BOOOOOOOM.COM

INTERVIEW & PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY POWER REGIMBAL

Booooooom started as a fun way for Jeff Hamada to highlight artists he loves; now, it’s one of the most influential blogs running and his full-time job. He’s taken the assumption that artists are bad at business, torched it and shot it out of a cannon into the desert like Hunter S Thompson’s ashes and hasn’t looked back since. Anyone can create a blog and voice their opinion, but not everyone has the power to command over two million hits per month. Let’s just say, Mr. Hamada’s opinion matters more now than ever, and if Jeff likes you, you’re doing something right. This kooky artist never had a plan when he started blogging, and maybe he still doesn’t, but with his fortune-cookie take on life and those seven lucky Os in Booooooom we see bright things in his future.

JEREMY POWER REGIMBAL—Where are you from and how did the Booooooom blog come to be?

JEFF HAMADA—I was born in Vancouver and have lived around here my entire life. I started Booooooom two years ago as a personal project and it suddenly hit me that it had the potential to connect me with every amazing artist in the entire universe. So I started to post up work and send out emails that just said, “Hey, you’re awesome,” and that became my routine. I did it every day for two years. So I guess, secretly, Booooooom is just a way for me to make friends. Now it gets well over two million page views each month and it’s my full-time job.

JPR—What do you do as an artist besides your blog?

JH—I make noodley drawings, a lot of text-based stuff. I like funny little sayings, and I’ll eavesdrop on conversations for funny observations, or make note of really awkward moments. I’m working on a story which may end up being a kids’ book, or at least a book with lots of pictures.

JPR—What are your plans for the next five years and beyond?

JH—I don’t ever plan that far ahead but I’ve kept two fortune cookie messages, one says, “Minimize expectations to avoid disappointment.” I think this is a hilarious fortune and I laugh at it when I read it because I believe the exact opposite. I set ridiculously high expectations for myself and fail regularly and this reassures me that I am doing things I’ve never done before. The other one says, “You will inherit a large sum of money.”