Monday, October 15, 2012

Edison Interview


Was able to talk to Edison after his time on the first leg of the Skelethon Tour, put on by Aesop Rock, DJ Big Wiz, and Rob Sonic. Here's What he had to Say.

Edison Interview



Q-How does it feel to have two albums under your belt? And is there more for Edison's future?

A- heyo… well, actually it feels dang good… but it’s officially 3 records… my first release was on IVDT, a free record label out of Oakland… its now available on soundcloud… and the past year and a half have seen 2 ½ hours of 900bats bat tapes music… so ive been hard at work… the past 2 years has been an extremely productive time… at the moment im gathering things for my next release, which is done… (just doing the layout and things) should be out soon… Its called “delayed reaction elements”…  the title is a word snippet from “one flew over the cuckoos nest”… the new record is a large upgrade from all of my material, as I got to mix and finish it in a professional recording studio… I also threw everything I was capable of at it… (production wise) very happy with how it sounds… as for the future… there will always be more noise!
B-  
C- the Skelethon tour, the first leg, Was this your first tour?

A- no, ive been out a few times before… twice on the west coast and once in Europe… tons of one off weekends and trips… but never anything of this scale… the Skelethon tour was very humbling and hectic… it was a much different scope for my performances… and I wasn’t sure how pushing hundreds of buttons would relate to a large room of people, that couldn’t see what I was doing without the aide of cameras… as far as I can tell… it went over real well…

Q-As far as preparation for the tour, was it intense an tedious? I'd imagine that an artist such as yourself had to plan the live show in immense detail. Or was it just almost a jam sesh on stage.

A- well… in my case the preparation is inherent in the making of the record… I work with my live setup throughout the whole composing and arranging part of a record.. so when tracks are done, I can take them to a show and play them out that day… when I record a record, i just record myself playing the songs and leave out the fuck-ups… I’ll usually drop in some extras and then mix it… in this way, someone can hear a song and goto a show and get the same kind of experience as the record… when I finally get to a show, everything is there and laid out… I just jump around and play the shit out of things and experiment live… just try and set everything up so I can have the most fun on stage…



Q-Did you enjoy being on tour, and where was your favorite place to play? Which crowd gave you the best feeling?

A- being on tour was real dope…  favorite show was NY, irving plaza.. im a little biased because I had almost 20 friends and family there… (including wife, parents,aunts ect..)it was awesome to have them there and see that… place was PACKED…. we had awesome crowds almost the entire way… only one or two cities weren’t 100% on board…



Q-What inspired you to do electronic music? How did you come up with the idea of building your own surface controller(monome)?

A- well, always been a musician… but I had an old friend show me how to arrange and record some things on ACID PRO 1.0…. this was back in like 99’ I was really hooked permanently… I messed around till about 2001, just making whatever weird ass shit… had some friends ask me for hip hop beats… so I tried some out for them and it just clicked… after that I kinda went full time hip hop… started making tons of beats and emceeing… when it came to the live show though, I was always sort of bummed… just hit play… rap… it was weird to me… me and the dudes experimented a lot with playing live instruments and samplers ect… but once I saw the monome… I had this epiphany… so I sold some shit and picked one up! I couldn’t afford the prebuilt ones… so I had to learn to solder and make my own… So glad I did… as it has really redefined what a show is for me… I feel like I caught something at its infancy and have gotten to be pushing some boundaries with the monome… lots of areas of electronic music are catching on very quickly, but the public at large is still quite shocked to see truly live electronic music… don’t quite know what to do with us yet… haha…


Q-What was that one moment music was really there for you in life?

A- oh man… this is a tough and great question… music has always been there for me… I spent almost the entirety of my life, strictly dedicated to making music… since early middle school ive had a fanatical kind of devotion to it… practicing, recording and writing… but, for the majority of that time, I was questioned for what it was worth… how was I going to make my living… what was I ever going to make of all this… my parents were extremely supportive, but they always kind of second guessed the time I put into music… anyway… in the past 4-5 years, having things work out how they did… music is my life and livelihood… so, I guess recently its been there the most… its my career… moral of the story is… high school guidance counselors can eat a dick…. 


Q-Now writing songs, I'd imagine the process is long for you, do you go tiny bit by bit, or is it done more extensively?

A- it’s a complicated process… but its not too long… I just get something dope… and keeping trying things over it until I gotta full monome to play… a song typically takes 3-4 days total… then I just try and geek out on it and perfect all the little shit….


Q-Do you see yourself playing more shows in the future? As in headlining or going on tour again.

A- yea man!... I’m always playing shows here in SF… right now im trying to chill for a bit… and get some new new stuff started… but I’ll be around again real soon…



Q-Do you have a primary instrument as a musician that you fancy?

A- im a guitar guy… but really, if it makes noise…. Im in….



Now to some fun random questions I like to ask.

Q-What would you do in a zombie apocalypse?

A- haha… gather the wife, bro and cats, and meet up with the homie Lucien… he makes some crazy weapons… mad spiked bats and blades… haha….


Q-What's your favorite swear word?

A- I try and keep it creative… right now im kinda stuck on calling people shitdick…. And saying fuckballs… also, I swear a LOT… way too much….


Q- So if you could have a talking animal of your choice, what would it be?

A- actually, I’d keep my current cat and just ask her what the fuck??.... thanks will!!!!!






Go check out Edison on Twitter, Soundcloud, or Facebook!
Wont Be dissapointed, thanks for reading!
Stay Strong!


-Author W. F. Mick-

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