What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.

I used to mess around on my dad’s old acoustic guitar when I found it in the closet as a child. He never really played it so I would always mess around on it not really knowing what I was doing. He had some books with decent visual aids, so I learned what I could at the time. Around 10 I begged my parents for an electric guitar which they finally got me for the holidays. I took a few lessons, but primarily tried to figure out songs on my own. After I got bored learning songs that I liked I eventually started making up my own songs.

Over the next few years after starting high school I got really interested in DJing. Scratching specifically. I met some like minded friends in school, and by graduation we had started a crew in Houston. We would create music from old records, scratching the samples live to sound like a band. We would play the turntables through loopers and other cheap effects pedals we could find or scrape up money to buy up since we were all broke students. Working minimum wage jobs just long enough to be able to afford the gear we wanted then quit 🙂

Eventually this led to recording our songs live. first on cassette tape then on computers. Multitracking software became more readily available towards the end of the 90s with illegal downloading. (I’m not sorry!) Though I do pay for everything now haha.

After realizing I could incorporate live instrumentation and basically make songs on my own it was all I wanted to do, and I’ve never looked back.

Provide us with some info about your latest release…

I fought with completing this album for sooo long. After feeling burned out from my previous album and losing my tour booking for a while I kind of got bummed out and just focused on collecting music gear. I’d buy and sell whatever I was obsessed with at the moment. I had a huge modular obsession for a bit. I never really stopped making music though. I recorded tons of sketches with all the gear that would come and go. The problem was that there were never any songs.

I got back on track towards the end of 2017. That next year finally completed a track, “Tree Ghost” , for my current label’s (Future Archive Recordings) 2018 compilation. After that the ideas finally started flowing again. I stopped focusing so much on buying new toys and used those sketches that I had been recording the last few years help stitch together what would become Sunset in the Deep End.

Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?

Non musically the beach has always been a source of inspiration. Whenever I feel sad or overwhelmed I feel like I can go out there and reset. It’s definitely why I live where I do. Sometimes film does it for me too.

Musically I get inspired when I go to watch a band I really admire live, find new exciting music or meet a talented musician who I learn something from.

In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?

As selfish as it sounds I’ve never really approached music with the listener in mind. I pretty much just make what I’d want to listen to and I’m glad if listeners ultimately connect with it. If anything I just want to make a song that makes me feel nostalgic, happy, sad, longing…. familiar.

I don’t think I can accurately describe what my music sounds like. There are elements of post-rock, shoegaze, electronic, breaks, ambient, glitchy stuff, samples all blended into whatever my brain decides to tell me what to do with at that moment.

Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…

These are difficult especially since my choices change according to my mood or emotional state at the time. I’ll try though.

1 Album: Drab Majesty – The Demonstration
2 Album: True Widow – As High As The Highest Heavens And From The Center To The Circumference Of The Earth
3 Movie: Creepshow

Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?

I don’t have a preference. I love both, and they both have their pros and cons. That being said I don’t know if I could be permanently on tour like some bands can. I get homesick and miss the pups after too long on the road.

Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?

There are plenty, but not sure I should share on a public forum, haha!

Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?

On the current album it would probably be “light cycle” . That song came together right after a trip to Lake Tahoe. I had taken a bunch of field recordings of snow and rocks that I used on some of it. I made that song when I still wasn’t sure about album direction, but it still seemed to fit so I kept it.

Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?

Well I have a few non-Yppah projects I’m working on at the moment. One is an untitled post-punk project I’m working on with a friend of mine, and the other is a project called Newport Bleach which is a lofi surf rock inspired shoegaze project. I’m hoping to finish those by this summer.

As far as Yppah tunes I’m finishing up the first track to be on the next album before I leave for tour on Feb. 6th!

Free question!!! (Ask yourself a question) you wish to answer and haven’t been given the opportunity…

I don’t really think I have anything to add that hasn’t already been covered, but I appreciate you speaking with me and allowing me to talk about the new album!

Curated by: Christos Doukakis

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