Author: aftertheshow (Page 107 of 191)

Lovers

Interview: Kerby Ferris

February 20, 2015 /

Kerby Ferris is a sound artist & software developer who has played music with Lovers, Paw Prince, and Lavender Mirror. Kerby answered questions about the intersections between creativity and technology, designing sound installations, and composing music in Los Angeles.

kerby

After The Show: You’ve said that the music you make can reflect the city/environment you’re in – music you made in Sao Paulo was frenetic and busy; music in Portland was feminine. What about LA?

Kerby: Cool question! Los Angeles is new to me and the effect it is having on my creative process is still very much coming into focus, but I’m absolutely inspired by the angular openness here.  I have lived in large and international cities before, but never one with this kind of simultaneous access to personal space, and the combination is fascinating.  This weekend for example: I danced all night to Kerri Chandler and then came home in a t-shirt in February to a tree with oranges AND lemons dropping off of it… come on!

Also, there’s the nice piece about making a move to Southern California from the Pacific Northwest since, in so many ways, the loveliness of the Pacific Northwest has to do with the beauty of the undiscovered, while Southern California contrasts as that of the thoroughly discovered.  That’s a spectrum that feels great to walk right now.  I’m very happy to be here.

Some of the sonic textures in Paw Prince and Lavender Mirror tracks remind me of songs on A Friend In The World. When you’re composing and creating a mood for a song, how do you know when to keep going and when to stop?

To be honest, doneness is such a lasting struggle, and as I get older I’ve begun to recognize that I am totally reliant on circumstance to tell me when it’s over. If I had my way, none of these songs would ever be finished, so I’m so happy I never get my way.

Now that you work as a programmer/Software Developer, what’s your schedule like? Do you still have time to devote to music or is it more on the backburner?

Right now I’m working full time and on-site as a software engineer.  That approach to work is absolutely new and different, but it’s been super interesting and exciting so far.  I enjoy my job and the environment/people there, and it is a fairly freeing experience to have work begin and end at some set time each day.  Also I’m finding that, with the work/not work demarcation in place, I can connect the dots more creatively in my free time, not to mention relax about how a musical idea might end up in money, which has really taken some pressure off my process.

There’s a deeper piece as well, which is that working with logic and systems leaves me bursting with a sense of connections, observations and feelings that I want to express creatively.  Logical problems have always been a sort of muse, and when I get a chance to really hash one out, I find it very inspiring.  I’m looking for a studio right now.  We’ll see how it all goes.

Can you describe the process you went through to design and build the sound installations for the Ace Hotel? 

Oooooh I love an opportunity to talk about this project!

What I wanted was a way to lower the barrier to musical entry so low that all it really required was the condition of form itself.  To make that happen technically, I used an Arduino micro controller with a midi shield and some C++ code to translate signals coming from a series of photo-resistors wired into cedar boxes to a sampler and a synth. Photo-resistors are super cheap electrical components that change their resistance in relation to the presence (or absence) of light, so, in short, if a person put his or her hand in between the sensor and a lightbulb it would trigger a loop and a synth tone for as long as they kept it there.  That was the mechanical concept.

Musically, I created a sort of modular composition: a piece broken up into 12 or so components that would work well together and in various combinations, so the result would feel like it made sense, but was still dynamic and at least slightly (or satisfyingly) unpredictable.  Further, the code instructed the micro-controller to check back for a signal twice a second, which effectively quantized the performance to 120bpm, so triggering a loop was not only easy, it also ‘sounded right’.

The installation worked, and the whole room became an instrument…Watching people of all these different ages and vibes engage and crack up and be surprised, confused and delighted together was incredibly sweet and rewarding…the overall experience was absolutely lovely and probably added 5 years to the end of my life.

I love your song title “It’s Always More Beautiful To Say Hello” and how the lyrics are so expansive/open to interpretation (like “the keys” in the opening line could have so many different meanings). Anything you’d like to share about what inspired you to write that song?

Thanks for listening! That song is mostly about a lonely moment of misunderstanding, about feeling totally mixed up or betrayed by language and strangers, and about trying to connect to a distant ally through objects, nature and signs. I suppose it’s the promise of a sort of wordless togetherness that moved me to write that song:  About longing for love and the one you love, or a lonely-time lullaby about essence, connection and understanding.

You describe yourself on LinkedIn as a Creative Technologist, which melds programming with music and performance. What do you like about the ways that music/creativity and technology intersect?

The stark androgyny of electronic music and creative technology is invigorating to me–the way art that’s made with (and sounds like) machines holds the tension between opposites: the ethereal and the material, the logical and the transcendent, the quantized and the free.  This is how my brain works when it’s working, how my fashion works when it makes sense, how the world looks when I’m in the total pattern recognition zone.  The idea of leveraging a machine(s) for the sole purpose of free and joyful human movement gives me chills.  Technical art is a borderland, and borderlands are where all the interesting things happen.  It’s so good to be alive now.

Thanks Kerby! Check out KerbyFerris.com for more info on all her projects.

FAQ: Being A Music Blogger

February 11, 2015 /

After The Show has been bringing you new music, exclusive interviews and song premieres, and concert reviews for the past 5.5 years!

Over the years, I’ve received tons of questions about what goes into running a music blog. Here are my answers to the 5 most frequently asked questions that I’ve received:

After The Show Banner

1. What does running a music blog entail? How much work goes into it and what are your responsibilities?

I have a dedicated After The Show email account that receives hundreds of unsolicited (and solicited) emails every day from artists, music publicists, band managers, and record labels. So managing emails is a big component of running an established music blog. I’ve discovered a lot of great songs just because unsigned bands reached out to me. Other responsibilities include going to concerts and writing reviews, discovering new music to feature on the blog, doing Twitter/YouTube social media promotion, and maintaining a website.

2. I want to start my own music blog. What advice do you have for someone in my shoes?

Make sure that running your own music blog is really something you want to do. It’s a ton of fun, but you have to truly LOVE music to keep a music blog running over the years. When I first started, I got so excited every time I made a new post, and I’d be ecstatic when I posted a new interview. Eventually, you get less excited as the novelty wears off, but something else (ideally your unquenchable thirst to discover and share music) has to drive you.

Be consistently reliable and professional — especially if you’re a new blogger, you’ll need to prove yourself to music publicists, bands, and managers with whom you work. Also, make a wish list of artists and bands you want to interview — it gives you something to strive for.

Finally, getting nervous before interviewing one of your favorite artists is definitely normal, but you have to learn to control your nerves. A deep curiosity to uncover new information about my favorite songs, for example, has really helped me quell any nerves because I just really want to know the answers to my questions. If I don’t ask, I won’t know. Interviews also get easier as you do them more.

Ex Cops Troubadour

3. You have so many amazing interviews with bands! How does that happen..what’s the process?

Thank you! The interviews are my favorite part of After The Show. I’ve learned that timing matters (you’re more likely to get a Q&A with an artist who has new music to promote, for example), and sometimes all you have to do is ask.

I got tired of reading interviews with bands because the same 3-5 questions were repeatedly asked in every interview — it’s boring for readers and it’s boring for the bands. My goal is to delve deeper: on a micro level, I try to ask artists specific questions that they’ve never been asked before, and on a macro level, I try to make connections between albums/songs/broader themes in an artist’s work.

Crafting the questions for an interview is just like making a record. You start with everything on a huge canvas (i.e. Word document): you write down ideas, questions about lyrics, huge chunks of text that you copy/paste from online (you need to research by reading other interviews with the artist). Then, you group together similar ideas, making connections and organizing the information. You hone and narrow the text down, cutting the weakest/least interesting things.

Next comes sequencing. Put the questions in an order that flows and makes sense to you, and then you’ll have your final 10 questions. Removing your ego can be hard – you want to convey that you’ve done your research and have thought about this artist’s music, but you also want to ask what they want to be asked, and ask questions that will elicit strong answers. I hate when interviewers make the interview about themselves!

Listening to music is consuming rather than creating, so it can be incredibly fulfilling to ‘create’ something – an interview, a sneak-peek, a feature – with a creator you really respect. Someone gets to interview your favorite singers and songwriters, so why not you? It’s not always possible (if your favorite artist is dead or reclusive), but I think it’s so important to tell the creators/writers/composers of your favorite works that they’re meaningful to you and that you connected with the work.

Interviews typically happen over email, on the phone, in person, or over Skype. Email is least personal, but you may get better answers from your subject if they have time to think before they respond. Skype is my least favorite because you can’t predict how the internet connection will be.

Pianos Vic and Gab

4. What are your favorite and least favorite interviews you’ve ever done?

Luckily I haven’t had any interviews that were egregiously, memorably horrible. A few things make interviews successful — connecting to your subject, discovering new information that doesn’t exist anywhere else, and not having high expectations.

If the artist’s answers are intelligent, generous, and insightful, then I’m happy. If I had to pick my top favorite interview ever, I’d have to stay it’s a tie between Lynn Truell and Leslie Stevens.

Other favorites so far are (in roughly chronological order): Maria Taylor, Ben Lee, Lexi Valentine, Evan Lowenstein, Christy Romano, Mally Harpaz, Lara Meyerratken, Roddy Bottum, and Rachel Warren.

5. What do you envision for the future of After The Show?

I’ve considered getting more active, like Eric at The Wild Honey Pie, by booking shows, getting brand sponsors, and managing bands. But After The Show has always been a (relevant) side project to my work in music data. I’ve gotten to connect with artists whose music I love, make networking contacts with people who work in the music industry, and get into tons of shows. I’m looking forward to many years of listening to music and discovering new music to feature on After The Show.

Pandora’s 2015 Grammy After-Party

February 9, 2015 /

Last night, Pandora’s 2015 Grammy Awards After-Party at Create Nightclub in Hollywood was a huge success.

The event, Pandora’s 2nd annual Grammy After-Party, was sponsored by T-Mobile and featured Lil Jon on DJ duties.

Blasts of white confetti (see below) kicked off Lil Jon’s DJ set, and the crowd responded enthusiastically to his song selections.

Lil Jon played some of his own songs, as well as snippets of songs like “Lose Yourself” by Eminem, “No Scrubs” by TLC, and “Work It” by Missy Elliott. I wish he had played more of “Work It,” though — he only played an instrumental part!

Can’t wait to see what Pandora brings next year for their post-Grammy Awards celebration!

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 After The Show

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑