- Final Exit is decidedly different from everything else you've done so far - musically, it's far more ambient than what you've released at this juncture. What's interesting is the concept - how did you arrive at the idea of creating a 15 minute piece for someone to listen to as a means of helping establish peace before passing on?
- Last year I read an article about a kid who committed suicide using a suicide kit he purchased through the mail. I think it was a women in her 90s making the kits and selling them for $60. The label that released Final Exit - Black Moss - had asked me if I wanted to do a one-sided 12" around the same time and the idea just came to me. I had been messing around with sampling choral music and I thought the sound just sorta seemed to fit the concept. The week the record was released a weatherman here in Kansas City killed himself with a helium hood.
- Musically, certain Italian bands seem to be mentioned frequently as an influence on your work. Are you a fairly large fan of Giallo as a genre? What about the aesthetic of those films and soundtrack has such allure? Obviously there's something about it that has resonated with musicians due to the influx of bands (Xander Harris, Zombie Zombie, etc) doing it.
- Yeah, I'm a fan. I was a huge fan of horror films in general when I was a kid. I found the Gaillo films very intriguing. I liked all the blood and gore and they were filmed really well. Obviously, I really liked the soundtracks too. They have cool bass lines with drum beats and scary synthesizer parts over them as opposed to most horror films where it's suspenseful orchestral stuff, which is cool too.
- Assuming that you're a fan of horror (I base this off of the thematic elements featured prominently on your recordings), what are your thoughts on the current slate of films being put released? It seems that there may be more going on in independent film making in terms of interesting twists on the form.
- Well, I don't really watch new horror films very often. I'm only into ones from the 70's and 80's. There's probably a few movies I've liked but I can't remember what they are at the moment.
- Our 'zine Notes and Bolts is an attempt to meet the worlds of food and music, almost a more low brow mashup of The Wire and Gastronomica, in terms of food, are there any current trends that you enjoy? What are some of the more bizarre things you've eaten and what situations did you find yourself trying them in?- Chili on rye. It's an open face chili sandwich. If you get it with sauerkraut on it, it's called a double German. I had it for the first time last October in Chicago. It's delicious. Well, also last October, we played a couple shows in LA and as we were in line at the airport for the flight home, my drummer, Jeremiah, told me that he was going to tell the woman checking us in that we were supposed to get "free bone-free chicken" and that he had done the same thing in New York once and it worked. I thought it sounded pretty weird but said "okay, try it." Sure enough, it worked.
- The concept of the open faced chili sandwich sounds great, but I'd imagine it requires a fork - is the bread toasted to precent the wet contents of the chili from turning everything to mush?
- I would recommend using a fork and it's really up to you if you want to toast the bread or not.
- The economical values of our climate have been on the dive in the last several years - as a touring musician and artist, do you find this hinders you in any way? As you record for several labels as well as independently, do you find that there are issues with distribution and sales during a time where creature comforts are taking a back seat for folks?
- Touring is stressful but so far it's always worked out. As far as records go, everything sells out and I get so many offers to put stuff out that it's overwhelming.
- Are you working on a full length to full up the prior two? In terms of who all you've worked with, who have you enjoyed releasing material with the most? The Permanent Records folks in particular have always been great folks.
- Yes, hopefully it will be out by Fall. It takes me awhile to come up with stuff and I've been side tracked lately working on a live soundtrack I'll be performing at the Glasgow Music and Film festival in February.
- Your Welcome To The Chillzone recording was released recently on cassette.While it's been discussed to death in some circles, I'd be interested to know what your thoughts are on the revival of the format. Personally I have a hard time understanding its return as I was a kid when tapes were on the way out the door. Surely the allure of the format to many folks isn't simply because they weren't old enough to utilize it is it? - I don't really get it either. People seem to like to collect them though. There were tape versions of my first two albums. Prophecy Of The Black Widow was released in a mini Disney-like VHS case. I thought it was cool. It's something kinda special. I don't really listen to tapes though unless I'm at someone's house and they're playing tapes. That chillzone tape was released by Solid Melts. The guy who runs it, Drew Gibson, is a friend of mine and wanted to put something out. A lot of times I'll come up with something that I like but it won't fit in with a full album. So for that one, a tape seemed like a good format. Some cassette players will automatically start the next side of the tape after the first side is over and I made the track so that the second side ends the same way as the beginning of the first side so it just goes on forever.
- Will there be a possibility of seeing the tape pressed as a 7" or 10" for the completists?
- I never thought about that but it's not a bad idea.
This interview previously appeared in the pages of Notes and Bolts #1 - available now at notesandbolts.storenvy.com and Quimby's Bookstore in Chicago.
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