2: What led you to this kind of music in the first place?
I've been playing the guitar since i was 15 years old and i'm 28yrs now, it seems like my whole life.
I found and developed an identity through my relationship with guitar, how else does development occur? without experimentation? Well i don't know... i guess i'm asking that question to myself... well that's how it happened for me anyway. Guitar is a very natural environment for me, it's where i interpret all of the other environments i experience. Experience, that's what leads me. Experience/Experimental.. it's a mental thang!
3: What do you think it is you try to express with your music, what intentions do you have?
Intent? Hymn...In the music that is Totemplow i would say that the intention is blending imagination and improvisation, creation of sound worlds where realtime improvisation breathes organic elements through the technology of the tools.
4: What are your own impressions with the album?
'Applaud' has a definite magic to it. I listen to that music very objectively and can be moved into spaces that i never intended as i actually played the music. All of the tracks but 'applaud the execution' and 'death valley' are live realtime guitar improvisations then embellished. There are moments that i could not recreate if my life was in the balance. On 'applaud the execution', the track, the only guitar is a very short, identifiable loop in the intro, the ambience is all detuned drum machine cymbals.
This idea of having the first track on the album not be guitar based came from the studio trick of having the first few notes of say a sax solo be real sax and then have the rest be a synth. The ear hears the first few notes and accepts it as real. It's done to save paying musicians for a whole solo, which is actually fucking lame but the concept made an impression on me. Anyway, i took that to some other ends and it impressed me.
5: Do you self listen to alot of music in the genre? Anything that has inspired you?
In my B.M.(Before Manifold) days i was listening alot to Laswell; Possession, Second Nature, all of the Subharmonic and Axiom stuff, Strata label, the whole trip. Then A.M.(After Manifold) i had Vince Harrigan turning me on to so much new stuff it was like i was being beat, i had no idea what was going on. Some of the records that stand out in my mind are His Masters Voice 'Singing the Boundaries', A Small Good Thing 'Slim Westerns', the 'Invisible Domains' comp on Malignant, Terre Thaemlitz 'Soil', ...Dj Spooky has also been inspiring me lately.
6: You've made a soundtrack for a movie, how did this happen? Any plans to release it?
The soundtrack is actually for a move that doesn't exist. It's called 'Wild Animal Astrology', it's a collection of music that accompanies my imaginary sci-fi apocalypse with a sense of humor. Yeah! shit, now that you mention it, maybe someday it could be released. It's got alot of drum machine, moog, guitar all that.
7: How did you come to release your album on Manifold?
Well i don't know really why i did it but i sent a tape to Bill Laswell in july of 95. 2 days later i got a call from Robert Soares of Subharmonic saying shit like "yeah, you're music is cool. We are interested in you" and i was just sitting there with my jaw on the floor. Since then i've only heard his voice one other time on my answering machine, but, i did end up staying in contact with John Brown who basically runs the show at the Material offices. Through that contact i ended up meeting Bill when he was in San Francisco playing with Praxis. He hooked me with the Manifold stats, i sent Vince a tape, and there it is.
8: How's it going with the next album? How has the sound changed?
It is coming together very well. I'm in the process now of putting together a demo to shop around. It may happen on Manifold, but i'm gonna poke around a bit first. This record is alot different than 'Applaud', it has more identifiable guitar playing, more beats and a couple of guest artists. I'm also using an ADAT and a sampler, neither of which i had during 'Applaud'.
9: Do you feel an evolution in your music the more you play, that it or you goals and ideas change with time?
Definitely Yes. My evolution is a result of my experimentation and that's what i do, that's the trip.
10: Its been said that you work a lot with improvisation. is this true, how important is it for you? For me it all starts with improvisation. That's the organic human element that gives the vibe that i like. I love to take that vibe and embellish, manipulate and expose.
11: Influences?
Psychedelic drugs, Marijuana, Sci-fi, Heady fucked up movies, Animation, Radical crazy theoretical rants, Technology, Sex, Tolkien, and of course sound and musics.
12: What are you working on now? In the future?
The new record like i mentioned, there is also a collaboration in the works with Thurston Moore. I'm beginning a collab with a longtime friend of mine who is going under the name Moses Cone, he does alot of sampling cut/paste kind of stuff and a damn good bass player. Then there is the ever morphing relationship with Dr.'Sup?, who is another longtime friend of mine, we go under the project name of 'Gone Postal'. GP actually has a small part in a compilation coming out when? i don't know, it's taking forever.) titled 'Voyager' on a new label AdAstra. In the future? well, the future is now, at least i try to keep thinking that, and things are moving along at a decent pace, i'm just happy to finally be putting out some music.
