1. Greetings! How are you doing? As far as I’ve noticed, “Presences of Absences” is getting quite great feedback. How much do you track the reviews and reactions to your music in general? Is it very important to you or is your own satisfaction more important to you?

Hello! I've been very well thank you, and yes the album is getting some very good reviews. I do try and keep track of peoples reactions to ASVA's music and read reviews as well as forum responses. ”Presences Of Absences” has been particularly interesting in that I didn't expect it to be nearly as well received as it seems to be thus far. It's an unusual record and quite a step up from our previous work (at least I feel the way is 'up') so I had no idea what the reaction would be. The reviews in particular have a way of lending validation to one's work and I'm very pleased to read a well thought out review, critical or gushing.

2. Do you think there is a situation a listener enjoys “Presences of Absences” the best? Dark room at night, cold winter evening with a glass of wine, when being happy or sad? Do you listen to your own records? How often?

I don't listen to my own recordings much, almost not at all. The work and emotional energy involved in making them pretty much destroys the need to listen again. “PoA” though, I have put on a few times when working in my garage... it's a good record to listen to when you feel a need to stay calm.

3. I think the new record is beautiful. However, during writing the review I realized that beauty is actually very subjective experience. What does it mean for you? What comes to your mind first when you hear this word used in context with music? Dou you think this word can be somehow strictly defined or is it very abstract?

Beauty is completely abstract because the word represents so many different things- from a flies eyeball to ideas to solar systems and everything in between- to so many people. What astounds me is how many people (here in the USA particularly) haven't discovered beauty yet, it's all about bling, having a good looking girlfriend, a new car, big house... it seems to mostly miss the point and I guess living in a society that rewards consumerism this is to be expected. Relating beauty to music is similarly confounding and for the same reasons. I certainly have my opinions about what makes some music beautiful and the spectrum is extremely broad.

4. There have been rumors about “Presences of Absences” being your last record under ASVA name. How much truth is in this?

I'm not sure how that got started... I've already written a follow up to “PoA” so this completely unfounded.


5. Your show in Prague two years ago was great. Assuming the worst won’t happen, can we look forward to another one? Are you planning some tour?

That was one of my favorite nights in Europe ever... We were so well provided for, great food, fun show. The night was cold as hell but we walked around the city until early morning... it was wonderful. And yes on both counts; we will be touring and will certainly come to Prague.

6. How does a creative process look like? Do you simply write down the whole piece and then you try how it sounds, or is it rather other way around? How big part of your music comes from improvisation? How long does it averagely take you to write a composition? Also, there’ve been always four pieces on the album. Is it just a coincidence?

The four track thing is coincidental. I write a good amount of music- hundreds of hours- and will come up with parts that may or may not fit together, the un-utilized parts are frequently good in other songs so I'll rework them and try to fit it all together. Things usually start in fragments though, then it's simply a building process. I like to keep things at the start very simple; a few notes as melody or bass line and work those few notes in every direction I can think of. I write them out in a grid usually, backwards, forwards, diagonally, top to bottom, etc. In many cases (especially regarding my current work) the bass is simply running through the grid. It's an unusual way to do things I suppose, but it's been an effective tool particularly when composing on the organ.

7. There have been Toby Driver hosting on your newest record. How much work did he do there? How did you come to work with him? Are you going to co-work with him again?

I've wanted to work with Toby for many years and in fact asked him to sing on “What You Don't Know Is Frontier”, which he did. It was beautiful and complex and I loved it but the other guys in ASVA at the time were quite bent on an instrumental record (something I absolutely didn't want then and still wouldn't have now). I think I actually teared up when I told Toby his vocals were being cut. Now things are different, ASVA is built of members who don't care a whit about being 'doom' (which I never cared about) so we're able to do basically whatever strikes us a musically good without toeing any genre-specific line. Its incredibly freeing to simply say “Fuck it. Lets cut our own path”.

There is no way for me to overstate how much Toby Driver, Jake Weller, and Greg Gilmore influenced “Presences Of Absences” and it's my hope they all will be working with me for a long time to come.

8. Where does your inspiration come from? Do you write your music with purpose of finishing a song or are they mostly spontaneous ideas?

I'm inspired by lots of things but the most important would have to be my wife and daughter, our life together, our happiness. The things that inspire me are the things I hold most dear, the things I'm careful with and tender too. Finishing a song? It's my belief that a song is never finished, you simply give up.


9. Is there some main concept/theme on “Presences of Absences”? What does the very abstract, I’d say, title express? And what about the compositions themselves? Did you create them trying to give them some particular meaning?

I don't see the title as abstract at all. So many people are physically simply not there; my brother, grandparents, many friends and so much of what made a life have meaning when I was a kid is gone, wiped from the slate. But those people, those lessons are still with me everyday and they constantly influence my actions, my responses, but they clearly are not here with us and nobody can know what drives me or you to be what we are. It's those absences that are present inside... Why does the adult who was abused as a small child still lash out at 40 years old? It's because something was instilled, ingrained, that we can't see but won't let them rest... all of us live with demons, some good, some bad. If you think you truly know someone I would bet your mistaken.

10. On YouTube you can find fan-made video to your song “Game in Hell, Hard Work in Heaven”. I think it’s great and it expresses the abstraction of the track itself and supports its atmosphere very well. What do you think? Would you say your music is visual? If so, what do you see when you listen to it? In what way is your artwork connected to the music?

I love that video... it came as quite a surprise and I can't recall who first brought it to my attention. It's really neat to have made some music that seems to inspire people to built upon and improve the perception one might have of the music through a visual or prose (as in your incredible review) representation. I'm in the midst of writing a score for film that I can only hope will be as successful.
The artwork and music contained in “Presences Of Absences” is an example of both muddling the picture of what a person might think they know about me, about music, about relationships of all kinds (being illusion) and yet clarifying the thread of relativity the past, present, and future has through old and new instrumentation, choral and plain-chant, R&B; vocal, contemporary arrangement and rhythm, home (nest) leaving home (baby bird), color juxtaposition, prose and making it all work together as art and life should.

11. What music do you listen to in your free time? Do you spend lot of time listening? What does music mean to you not as a musician, but as a listener? Is something you listen to to entertain yourself or relax, or does it spiritually fill you up?

If I get time alone here at home I do listen to quite a lot of music, quite a variety and for different reasons. It really depends on what I'm trying to accomplish at the moment; when working in my shop it's pretty eclectic, Part to Exodus, but I tend to really focus on my work at hand so it's purely background no matter the volume. If I'm paying attention to the music of course there are moments that make my hair stand on end in most of what I listen to but why Radiohead or Penderecki work just as well as Miles Davis or Public Enemy is still a mystery to me.

12. On title track of the album there are two samples at the beginning and the end. Do they have some particular meaning or are they there “just” to immerse the atmosphere and tone?

They influence the way the entire record comes across. Those two tracks are a very good example of the juxtaposition I was describing earlier about things being relative and intertwined whether you know it or not. They might seem insignificant but if you listen to that record and fast forward over them it will be a whole new ball game. It's quite dramatic how they absolutely change the direction of the record, very positively I think.


13. “Presences of Absences” is in some aspects quite different than your previous records. Of course, development of style is important, but the difference is really significant I think. What drove you to nearly complete lack of guitar drones? Have you ever thought about creating an ambient record? Do you think your going to evolve in this way at your future records?

It is different but it more accurately reflects my sensibilities as far as who I am as a musician and a listener. There are aspects of the other two recordings that I do really like but the drone stuff, the instrumental stuff, not so much. So yes, different but I like it much more. The guitar isn't super pronounced but it is very present. I thought it would be good to utilize my own guitar playing (which isn't so good) and offer a different take than most guitar players would; not heavy chords but reggae-ish choppy stuff and single string melodies, stuff I think is virtually non-existant in doom/drone, a genre I'm quite sure to have divorced ASVA from completely. As far as ambient music I'm not sure if I would ever wake up one morning and say to myself "By golly I'm going to write something ambient today." I simply don't think about making music that way... I have no idea where music will lead me.

14. And a common question: What are your plans for the nearest and further future? Thank you for your time and once again, thanks for “Presences of Absences”, great and beautiful album. If you wish to say anything to readers, now it’s the right time to do so. Wish you luck and lots of great music!

My plan is to keep going; music is what I like to do and as long as I can be creative with it I'll continue making new sounds. Thank you for liking what I do and taking the time to write a few questions for me to struggle with. I don't know why “Presences Of Absences” works how it does; it does work though and for that I'm incredibly grateful to Greg, Toby, Jake, my family. I got lucky once again and I hope the same for you.