5 Q&A With Clash Valian
What was the initial spark or idea that led to the creation of 'Degrees of Freedom?'
Greg: I was trying to think through novel ideas that were of interest and loved the multiple entendre nature of what ‘Degrees of Freedom’ meant for me personally. I used to teach statistics and would always get the question why there are a certain number of degrees of freedom for a given statistical test which forced me to read and research a lot about the concept. It's super bizarre that for a standard statistical estimate you'd use n-1 for degrees of freedom rather than n, yet when you statistically evaluate the accuracy of that estimate with those two methods it is systematically often more accurate. So this meta way of describing why you'd use a certain # of degrees of freedom with statistical logic always just kind of stuck with me. On the other side, really have loved an eclectic amount of music over the years that's influenced me and wanted to come up with a way of describing the multitude of that which I think lexically "Degrees of Freedom" captures the idea of a lot of different ways you can adjust the course of creativity.
The spark though of what made the music was I converted my garage into a sound proof studio. My daughters sleep on the opposite side of this wall that I completely ripped out / gutted and replaced with a resonant chamber, alternating stud frames, rockwool insulation, mass layer vinyl, and green glue smothered in layered gypsum. It reduces about 100 decibels. I can wail on the drums as loud as possible and they sleep straight through it. And after a year and a half of recording 200+ project ideas whiddled them all down to this album! There's a lot that I recorded that I don't think fit with the mood or essence of these songs that'll come out on other LP/EPs in the future :-)
Were there any memorable or standout moments during the recording sessions for this album?
Greg: Hahaha. Yes. Definitely. I was trying to create a "metal forging" blacksmith kind of sound for Brokkr and initially just took a sword out in the garage and thwacked it with a hammer lol. Didn't really produce the actual sound that I was going for and remembered watching Berberian Sound Studio where they create all these crazy noises with completely different things than you'd expect, i.e. bashing watermelons for machete murder noise. So talked it through with Tom what might make that kind of metal forging noise and he suggested going and getting a brake drum, like one that sits in the wheel of your car and decelerates its spin. So I went to the autoshop and asked for a couple brake drums. The guy seemed really confused. When he asked what car it was for I said it didn't matter but wanted it to be cheap. After he fetched a few I then proceeded to pull each one out of its wrapping, hit it with a metal stick on various parts of the brake and place my ear super close to hear the resonance. Hahahaha. The face the guy made when I bought the one I liked was priceless. He just sort of stared emptily at me like I was a lunatic. I then took it back to the garage and smacked the living daylights out of it with a hammer. I am so happy with the way it sounds. It's soooo good.
I'd say other stand out moments were probably on the tracks that just kind of came out of me super organically. “Sirius” and “Knitting with Cat Hair” were mostly recorded in an afternoon. They just kinda flowed through me fluidly. I usually do this "mumble track" kind of thing for vocals where I just sorta speak jibberish, whatever first comes to mind to find a melody and the one for Knitting with Cat Hair was almost good enough to just keep haha. There were a couple lines that didn't make too much sense, but I actually just tried to almost exactly replicate the mumble track I laid down. Tom and I share tracks over a shared google drive where we can both work in the same reaper project file and he texted me the next day after I recorded it and said "another chunk track pls" haha. So I think I just layered the same guitar track with more dirty, overdriven guitar but the core of that recording stayed the same other than a vocal redo.
Anytime I nail a high vocal part is just personally stand out for me because of the crazy adrenaline and endorphins that just shoot up and fire off in my brain. I love wailing. The end of “Endocannabinoids,” Chorus of “Knitting,” chorus of “Terry”, pretty much all of Brokkr lol... those songs feel fucking great to play. Also weirdly “Wasted Days” stands out a bit for me vocally. I recorded it super different than I usually do. Sang falsetto super quiet ino a microphone and then just cranked up the gain a ton. That's a trick I learned from Jay Som and Caribou. Sounds super intimate and close. Really cool texture.
Lastly realizing that the RE20 has this really great magical attenuation that works super well on my voice.
Which song(s) from the album do you think best represents your artistic vision?
Greg: “Giving In.” jk! Hard question because I feel like they all do! That's why it's an album! And spent a lot of time thinking through the emotional intent of each song and how to transition between them. The transitions were fun to record and that was a fun process! But if I had to pick I'd say the ones that pop through as more visionary-like for me they're: “Sirius,” “Brokkr,” and “Warplane.”
How do you stay inspired and motivated to continue pushing boundaries in your art?
Greg: Staying inspired? I Run 3 times a week. I never used to do that but just sorta picked it up in the past two years and it’s given me a lot of great energy. I listen to rendered recent versions of songs while I go on runs. I also intentionally listen to music on good speakers with no other activities.
Staying motivated to push boundaries? I don't think I need motivation here! I have always been passionate about experimenting, messing with different noises. I think the passion just motivates me entirely and I have never had a problem twiddling knobs, learning a new instrument, making something sound distorted, or like in a trash can... I once tried recording drums with an SM57 pointed at a guitar amp on the other side of the room and it actually sounded kind of dope! I think it'll show up on a future release ;-).
Do you have any memorable on-stage moments or performances that stand out to you?
Greg: Honestly? The current live line-up hasn't been performed yet! Our first show in this formation is coming up on April 7th at the Tractor Tavern in Seattle. In a former band Pokemon Dad we played in this abandoned pagoda where people crowd surfed and moshed and danced like crazy. Or there was another time we played in a graffiti ridden tunnel. So, yeah! Fun times! Looking forward to playing live more. I think the set we have has a good explosive energy to it. Should be some fun shows.