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!!:
Arma: Please introduce yourself, your activities and anything you want to say for the beginning.
Ian: My name is Ian Holloway and I make music both under my own name and as Psychic Space invasion. I have also made music as a third of Jebus, a half of Itto and a half of Swn. People describe my music as 'drone', 'experimental', 'static-minimalism', 'isolationist', 'ambient'. I prefer to think of it as 'quiet'. Most of my music gets released through my label Quiet World. Until recently it was called ECR (or Elvis Coffee Records) but that was a joke that had worn thin long ago. The other thing that occupies big chunks of my time is my zine Wonderful Wooden Reasons which you can find at its .co.uk or at its myspace site.
??: What do you like/dislike in the interviews (reading/answering them)
Ian: I like a fusion of cold hard facts and flights of fancy. I want the truth, the half truths and nothing like the truth.
I like interviews, its fun and interesting to get a little glimpse behind the scenes so to speak but I'm equally happy not knowing. I tend to read a spate of interviews all at once. Whenever I get a zine through the post I like to scan through and earmark what looks interesting and then sit and read the album reviews first. Or the funnies. If there're comic strips I'm there first. People should send me more comics to review. I'm reading Gilbert Hernandez's Palomar at the moment. It's his collected Heartbreak Soup stories from Love & Rockets and it's hugely recommended.
Interviews get piled up and then I'll binge on them and find out what people are thinking. I'm not a big fan of hanging 'concepts' onto sounds. So I tend to tune out any romanticising or bluster. I like it when there's an obvious joy there. A joy in making something new. It's good fun making music and I think people should show it more instead of being all cool.
??: Psychic Space Invasion – please describe this word combination. What does it mean for you personally? How did you choose it and what are the connections of your music with it?
Ian: Early on I realised one really simple thing that I wanted to happen when listening to my music. I wanted people to lose the boundaries between the sounds on the record and the sounds in the real world. I've no particular interest in making field recordings but I wanted something that would augment and be augmented by a space. I decided on this one afternoon listening to an early edit of the 'This Quiet World' album and thinking how well the police car siren worked before realising that I hadn't put a police car siren in the mix.
This was before I had thought of a name to hide behind. It came about through a conversation with my partner. She was explaining a shamanic concept called 'spirit intrusion' which I interpreted as being a sort of 'psychic space invasion' at which point the cartoon light bulb above my head went 'PING!'
As names go it's a little cheesy but I kind of like that about it. Band names are generally a pretty odd thing so I like mine to be fairly frivolous. Only in music does a creator get to regularly hide their name behind a disguise. Every other field, art, film, literature (with some exceptions) the author of the work stands there and says this is mine. In music we have this handy little opt out clause to hide behind. It means we can third person the musician and so any flack is deflected. My next couple of releases (a collaboration with Darren Tate of Monos and Ora & a new solo album) will be under my given name. That isn't to say I'm ditching my safety blanket. I just fancy doing something different. Changing the goal posts a little.
??: Your drones are perfect for meditation. Do you practice it yourself? Over all what do you want to achieve with your music?
Ian: I'm glad you think so. I don't meditate. Never tried. I'm an avid reader. I go to the corner shop with a book in my pocket, I go to work with a book in my pocket, I walk in the country with a book in my pocket. Every spare moment of the day I'm reading something or other. I find it hugely relaxing. It allows me to break off and stop for a few moments which I always imagined to be the point of meditation. I think my music is good to read to so I can see that it would be good to meditate with.
As to what I want to achieve with the music? I want to make someone's day. I want for my music to be the catalyst that leads to someone spending the day smiling. That would be my ambition.
??: I’ve read somewhere such opinion: “drones make you weak…(physically, emotionally?) “- of course that’s a personal experience, but can we discuss it? Can we deny it? What do you think? What does drone give for you and what does harsh noise give for you?
Ian: I've not heard that sentiment expressed before. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. How can they do this exactly. Is it like Samson's hair? "Quick he's got an Andrew Chalk album on let's kick his arse!"
Drone is a beautiful (and really old) musical form. It's a pure expression of the joy of sound. Sure it's transformative, that's why it's been used in so much ritual music. But all art is transformative in the right eyes, ears, hands or minds. I can lose hours staring at a beautiful image or days reading a good book. Is it weak to be taken away by something beautiful? Meaningless terms like 'weak' are bandied around by people who value, equally meaningless, concepts like 'power' or 'strength'. It's just bullshit macho posturing.
As to what do drone and harsh noise give me. At the risk of sounding really pretentious, they give me space. A soundspace to live inside. There is always music on in the house so I like sounds that are as much a part of the space as the walls, carpets, chairs, plants, etc. To my ears music tends to become a little too cluttered when melodies, lyrics and beats are added. I've nothing against these things but generally I prefer music with a little more room.
Lately I've not being listening much to the harsher stuff. For no other reason than I don't get sent very much. My preference is for the mellower end of things but a good raucous cacophony is always welcome.
??: What kind of organic, nature drones do you like most and why?
Ian: Oh man there're all sorts. I live on the edge of a coastal national park (The Gower Peninsula) so sea, beach, woods, mountains, rivers, whatever are all within easy reach. I don't really go looking for sounds - I'm not that organised - I like to happen across new sounds. I do have a tendency to walk around tapping and knocking things to see what kind of sound they make. There are certain sounds / noises that I love and keep returning to. I love the sound of two stones rubbing against each other. The grittiness of the sound is something I find hugely relaxing. I adore bird song, the more the better. My absolute favourite though is running water. Just on musical terms it is such a pliable sound. You can bend, shape and distort it in so many ways.
??: Everything is created? (taking music for example.)
Ian: I think it would be more correct to say everything is defined. Do birds see their whistles and twittering as 'song' or is it song because we define it as such. I know plenty of people who would deny Merzbow the definition musician, I'm not one of them. Is a field recording music or does music have to be inherently melodic or rhythmic or structured or...
Sure everything is created. Soil is created from disintegrated trees, rocks and animals but that doesn't devalue it from being soil. Music can be created from strings, horns, bells, computers, hedges, plastic bags, seashells, sneezes, whatever without being devalued from being music.
??: Do you play live?
Ian: The short answer is no. The better answer is no, not yet. I enjoy playing live having played in punk and psychedelic bands for years but PSI isn't ready to go live yet. If I was to do it live I'd want to be able to make a bit of an event of it and include other elements such as film or movement. I'm working on it.
??: What do you like hear / see playing live?
Ian: I don't get to see many bands. We get very little experimental or off-beat music in South Wales and I'm too lazy to travel far. I've only been to see two bands lately, Lightning Bolt and Faust.
Faust were amazing. Anyone who's read my zine will know I'm not even remotely rational when it comes to these guys. The finest band to ever walk the planet. Gods amongst men. Giants in a universe of minnows. I could go on (and often do) but I won't.
??: What were your first musical influences and temporal? And what are your influences beyond music?
Ian: If you mean who made me want to play music then I'd have to say it was Slayer. When I was a kid they were my everything. From there I got into Hardcore (the lyrics were just so much better) which is where my tastes were thrown to the wind. I worked in a comic shop through the late 80's and early 90's and there was always lots of different music around. I was mainly into American bands like Nomeansno, Butthole Surfers, Husker Du, Sonic Youth, Fugazi and British bands like Napalm Death, Extreme Noise Terror, Crass. But others were into things like psychedelia, krautrock, jazz and industrial so I got introduced to loads of cool music from lots of different genres.
I'm still very eclectic in my tastes. I love to hear new things. My heart is in the freaky shit but I'm not averse to a good tune.
None of these are what I'd particularly call influences though. The bands I get compared to now - like NWW, or Monos or Coil - aren't influences as such either. I was making my music before I heard many of them and went and listened (and loved) on reviewers recommendations.
However, If I had to pick one album that made me stop and think 'That's what I want to sound like!' then it would be 'Museum of Fruit' by David Toop. It's an absolutely stunning album. So elegant. So graceful. Everyone should hear this album.
Outside of music I'm currently obsessing on Byzantine art. I also have a love of expressionist artists like Otto Meuller and abstract expressionists like Paul Rotterdam.
??: Wales associates me with mystical phenomena (thanks to OKOK Society). Can you reason this suspicion?
Ian: I think this depends on the area of Wales that you live in. The North and West of the country are pretty rural whereas the South, where I am, is heavily industrialised and populated. We have our share of folktales and myth but it's not something that impacts greatly on my day to day existence.
I have no overt beliefs in mystical phenomena, I'm pretty pragmatic if truth be told, but I'm not so arrogant as to think that my way of seeing things is the absolute.
??: You had / have some shamanic experiences or similar. Am I right?
Ian: My partner is a practicing shaman and she often describes things in that context. What I see as coincidence she sees as synchronicity. I often use twisted logic and vaguely shamanistic concepts in my titles simply because I like the way they sound and they suit the music. The way people interpret these after they've left my hands is a source of constant joy and amazement to me.
??: Nothing is true – everything is permitted. – Is it familiar to you?
Ian: It is familiar. I know it from two, very different, sources. Hassan I Sabbah and the ever popular William Burroughs. According to some stuff I've read the chances of Sabbah having actually uttered it (on his death bed) are pretty slim. There is a good article on the history of this phrase at the Disinformation site.
The more familiar and relevant (to me at least) is it's use by Burroughs. I first read him as a teenager and I'm still reading him today (The title of one of my albums is stolen from the title of a Burroughs collage). I think it's a shame that he has become primarily linked to the one novel in particular as some of his others are far more interesting - Ghost of Chance being my personal favourite. Burroughs was a door for me to discover a host of writers musicians and artists - Brion Gysin, Allen Ginsberg, Throbbing Gristle, The Hafler Trio.
??: Do you know that you know nothing? ;) How do you feel about this?
Ian: Gutted! All that learning, all that reading, all that thinking...wasted.
It's a very dismal sentiment isn't it. Do I agree with it? Probably not. I know me. Or at least I think I do. My head hurts!
??:You run a label, musical projects and a zine. How do you cope with everything? Not talking about all those social duties that take the biggest part of time and energy.
Ian: Yeah, I'm generally pretty busy. I also work in a college which is the job that pays the bills. As to
how do I cope. I work on one thing until I get bored at which point I switch to something else. The zine takes the biggest amount of time as I get sent about 5 albums a week and I like to give each at least a couple of listens before writing something. Also I try to post my review within a month of getting the album so people are in with a chance of getting copies.
The label is generally the most work. It gets pretty busy whenever there's a new release. Quiet World is essentially self sufficient as I recently bought all the equipment I need to make my own discs. The only exception is duplicating the sleeves but Steve from Analgeek does that for me. But after I've written the press release and done all the cutting and sticking and sent out the promo copies it's a matter of waiting for people to ask for it.
The music never feels like work. I generally make music through the night. I lose hours once the headphones go on.
??: How does your label work? The production, choosing projects. The concept. The vision.
Ian: It's pretty simple really. If I like it I'll release it. I simply can't afford to release much so what I do release is the stuff I really like. Every now and again I release a compilation album featuring other bands that I dig.
This year will hopefully be a busy one for me. I've recently released a new Psychic Space Invasion album (Pendulum) and as I mentioned earlier the albums with Darren Tate (The Moon as a Hole - to be released on the Fungal label) and my new solo one (Walking Through Fireflies) will be out in May also pretty soon (I don't know the exact date) there will be an exclusive PSI track (Purple Star...Hanging) featured on one of the 'Calling all Reactive Agents' compilations from Anima Mal Nata. The summer will see a few new releases on Quiet World that aren't finalised yet by both me and others.
As for the concept and the vision behind the label. Good music only.
PSYCHIC SPACE INVASION:
http://www.quietworld.co.uk/
