John, you are originally
from Brisbane in Australia. What kind of music did you
grow up with over there, and how did you get into writing
music?
I went to university in Brisbane, but I grew up in a
much smaller city north of Brisbane. I grew up playing
music with my brother – I played drums and he
played guitar… mostly rock stuff. The typical
early nineties type thing of Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice
In Chains… I also played in bands where we played
our own songs – being part of that made me want
to contribute and make my own stuff as well –
but it’s a lot harder when you are ‘the
drummer’
You’ve lived in Japan for a while, teaching
English in a school. What made you want to move there?
I’d been lucky enough to go to Japan on a school
trip when I was fourteen and I studying Japanese in
high school. I always wanted to go back there. It also
felt like it would be an interesting place to be whilst
pursuing musical interests…
You recorded Monoke, your first album,
while over there. How would you say Japanese culture
influenced this record?
I doubt Japanese culture influenced my record much at
all. Though the lifestyle I had certainly did…
I had a lot of free time during the week and a healthy
space of my own… but I was usually really busy
at the weekend visiting friends and such – it
meant that the record got to gestate over a longer period
of time… I think the opportunities for reflection
had an impact on the music.
You now live in London. It must be a huge change
from rural Japan, and even from Brisbane. Do you find
it easy to adapt to different ways of life? How do you
proceed?
Yeah, the move to London was in lots of ways easier
than the move to Japan. Maybe I’m getting better
at it? It’s hard to say – you’ve just
got to take each as it comes and make the most of everything.
And in lots of ways I’ve been a lucky, jammy bastard.
I’m really happy where I’m living now and
stoked that I’ve got to meet the people I’ve
met so far – so all is good here.
Your latest album, Locked In Hands,
is released on Piehead as part of an twelve-volume series
of limited edition CDRs, each of the first eleventh
volume being recorded by a different artist, and the
last one featuring a previously unreleased track by
each artist. How did you get involved in the project?
I’d sent Monoke to Greg Clow (who co-runs
Piehead with his partner Sheryl) for him to play on
his radio show Feedback Monitor and maybe for him to
review or whatever. I saw he’d played it on the
show but didn’t really hear from him until he
and Sheryl asked me to be part of the series…
This album was recorded partly in Japan, Australia
and around London and is deemed as a transitional record
for you. Were you conscious of this when recording it,
and how would you say your music is currently evolving?
I was conscious that some of the things that ended up
on the record were removed from the kind of stuff that
made up Monoke. Guitars are all over the disc
whereas I think I let the SH101 dominate Monoke
to an extent - though its not really as simple as that
- I have lots of ideas going around in my head –
not strictly ‘musical’ as such but more
concerned with the general aesthetics of the overall
sound – Locked In Hands goes someway
towards realising these ideas – but I’m
still not there yet.
You use a lot of guitars, pianos and other
acoustic instruments in your work. Do you follow a set
process to create a track?
There is no real set process. The way I do things changes
all the time. Sometimes it will be me improvising and
recording directly into Pro-Tools building up tracks
sans-effects and at other times I’ll improvise
through the computer. After these initial pieces are
put together there might be working out stuff to add
or different ways in which to mess up the arrangement.
Other tracks result from radically remixing tracks that
are sitting about that aren’t quite finished.
On Piano Music, you used sounds sourced
from an old piano left outside in the rain. How did
you come across this piano, and how did the idea to
use it come up?
It still sits around from the place I used to live and
I’d walk home past it everyday. I got the idea
to do a collaborative thing with a friend of mine who
is a photographer. My bit turned into Piano Music
and her photos are now being used for a limited split
10" record release on Room40 that I’ve helped
organise with new music from avant-garde Australian
pianists Anthony Pateras and Erik Griswold. It should
be out sometime in August – It’s awesome.
What inspires you to write music?
I feel quite inspired now thanks to having my space
nicely set up at home… I tend to draw a lot from
the actual music objects themselves, too – playing
different instruments and such – and also collaborating
– especially now – maybe I suffered withdrawal
in Japan… Soon I’m going to be working with
a friend of mine who is a painter – we’ll
share a space and work at the same time – he’ll
be painting the covers for the record I’ll be
making the music for… then I’ll get the
records pressed up and we’ll do an exhibition
or something. I find the idea of these kinds of events
and meetings really inspiring – lovely products
of chance and friendship.
Who would you say are your influences in your
work?
Anything and everything. Lots of different music. Biting
the Animal Collective too much at the moment. Better
stop that eh? I’ve tried to retain ideas and practices
from all the music I listen to even as my current listening
habits and aesthetic goals change. So electronica type
programming/processing, found-sound/music concrete-type
sampling, hip-hop cut and paste techniques and improvisation.
I’m mostly listening to songs at the moment though…
Joanna Newsom, (Smog), Animal Collective, Junior Boys…
and listening to Oren Ambarchi’s excellent records
and seeing Taku Sugimoto play last year has encouraged
me to introduce more space and silence into my pieces.
You recently played at the Headphone Festival
in London, and regularly play live. How do you approach
live performances as opposed to studio work? Was the
Headphone performance different from your usual set?
The Headphone set was the first go at my new live set
- I’ve tried to set things up so that there is
more interesting things for me to do – chances
for stuff to go wrong or even new songs to happen on
the spot – or for songs to just have a different
feel from show to show. I need to have that kind of
set up to keep me interested – but at the same
time its not really practical to be collaborating with
different people or coming up with a radically new thing
each time. Last year in Australia and Japan was fun
because I got to play a few very different sets –
a once-off full band thing supporting Múm. That
was good if over all too quickly – would’ve
been interesting to see how it developed. And I also
did a turntable set playing slo-mo locked-grooves I
made from these Australian guitar records.
You have worked on a handful of collaborations
with artists from the Majikick label while in Japan.
Could you tell us more about these?
I met the Majikick guys through a chance meeting with
Tori Kudo of Maher Shalal Hash Baz. I played with Maher
in Tokyo and stayed with the Majikick guys. I stayed
with them again for a few days on my way to London and
we recorded a few things in their kitchen… I’ve
not really finished the pieces yet and I’d like
to do some more stuff with them when I go back to Japan
for a bit later in the year. I’ve never seen any
of the Majikick releases over here – but they
do some great stuff… Ueno’s solo CDR Two
Things Happen Simultaneously is a particular favourite
of mine. – great Fahey-esque acoustic guitar work.
The Tenniscoats CD is lovelyness, too.
You set up your own record label, Inventing
Zero, and you have, so far, released two seven-inch
singles, one by Frost and the other by Prop. Are you
planning more releases?
Not on Inventing Zero. My primary label-type concern
is helping Lawrence English with ROOM40. I really want
to see it continue to grow – It makes more sense
to put my energy and resources into that….
Are you planning to settle down in London,
or do you think you will be off somewhere else soon?
If yes, do you have any idea to where?
I’m in London until they kick me out which will
probably be October 5th – though I’d be
happy with it being later than that… I’d
like to live in Berlin at some point…
Have you started working on the follow up to
Locked In Hands, and could you give us an insight
into it?
I’m not sure yet… there are tracks sitting
around that I did prior to Locked In Hands
that are still lying about and I’ve done a few
since – I’m going to take a lot longer to
do the next one… still trying to get my head around
what it should sound like.
What is next in your diary?
The painting/record project sometime in August or early
September and a wee tour of Japan, Australia and North
America for October/November… assuming all goes
to plan.
Email interview July 2004
Thank you to John. |
