http://www.progarchives.com/forum/ This is an XML content feed of; Progressive Rock Music Forum : Interviews : Charlie Looker of Extra Life - March 2009 Copyright (c) 2006-2009 Web Wiz Forums - All Rights Reserved. Wed, 16 May 2012 11:09:20 +0000 Mon, 18 May 2009 15:10:43 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Web Wiz Forums 9.69 360 www.progarchives.com/forum/RSS_post_feed.asp?TID=56527 http://www.progarchives.com/forum/css_styles/mac-prog/PAlogo_v2.gif http://www.progarchives.com/forum/ http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=56527&PID=3249314#3249314 Author: alanterrill
Subject: 56527
Posted: May 18 2009 at 15:10

Thanks for posting this interview. I really like most of Secular Works and I'm glad someone esle considers it suitable for inclusion on a prog site. I've also picked up their two track CD-r and their split single (which can be downloaded from itunes), but I think the album contains the best stuff.

Alan
]]> Mon, 18 May 2009 15:10:43 +0000 http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=56527&PID=3249314#3249314 http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=56527&PID=3219124#3219124 Author: auralsun
Subject: 56527
Posted: April 20 2009 at 23:31

from what i've seen online, they're definitely a unique live act. i hope they come to atlanta soon -- they came once in 2006 before i was aware of them, but not since.

he's a really insightful guy, too. lots of good bands coming out of nyc lately.
]]> Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:31:22 +0000 http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=56527&PID=3219124#3219124 http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=56527&PID=3216616#3216616 Author: bonerdestroyer
Subject: 56527
Posted: April 17 2009 at 19:11

this band played at my house on tour a couple months ago. they completely blew my mind. it was probably the best band i've ever seen in my life. they played only one song off Secular Works ("I Don't See It That Way"), the rest of their set was new material that is 10x better than the songs on that album (and I really like Secular Works).
]]> Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:11:16 +0000 http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=56527&PID=3216616#3216616 http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=56527&PID=3186499#3186499 Author: SharkZ
Subject: 56527
Posted: March 18 2009 at 22:16

Great job, Auralsun! 


Sounds like he gave a very good interview as well. I'm going to have to be on the lookout for Extra Life and Zs, haven't heard a thing by either of them.
]]> Wed, 18 Mar 2009 22:16:11 +0000 http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=56527&PID=3186499#3186499 http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=56527&PID=3186496#3186496 Author: avestin
Subject: 56527
Posted: March 18 2009 at 22:13

Thanks for this interview and for giving a spotlight to an intriguing musician (and I like this album a lot - I added the band to PA a while ago).


]]> Wed, 18 Mar 2009 22:13:26 +0000 http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=56527&PID=3186496#3186496 http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=56527&PID=3186492#3186492 Author: auralsun
Subject: 56527
Posted: March 18 2009 at 22:03

Charlie Looker of Extra Life



NewYork City has produced a number of great experimental bands recently,although the only ostensibly common quality these bands share is thatthey are all notoriously difficult to define. Extra Life is one of themore recent additions to this scene, lying sonically somewhere betweenMeshuggah and Guillame de Machaut, Swans and Morrissey. They areone of a few bands I've been exposed to that is capable of combiningsuch a wide array of sonic ideas to form a truly cohesive andmeaningful end result. Extra Life released their debut album, SecularWorks, to critical acclaim by such publications as Dusted Magazine andStereogum, but it strangely hasn't received much exposure in theprogressive rock scene, which is odd given the undeniably avant-gardeand forward-thinking nature of Extra Life's music.

Charlie Looker, the band's front man and primarysongwriter/composer, agreed to conduct an interview encompassing hisprevious musical experiences, his approach to Extra Life's music,his future plans for Extra Life and his other projects.


Interview:

You've been writing and playing music since your teenage years. Inwhat ways have you matured as a musician and composer since then?

In the years since I first began seriously writing music, I've becomefar less self-conscious about certain things. When I was younger I wasconsciously trying to combine disparate styles of music: metal, jazz,classical, pop, etc. I would stitch together elements from thesedifferent musical spheres, like a quilt. Nowadays I don't think aboutmy "influences" when I'm writing music. Having written a lot of musicover the years and also having played other people's music, I've becomeable to write in a far more intuitive way. Whatever I may be drawingfrom, it all flows together and is synthesized without my feeling likeI'm reconciling differences. My writing isn't a bunch of references toan eclectic record collection. It has become more natural and whole.

Before starting Extra Life, you were a member of the Brooklyn-basedexperimental rock band Zs. How has your experience with that banddiffered with your work with Extra Life?

My role in Extra Life is very different from my role in Zs. Zs was,and is, an entirely democratic, cooperative band where each memberwould bring in material, and where some pieces were writtencollaboratively in rehearsals. While Sam Hillmer always tended to playan organizing role, the general m.o. was that of the rock band teameffort. Because of this, the nature of Zs' music changed over time,with line-up changes and with collectively-felt aesthetic shifts. ExtraLife is entirely different in that I write all the music and Iassembled the band for the purpose of realizing a particular thing. Ofcourse, what I write is geared towards the personalities of the membersof the band, what would work with their vibes, what they would enjoyplaying. They also help with tweaking arrangements and certain kinds ofediting. But in general, Extra Life is my concept and I play the roleof leader and front man. That is one major difference from Zs.



You also worked withDirty Projectors in 2006. How was that experience for you, and do youintend on working with Dave Longstreth again in the future?

Playing in Dirty Projectors was lovely. They are great musicians,wonderful people, and Dave's music is extraordinary. I doubt that I'llbe re-joining that band any time soon, however. At this point, theyhave their solid committed line-up and I don't imagine they would needme floating back in. I was actually only in the band for one tour andone record, but my involvement with them has received a lot ofattention because the Rise Above album blew up, and then Secular Works came about soon after. No complaints there. It was great to play with them; but it wasn't a huge part of my musical background.

Brooklyn, New York is home to a thriving albeit varied avant-gardescene. I would imagine that at local shows, Extra Life typically playswith these bands, but what type of bands are you typically billed within your US tours?

Whether at home or on the road, Extra Life shares bills with manydifferent kinds of acts: solo noise artists, prog rock bands, singersongwriters, quirky indie pop, chamber ensembles, free jazz, dronemetal bands. We don't fit neatly into any one scene. In the mostgeneral sense, I can say I feel solidly connected to the overallcommunity of American diy (do-it-yourself)/underground rock. More specifically thanthat, however, I don't feel allegiance to any one trend or scene. I'mexcited to be billed with any bands who are simply good at what they'redoing, regardless of their particular aesthetic position.

What other bands would you include in the diy/undergroundrock community? I haven't heard this term used to describe a specificgroup of bands.

By diy/undergound, I'm not referring to one particular scene oraesthetic. I really just mean in the broadest sense, the post-80's,post-punk American network and culture of diy venues, indie labels,booking your own tours, silkscreening flyers, etc. Aesthetically, thatcould mean anything from Devendra Banhart to Pissed Jeans. It's not anaesthetic, it's an ethic.

You have Bachelor's Degree in Music. In what ways, if any, wouldyou say your formal music education influences your musical aesthetic?Do you actively use learned compositional techniques in your music, oris your music more informed by experimentation and personal experience?

I believe that as an artist, no matter how much or how little formaltraining you have, everything you know is essentially self-taught. Youcan study music, but you only really absorb knowledge by getting yourhands dirty with it in a personal, raw, creative, non-institutionalway. The RZA says you have to "do the knowledge". No one gives it toyou, you have to take it. For me, formal technical training isincidental for my music. I have studied, learned, forgotten,remembered, re-interpreted, ignored, and misunderstood much aboutmusic. In the end, it's imagination, sensitivity, willpower and agenerally intense engagement with life and death that drive thecreative machine.

Your music seems to have been influenced equally byMedieval/Renaissance and Modern classical music, a combination rareamong classical aficionados, let alone composers working in more moderngenres. Could you describe how your experience with classical music hasbeen thus far and how it has affected your compositional approach withExtra Life?

The main aspect of classical music which informs what I do is the useof written notation. In Extra Life, we all tend to memorize the musicso we aren't reading sheet music on stage, but when I write the music Inotate it with traditional notation and we rehearse it that way. Thisactually makes a lot of things which sound really complicated fareasier to write and learn. The use of notation also has an effect onthe kind of music you come up with. The possibility of writingnon-repetitive, continuously varying material becomes less strange whenare you write it down.

As for the actual cultural world ofclassical music, my experience is not really extensive. I've writtensome chamber pieces and had them performed here and there. I also did aresidency at the Ostrava Days festival in the Czech Republic a fewyears ago. On a purely musical level, all that was cool. However, theclassical music world isn't the social circle I move in. I'm not sureif it really is a social world.



The rhythmic aspect of Extra Life's music is very complex,featuring not only time signature changes but unstable tempos as well.A friend of mine joked about how strange the rehearsal of this type ofmusic must be. It seems as though sheet music/tablature would be aninadequate medium of describing your music to your band mates. Couldyou elaborate a bit on the rehearsal process?

As I suggested before, written notation is the perfect medium formusic which isn't based on repetition and symmetry. All the rhythms arewritten out, and we just work on them in rehearsal. We take smallsections very slow, get comfortable with them, do them faster, runlarger sections, talk about what's not tight, tweak the instrumentsounds, etc. Mostly it's very efficient, dry and straight-up. Therewill be jokes and philosophical digressions, but the main thrust of anExtra Life rehearsal is like a bunch of guys putting up dry-wall orinstalling a sink.

Could describe your compositional process with Extra Life's music? I'veread that Thom Yorke, for example, composes much of his music with theaid of computer software, whereas other songwriters prefer to form thebasis of their compositions by playing out tunes on their instrument ofchoice (with a pre-envisioned structure in mind) and then graduallylayering on other instruments. Do you have a compositional process youfollow for your work with Extra Life?

My writing process has changed since Zs. Since Extra Life, I've alwaysbegun with lyrics. I have a tendency to get caught up in overly minutemusical details, so I enjoy starting with text (itself non-musical) asa way of hitting the ground running. Once I write the lyrics, I startto imagine loosely the kinds of things the instruments might be doing,establish some key or mode, general tempo and feel. Then I set thelyrics to a melody, which is maybe the most fun part. Then I get moredetailed about what the instruments are doing, and then it goes backand forth between the voice and instruments, more and more detaileduntil it's done.

You just finished wrapping up your US tour with Extra Life -- thefirst since Secular Works was released. How has your music beenreceived among audiences thus far?

It seems that Extra Life tends to divide audiences. A certain portionof the crowd will run up to us after the show with effusive thanks, buyeverything on the merch table and start emailing us regularly. The restof the crowd will roll their eyes and go out for a smoke. No one everresponds with casual comfortable acceptance.

What type of music are you listening to these days? Any recent discoveries or new influences?

On this last U.S. tour, we had some really amazing listeningexperiences in the van. The guys turned me onto a bunch of things. Inparticular the Meat Puppets Mirage,which is a very strange and subtle record. I also have become blownaway by Steely Dan, a band which in the past I couldn't reallycomprehend. I can finally feel the utterly creepy, repressed darknessin their work. Amazing. I also became temporarily obsessed with thatsong 80's song "Everything" by Dramarama. It's that reallyproto-emo-ish song where he screams "marry me, marry me". You wouldknow it if you heard it.



Extra Life released Secular Works in April of 2008. When can we expect a sophomore album to be released?

We have about an album's worth of un-recorded material which is in liverotation, along with the older songs. I'm not in a rush to make thenext record. It would be good to do it in the next year or two, but Istill want things to percolate a little more before we do thefollow-up.

Do you intend for the compositional process of the next album to be similar, or do you plan on changing things up a bit?

The newer material isn't radically different from Secular Works,but on the whole it's a bit less complex. A couple of the pieces arestill epic and involved, but there are some shorter, moretraditionally-structured songs in there as well, plus some moreacoustic ballads. There is also a broader sound palette, more synthsounds, the use of the EWI (electronic wind instrument), effects on theviolin. I think compared to the old material, the new is both moresevere and more accessible.

Finally, you've listed Period, a collaboration with drummer MikePride and others, and your own classical work as other current projectson your web page. Can we expect to see major releases for these twoprojects?

Period has a bunch of recorded material which we're excited about, butwe are currently unsure about exactly when it will be released.Business/logistical issues are keeping that on hold for the moment, butI"m sure it will become available before too long. As for my chambermusic, I have no particular plans to release any of my past work. I amplanning on writing some orchestral songs in the next year or so, whichcould turn into something public.

Another brand new projectwhich deserves mention is Sculptress, my home recording collaborationwith Chuck Stern, former front man of Time of Orchids. We have justbegun this and it's already getting very deep. Lots of synth, fakeinstrument sounds, drum machines, and low-rent studio trickery. Thisproject probably won't perform, but we should have an album's worthfinished by the summer. Check it.

Do you have anything else you'd like to add?

Look out for us in Europe in May. We'll be playing a bunch of festivalswith some sick bands, and I'm really looking forward to it. I've beento Europe, but I've never actually toured there. I think people overthere are ready for us.


Related stuff:

Extra Life's official MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/extralifetheband
Charlie Looker's webpage: http://www.lookerland.info/
Zs official MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/zstheband
Dirty Projectors official MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/dirtyprojectors
Chuck Stern official MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/sterntheman


Interview by Jimmy Matthews for ProgArchives.com

Edited by auralsun - May 03 2009 at 19:30]]> Wed, 18 Mar 2009 22:03:07 +0000 http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=56527&PID=3186492#3186492