A Storm of Light Interview 9/15/2009

http://www.astormoflight.com/

http://www.myspace.com/astormoflight



1. Can you please tell us about A Storm of light and how the project came to be?

A Storm of Light began for me as an outlet to play heavier music. I had played in a "post rock" instrumental band for a while

and grew extremely bored with it. I also wanted the band to be more open to having guest musicians as well as just genuinely

playing with people that i like and respect.

2. A storm of light mixes a lot of sound and styles not limited to Post Rock, Orchestral and Hardcore elements. Do you find it hard to have a good balance or does it come
naturally?.

i really think this balance comes naturally for us. we all listen to a lot of different music, and really none of it being post rock. i grew up listening to punk and post punk Black Flag / Joy Division / Swans , as well as classic rock stuff like pink floyd's Meddle and Black Sabbath. today i am listening to more americana and weird folk music, along with stuff like meshugga and old metallica. i kinda feel like we are channeling those vibes through what we want to play, which

is heavier music, but based in melody and direct song structures....no noodling bits.


3. You've been working with Neurot for while now . How has the partnership going I would assume they are strong force to your cause

This is the 5th full length record i have put out on Neurot which is pretty crazy. They have been amazingly supportive of everything i have

been doing, which is great. Storm will still work with other labels here and there but Neurot is family for sure.

4. The new CD "forgive us our trespasses" has a much more expansive sound then earlier titles. What was the influence on the much more epic style?

I think a lot of the expanse comes from using different instrumentation. banjo, accordion and cellos are all influences from the americana

bands i have been into (munly, 16 horsepower, woven hand), and there are a lot of little influences from stuff like nick cave/pj harvey floating around the mix as well. I sort of attribute the sound of our band to the fact that we dont really listen to a lot of heavy music.

5. Does A Storm of light want to perform often or will it be more a special event for live performances?

We actually tour quite a bit in Europe and are beginning to tour more in the US. We will be in AZ soon I hope.

6. Are the members into a very visual side for the band as well. I would love to see a full length video or dvd come from your releases.

we just shot a video for the song Tempest. It's primarily performance but with a twist. It should debut within a couple of

days. so yes, the visual side is very important to us. the videos, live projections, music, and artwork all serve to make one large piece of

artwork.

7. What your thoughts on the digital media age? Is it a blessing or curse?

i think it's just different. things are changing everyday so we all have to go with the flow. i think while

digital downloads/file sharing may hurt album sales, they may actually help touring bands. more people hear the

music now than ever before, and i think that brings more people out to the shows. with the video we just shot,

we'll be able to premiere it in 3 continents in the same day, and that could not happen without the current

digital age. we all just have to adapt and keep moving forward.

8. Do you find that Myspace is the new promotional media force currently?

to me it seems like myspace is actually slowing down. who knows i could be wrong. i hate that their music players only allow very compressed

versions of the songs. we have been branching out and looking at ways to promote our material with better quality

and without the bombardment of advertising. we are streaming songs in cd quality on our own website now, using

a player from reverbnation. it is much more customizable and suitable to our aesthetic. we're also using Vimeo instead of Youtube

to premiere the video because you can get rid of the advertising and just allow people to focus on our content,

not the 8 million other things everyone wants to sell you.

9. Is there a running theme for the band or is a collections of songs at that point in life?

No I dont think we really have a running theme. So far, we have been focusing on more sort of environmental issues

and themes, but we may feel the need to branch away from that a some point. i think it will all depend on where we are

at when the next record beings to come together. i guess either way, i wouldn't want to limit ourselves to anything

in particular.

10. Could a band like A Storm of light ever want to be or succeed on Major label as it seem Mastodon is really breaking through to the mass media?

I met with Atlantic records when the Battle of Mice cd came out. They said that the band could succeed commercially if we were willing

to write short and songs and structure them like pop songs. We talked about Tool and Radiohead, and I asked about they success without

using those rules. I was told that basically if you listen to the first records by both of those bands they were in fact radio friendly. with their

success, they both adapted and changed while still keeping their fan base. That said, we're are going to keep writing the way we want

to and if for some reason that catches on a larger scale then i could see something like that working i supposed. I am however, not willing to cater to

a formula to try and "get famous." If it happens it happens, if not it doesn't.

11. Where do you see the underground music movement going in the next few years as sales are falling do to digital media ?

i have no idea. i do know that it is hurting labels. it is also effecting how much money labels are willing to invest into recording

a new record. i am afraid that it may end up making bands record quicker, and for less money, and possibly hurt the final

sound of the records themselves. Of course this is also contradicted by computerized recording, in that it's easier now for

bands to record themselves. i guess it all fits into that adaptation idea from above.

12. How does A Storm of light record material is it at once in studio or pieces at time in home studios / studio pieced together?

every record is recorded differently, though most of the keyboard tracks are recorded at home. this last record we recorded in

pieces between my house, and two different recording studios. it works out nicely and i sort of prefer the process to be spread

out over more time, it gives you more perspective on what is actually getting recorded and more time to address things you

may not like.

13. Thank you for the time any closing thoughts here.

thanks for the interview Clint.

Cheers,

Josh