1)
Firstly thank you for taking the time out from your busy schedule to
complete this interview. Could you tell us a little about yourself
and how you started your musical career?
Thank
you for allowing me the opportunity to interview.
I
began my early interests in music at the age of 12 when my family
purchased a old Magnus electric organ the children learn on with the
black major and minor chords on the side panel. I had no prior
knowledge or understanding of how music was created but my curiosity
began there with that cheap little organ. I later took up the trumpet
in junior high school and later in High School discovered new age
music which led to progressive rock, jazz and electronic music. I am
for the most part a self trained/taught musician with only the
scratch rudimentals of music schooling.
As
a side note Id like to say that back in the day (i.e pre digitalia in
the 1980s) you could buy records in the cutout bins of record stores
for practically nothing. This was a goldmine for curious people like
me who had a smidgeon of interest in the pop world but more
enthusiasm for what was (un)vogue or what I considered alternative to
the mainstream force-feeding available
on the radio. I discovered Jean Michel
Jarre, Kitaro, Synergy, Terje Rypdal all because the L.P.'s
cover art was amazing and the list of equipment even more so.
In
my early teens I managed to save enough money for a Moog Micromoog in
High School and dove deep into analog synthesis. The
80's was an era of new and emerging
technology i.e. Yamaha DX7 and so forth no one wanted the Moogs, so
you could get these gems everywhere for next to nothing.
In
the early 1990s I managed to acquire a few inexpensive synthesizers
and an old Yamaha QX sequencer and this led me into the dominions and
ethos of creativity on a solo level. I was through at the time
playing in local bands where I mainly played bass and never felt the
need to carbon copy someone else's music. My disinterest in ego and
and drug culture led me on a shall we say creative path to tonal
bliss!
2)
In media articles you're often cited as drawing on the 70's
progressive rock, space music and new age in your own pieces. Could
you tell us how you set about simulating
this sound in your approach and your studio set up?
Those
influences are spot on but I used them as fodder for directing my
creative energy towards my own music composing goals which I have to
admit are all over the place. Re-creating
is not something I consciously set out
to do when composing, however every musician, painter etc has their
influences which will inevitably permeate their music.
As far as the
studio set-up I do tend to lean towards a diversity in my sound
palate and enjoy the old analog style or virtual analog hands on
synthesizer but I mix more modern sample based synthesizer into the
mix for timbal diversity and I like the digital clarity against the
more muddier grittier sounds of analog modeling. My interest
compositionally varies from very minimalistic to heavier composed
dynamic music not unlike the influences mentioned.
3)
How much has your studio set up changed since the mid-90's and are
there any pieces of hardware or software that you still use today?
In
the 1990s and early 2000's I tended to have more gear than I needed
and it was all hardware maybe 5-7 synthesizers/workstations/modules
which tend to get a bit cluttered in a small apartment. I like to
live in a more sparse setting its easy to succumb to gear lust so
over the years and with the rise of better sounding and space
efficient technology i.e. laptops, software synthesizer I shed a lot
of my access baggage. I really like to get as much as I can out of a
piece of gear. I don't believe quantity of gear necessarily will
equal quality of a music composition. Its how you approach that end
result and whether you are doing this for yourself and not for some
cookie cutter music label thats out to exploit the latest trendy
music. I believe true art is made for the selfish purpose of the
artist and relegated 100% to financial upward mobility this does not
negate the artist being compensated for his or her works as I do NOT
believe in free music ideology either.
4)
Aside from the space music aspect which other artists have influenced
your sound?
Well
that is a very long list! Ill just say this theres a lot of great
music under the layers of mainstream detritus to the point that one
can be overwhelmed.
Over
the last 20 years I can honestly say everything from Camel, Genesis,
Ozric Tentacles, Lyle Mays, Mark Isham especially his Vapor Drawings
album to Eno and Steve Roach's very early ambient works.
Nature
is also a very strong aesthetic conduit to channeling new music for
me. I am also keen to more electronic film composers of the 70s and
80s like Jerry Goldsmith, John Carpenter/Alan Howarth and Mark Snow.
Theres also Wolfgang Voigt (aka. GAS) and some of the early 2000 IDM
and dub techno music that I have a lot of respect for and
inadvertently influences my music to some extent.
5)
You've released three albums this year Horizons, Archaic Frontiers &
Celestial Chronicles. Did you take a different approach in
constructing or compiling these albums?
Horizons
was recorded over a period of years and recently I put the pieces
into a coherent album. The music on Horizons is much more thematic
and almost cinematic in feel and would not quite have fit into feel
of some other releases. I tend to like to try as best as I can to
make my releases consistent throughout each separate release.
Celestial is an extension of my continual interest in the science of
space exploration and the mysteries of the cosmos a theme I regularly
use as a mainspring for creating music. Archaic and Frontiers tend to
be more serene/reflective with rhythmic and melodic statements not as
dominant.
Archaic
Frontiers and my previous two similar release Drifted Into Deeper
Lands and Eolian Reflections are sort of genetic siblings of one
another in that they are all drawn from my journeys visiting the arid
and desert landscapes of the southwestern US. There something
incredibly humbling and almost spiritual walking thru the mesas and
canyons in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico where the land is quiet and
detached from the noise and toxicity of the urban jungles. Its place
for reflection and connection to the world I live in at least from a
personal experience. These places I find to be a bastion of
inspiration for my music.
6)
You've released 22 albums as Alpha Wave Movement as well as others
under Within Reason, Thought Guild & Open Canvas. What's the
difference between the projects?
The
Within Reason music tends to have a lot more environmental/field
recordings mixed into the music and its not as grandiose(at times) as
AWM. I sort of flex my creative muse when I record under different
project names. I do this for the sole reason that I do not want to
mislead my audience into purchasing an Alpha Wave cd and then being
turned away when they hear ethnic chants and Indian sitars. I think
shifting gears is very cathartic for me compositionally and allows
for me to "stretch" my abilities into other avenues.
The
Open Canvas project was always focused on accentuating the middle
eastern rhythms and melodies into my music and therefore was never
intended as being marketed if you will as Alpha Wave Movement. I draw
from many areas of interests mainly because I am a tad of a voracious
music listener/consumer as well and do feel the need to listen to
music other than my own because of the diversity in creative musical
minds out here it would be a shame not to!
7)
You've also had a track featured in the television program 'True Blood'
and another on 'Grand Theft Auto IV' they're both extremely popular. How did
this come about?
Grand
Theft Auto I believe coalesced via Rockstar Games whom I believed
discovered my music via I-Tunes or Myspace(this was back in the
pre-Facebook days) and picked-up music from my 90s Alpha Wave
Movement debut Transcendence and recently the True Blood came about
thru the work of the Waveform label owner Forrest whom released my
ethnic electronic project Open Canvas many years ago.
To
be honest I feel very humble to have my music used beyond the
fundamental territories of radio, podcasts and downloads. Listening
to my music in an alt setting such as a game or television is
sometimes a strange ephemeral experience and something I feel very
grateful for. At the end of the day I am still an independent
musician regardless of the television gigs. Its a lot of work for
many of us just to get the word out and having given a chance to be
interviewed about what I enjoy is always welcomed! Thank you!
