INTERVIEW mit CLAY RUBY

(BURIAL HEX, HORRID RED, WORMSBLOOD)

Kategorie: Spezial
Wörter: 3640
Erstellt: 31.03.2013
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In several interviews, you said that you intend to dissolve BURIAL HEX soon. Since then you have obviously released new material. Have you changed your mind about dissolving BURIAL HEX or do you feel the need to complete additional projects before finally giving it a rest? Would you mind explaining which aspects of the project cannot be continued and why?

The project is nearly finished. No plans have changed or deadlines extended. The idea was that the project would be over as soon as I finished the “Final Mysteries” 3LP/2CD. At this very moment, I have completed over half of “Final Mysteries,” and I estimate that it will be finished by this summer. Between now and then, you will see a 7” called “Fantasie” on REUE UM REUE, a full length LP called “The Hierophant” on HANDMADE BIRDS, and two more c60 installments of the “Eschatology: Nightfall” series on BRAVE MYSTERIES... all music for which has been finished and sent to their respective labels for release. Now I only have to put the finishing touches on Final Mysteries and then the Burial Hex composition cycle is finished.
The aspects of the project which cannot be continued are the writing and record processes. BURIAL HEX is more like a collection or a cycle of work; I have no intentions to write more BURIAL HEX music once the cycle is complete. The entire project was conceived of as a finite work with a specific beginning: “Burial Hex” LP, middle: “Initiations” 2xLP, and ending: “Final Mysteries” 3xLP.

In an interview with HEATHEN HARVEST you say that initially as a kid you learned playing the piano and later synthesizers, but for some time, were more into punk and metal. The last few years there was kind of a reversed development. More and more people seem to get a bit tired of their scenes and start experimenting more. I'm thinking of people who rather have a hardcore background getting more into doom and black metal for instance. But also black metal bands experimenting with industrial or dark ambient. Do you think extreme / experimental forms of music will benefit from this development or do you see the danger of genuine expression being watered down?

The danger of “genuine expression being watered down” lies directly in forcing the art to remain true to any of these scenes. It seems to me that dedication to subjective social structures like “metal”, “punk”, “industrial”, “extreme”, “experimental” is purely for social reasons and does not actually benefit the development of any art or culture that may have once been at the root of such scenes. These scenes and genres are not "genuine expression" themselves, they are markets and their adherents are consumers who have chosen their flavor. This life is much more interesting than whatever scene bias filter you may think you prefer to view it through. We are all alone out there, inventing our own reality every moment of our lives, but that can be scary, and most people would rather feel that there is some precedent or communal explanation for their thoughts and interests.


In said interview, you also mentioned being involved in occult activities. You mentioned being influenced by esoteric Christianity and having an interest in the Golden Dawn and Hermeticism. Would you consider your interest more personal / spiritual or rather academic?

The symbolism that I employ is a direct reflection of my spiritual experiences and research. My research is not academic at all, but personal, emotional, intuitive and private. The only way to elaborate on my spiritual experience in conversation is to list some of my influences or to tell more about my personal journey, but that still does not do much to describe how my mind and soul have processed and synthesized these influences into an everyday spiritual reality. In fact, my art projects, especially BURIAL HEX, are the closest thing to a depiction of my spiritual environment that I can offer the public.

Apparently, the use of occult symbolism is en vogue. Do you think that people who use that kind of symbolism are really into it or do you think that a lot of it has to do with shock value?

As for the overall increase in occult imagery in music and pop culture at the moment, I have mostly given up trying to understand or sympathize with the motivations behind other artists’ exploration of these themes in their art. The gods, the occult and the forces which its symbols represent are going to manifest themselves in this world however they need to, like a flower growing out of a crack in the concrete; we do not know how or when these seeds will take root. Some artists have certainly made superficial, careless and even dangerous usages of occult symbols in pop culture, however who is to say exactly what effect those symbols have as they are seen and processed by each individual who may be exposed to it? In an attempt to remain optimistic about this topic, I will maintain that this increase of interest in the outside appearance of occult and spiritual concepts is the result of an increasingly cynical and nihilistic culture's desire for meaning, even if that desire does not compel the masses to explore much beyond Google image search, it may still be a push in the right direction.

In order to get BURIAL HEX the listener has to dig deeper and look up certain references. Is your intention to get people to educate themselves on the topic or do you merely follow your interests in your art without caring too much about the listeners' perception?

You will pick up on what you need to. I have no specific level at which I want my audience to meet me half-way. I do not intend for my listeners to hear or see something and then perceive it the same way I do. My usage, of these symbols and sounds, has been helpful to me in conjuring certain results from my own life. They may be useful to you as well.

Although your older material certainly has been structured as far as I perceive it, this seems to be even truer for your more recent releases. Compared to older very intense pieces you have been producing songs that may seem less violent but equally if not more disturbing. Is that a conscious development or a result of experimenting?

Perhaps it seems like a drastic change from the perspective of the earlier recordings. The eruptions of melodic and rhythmic musical content, and how it clashes with and breaks through the layers of abstract and violent sound, is very important to the sound of the BURIAL HEX cycle. From the "Burial Hex" self-titled LP you will find beats and vocals, and there are songs and musical instruments revealing themselves through the electronics on many releases since. It also feels like there are still many violent and abstract sounds on most every BURIAL HEX album to date, no matter how musical. The balancing act, though I do not always perceive these forces to be opposing each other within a composition, changes from one piece to the next, or even multiple times within one piece.
Karen Eliot, the co-producer of our beloved mystery school HINTERGEDANKEN, suggested a similar approach to creating our album. We imagined this primordial ooze in between the songs, as if the songs are appearing from the depths of a musical abyss and then falling back away into it. It deeply impacted me to work this way, and this type of contextualization directly inspired the Burial Hex cycle.

You seem to differentiate between main release and other releases. What exactly is the intention of releasing your "secondary work" between the main albums? I mean besides experimenting. Why release those experiments?

I do not see these works as “secondary”, perhaps “supplemental” would be a better word. The “primary” works are there to provide guideposts for the arch of the overall composition cycle, but each release, no matter how seemingly secondary, is designed to stand as a work of art on its own. The limited edition releases that come out in between the major albums are made for myself and my most intimate listeners to enjoy. Often they are to expose or celebrate a particular detail from a greater work, or they are to indulge in some aspect or new development of the overall body of work, any of which might be distracting to have on a proper album, but are highly entertaining on a supplemental cassette or CD-R.

How do your collaborations fit into this scheme? And how do you decide if you want to collaborate with another artist?

All collaborations came from personal relationships, or following muses, or happy coincidences.

On that note, how did the collaboration with ZOLA JESUS come into being?

I have known her since she was 19 years old, saw all of her first concerts and shared many stages together with her, in the early days. It has been amazing to see her progression from the very first shows she ever played to tiny crowds in the underground warehouses, coops, and music clubs of Madison; because the last time I saw her live, she was rocking a crowd of 1,000's at an outdoor theater in Milan. In both environments, she is awesome. We keep in contact; to this day I count her as a dear friend.

Looking up TEENAGE PANZERKORPS (TPK) and HORRID RED, I incidentally saw that you are listed as a member of the latter. Are you an active member or was this a one-time-collaboration? How do you manage to work on songs or play shows with band members living so far apart? As far as I know, one member of TPK lives in Berlin and one lives in California, which isn't very close to Wisconsin either.

TPK is spread out between LA, San Francisco, Berlin and Aachen. They mainly reserve working together for when they have the rare opportunity to get together in person. One such occasion was at the EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN rehearsal space in Berlin, back in 2009. I met the rest of the TPK gang there, with plans for me to join them on keyboards and electronics, but last minute arrangements forced me to leave Berlin before the session started. Shortly after this, Edmund Xavier started HORRID RED as an opportunity to work with Bunker Wolf on more pop oriented material. I am a full time member of Horrid Red, but this happened through an organic evolution over time. Xavier asked me to contribute sounds for the first Horrid Red 12”, “Empty Lungs,” but when I got around to sending my contribution, his enthusiasm had already driven him to finish that record and start work on something new. I continued to create keyboard parts and sound design elements for various HORRID RED tracks, over the course of the next few singles and EPs. When the time came to create a full length LP and start planning a tour, Xavier involved me much more directly in the writing and arranging process. By the time we made “Nightly Wreaths”, I was writing skeletons of entire songs, and traveled to Aachen to record all of Bunker Wolf’s vocals in person. In the studio we are basically just a trio, with occasional augmentation from friends, but live were more like a full six-piece space punk band.

You also run the label BRAVE MYSTERIES. Do you have similar criteria when it comes to releasing an artist’s album and collaborating with another artist?

Often it is in the same ways, just natural life path working. There are some artists I do make a point to seek out simply because of a passion for their music. Plus we do get many demos and some of them have resulted in beautiful releases.  Of course there are many more considerations when it comes to what we can afford to release as a micro-business, but there is really no set of rules or criteria. We often say whether we think a piece of music is "brave" or not, but we have never bothered to put what that means into certain terms.

What made you contribute to the “Bach eingeschaltet” series on TREUE UM TREUE REUE UM REUE?

They are beautiful people with a super cool record label. They asked me to contribute, and I was compelled by my love for BACH. I am a bit of a fanatic of his organ works in general, and an utter fool for his music as manipulated by GLENN GOULD. I have visited his church and museum in Leipzig, seen many pieces of BACH performed live and own an extensive collection of his music on vinyl and CD. There was also a period of two months where I would only listen to BACH first before any other music, every single day. It really has an amazing effect on how you hear all other music, once your ears and mind have been tuned by JS BACH.

Are there plans for any main projects after BURIAL HEX? Do you already know in which direction your next projects will lead you?

I thought maybe there would be a simplification or definitive singular development in my artistic life after BURIAL HEX, but it seems that my muse is only working to further splinter my time into so many fragments. Expect to hear much more from my label Brave Mysteries, as well as my involvement with HORRID RED, ROSE CROIX, FERAL LOVE, WORMSBLOOD, THE FAR, WEDDING, SECOND FAMILY BAND, FINAL FRONT, and many more projects, collaborations and actions happening both anonymously and otherwise…