Scene Fucker interview (Improv)
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Category: Music
Mike Pride's Scene Fucker Interview
Neo: Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your musical history
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Mike Pride: The name is Mike Pride. Born 1979 in Windham, ..:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 />..Maine... I began playing guitar when I was very young, mainly playing Weird Al songs, moved to trombone and then settled on the drums and percussion when I was in 7th grade - my school wouldn't let me play the saxophone. In ....Maine.... I grew up playing lots of hardcore and experimental-noise music under the name Ned Muffleburger. I studied jazz for a few years at the ....University.. of ..Southern Maine.... with a great drummer, Les Harris, Jr., and then I moved to NYC in Jan. 2000 to learn to play jazz at the New School Jazz Program in ....Manhattan..... I was disappointed, and then, a year later, started a period of study with Milford Graves at his house in ....Jamaica...., ..Queens... That lasted off and on for a year or so, and since then I have been neurotically pushing my own shit in people's faces for the better part of 6 years.
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Neo: I love the name Scene Fucker. Tell us a little bit about how it works and why you used the name.
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MP: Well, first of all, the name is simple. The music scenes in NYC are very much cliques and I can't stand that shit. So I wanted to fuck it up any way I could…what I have accomplished in this sense is admittedly, very small, but at least I try occasionally, rather than just bouncing around the same ideas with the same 4 people and eventually becoming complacent or, worse still, a mockery of myself.
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Neo: How would you explain your sound to those who have not heard your music?
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MP: My sound is constantly changing. If you come and see me and I don't surprise you, then I would have to say I failed that night. Complacency is the key to mediocre art. I am constantly pushing myself to find something new and challenge myself to play in musical areas I am not initially comfortable with. But, if anything, hopefully, my sound is FOCUSED, RAW and HONEST. Does honesty have a sound?
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Neo: Tell us a little bit about the comfort level of playing with so many styles clashing.
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MP: I am comfortable in any style. I took it upon myself to be conversant in any style imaginable from alt-country to harsh electronic noise to death metal to lounge jazz to Chinese pop music. If you take any responsibility on yourself and are serious about it, I believe anything is possible and you will reach those goals eventually.
Neo: Are there any styles/ scenes that just couldn't participate?
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MP: No. But I have to be honest and say that I do need to spend a bit more time on my Latin playing. But I could get by on the bandstand if I needed to. I do think I can sound "honest" in any style and not force any personal agenda down my band mates' necks, unless I intend to…
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Neo: What really separates your sound from that of other people playing similar styles?
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MP: I couldn't say. I am my own man and have my own personality. Everyone has their own sound, so hopefully we all separate ourselves from each other. I will say though, that those people blatantly patenting their sound and phrasing around another musician should stay home until they can move beyond it and find something honest and personal to say about themselves. Aside from that, the only other distinction I can make is that many drummers don't know how to tune the drums and aren't cognizant of how tuning a drum and the striking of it go together.
Neo: How does a person get invited to Scene Fucker? Has anyone ever refused?
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MP: You likely get invited if any of the following fit you:
1- you are better than the limited exposure you are getting
2- you are ignorant of other musicians that you would be naturally well-suited to play with
3- sexual favors
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No one has yet refused. Some have requested financial compensation that wasn't possible, but I would say about 97% of the time, those who I ask are quite happy to do this type of thing.
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By the way, 3 above is naturally, 100%, true…and my middle name is bullshit.
Neo: Are your recordings more pre-planned or improvised?
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MP: Both. But I would say that the best involve a fair amount of both. For SCENE FUCKER 5. I gave absolutely no direction at all to the musicians beyond saying that I thought we should play for about 30 minutes. But, I did prepare some simple tone rows for myself to play on glockenspiel that tended to put the improvisations in a certain vibe or modality. But, I didn't tell anyone that I had prepared melodic material for myself. That was my secret.
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Scene Fucker 4 actually was quite composed and organized and everyone had a score of some sort. But the rest have been almost entirely improvised with no pre-conceived directions for anyone, including myself. Just go in there and see where we all meet. A good example of this is my cd: Mike Pride's SCRAMBLER with Tony Malaby, Charlie Looker & William Parker (released 2005 on NotTwo Jazz from ....Poland....).
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Neo: Your recording is both musical and noisy. Is that something you try to balance on purpose?
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MP: Well, I am increasingly becoming more involved in "noise" music again, which means nothing, but, yes, I am aware of including "noise" elements into my music. It is all part of a greater synthesis to give an overall sense of endless languages and styles of communication. Originally the SCENE FUCKER 5 cd was completely processed and individual instruments were indistinguishable from each other. Brian Moran (who did electronics on the recording) did this quite wonderfully, but at the last minute I decided to have my friend, the great drummer and sound genius from Norway (and member of MOHA), Morten Olsen, remaster it and remove all processing so as to arrive at the natural sound we made.
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Neo: What sorts of things do you like to write about? Are your recordings more abstract or themed?
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MP: It totally depends on where I am at mentally and emotionally in the moment when I write. I would say the majority of my works up to this point have been about music. I am not usually trying to tell anyone what to think, but actively trying to create the possibility of people making a sound I enjoy, or that I feel represents me. Occasionally I will compose portraits of or for people that I love.
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That said, I have recently written a song cycle for my trio, the MPTHREE, (with Mary Halvorson & Ken Filiano, one release "Sleep Cells" on Utech Records) for Raymond Carver, entitled "Sour Work Dreams". I have also begun focusing on a style of composition I call the "Statement Musics" (performed by my trio FROM BACTERIA TO BOYS (with Darius Jones & Evan Lipson) & my Big Fucking Sellout Big Band), which stems from traumatic friendships and lessons learned in relationships in general. I also have another trio called IXTLAN (with Chris Welcome & Shayna Dulberger) whose compositions are explicitly based on the first 4 Carlos Castaneda books, which helped me through a very painful period of loss a few years ago. I also have two - what might be called political - compositions "Some Will Die Animals" (for guitar, doublebass, tom toms and 4 voices w/ text) and "Drummer's Corpse" (for 2 vocalists, 7 drummers, guitar, harmonium, keyboard & 1 dancer).
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Neo: Any personal philosophies blended into your composition or maybe your song titles?
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MP: I would say I am into the philosophy of being honest about who you are and what you really enjoy, not what you wished you enjoyed. You know, "Here I am, warts and all". I do think that being in love is about the deepest thing that someone can have and that loosing it, even if for a moment, is even deeper. Other things, I think are fairly well explained/alluded to in the previous answer.
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Neo: What's a day of recording like? Any recording tips?
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MP: It's always different. I have spent one day recording a project (PERIOD's self-titled debut) and I have spent 6 months (the DYNAMITE CLUB record "It's Deeper Than Most People Actually Think"). It depends on the goal of the finished statement, budgetary restraints and the amount of preparations. My only tip would be to have an overall sense of what you want your finished product to be BEFORE you begin working on it and at the same time, to not be afraid to have the product become something totally different during its gestation period. For instance I just finished a 2 cd set with BUNDA LOVE (my duet with id m theft able, from Maine) entitled "Beards & Calves" for Funhole Records and Mang Disc, that we have been working on, off and on, for almost 3 years. It couldn't be any more different from what we initially set out to accomplish. But, I think it has turned out to be (maybe) my strongest and most focused and concise record yet (even at its 150 min. total time!).
Neo: Have any Scene Fucker sessions ended up a disappointment?
MP: It is impossible to be disappointed if your only goal is to get a bunch of people you think should meet together in a room to make music, and it happens.
Neo: Any recording tricks that help you get your unique sound?
MP: Don't be stuck to one type of recorded sound or the idea of a marketable product and don't be afraid to let as many people as possible give you their thoughts and ideas. If something resonates within you and is actually compelling, it is probably much stronger than the majority of cookie cutter sounding records out there.
Neo: What sorts of instruments and equipment do you use that may be a bit different?
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MP: I have about 3 travel cases filled with things that make all types of sounds. But that is hardly unique nowadays. My favorite new sounds, which I used almost exclusively on a recent BUNDA LOVE tour, were made simply by a midi-sax, my voice, a microphone, a few strikable surfaces and a shitty 15-watt guitar amp.
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Neo: Have there been many reviews?
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MP: Well, I can't afford to pay for ads to get reviews, and I also work 3 jobs currently, so, I don't have the time, energy, or money to go for a lot of reviews. I would say each release gets a fair amount of reviews depending on what kind of work ethic the record label I am working with has. After all, if a label isn't going to work for you, what is the point in you giving them your music? Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised, and other times I have been very disappointed. Ultimately, bringing the music to the people in person is the only real way to spread what you are doing around to others, unless you are really great at creating a hype machine for yourself and hounding people to check you out, which I am certainly not good at.
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Neo: How do you get your music out there to the rest of the world?
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MP: Touring and hoping that labels are getting my music distributed. Maybe myspace and things like that help as well…but I don't have a lot of time for stuff like that, mikepride.com doesn't even have sound samples…. I should really get better about all that though.
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Neo: Anything else you would like to talk about?
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MP: Well, people can hear some of my music at www.myspace.com/snugglestencil and find plenty of info about my upcoming performances and releases at www.mikepride.com. In general my music can be purchased world wide from www.funholerecords.com & www.mikepride.com/recordings.asp . Some stores that are nice to me are: Downtown Music Gallery www.dtmgallery.com and Other Music www.othermusic.com .
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I will probably be in your towns with Dynamite Club in Summer 2007, as well as with many other bands and folks you may or may not know about, so be on the lookout for those.
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Best records I have been given in the past year:
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Leprechaun Catering- mesmerized ants (megaphone records)
Mindflayer- its always 1999 (load records)
James Amoeba- invisible chemist (amoebafax)
Dave Smolen- feedlines & malleable laminates (sprout & flora)
Nate Wooley- run, she whispered (self- released)
Captain Beefheart- dust sucker (milksafe)
Jacob Garchik- abstracts (yestereve records)
& everything by ID M THEFT ABLE and the entire Mang Disc catalog.
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I highly recommend the companionship of animals & EVERYONE should hear Mariah Carey's "MTV Unplugged EP". |