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Beyond Our Galaxy
1-How would you describe music in a single phrase?
Berlin School inspired instrumental electronic music with krautrock, ambient, soundtrack, synthwave/new wave and post rock influences.
2-When you’re creating music, where do you start?
I have zero musical training. I’ve always done by ear and experimentation. I love to mess around with different sequencers or players where you can play notes or chords in random order. I’ve messed around with some control voltage in Reason, which can result in some interesting and happy accidents. There are some crazy music generators/devices I’ve gotten in Ableton Max for Live. I almost always come up with interesting sequences/riffs first. Occasionally, it may be a chord sequence that I stumble on.
3-What inspired your music?
Space, pure and simple. I discovered electronic music through watching the original Cosmos show with Carl Sagan back in 1980. Of course, the main theme was from Vangelis (huge influential artist for me), “Heaven and Hell”. I totally fell in love with it. I bought the album and played it almost every night with my headphones on. Came up with ‘movies’ in my head to the music. I grew up in Miami, Florida, so NASA and the whole space program were up coast from us. I remember seeing one of the Apollo rockets fly over on a night launch. I also lived in Daytona Beach, FL for 21 years, which is 45 minutes north of Kennedy Space Center. I could watch rockets launch from my front lawn. Huge sci-fi fan, books and movies.
4-Deep silence or beautiful noise?
Deep silence. I’ve learned that the silence between notes can make even a simple melody beautiful.
5-What is the main instrument—or instruments—you use when composing your music?
I do everything “in-box” for the most part. Record on my laptop with Propellerhead Reason and Ableton Live. I’ve got a ton of VST synths, drum machines, effects and other devices that I draw on. The Arturia V Collection, I’ve used for a long time. I’ve bought 5 iterations of it. The synths in there from the 70s/80s are major inspirations for me. I do have a few hardware synths. A Roland Gaia that has an awesome analog sound. I bought a Arturia MatrixBrute about 4 years back. I call it a “starship console” as it has so many freaking knobs and buttons! My nephew, Fuller, has had it for a while in his studio and has been learning it. I’m going to utilize him as my “synth-tech” when I want to use it. Hoping to build some sequences with it!
6.Could you recommend 1 album to listeners who want to discover your music?
I would say my last one, my 2022 release, “Surface Analysis”. Had a young friend who is a majorly talented musician who produces and mixes full time in Nashville, David Thomas, who produced, mixed, mastered and played instruments on. I let him run creatively with any ideas he had, and I loved what he did with my music! My prior album, 2021’s “Triptych Phase” was a “Best Of” from my first three releases, which are no longer out there on streaming.
7-What’s the most beautiful part of being an artist?
The whole creative process. You literally lose yourself when you are doing it. The awesome movie “Chariots of Fire” from 1981, (that had a soundtrack from Vangelis) featured a line from the main character, Eric Liddell:
“I believe God made me for a purpose—but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.”
Not trying to be religious with this. But I do feel a pleasure from God (or something) when I do it, like I was made to do it. I literally go into a trance sometimes and honestly can’t remember how I came up with most of my music when I listen to!
8-What’s next for you?
I was going to start on new music. I’d not done anything music wise for 4 years due to a lot of personal issues related to alcohol. I’m 15 months sober as of writing this, and I don’t miss alcohol. I decided to see what I have in my unused/unreleased songs and found over 200 in various stages of completion. I’m culling through them currently with my nephew, Fuller Hicks, who is going to produce, mix, master and play on my new material. I also have several great friends who are awesome musicians who have offered to add guitar and bass as well. Barry Blaze (who has played bass and guitar on prior songs of mine), Saul Siebert and James Wesley Nichols (who took my awesome new promo photos here). Herman Middleton, a new friend, has offered to play guitar as well.
I’m modelling my approach to my new songs like Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis or Steely Dan’s Walter Becker and Donald Fagen:
Hollis, for the seminal albums “Spirit of Eden” and “Laughing Stock” (considered early Post-Rock albums), had tons of musicians come in and play all sort of stuff. They came and played in a darkened house. He told them, just play what you feel, no direction. He went through lots of tapes and synthesized it into those albums.
I watched a documentary on Steely Dan’s “Aja”, one of my top fave albums from them. Becker and Fagen played the actual recordings at a studio mixing desk from many session musicians. Lots of material did not make it on final album. They even took parts from different guitarists on some songs.
PH: James Wesley Nichols