’t dress the same as him, Henry’s style is so inspirational to me. He has a deep understanding of the “rules” of menswear and a rich personality that can’t be expressed within the confines of the rules as they are understood by menswear enthusiasts. You can wear a hand-dyed t-shirt, cutoff khaki shorts, and Aurora Mary Janes and I’ll take you just as seriously, if not more, as if you were in a navy DB blazer, gray wool flannel trousers, and tassel loafers.

What are some things you’ve both come across lately that have made you genuinely excited?

HF: It’s not a new book, but Tom O’Neill’s CHAOS is required reading if you are fascinated by America. It draws lines and connects dots around the Manson Family Murders, the sordid history of the US Intelligence apparatus, and our nation’s inclination to deceive and impact society through backwards channels. It almost feels quaint in today’s world of open, wide-spread corruption. Dark rooms used to see these machinations, but today we have presidential approved crypto scams and oiled up meatheads wrestling in each others’ sweat on the white house lawn. The clown show leads the circus and we are all forced to stand in attendance. Some context will help you understand how and why we are where we are.

JA: Greg Sage’s (of Wipers fame) solo albums. Cooper Qua skated to “Soul’s Tongue” in the most recent Quasi video and I’ve had the full Straight Ahead album on repeat for the past few months. Dave Hickey was an incredible art critic whose essays I recently started reading, and even though I had never thought about art in the way he describes in his essays, I’ve found myself nodding along with his expert opinion (after plenty of re-reading and Webster’s Dictionary searches). Pilgrim produced their Albert Field Shirt in this incredible dobby weave that resembles ripstop and might become my go-to this summer. Henry and I recently saw Shadow Knell (side project of one of the dudes from Poison Ruin) live and I found it really moving. We also recently saw the Sissy Boys in full Revolutionary War regalia in Philadelphia, which was emotionally powerful in its own way. Also shoutout Fröthing Mad. The powers of Truck Liquor and Pocket Liquor also revealed themselves to us a few weeks ago; this discovery may have been the most valuable of all.