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Episode 013 - Snug Boy
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FMP 013 – Snug Boy
FMP 012 – Eric John Kaiser
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Episode 012 - Eric John Kaiser
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FMP 011 – The Motet – Dave Watts
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Episode 011 - The Motet - Dave Watts
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Podcast Transcription - Coming Soon
Start out by introducing yourself
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FMP 010 – Aphasia
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Episode 010 - Aphasia
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FMP 009 – Willbeaux
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Episode 009 - Willbeaux
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FMP 008 – Sky Alan
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Episode 008 - Sky Alan
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Sky Alan Podcast Transcription
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Willdabeast – FMP 004
The Freio Music Podcast
Episode 004 - Willdabeast
WillDaBeast Interview Transcription:
Conducted by Michael Morahan for the Freio Music Podcast. © Freio Music Podcast 2018
Will:
My name is Will Glazier and I play trumpet and do a lot of the production for our group.
Dan:
My name is Dan de Lisle I do trombone, flute, I play a little bit of keyboards and I am learning a lot about production.
Will:
Ya we go by Willdabeast. We are also in a few other bands as well. We are traveling and touring mostly with Michal Menert, Michal Menert Big Band, Michal Menert and the Pretty Fantastics and we have a few other local bands as well, in Bellingham, a reggae band called Yogoman and a funk band called Snug Harbor. Snug Harbor is a band that has been around the longest for us. It was a band that I started when I first moved here in 2007 and Daniel joined quickly after. He is in Yogoman too. We are actually in every band together. So it has been kind of a harmonious relationship ever since.
Where did you meet and how did you come together musically?
Dan:
It was the WCC, the Wacom community college jazz band, up in the county that we live in. Will was playing first trumpet and I was going there to mess around a little bit. He [Will] was looking for a trombone player to join his funk band. So he invited me out and I bombed the practice. I did terribly! And for some reason he has been playing music with me ever since.
Will:
[laughter]
Ya I remember I moved here in 2006 or 2007 from Buffalo New York, where I am from. I started here to go to school. So I had to go to Wacom first for Community College to get my AA to transfer over and blah blah blah. I was playing in their big band, the Jazz band. I remember staring at daniel’s head a lot and he was one of the only competent people in the band. They are a great band now but at that time they were kinda a struggling program. So I gravitated towards him and invited him towards Snug Harbor, which is just a funk homage to New Orleans. I traveled there when I was 15 and got to see a bunch of really good Jazz and Funk which inspired me for the rest of my life really. Brass and horn music and stuff like that. And ya he’s[Daniel] been by my side ever since. I don't know why he has stuck around this far. I have probably cost him lots of opportunities, and money, and jobs, and women, and relationships. But ya, he's here. We’re here and we are doing it still.
Can you discuss yourself as a kid and how you were introduced to music and what inspired you to play?
Dan:
I got kind of an easy start really. My dad was a flute player growing up. Not a professional one or anything. But he had a nice flute and a couple of beaters lying around. So I got my hands on a flute pretty early. I started messing around on that. I joined band and went through the process that a lot of kids growing up in America do growing up and learning music. And just kinda kept loving it. I guess I always wanted to play music professionally if the opportunity came up and now I am just busting my ass for it.
Will:
I was first introduced to music similarly. Through the school systems and such and my parents were both big advocates. My dad met Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix in college when he was at UC Berkeley. Just listening to really good Vinyl growing up. I don't know, it just always caught my ear. I’m kinda good at a lot of things but the one thing I know I am good at is Music. And it has been a struggle to balance everything. I have a family now and all that. Ya for me Music is all I do. We get paid here and there for recordings or parties or different events and recording sessions and stuff. So we do as much traveling and performance and trying to generate income as possible. Daniel has another job as well. But it is what we are trying to pursue. So we are trying to chase it while we still can.
Definitely. I think that is the right approach. You have got to get out there and get discovered
Will:
Ya exactly.
I just wrote an article and it kinda ties into this… touring gives you the opportunity to then sell all of your products that you have already created. Like your stickers or albums. I know you give out some of your music for free but perhaps apparel or things along those lines will boost your revenue while you are touring.
Will:
Ya Exactly. We have got a website and lots of merch and stuff. You know artists rely on different ways to generate income. Especially on our level. Unless you are the boss man. Unless you are really big time and playing 300 shows a year at sold out venues, it is going to be hard to survive on free music. It is really nice to be able to connect with fans in different markets and regions. And once you get to know people and they get to know you and your music they get to become part of the whole experience and process. Ya, we have 3 or 4 different kind of hat pins and kids don't mind paying $15-$20 bucks for a hat pin. It goes a long way trying to support what we are trying to do as well. People come up to me all the time trying to get stickers or shirts or CDs. That means something. That means that you did something right.
Dan:
We have had a couple of shows that were completely saved by the merch sales.
Again with the merch sales, they are walking advertisements. And they are telling their friends about you. And friends are the best source, because you trust your friend’s music taste. I think it is a key strategy and I am glad you guys are doing it.
I would love to hear about how you first met Michal Menert and ended up joining Super Best Records and how that collaboration took place.
Will:
Sure. I met Michal a few years ago. I have been a big fan of Michal Menert’s music for a good portion of a decade. I wasn't even huge into electronic music until later in my college years. He was part of the reason why I got into electronic music. That really consistent grove and how he works in live instruments with samples and now with actual people. Any ways I just really gravitated towards his music. I remember downloading every song I possibly could by him. Eventually forming a relationship with him in my head. And you know he is a big personality. He has a Twitter account as I am sure most of his mafiosos know. He has got a lot of followers. So I just hit him up on twitter one day. I was just blasting him. Like semi-stalking him. And he responded. More or less, I am paraphrasing him. But he was like “Do you want to join my band?” I still have screenshots of this by the way if anyone wants proof. So I sent him a link to Snug Harbor. Apparently he checked it out and liked what he heard because a few days later I had a contract in the mail from his management. My whole band was hired for Sonic Bloom 2014. We practiced our butts off and became his ‘Big Band’ so we played all of those shows with him too at Red Rocks. Michal is such a generous person and an amazing friend and mentor. It was easy for us to align once we met. Ya, It has been great. He has extended his hand towards me several times towards me including the record label deal offer. It has just been a huge help. We have a ton of stuff we are working on right now and we have learned a lot from him and everyone on that label. We hold them in high regards so it is just a complete honor to be involved with them and to be considered part of that team and family.
Besides Michal, do any other artists stick out in your mind as influencing you, your career or your sound?
Dan:
Haha thats a big question.
Maybe growing up you listened to a particular artist and you started to gravitate towards that style of horn playing… Or electronic music influences outside of the big band.
Will:
The Pretty Fantastics I think of more like an indie band or something. Like somewhere between Radiohead and Bjork. Its all these crazy influences. It has got these acoustic instruments but this electronic vibe. It’s all this kind of blurred lines thing. In general, I grew up listening to Jazz and Funk. Really inspired by Soul Live and Lettuce and those guys. Derek has been working with them. All of these people have been kind of infiltrating. Griz worked with Lettuce. We have done tracks with Griz and he has been pretty influential. I would say that most of the collabs that we have done have provided us with an opportunity to advance ourselves both musically and technically. Especially as of late I feel that every song we touch only gets better. I am not trying to blow myself up and sound too cocky. We become better players by doing this more frequently and we also learn more about our software and programs. We are able to enhance our own music. And finally for me personally, I listen to a whole bunch of music and I still do and nothing really changes. I listen to 90’s hip-hop and 80’s disco or 70’s funk. That music will always be in me and I will always enjoy that. My tastes change constantly. But right now I am into some crazy festival music like Tipper, Killsmith, and CloZee and all these people who have these sonic 3D soundscapes as it relates to music. You think about music in a different way as opposed to a regular 2D Axis. I don't know just trying to find different ways to enhance music. I get inspirations from everywhere. I listen to Ambient music. I listen to Jazz. I listen to Opera. I listen to electronic music. I think there is something to say about all of it.
Great. What about you Dan… Any influences in your career?
Dan:
Ah, well like will I grew up listening to a lot of Jazz. I would be a liar if I didn't talk about Fred Wesley who is a trombone player. He is fantastic. Pretty much everything I do solo wise, is based off of what he did, to make Trombone one of the funkiest instruments out there. Ah flute wise, I am trying to remember his name… A lot of Jazz flute growing up. And now Will kinda introduced me to electronic music. I wasn't sure I was ever going to be able to get into it. He showed me guys like Michal Menert and Pretty Lights. The whole Pretty Lights Music Team. Gosh everyone on Super Best right now. Artifacts is just killing it. I am really loving what Daily Bread are doing. Ya, all those guys out there are just really killing the game right now. So ya I am listening to them a lot and doing my best to learn.
Great. Clearly you are learning fast because you guys have captured the blend of live instrumentation and electronic production, so props.
Will:
Ya, I went to school for audio engineering and video stuff. It wasn't a major back then, it is now, but I had to make my own called “New Media Studies”. Basically I ended up studying audio production a lot. Through various school projects I was able to learn my way and start to introduce myself into different sampling techniques and beat building. It has been a long time coming and a big process. I have hopefully been able to pass everything I know to Daniel and we continue to inspire and push each other to learn more. When we have a question or if something comes up that is not ideal, we learn to make it work. We learn to find ways to think on our feet. And more often than not, it works and it's like wow, this is actually happening. We are making progress and its great.
That's great. So what instruments do you all play. Obviously the laptop is engrained. Maybe a midi controller, a keyboard, a trombone, flute. What other instruments am I missing here?
Will:
Are you talking about live or when we produce?
Both
Will:
Live I am essentially DJing stripped down versions of the tracks. And throwing effects on the tracks. I have got my trumpet and I play with a loop station and an effects pedal board. That is pretty much it for now. Sometimes we play with a synthesizer we bring out and play live but the last tour we were not able to bring it due to space concerns. Daniel plays flute and trombone and helps me play, sometimes percussion or throw effects or DJ a little bit.
In the studio I play a lot of Keys and synthesizers. We have a couple of analog synths we play, the Roland Gaia, and the Moog Sub Phatty. I play the flugelhorn and trumpet and I sing. And Daniel…
Dan:
I usually playing the flute or trombone. That tends to be a lot of what I am recording. I do lot of synth work. I love making bass noises. I think programing the bass is one of my favorite parts of being a producer. I don't always get to choose which bass makes it but just making the sounds is really fun for me. Ya. Just playing keys. One time I got to play a little guitar. We didn't end up releasing that song but that was pretty fun.
Nice. You guys are pushing it. I mean you are combining a lot of different elements.
Will:
Ya we use my record player a lot too because we did some samples in the past but we are trying to move away from that. We also work with a lot of people from the community. I can’t forget about our home team here in Bellingham. It is a little outside of Seattle. In Between Seattle and Vancouver. Its where I went to school and we have tons of people in town that lend a helping hand. We have a few female vocalists that come over and help us record. Some guitar players. A bass player. A drummer and just different people that we have played with in Bellingham. Or in different bands. Or just friends or friends of friends that have shown inclinations or interest in our music. We tend to gravitate towards that as well. Some rappers and a couple of different MCs. It has been really cool. For me that has been a really fun part. To collaborate on a more indepth level with those kind of people.
Can you tell me about each of your first live performance? The first time you got paid for a gig. Talk about your live performance and any nervousness you had and how you overcame that.
Dan:
The first time I ever got paid to play music I was still a high school Jazz trombone player. It was just me and a bass player. We got paid to play a company’s Christmas party. They basically wanted us to play Christmas tunes and Jazz standards. I wasn't really a great Trombone player. I didn't really know the songs. I was sight reading most of what I was doing. And Me and this bass player ended up flubbing through all this work and they still paid us each $200 at the end of the day. I am really thankful. I feel like a lot of people just appreciated the effort and ever since then I have been able to just keep my hat on and try as hard as I can.
Will:
For me, I remember a couple of instances… I think this is why I am nervous in front of little crowds. It sounds terrible. Like for me the bigger the crowd the better. When I was super young my parents used to force me to play in front of all the Christmas family get togethers. It was like a half an hour all 30 distant relatives that I see once a year staring into my soul. For me it was very uncomfortable. Those kind of intimate performances erk me out. I would literally rather play in front of 10,000 people than in front of 10 it is crazy. The first time I got paid for a gig. I have been playing music professionally since I was 12 I guess. I met Mike Angelakos from Passion Pit on Napster in 1998 and we became friends and became in a band. We used to play all the time, professionally starting around [age] 12 [or] 13. Around those mid teenage years and played often. So that was really fun for me. I just remember how to become a good performer and a good bandmate during those times and it was crucial to my development.
It is great to hear and I appreciate you sharing because there are so many musicians out there who just need to get past that first hurdle before they can take the next steps in their career. I appreciate you sharing.
Will:
Ya no problem man. At this point you almost have to just embrace it. You have got to have fun. Regardless of my nerves, whether I am playing in front of whatever quantity of people, you have just got to go out there and have fun. If I look over at Daniel mid-set and he is having a blast and I’m not, I feel stupid. You always have to bring your A game. If you can’t have fun by yourself or in front of a friend or a group of people than you are not going to have fun in front of a big crowd. To me it is all about honing the craft and being able to embrace that.
My next question dives into the production end of the way you construct your songs. First of all what software are you using or are you using multiple different D.A.W.s? Can you tell me the relative order of operations.. Do you start out with the melody or the lyric sample that you want to add in or do you build the drum beat first? Go ahead and walk me through that briefly.
Will:
Ya we normally use logic. We use some native instruments too but mostly logic is our production platform. We use Native Instruments and different plugins to use different ways of manipulating sound. Also live we use some native instruments. But ya, our main DAW is Logic. I have been using it forever. We have experimented with Bitwig. I own Bitwig and stuff and Ableton and Pro Tools but I am just a little bit more efficient with Logic. I like what we are able to do [with logic]. Typically I will come up with a drum beat that sounds good. To me it is an indication that if you can make a drum beat sound good than you have a good foundation, a good groove. So we have been trying to go off that. Then Dan will start helping me make layers if mixing live drum samples from my friend Todd Templeton who played on our last album. I'll take an analog kick of his and layer it in with a digital kick of mine and we will have a sub hit in the background and all the sudden we have something our heads can shake to. Then I’ll ask Daniel some questions about the direction of the tune and at that point we will start helping me start layering different basses usually. At that point we create a foundation for the melody and usually begin to enhance that with synths and horns and stuff. Usually the song at that point you can tell if it is going to be good or not and continue to make it or move on.
Out of curiosity, what percentage of your efforts result in a song that sticks? How many songs do you throw out on average for every one that you keep?
Will:
I have got hundreds. Maybe a hundred songs that I am still working on. I say everything is a work in progress even beats that don't become anything. But you know we are pretty stubborn. I’d say we produce maybe 20 or 18 tracks and out of those 12 made it for our last [album]. A handful got cut. But in general I think we have good starts. I have tons of drum songs that just suck. So we dont really work on those. I will play them for Daniel and he will roll his eyes, and I will roll my eyes, and then we will open a new session file.
At the point where we are really starting to work on something. It's like ok let's take the time. It's all about micro to me. Little micro editing and micro listening. If you can make a little change at end of every 4 or 8 bars. Even if is some stupid automation that you would never think of like increasing the reverb time or delay you are able to create this sonic landscape. You are able to like… I don't know man… To me music is all about semantics and changing physical property and energy with those wave forms. So the more you can enhance someone’s life by making a creation, the better. That’s what it is about man. Ya I think logic… I think whatever platform you are using, you should just go for it! To me I find it silly when people are just Ableton snobs. My whole crew uses Ableton. I am not trying to dog them. I am not even talking about them. I have just met some people who say “oh, you use Logic?” You could use Fruity Loops or Garageband, I don't care. If you are making music you are doing yourself and probably other people better for it.
Truth. Thanks for walking me through that. Now my next question is about your album entitled ‘Stay the Course’. You guys collaborated with a huge array of musicians to create this piece. Can you talk about the strategy behind it and why you wanted this album to be so collaborative.
Dan:
Ya. A lot of that was just we have a lot of people we have played with, as Will spoke about. People in the community that we have been in bands with or we have sat in with or they have come sit in with Snug Harbor or something. Really I think we just wanted to include all of our friends. Get together all the best musicians in town together and make as good of a product as we possibly could of. I know a big inspiration for me was getting as many natural sounds. As many acoustic and instruments that were really played by someone and figure out how to make that into a really great electronic song. A lot of those instruments are things that I can’t play that well. Like guitar or drums. We got Todd Templeton or Mathew van den Heuvel, who is now on Super Best Records now. I know Todd is on three or four of those songs and Matt was on almost every single one of them. It was really great to have those musical influences around. I think it really did change a lot of what we did on the album for the better.
Will:
Ya if you look at people like Michal Menert, he got us involved with Space Jazz. I think that was one of our first real sessions with him. Daniel and I were almost shocked when it came out because every song on Sace Jazz has like eight people on it. Including us. We were on like four or five songs. Its like wow, here is a guy, Michal Menert, who is pretty well known / semi famous. He has been making beats forever with PLM and Super Best Records. This guy who everyone, in my opinion, looks up to. This guy is taking the time to credit these amazing musicians. Like we were not well known at the time. They are making big waves now and I think it is because of that. His generosity is really influential and inspirational. So it is partly to do with that. You know we see him working with all these people. We almost wanted to bring in other people as well and pass it along.
If you look at artists like Griz he is working with Daptone Records, Dap Kings, all these people like Lettuce and phenomenal players. To me its cool. If you can make a beat, awesome. If you can make a cool song, great. If you can make it better by adding someone else, you should. Why not? And if you can give them credit by all means, absolutely.
Credit is so important and it is so nice to have those artists who have already made it or have a large audience or following to lend a hand and bring younger artists along for the journey.
Will:
Ya exactly. Pass it along and spread the wealth. It’s a big pie and there are only so many slices. If I can cut mine for a little bit and help someone else. That's the only way people make it. It is not by stepping on each other it is by helping each other. So we are really just trying to our part really.
Rock on. I really like that. You say it well.
Will:
Thank you.
I am interested in any future works that you guys have.
Will:
Ya, we have three collaborative albums coming out. We just finished most of the tracks on the pretty fantastics album. We are doing a song with Funk Static, it is really good. It is going to be on his new album. We have a song with Captain out right now called “Never Will”. We have a new song coming out with him that is some of our best work, as horn players. We are also working on a different style. A sample free album by ourselves, an EP for WilldaBeast, that we are trying to get out soon on Super Best Records. It is a different vibe than most of our stuff, it is more uptempo and future sounding. And now that I think about it we have another EP coming out with Sway from Felos Records (Spelling?). And now that I think about it we also have a remix album coming out for ‘Stay The Course’. Lots of friends and label mates, past collaboratives are going to be included in that as well. So there will be 5 or 6 new things to get your ears on us within the next 6 months.
Wow, that's exciting! Now where can our audience find your tracks?
Will:
If you want to get real simple. SoundCloud.com/Willdabeastofficial Ya it is also on our facebook. If you search Willdabeast with two L’s you will find us. It is kinda hard to spell but once you got it you will get it. Facebook.com/Willdabeastofficial and our website Willdabeastmusic.com/ also you can find us on SuperBestRecords.BandCamp.com
Perfect. What is it like working with a record label?
Will:
We pitched to a few different record labels and even some talent agencies and we were never really picked up. I think Michal just found us on youtube after I sent him some links. It's interesting and its a challenge because sometimes you are on their schedule. Especially for releases. They can't over do it either. So you have to be mindful of other artists and things. But in general it is a dream control. I remember when Michal said he was going to sign us I just started floating, I was on cloud nine. Other than my son being born, it was one of the best days of my life. I don't know it is just cool to have representation. I feel like it is all worth it at the end of the day. It feels like what you are doing matters and is important. To have that backing and support system is huge for me. They are just a startup company at this point. That is also one of the benefits too because when I have a release I talk to Michal or his manager.
That is great there are not a lot of departments and management structures.
Will:
Ya there are like two or three people. It's like alright I have this release and they will be like ok we have a slot open or we need to wait a few months. And they will help promote our shows. For our remix album that is going to come out we got a bunch of people from Super Best to be on it. It was just special to have that support system. You know we have recorded horns for some artists and they have sent us tracks for our new songs. It is cool to have that, almost kinship, with someone else. It feels like it matters. Being signed isn't everything but to me it was something that really helped validate what I was doing. And to show other people too that this is not a just hobby or passion, although it is, it is something more. It's something that I am really trying to pursue. It is worthwhile when you have that support system. I love Super Best. Super Best for life baby!
Good to hear. Do you have any interesting or weird or odd pre-performance rituals?
Dan:
Well I believe, as a trombone player, if you don't know how to keep your slide properly greased up before a show, than you have a long ways to go. I remember I had a professional lesson with this old navy guy Jim McFalls. I payed for an hour lesson with this guy. He was a killer beep-bop player. And he spent the entire lesson talking with me about slide care. Just making sure I am treating my trombone ritual. So if I had any pre-game ritual it would probably be getting my slide ready for the show and then drinking a beer.
Will:
It is always fun listening to Dan greece his slide. It was hard on the Pretty Fantastics tour to get some space sometimes. Because you are traveling with so many people and they usually supply you with one green room so most seats are occupied. So I like to sit down and warm up my lips and drink a lot of water. Because I know I am about to bring my “A” game and sweat most everything that I have inside outside of me. If possible I try to eat an hour before I play because man it sucks. Sometimes you get off stage at 3am and everything is closed. So honestly, at this point it is all about sustenance and sustainability. Trying to stay nourished and thrive. If I decide to party or drink beers it is usually afterwords. Like Dan said I try to take care of my horn too. I have a really expensive trumpet. Ya just introducing different toxins inside the trumpet or my body will have an effect on my playing. Especially as of late, I have been having little health problems, like with my back. Ya just trying to get loose, man and get ready for a killer show.
Will, you mentioned the birth of your son. How old is he?
Will:
He just turned one. He is 14 months now.
Has he seen you perform yet?
Will:
Ya he saw me perform when he was like two or three months old. It was right before Dan joined the band. I had a solo show. It was really cool. He wore headphones and he watched me behind the speakers so I didn't hurt his ears. Ya he hears us practice. Daniel comes over two or three days a week. So he hears us playing. Yogoman, our other band has a small infant around his age so they come to practice together with ear protection and they get to hear us play often. Ya he loves music and bangs on the office door when I am recording and I am unable to open it and other things. He is really drawn to music. He is only one and he is already starting to sing and imitate those things. He has a plastic blow horn that he pretends to play with. Ya he is the light of my life. With Snug Harbor we played ‘bite at seattle’, this big outdoor festival, and I got to lift him up like lion king. He is super sweet. He is amazing. I was never really a kid person and then he came into my life. He is great.
That's great to hear. What advice would you give a musician starting out today or what would you tell yourself if you were starting out today.
Dan:
Spend more time on your instrument. Practice!
Will:
Spend more time on your instrument. The only reason I say that is that I wish I had more time now to practice. Back in the day when I was lounging or watching TV or playing video games. I did invest a majority of my time in my instrument, but If I invested more I could be one step ahead of the game. I have to prepare a lot, especially with a kid, with day care and child care. So time is of the essence. You are only young once. Use your time wisely. You are only young once. It sounds silly and I am not that old I am only 29. Use that time, man. Cherish that time. If you want the time to hone in and craft in on something, now is your chance. To me you only get one or two chances to make music. This was probably one of my last chances to make music so I just went for it. So I would give myself that advice. Take those few netflix shows off of your list and go practice for a couple of hours. You are going to [improve] yourself and you are only going to feel more proud of what you are able to do.
Ok final question, is there anything you would like to share with our listeners?
Will:
Ya. You can find us at WilldabeastMusic.com or at SoundCloud.com/Willdabeastofficial or Facebook.com/Willdabeastofficial and we are always posting there all the time new music and new shows. We have a couple of shows up here in Bellingham if anyone is up in the North West area. Hopefully trying to see a lot of your familiar faces. We just landed a booking agent too so we are hoping to land some more festival slots and bring some more live horn infuzed electric soul to your heads and hearts.
Well Will and Dan, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing your time and knowledge with our listeners. We wish you all the best on all of your future creations and four upcoming albums. So thank you again and thanks for coming on the show.
Dan:
Thank you so much.
Will:
Ya man, I appreciate it. Thanks for having us. We really appreciate it and good luck to you as well.
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Other Podcast Episodes
Gipsy Moon – FMP 003
The Freio Music Podcast
Episode 03 - Gipsy Moon
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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.
Other Podcast Episodes
ProJect Aspect – FMP 002
The Freio Music Podcast
Episode 02 - ProJect Aspect
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Start out by introducing yourself
Thanks for having me, man. It is good to see you. My name is Jay Jaramillo, I go by Project Aspect. I am twenty-nine years old and started playing guitar when I was about ten years old. My dad gave me a guitar with a built-in amplifier on it. Previous to that I had never thought about being a musician or even playing music. He kinda shoved me in that direction and the rest is kinda history. I just kinda picked it up and played by ear. I started joining bands and putting together my own bands. I made t-shirts when I was like 10 years old. That kinda progressed and snowballed into producing music, which is what I got into at the end of HighSchool. After high school, I took it to the next level. Me and my friend, Zach Karuza, aka Kruza Kid, one of my best friends, we went to high school together. We started the mile-high-sound movement which is a collective of artists and promotional record label that we have kind of like grown into what it is today. It is becoming bigger and better. It is developing into what we want it to be. Instead of throwing together random shows, we put time into it and we curate events. We make sure that our friends have a chance to vend their jewelry and their merchandise. We like to bring everything to the table, as much as we can.
A full-service event.
Ya, for sure. So that has kinda been the focus for a while, other than pursuing trying to be a full time touring musician. So that is where we are at now.
Now tell me your vision a little bit more with Mile High Sound Movement… How many artists are involved currently and where do you see it going in the future?
Our roster right now includes about eight artists that we are fully committed to. But it is always open for interpretation. If you are in the Colorado Music scene, don't hesitate to reach out. We are always open. It is an open invitation. We are always down to expand the family. The vision at first was to just kina help hungry musicians who had a product that they are passionate about. Give them a chance to showcase that on a bigger level rather than a local cafe show. When me and my friend Zach were starting out we had so much trouble getting shows. It was such a struggle and we really didn't have that much help. We were doing a lot of show at Herman’s Hideaway on south Broadway because we had a hip-hop band at that point. We wanted to bring something together that helped people. [Like us] when we were in that situation that we wished we had. We just want to put people on, and get people in front of crowds and enable them to do their thing.
Kinda help them get to the next level.
Exactly. It has transformed into a record label which has always been the vision. For about a year now it has been an official record label. So we are really excited about that. We want to keep that going and make it as big as possible.
Clearly, it sounds you are sharing what you have learned along your path with the next generation, or at least with your friends and the artists around you. So you have mentioned your dad already who was an influence on you early musically. Are there any other artists that kind of helped you on the path?
Not really, man. Just kinda my peers and the people who I went to school with and started these early bands with. Other than that, I was just heavily influenced by Punk Rock and Classic Rock. My dad raised me on Classic Rock. I eventually got into alternative music and punk rock. That was a major influence to me and molded me in the early years. I did a lot of power chords on the guitar. But it was all self-taught. I just kinda played by ear.
Picking up tabs online?
Ya, Picking up tabs online. Honestly, I can just listen to something and replicate it by ear. Obviously, I wish I had a little more classical training. This way it is fun. I like to let my mind do the work for me. Do the work for my hands. And just freestyle. That played a huge role in the beginning too. Then When I started producing music I just took that knowledge and put it into arranging and making sections of a sound.
Can you remember your first musical memory as far as performing? So not just hearing a song but the first time you either jumped up on the table in front of your family and started singing or the first time you played for your school...
One memory sticks out vividly. I played at this coffee shop and it was just an acoustic performance with me singing. I was probably 11 or 12 years old or something. I told my whole family and all of my friends. My whole family came out and we packed out this cafe. It was just this little coffee shop. I did a couple covers but it was mostly original. I have always just written music and performed it. But I remember covering a Staind song. Remember that song ‘Outside’? [singing] “I'm on the outside. I'm looking in”. I played that song and a bunch of other songs. That was just the beginning. That was the first musical memory. It was pretty well received but I was just a kid. That was the very first time I had showcased what I was working on. It was gratifying. It was tight.
That's awesome. It is also… I think very telling, that you had a family their that really packed the venue. You had a sold-out crowd on the first show.
Right. Ya, my family has always been a huge support. Huge support. My mom, my dad, my brother, my siblings. Everyone has had my back from day one and believes in my dream. It really helps me and influences me to keep going.
So guitar was your first instrument? Is that correct?
Correct.
What about artist have influenced you by ear or meeting them in person, touring. I know you are very active in the music scene, and you get exposure to lots of different artists.
Like I said I was really into punk-rock back in the day. We were talking earlier about my Offspring remix. Offspring was big early… Just kina listening music influence for me. I liked Blink 182 a lot. Blink 182 was the first concert that I went to that I vividly remember. Apparently, I was at Michael Jackson when I was a year old… but yeah seeing Blink 182 when I was around 10 years old, just after I started playing the guitar. Bad Religion opened for them. A lot of people back then thought that that was kind of strange because Bad Religion was a huge Punk-Rock band and Blink-182 surpassed them playing pop-punk music. That was a sweet experience. I really didn't start being inspired until, by music, until I started joining bands in high school. My peers were huge influences for me. I had a band called “Street Light Symphony”. It was an Emo band. The members in that band were a huge influence for me. But I ended up going to a show at Red Rocks in 2005. That was what really opened my eyes to a whole new world of music.
What show was that?
That was 'Big Summer Classic' a two-dayay event. String Cheese Incident headlined both nights. They had a stacked lineup, both nights with Umphrey's McGee, Keller Williams, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Yonder Mountain String Band. That two day event was a major turning point for me. I went from liking alternative music, hip-hop, and rap music to this hippy jam-band happy go lucky scene that I had never imagined participating in but it opened my eyes. It turned my brain around and made me want to explore that more.
Great. So we were talking earlier, and I found it interesting, somehow it came up in conversation that you went to an atypical school and it really impacted your life or trajectory. If you could go into that a little bit and talk about why the change of school was such an impactful event for you. And how old were you roughly or what grade?
So, I left traditional school in 6th grade… Actually ya I think it was 6th grade. It was the transition from 5th to 6th grade. I was going to Green Mountain Elementary School. I had transferred over to Jefferson County Open School, which is an alternative school in Lakewood Colorado, that my sister had been going to because she was a “Problem Child”. These schools were meant for kids who weren't excelling in traditional schools. It kind of helped them find more meaning in their life and pave their road for the future. Which was huge for me. This school, they made you create your own curriculum. So you did six passages; Adventure, Global Awareness, Creativity and so on and so forth. Each one was a different challenge for you to research and make a paper and do hands on work. For instance, my creativity passage was making an album.
That’s Awesome
My plan was to make a full album and I only got to three tracks. Just doing multi-track recording. It was a huge learning experience for me because I learned that recording doesn't come easy. You can't just knock something out, just like that. It takes time. It takes so much time. Yeah, it takes so much time. It really opened my eyes to what the world of music had in front of me for the rest of my life. For my adventure passage, I became a vegetarian, for two months. I learned a lot about the facts about meat and healthy living. And how it made me feel. I got a little irritable.
With meat or without it?
Without it. I made me kind of learn that I do like meat. I like it in my life but I am still open to trying it out…
That’s great that you are open-minded enough to totally radically change your diet.
Ya, it was a great experience for me.
And that was part of your school! That is so interesting... Coming from a western mind, an American Mind, thinking about diet in school is very far down the list of topics.
The school was more so getting you ready for the life ahead of you rather than more school if that makes sense. Instead of molding you to get ready for college. They mold you to get ready for the rest of your life. And it changed my life. It made me realize I wanted to be a musician for the rest of my life. If it wasn't for that school and my advisor Daina, I wouldn't be the man I am today. So I am thankful every day that I made that transition.
That is great! Out of curiosity, do you think that this school is great for everybody or is this kinda a creative outlier school that's...
I think the school is good for anyone who applies themself and really uses their tools to take on what you want to do. I think if you are really passionate about something. I think that if you want to get out of the traditional learning situation and focus on your life, I think that’s a good move.
Ok, moving on from that. You collaborate frequently. There are many different vocalists on your tracks. You mentioned Kruza Kid [earlier]. Tell me about collaboration why you choose to do it and if it is important to you, why?
I think the most fun thing about collaborating is that you are not limited to your own ideas. So when I collaborate with someone, it’s fun because you can take a pallet that someone else laid out and manipulate it. You kinda already have something to work with. When you are doing something by yourself you have to start from scratch. It's all you. You are kinda limited to that. When you are working with someone else it sparks off so many more light bulbs. It makes you… It brings more influence to the table. For instance, when I collaborate for Unlimited Gravity, we feed off each other. We bounce back and forth. We do what we call the “Hot Seat”, and that's when we are in the mode, and one of us is going to be producing and the other one will be kinda chillin in the background. When we are the one producing we call it the “hot seat”. We just go until we feel that we did something substantial then we switch it out. You know, we eventually we come up with this orchestration of sound that we would have never been able to accomplish on our own. That's the beautiful thing about collaboration, is that you can use both minds to create something bigger.
That’s great! You said a lot of awesome points that I hope young musicians hear and really take to heart. As you said, when you are working with yourself, you are limited to yourself. And you've got to recognize that you everyone is finite and we are all limited. I love the “hot seat” idea. Both the fact that when you are feeling the flow you have got to be in the driver’s seat, in the control center, in the cockpit, or behind the mixer, but at the same time you have got to yield way to the other, for their turn in the hot seat and kinda sit back and listen.
Yah
Sometimes you have got to let… I assume you guys are working with loops and you have got to let the sound kind of soak in.
Exactly
And eventually, maybe an idea comes out. From not the hot seat but the dude chillin in the back who has been there with his eyes closed.
Exactly. There are two important roles for sure. It’s fun to sit back and listen to what you have been working on and listen to what they are working on.
Truth. Because one person is actively trying to slay the dragon and the other person is just kinda being more passive and being more reflective.
Yah. I like that. I like that. Yah, that is definitely the approach for sure.
But I think it actually takes a lot of discipline to sit back and let someone else do some work.
That's true too. But you would be surprised at how anxious we can get too.
Yah, sometimes you have to speak up.
Haha, sometimes we are like you've got to let me in there [the hot seat], I've got this idea. Like I said collaboration is like another level of creation.
Tell me about your album.
I am working on a full-length concept album called “Sync About It”. This is kind of my baby right now. This is what I have been working towards and putting all my energy towards right now. Did you want to talk about “all we dream”?
No, let’s talk about your new album.
So this new album is called “Sync About It”. It is a full-length concept album which means that it flows from beginning to end and there are no breaks in the tacks.
So it is meant to be listened to in order?
Correct. So it is just one long story. I have always wanted to create something like this ever since I was a kid listening to Pink Floyd albums and stuff. So this is a really important project for me. This is actually breaking me outside of my comfort zone. When I was a kid and I was in and out of bands playing guitar and singing, I did a lot of singing and I did a lot of writing. I wanted to get back to that. I am not the greatest singer in the world but I like to sing. I did a little singing on this album and I did a lot of guitar work. I wanted it to be something that lasts forever. The Idea behind this is to make something that has substance and holds true for generations to come. I just want something that’s going to stick around. That people will be listening for a long time.
Are you collaborating with other artists on this album?
Ah, I do have Kruza Kid featured on a track.
Is it fair to say that this album is, in a way, a different path than your others in the sense that you are getting back to your singing and writing?
In a way, yes, but it also stays pretty true to the traditional Project Aspect sound. I don't want to do something completely different that it is unrecognizable. I just want to expand on what I have already got. So it is more complex I would say. It just has more substance to it. I want to branch out my sound. I don't want to limit myself to just making dubstep, or bass music, or electronic music. I want it to be real music that anyone could listen to. So I would like to head in that direction. But I'll never stop making heavy bass music because I love playing that at shows. It is always be something that is important to me. So I just wanted to branch out on this album and kinda create something that has a lot to it and I would like to reach different demographics.
So it is going to be a wide-ranging album?
Yah, definitely, There are going to be some rock-n-roll inspired tracks in there. And I do a lot of intricate guitar soloing and harmonizing my guitar. You will find some hip-hop sounding tracks like the one that Kruza Kid is featured on. There are ones that follow the traditional Project Aspect sound that I have always stapled into my music. I am always going to love to make the glitch-hop kind of grimy bass music. So there will always be parts of that scattered throughout the whole record. I am excited for it man. This is something that I have been working on for almost two years. I haven't released a full-length album since 2016. So this is a big one for me and I hope it breaks some barriers.
Ya, I believe it will. I'm excited to hear it and we are all going to have to stay tuned. Where will the new album be released, just for our listeners? Where can they find it when it comes out?
You know we are still in the early stages of it. I have a lot of promo work that I am trying to work on. But I am shooting for the end of spring.
Ok. When it comes out… ProjectAspectMusic.com?
We are also working on launching the Project Aspect website. So stay tuned for that. So it is going to be a process of things leading up to the album. First, we are going to launch the website. Then we are going to launch the videos for the singles. Then the album is going to drop. Then we are going to do a whole album release party in Denver. So it will be one thing after another leading up to the album.
Nice, that is a good campaign. So some of the people listening [to this podcast episode] will likely be listening in years to come. So in a way, we will be in the past when they are listening. Am I correct with the URL ProjectAspectMusic.com?
Right, ya.
Ok I just wanted to make sure because when it is launched, someone will be new to it and it will be already out there.
That will 90% likely be the URL.
When you decide to market your music... First of all, how do you balance your time between creating new music, performing your creations, and at the same time hustling, for lack of a better term. You have got to get the next venue to call you, you have got to get on the next bill, you have got to collaborate with these artists… not only that but you have got to launch your website, you have got to get your music videos, you have got to get your apparel. So how do you balance those demands and do you have a team working with you?
Um, really it is just deciding what to do next. It is just one day at a time. We try to not look too far into the future because you only know what is going to happen today. So we are steadily game planning, me and my manager Chris Bockman(spelling?) and Ronny, Unlimited Gravity. We are really just scheming towards what we are going to do next. We are going to be releasing a new Unlimited Aspect album “Bass Ass Volume II” which will be coming out in the next few months. So that will be the beginning of that route because me and Ronny love making music together and doing the Unlimited Aspect thing. So we want to do that as much as possible. But as far as finding balance, man, its like I said. It is just taking on one thing at a time and not overwhelming yourself. We do everything in-house, we are not working with an agency right now. We are doing everything ourselves. It makes it that much harder but at the same time, the reward is that much sweeter. We are trying to organically create this snowball, this tidal wave that is going to eventually crash, and its going reach everybody. It's going to be something special, man, because we are working on something unique. It's going to be something that I hope people are going to be behind for a long time.
When you release an album, let’s say you and Ronny are making a collaboration… Do you then finalize it, stamp it, bounce it and you are done or do you send it to a mixing / mastering engineer? Can you walk me through the workflow after you have produced a song?
So when me and Ronny produce solo tracks we usually do our own mastering. It is kind of an unorthodox method we just use plugins and do it our way. Sometimes we send it to into mastering. Sometimes we create mixdowns that are at a lower volume and send them to someone to master. But for the Unlimited Aspect album, this was kind of a unique situation because we tracked drums for this album because Unlimited Aspect has become a live band. So our drummer Steven Kuzma is going to be featured on the entire album. So that was another challenge because we had to track all the drums. And our engineer who ended up moving away and we were not able to finish it with him. So we kinda had to take it on with what he had and finish it ourselves. So that is where we are at right now. Just kinda putting on the final touches to it and finishing it ourselves. We like to do a lot of it hands on. It is not the most professional method but it sounds good in my opinion. We like to have it completely our own.
And you get the final say. You get control over it. No one is going to send it in a different direction that you didn't foresee.
Ya. I have sent my own masters to some pretty good labels and they have accepted it, which felt pretty good. So I think we are on a good track.
So if you don't mind, can we jump into some the equipment that you use, either on stage or in the studio. What types of software, plugins, mics, guitar, whatever you want…
I produce in Ableton. We perform all original tracks. So I break down all of my songs into stems. That’s like pieces of the song that I play simultaneously. So I can affect every piece differently. So we have highs, bass, drums, vocals. So we play all of that simultaneously and we use APC 40’s by Akai. When we are using the APC 40’s we can literally manipulate pieces of the song and mix in different pieces of the song. We can jam out and toggle back and forth with anything we make. All the songs that we make are split up so that we can do this crazy interactive hands-on DJ technique that not a lot of people do. I think that it is really unique. A lot of people use stems but the way we use it is unmatchable in my opinion.
You are talking about the live performance, right?
Ya
So if I am not mistaken, we are talking about a beat pad that has translucent buttons.
Ya, its a midi controller.
And that hooks up into Ableton.
Correct
So you are slicing and dicing your song on the fly.
Right. We produce them. We export them all into pieces [stems] and we put them all into the live set and we put it all into the live set and we slice and dice on the fly… correct.
Beyond the computer and how you are interacting with your tracks [APC40], I have seen you perform and you frequently have a guitar and everybody has an instrument on stage with you.
Ya
How are you mixing that in? And tell me about what instruments you play and what is on stage.
Like I said. I started out playing the guitar when I was a kid. Then I went into the producing game and I kind of put down the guitar for a while, for about three years. Eventually, I realized I wanted to bring it all back into the music. And have it all together, the electronic and the analog. So for the past three or four years, I have really been hitting the guitar hard. Bringing it back into the live sets and recordings. So when I do the live set guitar, I do live looping. So I have the guitar plugged into another computer, which is also on Ableton, and I sync the two computers together via ethernet. That enables the second computer to slave to the first computer so I can quantize and loop my guitar on another controller. I can manipulate the guitar record on the fly [live] with the controller. So that’s been a really fun adventure to bring that in and also have it be part of the live set. Where I can still manipulate it like the other tracks. It can be all like one huge live workstation. It is really fun. It is fun to improvise and bring it in now and again and just rock out. For Unlimited Aspect, I play guitar, Ronny plays keys, and we have our drummer Steven Kuzma, and Ronny does live looping with the keys too. Eventually, he is going to bring his vocals again. Which we were doing for a while. He was doing live vocals and looping live vocals. He is working on a new album as well, which is showcasing his vocals because he was in choir pretty much his whole life. So he wants to go back to his roots and showcase that. So I imagine as we start doing more Unlimited Aspect shows he will start singing too. So that is exciting. Sometimes we bring up a saxophone. Sometimes we have other sit-ins. I dabble with pretty much any instrument, except for brass. I have never really messed with Brass. Anything I touch I can play a little bit. Not great but I can dabble.
Enough to be quantized, spliced, and put into place.
Ya, the guitar is the main instrument that I feel like I can handle.
I appreciate you revealing how you have two computers running and one is a slave to the other
Ya, I feel like people don't get to know that or see that during the live set.
As an audience member, I am always thinking how are they doing this!? Trying to decode what is going on onstage. As a sound engineer, myself, I am always thinking about monitor mixes and I see people with in-ear monitors and someone has a click track somewhere. It is a complex signal path. So I appreciate you demystifying what is going on on stage.
Ya it’s a pleasure for sure.
It is certainly interesting and I think it will help people get to the next level. A few more questions… One regarding your music and distribution. Your music is out there. I can stream you on Spotify, on Apple Music… I can find you on SoundCloud. You are doing a great job getting your music out there. So first of all, how did you decide where to put your music and how to get it there?
Oh, man that is a really good question. Basically, with music that I have come to the conclusion of, you just have got to get it out there, regardless of how you do it. Whether you are pedaling burnt CDs or putting it on SoundCloud, or you are doing a professional label release. In the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter because it is going to be out there and word of mouth is going to circulate. That is what I am coming to the conclusion of… If I have music to release I need to get it out there regardless of how it happens. One of the first Sonic Blooms that I attended… Shout out Sonic Bloom by the way. That is my hometown festy right there. I burnt a bunch of CDs. Me and my homie Ronny actually, Unlimited Gravity. We burnt a bunch of CDs and handed them out to people. And to this day people will come up to me, and that was about 8 years ago, and say “hey, I've still got that CD you gave to me at Sonic Bloom”. That is crazy to me because that was such early on music that we made.
And you were there as a fan. An attendee, non-performer.
Correct
So you really just showed up to where the music is and hustled your music. And give it a few years...
It was the dopest campaign too! We would be like “do you guys like free music?” People would be like “ya”. Ok, “Here, take this”. It was easy to get into people’s hands. I might start doing that again, you never know.
What is amazing to me is that a few years later, a few cycles around the sun, you are playing at Sonic Bloom. That’s awesome.
Ya. It really came full circle with that one.
That is interesting and I appreciate you sharing the hustle. You have got to be Guerilla Marketing…
That’s true man. You have just gotta think outside the box. I mean people have been hustling CDs out of their trunks forever. When you are giving out free music it is kinda hard to say “no”, you know? That was definitely the early hustle.
Ok, a few more quick ones [questions]... First of all, describe your music in one sentence… or a word. A rough sentence, it could flow into a few.
All original, high energy, high octane, electronic bass music with guitar.
Booya! This one is kinda far out, big, philosophical question. I went to school for Philosophy so you have got to forgive me. But… What is music?
Music is what feelings sound like.
Very nice.
It is the best I could come up with right now.
That's great. Do you have any odd or interesting pre-performance rituals before you get out on stage?
We like to get down on the spliff game, me and my bro Cam. I love smoking spliffs so that's always been something I like to do before a show. Other than that, man… I get anxious before shows honestly.
Is it just nerves coming up?
It is nerves but also just wanting to get up there. And being backstage and having to wait to go on. It’s something that I have always… Not an issue with… but it always kinda happens, regardless of the situation. I am excited. I want to get up there. I want to play. I don't want to hang around and talk about nothing. I want to do my thing. But I love connecting with the people. That is one of the biggest parts of this scene is the people. It’s all about making those connections. So that is a big part of the pre-ritual is having your family there. Having your friends come backstage and hang out and just kick it. That really calms the nerves for me too. Just hanging out with the homies too is a big thing.
What advice would you give to a musician starting out today?
Go with your heart. Make music that you want to hear. Make music that makes you feel things inside. Don't do it for somebody else, do it for yourself.
Moving towards the end. Some label questions if you don't mind?
Sure
You are on 1320 Records, GruntWorthy Music, and Adapted Records. Can you tell me about how you made those connections and how you got signed to a record label? There are lots of aspiring artists out there who think that “I just need a record label and the doors would open for me”. I just want to hear your experience with the different record labels that you have worked with and why you chose to collaborate with them.
As I mentioned before, It is not a huge impactful thing regardless of how you release your music. But it is an honor and always a privilege to release your music under an established record label. It is just another form of collaborating. As I also mentioned before, collaboration is one of the most beautiful creations we have. It's fun to work with other people on your music and work on distributing it and getting it out there. 1320 was a huge one for me because it's Sound Tribe’s record label. Sound Tribe was a huge early influence for me. They were the first band I saw using Ableton. That was before I even knew what Ableton was. They made me research what Ableton was. Eventuall,y I got signed to their label and I got to open for them. That was another full circle thing. Shout out Sound Tribe for everything they have done for me. 1320 Records was a huge step for me. It was cool just to be under… not only under such a huge touring act and someone that I looked up to but also being alongside of other people who have released music under that label. That is another cool thing. When you release music under different labels you are alongside all these amazing artists. There are so many artists out there, and most of them I have never even heard of but they make the dopest music. It's an honor to be alongside people with similar interests. The Adapted thing was cool because it is an Australian label. It was cool to get my music internationally released. That was kind of the fun part about that. Like I said, it is just fun to work with other people.
So how did you get to Australia?
Man, we just submitted it and they liked it and they released it.
Walk through a young artist… What do you mean you submitted it? You found something on their website and obviously you had some tracks that were fire and ready to be released.
Ya, so most record labels have a demo submission page on their website. If you make music you can always send it to labels it's not an issue. Whether or not they will listen to it or like it, that’s up in the air. But must labels have a demo submission page. Even the biggest record labels in the world have mailing addresses that you can send it to. Ya, it’s just submitting your demo and hoping that the right person hears it and likes it. It helps having word of mouth and having friends on the inside too who have worked with the record label also. That is a slightly more helpful way but if you have the right music and you submit it, there is no reason that it won't be picked up.
But you chose them out of a group. There are thousands of record labels. I would imagine that you targeted some and I guess that you did not send your record out to every label. So how do you choose and what do you look for when you are working with a label?
Just look for professionalism. That is the one thing that you try to find in anyone that you work with in the Music Industry. Just professionalism because there are a lot of shady people out there and it is important to find people who are doing it for the right reasons. People who are in it for the music and willing to work to help you get your brand out there. Being on top of dates and royalty checks. Just being communicative. Communication between the artist and the label is really important.
Reflecting back on your younger self… What would you tell yourself then that you know now?
Get ready for a hell of a ride buddy! You are about to meet a lot of people and see a lot of things. I don't know, man. I think that I was prepared for what I am doing today. I think that the school that I went to and my dad and going to shows has molded me into the person I am today. I think I knew what I was in for but not quite the fashion that it’s in right now. So I think I would just tell myself to “get ready for a good ride”.
Well Jay, aka Project Aspect, thank you so much for being on the show! Is there any last parting words of wisdom that you would like to share and or links / plugs for your upcoming album or social handles that you would like to share.
Ya, keep on touch on the Facebook man. Facebook and the Instagram are the number one resources to find what I am doing next. So Facebook.com/ProjectAspect Facebook.com/ProJectAspect Like I said, I will be launching my website soon so keep an eye out for that, along with starting my promotion for my new album. Keep an eye out for the new music videos coming in the next few months. Just keep in touch and don't be afraid to reach out. I love to connect.
And Fans can learn of your new tour dates and upcoming shows on your facebook page?
Yes.
Great. Well thank you so much for coming on the FreioMusic Podcast.
Thanks Mike, Much Love!
Other Podcast Episodes
HÄANA – FMP 001
The Freio Music Podcast
Episode 01 - HÄANA
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HÄANA Podcast Transcription
Start out by introducing yourself
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.