MusiMania (Interview)

The following is the transcript from a video interview with John Beauchamp, a.k.a. MusiM.  The interviewer asked for their name to be withheld and consequently, so has the video footage.

Interviewer:  So tell me about MusiM.  Where did the name come from?

John:  Nope.  Next question.

Interviewer:  Uh, okay.  Well then…  Uh…  How long have you been doing MusiM?

John:  Since I started writing music in high school.  The project went through several names.  Really it didn’t culminate until around 2003 or 2004 though.

Interviewer:  *cough* So what’s the idea behind the project?

John:  Everything really.  I’m not a fan of “make up a new band name for a style change”.  Change is the one constant of the world.  I don’t want listeners who expect me to re-write the same club track over and over.  If I don’t learn something new writing a song, then I’ll probably trash it.

Interviewer:  So tell us about your first album “Stories”.

John:  “Stories” is an atmospheric noise excursion, built as a soundtrack to a horror story I wrote.  A re-visioning/remixing of the song “Paths” is included on the C/Fe sampler.

Interviewer:  So I understand you have a new album coming out?

John:  Yes… “In the Worship of Monsters” is due out in the next month or two.  Completely different concept from “Stories”… It has a large range of styles from noise, to club, to down-tempo jazz and so on. There is no ultimate story connecting the tracks but there is an overall feel, idea, and progression of emotions.

Interviewer:  How did you come across C/Fe Records?

John:  The other bands on the label, which I’m a big fan of, contacted me and I brought my two bands in.

Interviewer:  Lets see…  *shuffles cards* Ah, so what inspires your writing process and what are your influences?

John:  Well…  I write one thing and then I write the next.  It’s never the same.  Often times a song is inspired by a conversation with a friend, a small aspect of a song or story I find intriguing.  And often the song is finished with even more influences.

Interviewer:  Do you have any musical background?

John:  Yup.

Interviewer:  *scoff* Well?  What is it?

John:  I was in church choir, took music theory, had lots of piano and guitar lessons, but really…  you learn the most by doing.  And I played a bunch of gigs and wound up learning some flamenco style strumming from a bluegrass banjo player.  That satisfy you?

Interviewer:  Uh… Sure…  Now tell me about the tracks on the C/Fe sampler?

John: Just go look on the C/Fe homepage, www.carbonironrecords.com.  I will say the three tracks are exclusive to the sampler and I have no intention of putting them on anything else.

Interviewer:  Anything else you’d like to add to this interview?

John:  You’re kind of a jerk for an interviewer.  Its not like I expect you to kiss my ass but some decency and organization would be appreciated.  Or maybe some thought out questions.  Don’t you have to have an English degree or something to do this job?

Interviewer:  Are…  Are you serious?  Okay fuck this.  I’m out.

John:  Is this how these things normally go?

“Vanity, Vanity” Says the Teacher, AllThisIsMeaningless (Interview)

CultureShockLewis—So how did you get involved with C/Fe?
Michael—I had always intended to get serious about music. I even thought I was serious about music for a long time, but I guess I never really was. Anyway, I’ve been friends with Dennis, our executive producer, for a long time, and he’s one of several elements that finally got me serious about music. Frankly, it couldn’t have come at a worse time.
CSL—What do you mean?
Michael—Well, now that I am serious about music, I don’t really have time to commit to it. I’m in graduate school now, which is another factor that has got me serious in a strange way. I’d been in Korea for four years, part of that time with Dennis, which is also where I met Ikarus and Willem (Jonz and Wayfarer, of the Still Lifes). I was burned out with my job and decided to return to get my M.A. in Dramaturgy. My dissatisfaction with my education has ultimately made me realize what I should be doing. But now I have nine months left, so I may as well get another degree out of it.
CSL—So how do you write music?
Michael—That’s a big question. I know very few musicians that have a set method of composition. So it varies quite a lot. For me, methodically speaking, if I’m trying to force creativity I usually work basso continuo, from the ground up. I will start with drums and bass, then build on top of it. I often start with a guitar as well, usually acoustic. Hospital Girls was written on guitar. Gate 36 was written on guitar. Well, actually Gate 36 was written mostly on guitar. It actually started with some rough lyrical content and a bass line that Dennis came up with while messing around on my Korg Prophecy. But sometimes I will have a melody in mind, or will run across a synth patch that I like so much I have to use it right away, which is more in line with a second, more inspirational, method. This usually happens as a result of something I hear – a drum pattern, a bass line, or anything. It could be a trio of crickets. I go to my computer and begin by recreating some part of it, or my interpretation of it, and mold it to fit my own needs.
CSL—Have you heard anything recently that has inspired you?
Michael—Musically, it’s hard to say, because I haven’t heard a lot of music lately that has held my interest. I think my main source of inspiration lately has been YouTube, honestly. I’ve been watching a lot of videos of people doing keyboard demonstrations, improvising, showing off random patches, or whatever. I hear something I like while someone is messing around, and it’s usually only three or four notes, or a sound, and I immediately start building it into something in my head. By the time this sound or those notes go through my mental process, then through the creative and production processes, it comes out as something entirely different. I rarely end up with what I intended, but I like to be surprised by music.
CSL—You said you hadn’t heard a lot of bands that have held your interest lately. Does this imply that there are some bands that have got your attention lately?
Michael—Oh, absolutely. Much of what I’ve been listening to lately has been interesting to listen to if you want to listen to it, but ignorable if you just want some music in the background. A lot of these help me concentrate on whatever I’m reading for my thesis, or class. Out of this has come an exception. A few months ago I happened across a wonderful release from Arturo en el Barco, called Music for Students. Two songs in particular, Candy Tucker and Beth Dorris, I can’t help but to drop whatever it is I’m doing and just listen whenever they come on. I don’t analyze, I don’t break it into parts, I don’t read into it in any way. It’s very much phenomenological—feeling and experiential.
CSL—Any last words or final requests?
Michael—Am I about to die?
CSL—Possibly.
Michael—Okay, then. Final words: Thank you, Kim. For everything.

Life with The Still Lifes (interview)

Around the mid to late nineties, a small music zine made the rounds, The Wardrobe. The editor in chief was one CultureShockLewis. At that time, his specialty was interviewing. He had a knack for making the interviewee feel and ease and opening up to him in a free flowing conversation. Csl would then report the interview word for word even including the sighs so that the reader could easily visualize the interview taking  place. CultureShockLewis has actually gone on to work with Siemens with their off shore wind turbines. However, I was able to track him down and convince him to emerge from his journalist retirement to interview a few of the C/Fe artists. The first interview features Ikarus Jonze of The Still Lifes. Unfortunately, Willem was unavailable at the time of the interview. Csl is actually working on an expanded interview which The Still Lifes will soon be posting on their website, http://thestilllifes.wordpress.com/.  Until then, please enjoy Csl’s reluctant return to interviewing!

The Still Lifes

CultureShockLewis—So, how long have you guys been making music together?

Ikarus Jones—We started around 2000 calling ourselves Gypsy Street Legacy, but it was primarily an instrumental project. We did one song will vocals, both Willem’s and mine, “At the Back of the North Wind.” We also did “You Never Close Your Eyes” at that time which we are incorporating in the next album. We started the Still Lifes a year later with more of a focus on my spoken word, but we also included Willem’s vocals more prominently. Dennis saw us in 2002 playing somewhere in Oklahoma. Huh, it was sometime after that when we broke up due to Willem heading off to University and me being too busy trying to start a career.

CSL—And, when did you guys start back up?

Ikarus—Dennis emailed me about playing in Korea. He was there teaching English. Willem and I both had wanted to go to Asia for some time. What better way to visit someplace than to play a show there? It was heaps of fun and quite interesting. Willem and I decided to start recording again, and Dennis came back to the states with the idea that he could release our stuff. It’s taking us a long time to finish the music. Even the three songs on C/Fe Menagerie aren’t finished yet. Hopefully we’ll be ready for release in Spring 2010. Considering the futuristic, sf theme of the album, 2010 release will be perfect. I just need to write a song about a fetus hovering over the Earth.

CSL—So you guys didn’t start with the sci-fi schtick?

Ikarus—Haha, I like the way you put that. Well, no actually we started out a little different. “At the Back of the North Wind” was based on a faerie story and “Great Divide” was based on a similar type of story, but most of our other stuff before was just…well…actually our other stuff was kind of boring in retrospect. I’m wanting to move on eventually to something more like the progressive dance of the late eighties and early nineties. So, the theme then would be more romantic.

CSL—Sounds pretty cool, but I’d like to know more about the three songs on the sampler. Could you tell me about how they were written…and stuff?

Ikarus—Certainly, Willem wrote the kernel of all the songs. I added my two cents to the music and put together some words for two of them. The first, “Sebastian…,” is instrumental, and I just added a little guidance and a couple of sounds here and there, but it was collaborative enough that we made it a Still Lifes track. It reminded me of my favorite sf movie, so that’s the reason for the film allusion of the title. “Future in Question” on the other hand was all Willem musically. I just added the lyrics which are actually a compilation of some of my favorite quotes about the future. It’s kind of like sampling literature into a individualized piece. “They Sent Us Their Dreams” was actually a track that I loved musically, but the poem is very personal to me. It’s based on a (Ray) Bradbury novel seriously struck a chord with me. It took me a little bit, but I finally agreed with Willem that the music perfectly fits the lyrics.

CSL—It sounds like you have a lot of literary influences. What are your musical influences?

Ikarus—For Still Lifes, I take inspiration from Steve Scott, T Bone Burnett, and William S. Burroughs for the spoken word. Willem is trying hard to not allow his influences to affect him when he writes for our stuff, but I think you can see he likes Steve Reich and Louis and Bebe Barron. We both like Laurie Anderson and Suicide and others from that scene.

CSL—What about some spoken word influence from Shatner?

Ikarus—Haha, well naturally. I loved Has Been! But I must say Stewie’s cover of Shatner’s version of Rocket Man is somehow better than Shatner’s

CSL—Final Question, what’s your favorite scenario of the future?

Ikarus—I’m not really a big fan of Kurzweil’s values, but I imagine they will gain importance. I’d say…Roddenberry’s future dream really.