Now defunct Dutch zine Achterhalen let me ramble on various self-indulgent topics
for a while. I forget when this was exactly. Posted with their permission.
An Interview With a Musical Rodent: Peter Martin ie. Eddie the Rat
Q: Eddie the Rat has had many phases, it seems. Where are you at
now?
A: The music on the latest CD is a quartet, and it is the best
performing group I have had the pleasure of leading/being a part in
making what I call Eddie the Rat music.
Q: Why this group?
A: Attitude. Plain and simple. When a listener hears anything I've
written, they are hearing the performance, which is a measure of the
performers as much if not more than the recipe I have given them to
play. It's been the same folks rehearsing, 3 or more days a week, for
years now: learning things together, working through nerves together,
developing that group mind. My arrangements for the live group are
tighter and more focused than before, and it has immeasurably been
encouraged by this current group. When you are writing complex music
which relies on detailed coordination among instruments, you need to
know who's showing up for practice, and in what state you'll find them.
The musical structures had to be written to accommodate that. When the
live group was scaled down to four people, it was not a random
selection. The discipline and determination they put into learning what
I write is more than one could hope for in a group of musicians. The
current group is myself and three of the most wonderful people I have
ever been associated with.
Q: "Once Around The Butterfly Bush" (Edgetone Records) is a record
for which I can find no musical comparison.
A: Thank you very much.
Q: How would you describe it.
A: I would describe it as music.
Q: I have seen reviews where Eddie the Rat is compared to a lot to
Sun Ra, Zappa, the Residents. Care to comment?
A: Hmmm...Those are valid (for the record, I also hear the Who, Lou
Harrison, Led Zeppelin, Balkan music, gamelan, Jerry Lee Lewis, drum 'n
bass...the list goes on and on). I have heard comparisons to certain
artists where I raise my eyebrows and wonder WHAT makes that connection
for that person. To comment directly on the ones you mentioned, I think
those comparisons are definitely there but also a bit surface level. I
have never been one to hide my influences. I think it sounds forced if
you try and, I mean, what the hell, this is the music that inspired you
to make music, right? Why hide that? Frank Zappa and Sun Ra are two
formidable mountains in modern music. They both worked in experimental
veins while maintaining their ties to popular forms. Both worked with
large groups. Both were very rock n' roll too. It's hard not to be
influenced. If one likes to write music of an experimental or
avant-something nature with an American sense of timing, and include
irony, wit, or humor, then Sun Ra and Zappa are right in front of you
like a mountain range. You can't navigate around them. You have to go
through them, over them, or under them but you have to contend with
them. I have never been a fan of the Residents, but can see the
connection people are making, especially with the more electronic Eddie
the Rat stuff. I glad you asked me that question.
Q: Good. That's another thing I've noticed, is that the first CDs are
much more electronic and sample heavy, while later stuff is
more...musical?
A: Well, it's all music to me, but I get your point. The music with
the performing groups is obviously more organic. To me it's all about
writing and composition. I love writing music more than just about
anything else. When I first started doing what I called Eddie the Rat
music it was me in a room. Alot of the music had a very sound
design/musique concrete/sequenced approach, which I don't think I have
really strayed from over the years. It was a product of the tools and
people that were around me. Usually, the samples or found-sound stuff
were recordings I had made - with notable exception - of people I came
into contact with. There was a period of about 3 years where I was
constantly walking around with a micro-cassette recorder and asking
people "can you say that again?"
Q: That's the cd on Seeland, Negativland's label, right?
A: Alot of it, yep. They were kind enough to help me along back then.
Mark Hausler was very patient. I have some wonderful phone recordings of
him playing the record company guy and talking to me about positioning
and other marketing concepts when I was doing the back cover.
Q: You recorded him without his knowledge?
A: With and without.
Q: That would be hilarious to hear. Are you planning on releasing
any of this on record?
A: Maybe. When Eddie the Rat also became a performing outlet, I
chose to use live voice people, rather that use a sampler. It made it
more of an in the moment and - dare I say again - organic thing, rather
than the alternative, which to me is somewhat...boxed in and withdrawn
(laughs). I guess I am a live musician at heart, although I don't
consider myself a performer as much anymore.
Q: Back to the first record, which I like very much.
A: Thank you, that means a lot.
Q: I noticed on your myspace page you took pains to distance yourself
from the Negativland connection?
A: Did I? Probably aesthetically more than anything, because I am
not a plunderphonics guy. I don't use other's people's direct music as
the foundation for my own. However arrogant it sounds, I call myself a
composer (hums Beetoven). I do love the cut 'n paste approach to musical
structures, however, and have always done those kinds of arrangements.
"Once Around The Butterfly Bush" very much contains those types of
arrangements. In fact, as a piece, it's based on the cut 'n paste
approach, very non-linear. Most of the songs on that first record were
excerpts of larger pieces of my own, edited into different combinations,
different versions. I've always thought of that first record as the
Table of Contents to the story that's unfolding in subsequent records.
Other than that, I don't recall trying to distance myself from Seeland
or Negativland. I mean...the record was released on Negativland's
label...Mark H. was very good to me and it was good for me at the time.
They weren't interested in releasing my next record, even though Don
Joyce said it was better. They never said why and I never asked. I love
the Edgetone folks, because there is a good deal of camaraderie between
the artists. We're doing the Edgetone New Music Summit on Saturday. We
will actually be doing shows with other Edgeone artists around the Bay
Area starting next month.
Q: On the Edgetone site about Eddie the Rat, is says "what might
sound like improvising is actually structured and rehearsed." Most of
the Edgetone catalog are by improvising artists. Was this statement
deliberate? Do you not like improvisation?
A: I like improvising a lot. In fact, right before Eddie the Rat, I
released a record with Steve Gigante, who currently performs as Dark
Inside The Sun, which was 3 cds of almost all one-off improvisations.
The group was called Fork In The Blender, and I am as proud of it as any
stuff I've done on an Eddie the Rat record. The current music which the
group is performing is very structured, because that is what this group
plays best. I am also writing much more structured music right now.
There have been incarnations of the group which have done a good deal
more improvising. Notable folks are Perrish, Ches Smith, and Karen
Schumacher, but MANY others. I am NOT a fan of individual soloing
within this group, and the "guitar solo followed by sax followed by..."
approach. UGH...For my ears, it's been done to death. I don't like that
in most jazz either (with exceptions). I like the Bitch's Brew
approach. I like the ragtime approach, everything out and everything
compliments whatever musical structure you are supporting. I suppose
that's not very "avant" of me but hey... When the group was much larger,
everyone had to be on the best behavior in that way or toes would get
stepped on. There was room for improvising BUT the idea was to
compliment each other and make a collective statement around the piece,
rather than highlight someone's abilities to play scales. I'm sure that
sounds more cynical than it's meant...but I have seen Ches Smith in a
room full of people banging on the rafters, and he'll put down his
sticks and pick up a maraca and nothing else because that what is
needed. You can make a huge statement with one note, or by not playing
at all. When Rent Romus of Edgetone - a guy with huge tone - sits in
with us, he plays for the music and the moment, sometimes you hardly
know he's there. Sometimes he makes definite...assertions (laughs). Like
somebody else said: Improvising is on-the-spot composing.
Q: But isn't your music very busy?
A: Yes, which is why less is more. I write things with multiple
things going on, tempos, melodies, rhythms, but I think there is also
balance it and a musical tension like a mobile, which is what I always
go for.
Q: Wouldn't it be possible to achieve the same through improvisation.
A: Very possible, yes. It depends on the individual players, but also
on things like the group dynamic and less definable things like trust,
respect, etc...And though, I think most musicians - when improvising -
go to places where there fingers and mouths and mentalities are
comfortable.
Q: Any upcoming plans?
A: If all goes well, releasing about 2-3 records this year on
Edgetone. We have a lot of new material we are recording now, and a lot
of records from previous incarnations that are ready to go, so it'll be
a good mixed message.
Q: Mixed message?
A: Stylistically and instrumentation-wise. A lot of musical ground
has been covered by the performing group, and about 60+ people cycled
through in about 4 years, a lot of whom were gracious enough to be
recorded. We haven't had a guitar player in the group in years now, but
we'll be putting out a record this fall of earlier recordings which has
a lot of it. It's called "Insomnia Sound Bible." Also 2 records from the
quartet. I am also in the midst of writing an opera.
Q: Thank you for your time.
A: Thank you. And thank you for listening.