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Saturday, March 2, 2013

A Gentlemanly Conversation with mnttaB



             Sometimes you find new music, and sometimes it finds you.  The later is by far the most interesting situation.  It didn’t take me to long after I heard the first track off of mainsHum before I contacted Australian artist mnttaB, and we got talking about traveling, naming songs and dementia.  Check it out! 

Who is mnttaB?
mnttaB is an owner operated enterprise, I’ve tried to lure people in to collaborate but its a bit unreasonable to expect anyone else to be able to cope with my approach/work ethic...I’m a bit of a control freak to be honest.
Saying that if anyone wants to send me some poetry, guitar solos, rapping, synth riffs, midi versions of "sheila b devotion" songs then Id be pretty fucken keen to make it happen, and I’m a fair man so I would ensure any one I worked with shared the financial losses.

Who are your influences musically?
I’m an old fella so the influences span centuries and change daily - I don’t have much talent to copy the music I love so it’s the spirit that is the influence. I love people who can test/overturn genres or those whose work hums with urgency/power that still leaves you with a hit of their energy and relevance even after years of repetition and familiarity. 
So on any one day my head might be buzzing with tunes from wire, throbbing gristle, public image, tommi stumpf , anne clark, husker du, big black, young Gods,  ATR, self defense family, lightning bolt, raein , pianos become the teeth – all slamming to and thro and back again in my head blender.

What emotions do you think you convey in your music?
I don’t talk much so, I think what you can hear in the music, is me making up for my lack of real human interaction by squeezing everything I need to get out in to 2 minute slabs, I worked it out and there more words in the "mainsHum" lyrics than I spoke in total in conversation over the years 2011-12.  So the underlying emotion is probably frustration, at being unable to say what I mean and do what I know I should. Some one asked me once if I was angry, I said, "No I’m disappointed"

What are you looking for the audience to get out of going to see you at a concert or listening to you at home?
I hope someone somewhere sometime feels even a small part of the rush I feel when I’m doing this stuff, I’m a bit of a method actor so once the music starts I’m oblivious to what’s going on in the room but the intention is to share the adrenalin..in a non body fluid sort of way. Saying that I’ve noticed that I tend to spit a lot when I’m ranting so its possible an audience will get to ingest somewhat more of me than they really want if they don’t keep their distance.

Who does the artwork for you photos and album artwork?
The small but highly motivated Art department handle all that stuff, Artwork follows same methodology as the songwriting: Cut it up and throw it at the wall, see what sticks. I used to do real cutups and that took weeks and heaps of magazines (and speed), now with paintshop you can turn the same stuff out in days, on coffee.



Where do you get the names for you song titles?
Well normally when you’ve finished putting a song together the file is called something like "coldplay-pinkriff_DEA#_redux_03.acd" that’s not real catchy so names are generally just key words/phrases picked from the lyrics...err nothing real clever there..normally just enough for me to know which one is which.

Where do you start when writing a song?
Most songs start at 2 or 3am..with a bass riff, or a feedback loop, or a synth sound as the spine of an idea...then I go  back to bed. In the dark they grow, organically splitting cells and joining and/or absorbing other chunks of samples, drums, washes, random vocals, and eventually the strong ones exert dominance over the pack and come snarling into my room to wake me up demanding a walk and some biscuits.

Do you think your sound has changed much since your first release?
Definitely, when I started it was all about deconstruction, the last CD is all about dancing!!! I’ve decided my next challenge is to make it listenable....

What do you think the most important feature in a performer?
Handsomeness...yep there’s no way mnttaB can fail!!!

What’s the most fun thing about being mnttaB?
The best bit about mnttaB is the portability!!! I finish arranging my new song in my room on Wednesday, then jump on a plane write the lyrics mid air and do it live in another continent on friday..no drums, no amps, no tuners, no f** guitars, no pedals , no vocals in the foldback, no soundchecks ...and more importantly : no  bass players, drummers or guitarists....not much of a singer either...but lets not go there. Of course I know one day my less than trusty netbook will die on me (disk sounds a bit sick now) and I live in terror of a Windows Update occurring mid set but when you add it all up it beats working with musicians!

Is all the music you produce completely digital or do you use instruments?
Music is 90% instruments played by me, recorded to disk, then cut up and sequenced. Drums are either lifted from records, sample CDs or synth pre-sets (recorded then cut up etc).

So you think that gives you more freedom as a songwriter and performer?
Answer is both. I don’t believe that freedom is a good thing in making music: the more constraints you work under the better in my book.  What was the last good record you heard from a handsome rich prodigy living on the gold coast?

Do you like traveling?
I do, its something that’s grown on me lately. Nothing beats the buzz of hopping off the plane at dawn, in a new city, in a new country, jetlagged to buggery, clutching a bottle of duty free vodka and your life in a backpack. Then playing shows means you get to see so much more of that city, little corners, kitchens and Castles you would never get to experience otherwise.

Do you have a favorite city to perform at?
Melbourne, if only they'd have me.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I hope to have slipped into dementia well before then, or have some appallingly embarrassing medical condition which means I can’t leave the house, It’s good to have ambitions.

            Well there you have it guys.  You can follow mnttaB on facebook, and get the latest tracks on his bandcamp!


Also follow the blog on facebook for more interviews like this one with Night Panther or Professor Elemental!

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