Seventh Rule Artist Author & Punisher Interview is up
http://www.authorandpunisher.com/
I think the process was a natural one. I started playing metal with guitars and drums, but once I went out on my own with a laptop and drum machine, the sound sort of developed into what it is now. The influences were what you would imagine in the metal side of things, and also very electronic: drum and bass, electro, dub...The machines have now sort of morphed my influences into this new thing that you her now that is A&P.
No I it wasn't at all. The progression was completely natural. I was a one man band with a laptop playing a sequence...I didn't like this setup because it didn't feel live and the sequence almost felt too stiff. I basically decided to make different types of interfaces that I could manipulate and move/turn/push that would allow me to play all the sounds live. If I don't move, you don't hear it. Now I am playing all the sounds live and can improvise and really capture the emotion of the moment.
I try to make devastating music, it is what comes out of me when I sit at a piano or a set of my instruments. There is no theme, it's sort of a giant mess that I have created. I do have aesthetics that rear their head in my designs but they are very much a product of the materials and components I am using.
They saw me play at the Fall into Darkness Fest up in Portland and we got in touch after that. I toured with Batillus once and they spoke highly of the label, so I ended up writing to them...bam. We have a great relationship and I am in constant contact with them about music, life and everything else.
All of these things influence my designs, compositions and performances as well. I used to get angry about being an engineer in a lab in a dark room or cleanroom, because it was not where I wanted to be, so that angst would come out in the music a bit. Now I embrace the contrast in my life because it is another dimension. At Work I keep touching hardware, devices and materials that inspire my designs. I also have to calculate and debug problems, so the mental stimulation is also useful in training my brain beyond music.
Sometimes the live is very close to the recording whereas other times I tend to improvise and change the songs on the fly or end them or meld them. That is one of the reasons I like my setup, because eI have that control over the sound where I can change directions, slow down, get spastic whenever I want. I like when bands do that, it seems more live and inspired.
Artistically there are some people who I have worked with that helped me and exposed me to lots of great stuff...My friend Matt Hope (matthope.org) was a friend in arts school who taught me to build speakers and we worked in the machine shop side by side creating all sorts of metallic and mechanical sculpture. Chris Csikzentmilahy is another artist that I worked for about 5 years helping design and build his large scale kinetic and robotic sculptures. Other artists include Survival Research Labs, Arthur Ganson, and filmmakers like Bela Tarr and Ingmar Bergman who make some really emotional dark films.
I see it moving more into the improvisational realm...not the psychadelic route, but I Think electronic instruments are going to become more intuitive and people will start doing crazier things with sound...this is the hope anyway. I'd also like to see more metal and electronic crossover than we have not.
Yes absolutely. I am all digital and unashamed of it :). I like the fact that one of my controllers can control any sound I make...to me it's magic. Whatever I imagine, I can create something close. Also, the DIY revolution has made electronics really easy to use, so you can create any device you want. I get anxiety thinking of all the things I want to make and realizing there isn't enough time.
10. What do hope to achieve with Author & Punisher once all is said and done?
I want to make a lot more stuff and share the power with the world. I hope that a lot more musicians start building crazy shit so the music industry gets all shaken up and confusing.
I have some friends I would like to collaborate with, but currently I am liking working on my own. I am hoping to work with Matt Hope on some speaker installations and then my friend and filmmaker Augie Arredondo and I plan to make some short films soon.
I don't think there is too much hope honestly, but that doesn't mean you can't try and that there isn't love. I am a very positive, outgoing person. I enjoy life.
James Blake, Andy Stott.
Websites are a nice place to document things in a full and complete manner where the people who have concentration beyond a 30 second porn video can go. I think social media is very helpful too, but just for immediate updates. You gotta use all that shit I think to reach people.
I hope to see everyone out on the Technicians of Distortion tour with Phil Anselmo & The Illegals. The tour is going to be fun as hell and for me a chance to pump up the stage show a bit with some video and another person helping with live sound. Thanks for the interview! \m/
1. Starting with working with heart and crossbow label. This has been a labor of love it seems. For my readers this is a new project. How did you come to the style you create of industrial drone doom?
I think the process was a natural one. I started playing metal with guitars and drums, but once I went out on my own with a laptop and drum machine, the sound sort of developed into what it is now. The influences were what you would imagine in the metal side of things, and also very electronic: drum and bass, electro, dub...The machines have now sort of morphed my influences into this new thing that you her now that is A&P.
2. Tristan you create the majority of the devices you use to make your sound was that the goal all a long?
No I it wasn't at all. The progression was completely natural. I was a one man band with a laptop playing a sequence...I didn't like this setup because it didn't feel live and the sequence almost felt too stiff. I basically decided to make different types of interfaces that I could manipulate and move/turn/push that would allow me to play all the sounds live. If I don't move, you don't hear it. Now I am playing all the sounds live and can improvise and really capture the emotion of the moment.
3. With Author & Punisher is there a theme or ideal you are trying to present? I does have a very apocalyptic feel..
I try to make devastating music, it is what comes out of me when I sit at a piano or a set of my instruments. There is no theme, it's sort of a giant mess that I have created. I do have aesthetics that rear their head in my designs but they are very much a product of the materials and components I am using.
4. How did you come to work with seventh rule a rather high profiled label in extreme underground?
They saw me play at the Fall into Darkness Fest up in Portland and we got in touch after that. I toured with Batillus once and they spoke highly of the label, so I ended up writing to them...bam. We have a great relationship and I am in constant contact with them about music, life and everything else.
5. Tristan you're a teacher, creator and inventor in computer and industrial mechanism. How would yiu say it influences your musical out
All of these things influence my designs, compositions and performances as well. I used to get angry about being an engineer in a lab in a dark room or cleanroom, because it was not where I wanted to be, so that angst would come out in the music a bit. Now I embrace the contrast in my life because it is another dimension. At Work I keep touching hardware, devices and materials that inspire my designs. I also have to calculate and debug problems, so the mental stimulation is also useful in training my brain beyond music.
6. From videos ive seem live is more an interpretation of the recordings. Should live installations always be more free formed?
Sometimes the live is very close to the recording whereas other times I tend to improvise and change the songs on the fly or end them or meld them. That is one of the reasons I like my setup, because eI have that control over the sound where I can change directions, slow down, get spastic whenever I want. I like when bands do that, it seems more live and inspired.
7. Who influenced you to create this very post modern doom vision?
Artistically there are some people who I have worked with that helped me and exposed me to lots of great stuff...My friend Matt Hope (matthope.org) was a friend in arts school who taught me to build speakers and we worked in the machine shop side by side creating all sorts of metallic and mechanical sculpture. Chris Csikzentmilahy is another artist that I worked for about 5 years helping design and build his large scale kinetic and robotic sculptures. Other artists include Survival Research Labs, Arthur Ganson, and filmmakers like Bela Tarr and Ingmar Bergman who make some really emotional dark films.
8. Where do you Tristan see extreme music heading in 2013?
I see it moving more into the improvisational realm...not the psychadelic route, but I Think electronic instruments are going to become more intuitive and people will start doing crazier things with sound...this is the hope anyway. I'd also like to see more metal and electronic crossover than we have not.
9. Is the digital age helping make this a new frontier for underground music or just watering it down more with to many bedroom artists?
Yes absolutely. I am all digital and unashamed of it :). I like the fact that one of my controllers can control any sound I make...to me it's magic. Whatever I imagine, I can create something close. Also, the DIY revolution has made electronics really easy to use, so you can create any device you want. I get anxiety thinking of all the things I want to make and realizing there isn't enough time.
10. What do hope to achieve with Author & Punisher once all is said and done?
I want to make a lot more stuff and share the power with the world. I hope that a lot more musicians start building crazy shit so the music industry gets all shaken up and confusing.
11. Tristan is there an artist you would want to collab with and if so why?
I have some friends I would like to collaborate with, but currently I am liking working on my own. I am hoping to work with Matt Hope on some speaker installations and then my friend and filmmaker Augie Arredondo and I plan to make some short films soon.
12. Your videos seem to have a dark element but with hope always in the backdrop. Its that how you see the future ?
I don't think there is too much hope honestly, but that doesn't mean you can't try and that there isn't love. I am a very positive, outgoing person. I enjoy life.
13. What are you currently listening to?
James Blake, Andy Stott.
14. You website is a massive endeavor. Tell us about it any why full website over just social media in 2013?
Websites are a nice place to document things in a full and complete manner where the people who have concentration beyond a 30 second porn video can go. I think social media is very helpful too, but just for immediate updates. You gotta use all that shit I think to reach people.
15. Any closing thoughts here.
I hope to see everyone out on the Technicians of Distortion tour with Phil Anselmo & The Illegals. The tour is going to be fun as hell and for me a chance to pump up the stage show a bit with some video and another person helping with live sound. Thanks for the interview! \m/
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