HOWA EP 51 - JOHN VANDERSLICE

Hello! It’s Jamie and John in Echo Park time :) Yeah, I sat in my Air B and B and chatted with Mr Vanderslice on Feb 4th 2019. What a treat. I’d met him years before in Australia but I’d completely forgotten I was reminded of that by him during the interview which could have potentially been embarrassing … But John is not that guy. No no no He has a delightfully animated persona, running on 100 the whole time and there’s lots of honesty and enthusiasm that hits you like a vinagerette. A lot of f bombs too so those with sensitive ears get ready to panic! Who is J.V.?? Well…for one thing, he’s been at it as long as I have!  Potted history: Part of the MK Ultra a waiter at Chez Panisse owner and provider of studio magic at Tiny Telephone Studios in the Bay Area AND he is incredibly prolific.    John’s worked with Spoon, the Mountain Goats, Okkervil River, Death Cab for Cutie, Tune-Yards and hundreds (maybe thousands more!) We get into chatting about tour life a little in pod and he tells me of the living room show thing.  I’d not heard of that but was intrigued to say the least. Luckily enough, a few months after this chat I got to see him do his thing in a house just up the road from me.  He was such brilliant entertainer. He’s been through a lot and has come out of it all a generous and energized soul and it was a treat to see him holding court in a little house show.  Just rocking. Welcome to the show Mr Vanderslice!   Nitty Gritty this time sees me delving into some Raymond Scott inspired noodles.  I must say it sounds nothing like his work but the simple point of it was to explore the idea of pitting slow moving melodic motion against a faster trigger source. It’s such a simple premise and it leads to more questions like “what happens if you cluster sequencers as a big blob and transpose them all?”  That’s a very Raymond move!   TIP: On my humble dives into modular I have to shout out http://www.mylarmelodies.com and Div Kid https://www.youtube.com/user/DivKidVideo/videos So much useful stuff these 2 have shared. There’s a lot to learn. Hat’s off you guys!   Music for the show comes from Leo Appleyard aka Urchin    Lovely stuff :)   http://www.urchinband.com  https://www.instagram.com/urchinmusic/  https://open.spotify.com/artist/5YPbtEypUwxOJrt9OpbicE    Cheerio  c u in a Bi-week!!!