Moorcock interview

Worth checking out if you’re a fan…

An interview with Golden Death Music

An interview with Golden Death Music

Golden Death Music has just released his fine ‘home-made’ début album Ephemera Blues distributed via that sprawling internet grapevine called MySpace. His music is a rich dreamy mix of beautiful songs, ambient textures and psychedelic sonic spirals (and is reviewed on this very blog here), and is by far the best thing I have heard on MySpace or indeed anywhere else for a long time – so check it out!

Golden Death Music has kindly agreed to answer some questions about himself, his influences and MySpace, etc…

The English Assassin: So, who is the man behind the golden death mask?

Golden Death Music: I’m human…reached my quarter century mark the other day…besides that…… I’ve lived in Ohio in the US for most of my life, though I’ve spent the majority of the last 2 or 3 months in Canada. The music I make, Golden Death Music, is a completely solo effort, though I have been involved in projects with other people such as The Blue Revision. My visage and accompanying body have been explained to me as being somewhere between “horrifying” and “quite fetching”.

The English Assassin: What are your musical influences?

Golden Death Music: Well, I’ve always listened to a large variety of music, and the size of my album collection has disturbed and upset more than a few people… Some certain albums I’ve found myself returning to over the past couple of years are Dungen’s Ta Det Lugnt, Dilute’s 2 LPs, Mainliner’s Mellow Out, Ethiopiques vol. 13, and anything by Ariel Pink. It really does a disservice to the other albums I get so much joy out of to mention specific ones, but those are some off the top of my head.

As far as for what I hear in these other people’s music that I hope to achieve in my own goes, I guess it’s sincerity and an affective nature. There’s an emotional state I’ve been able to attain sometimes when I’m playing or listening to music that is characterized by a pure, thoughtless feeling of energy. It is really indescribable for me, but one most powerful things I’ve ever experienced. If I am able to capture and transfer even a fraction of this feeling to other people through my music, it is astounding to me. I would have to say that this feeling (and the pursuit of it) influences my musical endeavours more than anything.

The English Assassin: Over recent years there has been an explosion of new electronic formats of music, such as mp3s, and mediums of communication between musicians and the wider public, removed from the traditional labels and music press, with MySpace perhaps being at the forefront of this new music order. As someone who is actively utilizing MySpace to promote your music, how important are these innovations to your endeavours? Is this virtual network actually more useful in connecting with potential fans than say the more traditional methods of gigging, zines, etc…?

Golden Death Music: MySpace has definitely facilitated a degree of exposure for me that I would not have been able to achieve by more traditional methods. I really just decided to put some of my music up there on a whim (which I had only shared before with 4 or 5 people, most of which were related to me), and I continue to be overwhelmed by the positive feedback and support I have received from the people I’ve contacted there. It also allows a degree of personal contact between artist and audience which I think is unprecedented – I have definitely gotten to talk to some people via MySpace that I have long admired and never dreamed I would ever get to have a discourse with. All this being said, I still think playing shows is an essential part of creating and maintaining a bond with your audience. There is something amazing that happens during live performances between the audience and performer that is not able to be reproduced by other means.

The English Assassin: Your music seems incredible well produced with lots of studio trickery, effects, etc… Roughly how did you go about constructing a track for Ephemera Blues? What stuff do you use?

Golden Death Music: Ha, well I don’t consider the music to be especially well produced, as my knowledge of “professional” recording techniques is basically non-existent, but I certainly appreciate the sentiment! I have always valued the quality of the songs over that of the audio fidelity, and my dealing with the technical side of recording music has always been a very intuitive thing. Recently though, I’ve been learning more about proper EQing and compression, and things like that certainly have their merits – I just don’t think they should take precedence over the song-writing itself.

Nearly all of the songs on Ephemera Blues were composed spontaneously when I sat down at the computer with the intention to record something. I usually start with a guitar track, and then elaborate on that with other instrumentation. Lyrics and vocals most often come last. The exception to this method would be “Into the Ocean”, which was born out of a improvisation with the keyboard player of my last band, and subsequently toyed with for a few months before I decided to record it.

The gear I used for Ephemera Blues is all pretty inexpensive stuff: a $30 mixer, low end sound card, a borrowed African hand-drum, a rusty old coronet that my step-mom’s grandfather played in the military, a browsed bass guitar, and a Yamaha acoustic I’ve had for about a decade. I used two different microphones (Shure SM 57 and 58 for those who care), and recorded most everything on my computer in Adobe Audition and FLStudio.

The English Assassin: What are your plans for the future with Golden Death Music or any other projects? And what is your ultimate ambition for GDM? Record contracts, live performances or just keeping it low-key?

Golden Death Music: I’m currently working on another Golden Death Music album, and am fortunately in the midst of a very motivated and creative state. I also have a lot of collaborative tracks in the works (some of which are with people I’ve met on MySpace). As far as record contracts go, if there is a label out there willing to help distribute the music while allowing me to remain uncompromising, I’m all for it. If not, I’m happy just putting my albums out myself (with Lido’s help and amazing art for the albums of course!).

I would like to say a big thanks to Golden Death Music for doing this e-interview and wish him luck with his new album and in finding a uncompromising label for his music.

Golden Death Music can be found at his MySpace page here.

An Interview with Tim Jeffreys

An Interview with Tim Jeffreys

Tim Jeffreys has self-published eight audio books since 2000, three of which are reviewed in the audio book and fiction review sections on this very blog. His stories range from pulp horror to macabre fairytales to slip-steam and non-genre, but always with a personal edge and a melancholy atmosphere.

Tim Jeffreys has kindly agreed to answer some questions about his work, audio books and his influences.

English Assassin: What inspired you to self-publish and what was the inspiration to go down the audio book route rather than more traditional printer mediums?

Tim Jeffreys: It’s just in me to self publish, it was just a matter of figuring out the ways and means. I can’t spend my life waiting to be picked up by a publisher. I’m too restless. I was sitting on a box of stories wondering what to do with them. It’s exiting when you first realise you can do something on your own – that you can get your stuff out there. I’ve been amazed by the encouragement and receptiveness. There are always a few people who want to shoot you down, but then there always will be.

The audio book route came about by chance. A tutor at University encouraged me to do my first recording. He must have been thinking ahead much more than I was because at the time I was sceptical. But hearing your stories read back to you gives you a certain distance and allows you to be more objective about them. Also, suddenly, it was easy to produce CDs. I think the audio format is becoming more and more popular these days as people have less time and energy to sit down with a book. It was just a matter of this all coming together at the right time. I am interested in the printed medium, though. In a way I consider that the ideal format. I just haven’t figured out a way to make books as easily as I can make CDs. Also I do like the fact that making an audio book involves more people. It becomes more of a joint effort. I’ve met some great people I wouldn’t otherwise have met, and had a lot of fun doing this. Writing is quite a solitary pursuit otherwise.

English Assassin: To what extent do you tailor you work to the audio medium? Do you have a specific audio actor in mind or is it more general, like a male or female voice for a specific story?

Tim Jeffreys: I don’t consciously tailor my work for audio, but I think it has influenced what I do. Over time I’ve brought certain things out in my writing – rhythms and rhyming lines (I’m thinking of a story like ‘The Hand-Made Tail’). Technically, writing wise, it’s frowned upon but it works well for the audio medium, and it’s also something that comes from me having a huge interest in song lyrics and the way they work as snippets of writing.

I usually only think of a story as having a male or female voice, and I’m constrained by who’s available to work with me, but the more actors I’ve worked with the more I’m able to think ‘This would be good for such a person’ or ‘Such a person’s not so good with this kind of thing.’

English Assassin: Could you briefly describe the process of making an audio book and how has your method changed since ‘I Retched Hard and the Man Spewed Forth and Crawled Away’ to ‘The Garden Where Black Flowers Grow’?

Tim Jeffreys: It’s an ongoing learning curve. Apart from providing the stories on ‘I Retched…’ I had no input. I had to take control of the recordings, which was difficult in the beginning because I wasn’t sure exactly how I wanted things to sound or how to work with actors. But actors encourage instruction, that’s what they’re used to. I’ve learnt by going back into the studio time and again. I’ve got to a point now where I feel more confident directing an actor. Over time I’ve learnt my own process of how to get what I want. I work quite quickly, because of money constraints. It’s not a case of doing take after take. Often I’m willing to see where an actor will take something, which can be interesting, but there will be some things that I will want done in a particular way. I do all the editing myself at home. Again, you learn a lot just from listening back to things.

English Assassin: What are your influences, in literature and any other mediums? And who do you rate in genre fiction today?

Tim Jeffreys: I don’t read much straight genre fiction. It takes a lot to ‘wow’ me and I like books that have a lot of ideas in them. My literary influences tend to be women – Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood, Maggie Gee, Isabel Allende, Shirley Jackson. I don’t consider these genre writers; rather they’re writers that have used genre trappings for their own ends. Woman writers, for me at least, tend to go deeper into things and bring out more of an emotional side, which I like.

I’m also influenced by the bands that I listen to. Many of my ideas have come from hearing fragments of song lyrics and just having my imagination seize on it and run with it. Ideas can be suggested to you in song, because song lyrics can be misheard and they tend to be slightly vague or abstract. Or they can really nail something with just a few words.

English Assassin: In your opinion, how healthy is the market for short fiction in the UK today? Are things getting better or worse?

Tim Jeffreys: There are very few, if any, outlets for short fiction in the UK outside of woman’s magazines. Clearly, things are getting worst in the sense that there’s been this huge ‘dumbing down’ in the publishing world. Like most things it’s been damaged by this cult of celebrity. I read something not long ago which said that the future of publishing is ghost written books by people like Wayne Rooney and Geri Halliwell. It’s horrible and frustrating, but to my mind it only encourages a reaction. It encourages the DIY, small press mentality amongst people who are sick of it and want something more.

English Assassin: In your stories, quite often the doomed protagonist is victim to the destructive impacts of alcohol, such as: ‘The Garden where Black Flowers Grow,’ ‘The Revenge and I Retched Hard and a Man Spewed Forth and Crawled Away,’ is this a deliberate subtext and an issue you feel strongly about, or am I reading far too much into things?

Tim Jeffreys: I think what I’m addressing in these stories is more a person’s potential to lose control or lose themselves, whether through alcohol, drugs or whatever. It’s something that frightens me – the idea that something can take someone away from themselves and force them to act in a way that they wouldn’t normally act, hurt their loved ones, or behave irrationally. I seem to be drawn to writing about my own fears and concerns. I’ve witnessed alcoholism first hand, so maybe that’s why I tend to end up writing about it.

English Assassin: There appears to be a development in your writing away from genre-related spooky fiction to more real world situations, i.e. ‘The Revenge,’ ‘Vampire,’ ‘An Exhibition,’ etc…, and more recently your writing has shown a more worldly influence and seem less British in focus, i.e. ‘Spanish Landscape’ and ‘View of Burano.’ Is this direction you wish to continue to explore in the future?

Tim Jeffreys: If anything I’d like to make my stories more personal, more provincial in a way – in the way that a Smiths song, say, is provincial. I’d like to drawn more on my own environment. I’ve been travelling a lot over the past few years. I’ve been spending a lot of time in Spain, for example – not just on the beach, but in the towns, in people’s houses. It’s all experience to draw on. Hopefully, my stories will reflect where I am and what I’m doing, what I’m experiencing. As far as spooky stuff goes, it has certain limitations, but I want to place that at the centre of my own experiences, make it more personal, and take it from there. And expand it. Even though a story like ‘An Exhibition’ doesn’t contain anything supernatural, I still consider it a horror story because what happens is truly horrifying to the protagonist. It’s her own personal horror story.

English Assassin: Which of your audio books and which story are you most happy with? Would you like to expand any of your shorts into a full length novel?

Tim Jeffreys: I’m probably most happy with ‘Black Flowers’. I think it’s my most accomplished technically, and a good solid collection of stories. I like the fact that it was written over the course of one spring/summer and gives an indication of where my head was at a particular time. Although my stories are fiction, in another sense they’re like diary entries. Even a story which may not seem to have been drawn from my own life usually has at its heart some nugget of truth. It’s difficult to write without drawing on what you’re experiencing or what’s already in your head, floating around.

One of my favourite stories is ‘Their Eyes Were Flints’ simply because it’s one of my most original ideas. Sometimes you look back on a story and think ‘where did that come from? How did I ever think that up?’ I’ve no plans to expand any short into a full length novel. A story usually finds its own length. I’m happy for something just to be a page long if that’s as far as it wants to go.

English Assassin: Any releases or projects planed in the near future?

Tim Jeffreys: Hopefully there’ll be another set of stories out soon. I have most of them already written. Also, I’m working on a sort of novella called ‘The Orange Grove’ which I hope to eventually spread across two CDs. An illustrator friend of mine is currently working on pictures to go with some of my more fairytale-esque stories, which he plans to turn into a book. It’s still in the early stages though.

I would like to say thanks to Tim for taking the time to doing this e-interview and wish him luck with his future releases and in getting his work out to a wider audience.

More information on Tim Jeffreys audio books can be found here: http://timjeffreys.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/index.jhtml

Tim Jeffreys Ebay Shop: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/The-Dark-Lane

Tim Jeffreys My Space: http://www.myspace.com/22154396