Church of Hed Interviewed in It's Psychedelic Baby

Klemen from It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine recently interviewed me for the release of our new album, The Father Road. He last interviewed me in 2014. We cover the new album, recent Hed and Quarkspace releases, my studio philosophy, hot synth and gear action, Quarkspace news (or lack thereof), and what I've been listening to.

Here are a few snippets:

Church Of Hed just recently released a brand new album, ‘The Father Road’. What was the concept behind it?

In the original interview with you, I mentioned how I love music to take listeners on a surreal psychedelic journey, a concept that also applies to space rock. We talked about the ‘Rivers of Asphalt’ release back then which is a road trip down Route 66. The original idea involved a double album that also included a trip down the Lincoln Highway from San Francisco to New York. Ultimately, all that ended up being way too much work to finish at one time, so the second part of the album became a separate release, ‘The Father Road’.

Take us to your studio, what kind of equipment did you use?

As far as hardware, the studio includes an array of keyboards, synths, and effects (both rack mount and pedals). I’ve got a variety of drum machines, sequencers, and other fun devices. My synthesizers span both the analog and digital worlds. Additionally, we also use various software synthesizers and sampling libraries as well.

I’ve been an electronic drummer for over 25 years. My kit is an Alternate Mode TrapKAT. It triggers a Roland TD-8 drum module with dual outputs: a clean signal and one routed through a virtual guitar stack in a Boss multi-effects module. For ‘The Father Road,’ I use both of those signals along with Melda Production’s MDrummer drum synth, using the recorded MIDI notes from the TrapKAT as a trigger. All three are submixed in the Reaper DAW with a virtual effects chain (flanger, compressor, et cetera).

Do you think there’s a chance for anything new from Quarkspace?

Sadly, I doubt it. We all reside in different states these days, with Chet on the opposite coast in California. Additionally, Jay Swanson hasn’t communicated with any of us in over 8 years. We were supposed to do a reunion show in 2014 and were planning on flying Chet out for it, but Jay stopped returning our phone calls. Nobody understands why. Other than the deaths of family members or pets, it’s the saddest thing I’ve ever experienced.