An Interview with the Creators of the I'm Going to Kill You Podcast

George Alley and Edward Bottger have no shame. Their lives are open books, or more accurately, open mikes. As the creators of I'm Going To Kill You, they dish the dirt on themselves, their lives, and their loves/lusts for all the world to download and listen to. Curious about unclaimed funds? Gay harassment got you down? Look to the I'm Going To Kill You crew for a wide range of personal, social, sexual and modern-day topics, along with a sprinkling of incredible wit and wry humor. Associated Content spent a hilarious afternoon interviewing the geniuses behind this podcast.

AC: How long have you known one another?
Edward: 15 years or so. We're originally from Cleveland, were best friends from high school, and have continued collaborating artistically and trying to destroy each other ever since.

AC: Your both in different cities, right? Does that help or hurt the collaboration?
Edward: Yeah, I'm in New York-Brooklyn, specifically. It helps, because if we were in the same city we'd have killed each other by now.
George: And I am here in Philly... I think it helps because he smells.

AC: Is this your first collaboration?
George: We were in a really insane band in high school and college called Dein Kopf. We would scream over vacuums and saxophones. We made people cry.
Edward: We both still make insane music but we've sort of refined our attack over the years.

AC: When did the idea of the podcasts come about?
Edward: It was George's idea.
George: As most things are...
Edward: Hardly! I came up with the name, because we're always threatening to kill each other.
George: We were interested in the podcast medium but thought we could do something better. Most podcasts are people talking about what they ate today.

AC: What makes a good podcast, and what makes yours' stand out?
George: We're both artists, Edward studied film at NYU and I have an MFA in Choreography. We approach the podcast as a sound instillation.
Edward: I think we're pretty bizarre, unique people, and are surrounded by bizarre, unique people. We offer our own point of view, which is outside the norm. Most gay podcasts are made by people within mainstream gay culture, and we represent something a bit left of field of that.

AC: Being in different cities, what is the mechanics involved in creating a single pocast?
Edward: We talk on the phone, and record onto our ipods, and then edit the two recordings together. We also include field recordings made in various locales doing various things, interviewing various people...
George: We sometimes go on an internet radio station called awesomeville.us if we want to involve the listeners. Like if we go on a gay sex line...

AC: Which city is freakier, New York or Philly?
George: Actually, Cleveland is the freakiest. Cleveland has a really strange subculture due to it being sort of industrial wasteland. Did you know the largest gay bathhouse is in Cleveland?

AC: What has been the response to the podcasts?
George: We got email from people in Indonesia, Norway and even soldiers in Iraq! We want to let the USO know we are more than willing to entertain the troops.

AC: Is anything taboo or off limits?
George: I have a boyfriend, and he wouldn't appreciate play-by-play details of our sex life.
Edward: My sex life isn't taboo! I have a big mouth, and I'm not shy about such things. I'm extremely sexual, probably to a fault.
George: Big mouth being the operative phrase there.
Edward: You sort of have to let go of your hang-ups, but you also have to know what to leave private, otherwise you become one of those awful, desperate reality stars living your life on camera.
George: Exactly, we're classy broads.
Edward: There's a way to retain your class and mystery, and still share enough to entice and intrigue. We make agreements with our friends about certain subjects that are off limits. There are things between us that are off limits. Neither of us wants this project to ruin friendships. I mean, look what happened to Paris and Nicole!
George: Exactly, like how Edward is obsessed with Liza Minnelli. I never mention that.
Edward: I never mention George's liposuction.
George: Looking like Liza, I mean...
Edward: I look about as much like Liza Minnelli as you look like a man.

AC: What's next for you two?
George: We've had this secret project brewing for months. We are filming a part documentary / part musical for next year.
Edward: It's going to be a cross between Sonic Youth's tour movie, 1991: The Year Punk Broke, Borat, and The Muppet Movie. Plus a little Beatles: Magical Mystery tour, only with extreme homosexuals.
George: We decided to throw a party, not only to celebrate our one-year birthday and to make people play weird social games, but also to recruit people to contribute their artistic talents to the movie.
Edward: Yes, we want all sorts of collaborators. We have some special guests lined up, but that's a surprise. We'll both be DJing, performing and causing scandal. Hopefully a few lives will be destroyed!
George: There'll be glamorous music, weird outfits, strange games, guests and lots of booze. It's going to be at Pure on Dec 15th.

AC: So people should come out and show you what they got?
Edward: Absolutely, and if I like what they've got, and they're hot and male, there may be a special prize in store.
George: Yes! Edward's huge stomach! My feeling about Edward is...That you can take a whore to culture but you can't make her think.

AC: When does the next podcast roll out, and will you be 'recording' that night?
George: We will indeed be broadcasting, so expect people in Taiwan to possibly be listening.
Edward: The next podcast will be out probably later today or tomorrow. It comes out weekly; you can listen to it at imgoingtokillyou.podomatic.com. After that the next one will be one of our "mix tape" episodes. Every episode is named after a song, and every ten episodes we do a mix of all the songs that were the titles of the last ten episodes. This one should be especially strange as there will be everything from Liza Minnelli to the Pet Shop Boys to Slayer.
George: There he goes again with Liza...

AC: This sounds like a daunting amount of work..
Edward: Yeah, I actually left my job to devote more time to it. The demands of the podcast pended my career as a television editor!
George: It takes a long time for Edward to put his face on in the morning, so that plus the podcast... There really is not enough time in the day.
Edward: It takes a lot of effort to look this good. Hopefully, George can reign in his ever-expanding girth by Friday so we can do a photo shoot.
George: Please stop mentioning my penis.
Edward: You have a penis?

AC: Any advice for other aspiring pod-celebrities?
Edward: Be yourself and don't try to be too professional. I hate podcasts that try to pretend they're "professional" productions. I think podcasting is one of the great new DIY mediums, like Lo-fi indie rock in the 80's & 90's. Just make something and put it out there! It doesn't have to sound good as long as it's interesting.
George: My advice is, "A plunging neckline goes a long way."
Edward: All George thinks about are flowing fabrics, plunging necklines, and photo-ops. Oh, and Pete Burns.
George: All Edward thinks about is takeout and Liza Minnelli.

THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS

When George Alley isn't attracting attention from Philadelphia's burgeoning DL community, he keeps busy as: the creative director of AlleyINK Dance company, a dance educator and scholar, and as a perverse singer-songwriter. In 2008 he will be releasing a collection of songs based on theoretical questions, perform a dance in San Francisco with a model volcano and lots of Alka-Seltzer, and release a set of anthropologically correct Aztec Sexual Roleplaying cards. George's current interests include: an obsessive crush on Lemmy from Motorhead, Mongolian television, 1950's Desserts, collecting Vivienne Westwood, and talking about She-Ra while calling phone sex lines with friends.

Edward Bottger, originally from rural Ohio, has been toiling on the fringes of New York's music and club scenes for the past ten years. Whether DJ'ing, modeling, or playing guitar in various musical projects, he has become a fixture in the New York underground for better or worse. He's currently recording his debut album under the name, Skimmingtonride, with producer and fellow Ohioan Frank Musarra. He's also really gay.