The Impulse Eclectic
http://www.myspace.com/theimpulseeclectic
1. Tell us how The Impulse Eclectic came to beI created The Impulse Eclectic back in 1999 purely as a solo outlet. I
had just graduated from the University of Illinois and moved back to
Chicago to find a job. I was drumming in a band during college, and
did some guitar in a band in high school for a few years before that,
so I felt like I was getting to a point where I knew a thing or two
about how to arrange a song properly without it sounding like total
crap.
2.Where did the name The Impulse Eclectic come from.
I don’t think a whole lot of thought went into it actually. I used to
have a bad habit of daydreaming and thinking up outrageous song titles
or band names just for the hell of it. I think this was a product of
one of those idiotic brainstorming sessions. A friend and I also
created a death metal band at the time called Sawed in Half, but
unfortunately we never got one practice in.
3. Being from Chicago this is huge Post Hardcore/Post Rock Scene were
you influenced by Touch and Go, Thrill Jockey or Drag City??
I would say some of the bands on those labels were an early influence
for sure. The mid 90’s was a crazy and prolific time for music. Touch
and Go had some amazing releases, as did Dischord, Sub Pop. I was also
listening to a lot of punk rock at the time, and some interesting
melodic punk stuff like Seaweed and Samiam that was really different.
All of those things were influences. Chicago bands in particular that
I admired were Pegboy, The Jesus Lizard, Tar, and Shellac. But there
were tons of great bands and it would be silly to name just a few –
the entire vibe and experience definitely had an impact on me. We were
music geeks for sure.
4. How did you come to work with Jason Walton of (Agalloch/Nothing).
I’ve been an Agalloch fan for a while, couple years. Not only am I a
huge fan of their records from a songwriting perspective, but they are
great sounding albums too, sonically speaking. I read somewhere, I
think it was on blabbermouth, that Jason had opened a mastering
studio. I figured he would do good work so I contacted him. It was a
great experience.
5. Did you choose to self release Canyon of Spiders-CD or was it done
out of need??
Both. I’ve never spoken to a record label in my life - indie or big
time. It’s not that I’m opposed to them or anything, but most times I
visit various labels’ websites to investigate submitting a demo or
something, there are always things like “we are not accepting demos,
don’t waste your time” or else things like “if you don’t know anything
about our label, then leave us alone” and stuff like that. I find that
very off-putting. Not necessarily a huge motivator to go begging for a
label to release my stuff. And it’s difficult from a press standpoint
too, because most publications aren’t going to review anything that is
not on an official label, so the internet needs to be used in a much
more effective manner in order to self-release anything these days.
Blogs are cool because they are willing to give us “unsigned” artists
a chance, which essentially makes things more democratic for anyone
trying to get their music heard who is not backed by a label or being
heavily promoted. And I’m willing to give it a go, because I think the
model is changing a bit. I like creating music above all, and sharing
it with the world on my terms is kind of important to me. I’m not
obligated to do anything else with the music other than let it exist.
It people want to buy it great, but that is never going to be a
motivator to make music. I think in 15 years of doing this, I’ve sold
maybe a couple hundred albums total with all of my previous bands and
solo materials combined. Any label would probably slap me if I was
signed and those were my “official” record sale figures. I constantly
give my material away for free more often than not, and if more
musicians would realize that any serious money is probably never going
to be made - label or no label - you might start to see more decent
music being created overall. The art is what matters. If people want
to make money then they need to either join a cover band or get a real
job.
6. Is Red Planet Syndrome EP very different from the new material?
Red Planet Syndrome was much more vocal-oriented, the songs were a bit
simpler too. I had just come out of drumming for two Chicago-area rock
bands for several years, so I had to basically re-learn my guitar a
bit since I wanted to dive back into arranging my own songs again. I
didn’t want to bite off more than I could chew getting back to guitar
after such a long time drumming, so I went a bit simpler on that EP
with the song structures and stuff.
7. Edward Nudd you seem to be the band does The Impulse Eclectic
perform live much and if so is it a rotating line up?
I almost never perform live. I have done some solo gigs in the last
year or two with guitars and a backing drum/keyboard sequence, and
they were enjoyable for the most part. I am hesitant to ask other
people to put in time and effort into something like this, because
they all have their own bands and lives too. If it was my main focus
in life and I was insanely driven to conquer the world or something, I
would probably enlist people, but it’s more or less a solo project. I
do work well in band situations too, but that’s different - I like to
work democratically with other musicians if I happen to be in a band
with them, rather than control everything. Danzig I am not.
8. I didn't hear vocals on Canyon of Spiders were vocals on the Red
Planet Syndrome??
Yes, RPS was very vocal-oriented. Vocals are a strange thing for me
nowadays, because I’ve actually grown less confident in my singing
voice as I’ve gotten older, which is odd because for most people it’s
the opposite. In high school I played in a faster kind of melodic
punk/hardcore band, and I did a ton of vocals and had a pretty good
confidence at the time. Once I got more interested in actually
learning how to play my instrument properly, I kind of realized that
certain vocals of mine were sometimes misplaced, or even asinine
sounding. But hey, we’re always our own worst critic, right? The songs
I began writing for “Canyon of Spiders” were coming out a bit more
complex musically, so I really didn’t think vocals were necessary on
most of it. It would have taken away from the dynamic.
9. Are you big fan of the digital age of release or do you like CD,
Print Zines rather then Webzines and Sat/ Internet Radio?
I’m a CD guy for the most part, but it’s hard to avoid digital files
and I do have plenty of those too. I read both print zines and online
zines – there are a lot of great ones out there, including yours.
Internet radio I don’t check out too often, but if there are
interviews or something with a band or artist I’m a huge fan of, I am
certain to check those types of things out. I’m still a music fan
first and foremost, and that won’t be changing anytime soon.
10. Is there a running theme or idea with your songs or is it more
just emotion and feeling?
It’s emotionally driven for sure, but there's no specific concept or
anything. The last few years I’ve been listening to a lot of prog rock
and certain bands with more atmospheric qualities, and I think it’s
definitely crept into my music. I like the idea of music taking us to
a completely different place that has very little to do with our
day-to-day reality, and that is the goal that makes me comfortable
writing toward also.
11. If you could work with any artist who would it be any why?
That’s a very difficult question. Maybe Mikael Åkerfeldt from Opeth,
but I would probably be too nervous and wind up getting sick. He’s one
of the best songwriters around in my opinion.
12. Your sounds mix many indie style with a Metallic and Post rock
sound do you feel your music works better with extreme music or more
experimental music crowds.
I would say mostly experimental crowds, along with more open-minded
extreme music fans. I can definitely see certain types of extreme
music fans seriously disliking my music, and that’s completely fine
with me. We can’t all sound like Cannibal Corpse. With that being
said, I do listen to a lot of extreme music and generally connect with
others who do also, so I would hope those people could at least give
this a shot, or at the bare minimum, get through one song!
13. Is The Impulse Eclectic your only outlet or do your create other
types of music under other names.
It’s my only outlet at this point, but that could definitely change.
I’m open to surprises.
14. You seem to have a myspace site and no other sites do you think
myspace is all bands need these day???
I had an individual site for while, but I didn’t think it looked very
good and I didn’t want to dish out a ton of money for a slicker web
site design. It seems like everyone else is on myspace, and a lot
people are there searching out music too, so for better or for worse
it’s kind of become the standard. I also think it can be difficult for
bands to re-direct myspace traffic to their individual websites
because of the simple fact that it’s hard to pull people away from
myspace or facebook once they are hooked into it. They want to browse
around and be voyeuristic for hours on end, and the websites
themselves promote this behavior 100%, so they are given no real
incentive to leave the social networking environment and check out any
individual band sites unless they are huge fans of that band. It’s
kind of sad in a way.
15. Thank for your time any closing thoughts here..
Thank you!
