HAMID SAMI w/ TELECRAZE

What are you working on right now and why are you excited about it?   I am working on Telecraze LP. i want to release it in late 2017 or early 2018 and, it is going to be the first time i release an LP officially. I am working on film music and instrumentals as well, mostly focused on my works with my friend Jon Meyer, a film director in Portland I have been friend with since 2009.he did this doc called “thanks for checking in” featuring one of my instrumentals, which is now mostly set for awards and festivals before being released.

Did you grow up with music in your family?  No, I grew up listening to music secretly, carrying my cassettes whenever I went out and listening to them before sleep. I received copies from friends. my cousin introduced me to a lot of music, Pink Floyd mostly notable, the Iranian 70’s era had some good music, and some of the more contemporary musicians did some good songs, but I think the darkness of the world kept me more towards western music. I grew up in nature, and then in 8 I had to relocate to town, right in the capital, and it was so rugged, so rough, I started to realize why did some of the songs I listened to when I was 4 were so dark, later I found out those songs were Kraftwerk.

What was your first public performance?  It was in 2008, in Tehran Art university, we had a band called Font and the students had this ceremony to introduce contemporary music to the students of the university.it was ok.

How do songs come about for you and Telecraze?   Uh, sometimes I am playing an instrument, and then it resonates with a part of me, I just happen to let words come out and little by little they paint a picture of what this is pulling the strings on  ….in Telecraze, I worked with the members on my finished songs or just an intro I didn’t know what we were doing, it was mostly to let it work for everyone, we did one song we all worked on from beginning to the end, drummer was a bit hardcore so which ever direction we would take things would come out a bit aggressive.one time our bass player had a very bad experience in streets, he saw a man on a wheelchair came right in the middle of street and put himself on fire, and wouldn’t let anyone get close to him, Mehdy was traumatized, wanted to make a song about it, so I went working with our drummer and did it little by little. I made the vocals to the last part of the song in rehearsals. We called it Burning Alien, recorded it alongside 4 other songs to include in our EP, Knockout Mice. but the recording went bad , so when the finished work was in our hand it didn’t sound like what we wanted so it never came out. From all those songs I released only 4 of them on our SoundCloud.

How would you describe the new music / live scene for bands in Iran and how do you feel it’s different from what you know about the states?   The scene here is a pop, funk, rock and singer song writer on major scene, and noise, ambient, electronic on a very smaller scale. There is hip hop underground going on.

How do you feel about playing covers and what are your personal fail-safe go-to’s?   I don’t cover much. I did a Grizzly Bear cover with Telecraze for our live show, the song “Yet again”.i did  Radiohead’s Creep and NIN’s Hurt for myself. And just recently played Kesson Delef of Aphex Twin on the piano, I don’t feel like doing covers on live shows, I go on places when doing covers which I won’t go naturally.some times it’s easier for me to do a cover than my own songs, I do them better  I can’t go fail-safe. there is no life in it when it is not to help you reach your deep subconscious areas, and subconscious is very chaotic.it could change everything upon reaching, the feelings may not lay a place for all elements one deals with in their world.

Who are your favorite songwriters / bands?   Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Sigur os, Boards of Canada, Nine inch Nails, The Doors, Autechre, Aphex Twin, Nick Drake, Loscil, Damien Rice, Kendrick Lamar, Farhad Mehrad, Brian Eno & Harold Budd, Zbignew Preisner,

Your instrumental music was in a documentary which is now being set for awards and festivals, what’s it about?   It’s about a man Ian Stout.who started filming himself and uploading these clips every day ,as a remedy to help himself reach tranquility and peace,face his insecurities every day and talk his heat out as much,Jon Meyer the director been following him and decided to do a documentary on him using the videos on the anniversary of the beginning of these uploads..

You’re time machine is set for the 70’s, what concert do you go to?  The Doors, that is the kind of world I have never experienced.

Are you jazzed about any new artists or releases over there that we should know about?   There are a couple of ambient and electronic musicians i enjoyed  listening, Siavash Amini, Umchunga, Tegh, Idlefon, singer/songwriter Soheil Nafisi, Iranian traditional music Kamanche Master, Keyhan Kalhor.

 

SARAH FIMM

1.0 – What’s the best thing about BARN SESSIONS? 

Perhaps that it’s real, it’s live, and you can see a mouse suddenly appear behind John’s lovely head in the “Hiding”‘ video.  That’s just my personal opinion.

2.0 – Did you have a sound in mind when you starting recording it or did it evolve?

It was more of a feeling I wanted people to remember.  The entire landscape of music has gone through drastic changes.  I wanted to do a live experiment with talented people to see how the variables would change the result.  It evolved as things do, once my team of amazing artist friends helped it become what it is.  The sum of their talent and personality, combined with other elements, created the sound.

3.0 – Do you consider branding & image as part of the artistic process? 

When I found a wooden hard drive to go with the Barn Sessions package I was pretty pleased.  There is an overall aesthetic that is particular to each project.  I liked the wood because what people receive is the same material that shaped the acoustic environment where the music was created.   I am a creature who tries to be consistent.

4.0 – When did you start writing songs (originally) and what was your first?

This is a good question.  I would have to say if I really go back in time, I was writing in my head constantly, and piano melodies near my mother’s lap at 3 or 4 years old.  I remember listening to her voice when she would talk to people.  I remember thinking that her kindness created music in people.  I would play things that fit the scene of the room.  I would play to the moods of the people inhabiting the room.  I became aware of the power of simple observation, and began to understand how music was a doorway to change people’s emotional states.

5.0 – Do you have a philosophy when it comes to writing? 

Stop thinking so much. :)

6.0 – And what about the stage and playing live?

There’s nothing like it at its best and its worst.

7.0 – How did you catch the folk bug originally? 

I didn’t know I had it!  I came from rock. (Older brother-you know:)

8.0 – Did you have to work at it or does it come naturally, or both?

-I work all the time at all aspects of everything I do. My friends tell me I really need to get out quite often luckily.  Playing music, and trying to survive as a musician, are two different things.  They both take extraordinary amounts of discipline and work.

9.0 – What’s your favorite record of all-time? 

That’s the hardest question.  If I had to choose, Brian Eno and Harold Budd. It brings me to a state of absolute serenity.

10.0 – What was the first concert you attended and how did it impact your life? 

I think the first time I was truly impacted was either Tool, NIN, or Tori Amos.  It was all within the same week.  It really changed up the playing field.