a few moments with shift(less)
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After
weeks of attempted contacts, we finally caught up with shift(less), local
musical artist of various genres. We
sat down and chewed some fat with him, and here’s what happened... |
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us: So, who exactly are you anyway?
him: I’m just a regular guy, really. Grew up in the Detroit metro area, by which I
mean the ‘burbs of course. I’m not about
“da streets” or anything like that, and I’m not about to start shouting
anything about the 313 either.
us: You’ve got a seven-song EP out now, “dark
matter...lazy matter”. But we hear this
isn’t your first musical effort.
him: That’s true.
My first real experience in writing and performing music was a death
metal band.
us: That’s a far cry from techno music. How did that get started?
him: (laughs)
Right around senior year in high school I met up with an old friend, who
played the guitar. We were listening to
a lot of the same music, thrash stuff like Anthrax, Sacred Reich, and other
stuff I can’t remember. I loved the way
the guitars sounded on those records, so I decided to learn how to play. Self-taught, and with a growing interest in
the death metal scene of the time (which was mostly Florida bands like Death,
Obituary, and the like) we formed a band.
Eventually we had five members, with my friend Mike B. doing the vocal
duties, Tony on drums, Paul playing bass, Tom M. on lead guitar, and me on
rhythm guitar.
us: Any gigs or demos?
him: Our first two shows were almost all cover
songs. I remember Exodus (“Piranha”),
Death (“Pull the Plug”), Slayer (“Raining Blood”), Gwar (“Salamanizer”), Bolt
Thrower (“Cenotaph”), Sodom (“Agent Orange”), something by Pestilence, and I’m
forgetting the rest. And we had one
original, titled “Nine Days”. Pretty
standard stuff for that type of music.
We went through some lineup changes that, in the end, left us as a
four-piece with me doing vocals and rhythm guitar. We worked on more original stuff, did one
show like that, kicked out our drummer, and that was the end of us. But believe it or not, way back in the
beginning, the first song we ever learned as a band was “Deuce” by Kiss. Go figure.
us: When did the band break up for good?
him: I think that last show was February 12th,
1993 (althought it might have been ’92) at Blondie’s in Detroit. That summer we booted the drummer, never found
a replacement, and just eventually went our separate ways. A few years after that, I got my first
acoustic guitar and spent some time noodling around on that, playing for
friends, nothing at all serious.
us: So how did you make the jump to this electronic
stuff?
him: Well, in 1996 I started a program at
ITT. The details aren’t important, but
right around that time I was getting into a little electronic music, thanks in
part to my friend Mike M. (the same Mike who’s been mentioned before on this
website). One of my classmates at ITT
was really big into electronic music, and he made a mixtape for me. That was the first time I ever heard
Kraftwerk, plastikman, and the Jedi Knights.
I was hooked. The velvety-smooth,
squelchy-hard sound of the TB303 synth burned right into my mind. I was so hooked that I wanted to try that
creative outlet myself. Larry (the guy
from ITT) pointed me to this software company called Propellerhead
Software. At the time, they just had one
program, Rebirth, which was software emulation of Roland’s popular 303
synthesizer and the 808 and 909 drum machines.
us: And that’s how “plasnap” was born?
him: Exactly.
That song was sort of my tribute to Richie Hawtin’s sound with
plastikman and the FUSE project, and my only real creation for some time. A few years later I got Reason, another fine
Propellerhead product, and the rest is there on the EP.
us: Any “real” equipment? What about turntables?
him: The only hardware I use, besides the computer
itself, is a small Oxygen8 MIDI controller/keyboard. It does the job. No turntables, though. I’m not a DJ...too much effort to do that,
and way too expensive for me. But the
real turntablists out there...Rob Swift, all those Ninjatune guys, I have a lot
of respect for what they can do with a pair of turntables. I could never do that.
us: What do you listen to now? Who do you cite as your influences?
him: I try to listen to a little of everything, to
keep my tastes broad and wide-open.
Generally speaking, I’m influenced by everything I hear. The one artist whose music has sunk the
deepest into me is Jack Dangers’ work with Meat Beat Manifesto. His combination of found sounds, minimal rhythms,
dark melodies, it all just slides right in under my skin. But I’ll readily admit that, on some level,
I’m influenced by everything I hear.
Some of the tracks on the EP are a little...well...scattered, as far as
the genre goes.
us: Yes, some critics have accused you of being too scattered, that it doesn’t sound
like you know what you’re really reaching for.
him: As far as the early stuff goes, I can’t
really argue with that. Some of those
early songs were written with a style in mind, which isn’t really the best way
to do it. For example, I wrote “loaf” as
a sort of pseudo trance song. Getting
back to the influences, though, now that I’m more comfortable with the details
of all this, I’m getting into a more consistent “groove” as far as the writing
angle goes. The last few songs have
started with the actual music, and I’m getting less concerned with “what genre
would this song fit into”. I find now
that, just like ten years ago, the music that I actually write and perform is
more influenced by the extremes of many different styles...Suicide Commando,
Arch Enemy, Cannibal Corpse, Dimmu Borgir, Skinny Puppy, Velvet Acid Christ,
Funker Vogt, and so on. My preferred
sound for the music I create now is dark, hard, edgy, the way it should
be. That’s the mold that I’m most
comfortable working with. If I had the
time and other people with instruments, I’d probably also revive the death
metal band. I wouldn’t want to combine
the two, though.
us:
Are you concerned about possibly alienating some people with that
attitude of the dark and evil music?
him: In a word, no. I’m not commissioned to make this music, I do
it purely for the sake of the creation.
It has to come from me, not from other people, and for anyone who’s read
any of the poetry I’ve written, there’s a lot of darkness and negativity
there. The music is the same way. The music I’m working on now reflects that
very well, I think. On the other hand, I
do want some exposure for it. Maybe
that’s just the “artist’s ego”, the desire for other people to hear your
creations. But I don’t lose sleep over
that aspect of it. If people like it,
great...there’s an audience for literally anything,
so I’m not too worried about no one liking my stuff.
us: Yeah, we’ve read some of that poetry. Dark indeed.
Is that how you really feel about life?
him: For the most part, yes. Despite my happy-go-lucky mood swings, I
would consider myself a bitter, cynical, spiteful person, for the most
part. Yes indeed. For the most part. That’s probably why I find such comfort in
creating this “machine music”. I mean,
it’s all completely electronic, I don’t even use analog tape for the recording,
but to me it’s also very organic, somehow.
us: Getting back to those words...who do you
think has given you the most insight into developing your own writing style?
him: I don’t think I could pin it down to just one
person. More than any established genre
of fiction, I simply have a love for words.
Ogden Nash was the first poet...hell, writer, period...that I read who made me do a double-take at the words on
the page. I still laugh at his playful
way with language. But it takes
time. I’ve spent a lot of time writing
just anything, with the main goal of finding and honing my style. It’s a life-long task, but a necessary one
for any earnest writer. I’m pretty proud
of most of the things that go down on paper.
There’s a great comfort for me in words and sounds.
us: How do you feel about the growing distance of
the world? Less face-to-face
communication and all that...
him: I find it comforting.
us: How do you mean?
him: Well, I have my friends, a small group, but
without them I wouldn’t be here. And I’m
very thankful to have them around, and enjoy spending time with them. For the rest of the world, however...how can
I say it. [pauses for a moment] For the
most part, human interaction is nothing but a hassle. Machines and technology are the only
infallible things in this world. Aside
from my friends, the technology I use for my music is the only other thing I
can depend on. Most people cannot be
trusted, and should be avoided as much as possible. If I could exist in this world for one week
without having to make senseless, painful
small-talk with complete strangers, I would be happy. For that one week.
us: Mmm hmm, ok then. Hey, speaking of words, what about
vocals? Any plans on singing in the
future?
him: One of the songs I’ve been working on
actually does have lyrics. It’s just
been a pain in the ass trying to work out the technical details of getting
those vocals recorded. Let’s just leave
it at that. It’ll happen though.
us: Will you be actually singing, or going back to a vocal style of the death metal days?
him: It won’t be like Regret [the death metal band], I can tell you that much. My vocal cords are way too far out of
practice to be able to do that well enough for my own satisfaction. But it won’t quite be “singing” either. It’ll be something dark to match the mood of
the song.
us: So, like, do you ever laugh or smile?
him: Oh sure, I’m not cranky all the time. I enjoy a good
laugh. I’m just not very hesitant to
express my displeasure with people, things, or ideas.
us: What?
him: I like to laugh once in a while, but if
something pisses me off, I’m gonna go off about it. Jeez.
us: Well, maybe if you talked like a normal person...
him: Oh screw you.
Jackass.
us: Anyway, what’s up with the artwork and
all? And who is “lazy rat”?
him: That’s me.
My friend Steve did the design for the logo for me about a year
ago. When it came time to do the EP, I
wanted some kind of “cover” so it would look a little more professional. So I used that logo, and ended up designing
the cover and stuff myself. The Rat is
my Chinese zodiac sign, so I use the ideogram for “rat” as my signature on
those designs.
us: What’s next for shift(less)? Any goals on the horizon?
him: Basically, I’m just going to keep working on
the music, trying to get out as much as I can, when I can, between working and
living the other side of my life. And
frighteningly enough, I do have a goal.
I plan on performing live at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival. It’s not only for DJ’s, so there is some
hope.
us: Live?
Why?
him: That’s one of the things I miss the most
about the Regret days. There was a brief
period, several years ago, where I was reading my poetry at some of those “open
mic nights”. As soft-spoken as I might
be in person, I get a huge thrill from being on the stage, in the
spotlight. It’s a tremendous rush being
up there. I suppose that doesn’t come as
much of a surprise, knowing my megalomanical tendencies. But yes, that’s my current goal, to perform
live, and I figure the DEMF is as good an outlet for that as any.
us: Any thoughts of including “live” instruments?
him: I’ve given that some thought, but dismissed
it for now. In a live setting it might
be fun, but as far as recording, too much of a pain, technically speaking. Same problems as the vocals, basically. Although, on the other hand, there would
definitely be some benefits in getting it to work. The only two people that I would consider
asking for something like that would take the “rhythm section” duties away from
me (drums and bass), which would free me up for the lead melodies, and
potentially more vocal duties. That does
excite me, but it’s just not feasible right now. But it would make the live-show idea more
fun. Basically, I’d definitely welcome
the possibility for collaboration on some music. It’s cool doing everything yourself, but
sometimes it would be nice to have another person involved in the creative
process.
us: And how do you balance everyhing...real life,
day-to-day stuff, and the creative side?
him: I don’t.
There is always imbalance, it’s the nature of modern society. The things that come out of me, the music and
words, all stem from this imbalance. Remember,
I’m not a whole person...I’m merely a “musical identity”, one side of the
person behind all this stuff. And
imperfections in a closed system can create interesting non-patterns and
unpredictable results.
us: What?
him: Turmoil and upset helps to feed my creative
process. There is always a negative side
to things, it helps us recognize the good.
In ignoring this, we become blind to ourselves. By reading both angles, embracing the
negativity as well as the wonder, we
learn about ourselves, the most important subject. We see clearly. By restricting ourselves to only the light
(fluffy pop music “artists”, among others) or only the dark (Evanescence,
trendy goth-marketing, and such faux f**ks) we become stagnant and hasten our
own death.
