by Joeri Bruyninckx

If the music I’m playing sounds intense, it’s not because I’m trying to play hardcore; it’s because that’s what’s inside my head.

I love the Germs music and certainly when I was playing with Adris we were at various times inspired by high-energy music like hardcore, grindcore, free-jazz, jungle, etc. At this point though I’m not really looking at other music in the same way I was before. Now I’m really just trying to find a way to express myself.

Once I realized I was going to be playing solo, I started listening to solo performers, Bailey was one. And if you’re playing solo-improvised guitar, you’ll probably have to deal with him in some way.

Yeah, delta blues was another touchstone, particularly Fred McDowell. I started playing the guitar after seeing Muddy Waters in ‘The Last Waltz’, so the blues is a kind of music I’ve listened to a lot and feel close to. I was also listening to Carlos Montoya, I’ve just started learning about flamenco, and old favorites like Joseph Spence, Cecil Taylor and Glenn Gould.

I have no idea if I’m a good critic of my work or not, probably not. I knew that I liked the record ok. It seemed like the guitar sounded right and the performances had some nice moments. I thought it sounded like me. As for how listeners might respond, I dunno… Not having released a record for so long, I didn’t know how people would react.

I stopped playing because I needed a break. I’d been in a band for five years and it was time to obsess about something new. I moved to San Francisco, got married, had kids, wrote a bunch of software. I listened to lots of music during that time, but would almost never play.

Putting together the compilation for Load in 2008 (Harry Pussy’s ‘You'll Never Play This Town Again’, jb) was the first time I had heard that music in over 10 years and it made me feel like picking up the guitar again. I started playing and after about a year, I felt like there was something there to record.

It was always going to be just me, though it wasn’t clear at first whether there would be overdubs or other instruments involved. Once I got into it, I realized it sounded best just with the guitar by itself.

The title is the name of a play I read in school. There’s no specific reference; it had a nice ring to it and seemed right for the record.

When I started playing again, using the acoustic was just practical. It was less likely to disturb the neighbors and I could play without having to setup anything.

It’s an old Kay jumbo acoustic I’ve had since I was a kid. It’s been broken and rebuilt a couple of times.

Once I started recording, I switched to the electric, but missed the dynamics I was getting out of the Kay. I still wanted some of that electric sound though, so I put a pickup on the acoustic and stuck the mic in a place where I got a bit of both.

I was looking for something different and playing the 4-string forced me to approach things differently; the strings are split high & low and all the usual stuff in the middle is gone. The sound is stark and stripped down, there’s no inner voices on the chords and none of the typical rock/blues/folk/jazz moves work.

Of course on the other hand you can really beat the shit out of the low E string which is fun. In any event, I’ve been doing it now for like 20 years. It’s just become the way I play the guitar.

Mostly it was improvised, usually around a scale or a chord or two. There were a few things worked out completely.

I do see them as songs so singer/songwriter sounds ok to me. Maybe it’s time to reclaim that term…

I left them in because it would have been impossible to take them out. I would have had to scrap entire takes. The room where I was recording was on a busy street and that was just what it sounded like. I like the noises; it reminds me of field recordings where the background sounds can be quite prominent.

Self-sufficiency I guess. Also I’m kind of obsessive and a pain in the ass, so if I do it myself, it’s easier for everybody.


Bill Orcutt will be playing at the Kraak Festival, Belgium