Voici ma première interview en anglais. Et pour fêter ça, ce n'est ni plus ni moins que Ben alias Radical face qui a accepté de se prêter au jeu.
Auteur en 2007 d'un chef d'oeuvre, Ghost, Ben va nous revenir cette année avec son groupe Electric president, de quoi nous faire patienter jusqu'au prochain album solo...
- Can you appear and speak to us about your course ?
I first started playing instruments in high school. It was a slow start, but I joined as many bands as possible (I was in 5 bands simultaneously, at one point), which sped things up. During those four years I learned the basics of playing guitar, bass, drums, and began to sing.
And then, after graduating, I decided I wanted to write fiction. So I quit playing music, left my job, stopped talking to most of the people I knew and sat down to write a book. I was dead set on learning to write, to make some kind of career out of it, so I did nothing else for nearly a year. And then my hard drive crashed, and most of that year's work was lost. I was pretty wrecked by that, but I got a job at a local bookstore and started saving for another computer so I could get back to it.
But during that time of saving money, I needed another hobby, so I started playing music again. On my days off, I would meet up with Alex Kane (whom I knew from a former band -- we now have a project together called Electric President) and we'd record random songs. And it was around then that I really got hooked on music. I had fun playing in bands, but what really drew me into all of this was recording. I've been at it ever since.
- What are your influences?
I get ideas from lots of different places. Books, movies, people I know, whatever ideas pop into my head when I can't sleep, etc.
Musically speaking, it depends on when you ask me. Early influences were bands like Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, The Beatles, Radiohead. In high school I was mostly into 90's indie rock -- bands like Neutral Milk Hotel, Polvo, Sebadoh, Mercury Rev, The Halo Benders, Pavement. Later I got into a lot of electronic music, like Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Amon Tobin. In the past four or five years, Sigur Ros, Tom Waits, and Joanna Newsom have all been big ones for me, to name just a few.
But I've always listened to a lot of composers and instrumental pieces. I often go for long periods listening to nothing but classical music and film scores. I've probably gotten more ideas from instrumental compositions than anything pop related.
So I guess I'm sort of all over the map with influences. I like a lot of music.
- Can you speak to us about the genesis of Ghost released in May, 2007?
Ghost started about four years ago now. It's initial concept came up while visiting a friend of mine down in south Florida. The house next to his was built about a hundred years ago, and it was being renovated during my visit. One afternoon I was sitting outside on my friend's porch and the grounds keeper working on the other house's interior asked if I wanted to come inside this old house and look around. I said sure. There was no electricity, so we had to use flashlights. The place was pretty creepy, but really great. I enjoyed being in a place that had been around for a while, where people had obviously lived and moved on.
After that visit, I got the idea of writing a record about houses. That idea eventually evolved into a concept: that our stories bleed into the walls of the houses and apartments we live in, so that even after we move somewhere else or pass on, parts of ourselves are stuck in the walls and floors and ceilings from then on, like ghosts. And that's what Ghost was basically about. So most of the songs are short stories, as opposed to anything autobiographical.
I wrote the songs slowly, over a course of about two years, in the background of various other music projects, and then spent nearly 10 months recording the album.
- How do you compose? Only in studio? With other musicians?
I mostly work alone for this project, in the tool shed behind my house. I've made a small home studio out there, and that's where the bulk of the writing and tracking took place. If I have trouble performing certain parts, I will call in a friend to play them for me, but Ghost was recorded almost completely alone. And since my tool shed is near a road with a lot of traffic, I mostly record after midnight. There are far fewer cars out at that time, so I'm not interrupted nearly as often. Nearly every song was recorded in the middle of the night.
- Ghost received a very good critic reception? What about the reception of the public? What that changed for you?
I really don't know how this record was received, to be honest. I decided not to read about it, and since I don't leave my house very often (I'm always working on projects, so I rarely go out) and didn't play any shows last year, it's a bit of a mystery to me. But the people who have e-mailed me about the record seemed enthusiastic, which is always a nice thing to hear.
- What are your projects for 2008?
I just wrapped up a record for my other project Electric President, which should come out in Spring. I spent over a year recording the album, and I'm pretty exhausted from it, so I'm going to take a little time off from recording. But after my break, I'm going to start the next Radical Face record. I have most of the material already written, and it will be another record revolving around a concept. If all goes as planned, I should be done with that record before the year is out. But we'll see. I never can tell until I begin.
- And to finish, what you do listen to at the moment?
These past few weeks I've been listening to a lot of the new PJ Harvey record, White Chalk. It's really pretty. I like it a lot. And also a good amount of Chopin and Debussy. Lots of pianos, I guess.
Merci à Ben...
...A bientôt pour une nouvelle interview...
