Lichens interview (Originally posted at www.thesilentballet.com)
I’ve read that your albums are all one-time improvisations…
With the exception of one tune on Omns, “M St r ng W tchcr ft L v ng n Sp r t” is actually the one time I’ve done overdubs on a track, and I just did a bunch of layering. It was all still improvised but I had an idea and I chose to move through the piece in three different movements and to accomplish that the way I sort of envisioned it in my head, it was a necessity to do over-dubbing, but that is the one time I’ve done that. Otherwise it is a one-time.
Is it literally all in one go then?
Yes, usually I’ll be able to go into a recording session with an idea… [Robert is met by someone carrying Battles’ drumsticks, which he will be passing onto the band]…The whole impetus for what I do and the concept came about because I wanted to try to be able to realise a piece of music spontaneously, as best I could. That being said, I do have ideas of how I want things to sound, but they don’t necessarily turn out the way that I want them to - or the way that I envision them - and that’s okay. The idea of “the mistake” entering into the equation is not something that really hinders me from what I’m doing. It’s a process that allows me as well as the listener outside to experience basically the birth and death of this one piece of music and have it able to live symbiotically in any given situation. That was the whole idea, because lichens grow anywhere and everywhere, it’s the oldest living organism on the planet, there’s one in the arctic that’s over a million years old and still growing underneath the glacier, so that’s sort of why. It’s all about the process and the evolution and realising, coming to a sort of understanding of things, and seeing that something can be created spontaneously and have an effect or not. It’s one of those things, it lives where it lives and that’s what it is.
A fellow writer at The Silent Ballet went to see you and Explosions in the sky at a venue called 'The Crazy Donkey,' do you remember that venue?
I do remember that, that was a weird show.
Apparently lots of people talked through it; how does it feel when people talk through your show? How does that affect the artist?
You know, I don’t let it affect me, because I’m there to do what I do, and it’s as much for me as it is for anyone else, so if they decide to be involved in what I’m doing and where I’m at, then that’s just fine. If they don’t and they happen to be there, the whole idea of this, the symbiosis, living in situations that are not necessarily supposed to happen - it’s not discouraging whatsoever. I tend to enjoy it more when I’ve made some sort of connection, but at the end of the day, if nobody else is getting it - or wants to - they don’t have to be there. It’s all just a matter of choice and circumstance, it’s not something that affects me greatly, but for the most part I’ve had great luck with live performances, being able to convey what I’m doing to an audience, and the audiences have been as narrow and broad as you can possibly imagine. I’ve played in front of thousands of people and it’s been totally silent, or I’ve played in front of two hundred people and it’s totally clattered and crazy. It is what it is and I can’t be bothered with someone that doesn’t get it. If they don’t get it that’s fine, I’m doing my thing and that’s what I’m there to do.
Do you ever want to tell people to “shush” though?
I think the idea of that is a little ridiculous, I think too many people put this precious idea on their art and what they do. Sure I want to be respected as an artist, I can’t say that I don’t - if I did I’d be lying - but what I do is not for everyone and I understand that. I’m not looking to change anyone’s perspective on anything. If they’re able to join me in it then that’s just fine and I appreciate that, but I can also understand the idea of someone not being there. It’s all circumstance; someone could have a bad day at work or get into a row on the train or whatever, so their day is ruined, regardless of what their plans were for the rest of the day. Sometimes you can’t make that connection and I understand that.
I’m glad you remembered that donkey venue though, I’ve seen a few pictures of it and they have a donkey mascot, was it a bit of a mistake in venue?
Yeah, it was like playing at Hooters. That was exactly what it was, very bizarre.
What can we expect from your live show - are you on your own or do you collaborate?
I do collaborate, after the show tonight I’m doing a series of shows in the UK collaborating with my friend Jeremy who plays in a tonal and textural duo called White Light. We did an album together called White/Lichens last year on the Holy Mountain label. He’s over here because he’s working for Iron & Wine doing their house sound, and we were able to coordinate it so we were able to travel together and do some performances together. I’m doing some solo and some as a duo, as White/Lichens, generally under the moniker Lichens but I have done collaborations with people - a viola player and the percussionist Michael Zerang, to name a couple. I’ve done stuff with Christina Files and a number of other people, off and on when the situation suits.
And are your collaborations improvised as well?
I think a number of the people I’ve performed with are improvisers and have worked with improvisers for a number of years, but I have worked with people that don’t really exist in that world. It’s always an interesting thing regardless of how it works, it’s always interesting and always a good time.
I’ve read that you’ve collaborated with TV on the Radio, but can’t find much more about it aside from short sentences online, is there any truth to this?
There’s a lot of misinformation that floats around… Do you want to clear this up now then?
Sure, I did a few live shows with TV on the Radio a couple of years ago, just a few New York shows that happened over a period of time, but I’m not in the band and I was never a member of the band. I guess it’s not completely incorrect to say that I was a collaborator, but I don’t really ever say that. It’s gotten out there so far - I think the last record review I had in The Wire, the first line said my name then said I was a member of TV on the Radio, and this is years after the event. It’s just misinformation, it’s not what it is, and that writer obviously didn’t do any fact checking and didn’t do the proper research. It’s too bad, but it seems like that happens with most writers these days.
Well, I hope you don’t mean me!
I say most; there are a good few, but only a few.
You used to be in 90 Day Men, how would you explain the differences or similarities between the former, and the project you’re working on now?
I don’t know, but it’s always funny with the idea of a project - I never really use that term, because it’s not a project, it happens to be where I am at that point; it’s just how I see things. I know other people will view things differently, but I don’t like the idea of using that term because it negates the idea that you have the free will to do what you want, you know what I mean? It’s like “oh you know, it’s this little side thing that he’s doing”, and it’s not, it’s what I do, there are different phases in everyone’s life and everyone moves through at different paces, but it’s all your history, it’s all my history.
Well, I can assure you that that’s just a lexical choice slip-up there!
I know, but that’s why it’s just the way that I am.
Do you know when you’ll have another record out?
I’ll hopefully be able to record a new record after I'm done with touring, but once I’m home at the beginning of July I’m going to try and work on a new record. I have a vision of how I want to try and create the situations, so hopefully by the end of the year the record will be out. That’s my plan.
Where do you record your records then, at home or in a studio?
I’ve done home studio recording and recording in studios proper. I’ve worked with a few different engineers, people that really understand where I’m coming from, and that’s the most important thing, to be able to convey what I’m trying to be able to work with.
It must be hard if you have a specific vision though, do you ever worry it will be bypassed by the people you’re working with?
I don’t think it’s ever bypassed, I’m very hands on, even to the point of live situations, during a sound check I’ll actually go out into the house and stand at the soundboard and EQ my own sound. I do like to be hands on with that sort of thing, as there are certain things that I want to be able to be heard by people, and in a certain way. It’s never an issue of bypassing though, it’s never a production issue or a mixing issue, I’m able to convey it and if I’m not able to do it myself, I’m able to tell someone else how to do it.
A lot of the bands we’ve spoken to have said the same, perhaps Explosions in the Sky have picked really hands-on bands.
[laughs] I think for the most part they have, yeah.
Am I right in thinking that the Million Tongues festival was one of your first shows?
There were two shows that I did really close together, and one was the Million Tongues festival and one was when Battles had first started touring and I opened and set up a show for them at an art gallery in Chicago. So, I believe the Million Tongues Festival was my second show and the show with Battles was my first.
I guess you know Battles from way back when then?
Yeah, they’re friends of mine, I’ve known Ian [Williams, guitarist], Tyondai Braxton, [guitarist and vocal samples] and Dave [Konopka, bass] the longest, but I also know John [Stanier, drums] and they’re all good friends.
How did you all meet then?
I’ve probably known Ian the longest, I’ve known him since he was in Don Caballero and he and I knew each other, then he moved to Chicago and we got to know each other better. Dave was in this group from Boston called Lynx, and they all moved to Chicago around the same time, so I got to know him as well. Ty I met just through playing shows, him in Chicago and me in New York and we became pretty fast friends.
Anyway, back to Million Tongues, what was that like?
I don’t know if there will be more, but I think there have been four so far. This fellow who goes under the name Plastic Crimewave, who does this magazine called Galactic Zoo Dossier which is manufactured and distributed through Drag City - he’s a known entity in Chicago, and he decided to start putting these festivals together because he has a lot of friends that are artists that are playing right now. To put any sort of a qualifier on it (which I don’t generally like to do but, I think he does it himself), it is more of a psyche and improvised festival. A lot of groups from Japan like High Rise and LSD March, a lot of folks you might see playing Terrastock, like Spires that in the Sunset Rise, Simon Finn, Jack Rose, all sorts of people. It’s a good one, I quite like it.
Is this the first time you’ve been to ATP? Does it differ?
This is the first time I’ve been to ATP; I generally don’t go to festivals. Something like the Million Tongues, it’s an onsite, site-specific festival that happens over the course of a few days, and it’s fairly easy and comfortable. Everyone goes to the same place and it’s not open air, it’s housed in a venue. I think it only really differs from ATP in that way, and that it happens on a smaller scale. The experience that I’ve had here has been very positive, I’ve been able to see a lot of people that I haven’t had the chance to see in quite a while, just reconnecting with friends and then meeting some new people and it’s the same with Million Tongues, it’s very friendly and very family orientated.