mysterium: Press/Interviews

R: Tell us about the work you’ll be doing at Roulette.

ERIC EIGNER: Mysterium – An Electric Soundpainting Septet is the third and latest configuration in my ongoing Mysterium Continuum. It’s aim is to harness the vibrancy, creativity and spirit of improvised music into and through the compositional process, itself improvisational in performance, of Soundpainting, a universal live composing sign language. The overall concept and sound of the band, where the band sonically goes and doesn’t is my vision. This current configuration has very much turned into a collaboration between my chosen soundpainter, Evan Mazunik, and myself. We talk over possibilities of how to devise language to bring about the compositional results we are looking for. In addition, I have the good fortune of having great players in my band. Lorenzo Sanguedolce and Jeremy Danneman on reeds, Sam Kulik on trombone, though we are blessed to have Ryan Snow holding down that chair for our Roulette performance, Adam Caine on electric guitar, James Ilgenfritz on electric bass. Everybody has a unique sound and personality they bring to the group. This sound, united in real time, is Mysterium in its present configuration.

R: Are there working artists today with whose work you identify, or rather, who do you consider to be your peers?

EE: I feel myself to be working on a parallel line to any and all, known and unknown, who are continually fighting to create beneficial change in the world through the creation of art in any discipline. As my aim as an artist is to continually build new and changing heartfelt work with inherent intrinsic value, here are but a few of many artists whose work I find accomplish this: David Murray, John Zorn, Mark Ribot, Butch Morris, Kenny Wollesen, Milford Graves, Mark Feldman, Satoko Fujii, Tony Oxley, Jennifer Choi, J.T. Lewis, Walter Thompson, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Bill Frisell, Yoko Ono, Gerhard Richter, Anselm Kiefer, Andy Goldsworthy, Cai Guo-Qiang, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, Han Bennink, Terry Bozzio…

R: What are some defining characteristics of the musical scene you would fit yourself into? What elements of your scene differentiate it from what has come before, or what is happening now?

EE: I don’t really see a new musical scene to be quite honest. I think the current scene for creative music in NY is really the continuation of the downtown scene from the ‘80’s, with some new, next generation members included into it. Everybody else seems to be working more or less on different levels of isolation. I really think the dominant factor in this scenario lies in the cost of living in the city, then versus now. An apartment or loft that used to cost $350/month is now $2000/month. The money adds up to time. In order to meet those escalating costs, one has to hustle and work any number of odd jobs to piece together survival and the ability just to be here. The time spent hustling is taking away from the craft of studying and playing music, and of establishing and building community and a new scene, consuming everybody’s energies in a multitude of irrelevant struggles. Coupled with this have been the ultra-conservative politics of the last 8 years in this country and the continual cutting of the funding for the arts. This all trickles down into people’s psyches and actions, whether we are aware of it or not.

I arrived to New York in 1994, a twenty-year-old kid, eager to meet those artists that informed my aesthetic, those that gave me the courage to make drastic shifts in my life’s trajectory, and join with them and the movement at a time where creative music seemed to be expanding. The old Knitting Factory was still on Houston Street before it relocated to its then new 3 level home on Leonard Street. Each floor was loaded daily with great creative music, audiences, and attitudes. This was an exciting time, especially as a kid from the suburbs of Minnesota! Well, we all saw the crowds dwindle, the venue change up its formatting as to not go under and the artists out of this special venue. Enter Tonic, a necessary lifeline but with a fraction of the capacity of the Knit to house the output of the scene. The same syndrome ensued there. Tonic couldn’t keep up with the skyrocketing rents so they lost the space. The building that housed Tonic has been empty ever since they closed the doors in April of 2007, taking with them some heads of the music community, off the stage and to jail. There could still have been music in there every night of the week! Instead, it is just empty, waiting idly to be torn down. What a waste of limited space and potential. Simply greed and vanity! Now we have The Stone – a fantastic venue focused entirely on music and performance, yet once again reduced in capacity. Here I must give ridiculous thanks to John Zorn, for amongst a plethora of other things, continually keeping a lifeline open for the creative musicians that choose to live and create in New York City. Thankfully there are also other venues that support this music, such as here at Roulette. As far as a new scene however, a new music, a new cultural, social and political happening…well, I’m not so sure that is what is happening currently.

Ornette said it best – tomorrow is the question. What are we artists going to do in order to unite and lift ourselves out of the frustrating situation we find ourselves in? Some of us have been putting our heads together over this and are working to establish what we are calling the “Flying Fish Collective.” Its aim, in short, is to build community and outreach. It is a toddler right now, but it is something which will hopefully serve as a catalyst and focal point to keep people on the page and involved in dialogue and movement.

R: What was the last music you listened to?

EE: Pierre Bastien – “Pop”
He is a French musician, composer, and instrument builder born in Paris in ’53. Pop is music, composed for/performed by mechanical-based musical instruments he has built. I enjoy playing this CD with others on top of it, string quartets, opera, Meredith Monk, or Steve Reich’s “Drumming” for example. I often listen to multiple things at once, moving them around like a DJ. I often find perfectly beautiful unisons listening actively like this. I find it really helps expand my ears and my psychology in searching for compositional ideas and musical possibilities. I enjoy playing chess within this type of sound space as it provides a wonderful meditative environment.

R: Chocolate, Vanilla or Rocky Road?

EE: Homemade fruit smoothies as I have recently had the misfortune of acquiring intolerance for lactose. I do miss the ice cream though… Chocolate was my joint!

R: What is music?

EE: Music is one way of being timeless. It is a way of exploring territories deep within ourselves, problem solving in a highly introspective manor. It is a type of active meditation that has the potential to bring about change for the individual and those in contact with his/her sounds, spreading out into collective society via the ripple effect.

RR: Do you consider yourself more a composer or a performer?

EE: It depends upon the project and my roll in it. Regardless of genre I always require room to improvise and move around in the arrangements and my approach to them, as I am an improviser and player at heart. As improvising is composing in real time, composing and playing are inseparable for me. This is especially true where the music as a whole is being collectively improvised, utilizing everyone’s compositional input. This makes the most sense to me.

R: Who do you see as instrumental in your development as an artist?

EE: This is an extremely long list of amazing people! To name them name-by-name would take quite some time! What I will say is this, all these people informed me in a multitude of ways. All of this, cumulatively, adds up to a portion of who I am and how I think and work, how I play and approach music. John Zorn, Walter Thompson, Mark Ribot, Tony Oxley, Cecil Taylor, Metallica, Living Colour, Slayer, Anthrax, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Krzysztof Penderecki, György Ligeti, Elliott Carter, Carl Stalling, Treg Brown, Harry Partch, Butch Morris, David Murray, Henry Threadgill, Anthony Braxton, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, (the AACM in general), Parliament Funkadelic, Sly Stone, James Brown, Tower of Power, Jimi Hendrix, Nina Simone, Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk, Charles Mingus, Ronnie Scott, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Miles Davis, Prince, Bob Mould, Bad Brains, Fugazi, Frank Zappa, Sonny Sharrock, and Bill Laswell are some of the people or bands, off the top of the head, that have been instrumental in my development into music.

R: What is interesting to you about your own work?

EE: Mysterium is a vehicle for my conceptual ensemble work that I want documented. Additionally, much of my work and aspirations lie on an axis parallel to, yet outside of, the Mysterium Project. I am working on two solo recordings. First is works for solo drumset, an area of prime interest to me, and secondly, compositions for tabletop percussion, toys, and electronics. I am working to somehow bridge these two worlds and processes of working into one universe. I enjoy working within different musical situations and genres of music. I have a duet recording forthcoming from composer/guitarist Bruce Holmberg. I am also midway through a recording with a rock project that I am playing with, the John Nickles Band. I recently recorded with ZAHA who’s first recording is now available. Also, I am on a forthcoming New York Soundpainting Ensemble release on Walter Thompson’s Dane Recoding Label where I am playing Tabletop percussion along with a concert bass drum… I enjoy diversity and like to remain open to change in the work I do.

R: Do you do other things aside from music?

EE: Yes, I am a painter of some 15 years and occasionally exhibit in the city. I have many ideas for rug design, stained glass, and large-scale earth paintings. I also really enjoy shooting photos, dealing with the resulting images. I am working on a book of my photography now.

Jazznet : How did your adventures with music begin? Did you have any training by any teachers or are you self-taught?

Eric John Eigner : According to my mother I used to pull out the kitchen drawers to use as a ladder to get onto the counter-top and into the cabinets to fish out pots, pans, pie-tins and wooden spoons to organize into a "drumset." I also used to compose with the vacuum cleaner all the time. Meaning, I would turn the thing on and sit in front of it, cupping and un-cupping my ears to create stereo rhythms… My first drum set came quite early on, though I destroyed it to provide myself a needed life lesson. I went back to pots and pans for years before the next drum set would materialize. A formal teacher would come later, Gary Owens in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I studied with him for a couple of years. He would teach me a lot about power and confidence, both on and off the instrument. I learned a lot about playing Funk working with him. I am mostly self-taught. Much of my learning has come from researching CD's and reading interviews with various musicians. Also, I must say that many a thing outside of music has been a fine teacher. Novels, painters, nature, street noise…

Jazznet : Improvised music is these days a very different size to classify and put in any boxes, since the boundaries are very flowing. Where do you see it going in the future and what do you think is going to be the next big thing?

Eric John Eigner : Improvised music, like all good living art, must continually re-evaluate itself and it's intentions. One must ask oneself the question of whether or not one is being honest in their playing, their concept, in what their intentions are. One must be truthful to the times and to the future, with respect for the past. A lot of what passes as modern improvised music is really a rehashing of things past. All these styles of music we listen to were once upon a time built out of improvisation. Due to marketing and consumerism, propaganda and tokenism, most of what music-making was about has slipped away. As a result, on a mass level, I feel that people are really lost as to what music truly is and can be. It goes way beyond lookin' sexy or ridin' in fancy cars. When you look at it, obviously, it has nothing to do with that. The industry would like to promote otherwise just to keep their money train rollin'. Until people wake up from this unfortunate dream we are living, I'm afraid things will stay underground and move much slower and more marginalized. The problem becomes survival, let alone growth. When a culture does not place value on art and creative expression as something that is not only important but also imperative to a properly functioning and flourishing society, you have a big problem. The "Next Big Thing" will have to involve some serious change of what we, as human beings, deem important and necessary. The collective value system must see music and art as vital, not just as something that they look at or listen to but also something that they subscribe to in daily practice. To live a creative life, I feel, should be something that all ascribe to do.

Jazznet : If you should mention 5-10 records that have meant something to you and your music, what would they be?

Eric John Eigner : Here are but a few of many, listed in random order…

1) Ornette Coleman - The Art Of The Improvisers
2) Tracy Chapman - Matters Of The Heart
3) Naked City - Grand Guignol
4) Prince - Sign Of The Times
5) John Coltrane - First Meditations
6) Hal Willner - Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus
7) Carl Stalling - Music From Warner Bros. Cartoons 1936-1958
8) Han Bennink - Nerve Beats
9) Metallica - Master Of Puppets
10) Krzysztof Penderecki - Orchestral Works

Jazznet : You have contributed to many records. Are there some of them in particular, you see as more important or landmarks in your production than others?

Eric John Eigner : All the recordings I do are where I am at the moment. I think in all of them you can hear the tension as to what and where the music is going. In that respect they are all equally important. In a way it's like what period of the child's life is most important, age 4, 13, 22, or 36…? They are snapshots of development and growth, periods of evolution really. However, my present work interests me most, as that is where I am currently residing, moving on into the future.

Jazznet : When I play improvised music for the people I know they sometimes don't seem to understand it and appreciate it the way I do. Are you some times in the situation that people don't understand your music, that it is misunderstood?

Eric John Eigner : Yes, yes of course. Any good artist experiences this! As pertains to music…I feel that the corporate media has done all they can to pimp out music and destroy it. They have turned an angel into a hooker wearing gaudy 6-inch stilettos. This is what is built as music. It's one company that owns all the major label shit, all media, radio, billboards, TV… Monopolies are a disgusting thing; the gluttonous kid at the dinner table who reaches for everybody else's food without even touching his/her own. It's corporate-built music that perpetuates through emulation by the youth as that is all they see/hear that exists. It then spins round and round in an orbit that taints anyone's perceptions and knowledge that has the misfortune to come into contact with it. And as we share in society, we all then are affected. Genuine musicians the most! I mean, when is the last time you saw Cecil Taylor win a Grammy for his contributions to music? Disposable culture never provides any lasting statement for civilization.

Jazznet : At your concerts and on your records as well, how much is improvised and how much is planned before start?

Eric John Eigner : This is totally dependent upon the music which is being played for the particular recording or performance. Some work is 100% improvised, some work is fully composed. Though, even with the fully composed work, the approach can be improvised to a varying degree. I do prefer there to be space in the work, regardless of how structured it is, for the ability to improvise, even if it is composed work. I am an improviser at heart. As all music comes from this, it, for me, is of primary importance, whether playing tunes or freely improvising.

Jazznet : What are you doing now, and what will be the next release from you and your projects?

Eric John Eigner : I have a duet CD coming out of compositions for Drumset and Guitar. The composer /guitarist is Bruce Holmberg. I also am on two other soundpainting CD's that are scheduled to come out this year. One is the New York Soundpainting Orchestra, directed by Walter Thompson due out on Thompson's Dane Recordings Label. The other is ZAHA, directed by Evan Mazunik due out on Impressus Records.

Jazznet : If a new listener was about to buy his first recording with your music, which one(s) would you recommend as the best introduction to your music?

Eric John Eigner : "Mysterium - An Electric Soundpainting Septet." Why? Because it is where I am NOW. I am one who likes to start with what an artist is currently working on then work backwards through their catalogue to search for mutations of thought that brought them up to present.

Jazznet : How would you categorize your music?

Eric John Eigner : I'd rather not. I'd rather people listened to the music and decide for themselves how they want to define it. (http://www.mysteriumproject.com/music.html) Music is a limiting enough term. It's really death by association. These terms don't mean anything, or they mean several things to different people. If you say Jazz what do you think? Not what the next person does. Or, "Oh it's Jazz, I don't like Jazz…" People then never get the chance to hear the work because they have already defined it for themselves through association to that category before ever hearing it. Or, if they are "listening" they are comparing and contrasting in their minds at that same time to try and relate it to this, that or the other to define it. As soon as you define it so you can talk about it…it is dead, the museum piece hanging on the wall. I was always one that wanted the entire record store to be genre free…just alphabetize the whole store, front to back and let people dig!

Jazznet : Are you inspired by some of the great masters of jazz like Miles Davis, Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane or whom do you see as your inspiration?

Eric John Eigner : Of course! There is no way we would be here sounding like we do if it were not for the great innovators you just mentioned as well as those that came prior and later. Believe it or not, there has been much life and development before and after Mr. John Coltrane.Jazznet : What are your funniest and worst experiences performing in front of an audience?Eric John Eigner : I use a lot of toy percussion in certain situations. In Soundpainting, for example, you must deal with the situation, in real time, no matter what instrument you might be holding. I've had things break in my hands or just be totally un-appropriate for the gesture thrown to me at the time. The beauty is you have to make it work, no matter what! You have to turn it around on it's ear and show it who is boss! I've had some of the best art happen from being in these "tight spots." Humor is an important element when I play these instruments. Energy is all-pervasive! Putting the two together with intention and heart really is transforming, both for myself as a player and for the listener/observer in the house. Turning your lemons into tasty lemonade that everybody can share…that's a huge part of it for me!

Jazznet : What's your best advice for young aspiring Jazz musicians?

Eric John Eigner : Search to find your own voice and concept. The world does not need another Albert Ayler or Pablo Picasso. If you don't have your own voice and sound you have nothing, regardless of whether or not you are on the cover of the magazine or can afford fancy clothes… Find the things you are passionate about and don't let anyone sway you from them! It is important to remain open to the unknown. Humility is another thing I find that really aids the music. Sometimes the great work one does can be marred by their lack of humility or poor humanities. I feel we should strive to be great human beings in addition to great artists. Don't lock yourself into some bag or box. Be careful of the music business and it's silly little dangling carrot. Look to have your work outlive you.