Hello. Please introduce yourself.
I'm Exstus: composer/producer/guitarist/performer/seeking soul
How are you today?
[Exstus]
Excellent! Each day is a gift, and I'm looking forward to my show tonight.
What is it that you do.
[Exstus]
I compose & produce transglobal electronic music - lush, funky electronic music with interweaving layers of textures, elements traditional middle eastern & indian music, and live guitar improv.
How did you get started?
[Exstus]
I've been performing music for 23 years now. I started playing guitar in 1987, originally influenced by Led Zeppelin and the virtuosic metal guitarists of the 1980s such as Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, etc.
Describe your sound in three non-words.
[Exstus]
Zippily! WOO! Transmogritessilated.
What is something that people wouldn’t know about your band just by looking at you?
[Exstus]
That my music is original (vs most electronic artists, who are DJs playing other peoples' material) and that over the years I have composed and performed many styles of live music such as funk, afro-caribbean, new age, nuevo-flamenco, avant garde, and jazz.
Your music is a fusion of several styles of EDM, where do you get inspiration from?
[Exstus]
In the late 1990s, I was bandleader for a trippy, funky, postmodern jazz group named Groovy Buddha. In many respects it was a guitarist's dream band: I was the primary composer, primary soloist, and got to play my ass off in the context of complex, thought-provoking instrumental music. But at the time, I started finding myself bored with everything I had heard and played over the years...despite having played tons of musical styles, everything seemed familiar and derivative to me...except for early EDM artists such as Prodigy, LTJ Bukem, & old Crystal Method. In 2000 I started creating music as Exstus with a key difference from most EDM producers - I approached it from a schooled musical background, and saw it as a huge, white canvas on which to paint my compositions. This has allowed me to blend all styles of music I've played in the past, and to use any instrument in the world...and sounds of nature...and crazy instruments that don't actually exist in real life. (such as grinding dubstep bass)
What really grinds your gears?
[Exstus]
People who are disrespectful to others.
What does Exstus mean?
[Exstus]
It's a latin word that roughly means "I'm showing myself/I'm bearing my soul". Everything in Exstus music is straight from my soul to your ears. ;-)
You have the opportunity to write a newspaper headline that will be read around the world…what do you say?
[Exstus]
"It's all going to work out, if you just be nice to each other."
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
[Exstus]
Still learning/growing/striving for self-actualization, but a little further along the path.
What has been your proudest moment this far?
[Exstus]
They are the moments when I am true to my highest self, flow with the energy of the universe, bring loving energy to others, and blissfully present. Some of these happen when playing music, some of them happen when not.
Do you have anything in the mix now that we should keep our eyes peeled for?
[Exstus]
I'm releasing a CD on August 28, 2010 of all ambient material. There's quite a diversity of material on the CD: some songs are full drone ambient, others feature tribal drumming with multilayered textures, some feature guitar, and I've even used technologies such as binaural beats, which bring the listener's brainwaves into a specific range such as delta waves (associated with meditation & rest) or theta waves. (which relieve mental fatigue by bringing the brain's sodium/potassium ratio back into balance) Details will be available atwww.exstus.com.
Say something to inspire the people who would like to pursue a career in music.
[Exstus]
Music is an incredible means of self-expression - always be true to what you feel, and who you are inside. With that said, don't take yourself too seriously and have fun with it. Learn as much music theory as possible, because it is incredibly liberating...it enables you to convey any thoughts or emotions you have, into sound. And the fact that this is all physics, all waves of sound overlapping according to an incredibly rich framework that just happens to be this way in our plane of existence...how amazing is that?! Always keep your sense of wonder, and practice a lot. Most of all, do it for love of music. It is very obvious which performers do music for love, instead of for ego. The ones doing it for ego, always suck. The ones doing it for love of music, are the ones who can change your life.
0 comments for this post