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| mobdividual loves toys |
It is indeed rare to find an individual who loves music as much as mobdividual's Brian Elyo. It shows in his own artistic work as well as his community efforts to bring music back to local roots. The psychedelic sounds of mobdividual brings one back to a better time in Indie Rock. Here is the man himself........
Interview by Anonymous Collective
AC - When did you start using the name Mobdividual?
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2010, after i recorded the music that became A Year From Monday. i thought of the name a long time ago and wrote it down for later use.
AC - You play live by yourself but explain your unique live set-up?
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i use three amps, a guitar amp stacked on a bass amp that work together and the third is a guitar amp that has two 'ins', so i have three signals all together.. i use a chorus pedal as a splitter, and i have echo/reverb1 and reverse delay2 daisy-chained together (in a specific order) and stereo-out both of them.. i use the foot-switch of the guitar/bass setup for distortion. no looping, just long delays, reverse delay, echos and weird-open-droney chords..
AC - How many releases do you have now?
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as mobdividual 3 EP's and 1CD which is a compilation of those EP's and another cd i call 'a time before..' but ive only given it to select friends.
AC - Tell us about your new record.
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noisy.. it's 24:47 broken into 4 parts
AC - Name some guitarists and other musicians you admire.
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john cage, steve albini, john mcentire (drummer, tortoise), jim o'rourke..
AC - Favorite musical moment of chaos.
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i dont understand the question. but one of the most badass rock music experiences was the trip to attend all tomorrows parties curated by sonic youth and was held at ucla. over the four or so days in la 2002 - we (my then girlfriend now wife) spent two days at the festival and one of the those days thurston moore and jim orourke were djing at amoeba records and i got to talk to thrurston, give him a four-track fuckers cd, got to talk to jim o'rourke.. at the festival we saw Black Dice, Boredoms, Bride of No No, Cat Power, Cecil Taylor, Eddie Veder (on uke and some kind on violin) DjOlive with Lee renaldo while lee's wife showed abstract films, Merzbow, Nels Cline, Sleater-Kinney, Television, Stephen Malkmus/The Jicks, Destroy all Monsters, Fred Anderson.. was amazing
AC - How do you balance family life and your musical life?
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just try to be as aware as i can of everyones time.
AC - What music have you been listening to lately?
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local stuff, classical, stereolab, mogwai, the clogs,
AC - Has the local music scene grown/improved over the past 5 years?
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certainly.. grown in quantity, quality and variety. seems to be bigger every year. we have some very supportive venues. we need a more supportive public.
AC - Name some things that inspire your music to be created.
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really, only the desire to manipulate sound in ways i cannot find a band or musician already doing. if someone else was doing this, i probably would not be - especially live; the live presentation of my music really has nothing to do with my records. they satisfy two different needs for me and attempt to fill two different 'holes' i see in rock music... but also the fun of sonic discovery while recording or making noise
AC - What were some of your former bands/projects?
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hehe.. Lego Dynasty was first band i was in; the opening Am-C i sometimes use to soundcheck with live is a tribute to that.. and the Four-Track Fuckers which can be found on bandcamp. a variety from 2-5 of us would jam punk inspired rock music and i would record every session on a four-track.. but we never worked on songs, it was new every day
AC - What place does improvisational music have in today's world?
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for me, not much. not as mobdividual at least.. i want to say something very specific as mobdividual. but if i collaborate with someone; improvisation is key to getting along musically.
AC - What would be your 5 Desert Island discs? (I know, only 5)
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mogwai - rock action
godspeed... - lift yr skinny fists...
low - secret name
slint spiderland
smashing pumpkins - MCIS
AC - What do you have planned for 2013?
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focusing more on LocalFM and hoping to come thru on some music collaborations.
AC - Thanks for your time, Brian.
