Answering Questions

i thought i’d take some time, seeing as though i hadn’t posted anything in a month of sundays, to answer some questions. no, its not like i get deluged with questions from an adoring public, its more like an infrequent trickle of curious people asking questions specifically about the music, the process and other things related to sfb.

Question: is sfb really a solo project?

Answer: yes, it really is. through the miracle of technology, you can record yourself playing every part in a song, individually. i’ll get to the specifics in a later answer but yes, so far, to date, every song i’ve released was written, recorded and mixed by one person (me.) which should explain a lot. now, this doesn’t mean there won’t be collaborations, there will be, and when they do happen, those that collaborate will get all of my praise and the credit will be theirs.

Question: why aren’t you in a band?

Answer: i used to be. many of them. this was a long time ago. i just don’t work very well in a band environment. i’d like to try again, and have a very open mind. in fact, a friend of mine and i occasionally practiced, but his personal life got complicated and that was pretty much that. i’m not bitter about bands, i just know what works and what doesn’t. i think i’m more interested in collaborations, not persistent fixtures like what a band is. but lets also be honest, having asperger’s means i’m not so good with the whole communication/talking thing, and i get overwhelmed easily in social situations, so not being in a band right now is also a safety mechanism for me.

Question: do you ever play live?

Answer: to date, no. i know this is has a handicapping effect on what i can do with sky flying by, in the possible “reach” this project can have, but at the same time, that has never really been a concern for me. yes, i’d like to return to gigging. i wouldn’t be adverse to the idea of playing some local (Boston) shows, but there’s a huge practical barrier here. i’d need people to help me out, i’d need a drummer, another guitarist, a bassist and someone manning a keyboard/laptop. so there you have it, the real reason you won’t be seeing sfb on any show flyers any time soon.

Question: are you trying to get on a record label?

Answer: the simple easy answer is, “no.” i don’t need a record label to do what i do. why do bands/artists sign to record labels? well, first and foremost, i believe, that its for the validation. artists are like that, validation is important. its important to me, but that validation often comes from the signing to a record label (“hey! someone in the industry believes in us!”) Also, labels help you with things like, recording and releasing your music. well, yeah i may not be able to produce something that sounds as polished as i’d like it to be, but i don’t really need help in that area, and so far i don’t have any problem with the releasing music part either. the internet is changing, or has changed, the whole notion of what it means to release music. that’s a good thing. instead of collecting an album’s worth of material, spending thousands recording it, then having a release maybe once a year, its possible to trickle out songs to a fan base who keeps a pretty close watch out for new material. You don’t need a record label for that.

Now, would i consider signing to a label should an opportunity arise? i would consider it, and for this reason: doing all of the work of a release (read: marketing) is painful to me, and i suck at it. no, let me clarify that… I FUCKING SUCK at it. i don’t have any contacts, i simply just don’t know anyone (and no one knows me.) while, i prefer to keep things like this, it makes it very difficult when doing a release. so if there ever was a label that wanted to help, yes i’d consider it.

Question: do you consider sfb post rock?

Answer: Well, lets look at this. From a purely technical perspective, yes. We’ve got drums, guitars, bass as inputs and instrumental music as the output. If you use the standard definition of “post rock” then yes, sfb is post rock. Using classical rock instrumentation to produce non-standard “ambient” instrumental music. Now here’s where this makes me a bit uneasy. No i don’t have any problems people categorizing music, our pattern-matching centers in our brain require that we do this, but my problem is that it puts me in a league of other artists that i simply cannot hold a candle to. Lets take a look around this genre, and what have you got? Bands like Caspian, This Will Destroy You, El Ten Eleven, Do Make Say Think, God is an Astronaut, The Mercury Project, Mogwai, Tortoise, Joy Wants Eternity, Saxon Shore, and i could go on and on, sfb simply doesn’t belong, and for me to agree with this categorization is the ultimate in arrogance.

Question: how do you write your music?

Answer: well, its pretty simple really. i usually sit down at my computer, plug in my Gibson SG, and start to fiddle around with a melody. 9 times out of 10 i’ll not get anything i like, but when i do, i usually do a quick recording of that melody and then switch to figuring out a bass line (on the keyboard.)

This is one of the toughest parts, because i like to impart a lot of emotion in the bass line usually by creating a divergent bass line that goes counter to the main melody. this often, to me anyway, creates a dispondent or sad quality that i’m always looking for. once i’ve got the bass line down, i then start layering on other guitar parts to fill out the sonic landscape. once that’s done, i move along to drums. this is probably where i spend most of my time, figuring out the drum parts and i never get it right. basically the drum part you hear is the one i hate the least, which is usually the last one because i’ll just have to stop.

with drums complete, i start with the “fiddley bits” like loops and samples (if the song requires them.) so that’s pretty much it, there isn’t a lot of pre-thought that goes into writing, but what does happen, is when i find that initial melody, i can hear the finished song in my head and the goal is, to get what i hear in my head out on “tape.”

Question: so who are you anyway? what’s with the anonymity?

Answer: well, first, there isn’t any anonymity if you want to know my name, just ask. i’m not trying to create any mystique around sfb, in fact just as i write that i kind of laugh to myself. if you knew me, or talked to any of my friends, they’d tell you how stupid i think that is. no its pretty simple really. its not important for people to know my name, or who i am. and if something is not important, then its not required information. let me turn the question around, would it make a difference? i don’t honestly think so. just know that i’m just an ordinary person, who happens to love music and is obsessed with art, science and craft of producing it.

Question: i’ve heard that you are straight edge, is that for real?

Answer: yep. Very much so. Straight edge is something i believe in, and have believed in for over 20 years. i’m in my mid-30′s now, and still “live by the edge” but now its a very personal aspect of my life. yes, i have the tattoos and yes i get asked about what “true till death” means and what’s the deal with the flaming Xs but i usually don’t go into much detail. its not that i don’t care, but its also why i don’t advertise the fact that i’m a pretty strict vegetarian, it puts people on the defensive. i don’t like that, and i wish there were more people who thought as i do, about straight edge, so that other people’s first instinct wasn’t to get defensive over their own lifestyles. i’m no one to judge. its just for me, i take a lot of pride and draw a lot of strength from being straight edge, but it doesn’t extend out past my own consciousness. i’m too libertarian to be an intolerant oppressive jerk about straight edge.

Well, i think that just about wraps up about a year’s worth of questions i’ve gotten. i welcome your questions, so if you have any just let me know.