Fourculture Issue 23

ISSUE TWENTY THREE | MARCH/APRIL 2016

MARTIN EDER

“NOTHING IS REAL, BUT ALL IS TRUE.” GAVIN SCOTT WHITFIELD | CLOUD CULT | MIKEY HELLER | LITTLE BOOTS | OCEANSHIP

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EXECUTIVE EDITOR

The Artist D MANAGING EDITOR

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Fourculture features artists who are unearthing the underground.

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Paul Davies EDITORIAL

Christine Blythe Adam D Paul Davies Marguerite O’Connell Derek O’Neal Ann Marie Papanagnostou Nadia Says Annie Shove Mark Simpson Michael Stanton Josh Valley CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Andrew Ashley

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ART BY MARTIN EDER GIFT (die Welt zerdacht), 2015 Oil on canvas. 150 x 100 cm Hort Family Collection courtesy Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin Photo: Uwe Walter, Berlin © 2012-2016 Fourculture Magazine Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

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"All I ever wanted was to pass out hand-printed pamphlets about the underground in dirty subway stations.

That's it. That's all." — The Artist D Follow The Artist D: @theArtistD www.fourculture.com 3

THOMAS HARTLEY, A FILM BY GAVIN SCOTT WHITFIELD

features Films From the Margins: Gavin Scott Whitfield Tells the Untold................... 6 Clous Cult’s Journey of Creative Creative Evolution............................12 Martin Eder: “Nothing Is Read, But All Is True”........ 16 Meet Mikey “Ice Bear” Heller............... 22 These Boots Are Made for Chilling, An Interview with Little Boots................ 28 Set Sail with Oceanship.... 34

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FILMS FROM THE MARGINS

GAVIN SCOTT WHITFIELD

TELLS THE UNTOLD

BY PAUL DAVIES

www.fourculture.com 7

If it’s true that Art imitates life, then you’d imagine there would be plenty of struggles portrayed within. When the artist has experienced their own struggles it can only add value and authenticity.

After years of hard work and battling against the odds through what he describes as “sheer bloody mindedness” and “psychotic self belief”, the films of Gavin Scott Whitfield are about to be screened for the first time in a UK cinema. Each of the four films (collectively called Voices From the Margins) represents a truth surrounding us that is not often given a voice, stories not often told in the world of film. As well as the screening at Home, Manchester on March 18, further conversations are taking place with a view to screenings across several major UK cities in the near future.

It is clear from meeting with Gavin that it is stories that drive him, and what should drive cinema. It was the medium of stories that allowed him to explore his creativity as a young boy.

“I was never an artist,” he reflects. “I wasn’t any good at drawing or painting but I could always create images in my mind, very vivid, strong images that I was able to give language to. I felt I could describe the world around me. I can tell a story and if a story has a truth for me then I find that they resonate with others.”

Growing up in working class Liverpool in the 1980s has clearly shaped his work but film was never a realistic option or even a consideration back then.

“Filmmaking from someone with my background seemed a very remote thing. It still does. I mean, even more so now than then.

“It’s been more difficult as I have not been able to support myself in this as a career. It’s a struggle for any artist to establish yourself but nothing I’ve done in my life has ever been easy and people, including some august figures in the industry have told me that I’ve taken on the hardest industry in the world to sustain a career in. I had no idea as a boy that film would touch me. Writing seemed more tangible as you only needed imagination and a pen.”

During this time Gavin wrote stories and plays, refining and honing his craft, yet there were two films he saw at a young age that made a great impact and stuck with him, making him consider the role of filmmaker. Jaws was one, “the spectacle of it, the tension of it, the filmmaking... I just thought it was a wonderful, wonderful film and something so remote from my experience growing up in Liverpool so it was a 8 www.fourculture.com

very significant film for me.” The other film he declares as “the greatest British film ever made” — Ken Loach’s Kes. In contrast to Jaws, this was a film that Gavin could relate to more based on his own experiences. “I found there was a lot I could relate to: education; aspirations; it had a very profound influence on me. It’s got what Jaws has got, what every great film has got, and that’s timelessness. You can see a film like these and every generation can draw something from it. Jaws in the primal fear it creates and Kes for me on a more personal level as it deals with loneliness, desire and aspirations of a young boy to be better than his circumstances, and what is predetermined for him by his background, and that spoke to me.”

As a writer/journalist his first taste of writing for film came from a producer who wanted to dramatise a true crime novel that Gavin had co-written. This didn’t materialise but the contact was made and Gavin eventually wrote a short story for the producer called Paraffin. “I wrote it deliberately because I thought he would not get it filmed because it seemed ambitious.”

The story was about two security escorts travelling the country tailing vehicles carrying precious computer parts. However, the initial sense of achievement of having a film produced soon made way to the harsh realities in the world of filmmaking.

Despite the promise of creating a film from an unlikely story the partnership could only GAVIN SCOTT WHITFIELD

go so far. “As I have learned in the last ten years, the road from going from short films to feature films is not an easy one and you can’t expect it overnight just from writing a couple of good short films.

“We don’t have much of a film industry in the UK, especially when the support networks that I thought were there for people like us are not there and you can judge that by the films we have made in this country in the last ten years which have been quite poor.”

As well as being influenced by Kes, Gavin cites the work of other directors from the 1960s and 1970s as inspiration for his work. Directors like Tony Garnett, Alan Clarke and Bill Douglas, and the Play for Today BBC Series, all predated his childhood yet showed a truth and authenticity he could relate to.

“Their films speak of issues that are as relevant now as they were then. They have a power to move me because they have a truth and they don’t feel contrived. All these filmmakers who are heralded now as the great torchbearers of the British film industry, and make the sort of films that I admired growing up, I don’t think they can hold anything next to those former filmmakers from back then and I think today there is a real need to make these films.”

Gavin confessed in a recent meeting with one of his inspirations, Tony Garnett that he wants to “carry the baton” and “follow in the footsteps” yet both acknowledge the difficulty in the current climate.

“There is nobody there to champion people like me or those who want to make films as I am trying to make them. There isn’t a new generation of political filmmakers making points about the society we live in, talking about the injustices. There are enough filmmakers out there who want to do that but it’s the people who are com-

missioning these things, those who are prepared to give you the money to make them. They don’t exist anymore, they are too scared to want to support people in telling these stories.”

Commissioners are scared to take risks as they want to appeal to a mass audience and film is an expensive thing to make. Gavin would love to see a change in film culture.

“I’d like to change people’s attitude to films and what they go and see films for.

I’d like to be able to shape taste in some ways and if people were aware that there are different sorts of films out there then they wouldn’t be so happy to see all this fodder, all this stuff that is ten-to-a-penny, all spectacle and scale.”

British film has not been known for its realism of late so do the public want this stereotypical period drama nostalgia, are they safer with Richard Curtis one-liners or are the commissioners just lazy? Cinema is not simply escapism for Gavin. “I am not advocating bleak cinema just for the sake of bleak. I am advocating stories that are powerful with characters in them that you care about.

“When someone says they are going to see the new Star Wars movie my heart sinks. I think ‘what am I going to see in the new Star Wars film? What is that going to tell me?’ That’s what I want cinema to be for me. I want something that lasts, something that resonates in me long after it has finished ..not something I can just escape into and then forget about.

“Every great film has a truth to it that transcends every boundary. That’s the difference between a film for me that will be watched in 50 or 100 years and a film you will watch and then never care to see again.”

If escapism is not a term best mentioned in his presence then to talk of the notion of realistic films being more difficult for an audience is another no-go area.

“You see when you use words like ‘challenging’ and ‘provocative’ then suddenly people think those things are difficult but they are not difficult if the stories are good.

Again, it all comes down to storytelling. Bad films are bad films, I think simply because they are badly told stories...and every film you see that is quite ‘arty’ is trying to conceal the fact it has no story. For me story is everything, everything should be allied to a story, every camera technique, every angle you shoot at, every nuance in the actor’s performance should all be in the service of the story. A lot of films I see these days pretend to have story but have no story. Story is the essential foundation of everything.”

And stories are at the heart of the forthcoming collection of films. The three most recent films were made as Through Our Eyes films, a project made up of ex-graduates who have helped Gavin make them.

THOMAS HARTLEY

THOMAS HARTLEY

Each one is different whether technically, through subject matter or in its acting. They have not been shown publicly until now.

Screened chronologically, they will show the growth and development of his work and his directing.

The first of these recent films is Thomas Hartley, a character Gavin became fascinated by while working in a homeless drop-in centre trying to engage clients into drama.

“He had this quixotic fantasy of building

a Performing Arts stadium for the city. He wanted to do that in return for the health care he believed he’d been given by the city... though of course he’d been given this by the local health services rather than the city.

He had this crusading desire, this fantasy to build this. I mean he’s a man who lives a sort of hand to mouth existence day to day trying to keep a roof over his head. This is a man who had issues with his electricity, unable to sustain the heating in his house www.fourculture.com 9

THE SLAIN

and was also a victim of the government’s ‘bedroom tax’ policy which he eventually lost his flat as a consequence of. So I became fascinated by this man who had this desire and passion to do this benevolent thing for the city which he had no chance of ever making real and at the same time he was struggling on a day to day basis to get by.”

It was these contrasts along with wanting to give Thomas Hartley a voice that led to the film being written. It was shot in black and white to echo some of those Play for Today films that so influenced Gavin, as well as to “draw the audience’s attention away from the colours of the real world and make them focus solely on this story” “We ended up creating this hybrid of a film in which we took his life, took certain narrative interests we had and sort of fused them together and we created this very poetic, surreal, quasi-documentary film which is neither this or that and some audiences haven’t got it because they haven’t understood that Thomas Hartley is not an actor, he is playing himself in a role that is his life and most scenes we created in the film were things he had experienced. I’m immensely proud of the film and I think it’s a testament to Tommy’s spirit in these times as he’s a man who, let’s face it...he is on the outside of society and one of the poor unfortunates that the system has crushed through no fault of his own. Someone like him now is being driven into destitution by a very pernicious government whose policies have affected him deeply.”

As an individual with a storytelling and poetic background it is natural that Thomas Hardy should be a personal favourite of Gavin’s and the next film The Slain is based on a Hardy poem (The Souls of the Slain) which explores loss and sacrifice when a group of soldiers come together and question their identity and patriotism.

“I was fascinated by the spirit of these dead soldiers coming together in conference and visiting their families as ghosts.

In this poem a senior among them comes back and has been to each of the respec10 www.fourculture.com

tive families giving them a report on what he has seen. This gives the soldiers pause for thought on why they sacrificed their lives, what they did it for.

“It’s a poem that deals with a lot of the unheralded things when people talk about the army and soldiers. You’re doing it for your family, your own personal family.

You’re doing it for your country principally to protect people in that country. This idea that the small commonplace facts...when you die as a soldier you are leaving things like putting the kettle on in the morning, making the bed... and the poem addresses those issues and it’s those small things that have been left behind by a soldier’s sacrifice. You think of a family member, they won’t think of the sacrifice he did for his country, they will see it as ‘oh, well we won’t see him around now’ to do things like fix the bike or taking the kids to school. It’s those sort of things which I felt were powerful and this is what the soldiers in the poem have to come to terms with. The families remember them more for what they did as civilians rather than as soldiers and I think that’s very important when it comes to war....they sacrifice themselves for the country but what is ‘country’? The poem deals with that and it is timeless. Again in anything you try to do as storyteller you reach for those things that are both tangible and real that speaks to you as a truth and I hope I have made a timeless film.”

THE SLAIN

The final film, Murderous Injustice is based on real events and is the film that has to date been given the most attention.

Themes of racial hatred, police negligence, and community are powerfully explored in a short film captured in ‘single take’ real time.

“I was disturbed by a case in Bristol, the killing of an Iranian refugee. I was moved not only as it was horrific but it was a hate crime that typified where this dangerous discourse we are having at the moment on immigration is going. It showed how quickly this intolerance towards others coming from other cultures into our society can soon spiral into violence and into, as in this case, murder. But for me this was how appalled I was that something like that could happen here, in my society, a working class community not unlike my own, and how disgusted I was by the crime and also by the defence that was offered by the murderer, that he was protecting his children.

For me it was a hate crime masquerading behind an act of vigilantism. And that community...shame on them for, in some ways acquiescing something like that to happen in their midst...and shame on the police for not protecting this man who’d escaped persecution from his own country years earlier and found refuge, and happiness to some extent, and was then murdered as brutally as he was.

“I had to work out how can I tell this story as quickly as I can? How can I tell the story of this tragedy without seeming sensational? It would have been easy to focus on the victim but I wanted to focus on the antagonist. I focused on his world, he was comfortable in his environment, liked by his community, didn’t have any issues with anyone around him so I thought it would be interesting to tell the story from his perspective. Here’s a man filled with hate who loses it in a moment of time, and it was that moment in time that attracted me. I thought I could film this in a single moment, a single moment would be enough. In fact I preface the film with a quote from Jorge Louis Borges ‘A single moment is enough, in that

moment a person is defined forever’. I felt that encapsulated this film and this man, this single moment has defined him. He is now in prison so in that moment you can know everything by the actions of that man and what motivates him.

“That was the challenge on a storytelling basis to try and tell it in that way but also the challenge was a technical one. I wanted to tell that story in a live community on a hot summer’s day in which something like this happens and it was a real challenge, the biggest challenge I have had as a filmmaker. I think this has been a culmination of all my efforts over the last few years that we were able to pull this off.”

In a film lasting only 12 minutes, we get the aftermath as well.

“This is also what I wanted to focus on, this man had taken away a life but he had shattered his own life, his family’s life and the life of his community. The film deals with that shocking after effect of when someone does something very awful and how the comprehension of what he has done comes home to him. I wanted to show that. He knows what he has done and some recognition in him that he is aware of his own actions.”

As well the challenges of shooting this film, financing it was as ever a difficulty and for this film he also turned to crowdfunding as a means of raising money with mixed results.

“I wouldn’t recommend crowdfunding, though it would depend. It worked and it didn’t work. It was very stressful as we wouldn’t have been able to make the film without this contribution. This is something that on reflection I wouldn’t go through again. If your film hinges on that money coming through, especially when you have gathered together actors and crew and production schedules for it, well it’s not a pressure I would advocate.”

These three films will be prefaced by The Last Regal King Size, a short film from 2008 which saw the roles of Gavin and long-time collaborator Simon Hipkins change (Gavin from writer to director, Simon from directing into cinematography). It is included within the collection as a transitional film and like the others, relates to outsiders, a voice from the margins.

The achievement of having his films screened at a major cinema is not lost on him, a platform to announce himself as a

MURDEROUS INJUSTICE

MURDEROUS INJUSTICE filmmaker. What comes next, the unknown, is exciting but he remains realistic.

“I have invited a lot of important people, producers, critics. Whether they come or not is another matter, I have learned not to hope for these things. What I hope as a consequence is that the films are received well and that people can see that there are people making important films in this country outside the system. I want to tell bigger stories and I can’t do that with the money I have. Though I think I have made fine films up to now, I have a lot of large stories to tell, and in some ways some of these films are precursors to some of the larger films I

want to tell.”

The films are deliberately being displayed as a collection and Gavin says that they should not be watched in isolation.

“Inevitably they will be seen in this way but I think they should be seen together as they speak of issues in our society today.

That’s why I have not said they are individual films, I’ve called them collectively ‘Voices From the Margins’ as they are voices from the margins. In some ways they reflect my position and experience in the last few years.

I feel very much a voice from the margin, I am on the margins still, I am unsupported. I am not in the bosom of the film industry.”

Voices From the Margins: Four Films of Contemporary Britain is being shown at Home, Manchester on Friday 18 March.

Ticket information can be found at http://homemcr.org/film/voices-from-the-margins-four-films-about-contemporary-britain/ Through Our Eyes films on the web:

http://throughoureyesfilms.co.uk/ www.fourculture.com 11

Cloud Cult’s Journey of Creative Evolution

BY JOSH VALLEY PHOTOGRAPHY BY GRAHAM TOLBERT

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C

loud Cult's journey of creative evolution never seems to stop long enough to put their art in a box. Since the band's inception in 1995, frontman Craig Minowa and a diverse cast of artists from different mediums have been working to bridge the gap between the standard dimension of music and a full-scale sensory experience without limitations. Cloud Cult has built up a loyal following in the Twin Cities of Minnesota during the past decade with their energetic and expressive live shows which try to create a multilayered experience of visuals and soundscapes transporting fans to a transcendent dimension of art. Even more impressive still is the band's commitment to their core values of environmentalism and conservation, which impacts everything from their touring style to the way records are produced.

The latest release from Cloud Cult is The Seeker, an album that dropped on February 12 after a continuous PledgeMusic fundraising campaign, and a feature film of the same name directed by Cloud Cult producer/sound engineer Jeff D Johnson that will be out later in the year. PledgeMusic supporters were treated to a a weekly track from the album along with an accompanying "chapter" of the unfolding film as the release date drew closer. Cloud Cult's previous releases expanded upon diverse themes from all throughout the spectrum of human emotion and consciousness, but The Seeker draws upon a specific spiritual narrative about human beings and their relationship to the divine as they stumble through life. It's a wide path of subject matter that can encompass diverse belief systems and experiences while still focusing the listener's thoughts in a specific direction. I was able to ask Craig a few questions about the new record, the film project, and Cloud Cult's values and artistic visions. www.fourculture.com 13

As artists, you've always prided yourselves as working in all the different dimensions of the senses, from visual art to multi-media narratives. Was that always the objective when Cloud Cult first formed or was it more of a journey and an evolution? Was there an AHA moment when you realized you could reach more people on different artistic levels if you deviated from simply "playing music" in the traditional sense as the primary focus?

We started integrating visuals into the live show in the very beginning. In fact, in the early days, we actually had interpretive dance going on on stage at the same time as the show. I feel like music and the visual arts are a natural marriage that allows you to communicate even more with the viewer, so it feels natural to incorporate elements like live painting and live video on stage.

What would you say is the difference between being an "experience" and just being a "band"? You've retained a devoted following in the Twin Cities and beyond for your live shows, which almost feel like a melting pot of different artistic and sensory levels of involvement. Was this intentional from the conceptional stages or just a happy accident?

I think that an “experience” can happen even in the simplest of layouts. There are magnetic singer/songwriters that can take to a stage alone with their instrument and create a spiritual experience. I think it comes down to how much you allow yourself, as a performer, to throw your heart into it and for the music to be approachable enough that the viewer feels comfortable coming aboard.

How did the idea to start a film/album hybrid project come about? Was Director Jeff Johnson someone you were acquainted with for a while? I'd like to hear about the creative process between all involved that came in to tying these elements together so seamlessly.

We’ve been working on the album for over two years, but about a year ago I realized it was forming into a story and that it would be interesting to make a movie. I met with multiple film companies and directors, and it felt the most natural to do the job with Jeff D. Johnson and Motion 117, because he’s been an integral part of Cloud Cult

for nearly a decade. He took my basic storyline and made the screenplay and created the film out of that. He’s a brilliant fellow to work with.

Do you think of The Seeker the album and The Seeker the film as separate entities, or as an interwoven narrative? Is it possible to appreciate the key themes of the album without having seen the film and vice versa? Do they tell different parts of the story or come together like puzzle pieces?

I see them as separate entities that embellish each other. and we are marketing them as such. The album comes out February 12, but the film won’t be out for nearly a year.

Do you think that if there is dialogue between musicians and the business side of their operation we can incite positive change toward environmental processes in the music industry?

Musicians cannier positive change not only via the obvious way of utilizing the limelight to spread positive messages, but also to make sure they are operating their businesses in a way that takes environmental impact into mind in every decision.

Was traditional narrative film (as opposed to just, say, wordless art films as a backdrop to live shows) always on your radar as something you wanted to incorporate into the Cloud Cult oeuvre?

The first official Cloud Cult album was Who Killed Puck? back in 2000, and I wrote that as a film concept, as well. There was just no budget at that time to be able to manifest that.

Do you think the themes of spirituality in The Seeker are universe and can be embraced by anyone regardless of religious affiliation, belief in a higher power, or lack thereof?

That’s ultimately the goal and one of the key messages in the album. Although the album is very focused on the spiritual journey, it is religionless and allows anyone to apply their own belief system to it.

www.cloudcult.com 14 www.fourculture.com

Could you go into the process with which you compensate environmentally for the impact of creating records and touring?

I read about how your Earthology camp planted hundreds of trees to offset the greenhouse gases that will be produced when you tour. Do you have any other specific plans to minimize the impact the production of art has on our planet?

All of our merchandise is either 100% post consumer recycled or organic content.

We offset our CO2 output by planting thousands of trees. We figure out how much energy we use on tour, including stage and hotel rooms, and we input that back into the grid by paying for wind turbines on Native Reservations to generate an equivalent amount. Our recording studio, Earthology Records, is totally solar powered, and we run our own 501c3 nonprofit environmental charity Earthology Institute.

Having been a fan of Cloud Cult since 2008, I feel like your music is one great evolving story as opposed to the "this was a year in my life" or subject-specific releases of other bands such as concept albums. There's something about Cloud Cult's music and surrounding performance art that seems this great continuing current of life itself. Is that the aesthetic you personally aim for, or does everyone see/feel something different?

Thanks for the kindness and long term support. For the vast majority of the history of music, it has been used by people for spiritual purposes, most often as the backbone of rituals that help people feel more connected to the divine. Although it’s a lofty goal, the intention of any Cloud Cult album and performance is to help the listener get a little more connected to the deeper things flowing in and outside of themselves.

Frank Cotolo’s “Man of La Mantra” is now available on Amazon

A man on the brink of great success narrates a postmodern and abbreviated rendering of Don Quixote de la Mancha, set mostly in Brazil, with rambunctious humor during his personal journey for beauty and purpose.

PRO CEE DS S UPP ORT FOU RCU LTU RE

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MARTIN

EDER “NOTHING IS REAL, BUT ALL IS TRUE.”

By Nadia Says

16 www.fourculture.com

Amnesia, 2015 Oil on canvas 150 x 100 cm courtesy Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin www.fourculture.com 17 Photo: Uwe Walter, Berlin

Blut/Blood, 2015 Oil on canvas 225 x 150 cm courtesy Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin 18 www.fourculture.com Photo: Uwe Walter, Berlin

Martin Eder is a worldwide renowned German contemporary painter, photographer, musician and hypnotherapist. He mostly lives in Berlin and travels to share his work, and learn more about different crafts of the mind and nature. Some aspects of his work might seem dark, but look closer and catch glimpses of the light fantastic.

Martin Eder, you are a man of many talents. How do you answer the question "what do you do for a living?"

I'm a scientist. Sometimes I work as a doctor, sometimes I'm a constructor, bending reality, reinventing reality. Blurring the lines between dreams, here and now.

How do you link these disciplines in your work?

Art is meant to cure people. It can function as a remedy, as a placebo, and as a drug. Hypnosis is what is happening in your head. Like everything is happening in your head as long as you can think about it. Nothing is real, but all is true. We all live in a world of values and constructions that we accept or not. Sometimes we accept the conditions we are in without questioning their real values — considering consumerism, destructive behaviors and the way we treat each other.

Do you think that art can help people? What about music or hypnotherapy?

I think if you "have", you have to give. As soon as you give, you repay in your account of energy. There is no bigger reward than sharing strange ideas with strangers. In my case, I try to change the world with a very simple means that is accessible to everybody: fantasy.

a collective experience of mass hypnosis: upright standing people will fall into a deep trance surrounded by lasers, projections and the most wonderful and strangest music I can imagine.

I'm also working on a series of new paintings showing a secretive character in a blue dress, waving a sword on battlefields. The series deals with the subject of ongoing battles and warfare...not necessarily in the literal way, more in the sense of an ongoing struggle of mankind and the manmade realities. I'm very superstitious and I believe in the bad karma of giving away secrets.

Tell us about your lifestyle, is it similar to what you show in your art and music?

My lifestyle is my art and my music. But it's not a style, it's my life.

Do these things make you more connected to people?

As I mentioned, art cannot help people, only people can help art. For example in hypnotherapy, you can alter the mindset and consciousness of your clients.That is very, very similar to what a strong piece of art can do and did to me. Abyss, falling, drifting downwards in a fragile, crystal-like reality...you never know who will catch you.

MARTIN EDER | SELF PORTRAIT

Do you feel you understand the universe more thanks to your art

How did you go from fine artist to student of the occult?

The occult translates into the hidden — but who decides what is hidden or not? Hidden also means not knowing and not knowing is one of the most wonderful insights you can have. It shows that we are constantly on the edge of a beginning. I see my life as a permanent study, diving into the deep sea of hidden emotions and facts.

and recent studies?

Yes. What is there not to understand about the universe? I believe in the power of a full moon, and the magnetic fields of the subtle hills of a body, the structures you find at the end of the rainbow, the hidden treasures you can catch in a simple glance in the eye of a beloved one... the terror of an indescribable longing staring into the void of the night skies.

Tell us about your next projects.

The project I'm working on is a music performance called "Black Hole". It combines the beauty of rituals with contemporary classical music and hypnosis. It will be performed in Berlin this winter.

Combining a very opulent, yet minimalistic room installation with

Is there anything from your recent studies you'd like to share with readers?

Reading other people's minds can be a very entertaining ability; you should try it sometimes. And dear readers, make love, make babies!

www.martineder.com www.fourculture.com 19

Gift (die Welt zerdacht), 2015 Oil on canvas 150 x 100 cm Hort Family Collection courtesy Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin 20 www.fourculture.com Photo: Uwe Walter, Berlin

Schlafwandel / Sleepwalk, 2015 Oil on canvas 150 x 100 cm courtesy Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin www.fourculture.com 21 Photo: Uwe Walter, Berlin

Meet Mikey “Ice Bear” Heller

By Nadia Says

Heller is a young New Yorker at heart. He’s a writer for Cartoon Network’s We Bare Bears and he also does comic strips and standup comedy. He recently migrated from the east to west coast for work, which is big change for an ice bear. If you don’t get the reference, please check out We Bare Bears before reading... you won’t be sorry you did!

22 www.fourculture.com

PHOTOGRAPH BY MINDY TUCKER www.fourculture.com 23

How was the move?

It was a bit jarring, honestly. New York and L.A. are very different places, and to uproot your life and move in somewhere else is a very big step and it certainly was stressful, but starting the new job was very fun. Made it worth it.

Do you see yourself staying in L.A. in the future?

I’m here for the job. If I were fired tomorrow I would move immediately [laughs], because L.A. is pretty cool but I prefer the east coast. I try to go back as often as I can. I’ll be here as long as there is work for me to be here for, but if an opportunity arose elsewhere I would consider that as well.

tion, and here not so much. Here I have to plan things long in advance if I want to have a fun day and that takes the fun out of it for me.

That’s just the way my personality fits here.

I know plenty of people love it here, and if I could just love it here, I would! But that’s just crazy old me... I tried to phrase that as gracefully as possible!

Do you think that not being fully happy here helps your writing?

Ummmm…I don’t! [laughs]. I have thought about that. I’ve thought about whether the ups and downs of your emotions fulfill certain bouts of creativity and I think I’m more inspired by people I’m around than myself personally. If you have someone you can bounce ideas off really well that helps.

But if I’m by myself, whether I’m happy or too Why don’t you like L.A.?

I grew up in upstate New York, then I depressed, it doesn’t really matter. That’s the lived in New York, not for that long, and I just way I’ve thought about that. loved it. I just like the culture. I like the way the city is. I like not having to have a car. All You don’t Skype with your friends?

Oh I do, I contact them all the time. We of my closest friends were there so the move Skype, we phone call all the time. I have here was a bit rough. I did know people here, plenty of friends here. I just always thought but different groups. I just miss a lot of stuff back east. I don’t like having to drive and the I don’t think my emotion really affects my general culture of L.A. just isn’t my favorite. I output, if that makes any sense? don’t feel a sense of history here, or at least one that I connect to very much. In New York Do you relate to the characters in We I feel like everything is accessible to me no Bare Bears?

The characters? Very much! Yes. matter what because of public transporta-

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To each one?

Yes, each one, I have thought about this and I have an answer too. Each bear has a very distinguished personality. I think friends would say maybe I’m a bit like Grizz but maybe not so much. My family…well, I don’t know. We’re like all of them. I’m really mostly Panda, because he’s just a pathetic mess! But I think most people might think I’m Ice Bear, because he’s so weird and reserved and that’s how I come off on first impression. I relate to each one very much.

You could say ‘which one are you?’ and I’m like ‘I think we’re all of them. They are all different slices of us’.

Are you more comfortable writing about the sad bits, the cute bits or the funny bits?

I always like writing the funnier stuff but any chance we get to make the show sad is always kind of thrilling. Our show is just about ‘three bears who hang out,’ but if we can throw some real strong emotional context to that it feels very rewarding...I don’t think people expect that from such a silly looking show.

Are you surprised that adults are into it?

Did you think this was for adults from the start?

I’m not surprised at all that adults like it

MIKEY HELLER DRAWING A MUMMY IN CARTOON NETWORK'S EMERGENCY STAIRCASE because a lot of our stories or certain tropes within a certain episode are very adult related. Panda uses dating apps or they get Ubers, or we have a whole episode where they have too many tote bags! They are all very much modern adult problems. A kid can understand anything I think as long as you are able to supply them with a context they are able to absorb. So anyone can like it, kids or adults. It’s all about just making it appropriate for kids rather than gearing it towards them.

How do you make things funny while still being appropriate?

I think it’s super easy. I love making jokes all the time and you don’t have to go into levels where it’s crass or inappropriate to be fun.

I mean, I do that as well! But there are just so many possible jokes you can open it up to anything and be appropriate for all ages.

So we have Ice Bear, Panda and Grizz. Is there a social message about diversity in this?

That’s definitely an intention of the show. Whether it be the fact that this is a pretty unconventional family but they feel very conventional themselves, because it feels right, but also we make sure there is a lot of diversity in characters, even the background characters. There’s always

an effort to make sure it’s a pretty diverse while smoking weed to make it funnier.

As a writer do you think that maybe you group of people. need to see what it’s like?

And do you think people outside of I don’t! I’ve had all these questions of America get the references to tote bags, like ‘don’t you want to experience this part?’, or hipster? ‘do you wanna do this?’. I don’t really want We talk about that too. Ultimately we to but I also don’t want to feel obligated to. try not to get too caught up in it because I feel like I’m just being stubborn to have we assume if we can sell the sake of the something to be stubborn about. Never say story, whether the problem is truly relatable never. I mean, one day I’ll probably do it, but or not, as long as the feeling is relatable, not at this moment. then we’re ok. That makes sense, right? So maybe if one country doesn’t know much And do you feel personally involved about the problem of having too many tote with the show? Does it feel like it’s your bags, they understand how the characters baby? got there anyway, then everything should Not really. It’s not my baby. I love the be fine...I hope! show, but I don’t really feel like it’s my little thing. I feel like I’m helping, kinda babysitting.

Talking about what people get or not, I’m like a slightly older cousin that can watch you know everybody smokes weed here them! [Laughs] I like the show. in California.

When you watch the show, do you see Oh, I actually don’t smoke weed. yourself in it? Is it teamwork, or do you Do you feel maybe that’s why you can’t feel like it’s really the creator’s show? connect to L.A.?

I feel like it’s everybody’s show. I’ve [Laughs] Not really. I actually have nev- never watched an episode and thought er smoked weed before. Most of my friends ‘wow, I really did it’. When I watch the show, smoke pretty often so it’s never phased me I pretty much see everybody’s work. The as a thing I can’t connect with or feel outside biggest level is the storyboard artists and the designers and the voice acting. I mean of. It’s a personal thing, I guess. there’s so many facets that are so apparMany people who watch funny stuff do it ent, that are such a big part of the show and www.fourculture.com 25

they’ll stand out first. We start the story process, but everyone else from storyboarding to editing to post-production has a hand in how that works. I’m just a small piece of that large puzzle.

What’s your favorite joke of all the shows?

My favorite joke in the whole show? Oh boy! There’s one line that I love. It’s in the episode ‘Video Date’ when Panda is about to go on a video date with a girl, and she asks in a text what does he do for a living or something. He panics and says to his brothers ‘she wants to know what I do! She’ll hate me when she realizes I don’t do anything’.

It’s such a small line but it makes me laugh so hard that they are very aware that they do nothing, that they have very little going on in their life, and this is a detail that might not be super appealing to a potential date.

But in real life pandas don’t do anything.

They are known for being lazy animals!

Yeah. Comparatively, our bears work

very hard. Mostly getting out of scrapes So yeah, give me another decade! that they put themselves into. I like that they don’t really work or do anything. They get And you want to stay in this industry? caught up in their own tiny world and it’s Yeah. I have always wanted to work in really funny. comedy and television.

Would you like to have your own show How about movies? one day?

I love movies. Working in movies would I think that would be super awesome! I be really fun. But working in cartoons feels think I have a lot to learn before I could even like the culmination of all my interests in one. begin to imagine what that would be like. To So where I am right now feels very right. produce your own show, that’s like every aspect of producing a show all rolled up into And would you like to release a book of one job. Perhaps I’m not even fit to do it! But your comics? it would be fun, right, to at least imagine?

Yeah. That’s sort of been a goal of mine for a long time. I have so many comics on How old are you? line but they’re all very…it’s just a ‘grab bag’.

26.

Some of them don’t really fit if I were to collect them all into one. They’re all different sizYou’re very young! es and formats and styles. If I were to release Yeah. Not many 26 year olds have a book I would pick and choose. I wouldn’t shows. Nor should they! If someone told have an omnibus of everything. But I also me a 26 year old had a show I’d say “I’m want to make stuff that’s just for a book. never watching it, it’s probably garbage!”. Those are long term goals...

Watch We Bare Bears: www.cartoonnetwork.com/video/we-bare-bears, and check out more Mikey Heller at http://timetrabble.com & www.mikeyheller.com.

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ARE YOU LISTENING?

www.fourculture.com 27

These Boots are Made for Chilling AN INTERVIEW WITH LITTLE BOOTS

BY NADIA SAYS

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29 PHOTOGRAPH BYwww.fourculture.com CHARLOTTE RUTHERFORD

After meeting British electro-pop darling Little Boots in Berlin some months ago, I caught up with her in sunny L.A., in the up-and-coming area of Los Feliz.We decided to kill two birds with one stone: do an interview and chill like pros, L.A.-style.

So, Little Boots, Victoria, hello!

Hi. You’re a pop-electro singer-songwriter/ producer. Your public persona is into bright colours, lights, happy stuff, pop stuff…

Happy, yeah. I mean, I kinda try to make it be a bit weird as well, like not too shiny happy. The new record had a very certain theme and color palette. Lots of pastels almost to the point where it’s sickly, so even though it’s pop there’s a kind of darkness with it as well, a little weirdness.

Your last album Working Girl, was it a little bit ironic?

It’s funny. It was part ironic but then also part true as well. It was like playing a role

different. I’ve been in London for 10 years now and it’s such a different headspace from London, so it was good to have a break and a change of headspace.

Why did you choose to go there in the first place?

I’d just never been and it’s just somewhere I thought would be really interesting and different. I like Hindi pop.

Indian pop is really good. Really melodic.

That was my next question! Hindi pop, Bollywood…

Hindi pop is great. “Toxic” by Britney Spears samples Bollywood. It’s all that kind of crazy pentatonic melodies that jump everywhere. They have great pop music. I got into the mainstream radio there, it’s really cool!

And what about the spiritual aspect in India. Did you visit any temples?

We went to the temples at a place called Khajuraho, which are known as the Kama Sutra temples. Basically x-rated sculptures all over the temple. It’s so rude, it’s basically the oldest porn in the world! I did some yoga, which was nice. It was very traditional. It makes you realize how westernized it has become here, whereas if you do yoga Ok, and you were just in India. How was in India it feels very simple. that?

Amazing! It was so good. I went for What did you think about the political a vacation originally and ended up do- and social aspects there? ing some DJ shows there. It’s just a reIt’s interesting because, before I went, ally special place. You can see all walks I would have thought a lot of it was sexist. of life all the time. All these people are so Actually after spending time there things different and they’re all getting along and like wearing sarees and burkas and things working together. The colors and the food! that are very covering, I would have seen Everything’s just such an amazing place, so as something that was repressing, but being there I actually could see a lot of the benefits of wearing that. I found them really beautiful and elegant. It changed my opinion on a lot of things. I guess you can’t judge what you don’t understand and putting a context to a lot of those things has changed my opinion of a lot of ideas I might have had before about India. but at the same time a lot of the things I was joking about were actually happening to me, so it was somewhere between a fantasy character and a reality. It was a combination of this fantasy boss person that I would become to try and get stuff done but then you actually end up achieving loads of things. Like a “fake it ’til you make it” idea.

Now you’re in L.A., how’s the contrast feeling?

I love it here. I come here a lot anyway; four or five times a year. This year I’ll spend a lot more time here. It’s great. It’s very different from London. People are a lot more open and up for collaborating. It feels like a good place to be creative. I’ve always written a lot of my music here, and I think there’s a reason for that. In London there’s so much going on it’s sometimes hard to get down to writing music.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREY CHERKASHIN (FLIPAGRAM)

So you said you’re here for a year, working on new music?

Maybe. There’s an EP that I’m working

on, and I’m going to do a lot of songwriting for other people. Just trying lots of new things really. DJing, doing some tech stuff, trying lots of new things and embracing the change.

Talking about embracing change and being open-minded, today we are in a healing centre. How do you feel about this?

[Laughs]. It’s interesting. It feels very ‘L.A.’ Tell us a bit about what you see.

There’s a lady with pink feathers who is hitting some things. Is she playing bowls?

I think she’s playing bowls, by lots of candles. I did something like this in Joshua Tree once, it’s very trippy! But it’s nice. It’s good to stop looking at your phone every five seconds and listen to someone playing bowls and get some crystal healing powers.

So you believe in these spiritual things?

No! [Laughs]. I’m a total cynic! It’s probably good for me though!

Beyond the spiritual aspect, do you think there a healing aspect?

Yeah. I think it’s good for you. Even though I don’t maybe believe in some of the more spiritual parts of it, I think it’s good for you to slow down and focus and stop thinking about all the bullshit in the world and just focusing on where you are physically and mentally for a minute. I’m sure it’s beneficial.

And does this fit in your lifestyle?

No! [Laughs].

So how’s your lifestyle?

Actually since I got back from India I’ve been a lot more balanced. I was doing a lot of gigs at the end of last year, and a lot of parties, so it was a bit of a crazy few months towards the end of last year. Since I’ve got back I’ve been a lot more balanced. I like people who are more balanced as well.

People spend more time outdoors. They don’t work themselves into the ground and then have to go and party all night to get rid of the stress. People are just more balanced and rounded and I think that’s nice.

And do you think you’re going to juice a lot in the coming year?

[Laughs]. Um…Probably more than I would in England! I mean, when it’s hot if someone gave me a kale smoothie I’d be like ‘Yeah!’, but if it’s freezing cold in London I’ll be like “no fucking way!”. I’m going to turn to all the L.A. clichés. I’ll get a really small dog, do loads of yoga, have a house full of crystals, and eat kale for every meal. That’s my plan! www.fourculture.com 31 PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANDREY CHERKASHIN (FLIPAGRAM)

For reals?

No! [Laughs]. Definitely not. But maybe I’ll incorporate some of that in my life. I’d like a really small dog. That would be great.

Cool. So I guess we’re just going to do this healing session and see in one hour how we feel and if it worked and if the world changed...

We all laid down with 12 other people or so and listened to crystal bowl music and chanting for about an hour. The healing session was led by Dr. Matea, a doctor of Naturopathic Medicine, well known

by L.A. stars (even bad-ass girls like Courtney Love or Madonna). Dr. Matea used to be a singer and has a lovely voice she uses to relax her patients and call on angels – yes angels; there were also bits with aromatherapy and some spiritual blessings.

Here is how Little Boots felt: “After the healing session I felt very relaxed and it was good to try and focus for such a long time. I have a very busy mind so it was good practice for me! I didn't have the chance to try the vitamin shots in the end but they sound like a cool idea and I've heard they are great for musicians on tour who get tired and have an intense lifestyle. I'm sure they would be good for anyone who is stressed or doesn't get enough vitamins from food — some people say they can cure hangovers, always good.

When I'm tired I guess I just try sleep lots, I take lots of vitamins I have an app called Relax+ that I sometimes use if I only have a short space of time and haven't had much sleep and have to gig. I'm not sure if I would do a whole session again, in a hurry maybe, if it was shorter!” because Little Boots is a Working Girl and Gets Things Done ;)

More Little Boots on www.facebook.com/littleboots Her last album Working Girl is on iTunes along with the track “Get Things Done” and some remixes by Dim Mak, Todd Terry...

If you are in NYC or L.A., chill some and consult with Dr. Matea

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PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREY CHERKASHIN (FLIPAGRAM)

Playing the #electronica you didn’t realise you loved.

THURSDAYS, 5 PM EST/10 PM GMT on www.fourculture.com

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SET SAIL WITH

BY DER EK O’NE A L

Brad Lyons, the talent and captain aboard Oceanship, is a self-proclaimed one-man band from the small town of Waterdown in Ontario, Canada. Cautiously navigating the sound by way of a rock driven maelstrom, the vessel sails amidst a squallish infusion of pop and folk – a cadence construed as “complicated” by the commander.

It has been seven years adrift since the release of Oceanship’s self-titled debut and Brad admits that his follow-up has been a long time coming, but that he was committed to releasing a quality record. Brad’s sophomore album, Bella Blue, has been spotted on the horizon with his sea salt rusted, trusty spyglass.

While several knots in the distance, the album is nigh. It is so close, in fact, that one can practically hear its beauty emanating from the mists of shore – a tantalizing treasure calling forth to all within earshot. However, pirates beware: Bella Blue is not for the likes of scalawags and scoundrels!

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I ran an ad in two local papers that read, “Experienced Singer Seeks Band”. I got a bunch of calls, but ultimately settled on a group of guys who’d been playing together for a while but needed a singer. My first gig was at The Polish Hall in Hespler, Ontario.

We played together for a while, but they were less focused than I wanted, so at the end of the school year I transferred to a university closer to my parent’s home so I could live with them and form a serious project. I ran more newspaper ads and music store bulletin board ads, and eventually settled on a permanent line-up of high school kids.

We rehearsed and played whenever we could over the next five years. We eventually attracted reputable management, and signed a deal with ARISTA/BMG USA. But after we recorded what I thought was a terrible record (my performances being the most terrible, due to an ongoing sinus issue caused by a punch in the face on New Year’s Eve), I left that group and started Oceanship. I’ve given you a condensed version here, but this is the gist of it.

What is the story behind the name Oceanship?

Oceanship is the name of a song I wrote but haven’t released. The name is synonymous with the word “journey”.

First and foremost, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into music.

I feel that the best indication of what one should do for a career, is what one is already doing in their day to day life out of the sheer love of doing it. It’s usually another who labels one’s bliss as career-worthy, or one’s self who eventually makes the connection between the two.

I have been singing all my life, though not in any formal capacity until I hit university. I wasn’t a choir kid, or a theatre kid or anything like that. I just sang every song on the radio, including all solos, and knew every commercial by heart.

By the time I hit my teens I was singing for at least an hour every day, but I never made the association between what I was doing and a career. I lived in a small town and was very naive to the world of work. I just knew I was going to have a fantastic life.

I was a nationally ranked track and field athlete in high school, so I thought I wanted to be an Olympian. I also loved nature — particularly the ocean — so I thought I was going to be a fisherman before the age of…fifteen, and then shifted over to marine biologist.

So I went to university to be a marine biologist, but when I got there they told me that I hadn’t selected any of the necessary prerequisites. I said, “What does that mean?”.

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They said, “Well, you need these courses to stay in the program”. I said, “What courses?”. They said, “Chemistry, calculus, and physics”. I said, “Yeah, I don’t really like those”. They said, “Then you’re an undeclared major”. But I have always been a very decisive person, and I hated the word “undeclared”, so ended up picking up the pre-requisites in order to stay enrolled a science major.

I was miserable during the ensuing weeks. I didn’t know it then, but I wanted to be a marine biologist simply because I loved the beauty of the ocean — not the truth of it. I loved nature as art — as beauty — not as truth. Not as science. I was a mess. I thought everyone else had it figured out. It seemed as though I was the only one in my room racked with anxiety, while everyone else was getting drunk out of their heads.

My liberation came in two distinct phases; through two distinct questions. The first was, “What career will make me happy?”.

Pursuant to this question, I began visiting every faculty on campus, but found no relief.

No program felt right. The second phase — the deeper question — was, “What do I find happiness in doing?”. This was a much deeper question, for it went beyond the confines of education; beyond “career”. And the answer to the question was, “Singing”.

It all happened fairly quickly after that.

Name some of your artistic influences and inspirations.

I simply like whatever I consider of a certain depth of consciousness. I like all art forms — all expressions of beauty — but the ones I like most are the ones of a certain depth (whatever it is that I consider “deep”).

More specifically — as I know that’s what you’re asking — I can say that I was influenced first by the 70’s greats (Cat Stevens, Billy Joel, Supertramp, Bob Seger, Elton John, Meatloaf, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Genesis), then the 80’s (more of the aforementioned + Phil Collins, George Michael, Dire Straits, etc), by the early 90’s alternative scene, and after that by people like Fiona Apple, David Gray (White Ladder album), Jeff Buckley, Nick Drake, etc.

How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music?

I used to say Thought Rock/Film Pop/ Nostalgia. Now I just say, “It’s complicated.

It’s rock centred, but it swings into pop and folk. It goes from me and an acoustic guitar, to full orchestra + child choir”. That’s pretty much what I say, verbatim.

Describe your ideal songwriting environment and overall creative process.

I don’t write songs so much as…hear them. So I can be anywhere and a song will

come to me, or I turn my intention toward making what I’m feeling in this moment a song and…it will start playing. I then just transcribe it vocally, and/or go looking for the chords/notes on my acoustic guitar.

Ideally it is nice to have someone nearby who is a great player. I can’t play all of what I hear, but I can use another to do so.

Sometimes what I hear is aqua-marine, but I can only play blue or green. Becoming a better player is what I need to do. As soon as I learn a new chord, or rhythm, songs start arising.

Your self-titled debut was released seven years ago and your sophomore album, Bella Blue, is on the horizon. Do you feel that your sound has changed or evolved in that time?

More diverse in arrangement/instrumentation. It’s changed as I’ve changed. It sounds more mature to me.

Can you tell us anything about Bella Blue?

It took way too long to make. The recording has been done for a while, but it was mixed four times and mastered thrice.

It started as an EP, then grew into an album.

I shouldn’t have done it this way. Because I hear songs more than write them, my albums are comprised of songs I’ve chosen from the ones I’ve heard. But in this case, I recorded an EP that was itself an EP, but it wasn’t an album. So I then had to wait until enough songs came to me that fit on the record. But “the record” was itself an evolving thing, that emerged/changed with every song added. Though I’m happy with the album, its making was an often very strange and torturous process.

ly know who they are in Spirit, but they can’t translate their Spirit into the thoughts of their mind, nor can they translate the thoughts of their mind into the actions of their body.

There is an extreme amount of incongruence within most artists. They think and act discordantly with their Being. So this book is really all about alignment. It’s about unity — within and between.

You have conducted two crowdfunding campaigns using Indiegogo, one of which is currently under way. In your experience, what are the pros and cons of using crowdfunding?

There really is no downside to crowdfunding “as a concept”, as long as one’s campaign is in alignment with one’s values. I don’t offer any goods or services within my campaigns that are outside of my value sphere. It’s always going to be casespecific because every artist has their own manner of expression, however I do believe that many artists are degrading themselves to varying degrees in an attempt to make as much money as possible from their campaign. Artists big and small are offering anything from answering machine messages

and songs written about campaign contributors, to foot rubs and trapeze lessons.

Campaigns are rife with gimmicks.

The part of crowdfunding that I don’t like is the part of it that has been forced upon artists. Because most “fans” steal music (or used to before they jumped to streaming, which has been largely forced upon artists as an at-least-it’s-more-than-nothing option, due to stealing), artists are forced to offer goods and services that can’t be stolen. We’ll never know how many artists would offer what within their campaigns if fans couldn’t or wouldn’t steal their work from them, but I believe that many artists would never offer some of the campaign items they’re offering now if they didn’t feel they had to.

The music video for “Hotblack” from your debut album was a very creative piece of artistry. Is there a story behind the video?

I can’t speak for the animator as to the video’s story, but there is a somewhat interesting story as to how it came to be an Oceanship video.

I was on YouTube for some reason — which was rare back then — and after

I understand that you are writing a book.

Can you tell us anything about it?

The book is about what I believe the true depth of art and artist to be. It’s a user’s manual of sorts for artists. It came about through years of discussion with friends/ family/strangers as to the true consequences of abusing artists through the stealing of their work. It was — and is — my intention to make a documentary on the subject, but I was also being urged to do a TED talk, or make videos to post online, or blog. So I started booking myself as a public speaker.

I want to be in front of people. I want to communicate this live whenever possible. It was when people started asking me for a book after my talks that I began writing a book.

The abuse of the artist starts, in most cases, as self-abuse. There is no art without the artist. There is no fan of artist without the artist. The artist is the first mover. The artist is primary. But most of the time the primary doesn’t know their primaries. They intuitivewww.fourculture.com 37

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clicking something related to Radiohead and animation, I found myself on a website named Aniboom. Radiohead was using the site to host a contest offering $10k to whoever could create what they considered the best animated video for a track on their new album In Rainbows. At the time I visited Aniboom the contest was down to the top twelve animators. There was a video by a guy named Ofir Sasson that I thought was great. At that time it was about a third complete, and the rest was storyboarded. I kept tabs on the contest and was surprised when he didn’t win (I believe it’s because he wasn’t a big Radiohead fan, and unluckily chose to animate the only song on the record for which Radiohead already made a video). I had been playing his video to my song Hotblack and loved the pairing. So I contacted him and asked if he’d like to marry the two works officially. He agreed. We then decided that I be included within the video in the way I appear now (shot on a green screen in Toronto by my friend David Patrick), and he did the final colouring and whatever else world class animators do to finish an animation.

He lives in Israel. We’ve chatted many times in text online, and once via Skype, but we’ve never met face to face.

Do you have any ideas or plans for music videos for Bella Blue?

Yes. I’m going to make, or co-make, a stunning video for the song Far Away. I’d love to make an animated video for They Will Talk About Us, and perhaps a video for a few other songs, but…these things cost money.

Any plans for a tour once the album is released?

Yes. I’m going to tour in an unconventional way, but I’m still working out the details.

What musicians have you been listening to lately? Name some of your favorites.

I can’t say I listen to a lot of current stuff.

Once in a while something catches me, but not often. I love Fiona Apple, so she’s never too far away. I love Leonard Cohen, Cat Stevens, Jon Brion. My newest discovery is John Tavener’s Eternity’s Sunrise.

It is sublime. Actually, I recently had a fan reach out to me and send me his music

(not yet released). A kid named Jean-Paul Oliver Palin. His project is named Friends of Winter. I think it’s really good. Produced by a guy named Chris James Ryan. I would definitely check that out when it becomes available.

As an independent artist, you are an antipiracy advocate. Can you tell us about your stance on this important issue?

The issue is multi-dimensional, and I could write a book about it (which is what I’m doing), so let me just say this.

Since the advent of the internet, most (not all, but most) people have been using it, in so far as their treatment of artists, almost entirely in their self-interest. They steal most — if not all — of their music, movies, tv shows, photos and books and rebrand it as “sharing”. They will tell the artist they love them. They will Like, Follow, and Subscribe to them, but they won’t like, follow, or subscribe to their request to buy their work. They will drink pint after pint at a bar watching a free show — put nothing into a tip jar — then tell the artist that they wish they could buy their album, but they don’t have any money.

If people were to buy music today en masse — through an artist friendly service like Bandcamp or iTunes — almost all of their money would go directly to the artist (and the portion that doesn’t is well deserved by the service). This would eliminate all middle men who compromise the vision of the artist — or give the artist the choice of which essential middle-men to use (thereby weeding out the unethical). Music would become a viable career, which would see music education core curriculum in schools, and this — educating children, through first hand experience, of the value of beauty — would changed the world.

Most are looking for the next technological breakthrough to set themselves and humanity free. "If we can only find that revolutionary technology, we can be free", they say.

We've had technology around for decades that can liberate humanity. But our collective level of moral development does not match our collective level of technological development. We are greatly overexpressed technologically. It's moral development we need.

Right now most of our space-aged technology is being used as an extension

of stone-aged morality. When the depth of the I, our moral self, expands to match the depth of the It, our technological self, only then will we experience freedom evermore.

How do you feel about streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify?

At the end of the day, I think streaming is a distant second to people paying the artist directly for their work. I think the ideal model (of the models I know of) is a model like Bandcamp or iTunes, however Apple needs to offer audio with much higher resolution, and grant artists direct contact to fans (a mailing list sign-up for fans within their platform is a good idea).

I’m presently on a few streaming services, but I’m in the process of educating myself on the matter and giving it a serious review.

Streaming has been forced upon the artist by the average fan as a better-than-nothing alternative to torrenting, and through various policies of YouTube and other tech giants that make it almost impossible not to participate. This is essentially the heart of my argument against most new models — they are born of abuse, not compassion.

If streaming were to work, I think it would need to be to be subscription-based only. I don’t think music — or any art form — should be used as a soundtrack for advertising messages that aren’t in sync with the artist’s vision. As the ad arena is dominated by corporate giants, I feel that the average depth of consciousness of an ad is much shallower than the average depth of consciousness of a song (some more than others). Therefore, most music is serving as a trojan horse through which to sneak these shallow messages past the listener’s mind defences, by entering through the heart.

I also feel that the money paid to artists per stream needs to be much higher for it to be viable. My music was played 65,000 times on Apple Music last month and I received $89.

Outside of creating music, do you have any favorite hobbies or pastimes?

Nature.

Tell me something you cannot live without.

Freedom.

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