Zelfe Interview

INTERVIEW WITH ZELFE FROM TheCelebrityCafe.com ARCHIVES

DM) How much of your influence does the different musical technology have on your songwriting?

Z) This is a very interesting question and I'll give you two aspects in answer. (1) When I get a new "toy", I tend to play around with it at first (naturally enough: the "child" within me I suppose). During this phase, I inevitably end up writing a new song. So in this respect, the technology spurs the songs. On the other hand, I've also spent a good deal of time making the technology sound like "natural" sounds so that many of the effects you year in my music are "suggestive" of something which occurs in nature (i.e. wind, water, rain, etc. etc.). In other words, once having mastered a technology, I take great pains to blend it into my compositions so that the technology is no longer apparent.

DM) So, you try having art imitate life?

Z) I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that... I think of myself rather as a "sound painter". I paint sounds on the canvas of your ears. Whatever tools are at my disposal I'll use, including captured sounds from life, synthesizers, acoustic instruments, ... whatever.I hate using factory presets on my synthesizers. I find them to be in general very blaring and obnoxious. These sounds I smooth over and revitalize much as a carpenter uses sandpaper or a file to smooth over the rough edges. Whether the resulting sound sounds "natural" or not it is not the issue. What is important is that the sound blend into the bigger soundscape. I like subtle sounds; shades of sounds; nuances. My sounds are often "suggestive" of something which occurs in nature. Crickets in a field, a lonely viola, etc. (VERY REPETITIVE, TAKE IT OUT)

DM) So do you often go out into nature to hear those sounds?

Z) Not often enough. Every time I go on a camping expedition, it's like I'm waking up. All of a sudden, I forget computers, cars, mobile phones, answering machines, e-mail, etc. etc. I get this compelling urge to just chuck it all and live somewhere on a mountain communing with nature seeking the answer to life.I stayed once for 10 days at a beautiful, secluded, hot spring North of the wine country not too far from San Francisco called Harbin Hot Springs. It was FANTASTIC. DEER roaming placidly about. Natural hot springs. The soothing sounds of running water. Lots of naked back-to-nature types roaming about with serene vacuous smiles on their faces... At first, I thought I'd been transplanted into Heaven. But, you know, after awhile I started to get restless. By 10 days, I was really itching to get out of the place. Ah well ... I guess I'm too restless.

DM) Where is your favorite place in the world to go and relax?

Z) Harbin. No two ways about it. And this is coming from a guy who has literally been all over the world. (As I write I'm sitting in a classroom in Tokyo.)

DM) Is there any New Age artists that you find yourself tying to emulate?

Z) OUCH ... the word "emulate" makes ME wince a little bit. I can't say I'm trying to emulate anybody however, there are a great number of "influences" over my music. My peak musical interest was during the 1970's and early 1980's, so most of my favorite musicians date from that time. Artists such as Brian Eno, Brian Ferry, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Peter Hammil, Todd Rundgren, Gary Numan, and groups such as Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Genesis (with Peter Gabriel ... sorry Phil ...), Ultravox, Can, Black Sabbath and Jethro Tull come immediately to mind.

DM) But some of those groups are a far cry from new age?

Z) Yes, absolutely. While I admire the principles of new age, I find the genre has been very much used and abused by talent-less idiots who only know how to unpack a synthesizer from its box and hold down the first note they come to for 30 minutes. This for many people is New Age. I call it music for elevators which induces in me a violent reaction. I want to throw up or smash the so-called New Age artist's head into his/her synthesizer. This is why I call my music "New Age With An Edge." For one thing it's a catchy slogan designed to help me sell my CD. On the other hand it suggests the thread of tension or carefully contained violent emotion threatening to burst out at any moment.The other side of New Age, which I solidly detest, is the fake serenity, which many New Agers smear in your face. That vacuous smile, the insincere humming together to transmit good vibes through the OTHER kind of crap. Where do they get off feisting this crap onto people. Many New Agers are just people trying to get themselves one step ahead of the next Joe. Many make obscene amounts of money off of the airy-fairy psycho pseudo babble they profess to follow.Take Tantra for example. I practice Tantra every day with my lover. When I hear music which is "specially designed" for Tantra by putting "positive energy vibes" into the music it makes me want to puke. What do these schmoes know about energy vibes or even Tantra for that matter. These New Agers are probably just a bunch of poor schmucks trying to get laid."Something Will Occur" is the key song on the CD. This is a song which sits squarely on the dividing line between what people commonly think of as New Age and good old Rock N Roll. I also detest Rock N Roll but that's another story. SWO is the key that bridges these two worlds. I appreciate the emotion and adolescent angst that comes spewing out of it. I also appreciate the exploration of tonality that has come out of new age. SWO has a little of both worlds. Throughout the song there is a solid beat. In fact, the drum beat is insistent, unyielding, driving. The basic snare/bass riff never changes. But that's the whole point: the whole song suggests something which will occur ... But hasn't ... Yet. Think of a walk down a city street at night. City life surges all around you. You hear a cry in the distance. Is it someone being mugged ... Or is a lover crying out in passion? Cars slide by on streets newly wetted by a recent rain shower. A bum begs you for a quarter. A cat meows. And on and on and on ... Layer after layer after layer.

DM) What is Tantra and how do you practice it with your lover?

Z) Tantra is sometimes called "the Yoga of Love". It is actually one of the oldest branches of Yoga and precedes the versions, which are now practiced at your local health club or YMCA. The three main branches of Yoga (as I see it ... I'm sure Deepak Chopra would see it differently) are: Hatha, Iyengar, and Tantra. Hatha focuses on breathing, Iyengar focuses on standing / the legs. Tantra focuses on "chakra" (i.e. "energy center") awareness. One of the fundamental precepts of Tantra is that through a properly controlled sexual union, both you and your partner can be brought to new heights of awareness / enlightenment. Tantrics tap into the motherlode of human energy: chakras number 1 and 2. Number 1 is somewhere around the base of your spine (roughly between your anus and your genitals). This is one of the most powerful and primal of the energy centers. The other, of course, is number 2 which can be tapped by manipulating your genitals (take that ANY WAY you want). The practice of Tantra is highly personal and involves a series of rituals, postures, and general awareness of the needs of your partner. Forgot to mention: another main principle is that of ejaculation control (sorry guys!!!). Women can have endless, multiple, orgasms. With women, the energy just builds and builds. With men, on the other hand, we're squirting out our "life energy" with each ejaculation. For the young studs this is not such a big deal. For the old farts, however, it starts to become an issue around the mid 40's. By practicing ejaculation control the older men not only can stay hard for extended periods of time, but by "almost coming" they actually can build energy instead of waste it. Learning this practice alone can take months or years: the urge to come is built into our self-gratification prone society.

DM) Where did you learn about this?

Z) A wonderful book called "Sexual Secrets" (forgot the publisher). Very good. Also, there is a couple based in Hawaii who have a company called "Source Tantra". They put on workshops in California, Mexico, and Hawaii several times a year. GOOD STUFF. "Hands on" experience. A must for ANY couple.

DM) What musical styles did you play before new age?

Z) The bands and music I mentioned before pretty much sums it up. My early training was as a classical pianist. I quit taking lessons after hearing my first Black Sabbath record. One of my first bands played covers of Beatles tunes (OUCHHHHH!!!!). After that, I was in a couple of fly by night Blues bands. My "main" bands were "Fallout" in 1975 which played original nihilistic punk rock very loudly, and "Control" in 1979 - 1982, which featured original techno punk music. (We were very poor at the time and ended up BUILDING most of our own equipment ... including a 6503-based microprocessor connected to a patchable synthesizer.)

DM) How successful were those other bands of yours?

Z) There were three bands of mine which stand out the most: "Fallout" (summer of 1975), "Control" (Fall of 1979 until Spring of 1982), "nVu" (1983), and "Not That Nancee" (1984). The least successful was "Fallout" which was formed mainly to do one gig at a campground in southern NY State. We surprised a bunch of unsuspecting campers with a blast of nihilistic punk rock, which would have done Iggy Pop proud. The campground authorities (I still remember the name, "Joan's Pond") must have thought we were some sort of Country and Western band or something. They certainly did not expect 2 vans with Marshall stacks, Orange amps, Fender strats, flangers, phasers, etc. We started the gig with a blast of white noise at over 96 dB. There actually was one young camper who sat all the way through the entire gig. Must have been mentally defective or hard of hearing. After the concert, we rampaged throughout the campsite getting completely drunk and stoned, and setting off random firecrackers until almost 4 in the morning. The kicker was that the next morning I was due on a bus to SUNY at Potsdam at 8 AM for my orientation at college."Control" was the longest running of my bands. We were an ultra-high tech band. Our shows were not frequent (averaged about 4 shows a year for 3 years), but featured movies playing on a scrim screen backdrop, a custom laser light show developed by Peter Johns, an electronics genius who worked at Xerox back in the days when they first invented Ethernet, exotic props and sets designed by two graphic artists, Rob Rusick and Wizo, and an array of electronics we mostly built ourselves because we were too poor to afford to buy it. Rob, for example, had a robot costume with blinking LEDs, capacitors, transistors, resistors, etc., and looked like a Borg (and this was in 1980!!!). We had quite a local following and had radio time on WGMC and WCMF in Rochester (where we were based). We even had an interview with Uncle Roger of WCMF where he expressed his concern over the lack of local venues for original bands such as ours."nVu" was formed by Michael Houser (of "Cappy and the Frenchmen"), Bill Ruscher, and myself. We had tight vocals and were one of the first all synthesizer bands. We had a Korg Poly something or other, 2 Sequential Pro 1's, Roland drum computer, and a couple of keyboards I built. This was one of my most promising bands. We played out only 3 times but had rave reviews. One radio station in Buffalo was playing our songs and kept begging us for more. Unfortunately, the band broke up after Bill left for the Philippines and didn't return for more than 6 months."Not That Nancee" was actually formed as a joke, and had a limited life span at the outset (I had already made plans to move to San Francisco and only had 6 months left in Rochester). We performed 3 times to sellout audiences each time. Each show had a theme and we brought in props and actors to support the shows. The first show, for example, had a Revival theme. Jack LoCastro (also one of the Zelf? Associates) played percussion, sang, and played the role of the pastor. My sister Nanci (Not THAT Nancee --- hah hah hah) -- the lead singers -- played Sister Nanci, dressed to kill in tights, fishnet stockings, and a French Maid's outfit. I played Brother Doug and played a Roland Juno 106 connected to a Commodore 64 and a Sequential Midi port, an MXR drum machine, and a Sequential Pro 1.

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