1 - Tell us how your project(s) was started.
Isis formed as a result of the dissatisfaction with past bands of the founding
members (Aaron Harris, Jeff Caxide, Aaron Turner). None of us were happy with
what we were doing musically at the time, two of us lived together, we had similar
tastes and similar record collections - that was fall of 97 when we actually
started.
Old Man Gloom formed as a result of a 3 week trip back to my home state of New
Mexico in the summer of 99 - I got bored, I had a good friend in town (Santos
Montano) who played drums, and we decided to see how quickly we could put a
band together. So we wrote and recorded the first album in about 2 weeks. After
that Santos moved to Boston and we recruited more members.
House of Low Culture formed out of my experiments with an 8 track at home. having
never recorded myself I didn't know what to expect, but eventually a pile of
music started to form as did the idea for the project....that was early 98.
This project allowed me to work more freely and to explore new musical areas.
Lotus Eaters formed as a result of 3 friends having a few weekends to fuck around
with a bunch of irregular instruments and access to the home recording routine.
It allowed me to continue working in a more "experimental" context
but also to maintain the band style format - meaning multiple members contributing
to whole and working on the compositions as group...I think that started sometime
around early 2000....
2 - What does music, in it's entirety, mean to you?
Everything. my life is music - I work with music, for music, around music, and
everyday for me involves some sort of activity revolving around music. I either
have to be playing it, listening to it, or doing artwork related to it - that
constitutes the majority of my life. I have grown up with music, learned valuable
lessons from it, and formed or entered every social circle I've belonged to
as a result of music....
3 - What does art, in it's entirety, mean to you?
Art is the same as music for me and I don't really separate the two in my mind
- they've always been with me and always will. I spend a good part of each and
every day working on art related stuff (either design or painting) and it's
what I went to school to study. I find art and music to be the most rewarding
parts of life outside personal relationships (family, friends romantic, or otherwise)....I
love looking at art, making it, studying it....I think if more of the population
in the US could focus on and appreciate art and music we would be a more peaceful
and thoughful society - it's viewed as a "luxury" in this country
and i think that's a huge mistake - it's as important as anything else in my
opinion and the fact that it's constantly belittled or trivialized by the general
public is quite alarming....
4 - Who is your favorite author, and why?
Hard to say - it always changes - usually who ever I'm reading at the moment.
I just finished two books by Donna Tart (The Secret History and The
Little Friend) and loved both of them. Great narrative, strong and consistent
imagery, well constructed characters, and stories that carry a lot of weight
and social implications. In sort of the same vein though perhaps a little more
savage I also enjoy the writings of Brett Easton Ellis (American Psycho,
Less than Zero, Glamorama, etc) - his stuff is pretty dark for the most
part, but that's partially why I like it.....on the opposite end of teh spectrum
I enjoy David Sedaris - really funny shit without being lightweight fluff....there's
so many others I could talk about - I guess I can't narrow it down to one....
5 - As your best friend, describe yourself.
I'm gonna stay away from that one....
6 - As your worst enemy, describe yourself.
This is actually easier I guess.....I'm not as responsible as I pretend to be
- I often have so much going on that many things slip by the wayside. I'm probably
to focused on the creative aspects of my life - I dedicate so much time to art/music
that it often leaves very little time for anything else - though I guess that
wouldn't really be a concern for an "enemy". I don't know that I have
any true enemies, except for some people who don't really know me. That band
Orchid hated me and my band because according to them Isis was money focus and
Hydra Head was "ruining" hardcore with our elaborate packaging and
"high" prices....and also according to some of the message boards
I am a stuck up rich bastard who is ripping off the kids. Like I said though
these aren't real enemies - all the people that are making these accusations
don't know me well enough to make accurate assessments of my personality or
my actions so I don't take them or their opinions into consideration....
7 - If your persona were immortalized as a cartoon character, who would it be?
Hard to say - can't really answer this one as I have never really identified
myself with any particular character - they're always too wacky - which isn't
a quality I possess in great quantity. I've been liking Samurai Jack a lot these
days, but he's a hero and I ain't ....
8 - Do you think there are conspiracies against the "everyday person"?
I wouldn't say that there are specific conspiracies against individual persons,
at least not most people, but I do believe that each and every day our government
and the huge corporate entities of this country lie to us about numerous subjects.
In this respect we are all victims of a huge conspiracy - most of those in power
are only concerned with the advancement of their agendas and have no qualms
about deceiving and hurting the american people.There is so much obvious corruption
and greed infesting the power structures of this country (political or otherwise)
that it's hard not to be a victim of conspiracy - i'm not sure that's the right
definition or terminology, but it is fairly close to what i'm trying to explain...
9 - What do you do with your spare or free time?
Hang out with my girlfriend, read, play video games, listen to music, watch
movies, take vacations, take drugs....all the shit that most people do....
10 - Please give us your interpretation of "the meaning of life".
Well, I don't think I'm a qualified commentator on this subject, but for me
the meaning of life is doing the best I can to love and take care of those that
love me, to respect all of humanity as much as possible (though driving in Boston
and going to the mall often work against this desire), and to pursue the things
that make my life feel meaningful (music, art, etc).....I don't know what else
to say other than that - I think that's something that could take me a number
of pages and a number of years to put into words....I think it's best left to
feel rather than to explain....
LINKS:
on
Old Man Gloom
on
House of Low Culture
on
Lotus Eaters
on