Ken
Eakins: Tell us the story behind Xtreme Music first, what force
sent you down the path of the avant garde?
Xtreme Music began as a radio show freely promoting avant-garde,
creative, and experimental music. At this point, your readers may
be interested in the original mission statement and purpose:
"On the Xtreme Music radio show we broadcast, discuss, and
promote Xtreme Music, performed by highly talented, innovative,
and creative musicians. We encourage a radio-friendly entrance for
new listeners to explore the fascinating and intriguing world of
unconventional music. In addition, we provide hardcore fans with
band specials, quality live performances, rare material, and up-to-date
news. This show is for anyone with an open-mind and a desire to
discover for themselves the true nature of Xtreme Music".
Xtreme Music became an award-winning portfolio of independent radio
programming between 2001 and 2005. I hosted shows on both sides
of the Atlantic, and achieved a worldwide listenership over a four
year broadcasting career. It was my way of exploring experimental
music, mainly focusing on the prolific musical works of Mike Patton,
Trey Spruance, and John Zorn.
Mr. Bungle was the first band to send me down the path of the avant-garde.
Their music opened my world to Xtreme Music, embracing the beauty
and diversity of creative music throughout the world. Avant-garde
music birthed my own self-discovery of unconventional music. It
also opened the door for me to connect with many like-minded music
fans around the world, and experience some of the greatest live
performances at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco,
and The Tonic in New York.
The website for Xtreme Music then evolved into a music journalism
portfolio when I started producing radio interviews in San Francisco,
Toronto, and New York between 2003 and 2004. I started interviewing
many of the musicians I admire and appreciate, and it was such a
pleasure to connect with them in person, especially after several
years of passionately promoting their music on the airwaves and
online. Here is a exclusive sneak peak at the original features:
www.xtrememusic.org/features.html
During that time I produced artist features for Asva, Daiquiri,
Don Salsa, Düreforsög, Eftus Spectun, El Douje, Elysian
Fields, Fake No More, God Of Shamisen, Good For Cows, Gymnastic
Decomposition, Hemophiliac, Herbie Hancock, Loop!Station, Matmos,
Mike Patton Vs. Rahzel, Moe!Kestra!, Prelapse, Richard Cheese, Scott
Hull, Sir Millard Mulch, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, The Bleeder
Group, The Demix, The Locust, Tipsy, Trevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsant,
Tub Ring, and William Winant. I also arranged interviews with Dave
Murray, David Slusser, Kaada, Neil Hamburger, and members of Estradasphere,
Farmers Market, Hella, KMFDM, Mondo Generator, Mr. Bungle, Numbers,
Secret Chiefs 3, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Scallions, and Two
Foot Yard, among many others.
Xtreme Music then developed into a micro-label to release collaborative
projects with Xtreme Music fans worldwide. These included two significant
endeavors, a Fantômastique remix CD and Innominat short-film
DVD:
Fantômastique: a remix album produced by
Fantômas fans for Fantômas fans. An online competition
brought together this collection of remixes submitted by various
contributors worldwide. Every remixer received a limited edition
Fantômastique CD as a complementary free gift for their remix
time and production efforts.
Innominat: an exceptional animation short that
explores the thought-provoking philosophy of existentialism in an
ominous world. This monochrome production combined an extremely
clever musical montage from Type O Negative and Fantômas.
Innominat celebrated it’s world premier during the short film
showcase at IFCT 2005, the International Festival of Cinema and
Technology.
Xtreme Music also produced Special Features for website visitors.
These were namely “Mike Patton Parodies” with lyrics
by Cosmic Jester, “Music Recommendations” selected by
Mike Patton, “Naked City Ephemera” musician testimonials,
“Xtreme Cover Songs” of mutated musical mayhem, and
the “Exotica History Tour” as an essential guide to
Exotica music in Waikiki, Hawaii.
Under the promotional efforts of Xtreme Music, I also freely released
a promotional single called "Let Me Be Your Sunlight"
by Sarah Marie and Jordan Puleston, a soulfully beautiful love song
written for Nova The Musical. This song was perhaps one of the transition
points in my life where I started to experience that there was more
to music than meets the ear.
Xtreme Music has been a broadcasted radio show, music journalism
portfolio, micro record label, and promotional entity championing
avant-garde, creative, and experimental music. It continues to be
an amazing journey as Xtreme Music branches into book publishing
for my latest project exploring "The Spiritual Significance
of Music".
Ken Eakins: I remember you giving me a CD with a radio
show that you used to host, can you see yourself returning to the
airwaves?
Xtreme Music’s radio productions were broadcast between 2001
and 2005. I’m extremely grateful because it provided me with
an introduction to a career in radio broadcasting. Xtreme Music
also laid the foundations for developing my interview portfolio
exploring music. As much as I’d love to return to the airwaves,
my main focus for the near future is on my publication projects.
To keep my finger on the avant-garde music pulse, I’ll need
to keep connected to Right Where You Are Sitting Now.
Ken Eakins: When did you get the idea to start mixing
your spiritual beliefs, and your eclectic music tastes?
The idea was birthed during March 2006 when I returned from University
of the Nations in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. I wanted to develop a project
that united my passions for music and spirituality, and would become
a way for others to explore their faith and values. I was inspired
by the possibility for people to explore music and spirituality,
and had a desire to connect with many musicians and writers that
I admire. An interview portfolio provided a perfect platform for
me to connect with hundreds of music-makers to consider their thoughts
on the spiritual significance of music. My eclectic music tastes
was an encouragement to begin reconnecting with many avant-garde,
creative, and experimental music composers. I began with almost
every musician I had previously had contact with through my Xtreme
Music radio productions and journalism portfolio. I then branched
further into the field of various musical styles from around the
world. It was wonderful to open these interviews up to musicians
that were passionate about the theme, and also contact musicians
that I had only recently been introduced to. I then found that so
many people loved this project, that they started recommended more
musicians to contact, and referring me to their friends in the music
industry. The project quickly snowballed into an epic exploration
of over 1000 exclusive interviews with over 1000 unique perspectives
from many of the world’s most visionary musicians and writers.
The idea for uniting spiritual beliefs and music tastes was a natural
progression for me to develop a new positioning statement for Xtreme
Music: where Music meets Spirituality.
Ken Eakins: Is this where the idea for a book formed?
Yes, the project was always going to grow into a publication. After
1000 interviews, I felt that this project needed a creative outlet
to become a blessing to others. I wanted the interviews to no longer
be a private exploration for myself, but to become a public exploration
for other music-makers and music-lovers to explore music and spirituality.
The new website started to take shape during January 2009 when I
first freely published online the entire portfolio of interviews,
and started promoting it worldwide. Within 4 days I had over 180,000
website hits and my web server ended up crashing due to bandwidth
overload. This happened due to thousands of people downloading the
PDF layout previews. I promptly switched web servers and now have
unlimited bandwidth. Throughout the following months I monitored
which were the most popular interviews, and which interviews seemed
to get the greatest exposure. For the book it was a difficult selection
process to finalize the 102 contributors to be included in the First
Edition for print. I wanted to select well-known contributors, as
well as showcasing unknown contributors that I believed brought
a unique voice to the project, and deserved to be in the spotlight
for the first book. It was a pleasure to connect with so many contributors
who had truly resonated with this project, and wanted to promote
it to their online communities and social networks via Facebook,
MySpace, and Twitter.
Ken Eakins: How did you get people to contribute to
the project?
As much as I’d love to have met every musician face-to-face,
it was just not possible for an epic project of this scale and magnitude.
Many musicians have commitments on tour, are in and out of recording
studios, and working on promoting their next album. My greatest
opportunity to connect with them was by arranging e-mail interviews.
As this is a text-based project, it meant that the musician could
find time within their schedule to consider their personal thoughts
on the one interview question: "What do you believe is
the spiritual significance of music?"
Contributors to the project could then articulate themselves in
the exact words that they felt accurately represent their own beliefs.
It also meant that I could produce a brief biography, editorial
edition, and layout preview ready for their approval before publishing
online. 95% of the project was conducted via e-mail interviews,
and the additional 5% either face-to-face or via phone interviews.
This was by far the most efficient and rewarding way of producing
the book, project, and website exploring music and spirituality.
Ken Eakins: Now I know that you're a deeply spiritual
person, and that you lean towards the side of Christianity; did
you ever find it hard editing peoples writings that maybe grated
with your own beliefs?
I have not always been a deeply spiritual person. For over twenty
years I would have been familiar with the Christian faith, but had
chosen to reject it. I would have considered myself an atheist.
My conversion to Christianity occurred during December 2004. There
were several events that aligned themselves to a place where I literally
experienced a divine revelation of God’s love that totally
transformed my life forever. That’s when I truly resonated
with the Christian message of faith, hope, and love. It was through
this personal transformation that I started to consider God’s
amazing grace and loving forgiveness that ultimately pointed me
to Jesus Christ. Although my personal spiritual beliefs resonate
with the Christian faith, I am passionate about learning from other
people’s beliefs, and discovering their faith and values in
music and spirituality. Belief is a side of humanity that fascinates
me. I’m also intrigued by mankind’s relationship to
the divine and the infinite. For me, Christianity is not a religion,
it’s a faith-framework for a relationship with God, people,
and the world in which we live.
But let’s take this opportunity to talk about the Occult,
as this is a rare moment for us to connect on the Occult themes
throughout this project. I’m sure many radio show listeners
and online readers of Right Where You Are Sitting Now may be interested
in this important part of the book, project, and website. So I’d
love to point people to the Metal Media Release, which profiles
many Metal musicians: www.xtrememusic.org/media/media_metal.pdf
I wanted to select one musical genre that strongly resonates with
spiritual beliefs. I found this in Metal music, and the interviews
featured in the Metal Edition are some of the most powerful and
profound of all the editions. Here is a brief intro to the Metal
Edition, freely available here: www.xtrememusic.org/metal.html
METAL EDITION provides an exciting exploration
of how music powerfully impacts spirituality, and why spirituality
influences music. Readers will discover sincere expressions of spiritual
beliefs from the world of metal music. This portfolio includes an
eclectic mix of musicians playing many forms of metal music; ambient
metal, avant-garde death-metal, black metal, brutal metal, death
metal, doom metal, experimental metal, funeral-doom, gothic metal,
grindcore, heavy metal, industrial metal, melodic metal, power metal,
progressive metal, psychedelic metal, Satanic metal, sludge metal,
speed metal, symphonic metal, technical metal, thrash metal, and
includes musicians from alternative-rock, avant-rock, and hardcore-punk
bands. Metal Edition provides readers with an important introduction
to metal music’s affinity with demonology, divination, magic,
mysticism, Satanism, spiritualism, the occult, and witchcraft.
Some of the greatest revelations about music and the Occult have
come from interviews with members of black metal and death metal
bands. Here are some of my favourites:
“Music can open doors within the listener’s psyche
and lead them to a journey into mental and spiritual realms.”
- Juhani Jokisalo, guitarist, bassist, and vocalist in Apocryphal
Voice
“Music: my drug, my pain, my relief, and sometimes my
mood. How could music not be more spiritual?... Living without music
is missing out a meaning of our existence.”
- Sathor, guitarist in Ars Macabra
“Music is a place of refuge from the pressures of everyday
life... Music is where I find my spirituality, in the mystery, and
lack of rationality in the creative process.”
- Forn, vocalist and instruments in Black Crucifixion
“Music is magic. Through the manipulation of the rules
of sacred geometry, music builds a chronology (rhythm) of frequencies
(melodies) ...”
- Saint Vincent, guitarist and vocalist in Blacklodge
“Sometimes I have a strange feeling that Crest Of Darkness
is living its own life, and I am loosing the control, but I am not
afraid of this dark spirit! I am worshipping it!”
- Ingar Amlien, bassist and vocalist in Crest Of Darkness
“Music is a powerful tongue. If the listeners are capable
of understanding this language it will directly appeal to the soul.”
- Velnias, guitarist in Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult
“Few things in the modern world can rival the significance
of music.”
- Rigel Walshe, bassist and vocalist in Dawn Of Azazel
“Music transports emotions, carries feelings on a higher
level, and improves human perceptions.”
- Nornagest, guitarist and vocalist in Enthroned
“We will show a different way, a spiritual way into another
sphere of existence.”
- A. Krieg, vocalist in Eternity
“Our music is magic in practice.”
- Infernus, bassist, drummer, guitarist, and vocalist in Gorgoroth
From the beginning of this project, I never wanted religion to get
in the way or exploring truth. I get a major buzz from interviewing
musicians with different beliefs. Each contributor has a unique
voice that adds value to this project. It was a real pleasure for
me to read their perspectives, consider their opinion and discover
their truth, and then learn from them. I never really found it hard
to edit people’s writings that may have a different perspective
than my own beliefs. The editorial process is relatively easy because
I want to remain true to the original intention and important viewpoints
from every contributor. Many of the musician interviews will resonate
with key themes that start to surface throughout their responses.
There are over 70 reoccurring themes, and during my Author Talks
I reveal the top 7 themes that seem to resonate with music-makers
and music-lovers.
Throughout the 1000 interviews, I have learnt so many important
points that I’ve applied to my own life and spiritual journey.
After each interview, I review the response, and try to identify
the core truth that the person is sharing. I then feature this as
a “quotable quote” to include together with their brief
biography and layout preview. These are then freely published online
every month, and I save a few gems for future editions. My book
series exploring “The Spiritual Significance of Music”
aims to embrace the entire spectrum of musical styles, and also
covers a diverse range of spiritual beliefs and worldviews. This
project exploring music and spirituality has also opened my soul
to an increased depth of spiritual experiences with music. I have
learnt something new from every interview, and my hope is that others
may discover new perspectives as well. This has taught me a lot
about the importance of developing a dialogue, pursuing your passions,
and enjoying the journey.
Ken Eakins: The books a great achievement, where are
you going next?
Thank you, this book has achieved success with it’s ability
to resonate with the hearts and minds of it’s readers. I’m
really excited that "The Spiritual Significance of Music"
provides many music-makers with a source of inspiration. I hope
the concepts and themes captured in this book will be a blessing
to all who read its words. There are definitely some revelation
moments throughout the book, and I greatly appreciate every contributor
that have shared their thoughts on music and spirituality. Each
exclusive interview is featured in the book for the reason that
I believe they bring a unique perspective to the themes discussed,
and every response shares an important truth.
Next on the event horizon is a book series. I anticipate producing
at least two more books in the series exploring "The Spiritual
Significance of Music". I've been greatly influenced and
inspired by John Zorn's "Arcana: Musicians On Music"
book series, and I love the fact that he allows every contributor
to share their authentic voice. I’m an avid fan of his book
series, and I love the depth each of the musicians brings to making,
experiencing, and thinking about music. I’ve contacted almost
every musician that has contributed to John Zorn’s book series,
and I anticipate featuring some of these incredible interviews within
future editions of my books. For example, some cross-over contributors
from the avant-garde, creative, and experimental music scenes include
Christopher Adler, Mick Barr, Theo Bleckmann, Anthony Coleman, Noah
Creshevsky, Marilyn Crispell, Dave Douglas, Trevor Dunn, Scott Johnson,
Butch Morris, and Z’ev. Almost all of these contributors have
exclusive interviews that are freely available to download in the
World Edition of "The Spiritual Significance of Music":
www.xtrememusic.org/world.html
|
