Podcast 2021.07 Out To Lunch

I corresponded with Matt Wicks of Grinding Eyes
TMODM: Who are your main influences?
MW: Our musical influences are extremely wide and take reference from lots of different angles..
Everything from the 13th floor Elevators, The Seeds, Blue Cheer, NEU, Can, Hawkwind – Motörhead, Suicide, The Jesus and Mary chain, My Bloody Valentine, Swervedriver – all the way to, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Albert Ayler – and then back again to Black Sabbath and so ön…
TMODM: What’s next for you?
MW: We’ve got a national tour starting in just under a month in Australia, looking forward to get out and play some shows!!
See people we haven’t seen for quite awhile..
We’ve also started tracking and mapping out a new record, so shouldn’t be too long before we have another ready to roll around the corner…
TMODM: I’m curious about your sense of the future. Are we in some kind of downward spiral or do we have cause for optimism?
MW: I think this day and age, it’s easy to get weighed down by all the trappings of society, not to mention pandemics lockdowns and the overload into the crazy world at artificial intelligence – it’s a full 1984 come to life…..
Well, it’s depressing, but the thing that’s blowing my mind is that our phones already have the health data yeah, like the steps you take etc. Scientists are developing applications that track things like the way you walk, how you interact with the screen, speech detection and eye movements that will be able to diagnose things like depression, Alzheimer’s disease. It’s mad. Imagine if your phone started telling you you’re probably going to get dementia soon. You would put it down, go for a walk, and not want to pick it up again!
But robots are also creating their own songs in the “style” of other artists (They’re on Bandcamp) and they suck/ it’s just funny at this stage, so the good news is that musicians continue to be valid….

TMODM: Who are your main influences?
PL: My main influences are probably Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins), Tim Smith from Cardiacs (although my compositions could never be anything like as complex!) and bits of Krautrock (I’m particular fan of Can and Amon Duul II).
TMODM: What’s next for you?
PL: What’s next for me is that I’m working on a new album currently and, once restrictions are lifted, I’m hoping to get out and gig again with my band.
TMODM: I’m curious about your sense of the future. Are we in some kind of downward spiral or do we have cause for optimism?
PL: Insofar as the future, I think that, in terms of music, there will always be great innovators (people like Tim Smith for example), but, given the way music is marketed by big corporations it will be ever more difficult for innovative and independent niche music to be heard by the masses. However, this doesn’t effect me, I’m a 60 year old home recordist via a laptop and I have no expectations whatsoever; I’m just pleased that my stuff has been listened to by a few people and has had some radio play etc.

Holy Monitor is a psychedelic rock quintet whose sound incorporates elements of krautrock, space-rock and ambient music. The band’s reverb-soaked vocals crawl beneath waves of pulsating minimal rhythms, while fuzz driven guitars and proggy keys create a hypnotic sonic ambience. Holy Monitor deal exclusively in hypnotic ambience and utopian soundscapes.
Athens psych-rockers Holy Monitor have recently released their new album Southern Lights, (on February 26) via Blackspin Records/Primitive Music, an astonishing and affecting follow up to their 2020 critically acclaimed EP release, This Desert Land.
Thirty-nine minutes long, “Southern Lights” LP offers eight songs that are overflowing with celestial melodies, encircled by psychedelic warmth. With lyrical themes inspired by Aristotle’s cosmology the band invite us into a dreamy journey in fizzing waterfall keys plunging down from space rock guitars.
The album is opening with the “River” slowly building up into a powerful, repetitive groove backbeat swirling within through proggy keys and gentle tender vocals.

TMODM: Who are your main influences?
MM: Jimi Hendrix Experience + Band Of Gypsys, The Mars Volta, Radiohead, Flaming Lips, My Bloody Valentine, Fela Kuti, Slowdive, Yes, Herbie Hancock, Follakzoid, Animal Collective, Embryo, Acid Mother’s Temple, King Crimson, Can, Damo Suzuki, Amon Duul II, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Santana, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Kikagaku Moyo, the list goes on and on….
TMODM: What’s next for you?
MM: We’re looking forward to playing live shows once it is safe to do so and we’re really excited to promote our new album “Live From Planet Maya” that is available now on all streaming platforms and will be available soon on limited edition vinyl in (May/June) via Nasoni Records.
We are also working on recording our next record and fingers crossed touring Europe in 2022!!!
TMODM: I’m curious about your sense of the future. Are we in some kind of downward spiral or do we have cause for optimism?
MM: There is no past. There is no future. There is only the present. The spiral goes both ways and chases itself in an endless circle. However through the magic that is improvised music Maestro Maya levitates somewhere in between… 🙂

TMODM: Who are your main influences?
DP: Dope Purple is influenced by three main fields: Hard Rock, such as Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Hawkwind, followed by free-jazz music, such as John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, and finally, Japanese psychedelic rock bands,such as Acid Mothers Temple, Les Rallizes Dénudés and High Rise. We are trying to express the intensity of these three styles into music with our own aesthetic and psychedelic rock.
TMODM: What’s next for you?
DP: We are in the process of recording a new album and hope to finish it next year. If we have a chance, we would like to go on tour abroad after the epidemic.
TMODM: I’m curious about your sense of the future. Are we in some kind of downward spiral or do we have cause for optimism?
DP: I believe the absolute principle of our lives is that all life will eventually die. The future of a person is actually towards the path of death. However, in the process of death, people have the opportunities to meet a lot of people, a lot of music, and a lot of good things that can influence and change each other. Death is actually included in the process of human growth. Because one can become the good person in the process of growth, so I can look forward to the goodness of people. I praise human growth and changes, so I accept the end of my growth and do not feel pessimistic about it. Although I don’t know how long I will live and I may encounter many tragic situations, I still want to believe in the positive energy of people and lives.

I corresponded with Seth Riggenbach of Room Noise
TMODM: Who are your main influences?
SR: Really been diggin’ The Velvet Underground, Ty Segall, Balkans and Fontaines D.C. My influences are constantly changing with time and mood but these are the artists I’m looking up to lately. And as far as new music goes, the new album “A Hero’s Death” by Fontaines D.C. is a must-listen for anyone into minimal, garagey, post-punk rock and roll.
TMODM: What’s next for you?
SR: Coronavirus restrictions should lift soon, opening the door for live shows at various dives in and around Denver, Colorado. Can’t wait to get out there and make some noise.
TMODM: I’m curious about your sense about the future. Are we in some kind of downward spiral or do we have cause for optimism?
SR: Personally, I’m on the optimistic end of the spectrum. With the proliferation of the internet, I feel like major issues that used to be swept under the rug can finally have a decentralized voice that doesn’t rely on traditional media distribution. Issues like climate change, racism, gender inequality, police brutality, science denial, and political corruption are at the forefront of the modern conversation and I feel like we owe a lot of that to decentralized media.

TMODM: Who are your main influences?
BTS: I think we usually refer to Cocteau Twins, SlowDive, Ride, Radiohead and the like for influences?
TMODM: What’s next for you?
BTS: What’s next is another EP – likely to be a celebration of our influences…?
TMODM: I’m curious about your sense about the future. Are we in some kind of downward spiral or do we have cause for optimism?
BTS: In terms of the future…heads down, writing and recording, keep releasing positive vibes and good music into the world in some small effort to help everyone through these strange, strange times.