Índice
DM: Another question now… I know you're meditating regularly. Did you write your music while meditating, or is the meditative vibe of Traced In Air more a kind of by-product of it?
Yeah, I think it's a by-product because I haven't missed a day of meditation since the early nineties, and I think it becomes a part of your way of being, and so it inevitably works its way into the music. But also, just when writing I can't really be meditating right. Meditating, for me, is sitting still and just doing nothing, actually. Just absolutely doing nothing. Complete boredom! (laughs) Just being present, to be here, right now. You know, I always tell the students in yoga classes, meditating is to just listen. Because a lot of times we go in our heads and we're thinking about the future, yesterday, and 'oh I forgot to call this person' and our minds are crazy, they're monkeys! And then, when you can just listen, and just hear the highway and… (pause) … you know, you hear these different sounds and it forces you into the present moment. And I think I do that a lot when I'm writing music now, I get very present. Writing Traced In Air was 12 hours a day for 9 months, I did not stop; and, when the album was finished, I felt like 'waow, has it been, you know, 7 months?' It felt like a blur...
BG: You were so focused…
Yeah!
BG: Was it exhausting?
At the end, when I finished the album, I went pschh. But during the recording, I had so much adrenalin and energy… It just felt like I didn't write the record, I felt that it wrote me, I felt it came through something, transmitted, and I just was the echo, to just communicate this language… It doesn't really feel like it's mine.
DM: I think I remember an older interview, when you said something like that about Focus, already.
Yeah, so there you go! I think that's the nature of the creative process, for me at least. It's not personal, you know… There is something very deep and personal about the music but it feels like it's more of an universal thing, it's more about communication and I don't know if it's mine or who it belongs to! It's a mysterious thing to write music, it's very curious, it's the soundwork... We're shaping sounds, you know! It's a very... artistic process! (laughs) I don't think even the musician understands where it comes from.
BG: Do you think you can write another album, or something?
Oh, sure! I mean, I think it's 'cause I've been writing so much so much music for so many years now, I know how to do it, and I think I know what Cynic's music is. It's like it's part of my biology, it's so... You know, Cynic is the band Sean and I started when we were little boys so it's like our childhood, you know. When I do Cynic, I feel like a little boy, and I really feel young again. So, when I open up the 'Cynic channel', it feels pure, it's just a very... honest thing. It's not a job, like with the TV... But with Cynic, it feels like... I don't know, it has an innocence to it to me that feels very open and raw, and sometimes very vulnerable too. There are parts where I feel my heart is right here, you know... But that's the whole idea, isn't it, with music and artists?
DM: You spoke about yoga earlier. You're teaching yoga?
I teach a little bit. My brother has a big yoga studio in Los Angeles called Dancing Shiva. He's an ayurvedic teacher, he goes to India a lot, he must have been Indian in a past life because he looks Indian, (laughs) he has much darker skin than I! And yeah, I studied a lot there over the years, for my brother and everything, and I teach a little bit too... You know, I've taught guitar over the years and I think we learn when we teach; it's definitely a wonderful way to reinforce knowledge.
DM: It's sure, when you teach something, the fact to explain it to someone else...
...makes you think about it. Exactly.
DM: So, any last words?
Oh, no, merci beaucoup ['thank you very much' in French]
BG: It's cool to be on a French label, Season Of Mist.
Yeah. We're happy about that, they're very passionate about the bands and...
BG: Are they solid, financially?
They're definitely smaller than Roadrunner, you know, it's definitely more of an independent situation but I think, for a band like Cynic, it's more cult and underground, and it grows like this. Sometimes you need something more small to built it. And not a big crazy label where, if you don't sell 100000 records in the first year, they kick you out, you know what I mean. It feels good, I like the passion of the French people; you know, we've always had good shows, here.
BG: Did you play, in the past?
We've played in the Nouveau Casino, two times for the reunion tour. And the shows were amazing.
BG: I mean, in 1993...
I can't remember, when we toured with Pestilence, if we played Paris... I don't think so. I don't think we played a French show.
BG: You didn't play many shows, at the time?
No, that was like 2 or 3 weeks, a quick tour. So, you didn't see any shows, no?
BG: No, no... I just had the album, a highlight in 1993. With Atheist - Elements...
Yeah, that's when they broke up too...
BG: Yeah, and they reunited too...
And there's a new album... It's amazing.
BG: Have you heard some stuff?
I haven't heard anything but I e-mail and talk to Kelly regularly, and he says he's just starting now, so they have a lot of work ahead of them! (laughs)
Listo, espero les guste.
Yeah, I think it's a by-product because I haven't missed a day of meditation since the early nineties, and I think it becomes a part of your way of being, and so it inevitably works its way into the music. But also, just when writing I can't really be meditating right. Meditating, for me, is sitting still and just doing nothing, actually. Just absolutely doing nothing. Complete boredom! (laughs) Just being present, to be here, right now. You know, I always tell the students in yoga classes, meditating is to just listen. Because a lot of times we go in our heads and we're thinking about the future, yesterday, and 'oh I forgot to call this person' and our minds are crazy, they're monkeys! And then, when you can just listen, and just hear the highway and… (pause) … you know, you hear these different sounds and it forces you into the present moment. And I think I do that a lot when I'm writing music now, I get very present. Writing Traced In Air was 12 hours a day for 9 months, I did not stop; and, when the album was finished, I felt like 'waow, has it been, you know, 7 months?' It felt like a blur...
BG: You were so focused…
Yeah!
BG: Was it exhausting?
At the end, when I finished the album, I went pschh. But during the recording, I had so much adrenalin and energy… It just felt like I didn't write the record, I felt that it wrote me, I felt it came through something, transmitted, and I just was the echo, to just communicate this language… It doesn't really feel like it's mine.
DM: I think I remember an older interview, when you said something like that about Focus, already.
Yeah, so there you go! I think that's the nature of the creative process, for me at least. It's not personal, you know… There is something very deep and personal about the music but it feels like it's more of an universal thing, it's more about communication and I don't know if it's mine or who it belongs to! It's a mysterious thing to write music, it's very curious, it's the soundwork... We're shaping sounds, you know! It's a very... artistic process! (laughs) I don't think even the musician understands where it comes from.
BG: Do you think you can write another album, or something?
Oh, sure! I mean, I think it's 'cause I've been writing so much so much music for so many years now, I know how to do it, and I think I know what Cynic's music is. It's like it's part of my biology, it's so... You know, Cynic is the band Sean and I started when we were little boys so it's like our childhood, you know. When I do Cynic, I feel like a little boy, and I really feel young again. So, when I open up the 'Cynic channel', it feels pure, it's just a very... honest thing. It's not a job, like with the TV... But with Cynic, it feels like... I don't know, it has an innocence to it to me that feels very open and raw, and sometimes very vulnerable too. There are parts where I feel my heart is right here, you know... But that's the whole idea, isn't it, with music and artists?
DM: You spoke about yoga earlier. You're teaching yoga?
I teach a little bit. My brother has a big yoga studio in Los Angeles called Dancing Shiva. He's an ayurvedic teacher, he goes to India a lot, he must have been Indian in a past life because he looks Indian, (laughs) he has much darker skin than I! And yeah, I studied a lot there over the years, for my brother and everything, and I teach a little bit too... You know, I've taught guitar over the years and I think we learn when we teach; it's definitely a wonderful way to reinforce knowledge.
DM: It's sure, when you teach something, the fact to explain it to someone else...
...makes you think about it. Exactly.
DM: So, any last words?
Oh, no, merci beaucoup ['thank you very much' in French]
BG: It's cool to be on a French label, Season Of Mist.
Yeah. We're happy about that, they're very passionate about the bands and...
BG: Are they solid, financially?
They're definitely smaller than Roadrunner, you know, it's definitely more of an independent situation but I think, for a band like Cynic, it's more cult and underground, and it grows like this. Sometimes you need something more small to built it. And not a big crazy label where, if you don't sell 100000 records in the first year, they kick you out, you know what I mean. It feels good, I like the passion of the French people; you know, we've always had good shows, here.
BG: Did you play, in the past?
We've played in the Nouveau Casino, two times for the reunion tour. And the shows were amazing.
BG: I mean, in 1993...
I can't remember, when we toured with Pestilence, if we played Paris... I don't think so. I don't think we played a French show.
BG: You didn't play many shows, at the time?
No, that was like 2 or 3 weeks, a quick tour. So, you didn't see any shows, no?
BG: No, no... I just had the album, a highlight in 1993. With Atheist - Elements...
Yeah, that's when they broke up too...
BG: Yeah, and they reunited too...
And there's a new album... It's amazing.
BG: Have you heard some stuff?
I haven't heard anything but I e-mail and talk to Kelly regularly, and he says he's just starting now, so they have a lot of work ahead of them! (laughs)
Listo, espero les guste.
