Interview with Shane Morris

I would like to welcome you on my website for Music interview and the interview contain eight Questions

Question One

how did you start making electronic music ?

Ans :- Shane - I was playing live music since the 90's in a couple bands that played rock, jazz, jamband stuff. About the same time, I discovered Hearts of Space ambient radio program. Ambient and tribal ambient music resonanted deeply with me upon impact of first hearing it. My band at the time, Jupiter Hollow, incorporated space music and ethnic instruments in our live show. One of the percussionists in the band, Mike D., had a midi mallet instrument called a Malletkat and we would share it at different times in our live sets. I got interested in the idea of sampling in the 80's, but it was 2000 when I actually got a sampler and my own synth, and Alesis QSR rompler and a Malletkat. At this point, I was in a new band called Eckobase and we were exploring electronic dance music like house, trance, and drum n bass, but played on our instruments. I guess I'd say that is when I started playing electronic music, though it was delivered with a jazz rock element to it. In 2007, after almost 15 years of working as a gigging musician, I decided it would be easier to just have a normal full-time job. The regular income and loads of extra time allowed me to start creating the long awaited ambient electronic music that I had been thinking about since the early 90s. I've been doing that ever since, both solo and in collaboration with other artists.

Question Two

What made you want to become a musician ?

Ans :- Shane - Art made me do it! Haha. I was a visual artist from an early age. I was an isolated farm kid with a big imagination. I would dream of going to far away and interesting places in the world and outer space. My drawings were a way for me to create these magical, fantasy, science fiction worlds and as I did them, they made me feel like I was there. This was in my single digit years. When I became a teenager, I got heavily into BMX and skateboarding. 80's skateboarding culture embraced punk rock intensely and that is when I began to pay a lot more attention to music.

A friend in the summer of 86 played 3 bands for me that changed my life. Black Flag, Butthole Surfers, and Violent Femmes. After a couple years of listening to lots of bands, I decided I wanted to give drumming a try, inspired by the ferocity of Black Flag. I had tried to join school band before as a snare drummer, but was denied the chance for lack of prior piano training. I had a lot of energy in my childhood and drumming was the perfect match musically for me. Punk rock really became the gateway for me, and thousands of other people, to try to play music. It was a place that anyone could play music at any degree of musicality and there were no real rules to follow. There are so many online resources now to help anyone learn music. But back then, that information was not so easily accessible and there was much more of an elitist attitude about who should and could play music. Punk rock said no to all of that. The doors were wide open for anyone to express themselves through sound. So, in a nutshell, I started applying ideas I learned in visual arts to the sonic arts, just as many other punk musicians did, however unknown to me at the time.

In 1990, I started college as an art major while still being deeply entrenched in music culture and drumming. After a year, I decided I wanted to start studying music. I was living back at home again and going to a community college. I approached the music department in a plea to take me on with a promise I would work extra hard to catch up with my peers. I didn't even know what a quarter note was when I began but I started gobbling up all the theory and history quickly. To my surprise, theory classes weren't too difficult and just made sense. The ear training classes were very hard for me though. I didn't have any background in harmony and melody when I started, so it took a while to bring that up to speed. I received an art scholarship to a university and transferred there. At this point, my focus totally shifted to music and Anthropology classes. I took a couple more art history classes but essentially ended my art studies at that point. Over the next few years, I would go on to create an individualized degree at my university, that tied in all my studies of art, music, religion, and anthropology under the title "Anthropology and Music". During my time at the university, on my own, I was studying African, Cuban, and Brazilian drumming traditions and playing weekly at a local "drum night" event. I met a couple guys in that group that would later go on to form my first band with. We played and toured for years and I was hooked after that for life.

Question Three

Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of music ?

Ans :- Shane - Yes, I love nature, hiking, and animals. I spend a lot of time with my daughter doing lots of different things. Travelling is a big thrill for me. I also still skate, but not as often these days. I love art and do entertain the idea that I might return to it one day. But, I do dabble around with photography and digital arts at times. I have recently started a YouTube channel and really enjoy making videos and film work, but that does mostly revolve around music. I am also an avid reader, movie enthusiast, and still enjoy keeping up with anthropology, archeology, and ethnomusicology.

Question Four

what kind of music Gear you Used and Why ?

Ans :- Shane - I really love the whole gamut of musical instruments. Acoustic, electric, electro-acoustic, and electronic. I use them all in some form or fashion. Most of my synths nowadays are vsts or software, but I do have a few hardware synths as well. I had to downsize hardware synths drastically when my daughter was born. I have a large collection of percussion instruments from around the world and a gong circle for more ethereal percussions. I love my vibraphone. It's really a great instrument for all kinds of music. Bowing it turns it into a very ethereal instrument which is great for ambient music. I play winds as well, chromatic flute, Navajo flute, and didj. I also build some instruments too. Mostly string instruments. I've taught myself how to play guitar and lap steel the last couple years and enjoying experimenting with guitar pedals. I also have built experimental instruments such as the springboard and a multi-instrument I named the Electro-Acoustic Sound Box. I couldn't end without mentioning the importance of processing all of these instruments with a mix of effects, such as delay, reverb, pitch-shifting, reverse, and so on. All instruments for me are tools to achieve a sound I'm looking for. I don't get too carried away with gearlust. There are so many ways to process sounds nowadays. I don't feel that I need a room full of synths to achieve that, but I like having a mix of everything instead.

Question Five

Who is your favorite artist or a person you look up to in the industry ?

Ans :- Shane - Well Ive said it many times before, but Steve Roach often gets this designation for me, but at the same time I wouldn't say I have a specific favorite. But I do have more Steve Roach albums than any artist in my collection. I often cite, what I call the 4 pillars of tribal ambient, Roach, Rich, Obmana, and Sterns as a big influence on my own music. Byron Metcalf and Mark Seelig are a couple others there too. Eno, Cage, Derbyshire, Radigue, and Stockhausen are also big influences in terms of ideas, theory, as well as their music.

Question Six

Do you think anyone can be a musical artist ?

Ans :- Shane - Oh yes, interesting. This goes back to what I was talking about earlier with elitism and punk rock. There is a saying, "If your heart beats, you have rhythm." Music is intrinsic in all of us. It's a language and anyone can learn this language. There are so many countless ways for anyone to express themselves with music and sound. Now more than ever, music is accessible on so many levels. It's staggering. All it takes is the interest and willingness to do it.

Question Seven

What is your main inspiration ?

Ans :- Shane - I don't think I could claim one or a main source of inspiration, but there are certainly several that fuel the fire.

I suppose that just the thought of creating a new piece of music, soundscape, soundworld in itself is inspiring to me. The act of creation is inspiring. To make something out of nothing is very inspiring to me. This was a big theme for me in my early years with art and skateboarding. Making something out of nothing and seeing it to the end. That's really an amazing and powerful thing in terms of human evolution and consciousness.

The psychedelic experience is also a big influence. In a lot of ways I am processing and reflecting outwards psychedelic experiences from my younger days into music and soundscapes. These experiences are very powerful and the implications to one's life can be monumental. I think in many ways it's easier to put these feelings into sound, rather than words.

Trance is also another inspiration and fascination for me. Trance was a big topic of research for me in college particularly with music from the African diaspora. Entrainment to a sound or rhythm is a magical and healing thing.

Nature is always an ongoing inspiration and I live in the woods next to a river. I have a lot of wild animals in my yard and surrounding area and I love them dearly.

My daughter and my life in general are also very inspiring for me. Just observing the changes over time, how things interact, come and go. It's a big beautiful story full of dreams and tragedies.

Question Eight

What strengths do you have that you believe make you a great musician ?

Ans :- Shane - Firstly I don't consider myself a great musician, but I kindly appreciate the idea that you think I'm worthy of that. I have learned a lot, but there is always so much more to learn. I'd say keeping an open mind and ear is a big strength. I can often find something in almost any music that I like or can take away in a positive way. Being open to working with others and allowing their strengths to come forward is also a virtue. No expectations, I think can be another as well. Just letting things unfold or develop at their own pace or naturally is often much better than my expectations of what I would like to see.

I think embracing chaos and randomness is also a strength in my composing and live playing. Just letting things fall where they do and then reacting to that situation can be very rewarding. Or in live playing, keeping the idea in mind that there are no wrong notes, just how we react to the mistaken notes defines the scene.

Western music theory has also been very helpful for both composing and learning new instruments. Once you understand theory, you can apply that to any instrument. Thus learning a new instrument is then mostly about the mechanics of playing the instrument. Theory has been a very helpful tool.

Using polyrhythm is probably another. Polyrhythm is very important in my music, not just for drumming, but applied to any instrument or group of instruments. It can make music sound more 3-dimensional and interesting to me.

Special Thank To The Musician Shane Morris .

A Nice Piece From His Album Horizon And For Contact With Shane Morris Press in The Artist Contact On My Website .

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