"Keep It In Good Shape" - An Interview with Brian Grochowski

Brian Grochowski is a real renaissance man. One could say he has his finger in a lot of pies. I had the opportunity to ask Brian some questions about all the bands he is in, as well as some of the details of his "1 album a month for the rest of 2013" project.

Reggie: So, Brian, what spurred the notion to release 1 album per month for the entire second half of 2013?

Brian Grochowski: I am just trying to keep a motion with creating music. It's kind like I am exercising my creative ability muscle to keep it in good shape. A lot of these releases are already more than half way done. They have just been collecting dust for the last two years. I know I have enough material to get to 2014, I might even do a couple more after the new year. I will just have to see how busy I am by then

Reggie: Do you have a main focus? Is there a project in particular that gets the bulk of your attention or are you spread out pretty well?

Brian Grochowski: There's no real main focus, all the projects just fall into an order which helps make it possible to be involved in so much at the moment.

Reggie: Will you be playing shows to promote your solo albums? What's the band lineup?

Brian Grochowski: I don't think I can commit to any solo shows right now with everything going on but it is something that interests me. I have always played to the side or to the back in a band but I have not been a "front man". If I was to get a group together, it would be made up of new people that I haven't really played with yet. I've had people offer to join a band to bring the LP to life. It's a funny feeling.

Reggie: Describe your creative process, how do you create your compositions, the lyrics, etc...

Brian Grochowski: This is a tough one to answer, it depends where I am at and what band or project I am working with. With Now, Wait For Last Year, a lot of it started on guitar, and then I would loop it live, repeat the same process with the bass and then jump on the drums. All that for just one part of a song. I would repeat the process until I finally composed a full song. Lyrics would come into play as I was constructing the overall structure. I write lyrics separately and I just try and see what fits and doesn't fit.  With my next LP, Infinite Company, I simple mess around with loops and different scales that I don't normally play in. I do that just to get the ball rolling. Than I compose how the beats, keys, synths play out and rehearse it all live several times. Finally, I will just record one of the those rehearsals and it's done. It's like a live electronic record. When it comes to the bands I have been in, it's depends on my role. With The Gentle Stunts, I only suggest changes to live sets and I just leave the originals alone. With Chris Cappello music, he brings acoustic demos to us and we rehearse the changes and work on the dynamics of the song. Then with Breakthrough Frequencies, It has been a collaborative effort. We all writing parts, lyrics, and music together. Which is by far the hardest thing to do for me. It's easy for me to suggest changes and ideas to someone else song but it's hard to not come off in a condescending tone. It is something I have been doing way better with in Breakthru, but something that I missed when I was in Sub Verso, Prisms and The Exposure.

Reggie: Can you tell us more about Infinite Company? Do any of your other future releases have names? Will you be working with anyone new?

Brian Grochowski: Infinite Company is an electronic record. It's just dance music. There are vocals but it's very sparse. It's cut up and looped around. I even have Alex Saraceno (from NunCunt), Ian Young (Morning Arms, Formerly from Sub Verso) and Cal again. It may have some more people who I have asked but I haven't received their parts to the songs.  As for other releases, none of them have titles yet, except for The Hallow Statue which will be out in the fall. It's my folk/acoustic record. It's really up front and vocals are clear. It's the one I am most excited about.

Reggie: Finally, what have you been listening to lately?

Brian Grochowski: Four Tet - Pink and There Is Love In You, James Blake - Overgrown, The Dodo's - Visiter, and a mix of Flying Lotus. Nothing too new.