Sound of...Podcast
Highlighting Maryland's musical artist's that have played our showcases and beyond! Hosted by Stephen Harrod (AKA Scott of the Andes), we delve into the songwriters journey and intentions as to why they create. If you want to know about Maryland's local songwriters, this is the podcast for you! Be sure to catch one of our showcases going on throughout the year, happy listening!
Sound of...Podcast
Mark Peria-EP10
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Check out Marks artwork at https://www.instagram.com/markedcanvas/ .
Welcome, welcome to the Sound of Podcast, spotlighting Maryland's original artists and songwriters. I am your host, Stephen Scott of the Andes, and on the show we have Mr. Mark Peria, aka Noise Merchants. Mark grew up in the Philippines. He speaks on that experience and being influenced by American culture and his project, of course, Noise Merchants and their unique avant-garde style. All this and more on Sound of Podcast. Yep. Yep. Mark Carilla. Um I was a I already got a bit of your story and kind of like it wasn't a pre-interview, maybe it was subconsciously, but um you grew up in the Philippines. I did, I grew up in the Philippines. And you came over here when you were 12? Is that right?
SPEAKER_00I can't really like it's it's 2002, so let's see. I'm turning 39. So calculate quick.
SPEAKER_01He looked great. Oh no, I was I was starting a timer for the show. I wasn't gonna calculate I'm not gonna do math live on the show.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, I think I was like 12, 13 at the time. Or 14. I don't actually have no idea.
SPEAKER_01What did you think of it? Of what, the United States? Of America. Yeah. Um well because it was early 2000s, right?
SPEAKER_00Early 2000s, uh 9-11 just happened. So that was kind of uh weird. Everyone's kind of like I mean it's weird though, because back I I said I wasn't gonna get political, but like back in the day, like that was um like that happened and everyone was like super sort of together, you know? Yeah, and then suddenly like within a week or like within a year, everyone kind of got whooped pushed apart. You know, got flipped. Like politically, like yeah, up until now, it's like very, yeah. But we're not gonna get into that. But it was just a weird thing to see from a child's perspective, you know, like a 12-year-old's perspective, yeah. Because you all I know about the United States is pop culture stuff, like what I see in TV or or movies that get to the Philippines.
SPEAKER_01And what were those? Do you remember growing up seeing the the American stuff? Oh, yeah. I I watched a lot of Smallville.
SPEAKER_00Really? Yeah, I love that. Um, I remember my cousin watching Dawson's Creek. I didn't really watch it.
unknownI did watch it.
SPEAKER_01But um And was that Friends? Okay, so these were your influenced kind of things of this is your interpretation of America or were you?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like that was from what I see from TV. Yeah. Um MTV was a thing in the Philippines too, though you had though you have to have like cable and all that. I didn't have cable. Um but do you remember being my grandma did so I would come visit and then watch like Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, MTV when they still played music.
SPEAKER_01Which is by the way, they're dead now. I know, I heard. It's crazy. It's very sad. Yeah, but you know, it's but well, no, I heard they've been dead for a while. I heard it was that they were their other international channels or something like that. Yeah. Do you remember some of the first music videos you saw? That I saw?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01American.
SPEAKER_00American a lot, like uh I mean so the Philippines says coloni was colonized by America. So we're based we're kind of like very Americanized in a sense. Like a lot of the music, a lot of the um well, popular music, like we won't get like indie stuff there, but but back then, but now because of like you know, streaming and all that, they all get that too. But back then, like we only hear about like say Britney Spears or like NSync or Backstreet Boys, the popular pop, yeah, or like I mean Metallica, you know, like big names, the Beatles, obviously, the stuff stuff like that. But um, but yeah, like the underground stuff, it's hard to find, not impossible, because I have heard some really cool stuff like when I was like young, like young.
SPEAKER_01Do you remember how you had to dig for that or what avenues you had to take to find some of that stuff? Um, if I'm being honest, piracy.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, that's a band or like tell me more about this.
SPEAKER_00I mean, that's the only way you could get all of the other, you know, like the other stuff. Like you would just go to like LimeWire back then, and then just say you like um like you like the strokes because the strokes was getting big around that time. And I would just put in the strokes, and then I would like pirate it out, like you know, and then recommendations, you'll see, you know. They had that with LimeWar recommendations or like or you would download an album and then something is like embedded into it, not like a virus sometimes, but sometimes it's like it's actually not the strokes, it's the hives. It's they just named it the strokes, you know what I mean? See, but that's confusing. But then you know, like, but then you like realize like, oh, it's the hives, and then now you like the hives.
SPEAKER_01Well, I don't know, because some people like it reminds me, there's like a meme, I think, that or it's not even a meme, it was just I think a popular misconception. This is super nerdo oasis slash the verve talk, but that the verve wrote Wonderwall because somebody on Limewire just thought Yeah, the Richard Match is a very good thing. Yeah, it's not true.
SPEAKER_00Uh-huh. But that's how it worked, like not necessarily recommendations, but more like you download something that you think is the artist, but it's actually a different artist, and then you later on realize that it's a different artist, and you're just like, Oh, I like that artist, and now I'm gonna dig deep and find other stuff. Yeah. Like that's how I like my favorite band of all time is Modest Mouse. Um, and that's how I found out about them.
SPEAKER_01Like, it was a mislabeled file.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was a mislabeled file, yeah. And it was, um, I think it was like Third Planet was playing on like on the uh the song that was playing, and I was like, this does not sound like whatever I was like searching for at the time. Yeah, and so I was like, there was still there was internet then, but it was not as you know, I mean internet y.
SPEAKER_01Internet, yeah.
SPEAKER_00You can still search for like lyrics and then it'll still show up, you know?
SPEAKER_01Well, a lot of the time you had to go to the actual liner notes for that type of stuff because nobody was doing it.
SPEAKER_00Nobody's actively like, but there are forums like you know, back then that you could just like kind of like figure out. Yeah, you know.
SPEAKER_01I think I wanted to back up to the previous conversation that we did not record. Um, but uh that that you said you'd been surrounded by art from a very young age, not just music art, but art art. Art art. That was your uncle. And and I wonder if you could speak about that experience of just what that was like growing up, of what you're in galleries at a very young age, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I'm not I wasn't my art wasn't in galleries, but I was going to galleries at a very young age, yeah. I was in a crowd of like um yeah. So my uncle, um he passed just uh the beginning of this year, and he's um yeah, he was like one of the biggest influences in my life, like art-wise, music-wise, even. Um from a very young age, I remember going to his studio, which is about like distance-wise, not that far, but it takes me like two and a half hours with public transportation to get there. Yeah. And um, yeah, I would just like hang out at his house, at his studio, and then he would like show me a few things, how to do this, that. Uh, mostly um he would ask me if I can help clean up things. So I'm I was sort of like uh it's like a it's like an apprenticeship, you know. Yeah, and that's one of those things that like kind of like shaped me when I was younger.
SPEAKER_01Were you doing that kind of drawing art as well?
SPEAKER_00Or you said that started a little later, or was it a little I was I was I was drawing from a very young age. I don't even remember a time where I wasn't drawing or painting or doing something like that. I was just that was just like an addition to what I've already been doing. Like I would go to his studio, watch him do his work, and then I would do some stuff there, and then he would give me pointers, he would kind of just like try and help me out. Um, yeah. Oh, uh, his name's Gabriel Peria, by the way. I didn't say. Um, and he yeah, he helped me out with that. Um the one that we were talking about um when we were at Kachonk was um he did not let me take any art classes in high school. Yeah, yeah. It was it was one of those weird things that he was just like where he just didn't it's not gate. Did he ever explain why? No, he he did explain it. He just thought that like, you know, he I don't need all of that, like can we curse in here? Oh yeah, yeah, that was like bullshit that like you know teachers will put into my head about how art should be, how art would be. That that in his mind, like art is like whatever you want it to be. Yeah, so that's kind of like you know, something that that stuck to my head. Obviously, after high school, I had to like take college classes because that's part of actually you have to do the institutional now.
SPEAKER_01I I've had I don't know if I've had artist artists on this show before, um, but in equating it with kind of songwriting, is it something of like there's like this kernel or this nugget in your head and you see it and you're like, I gotta draw it? Because with songwriting, and you can jump in there too, it's like it's this feeling, at least for me, it's this feeling and this thought, and you need to um you need to materialize it. So can you kind of explain for you what that is with art um in in drawing?
SPEAKER_00Um it's like both ways. Sometimes you already have an idea of what you want to do. Like sometimes it's already in your head, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it just comes out as soon as you grab a pen or a pencil or a brush, then it just comes out. Um sometimes nothing comes out even if you try, you know? Like I've had moments where I couldn't even paint for months, and that's actually this is how music and art goes with me. Like I would have moments of no visual art, and then I would pick up a guitar and then it comes out through there, you know? And or like I would have I I would have a visual idea of what I want to paint, but I can't paint it, but I can write it in a song. You know what I mean? It's it's it's weird like that. Like sometimes I'm lucky and both, you know, both things are going at the same time. I could do art and I could do music at the same time. And yeah, it just kind of kind of just goes that way.
SPEAKER_01Have you done companion pieces to music that you've wrote? Um, and then like an accompanying art piece to that? Yeah. Or vice versa?
SPEAKER_00Actually, yeah. Like, well, I mean, you've seen me work sometimes, it's just sort of like improv, like improvisational, like um music. So I have a melody in my head sometimes when I'm painting. And like I kind of just like sometimes like normally when I paint I have music on, but sometimes I'm just like painting, it's like I gotta turn this off because something's going into my head, you know? Some sort of melody's going to my head. And then while I'm painting, I would actually kind of try and figure it out on like I have like a very basic keyboard, and I'm just like beep beep beep trying to figure it out, you know. And then while I'm painting, I'm just like yeah. And if I ever show it, like I just had this whole show at um at N Creative where I um soundtracked the whole gallery, like the the yeah, the visual part of the um so anybody that was playing your drawing to no no no it's like so I had like an idea of what I had like of melodies in my head while I was painting these um paintings, and during the gallery opening, I was trying to recreate those melodies on the guitar, yeah. What was that like? Oh, it was pretty cool actually. Um I think people enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but how do you recreate that though?
SPEAKER_00Oh no, it was just like because I had it's it's not like it's also a feeling, you know, you're just putting a feeling onto music. So that's in a sense, that's recreating what I was feeling while I was painting all these paintings, you know what I mean? It's it doesn't have to be like a one-to-one recreation of what I was hearing during while I was painting. It just has to be like the same feel, I guess. Yeah, no. Yeah, I get that. Or mood vibe, yeah, really.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Where where do you remember kind of putting your ideas into songs coming from? I mean that was cohabitating with your doing art stuff.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Do you remember kind of the first songs that you were turning out and what was I guess influencing you to write them and and to kind of materialize these, you know, feelings, thoughts that you were having?
SPEAKER_00I actually don't know. Um like I have I do have songs that are not improvised. I have like set songs. Those are kind of like I don't know, but those came about I guess kind of like in a normal songwriter sense. You have a you have a feeling you have something to say, so you write them down, or you have like a feeling and you feel a certain way, and your the melody is coming in that way and you put it out. With uh improvisational things, like I just kind of I just dig deep into what I feel into what I wanna convey, really. And I don't know when it started. I might have been high, actually. Might have and that was just like, you know, like I mean you've done it, like you're on a couch with a guitar, and then you're kinda just like you're noodling along, and you're like, yeah, yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00You're just like, ooh, let me plug this into my pedalboard and see what happens.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like well, but the pedal board is definitely your like when I saw you at at an open mic a few weeks ago, you were like, just put a ton of reverb on me and a ton of delay.
SPEAKER_00Carson delay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And uh and that was, you know, I I haven't actually seen you perform a bazillion times, I think because you're um uh you are sparing with your time in that in that musical um endeavors. But then when I saw you playing previously, it was kind of the whole noise merchant's experience of you had the delay, you had it was a vibe, you had a recording from what was it, X or was it It was Pearl. Pearl, yeah Delaware's own TI West, shout out to him.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, TI West.
SPEAKER_01Also, please don't come after me for um using your He won't, he loves it, he loves it. Any any good presses, any pressure, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00But I mean that was not even it wasn't even like uh it was a public performance, but I wasn't selling it or anything, and I will never do that. Like I'm just like kind of like that that seems like a great monologue to like improvise on.
SPEAKER_01So did you go off of the monologue first, or was it like you had bits that you improved and then you're like throw in the because it was a completely improv performat.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, sometimes I watch a movie and then like I'm like, ooh, I can put some crazy shit on top of that, you know? And that was one of the movies that like kind of like kind of stuck with me ever since I first saw it like a few years ago.
SPEAKER_01I haven't seen it. It's so bad. Okay. No, I love this movie. I know, and everybody says that. I'm a dingus.
SPEAKER_00It's so it's so intense. Yeah. But yeah, it's one of those like it's the very end mon the very f the final monologue of the movie.
SPEAKER_01Oh, so you spoiled the movie for me. No, I couldn't. No, it's okay. You didn't really because I couldn't hear the camera because like it was a lot. But what was cool about that feedback, and I'm not uh I'm not a expert on this by any means. I like my I'm a meat and potatoes music guy. It's usually um, but that kind of style to me is experimental avant-garde drone. Is that how you would classify it? Or that's uh yeah, I think that's how it ignorant.
SPEAKER_00That's actually how I would um uh describe it. It's um uh uh avant-garde noise, or because there's a lot of elements of shoegaze in it, because a lot of my more normal, like structured songs, I would say is like shoe gaze.
SPEAKER_01Um which I'm I'm excited to hear. I mean, I have heard some of these songs, but then I've also heard the improv stuff, and that's yeah, you know, it's otherworldly in the spectrum of that you have your song songs, and then you have the wider stuff. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Like I just I just want to do both like kind of a wilder thing and a and a more structured do you have a it's so I'd imagine that's a mood and a vibe thing too, right?
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Whatever I feel like doing at the time, it would just like come out. So like with a show that we're gonna we're about to do or you're putting out for us. Um like I could do both because it feels like it's it could be a uh a good way to do that, or I could just like day off just change my mind and just go ham on the guitar. You know what I mean? It's one of those things.
SPEAKER_01Where were your influences from with that when you were starting to write your own songs? Like what was kind of rubbing off on you?
SPEAKER_00Oh, a lot of uh My Bloody Valentine uh Ride Slow Dive. It's like the Trinity of um Shoe Gaze, and then um a lot of Lou Reed uh Metal Machine Music is a crazy, like insane record where he recorded that so he can get away from his label. So he recorded.
SPEAKER_01So it's kind of like a F U.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's an F, yeah, because he's from the Velvet Underground, they're expecting something kind of like that. Yeah. And then he was just like, you know what? Here's my amp, here's my guitar. Let me put my guitar on top of my amp and let it feed back and do random shit.
SPEAKER_01Are you familiar with the Melvins? I love the Melvins. So they have that record too, where it's just feedback and you know, strange that was the first record I bought from them. So I was very confused. I was in, yeah, I think it was kind of like the end of middle school or maybe even high school. Uh I was very I was like, what is this? Yeah I don't understand.
SPEAKER_00But see, a lot of um, yeah, there's a lot of like noise rock avant-garde bands that um came out. I can't name of a specific one, but like honestly, like a lot of people hate Yoko, but a lot of her music is avant-garde, like kind of like that. And there are some really good ones. They only know her as like John Lennon's like wife that the Yoko, yeah, that sort of ruined the Beatles. Also, she didn't.
SPEAKER_01Do you know? I think it's it's with every genre actually, but why there is such a stigma towards avant-garde experimental type of stuff?
SPEAKER_00Well, because it's not for everyone.
SPEAKER_01And it's not the norm of what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's not the norm of what pop music or like it's it's it's uh it's hard to take in, really, because when you think about music, you think about melody not noise, you know. But then there is something to say about like what noise brings out of a person. Like it like the um like what you feel comes out easier with like improvisation than like trying to just trying to collect it, you know, and then make it more it's more wrong. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean it's yeah, I I think it would be remiss of me to say that any pop singer's songs, like they don't come all out squeaky clean in that way. I mean, I think it starts with feelings and emotions, and sure there's a flow to it, but I think it's also the matter of how people translate that, and that has to depend on what their palette is. Yeah. I guess creatively. Have people told you that in terms of like what well are in doing the avant-garde stuff, have have people kind of approached you and made comments that have been, you know, worth remembering?
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean because I know that people tiptoe around complimenting in that way.
SPEAKER_00I think a lot of people are more, I don't know, polite. What did they say? Interesting. Yeah, they're like, that's interesting. But I don't really know if you mean interesting good or interesting bad. But that's what I've been getting. You know, like people would come up to me and it's like, that was an interesting performance. And I'm just like, and did you like it?
SPEAKER_02And they're like, parts.
SPEAKER_01I mean, but that's that's acknowledging that there are parts. And do you do it?
SPEAKER_00And I and I and and I like that. And here's the thing, though, even if they don't like it, I I love to hear it, you know.
SPEAKER_01But I mean, for the improv stuff, do you consider that in parts, or do you consider it like this is a whole fucking piece for however long?
SPEAKER_00Um I think about it in movements. Okay. Yeah. Like you've got like actually I have played for like 30 minutes non-stop, and I come consider that one whole piece, you know? But I'd like to break it up so in movements, so it's not like like say like the beginning would be a little more like subdued, like, you know, like less feedback, more less um more ethereal, and then it would like warp into something different. That's gonna be the second movement, and then it would it would warp into something different. That's the third movement. And like, but I think I guess it is just one piece, just kind of like different, like so so it's not I don't know. So the audience won't get bored, yeah. Yeah, it's in that. Because if it's the same thing over and over and over again, the whole 20 minutes or 30 minutes, then someone's someone's gonna walk away. It might drag, yeah. Yeah, it might drag. And even if they do walk away, it's like, hey, thanks for listening. For however long you for however long you manage to stay here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you look at the algorithm or whatever for your video, and it's like, oh, people only watch three seconds. They're live in a live setting, you have a better chance at that. Do you lose track of time when you're doing kind of some of these long for because when I saw you do it, I certainly did. Like, I was like, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Did you see me put on like a timer on my phone? Or did you not? No, no, no. On like when I did one of the Oh, when you did one of the performances?
SPEAKER_01Uh I I don't know if I remember that. You were wearing a hood. I was wearing a hood. You had your back to us though.
SPEAKER_00No, which is cool. Oh, right, yeah. I had your back, I had my back to you guys. I did put a uh a timer to make sure so I can keep track of how long it is. Because at that point, like um the open mic, we we were only allowed to do one song. It was one song, yeah, which might have equated up to and I did a 15-minute piece and I felt so bad. Was it 15? It was 15 because because the monologue is about like 10 minutes and or almost 11 minutes, and then I had like a little bit of a you know, weird intro and like sort of like a jet engine outrow for the whole thing. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I for sure lost track of time and and it was in a good way, and and obviously, and you know, depending on how many people have shut up, you want to be uh courteous about other people's time. But I don't think people were were sore about it to me. I think for me it was just kind of like a complete um, you know, not a it wasn't a gut punch, it wasn't a you know, like a an unpleasant shock, it was just like such a vastly different thing that we had seen that night because again, it was a traditional songwriter's night, and then you came in with your delay and your chorus and kind of threw all that to the wind, and I love that diversity, and I love that variety because honestly, to the the best open mics to me are that you get to see as many people as possible doing as many unique things as possible. It is not interesting to me to see somebody go up there and they're parodying uh what and you know, at the end of the day, your influences are your influences, and that's fine. Um, but it's more interesting to me to see uh just such a variety of people, performers, and styles of music.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um I I agree. Yeah, the more diverse like the um the musical landscape is, the better it is for um you know for music in general. Yeah, like especially for a small town like we have, like I mean we only have so many reggae or um folk that you can take until like it gets too oversaturated, you know? Yeah, we need to bring in more diverse stuff. Yeah, honestly, we need to bring in more hip hop into this community, if I'm being honest. Yeah, yeah. I know there's hip hop in Baltimore, there's hip hop in DC, but Annapolis, like we've got like a few, but like there needs to be a platform for them too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, and and and it's not like people don't listen to it here. Yeah, I know, I know. Everybody does, yeah. You hear in cars, I I hear people talk about you know artists that they're following. Uh-huh. There's no reason that I think people can't be um you know inviting and welcoming in that same way too. But so much of it does have to do with providing that space. And I'll tell you this too of however many episodes we're in now, I guess this is nine, you might be number 10. I forget. I don't know, Jamie. Check that. But um once other artists see that the space is safe to show their own personal art. Oh, yeah. Thumbs up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, and if you are providing a space where only maybe this style or type of music is going on, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, Justice the Genius Kid used to have like an open mic at um art farm. I don't know if that's still going on. Um if you're listening, Malcolm, let me know. Um, but yeah, uh that that should be more open to every everywhere else too, though. Also, like hardcore bands. Do we need more hardcore bands here or punk bands?
SPEAKER_01There was some there are some when I was coming up here, I think there was that it was pop punk too. I mean I think it yeah, it's peaks and valleys of different things because I remember the uh late 90s to 2000s when pop punk was like whoa. Yeah, there's a bunch of that.
SPEAKER_00Actually, like um when I that's the other thing. When I first moved to the United States, I um I was really, really into like I still am like punk metal, all of that, like hardcore. And again, um I was so excited to move to Annapolis because I heard that it's only like 30 minutes away from DC and some of the best hardcore, yeah, and all of the best hardcore bands that I've heard of, like Minor Threat and Fugazi, as a like in the Philippines, I've heard about them are from DC, you know, and I'm just like that's that's really cool. So is there gonna be like that whole like thing here? And then there is some, and there's still some DIY spaces now, but back then, like back in the early 2000s, DIY spaces everywhere. You can go to like someone's backyard and there's gonna be a punk show there, basement, or well, right now, um, shout out to pedal pushers in Saverna Park, because they still have some really good like hardcore punk metal music going on there occasionally, not in a regular sense, but like I've been to a lot of shows there, you know.
SPEAKER_01Can you talk about the importance of the DIY spaces for you? Because again, if we're going in the direction of the avant-garde stuff, yeah, I feel like because there's less of an audience for that, at least in popularized that people gotta make their own thing for it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it would have to be DIY spaces. Like with avant-garde and experimental music, it's more acceptable in like gallery spaces, you know, like where there's art around. I'm not saying that, like, you know, like oity toi, I'm like an art, you know, art musician. Pinkies up. Yeah, pinky's up. No, no, no, just not like that. Like someone's basement could be an art space, you know, and then it's accept it's accept like it's more acceptable to do that more experimental stuff down there than like say, which I'm about to do than at a coffee shop, you know, where everyone's gonna be like, what the fuck is happening? You know, I hope so. Or and I I hope that's the you know, like maybe like if that's their takeaway, then maybe they can like think about like, oh, there are m other music than what I am accustomed to. Yeah. And you know, maybe if they like just even just a part of it, that's you know.
SPEAKER_01Well, I I think they'd always said, I might have used this quote before. I don't know if anybody's keeping a bingo card on my rephrasings of things, but it's Kafka. The author said that I like a good piece of art should be like an axe to a sheet of ice or something like that. Yeah. Um, and that's why I think it's important to challenge yourself in that way as a as a consumer. And I'm not talking about like a givy money thing, though that's important too. I'm just talking about is how you expose yourself to art and and what you're exposing to. And so much of it, I will say now, is is based off of algorithms, is based off of um whoever's got the hollest the highest dollar sign that is able to push this stuff.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Back in the day, the uh early 2000s, it's like the um the pop machine is what you know what what makes it now it's AI, unfortunately. Yeah, which is kind of scary and wild to to see with that.
SPEAKER_01But back on like the people of saying the what the fuck, I don't know if I because for me, I don't know. I'm I'm I'm selective about what I you know have the choice of listening to when I'm popping in my car driving to work. Um, and if something is going to catch my ear or there's something that I'm interested in, or you know, if I'm at an open mic and hearing something different, I want to give it the space and the breath that it deserves. And if I I want to trust in you or the artist, is you're going to put me in that place. Yeah. And I don't want to like I don't I think I've walked out of like one movie in my life, you know? And same with performances. Yeah. I think I've walked out of, you know, a handful. But I don't want to be that audience member that is like that because I'm like, this is a person who has took the time to display their their craft and their creativity, and the least I can do is give them that five, ten, however many l minutes long. Right. Um because that's their whole person, and you don't know what you might be missing, and you can say that you've experienced it in that way. And so much of that actually comes from you know, Conan O'Brien had a thing that he riffed on of the the act as if thing, which is an improv thing. So it's like, you know, when it comes to shows, act as if you're gonna be exposed to this type of music that you might not that you probably weren't gonna find out on your own. And and that went back to you know how different friends would expose you to different music in that way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I think it's just keeping that open mind because who knows what you're gonna find.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And even if you don't like it, that's that's fine. That's it's but I would like to see you like see the audience try and understand it, you know. And if they don't, that's fine. Um yeah.
SPEAKER_01I I think audiences could stand to be more challenged by that. But yeah, exactly. Controversially, but I don't exactly believe an audience needs to sit there and you know, I think react in a well, they're gonna react how they're gonna react. But I mean, you know, there was the whole Right of Spring thing, the Tchaikovsky piece, um, which they did. If you're familiar with Fantasia, it's the part with the dinosaurs in it. Um that one. But because when that piece came out, it was so full of just non-normal classical music stuff that it caused people to freak out. Yeah. And now it's regarded as like up there with one of the the greatest, you know, pieces of all time. But in that time period, people were like, What is this? This is making us angry.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like it's like it's nonsense to them, but like you give it some time, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like, yeah, yeah. Or like the Star Wars prequels. People like Oh no, let's not get into that. That's a different podcast. That's the other podcast behind the paywall. Have you had people come up to you though and and say stuff after kind of like an avant-garde performance, and and it's been stuff that's kind of I don't know. I don't not not really like they've been disgusted by it, or they've no, no, like I said, most people are very polite about it.
SPEAKER_00Like they're just gonna be like cool. Yeah. Or like I would like I can tell us like people are not really into it, even if they're like, you know, like that's why I sometimes just turn my back away so I don't get distracted by people's reactions.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know. But I think that's I think that lends itself to a performer thing, though, is why is this guy goddess back to us? He must be super focused in on his craft and in his own space. Are you in your own? I I am.
SPEAKER_00I get into my own, like yeah, I I get focused into it, but also it's like there's a lot of different things why I sometimes I I I'm not like I don't I don't care if I'm facing you or facing away. Sometimes I just get distracted by things happening in front of me, so I I turn away and then I play it, and then I'll sometimes I will like go back and like face people again. But yeah. Um when I was young, I was very, very like I don't know, I was shy about this whole situation, like art and music and stuff. Like I remember a performance in Alice. This was back in the Philippines with an old band of mine. We were very, very young. I think we were like 10 or 11. I what I would do is like I would just face my amp while I played the guitar. Like I wouldn't even face the the um the audience, and that came out as cool back then, you know what I mean? Yeah. Oh look at that cool guitar player. Yeah, he doesn't need to fucking face the audience, you know. It's just because I was like, I was terrified of you know of it. Well, was it music that lent itself to you, or was it like it was like a cover of like new wave songs like um like REM and the Pash Mode and all of those like yeah, yeah. It was a it was a um it was a school band, like it was a school, like um, yeah, like rock band kind of. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And and your first instrument was guitar, or what would you say your your strength is in the instrument zone?
SPEAKER_00My first instrument was actually like you, the drums. I played around on the drums when I was young, and then I switched to guitar. Was never a good guitar player until like recently, really. Like I would I don't know, just play around and just I know basic chords, which I still do. That's just all I know.
SPEAKER_01It's important. Just have some basic chords.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I mean I can I I can figure out more stuff now, but like, yeah. Um I move from drums to guitar and then I played some more drums a little bit here and there.
SPEAKER_01Do you have a preference as to uh I mean I mean you can do drum complete bass new I know there is something out there and you can do stuff with pads and everything like that. Oh, right, yeah. Do you do you appreciate the way that technology has come along and you can kind of do oh yeah absolutely, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I'm not one of those purists that like I just want like a real drum set. Like there's a lot of sounds you can do on the computer on a on a pad that she can't do on a normal analog drum kit or you know, even like have you seen those like electronic guitars? Like the Casio guitar?
SPEAKER_01Oh well on the 80s. Oh the guitar, yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's not a guitar, not the guitar, but it's actually an electronic guitar with actual strings, and I think it's a Casio.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, I can see that.
SPEAKER_00And when you play it, like you can change the sound on the board, but now you can do it on a pedal, but like there are still certain sounds that when I used to when I played that um when did I like back in high school, someone brought it in, like one of my school friends or whatever um brought it in, and it was just like this is really cool. You know, there are certain sounds that I couldn't imitate with just a pedal board on that. Yeah. But see, like digital sounds that like you know, but there's there's a lot of different things that you can do. You don't have to just like stick around with just like your normal guitar and your like you know, normal drums.
SPEAKER_01You could just is that something with with your project noise merchants that you're constantly kind of reinventing, or is there stuff where you're like, I'm only gonna go this far with the types of instruments that I use, or is it kind of a sky's the limit thing, or or because you're creating these kind of spaces and soundscapes and songs, is it kind of like you embrace whatever?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I will embrace any kind of like mu instrument as long as it fits the um the mood, the vibe of the of the song, you know, or of the piece. Um I've actually asked um Heather Britt to maybe play some banjo on top of like some weird, you know, like riffs or tunes that I would do, you know? Like because I feel like that could sound really interesting. You know?
SPEAKER_01So it seems like you're chasing these kind of ideas, ideas songs, or not even songs, but just sounds or combinations of different things.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, or like I I'd like to collaborate with a lot of different people, you know, and maybe make something cool out of like, you know, just making soundscapes, you know, like of just me just in front of my pedal board and my amp doing that, like sometimes it and it it could get boring.
SPEAKER_01You know, like and the audience would know that too. Yeah, you know. Well, that's in a live setting, so I mean for for recording stuff for recording stuff, like yeah. So where's that cutoff for you then in terms of like because your music is is more avant-garde experimental, where does that lie with you and the creator being like, I guess it ends here, I guess it's done.
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay. But with recording, like actual recorded stuff, I think I would rather just do my more like the the accessible songs, accessible songs, not accessible, not necessarily accessible, songs, like actual songs instead of the improv stuff. The improv stuff I I would maybe just do that in a live setting, or I would record a live performance of it and then maybe release that, you know, for people who want to just kind of listen to something kind of different, you know. But with like as as noise merchants, if I was gonna re and I am going to release some like an album or an EP or whatever in the future, I would like stick to the um more um uh structured songs other than the more avant-garde stuff. There will be elements of the avant-garde and the experimental in it, but it wouldn't be like the whole thing, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's really cool. Um, because that provides the experience, I think, for wherever you're playing in a live setting of like they're gonna get this wholly unique thing, and I like how bands can kind of do that too of you're never gonna find a certain performance or a certain way that they did a you know, this is a band band setting, but like of a way that they did a song from when they did it one night in you know, Michigan versus like whatever the studio version of that is.
SPEAKER_00Um but see that's the thing I kind of Wanna like in the future I will mix those two like the more like the um the structured composition and then it's kinda like a jam band, yeah, you know, like if I'm gonna do like like I will have like an extended outro or something or an extended solo and then I will put like a little bit more of the improvised stuff into it, you know, in the future. If that's I mean if I can make it work that way, you know, without sounding kind of I don't know, pretentious about it.
SPEAKER_01Well, I think here already, but like once you get into that avant-garde experimental, people are gonna be able to do it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, people are already gonna think, oh, this this this just like pretentious bullshit, you know? And I get it, I get it. Don't like yeah. I I un I understand that that it it can go off that way. And I guess.
SPEAKER_01I mean, and and I there's times and moods and places for everything, but when it comes to that stuff, it's like sometimes life is more than just a three to four minute three verses and three choruses.
SPEAKER_00Exactly, yeah, yeah. And yeah, and I I and and and I recognize it with my like music that it can get pretentious and people will be like, oh that's just bullshit. And but that's because they don't know what's going on in my mind or in my, you know, like what I'm feeling. Yeah, you know, and that's hard to communicate. And that's hard to communicate. Some people will just re will just think that's just you know, the the guy's just doing this just so to do it. He's just wanking around up there. Exactly, yeah. But I mean, I am, but at the same time, there's thought into it. Like, you know, I'm bringing out like what I'm what I'm feeling or what I'm or or what I'm trying to hopefully I want what I want the audience to feel as well, you know, not necessarily what I'm feeling at the time, but say I want to make people like feel sadness or terror or something. Hopefully it comes out through the like the improvisational music, you know? Yeah. I'm not just like I I'm not just going up on stage to you know whack myself, yeah, or the guitar neck or something, whatever or whatever, but like yeah, yeah. There's a thought into it, and I hope that like people actually like realize that. Yeah, you know.
SPEAKER_01Well, wrapping it up, I want to go with the you know people always say like when it comes to artist instinct and all of that, like follow your gut. And where I guess within that that phrasing, where where has that led you?
SPEAKER_00And um nah, fuck that. Follow the money, sell yourself out. This has no money in it, and I'm poor as fuck. I'm just kidding. No. Um follow your gut.
SPEAKER_01Like, I mean I mean, well, do you think that's accurate?
SPEAKER_00Or would you say I mean I would say there's a like you gotta consider both ends of it, you know? Like, not just like completely like follow your gut, because sometimes your gut tells you to do something stupid. You know? Like have a um, yeah, follow your gut to a certain extent, I would say. Like um be smart about like certain things, like how you go about things, you know. Don't just like leave it to the wind. Yeah. Actually act upon things that you can act upon. Yeah. Stuff like that. Cool. I don't know. I'm I'm not a philosopher. Well, I think if I were yeah, if I if I was a philosopher, I would have gone to liberal arts, not visual arts.
SPEAKER_01Well, but I think there's a philosophy in that art. Yeah. Thank you, Mark.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you. Also, I appreciate what you've been doing for us.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's fine. It's alright.
SPEAKER_00Oh, come on. Bye. Bye.
SPEAKER_01Thanks so much for listening. You can follow us on Instagram for show announcements and other episodes. And if you dig the artist stuff, give them a follow. Give them a like. And if you want to go the extra mile, check them out at one of their shows. Buy their merch. Keep the scene alive. And I'll see you out there. Take care.