I am A Severe Joy because...I am A Severe Joy. It is an anagram of my real identity. Coincidentally, I think it describes my music fairly well. I aim to create songs that are emotionally based in experience but enjoyable enough to experience repeatedly. I am mindful that I am a lucky, lucky guy who has survived some pretty challenging experiences; mainly, the loss of loved ones, friends, and people who have inspired me. If anything, I’ve become more respectful towards life as a result of witnessing how fragile it is. I’m not just documenting my interpretation of things, ideas, and experiences in the world; I’m also trying to inspire my listeners to feel good about being alive.
I believe that music can be...as inclusive or exclusive as you want it to be. Just because it is art, doesn’t mean it has to be for everyone. The best I can do is to give it my all, and take my chances. I can’t really expect all my listeners to understand what I’m creating or why I’ve chosen to wear a mask and present myself in an exaggerated fashion. I want my music to be inclusive, to be something that many different people can relate to, but the fact of the matter is, I’ve created it in a very exclusive setting. I was hush-hush about this project while I was recording it. In the end, even though I embarked on this project for reasons of personal growth and exploration, I discovered that I did indeed have an audience in mind, and I needed to be as disarmingly honest as possible at every level. If something so exclusive can become something inclusive and sympathetic then I think it demonstrates the true spectrum of this artistic medium.
Music is not…just an art, it is a necessity. It’s one of the few cultural experiences that have existed throughout history. Music has been around since the dawn of humanity and for local, state, and federal government officials to think it shouldn’t be an essential part of the general curriculum in our schools, saddens me. I have a day job that helps me support myself so I can work on my music. I work for a public school system. I see the effects of budget cuts and it makes me angry to think that people don’t understand the real value of well-rounded and well-funded public education. It’s my opinion that to focus on violence and domination is rather wretched, when really, we could achieve much, much more as a civilization if we just focused on the arts and sciences, education and exploration. We have so much left to discover about ourselves, but we’re polluting our focus with destructive endeavors. And as you can tell, I have a strong opinion about some much larger issues. Maybe, over time, I can address more of them in my music; maybe do something useful to present a more positive point of view or introduce some new ideas into the larger debate?
If I accomplish one thing in my life it will be...to make this world a noticeably more pleasant one.
The music I'm making now is different than what I used to make...because of my approach and my choice of instrumentation, along with the fact that I’m not really collaborating with many musicians to the same degree as I did with Spouse. I have a new direction and it’s an awfully personal and critical one. If I have a vision for a song, I want to follow it through from start to finish without having to compromise or alter my focus to accommodate others’ impressions of the general direction in which a song should veer. That’s the biggest difference, and it comes from having spent almost two decades working in the opposite fashion, merely generating the backbone of a song that would then become reinterpreted many times over. I enjoyed that process a great deal, but it made me a little lazy and I am finally ready to work on this other approach to see what my unique potential can yield.
The most interesting thing I've ever done was…cross into a parallel universe. The idea of parallel universes is somewhat abstract, but their existence, to me, is evident. I know it may sound like I’m crazy, and who knows? It could just be a trick of the mind, but I swear I’ve witnessed a few very subtle discrepancies between this version of the universe in which you are interviewing me and the version in which I had an initial life-altering dream about who I might become. It was a transformative experience for me. Whether it was merely the inspiration for reinvention or the subconscious manifestation of escapism, I’m not sure. However, I enjoy the fact that every time we make a different choice, we diverge into a new reality. It doesn’t have to be a giant Hollywood blockbuster experience; it can be the most subtle and vaguely self-aware transition. And dare I say, I think it’s more scientifically plausible than the existence of God.
Oh yeah, let me just add…I’m currently finalizing the mixes for my album. There is a preview of it available on soundcloud.com (http://soundcloud.com/aseverejoy). It’ll be released soon, but I’m not ready to announce the details. I’m anxious to begin touring more extensively with it, and I’m inspired to start working on a follow-up later this year or during the winter. Finally, on September 10th, I’ll be opening for the What Cheer Brigade at Space Gallery. It’ll be a really fun show. More information about it is available here: http://space538.org/event_details.php?id=925