Your biography has been covered in your ProgArchives
profile so let's bypass the biography details. But what made you take up music
?
My parents were a major
influence. My dad loved classical music and my mom played the piano and the
popular tunes of the day. My dad would buy me 45s of the Boston Pops and I’d
play them in my room when I was about 2 or 3 years old; standing there
conducting to them like I was on stage. I also loved the local jazz radio
program (in Baltimore, MD), The Harley Show. So I assume they reasoned I might
have an affinity towards music and I received a piano for my 6th birthday and
they started me on piano lessons. My teacher for 12 years was John Hasslinger
who lived right in my neighborhood and was a Peabody Conservatory graduate. He
was a great teacher and a lot of fun! So I was in good hands and I particularly
was interested in composing my own music after I began learning the classics. I
also learned theory and improvisation in my lessons and I developed a greater
appreciation for jazz.
But I think the positive
responses I had to my original tunes in my repertoire classes and recitals with
Mr. Hasslinger and also at school lead me to pursue composing more vigorously.
My parents also did encourage me to take up the cello in 6th grade and I played
that for 5 years. My parents continued to stoke the fires of my musical
creativity as I received a Yamaha electric organ at age 14. My cousin was very
talented and musical so I studied guitar with him at age 15. I later took voice
lessons in my 20s to protect my voice. In college I studied drawing, film and
video production at the University of Maryland and got my degree in that area as
I always loved the visual arts. As I kid I drew comics and made Super 8 films.
So moving into the soundtrack area was a natural combination of the visual and
aural.
You have been and still
is a member of other bands and projects in addition to running Aethellis. Please
tell us more about these bands and projects.
Well right now I’m
mostly focused on Aethellis although my bandmates date back to other bands from
the late 70s and early 80s. In high school I was in the Stage Band where we
played Frank Zappa and Hank Levy tunes. Some of my classmates were putting
together a band and asked me to join telling me I played like Rick Wakeman. I
didn’t really even know who he was at the time! I was more into Elton John! So
that became my first performing band, The Good Earth which barely lasted a year.
Another friend from high school was starting a band in late ‘75 and I’d just
gotten my first electronic piano so I joined his band Tailwind which lasted 2
years. But most importantly it was in Tailwind I met Mark Van Natta when he
auditioned to replace our rhythm guitarist in 1977. He had been in a band with
drummer Mike Harrington before that; he also had a nice voice and we sort of hit
it off and were together in all the other bands that followed: Sabre, Affinity
(later Logos Affinity) and now Aethellis. We also formed Affinity Music Library
in 1989 and sold royalty-free CDs of our original music for 10 years. Not to
mention doing lots of custom scores for video and film
producers.
I also met our bassist
Erik Marks (and his guitarist brother Chris) through a mutual friend back in
1982 and I joined their band Logos for some gigs while my band Affinity was on
hiatus. They joined Affinity a year later and stayed for a while but the
personnel changed quite a bit up until 1993. We reformed the band combining the
Logos and Affinity members in 1994 and played gigs and put out one album until
that band dissipated in 2002. I had been frustrated with the lack of progress in
recording our follow-up Logos Affinity album so I decided to just go off on my
own, get back some degree of guitar chops and do my own thing which became the
first Aethellis album.
Over to your two
albums. Your self titled debut album was released in 2003. Please tell us more
about this album.
As I said I’d been
frustrated with the lack of progress doing the follow-up album to Logos
Affinity’s AffiniLogue album. I just don’t think at the time we were coalescing
very well and some members just weren’t into what we were doing. At times I
could empathize with that. However, some things we wrote together were fantastic
and it’s a shame they haven’t seen the light of day; it would’ve been a major
evolution from the material on AffiniLogue. We did quite a bit of recording in
the summer of 2002 and I had a few solo songs I was going to include, one of
which was “Hubris” which ended up on the first Aethellis album. But I bought a
new guitar (my first in many years) and decided to get my calluses back and got
the bug to just keep writing on my own. I figured I could make more headway and
get more material down that we might be able to do something
with.
But the more I worked on
the new material, the more I felt like putting it into a solo effort rather than
a band vehicle. Parts of “Hubris” I had written in 1999. “Final Affinity” was
originally written for a computer game back in 1996 but I revised it and added
lyrics. “Saint Augustus” was quite an older tune that I’d recorded two earlier
versions of in 1985 and 1988. Never properly released of course. “Portal” was
also an older song I’d written in 1984 after a breakup with my girlfriend. I
just extended it a bit for the Aethellis album with the end section in the 7/4
+ 7/4 + 7/4 + 9/4 time signatures. “Tie and Handkerchief” and “Djibouti” were
the newest tracks. “Djibouti” was inspired by a drum loop that I had recorded at
one of our earlier gigs; I rerecorded that and it became the basis for the song
which had a hip-hop flavor with jazz chords.
I realized at the time
that several of the songs had catchy, pop music-like hooks. And I’m unapologetic
about that because I like balancing accessible things with more progressive
things. “Saint Augustus” does have a catchy chorus but also dissonant
polytriads, a myriad of modulations and several time-signature changes. But I
tried to keep things smooth and not so blatantly obvious as it suited the song
better that way. The same for the other songs as well. It was a balance and was
one approach for the one album. That said, for the extended songs I did want to
state themes, variations and recapitulations.
I was pleased that
“Hubris” hit 4 top ten charts at Broadjam.com in March of 2003. In two of those
charts, the Progressive Rock and Maryland charts, it debuted at number 1. It
remained in the Progressive Rock top 10 for 6 months. “Djibouti” got a fair
amount of airplay. But “Saint Augustus” became a staple at our gigs as it always
went over well live.
Then you took an eight
years long pause before you returned with a new album. Why this long pause and
what were you up to during this break ?
The pause was due to a
lot of personal and professional events. Shortly after I finished the first
Aethellis album I got married and we began rehabbing the house I in which I’d
grown up and inherited from my dad. So establishing a new relationship, still
working in a day job and working on the house put band considerations on the
back burner for a year and a half. Then I left my day job at which I’d been for
the most part of the past 15 years reviewing grants and programming, developing
applications. I started to focus exclusively on soundtrack and video production
work. I’d been doing soundtracks for films, videos and multimedia starting in
the 80s and was doing that along with my day job and the bands. It was quite a
load. So with the house finished I returned to music and video production. I had
soundtrack and video production contracts for several years from 2005 -2008 and
then began working for Stanion Studios on the Bait and Switch TV project which
took a great deal of my time. I also was shooting and editing my own epic movie
Beside The Manor Selby which was released last year. That took some time as I
wrote, directed and scored that production which takes place during World War I.
However I was still writing and organizing material around this time for the
second Aethellis album. It just took longer because I had so many things going
on.
You have just returned
with your second album Northumbria. Please tell us more about this album.
Northumbria is an area in England. Why did this album title ?
I chose that title
because I love history and the first album’s “Saint Augustus” was a meditation
on the Bishop of Hippo and his followers in the 5th century. So I thought I’d do
another song dealing with life around that time and settled on the story of the
Battle of Heavenfield in 634 after which Oswald, having defeated Cadwallon,
became the king of all of Northumbria. I wanted to evoke the angst of that
period with the chant-like vocals, distorted Hammond organ, and the almost
march-like rhythms in the second section. The song “Northumbria” was also an
attempt to move away from the smoothness of the first album and present
something with a bit more raw edge, aggression and dissonance. That approach
suited the battle section of the song. That said, I also wanted to have more
choral-styled layered vocals since there was little if any of that on the first
album. So I tried to make that the approach with my vocals for the Northumbria
album.
“The Awakening” is
something that Mark Van Natta and I had written way back in 1984 in his home
studio. I’d just gotten my Korg Polysix a few months earlier at the same time
Mark got his 4-track. I took my drum machine over as well and we just improvised
the music and created this atmospheric tapestry. The Polysix arpeggiator was
doing this bell-like loop in 6/4 over the basic 4/4 rhythm. We both really liked
what we’d recorded but we never did anything with it. I thought to revisit it a
few years ago and decided it would be a great track for the new album. So we
rerecorded with Mark playing his wailing guitar parts which was quite a feature
for me! It’s maybe leaning a bit more towards electronica than prog but what the
heck; I enjoy dabbling in different genres and seeing what we can come up
with.
“Dire Need” was another
older tune I’d made a demo of in 1991. I’d just gotten my Kawai Q-80 sequencer
and it was one of the earliest things I’d written with it. I was having a hard
time at my day job, getting burned out, and the song was reflecting my need to
break away. That opening bit with the brassy polysynth chords in 10/4 and 4/4
was something I’d been diddling with for years. The other parts of the song were
somewhat of an homage to Eddie Jobson and UK. I loved their music and was
inspired by some of the things on both the UK albums and the Green
Album.
“The Penal Colony” was
another collaboration with Mark. It has distinctive sections that one can tell
are from two different people but we felt they were woven together well. Mark
had written the suspended-chord section with the jazzy offbeat rhythm part and I
added my more classical/Wakeman-y bit along with my bass part. We created the
creepy coda together where I tried to get the most sinister sounds I could
muster. I’d originally written the drum machine part on an old Yamaha RX21 back
in the late 80 when we composed it. That older version did end up on the first
Affinity Music Library CD. My buddy, filmmaker/pilot Joe Dwyer always loved the
song so we did a new version for the end credits of his Shubian’s Rift motion
picture. Further revisions led to the version on the album.
“Without A Sound” was a
song I’d written back in 1982 but again it was never released in any form. I was
writing quite a bit with a friend back then, Erin Gill, who was in our band
Affinity for a few years. I had been in a romantic mood and was in between
relationships and felt like writing a song from the perspective that I was in
one. So I wrote the lyrics and she had some of her own lyrical ideas which
seemed to work so we put them in. We did perform it live several times in the
80s. For the new version I took the more plaintive, simpler intro and revised to
the 7/8 x 7 + 2/8 intro on the album. Just seemed a bit more proggy but still
led into the song proper which is a love song. It doesn’t really stay in one key
for long but I usually don’t when I write something. Mark always chides me and
teases me for that! “Oh how many chords in this song, Ells?” Mark is great
because he always brings me down to earth. Mark can write bizarre stuff and
catchy pop material as well. He studied at Berklee (in Boston, MA) back in the
80s and wrote this whole piece orchestrated for a full jazz band in 5/4 and it
was fabulous! We should do something with that!
“Celui Qui Soit La Bosse”
is a quite recent ditty. I just had this bass line and couldn’t get it out of my
head so I figured I should put it down and started playing funky guitar to it.
Then it just evolved into a kind of funk piece. Erik Marks did a great job
playing bass on that. I really wrote it for him in a sense as he is a funk
bassist par excellence. It’s a simple tune apart from the opening burst of the
tritone chords. I put some Moog-y synth leads to kind of lead it back to prog
land but it is what it is. It’s a great live tune.
“Exchequer Prague” was an
attempt at writing “progressive techno” if you will. It was written when techno
seemed to be peaking in the early 2000s and I though I’d try my hand at it and
see if I could take it a step beyond. So after the main melody was stated and
restated with harmonies I thought for the new version a break into a jazz
section would mix it up a bit. It ended with a rather comical musical motif and
rather funny, sproingy sounds. I was trying to have a sense of humor about the
whole thing!
“The Peace Path” is the
other “epic” on the album. I already had the second section, the “pop tune”
section but without vocals. That section originally started as a soundtrack for
a project but I developed it further playing all the rhythm guitar on it and
adding lyrics for Mark to sing lead with. It had a nice catchy rhythm that I
liked and a nice melody based on the pentatonic scale. So I thought how can I
take that melody and tweak it a bit for more exciting opening section? I took
the melody line (which ended up with the words “I will follow you...”) and put
it in 5/8 played on guitar and had it loop while the drums and bass come in.
Then the synth restated the same melody before going off on a snappy lead
alternating with the guitar. The slow piano section utilized many of the chords
from the later pop section but with several modulations. Again I was trying to
take material, state it with variations and recapitulations. Even though the
first section is more properly “proggy” it still contains the motifs that are
derived from the second “pop” section. Mark played a really nice soaring guitar
lead on the second section. But it still felt it should have some kind of coda.
So I started playing the opening 5/8 guitar riff but this time with an electric
piano sound, building it with synth strings. Then I thought it would be nice if
the drums came in, but in 4/4 over the 5/4 electric piano riff so they don’t
quite mesh until every so often. Then adding the wordless vocals just helps the
emotion of the music build and it takes off and makes a nice coda to the entire
piece.
“Sounds Good” came out of
several jams. We’d often start rehearsals in Logos Affinity with a warm up jam
and Erik Marks would record them all on DAT in his studio where we rehearsed.
There are hours of great stuff we should do something with! Anyway, we came up
with some material that reminded me a bit of Little Feat and Erik came up with a
nice break and bass solo. So we settled on the various bits, I went home and
worked out some chord progressions. I brought it back to rehearsal and Erik had
a major hand in arranging the sections and coming up with bass parts which were
beautifully conceived. It was to be the last song on the album and it’s rather
uplifting so I wanted to have both Mark and Chris Marks on guitar as they’ve
always complemented each other live. Chris is a phenomenal classically trained
guitarist and a sweet guy. He’s busy with several other bands but plays with us
when he can and we always have a great time. The icing on the cake was Mike
Harrington on drums sort of channeling Alan White in few places. That particular
drum break that just sort of stops is something Mike came up with and he’s a
huge Yes fan. So there you go!
I really enjoyed the
collaboration with guys in the band who have been so sweet and supportive about
playing my music from the first album live. I make sure we play any originals
the others have written as well, if they want to. So it’s nice to get back to a
more collaborative process this time around. I did play guitar and synth bass as
well as keyboards but the other guys’ contributions are invaluable. And yes
there are “digi-drums” on the album; the drums are basically a mix of me playing
and Mike’s playing with what is called “drum replacement therapy,” and recorded
drums.
What is the
availabilities of your releases ?
The first album
Aethellis is available as CD and digital download from various vendors
including:
Northumbria is currently
available on the Melodic Revolution Records label as a CD from CD Baby
and digital download from
Melodic Revolution Records:
The album will be in full
release early in 2012 and will be available at many places including iTunes and
such.
How would you describe
your music and which bands would you compare yourself with ?
I would describe
Aethellis’ music as a rather eclectic mix of “traditional” progressive rock
elements and other genres (hip-hop, jazz, electronica, pop). As a soundtrack
composer I’ve had to delve into every genre of music to satisfy my clients and
I’ve learned something from each genre. Sure I have a predilection for some
styles more than others but think it’s healthy and challenging to incorporate
elements from various approaches to music into the progressive rock world. It
keeps it from stagnating. As far as comparisons, I suppose some things I’ve done
have been compared with Tony Banks’ solo works and others with the Alan Parsons
Project and Camel even even UK; these pertain to the first album. There’s not as
much of a consensus yet for Northumbria although I’ve been told by some online
fans that the title track itself mixes elements of ELP, Yes and Genesis. I would
say I’ve certainly been influenced by these groups but some find comparisons
with bands and artists that I hadn’t even considered (Kayak and Robert Berry for
example).
But I’ve also been
influenced by the classical and jazz improvisation training I had. I took the
Promethean Chord that Scriabin based some of his harmonies on and wrote a piece
around it for example. And I’ve always enjoyed McCoy Tyner’s playing. Those are
just a few examples but they along with many others are woven into my musical
experience. There’s so much great music out there to learn from and I try to
create to the best of my ability but sometimes you just are in awe of what has
gone before and think, “Geez, why can’t I do that?”
How is your creative
processes from coming up with an idea to it's being recorded
?
It varies. Sometimes
I’m driving and a riff pops in my head and I try to capture that when I get
home. Other times I just sit and improvise for a while until I come up with
something that I find appealing. Then I take those ideas and try to develop them
into something thematically interesting. Other times I’ll have some other sketch
I’d written but it didn’t go anywhere on its own but putting with some newer bit
brings it to life. Then the recording process itself can yield some new ideas
where I’m working on a part and become inspired by new sounds I’ve begun using
or new synth plug-in. Then of course there’s the input of my musical partners;
my band mates. Taking something we improvise on together can build into
something quite appealing and beautiful. I think most musicians would describe
similar experiences.
What have you
been up to since the release Northumbria? What is your current status and what is your plans for this year and
beyond ?
Well as the album was just
released on Melodic Revolution Records, I’ve just being responding to lots of
very kind online comments and we’ve been getting requests for airplay and such.
Nick Katona of MRR has just begun “letting slip the dogs of promotion” as it
were. He’s been fabulous with his enthusiasm and support. So there will be much
more activity soon. I have begun rehearsals of the new album material with the
band and we’re planning a album debut concert for Spring 2012 which will be
videotaped with portions appearing on the Aethellis YouTube channel. There are a
few videos up there now based on songs from the first album. We hope to have a
“Northumbria” video later in 2012 although there’s a teaser video up now. So
we’re looking at promotion and gigging the album the rest of 2012; get the word
out so to speak. As for beyond 2012 the band will hopefully continue to perform
and cast our net a bit wider from the tri-state area we’ve been focusing on here
in the US. I’m hoping that the upcoming concert footage that we put online will
reach out to folks in other countries since it may be a while before we play
outside the US. I don’t know if and when there will be another Aethellis album.
If there is another album I believe it will be even more of a collaborative
effort. But I have many other video and soundtrack projects coming up in the
near future and will devote my time to them in the recording area. But we plan
to perform and gig for years to come!
To wrap up this
interview, is there anything you want to add to this interview
?
Just to say thank you
to everyone who have enjoyed the music and supported us both online and in
person. It’s the people who enjoy the music and buy and listen and come to hear
us that I am so grateful for. And thank you so very much for the opportunity to
be interviewed!
Thank you to Ellsworth Hall for this interview
The PA profile is here and the homepage is here
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