INTERVIEW WITH ERIC EIGNER

On November 23rd, Mysterium – An Electric Soundpainting Septet – the third and latest configuration in percussionist Eric Eigner’s ongoing Mysterium Continuum performs at Roulette. It’s aim is to harness the vibrancy, creativity and spirit of improvised music into and through the compositional process, itself improvisational in performance, of Soundpainting. Soundpainting is the universal live composing sign language system created by New York composer Walter Thompson for musicians, dancers, actors, poets, and visual artists working in the medium of structured improvisation.

R: Tell us about the work you’ll be doing at Roulette.
ERIC EIGNER: Mysterium – An Electric Soundpainting Septet is the third and latest configuration in my ongoing Mysterium Continuum. It’s aim is to harness the vibrancy, creativity and spirit of improvised music into and through the compositional process, itself improvisational in performance, of Soundpainting, a universal live composing sign language.  The overall concept and sound of the band, where the band sonically goes and doesn’t is my vision.  This current configuration has very much turned into a collaboration between my chosen soundpainter, Evan Mazunik, and myself. We talk over possibilities of how to devise language to bring about the compositional results we are looking for.  In addition, I have the good fortune of having great players in my band.  Lorenzo Sanguedolce and Jeremy Danneman on reeds, Sam Kulik on trombone, though we are blessed to have Ryan Snow holding down that chair for our Roulette performance, Adam Caine on electric guitar, James Ilgenfritz on electric bass.  Everybody has a unique sound and personality they bring to the group.  This sound, united in real time, is Mysterium in its present configuration.

R: Are there working artists today with whose work you identify, or rather, who do you consider to be your peers?
EE: I feel myself to be working on a parallel line to any and all, known and unknown, who are continually fighting to create beneficial change in the world through the creation of art in any discipline.  As my aim as an artist is to continually build new and changing heartfelt work with inherent intrinsic value, here are but a few of many artists whose work I find accomplish this:  David Murray, John Zorn, Mark Ribot, Butch Morris, Kenny Wollesen, Milford Graves, Mark Feldman, Satoko Fujii, Tony Oxley, Jennifer Choi, J.T. Lewis, Walter Thompson, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Bill Frisell, Yoko Ono, Gerhard Richter, Anselm Kiefer, Andy Goldsworthy, Cai Guo-Qiang, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, Han Bennink, Terry Bozzio…

R: What are some defining characteristics of the musical scene you would fit yourself into? What elements of your scene differentiate it from what has come before, or what is happening now?
EE: I don’t really see a new musical scene to be quite honest.  I think the current scene for creative music in NY is really the continuation of the downtown scene from the ‘80’s, with some new, next generation members included into it.  Everybody else seems to be working more or less on different levels of isolation.  I really think the dominant factor in this scenario lies in the cost of living in the city, then versus now.   An apartment or loft that used to cost $350/month is now $2000/month.  The money adds up to time.  In order to meet those escalating costs, one has to hustle and work any number of odd jobs to piece together survival and the ability just to be here.  The time spent hustling is taking away from the craft of studying and playing music, and of establishing and building community and a new scene, consuming everybody’s energies in a multitude of irrelevant struggles. Coupled with this have been the ultra-conservative politics of the last 8 years in this country and the continual cutting of the funding for the arts.  This all trickles down into people’s psyches and actions, whether we are aware of it or not.

I arrived to New York in 1994, a twenty-year-old kid, eager to meet those artists that informed my aesthetic, those that gave me the courage to make drastic shifts in my life’s trajectory, and join with them and the movement at a time where creative music seemed to be expanding. The old Knitting Factory was still on Houston Street before it relocated to its then new 3 level home on Leonard Street.  Each floor was loaded daily with great creative music, audiences, and attitudes.  This was an exciting time, especially as a kid from the suburbs of Minnesota!  Well, we all saw the crowds dwindle, the venue change up its formatting as to not go under and the artists out of this special venue.  Enter Tonic, a necessary lifeline but with a fraction of the capacity of the Knit to house the output of the scene.  The same syndrome ensued there.  Tonic couldn’t keep up with the skyrocketing rents so they lost the space.  The building that housed Tonic has been empty ever since they closed the doors in April of 2007, taking with them some heads of the music community, off the stage and to jail.  There could still have been music in there every night of the week!  Instead, it is just empty, waiting idly to be torn down.  What a waste of limited space and potential.  Simply greed and vanity!  Now we have The Stone ­– a fantastic venue focused entirely on music and performance, yet once again reduced in capacity.  Here I must give ridiculous thanks to John Zorn, for amongst a plethora of other things, continually keeping a lifeline open for the creative musicians that choose to live and create in New York City.  Thankfully there are also other venues that support this music, such as here at Roulette.  As far as a new scene however, a new music, a new cultural, social and political happening…well, I’m not so sure that is what is happening currently.

Ornette said it best ­­– tomorrow is the question.  What are we artists going to do in order to unite and lift ourselves out of the frustrating situation we find ourselves in?  Some of us have been putting our heads together over this and are working to establish what we are calling the “Flying Fish Collective.”   Its aim, in short, is to build community and outreach.  It is a toddler right now, but it is something which will hopefully serve as a catalyst and focal point to keep people on the page and involved in dialogue and movement.

R: What was the last music you listened to?
EE: Pierre Bastien – “Pop”

He is a French musician, composer, and instrument builder born in Paris in ’53. Pop is music, composed for/performed by mechanical-based musical instruments he has built.  I enjoy playing this CD with others on top of it, string quartets, opera, Meredith Monk, or Steve Reich’s “Drumming” for example.  I often listen to multiple things at once, moving them around like a DJ. I often find perfectly beautiful unisons listening actively like this.  I find it really helps expand my ears and my psychology in searching for compositional ideas and musical possibilities.  I enjoy playing chess within this type of sound space as it provides a wonderful meditative environment.

R: Chocolate, Vanilla or Rocky Road?
EE: Homemade fruit smoothies as I have recently had the misfortune of acquiring intolerance for lactose.  I do miss the ice cream though…  Chocolate was my joint!

R: What is music?
EE: Music is one way of being timeless.  It is a way of exploring territories deep within ourselves, problem solving in a highly introspective manor.  It is a type of active meditation  that has the potential to bring about change for the individual and those in contact with his/her sounds, spreading out into collective society via the ripple effect.

RR: Do you consider yourself more a composer or a performer
EE: It depends upon the project and my roll in it.  Regardless of genre I always require room to improvise and move around in the arrangements and my approach to them, as I am an improviser and player at heart.  As improvising is composing in real time, composing and playing are inseparable for me.  This is especially true where the music as a whole is being collectively improvised, utilizing everyone’s compositional input.  This makes the most sense to me.

R: Who do you see as instrumental in your development as an artist?
EE: This is an extremely long list of amazing people!  To name them name-by-name would take quite some time!  What I will say is this, all these people informed me in a multitude of ways.  All of this, cumulatively, adds up to a portion of who I am and how I think and work, how I play and approach music.  John Zorn, Walter Thompson, Mark Ribot, Tony Oxley, Cecil Taylor, Metallica, Living Colour, Slayer, Anthrax, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Krzysztof Penderecki, György Ligeti, Elliott Carter, Carl Stalling, Treg Brown, Harry Partch, Butch Morris, David Murray, Henry Threadgill, Anthony Braxton, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, (the AACM in general), Parliament Funkadelic, Sly Stone, James Brown, Tower of Power, Jimi Hendrix, Nina Simone, Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk, Charles Mingus, Ronnie Scott, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Miles Davis, Prince, Bob Mould, Bad Brains, Fugazi, Frank Zappa, Sonny Sharrock, and Bill Laswell are some of the people or bands, off the top of the head, that have been instrumental in my development into music.

R: What is interesting to you about your own work?
EE: Mysterium is a vehicle for my conceptual ensemble work that I want documented.  Additionally, much of my work and aspirations lie on an axis parallel to, yet outside of, the Mysterium Project.  I am working on two solo recordings.  First is works for solo drumset, an area of prime interest to me, and secondly, compositions for tabletop percussion, toys, and electronics.  I am working to somehow bridge these two worlds and processes of working into one universe.  I enjoy working within different musical situations and genres of music.  I have a duet recording forthcoming from composer/guitarist Bruce Holmberg.  I am also midway through a recording with a rock project that I am playing with, the John Nickles Band.  I recently recorded with ZAHA who’s first recording is now available.  Also, I am on a forthcoming New York Soundpainting Ensemble release on Walter Thompson’s Dane Recoding Label where I am playing Tabletop percussion along with a concert bass drum…  I enjoy diversity and like to remain open to change in the work I do.

R: Do you do other things aside from music?
EE: Yes, I am a painter of some 15 years and occasionally exhibit in the city.  I have many ideas for rug design, stained glass, and large-scale earth paintings.  I also really enjoy shooting photos, dealing with the resulting images.  I am working on a book of my photography now.