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Another orbit around the sun and another opportunity to shoot at Arise Music Festival. Here are some of my favorite moments and photos from the event. Huge shout out to all of the artists who made this festival possible.
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Written by: Julie Morris
Life comes at us fast. Between work, family
Invest in Yourself
Sometimes you need to take a step back from life and do something that you enjoy. A good hobby can become a powerful tool in helping you cope with stress and unwind. As you continue your pursuit, it can lead to learning a unique skill. It can also be a gateway into opening new social connections and increase your confidence.
This is why it is common for those suffering from depression or recovering from addiction to be recommended they take up a hobby. Often hobbies provide a sense of structure in their lives and give a sense of purpose. It is a great way for them to feel like they have control over their lives.
Sketch it Out
Drawing can be an incredibly soothing outlet. For many, it becomes a form of self-expression and a way to unload thoughts that might otherwise be too difficult to form into words. Not to mention, drawing is known to improve motor skills and creative problem solving.
If you are new to drawing, be patient, especially if what is in your head is not translating to the page. Art takes time to master properly. Try taking a class to boost your skills or turn online. There are numerous resources from step by step tutorials to videos that teach you the basic techniques. However, one of the best things about art is that there is no wrong way to do it.
Feel the Beat
Contrary to popular belief, it is never too late to pick up an instrument. In fact, adults may have the advantage over children. They are able to quickly grasp more abstract concepts and are self-motivated to learn.
Setting time aside each day to practice can feel like a large commitment, but it is one that is well worth it. The sense of accomplishment you will feel from finally mastering a song is unrivaled. Not to mention, playing music is great way to sharpen your memory and enhance cognitive thinking. Whether you are picking up an instrument for the first time or renewing a childhood hobby, you can still reap the same benefits music provides to the brain from just a few months of practice according to National Geographic.
Turn Inward
Poetry is a great way to loosen and unload your thoughts. It is an amazing form of expression that forces you to become more introspective, which can help heal emotional pain through reflection.
Do not be intimidated by poetry. There is no wrong way to write it. If you want to stick to highly structured poems, you can. If you prefer more freeform and less rules, you can do that too. Creative Writing Now is great resource to help you get started.
Turn Up the Heat
Some of the best hobbies are the ones we share with others. Cooking is a great way to incorporate your friends. You can cook up a delicious meal for them or invite them into the kitchen with you to cook together. This is an excellent opportunity for you to bond and grow closer.
Sharing a meal you’ve made can be immensely satisfying. Cooking your own meals is also a great way for you to eat healthier and save some money, according to the Chicago Tribune. Teaching yourself to shop and prepare your own food will reduce the amount of processed and unhealthy foods you eat.
Protect Your Time
While hobbies are amazing to share with your friends and family, keep in mind that a great hobby is one that you do solely for yourself. You do not want to feel any pressure to satisfy someone else when you sit down to do your hobby. This is why it is so important that you pick something that you’ll love.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash.
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Hello, my name is Silas Herman and I play the mandolin for Gipsy Moon. My name is Matt [Cantor] and I play the bass. My name is Makenzie Page I sing, play the guitar and tenor banjo. I am Andrew Connley.
Where did you guys meet and how did you decide what instruments were going to be in the band?
Silas - Well we have been through a lot. The arrangement of the band now is a little different than it first began. We started a band about two years ago, and we started with a different band member then. We have been through a couple of things But this current arrangement is what has felt the most natural and right. As far as choosing the instruments we all have our own musical background, so we have brought them together to turn it into something
Matt - I think the most interesting thing… well, it's all fairly standard. Except for the tenor banjo, it is a little different. I think the cello is probably the [instrument] that catches people’s attention the most, as being kind of different. So I guess we could have Andrew answer why he decided to play the cello.
Andrew - Alright. Before that though I met these guys at RockyGrass, the best festival in the world man, that festival changed my life. I met Silas, and Makenzie up there and then Matt later. I used to play mandolin, and the mandolin is just a fuckin awesome instrument. There are a lot of incredible Mandolin players out there, like Silas, he is fuckin incredible dude. It takes a lot of dedication to push yourself outside that pack. Crooked Still I was influenced by them in a way. Someone introduced me to them. That pretty much changed the game. I was like oh, wow… You can actually do that with that instrument, that’s a cool possibility. It is basically a big fiddle. For violins or fiddles, the opposite equivalent for that, the more for informal variation. For cello, there really isn’t a word for that. There is no reason why that is. I saw a lot of mandolin players. There were not a lot of cello players that were pushing outside of that box. So it seemed like a really good play for life to focus on that.
So were you guys exposed to music from a young age? Or what inspired you to pursue being a musician.
Silas - I definitely grew up around a lot of music. My dad actually played in a band, Leftover Salmon, for over 25 years now. So he was on the road a lot of the time when I was growing up. So I was always surrounded by acoustic sort of bluegrass music of that influence. So I really just got into it and got a lot of it in my head. When I was around 12 or 13 years old I started taking it seriously. I started with the guitar and transferred over to the mandolin, which I am mostly playing now.
Did your dad teach you to play the guitar?
He taught me a fair bit to begin with, definitely. But then I tried to go outside of that musical genre to get my own sort of sound.
Makenzie - I did not grow up playing music. I found music when I was older. Ya, I just started with a friend who played. I would borrow his guitar and sing and play with him. I just surrounded myself with people who were really awesome at it [music] and learned.
Andrew - Um, I played a little drums and a little guitar growing up. It wasn’t until, you know, early teen years so that actually happened with the Mandolin when I was 16. My family wasn't really into it but now they are. Rocky Grass, that festival, got everyone in my family playing music in some way. My dad was a big record collector though. He had like 15,000 records when he died. He would be really happy to know that that is being carried on a little bit. He was a big fan.
Andrew - Ya, I played in the school orchestra on the bass for a long time. It was fun but I was never really serious about it until I graduated from high school. Then one day my friend was like “hey do you want to play bass for us at the mall?” I took my grandfather’s bass which I had had for a while but I had never ever played it because I would never practice. I would basically just go to school and play and have fun but I never took it seriously at all. I ended up getting blood blisters from playing at the mall for an hour. It was just an interesting experience because I never realized that people could pay you for playing music. We played at the mall and we each got $20 bucks and was like “woh, this is crazy!”. I just had so much fun and made money! So I basically started, and just did that a bunch like every day, and started making money. That is how I started doing it.
Was your grandfather's bass a stand-up?
Andrew - Ya it is the one I play. My grandfather played music in new york. He played Jazz for like 80 years so it has some history there.
You guys have a unique sound. You have come together with different backgrounds. Are there any genres or artists in particular that have inspired you to pursue the music you create today.
Silas - I feel like just being in Colorado, in general, you are sort of in a Mecca of a lot of amazing musicians and a lot of inspiration. A lot of young bands and bands that are more progressed. We have a lot of friends that have been through a lot of the same cycle of growing as a band. So we have seen that there is hope in the future and have just had a lot of inspiration from a lot of different people in that way, definitely.
Andrew- I am mostly inspired by older music. Old 50’s is what I primarily listen to at my house. That and funk, which is kind of interesting. That was kinda my parents' music. So I grew up with things, not necessarily a lot of disco funk, 80’s and late 70’s funk. Like Rick James and stuff. It is kinda a weird combination. I just ended getting really into Django Reinhardt. From that I have been listening to only really old music and funk. I like traditional Gypsy music too.
Makenzie - Ya I like old music too. My favorite right now is Edith Piaf. I can't stop listening to her.
Andrew - For me, musically, a lot of fiddle players. Though when I listen, it is kinda whatever my mood is into. It could be anywhere… From Bach, to Naughty by Nature to NOFX. Or bluegrass. Or old-time music. A lot of old-time music. So it is across the board it is more about what I am feeling at the time. They just help keep you going and influence you.
How are you able to highlight the individuality of a particular instrument, while at the same time maintaining a cohesive sound.
Makenzie - I think something that has really helped us is that we are really open-minded, as a band. Someone will bring a song and maybe it is totally... an entirely a different direction than we are trying to go. We just do it anyways. We are not trying to put ourselves in this whole genre, where we play this one specific music so we must stick to it. It is like hey let’s try that, now let's go this way. Lately, we have been trying to combine songs. Where one genre and a totally different genre that are just smashed next to each other. It’s really fun. If we do this dark eyes song, which is really gypsy, into this other song which is Calypso. We take traditional songs and totally do spins on them. We go from a Latin vibe into a Celtic tune. So I think that is something that we have been really digging lately.
Andrew - So were you referring to separation and how we set each other up for solos?
Ya.
Trying to be aware of your ranges and try to not step on each other's parts as much as possible. Actually going from a five-piece band to a four-piece band has made that way easier in a way. I mean we had some good people we played with. Especially with cello, it is always trying to figure out where my part fits, like in a puzzle. Try to not muddy up the bass or the guitar, or tenor, or vocals. It is a delicate range. It is always really case by case. It is not really one formula but there are definitely patterns.
Silas - We recorded our last album at silo sound (in Denver) and had Tim Carbone, of RailRoad Earth, produce it. We have made a couple of other recordings with some friends in the mountains. Our first record we did with Dave and Enion Tiller from the band Taarka, at their house in Lyons, which unfortunately got destroyed in the flood.
How do you go about creating a song?
Makenzie - Every song is definitely different. Like it is its own little being. Lately what we have been doing is someone will come up with a basis of it and bring it to someone else. Like hey here is this. Usually, two people will come together. We have been doing a lot of collaborating like Matt, or Andrew or Silas will bring me something and be like I have this idea and it is these certain parts, write some words for it. It's really fun, it’s freeing. It is really helpful to widen your personal perspective on music, because you are working off of something that someone else wrote. So it is a nice broadening of your own ideas.
Andrew - I think it is case by case when it comes to where ideas come from. A lot of times I will have a bass melody and have some chords. Just trying to pass it on. Here try this out. Can you improve it? A lot of tunes have happened that way. Sometimes it is more specific. A lot of times I will want to hear tunes… Well, there are definitely arranged parts in them. It takes some working through to figure out what works for instrumentation. And to figure out if it is a good idea or bad idea. It is a lot of trial and error of just testing out stuff between us.
Do you have any future songs or albums in the works that are going to be released?
Makenzie - Ya we are going to be releasing an album this spring, so ya. In March. We recorded Silo Sound Studio with Tim Carbone. It was Kickstarter funded so we appreciate to all of those people who helped out. It has been a really fun album. A Lot of in-studio kinda stuff. We just got the masters yesterday so we were listening to them. It is definitely a more produced album. It has been really fun to be like “Let’s add this here” and “let's do these crazy harmonies there”. Usually, we are a one take and that's what you get. Last week we went up to this studio, called Mountain Star Studio, it is up in Rollinsville, kinda close to our house. They record straight to tape. So it was fun to do the exact opposite because they record to tape. So literally only one take and that's what you get. So that was really fun. So we did two tracks there that we will probably release at some point. It was an 8 track tape. It was literally straight to tape and then they turn it into digital after. Ya so in the Spring look out for that. It is called Sticks and Stones
So you guys have a management company and a manager. How is it working with a manager and what are the benefits? Are they enabling you to focus on your music while they worry about the scheduling and booking?
Makenzie - It is awesome. We don’t have to worry about that kind of stuff. Because that is half of the battle, when you are becoming a musician, is the business side of it. When you are an artist you don't want to have to think about that stuff.
Silas - It is also hard to promote yourself self righteously. Like saying “hey this is my band and we are so great, you should hire us.” Having a separate party to do that for you is very helpful.
These [next] questions are more individual.
Were there any particular artists that inspired you to pursue the mandolin?
Silas - I started out by playing the guitar. I had a musical upbringing. Then I really drove away from bluegrass I was brought up around. I got into electric guitar. It sort of started out there. Then transitioned back over to acoustic guitar and now mandolin which I am playing now. Some of my bigger influences have been Adam Steffey and Chris Keely. Some of those guys who are just great bluegrass players. I would like to sort of expand past that genre with my own playing too. So take influences from all sorts of things like Jazz.
How do you push yourself to that next level?
Silas - Oh man, just practice. It’s constantly a battle. It's constantly a cycle of getting beat down and then being re-inspired to do even better.
Matt, your bass playing adds a lively bounce and rhythm to the music. You guys don't have percussion and it seems like in a way you fill that rhythmic section. How do you as a bass player elevate yourself to that next level, how do you improve? Was there anyone who guided you along the way? Maybe your grandpa?
Matt - Well, unfortunately, my dad is really old and my grandfather was very old. I honestly started playing music right as my grandfather died. Which sucks because I play a lot of swing which is the stuff that he played. I would say the biggest influences on bass have been Chris Wood, Jimmy Blanton, Gareth Sayers.
Matt - What did you ask again?
(Other band members’ laughter)
Matt - Ok, Ok, I am really hungry. I can't think. I like the first part of the question that you asked. Because I had a realization last week when we were playing. There was this band before us that was really good. Their rhythm was really tight actually but they didn't have a bass player. And they are a string band. It made me realize how much rhythm the bass adds in this certain sense. It was really all there. Their rhythm was really good but because they never have that bass to be like “this is where the beat is”. It just kinda never really moved people, I noticed. I think it moved them, but didn't push them to move. Where it really hits them…
I like watching interviews with really old bass players because they always have really amazing things to say and it is really funny. I was watching this interview with Milt Hinton, who is the most recorded Jazz musician ever. He is on like 9,000 recordings. Now, he is this like 90-year-old guy. He is playing some bass line. I like to play it like this. I like to people to know, this is where the beat is. And that is what I am trying to do lately. Like this is where it is. Be more definite on the rhythm.
Well, Makenzie, I don't know how long ago you started playing vocals, so I would be interested to know that first of all. Your vocals seem to drive some of the songs and lead the direction for everyone else. You all make great space for each other but how did you become such a strong vocalist and so quickly and was there anyone who guided you along your path?
Makenzie - Oh man, you never really think about this kinda stuff with yourself because you are always looking forward. Well, I loved singing Disney songs as a kid. Well, I still do. Ha! I still sing Disney songs. Singing has always been in my life but I didn't play an instrument until I was 18. So I was a little older when I picked up an instrument and had any form training. So singing has always been in my life but I just wasn't really out there with it. It was a hidden, very personal thing to me. So that was something. Coming out of that shell and connecting with the people in the audience. The voice is such a connection that we have to other people. That is something I really love about singing. That is something I really aim for. Trying to have that conversation with the crowd, as if you are in the room with one other person. You kind of take them than somewhere else with that. It is really this very personal thing that you kind of have to give your all to. It is really hard to do that. I think that's why I didn't start playing music until I was older because to me it was such a personal thing. So I guess that is what I aim for and what I look for in my own vocals when I am listening back. Could you understand what I was saying? Did it sound like I am speaking or connecting? It is really just about connection to me. You get a lot of that from old folk singers like Joan Baez. The ones who really sat down and told you a story. I just love that old stuff. I am really into Edith Piaf. Even though it is in French, she has a lot of English stuff too, but she has this old sound to her voice. I think it is so timeless. I am just really digging that right now.
[Andrew] you told me that you recently got a strap. Does that change the way you are playing? Does it enable you to run around onstage as opposed to being locked into one corner? [Also]
It just seems that your cello adds a depth to the music. The melodies that you choose to play seem to create a different direction or depth. Can you speak to the way you play and anyone who has influenced you along the way?
Andrew - So ya. First, the strap is kinda new. It’s way fun. It is called a ‘Block Strap’. So shout out to Mike Block. He is an inspirational cello player to me. He invented the strap system. It lines up really nice. It feels natural. You get it in this spot and it is just like you are sitting down but it follows you around like a baby strapped to your chest. It [takes] a little bit of adjusting. If it is not set up just perfect some stretches are a bit hard to get but if you get it set up right, no problem at all. So maybe it adds a little difficulty but it is twice the fun. So it is a good tradeoff, I think.
Andrew - As far as cello adding depth, it definitely does. It is kinda that midrange that you don't really hear in sting band setups very often. Which makes it kinda difficult to find the part sometimes, because you don't want to step on someone else. Ya, it is like an extra dimension. Now that I am so used to it. When I go back and listen to a bunch of string bands now I feel like it is lacking something. But that is just me personally.
Andrew - But as far as influences… Crooked Still, a great band. They are still playing a little bit. Rushad Eggleston, is one of the players Tristan Clarridge are both fantastic players. Natalie Haas. It is really a small club of non-traditional cello players but I really appreciate what they are doing.
Can you talk about your first live performance, any fears that you experienced and how you overcame that?
Silas - Ya I fall into a pretty unique realm, with my dad being a musician. He would bring me up on stage when I was extremely young before I could even play an instrument. He would just leave it up there plugged in. So I could just go up there and stand there with the instrument. Not making any sound out anything. I think it helped me feel natural on stage and get past that whole thing before I even got into music. So once I did, there wasn't a whole lot to overcome. I will say that whole fear factor thing definitely, in some ways makes you play better though. Knowing that really amazing musicians are there and you look up to a lot will definitely make you play better and push you.
Matt - I had a funny first… Besides playing in school concerts and stuff, I am not going to count that. My first personal music concert. I remember I was playing electric guitar. I was super excited. I think it was a talent contest at my school. I was so excited to play. I was so pumped. We were playing one song. It was the classic thing where the curtain comes up. I think there were three electric guitars and a bass. It was probably really shitty. My amp, it just didn't work! It just didn't work! Honestly… Seriously, as the curtain went down and we finished the song, my amp… Baaa the amp turned on. I just remember I was so furious! I could not even talk to anyone. I just remember my mom saying “don’t worry, you will always remember that your first concert was… the worst. It will be a good story”. I am finally getting to tell it, I am glad.
Makenzie - Oh, man I don't think I have a good first concert story. Mine was at one of those farmer markets, down in my town. It was just me and this girl playing music together.
Were you nervous?
Oh, god. I get nervous now. Even still.
How do you overcome it?
Makenzie - Well… (Alcohol, muttered from the background). Haha, you cant tell the children that! But really that is one way. I do have a drink before I go on stage. I don't know, I guess I just try to forget about it. Practicing! We practice before we play and every time we do that we are tighter and feel better. That is something especially with acoustic instruments, when you plug them in, the whole world is different. If you can play a few songs, acoustic, and remember that that's how it sounds, and it sounds great! When you get up there it can sound all crazy. You hear something different than the crowd is hearing. And then you just reassure yourself that it's all good. Warming up for sure. That's half the battle is getting up there and doing it! It's awesome when you do, and when you let loose!
Andrew - Wow, Devotchka is awesome. Just for the listeners, we are listening to them soundcheck right now and they are amazing. Ya, my first time on stage… The first band I played with was a traditional bluegrass string band. I played Mandolin. The first time I met them, it was a Jam at a festival and they pulled me on stage that night too. It was cool because it was just a bunch of hippies. A bunch of young hippies. I was like ooh, wow. I can play bluegrass to young hippies and they are going to love it.
This is along the same lines as the previous question, and you may have already answered this. Do you have any interesting, strange, or odd pre-performance rituals?
Makenzie - I like to stretch sometimes. That helps me feel better. Definitely, as a girl, I just like getting ready. It makes me feel better when I leave the house and I have done something slightly with my hair and it is not like I just rolled out of the bed. Although on tour it gets hard because eventually, I do just roll out of the bus to go play a show. Just having a moment to myself is one thing I like. I really like to collect myself, no matter what has happened that day. Then when you go in front of the audience, you really have the responsibility to them to give them your energy. If your energy is all crazy and out there it is nice to do some breathing exercises before going on.
Matt - Probably the one weird thing I like… I don't always do it but sometimes I do. it is a little trick I learned from Jaco Pastorius. Supposedly every show he would have a bucket of fried chicken backstage. You just eat some before you play and it gets all over your fingers. It feels really nice on the bass… I don’t think it would work for a mandolin because you are holding a pick. But because you are just using your fingers it gets on the bass strings. It is almost like a lubrication. A bass lubrication system. A B.L.S., that is what a bucket of chicken is.
Silas - I mostly have a bunch of certain picking exercises I do to warm up, just to get the fingers moving and wrists lose. That's about it. Smoke a lot of pot. Ya, scales. Also a lot of picking technique, just the right hand, to loosen up.
Do you have any advice for a band starting out today? Would you encourage a band starting today to get a manager? Or is it practice, again and again? What advice would you give?
Silas - I feel that in the end, it is the music that prevails. There are a lot of bands that do make it through social media but the best ones that have a sustaining audience I feel like have solid music and a unique thing. So I would say just finding yourself and your own sound and exploring that as much as possible before you even get into the business side. Becoming as passionate about music for your own reasons.
Matt- I would say I have two pieces of advice. First play as much as you can. Find some buddies and just get weird with it. I mean that is how I started. Jamming for hours with our eyes closed. That is how I found myself. But I think this band is a little more refined, which is good. I think you need to go through that first stage though. Secondly, if you want to be a touring musician, make sure that you don't really hate being in cars. Honestly, that's one of the things I didn't realize that like 60% driving. Everything is work but if you are not the type of person that doesn't want to be in the car a lot it is probably not going to work out. At least a touring musician. You could be a studio musician I suppose.
Makenzie - It is so interesting to be asked that because I still feel like we are such a beginner band too. But you always feel that way with your own growth. You always kinda feel like you are only just getting it now. My advice is to not worry about it and just play. Play out as much as you can and the management thing is nice. We call him “Mom” because he takes care of everything. So it allows you to just focus on the music and not have to worry. I mean the times we have to worry about getting people to a show and all this. It gives you so much weird anxiety. To not have to worry about that stuff is awesome. Ya, about the car thing… You spend… That's the thing with finding people to play with too. I mean you spend a lot of time with each other in a very small space. I have definitely learned more than I have ever learned, just being in a band, and not just about music. It's been awesome. I recommend it.
Andrew - ya, music is fun. I would tell you that the first thing is work on your music. Try not to suck as much as possible. Try to be unique too though. A lot of bands will get in the cycle of trying to imitate their heroes. Which is nice for learning. But if you are making an act you can't really do that. Well, you can but it is hard to say how far that will go. Sometimes it does, you never know. Having a good singer too. Tim Carbone said to us… a few steps to success is to have good songs, a good singer, and there was something else too. But that was probably the most important thing. Oh ya, and be really fuckin lucky. Ya having a manager too. We got lucky that we had management and representation early on. Well, we first started with our buddy Kiam. It was his first time managing a band and then we got Ryan in there and it was his first time doing it too. So I recommend...
Makenzie - Find a friend who really gets along and who is business oriented and minded.
Andrew - Ya, If you have a friend who is really O.C.D., can write lists, and type emails, and wants to party a lot, he is the man. Just be like hey dude, do you have much going on? Do you want a side hobby for a little while? Make a few bucks and then eventually you will make a lot more. So ya, if you have a friend, get him involved. Get him to manage for you. I love our manager!
Where can our listeners keep up with your tour schedule and your latest releases and learn more about Gipsy Moon.
Makenzie - Facebook is honestly the best. Facebook and Instagram. Facebook.com/GipsyMoonBand Instagram.com/GipsyMoonBand on each of those. Also our website. We keep that updated. GipsyMoonBand.com So, ya those are the best places. Facebook you will kinda get a more personal view of us whereas the website is a little bit more formal.
Well, thank you Gipsy Moon, for sharing your knowledge and sharing your time. I am really excited to publish this and thank you again for your time.
Thank you, we really appreciate it.
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My name is Haana Thiem, I go by HÄANA on stage. I am very particular about my brand because it is recognizable, and what people read, see and hear. I live in L.A. now. I used to live in New York and the east coast for about 10 years, before New York was Boston. I am kind of a nomadic individual. I love the question “where have you been?” rather than “where do you live?” or “where were you born?” because that doesn’t say a lot about a person, I think.
In that light then, where are some of the highlights of where you have been?
(HÄANA Laughter)
Well some of the most special places, I lived in Germany for a year. I lived in Spain for almost a year. I lived in Granada . I lived on an island in the Mediterranean called Formentera, which is just south of Ibiza. Then I traveled through Greece. I was studying Greek and I was going to move to Crete, but instead I moved to Boston somehow. They are kinda parallel, kinda not. I studied German, studied Spanish. I have had opportunities to play in a whole bunch of different places but, for a moment I realized that, all the traveling was kind of confusing me. But what I wanted to do instead, was hone my art, and my craft, and my offering and then travel. Which is how it has turned out.
Great, so where were you honing your craft? Was it in the Mediterranean?
It kinda started there. The really interesting turn of events. Should we get into it?
Sure. Ya, lets get into it. That’s why we are here.
Well, lately i have been posting old photos of me from when I was 21 living in Formentera and living in Spain. It is a really Inspiring story. I think it is important to share the back story. I feel like people want to know about that. I tend to shroud myself in a bit of mystery. I want to let more people in, so thank you for the opportunity. I was living in Granada, Spain and at that point I wasn’t performing on violin that much. I started playing Violin when I was three but I was studying languages in college. So, I bought a violin while in Spain and started playing casually on the street. It wasn’t until, this was the turning point of my whole career, somebody stole my wallet. I had no money. So, I decided that I would go put on a costume with a beautiful shirt and shall or something. I don’t know, It wasn’t really a costume, but something to make me feel different and embolden me. Then I went to this restaurant, near where I lived in the old Arab district, and performed outside for all the people dining. Then I went around and asked for a tip. People gave me, at that point it was the one and two Euro coins, so you could make a decent amount. It wasn’t really the money but the validation that people really enjoyed it. So was making up beautiful songs and performing very firey, and they loved it. So I was like wow, I can do this. So I would start to make my rounds in the evenings and would make about 80 Euros in about 15 minutes. Then my new debit card finally came so I could have access to my money but I had started a whole new career path.
Wow that is amazing. A lot of people would be very upset and let the it ruin their day or week for vacation or moment but you were able to seize opportunity in the difficulty. Now tell me about that costume, I am just interested. You said “embolden you”, was it like armor against negative thoughts, or a hater out there would ‘boo’ at the first show?
Kinda of. Hahah. Well, just to give you a little more backstory, I started classically. Sometimes it is really hard to get out of that classical mode and to make up your own music. To improvise. To be free. To not read music off of a sheet. At that point, I was really feeling not very inspired by playing dead people’s music. You know? And how to put the emotion into it? When i started to improvise, I was sort of tapping into this feeling. I am naturally an introvert. A lot of people don’t know that about me either because I am up on these big stages all the time. I have diagnosed myself recently as being an extroverted-introvert.
Ok? If you don’t mind, go on about that (being an extroverted-introvert) how does that happen?
Ok, but I would like to explain one more piece to the Spain story. The costume itself helped pull me out of my shell. Helped me feel like a different person. Like oh, if this fails or doesn’t work out, than nobody knew it was me. So, I was a different person.
Did it help break you free of the classical mindset, being dressed up in a costume?
Ya, I ended up meeting a dancer from Barcelona, her name was Sophia. She would do this flamingo-mime ballet movements. My music would inspire her movements and the reverse. We ended up traveling to Barcelona. She lived on an organic compound just outside of Barcelona. So we ended up traveling to Formentera and living on an island in the mediterranean and performing every day. It was amazing. To this day, I still perform with dancers, especially with ballerinas. You never know where life will take you.
Thats awesome. If you could go back to the ‘Extroverted Introvert’. What does that mean to you?
So I used to be extremely shy. To the point of not really even knowing how to talk to people. Not that extreme but as a kid I was a thinker. I loved to read and hang out by myself. I was always an artist drawing and photographing. My dad gave me a camera when I was four or five, which its also my parallel career as a photographer. My older sister was always very extroverted. I feel that in birth order the kids want to be different than their siblings. I was more the quiet thinker. The pensive one. Then what actually happened is that I started working in a restaurant. When you have a role, there are things you need to say to have people order food. I would just make jokes. I started my standup comedian career at that moment. To get people to laugh to interact to get to meet them. You don’t have to go very deep. You just have conversations. Through that i learned how to be a bit more extroverted. To this day when I meet people, I really try to get to the root of who they are. Rather than “how are you?” “where are you from?” “what do you do?”. Those questions are so boring. Ask interesting questions. Sometimes making a silly joke or asking something interesting, where it feels natural but getting to the heart of the person. That’s how i like to interact with people. I still remain a very one-on-one person. I don’t really like big groups. But there is something about being on a stage where I just embody this energy. Where I am pulling everyone into my world. Kind of captivating. I am definitely an extrovert but in an introverted role. But I don’t know, I’m sure there are other people like me out there. [laughter / chuckles]
I’m sure there are. When you are on stage does it feel like the crowd is giving you energy?
Yes
It does. So you kinda take in that group collective energy. That is great. Well now that you have made it difficult for me to ask good questions because you have ruled out all the shitty questions.
Haha. No you can ask me those boring questions. I don’t care.
I have one that is super general and kind of a curveball but I am curious where everyone takes it. What is music to you?
Music is a universal language. You can talk to everyone about it. Even people who are deaf. They can still feel vibrations.
I have seen at some shows there is a deaf area where there are balloons for people to hold and feel the vibrations.
Or I think the sub-pack as well. My friend David Starfire and Zach are working with Sub-Pack and I am pretty sure they do these workshops with Deaf children and everyone wears this sub-pack that you can feel the vibrations, especially the bass frequencies.
I couldn’t agree more that it [Music] is a universal language. Being yourself, well traveled, how do you associate the different cultures that you have been with and how do they meld or culminate in your sound.
I have spent a good amount of time in Iceland. That was such a beautiful and inspiring time there. My solo-project started just after my first time in Iceland. I didn’t realize…. now reflecting upon it I see the inspiration that that gave me and where I started to take the music. Before that, I had a band called ‘Copal’ and I also had an electronic project called ‘Nixis’. Then I studied at ‘Dub Spot’ and got into my own music production. As in producing all of the music. Not just writing the melodies & harmonies and having other people to the other content, the rhythms and bass lines. The very first song that I produced for my solo project, HÄANA, was called “Brym Al Mar” . I have a music video for that out. It was the biggest project manifestation of my artistic vision to that point. So that in itself was incredible. Brym, the word, means the salt spray hitting the rocks or surf. But surf sounds funny. Salt spray sounds more romantic. Al Mar, is in Spanish, of the sea. The melody itself was inspired by a Norwegian folk song. The video goes into life and death and multiple iterations. Also this folktale about the ‘Norns’. In Nordic mythology these three sisters who weave the threads of past, present, and future. So you will see this in the video. It is kind of abstract but I love things to be mysterious. You will see the Norns weaving the threads of life and you will see me going through this iteration. Being in a white dress on top of a cliff and then fall into the water and emerge as this badass with a mohawk wearing all black with a black hardanger fiddle by the fire. So it is incorporating a lot of the elements.
There are a lot of people out there who don’t have a music video and who do have music. In that light, did you dream up this vision of yourself in the music video? How did it come to be? Were you working with a producer?
Well, I met this dear friend, a very creative individual, “Armin Matine” (sp?) in New York. I knew that this song really needed a music video. I knew that that’s what I wanted before I released it. So I told him about my idea. I am a photographer, I don’t think in moving pictures. I think in fames, snapshots and composition. I told him what my idea was. Then he really dove deep into it. He is this incredible creative individual. He works on big commercial projects in New York but this he took on as a personal project. So he did a lot of research. He discovered the Norns. I didn’t even know they existed. He wove all these different story threads. I was like wow, how are we ever going to be able to do this? I don’t have that much money to pull this off.
Ya, and the song is only so long.
Ya. He does CGI [computer generated images] and After-Affects.
So you didn’t actually take a cliff dive?
Well I will get into that, if we want to. Depends on how long you want to make this interview. So then he presented it to Alice. Alice Miller, who is an incredible cinematographer in New York. She apparently has been obsessed with the Norns since she was a little girl. so she was like “yes! I want to do this”. So she took it on as a personal project as well. The three of us were very interested in creating a piece of art. Sometimes when people really take on an idea and take ownership of it, a lot more beauty can come out of it. Because it is not just the dollar sign. It’s not the commercial product. Its the art mission. The passion. So then everyone that we hired for the team…. You know, we had a budget. Everyone wasn’t getting their commercial rate but everyone was pulling 200% of their energy. We had this incredible assistant photographer and an incredible lighting designer. Part of the shoot was done underwater. We used the black-light cannons. They basically spent the whole day setting up this part of the shoot, that you can see in the video, that is under water. It was incredible. The piece that they didn’t do. They didn’t heat the pool, and it was May. I was supposed to fall into the pool backwards from a diving board into the water. I was like “ok, calm face. Calm face. It’s going to be great. It is going to be wonderful”. But, you know there is fear involved. Wearing this long dress. We added more fabric to the dress because we went shopping for fabrics that would glow with the blacklight cannon. I was envisioning how it would be in the water. I bought a cheap throwaway violin on Ebay for like $30. So the violin was going to go into the water. I was envisioning me twirling in the water look in the water, playing violin in this whole romantic beautiful scene. The reality is…. I fall into the water backwards. I’m sure my face had some sort of grimace on it. I fall in and then I am trying to swim up but my dress wrapped around my legs. I could not swim. I couldn’t move. So we have slow motion footage of the lighting designer diving in to rescue me and pull me to the surface. All this water came out of my nose and ears. It was like I was waterboarded. Oh, also I had this makeup artist Jess Toth (sp?), who did this waterproof makeup look on me. My makeup did not budge one bit, thanks to her. So she was like “you can’t do that again”. She was like “if you don’t feel good we can stop this right now”. I was like “no, no we can do it”. So we did that sequence a couple more times. One of the best shots we did was, I holding on to the edge of the pool because I didn’t want to fall in again. With my dress and with the violin in the water, waving it back and forth, creating this abstract texture, which you can see in the physical CD. I did a beautiful print of that particular shot, inside [the CD]. That was a pretty incredible experience. It was a three day shoot and the end result was something that looked like we spent twenty grand on it. We just pulled our resources. It was just something that I was feeling so passionate about it and I just knew I needed to invest what ever I could in it. I really truly believe that if you think big, and if you act big, than even if you are not quite there yet, you will get there. Also thinking of it like a legacy. This is a forever project. So I didn’t want to put anything out there that wasn’t top top top quality. Top caliber. I also didn’t want to do a Kickstarter campaign for it because I would prefer that it was something that I am funding, I am not asking people for money. I think that sometimes those things [Kickstarter Campaign] can be successful, but sometimes it is sort of a more begging thing.
It is kind of like losing control because you don’t have control over the budget and can’t plan accordingly.
I think it is important to put out the best quality work you can, because it will be for forever. Well, we don’t know really what the future holds but I’m thinking it will live for forever.
Forever, as long as foreseeable. Working with that production team but also musically… building your albums and recording it… Collaborating with other musicians and sound engineers… How do you build and cultivate a team that helps you succeed? Can you speak to the building of teams?
Sure. Well, “Brym Al Mar” was the first song I did for my solo project, I actually went through a few iterations with a few different producers. My friend Benny Cante (sp?) did some of the dubstep growls and textures. Empsh Subatomic worked with me. [He said] “before we actually mix this, I think we need to go into the sounds, themselves. Let's get the best kick drum sound we can. Let's get the best textures. Because if you have the best quality audio, than everything else will follow”. He also had there idea to merge, you know when you are doing electronic music with violin and vocals. Kinda merging those elements so that it is not this cold, stark electronic content. When I went into the studio I recorded peppercorns rice shakers, these organic shaker textures and then also this Icelandic jaw harp I had. Just in the act of having a few organic percussive elements helped fuze those two worlds together. The digital and analogue. From there I had it mixed by Ming, who is another producer in New York, who Empsh introduced me to. It is kind of like you connect with one person and another person and another person. But really I wanted to find the person who really fit, and really understood what I was doing and really got me. Working with Ming, super fast and efficient. There are some moments in the song where there are transitions, I didn’t really know how that would work. But it [the song] still wasn’t there. Even after all those people. Then I finally brought it to Dave Sharma. He mixed that whole EP that I released. I basically sat with him for a bunch of the sessions. The processes with that is finding where the song wants to live, which is interesting. Each song actually has a place where it wants to live. I have approached a lot of my music as an artistic expression, that's really important. I am not producing something that anyone else has any quality control over. It's not a commercial label that has this specific thing that they want me to fit into. Its my expression. I am ultimately giving the “yes” or “no” to the final product. I really felt that Dave got my vision. [He] was pulling out elements of each song. When we were working on [the song] ‘Phavet’, which is inspired by a Finnish a capella women’s chorus, as represented by violins. I had a particular way that I thought the track should go, but he was like “no, let's try it this way”. I was like "ok, well I’m open to it”. I am very happy with that direction we took. Then finding a mastering engineer, that's another critical piece. I have been working with AudibleOddities. He [Shawn Hatfield] has worked with some of the top electronic artists like Amon Tobin. I am an audiophile. Finding people who really care about audio and sound quality. The first track I sent him to master came back perfect. No need to revise things.
For this release that I did with Desert Dwellers they put Leya, I think I release it in 2015. It was Laya and then four remixes by a few different artists; Haj I Ji, An-Ten-Nae, Kaminanda, and Twin Shape. They used a different mastering engineer. I think we went through four or five different revisions with that one.
So it pays to get the right person.
Again investing just a little more, because it is a legacy that will live forever.
Thanks for sharing. Tell me about Paper Gold Records.
Well... Paper Gold Records is actually my label. At the moment I am the only artist on it, but my vision with it, which could tie into what you are doing, is to inspire young girls and women to pursue a career in music, and the whole world of electronic music. There could be definitely be a lot more women that could take on that challenge. So with Paper Gold, it is currently a vanity label but my vision is to take that to the next level and have it be a platform for other artists to release their music on.
How do you make a record label? Not all artists are willing to put in the work. Tell me how that is for you and how you balance dealing with the record label and all of the political/ legal hoops that you need to jump through.
It is getting easier and easier to release your own music and to be an independent artist. Sometimes it is good to have an additional avenue to release your music. First of all, its quality control. Also if I own all the pieces of my music, than getting it placed for television, for a commercial, for films… If I own of my publishing and all of my mastering… The down side to it though is that when you are part of a bigger label you are part of a bigger network. If you want to do it on your own, you build your own team. Everyone starts somewhere. Everyone starts small and grows. If it is the right thing the path might be easy and if it is not the right thing, than the path might be a little more difficult. It depends also on how much you really want it. The important key element that I found was distribution. I work with Symphonic Distribution and they’re amazing. That is how I get my music up on Spotify and iTunes. Soundcloud is different but all the digital distribution happens through my distributor. Ya, it’s not too difficult to start your own business in that way.
Well, you have to be bold and take that first step.
Yes. Ya, and come up with a good name. Really the biggest thing was Paper Gold Label or Paper Gold Records. Ah, they are so similar…
Was that a week, or a month or how long was that debate?
I don’t know, maybe a month or maybe two. I have been spending a lot of… the beginning of this year and last year working on my new EP called Salt. I actually played one of the songs last night at my show on the Green Tree Stage [at Arise Music Festival]. I invited up a guest guitarist for that. Salt is the single I released in June. Then I was touring the east and west coast with it. The lyrics are in Icelandic. I worked with my friend Outsa (sp?) in Reykjavik (Iceland) and she helped me with the diction. I have been studying some icelandic and I am a linguist but I don’t speak Icelandic. Part of my interest in working with different languages… I even have some songs in a made up language. The thing about that is to pull people into your universe, it doesn’t really matter what the words mean. But anyway the lyrics are basically “Tears of the ocean, salt of the sea. Find yourself at the bottom of the sea, white doves over head and drift away”. Then there is this badass Icelandic medal section that drops in. The guy who plays on the track Stephen, in Austin… You know I never ever wanted electric guitar in any of my music but that just worked, really worked. But back to your question earlier about collaborations… I do write a lot for Cello. My new EP will have a few different guitarists on it. A string trio. I recorded a violist Nils Bultmann who works with Blue Tech. Then Jill Berta (sp?) and Adam Maloof (sp?) they are cellists who live in New York. I have a lot of piano on there. I play piano too. You know collaborating with people in the sense that… If you are just one person you have just one expression. But if you pull other people in and their talents in… Wow, it’s so beautiful. Tear drop, the cover I did of Massive Attack, I worked with a Cellist named Raymond who tours with Celine Dion or he did in the past. His expression on the Cello is just this gorgeous… like your heart just goes Oh… and melts. You feel things. I want people to feel things. So that's what I keep in mind with every piece of music that I write.
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Tell me about your first performance and if you had any anxieties and how you overcame that.
Wow, rolling back the time. I started playing violin when I was three but then we took a bit of a break with that. I kept envisioning me in a pink dress in front of an orchestra soloing. Then my very first recital for my Suzuki concert, my mother and I sowed a pink dress. I thought about that later and was like “wow, I really actually manifested that”. Haha. I was extremely nervous, I was so young. For my class in school, when I was just learning, I would bring my violin and my Suzuki book to school and I would have them pick out a song and then play for them. I was kind of bold then. When I auditioned at New England conservatory for the master’s program in Boston. That was a deathly horrifying nerve racking experience. Somebody later told me about taking beta-blockers. It was so bad. When you are so nervous that your hands are shaking. Then my knee started to shake. So I did a graceful move to [try] to stop shaking. Like my knee was about to fall of or something. haha. I was like I hope they don’t see this. So I got through that interview or that audition process. At that moment I didn’t make it in, which was disappointing. I feel like performing on stage is a very different thing than auditioning. Auditioning is nerve racking
Well they are judges not fans.
Ya, they are all just sitting there staring at you. Its intimidating.
How did you overcome your fear? Did you get yourself into a mental mindset? Do you use meditation to clarify your vision before you step out and the curtains open? How do you get yourself ready mentally?
I do try to do that. If at all possible I try to have the green room cleared right before my set. Spend a few moments centering and grounding. Two years ago I played Lighting in the Bottle at the Thunder stage, and I tried something new there. I arrived in the evening. My set was maybe two days later. I arrived to the space and it was at night and everything’s closed. I just did a visualization there. I closed my eyes and envisioned the whole space filled with light and setting intention to really inspire people. Envisioning the whole space, this enormous ball of energy. That was really powerful. Arriving to a space, setting an intention. Really doing some visualizations. It doesn’t happen every time, especially at festivals. Sometimes those change overs are so rapid and there are just a million things and chaos. and the rain… why does it have to rain…. And there is also all that adrenaline. So sometimes it is a little bit rushed. And maybe not that grand. You know it is not always the ____ Stage, and then Grand Reveal, and then I enter. You kinda have to roll with whatever is given to you and make the most of it. One important practice I do too… of course it is ideal if ever performance you have you have the best lighting, the best sound, the best ambiance, the best audience. But if you don’t have all those elements you just ‘fake it’. What I am saying by that is that let’s say I can’t hear myself very well on stage or if something shifted with the audio. You roll with it. You don’t make a big deal about it. Unless it is something that will really affect your performance. The most important thing is that people… Their watching, they are listening, they are there for an experience, they showed up. They want whatever it is you are going to give them. To break the flow, I don’t like to do that. I like to proceed. If it is not ideal, its ok. It’s improvising in the moment as well.
Ya, I remember watching a set… it was actually here at Arise… it was Linx, is who it was. Her computer restarted on her mid-song and she didn’t lose a beat. She was beatboxing over the track and then suddenly everything cut out, and she kept beatboxing without losing the rhythm. Then later on revealed “so I hope you liked that last one, that was just me beatboxing as my computer restarted but here we go”. I didn’t even catch that there was a crisis on stage. It was just serene, she just rolled with it.
(Tangent): I think that’s something very important and some younger musicians don’t do. I have taught Guitar and learned the Guitar myself. And one thing that people do when you are just learning is you hit the wrong cord [or note] and then you stop. You freeze. You’re like oh, that was wrong. And then go back to the beginning. That was the wrong chord but the next chord should be right. So just keep going. Pretend like it [the error] didn’t happen. So I think keeping that flow is important.
So getting into that mental mindset tell me about your meditation music.
So I have this side project called ‘Deep Sonos’ and it is a full-spectrum sound meditation experience. Part of that was I wanted a channel for this more meditative, pretty, contemplative music that I write. I actually did a workshop here on Saturday morning. It was in the dome, the Sunrise Dome and it was basically 2/3rds full. So many people showed up at 9am for this experience. It was basically this full spectrum sound experience, where all my textures, sounds, electronics, bass frequencies, violin, and vocals are pulling people into this really deep effortless space for meditation. I actually have four episodes of these 10 minute meditations out that people can get online at: SoundCloud.com/deepsonos/
I have been doing a lot of those workshops around. I really believe that music can create a very deep mental… ah… almost like a bed. Like you can just fall into it. Like you fall onto this feathered mattress and… there is a cushion… and you just melt. No drugs involved. Haha. So Deep Sonos started, I have a background with Yoga. I have been touring with Wanderlust for about four years. I did all of the U.S. and Canadian festivals. I would take people on these hikes with just my violin in its case. We would go to a beautiful vista. I would sit everyone down and center and ground everyone in nature. Its beautiful. It's on a mountain somewhere. There’s.. Oh, gorgeousness everywhere. Everyone gets really comfortable. They are dropping in, they’re present. They are in nature. Then I start playing violin. About 30-45 minutes I would improvise. Emulating the sounds of the birds, the bugs, the textures, ancient melodies that are coming to me. I am kind of channeling music that comes to me, but I don’t normally say that. But then I also walk around. So as people are in this meditative state, they are hearing now the violin is her… now it's there, now it’s here. It's like this out of body experience.
Just imagine… your eyes are closed. you are in the grass. you are lying down. You hear this beautiful violin. Its to the right of you now it’s left now it’s far away. I’m not moving around that much but it’s this kinda tippy experience because when you are falling into this deep sedated state you are not totally aware of the specifics of what is happening but you are just kinda drifting off in this mellow space. So, I love doing those hikes so much. Some of them were at sunset or early morning. So I did a lot of music accompaniment for Yoga which is how I actually got into my solo electronic project because when people are doing Yoga they are not really paying attention to if you’re turning the right knob or if you played that melody correctly. it is just more about this immersive experience. What can happen with a yoga class [is that] as I am interpreting and feeling the environment, and the class [students], and the teacher, I am providing something for something that is being facilitated by someone else. A couple of years ago I was in Portland for a Yoga event with this teacher Jill Knouse and we added on a meditation experience at this space, that was specifically dedicated to meditation call, Hush. I had a full sound system, a full PA, because the bass frequencies are what are really important for this experience. So I created a whole Deep Sonos sound meditation, an hour long. It was basically like having a pallet, a painters palette. A little green, a little red, a little splash here. I didn’t have anyone to tiptoe around. I was just intuiting, and feeling what these people who were meditating wanted. I was creating this immersive experience for people to drop deep into meditation. That really resonated with me. It really felt like something that I wanted to do more of and curate more. So from there, I produced these ten-minute meditation sequences. This was after a trip to Costa Rica and I recorded textures. Like jungle textures. Like sea pods, and crinkling up leaves, and rubbing two sticks together. haha. I recorded all these things with a Tascam Audio Recorder. Then wove those into this 10-min meditation track. I produced it in Logic and wrote it all in Logic.
In Logic are you working with midi and digital instruments as well as these organic sounds that you are pulling from around the world?
Yes. I use Native Instruments a lot. I use Machine for a lot of my drum sounds. I use a lot of different plugins. So I am doing a lot of studio recorded violin and vocals and sometimes guest cellists and guitarists. Then I use a lot of Sine waves for base. Sometimes I’ll layer that with...
Just straight clean sine-wave for bass?
I’ll synthesize sounds or do a little oscillation or wobble in there to give it a little texture. The challenge for Deep Sonos to do these segments at 432 Hz. I wanted to try it and see if that indeed felt more meditative. They do say…
Tell me about 432
There are lots of theories about… I am not an expert but from what I have gathered… 440 Hz is what most music is produced at. The frequency… I don’t know if we should even get into this.
Well if you don’t want to, we don’t have to.
Well, I am not the most scientific about it. 440, 432… Apparently, Tibetan singing bowls, if you put a tuner to it, the frequency that it emits is 432, not 440. 440 is a bit of a contrived frequency.
It’s Round
Well, there are theories about controlling people and I don’t know. I don’t even want to get into that. But, I wanted to try it because people do say that 432 is the sound of the universe, of nature, of the sphere and some people claim that it is more meditative. It is challenging.
What about in your experience?
I honestly don’t feel a difference. That’s my take on it. But what’s interesting the challenge to produce at 432hz. My ear is so trained to play my violin at 440 that to down tune it just 8 herz. It’s like oh am I playing out of tune or is this not right? And then all of the plugins like Native Instruments, Konnect Medal (sp?), and I love Alicia's Keys, it’s a plugin for Contact for piano. And a lot of these instruments you can change the tuning. You can change it to 432 and some others you really have to dive in. It was a good challenge.
Now these, ten minute… You called it a sequence of meditations… Are they meant to be listed to in order?
No. They live on their own. The first one called Vernal the next one is called Ephemére and then Autumné and then Viintara. They’re kinda seasonally based. But yea they are intended… Take ten. In the morning. In the night. You know when the song is up it has been ten minutes. I live in L.A. I go to the Beach. I listen without any music just the sound of the waves. I put my timer on. Inevitably at one moment, I will look. “Oh, it must have been 10 minutes already. Did I miss it? Oh, no there’s two minutes left”. I find that when I am meditating to one of those episodes, I really like Ephemére, I’ll actually drift off into this out of body experience and maybe I’ll be asleep for 30 minutes. Then I wake up and like ‘wo, where did I go?” And I feel refreshed like I took a 5 hour nap but it was only 30 minutes. And the fact that it can do that to me, and I created it, I mean… I channeled it, is pretty amazing.
Absolutely.
What Meditation does is gives your brain a chance to calm down. We have so much stimulus. So many things going on. So much distraction. I think a lot of us feel like we are running around like a chicken, with our heads cut off. Giving your brain and your body a moment to just calm down. To center and ground and to focus. Also to not have to worry about anything. I have found that with music it allows you to be effortless with this space of just calming your mind. So you are not worrying. The brain likes to run around. “Did I plan my dinner” or “my plans for the week”. If you can just calm it all down. So at one of my Deep Sonos workshops. I do these one hour sound meditation workshops and this one guy said “wow, I was actually scared to come to this workshop. How am I going to meditate for an hour?” And he said [after] the first five minutes of music his mind was a complete blank slate. It was completely blank. He said “I have never ever experienced that” to just have a completely calm mind. I think he has a little A.D.D. I think it is super healthy. You can read all the benefits of it Meditation. I know for myself, when I have a regular practice of it [meditation] I can approach my day with a lot more clarity.
My assumption is, that you want to share that clarity with your listeners and that is why you have created Deep Sonos.
Yes.
Is Deep Sonos also intended to expand to other artists or is this a solo-project?
At the moment it is a solo-project but I do have bigger visions for it.
Well we are going to have to stay tuned.
All of my music can be found here: ThisIsHÄANA.com
What do you call the A with a double dot [Ä]?
Umlaut. Yes it is German.
And where is the best place to listen to Deep Songs
Well thank you for taking the time to talk with us and I really appreciate all of the wisdom you have shared. I wish you safe travels throughout the U.S. and to Australia and beyond.
Thank you so much.
Last Friday at the Domino Room in downtown Bend, Oregon, we were able to catch Leftover Salmon’s opener, World’s Finest. Featuring an electric banjo, saxophone, and vintage guitar, they had a rustic and organic vibe. Blending elements of ska, bluegrass and reggae, they were able to touch on several familiar sounds while adding their own character and a bit of a twist.
Juggling genres and different styles, it was obvious the group drew inspiration from assorted backgrounds. There were many moments of feel-good-bluegrass easily associated with Portland and The Pacific Northwest. Both upbeat and rock influenced it reminded me of groups like Fruition. Other times they would tone things down and switch over to reggae and ska. Some highlights included “Rub-a-dub” reggae and well timed breakdowns to group acapellas. With flexible musicianship, they were able to showcase a few covers as well. My favorite was their funky-bluegrass cover of “Pick Up the Pieces” by Average White Band. The nostalgia of the song, accompanied with their provocative saxophone, was a great way to close out the set.
Full of fun energy and a feel good vibe, World’s Finest had very personable crowd interaction and seemed to thoroughly enjoy their time on the stage.
Check out the links below for music and more on the World’s Finest!
Wildly entertaining, eccentric and funk-nasty. The words that come to mind after last nights show at The Volcanic Theater in Bend, Oregon. I knew to expect some funk with an East Coast jam band influence. What I didn’t expect was a roller coaster of spacey interludes, mambo break-beats, and jazz waltz noodling. And yes, of course there was always a sneaky funk breakdown to tie it all together. On point transitions and tight coordination amongst the group allowed for fresh switch ups and genre blending. It’s hard to explain exactly how I would classify their style, but just take my word for it, you don’t want to miss them live. Its beautiful, musical madness at its finest. With a packed house on a Sunday night, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong definitely have a following and were a perfect fit for the wacky Bend crowd, looking to get the most out of their Sunday night.
It’s rare that you come across such an animated front-man as lead singer and guitarist Greg Ormont. Sporting pajama pants and a frizzy Afro, I’m pretty sure he never blinked. His wide array of facial expressions were both engrossing and humorous. My initial hesitation slowly grew into captivation and it became hard to look away. Incredibly skilled guitarist Jeremy Schon really took it to the next level. It was clear that this type of seasoned musicianship demanded a bigger stage. With a calm, natural presence on stage, Ben Carrey laid down filthy, funk bass lines to back the group. Drummer, Alex Petropulos playfully transitioned between different tempos, genres and moods with ease. All together, this group was a tight knit team. Their raw and playful energy on stage really reflected their confidence to push their music to new boundaries.
This group is big news and word is spreading fast. They had so much support that they were able to fund their new studio album “Pizazz” through contributions from their followers. It should be releasing sometime this Fall. Also, make sure and check out their new live album “The Great Outdoors Jam” coming out February 17th!! For those of you out in Colorado, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong will be playing at Red Rocks, August 13th with Moe and Twiddle!
Written by Greg Powell
Photography by Molly Buckiewicz
For more info on upcoming tour schedule, music and the band check out the links below!!
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Sonic Bloom 2016 has a stacked lineup producing incredible performances too numerous to describe here. It is safe to say, “SonicBloom has become one of the best electronic music festivals in North America!” It is worth noting the international talent attracted to the base of the Colorado Rockies to share their vision, talent and art. To see the full lineup click here.
The mindfulness and vision to attract the top talent from across the globe, must be recognized and commended. The three official stages vibrated with historic house music. This festival is the nexus of the Colorado electronic music scene. The location is perched atop a beautiful space of land with the foothills of the Rockies to the west and windmill filled fields that go on to meet the eastern horizon. The festival has succeeded at curating a fertile ground for the world-wide cutting edge of musical maneuvering.
The sound systems are tuned to the valley and can bump through the entire festival grounds. The security is appropriately staffed and energetically aligned. The friendly faces can be found throughout the campgrounds, stages, in swinging hammocks, in high fiveing security guards, or the dancing chefs who happily serve nourishing food at reasonable prices. The ice, in high demand in the hot sun is the only noticeably overpriced product at $1/lb. The showers run at full capacity as people line up for their chance to clean off that layer of accumulated dust and dirt that is kicked up from all of the movement. The sunny and beautiful weather also brings with it the dryness enabling the dirt to turn to dust. The wind is welcome and the stream is an oasis for people looking to take a dip and cool off.
The unofficial or ‘renegade’ stages include tipis and camp sites stacked with speakers and subs. The colorful crowd and the apex of art have arrived to create an immersive experience that people are willing to dedicate four days to. Some of the crowd has traveled from across the continent to enjoy the this dreamed up reality.
This festival has become a small close nit group of people who are looking out for one another to form a utopic village for just under a week. The production continues after the last set as everything needs to return to its original order; stages must come down, lasers, lights, projectors, sound & lighting boards, 1,000’s of yards of electric wiring, speakers, microphones, instruments, and framework to name a few. The thankless work of setting up all of the stages and hauling in the gear was executed with time to spare and enough technology to entertain even the most avid of festival goers.
People in their ‘A-Game’ costumes come energetically into the festival entrance in groups. Everyone has made 10+ new friends and friendly neighbors. The exchange of ideas, paints, music and visual art permeate the mind of every attendee. One cannot help but be inspired by something of unique beauty.
Winds whip down the hills and across the plains. Dust moves in a hurried Eastwood direction. Every walk of electronic culture strolls through the grounds interacting with experiences, sonic vibrations and frequencies across the perceptible spectrum. Cars have been rolling in for over 12 hours at a steady pace filling up the campgrounds. The lucky and wise are nestled among the 6′ shrubbery whose neighbors are bushes and trees. My neighbors on the other hand-made the pilgrimage to SonicBloom from Louisiana. A tightly packed vehicle of four young energetic and enthusiastic beautiful artistic human beings. As a group, it does not seem possible to gather so many like-minded humans in a place to enjoy and thrive in a collaborative environment.
Friendly staff greet the goers. The hippy chicks and the electric glowers.
From the lighting to the sound, from the stages to the camp ground, there are smiles to go around. With the hammocks from Yammocks, and the beats from the peeps the festi is full of fun-loving music geeks.
Three stages of stacked sets featuring some of the top electronic acts from around the world. American electronic music lovers treat this event as an annual pilgrimage to discover and reunite with the music, people and source of creative energy that is the foundation of a festival. Creativity flows from the ornately decorated stages and sublimely composed tracks that suddenly take hold of the listeners and create a simultaneous bodily expression of enjoyment including but not limited to twerking, spinning, jumping, dropping, exploding or floating.
The breeze kicked up into a howl for Nightmares on Wax’s last song featuring one of the most recognizable guitar riffs around. The high energy Bonobo set was filled with masterfully woven bass lines pulsing through the night. The crowd can be heard cheering for miles.
The late night stages rage like there is no finality to human diurnality. The artists continue to stoke the flaming crowd into the next adventure and from one set to the next. The solitude of night embraced with the warmth of bass and faces.With the evolution of the performances, the pulse of the festival was amplified and magnified by the exemplified beat technique. The audible entertainment abruptly ended, with a slow retreating high pass filter that faded out for 15 min or more notifying the audience that the silent disco was starting. With headphones on, the party rolls on…
The nexus of Colorado electronic music counter-culture is here; at Sonic Bloom, on the beautiful property at Humming Bird Ranch.
