For those that haven’t heard of Inkblot Astronauts could you tell us a bit about the band your story?
We connected in 2014 as Mike (Fowler) got done with college and we went through some different rotations of musicians, jamming and looking for a lineup that felt flexible and energetic. There was some target material to play, but overall we just started making noise and guiding each other to what was fun to play or sounded cool to us at the time. Mike and Zak have a special connection jamming guitar and drums (respectively) but we like to mine out those jam ideas and write songs from them – sharing the parts with our other bandmates (now including Ryan Hertia and Eric Gendron). We try to take advantage of our multi-instrumentation to serve the songwriting, even if we don’t repeat the lineup or original idea.
Who inspired you to get on stage and perform?
Mike: My own family first, and then friends, and perhaps before and between all of that there are good ol’ Hollywood movies. Back to the future (that final band scene!) and more prominently for me… “That Thing You Do” – that was the first time I watched someone play drums and thought – oh man that looks easy!
Zak: I was lucky enough to grow up around live music. My dad was a sound guy and always ran sound for my cousin-Howie’s bands. He was in a band called Plain Jayne and the drummer, Ryan gave me lessons. They would let me do soundcheck or sit in on a song on drums when I was really young – like 9 or 10, and once I got over the initial stage fright, I loved it…(so it’s their fault).
Are there any particular artists or albums that have stuck with you over the years and have informed your sound?
Mike: I’ve always revered The Smashing Pumpkins for their creativity, work ethic, and attitude toward the industry. At the same time, I’ve appreciated other popular bands like Incubus, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Third Eye Blind for packaging virtuosity with sensibility. There are hundreds of fringe bands that colored that direction, but those four had the most profound effect on how I think about our music.
Zak: I have a few. First is Sublime, I got real deep into sublime in junior-high and that stuck with me. Then I branched out in high school. I still listen to Good News for People Who Love Bad News by Modest Mouse, In Between Dreams by Jack Johnson, Crisis by Alexisonfire, Cities by Anberlin…….those made the most impact I’m sure there are more but those are what pop into my mind.
Could you tell us a bit about the writing and recording of the ReverbNation winning track ID2?
Zak wrote this song and music primarily – inspired by the idea of Id and Superego (psychology) and the combative voices in our head. The song sort of describes the body and mind arguing with itself and the music represents some of that duality and disjointedness with its stuttering start-stop beats and the dissonant chord voicings.
Are there any plans to release a follow up to your “Inkblot Astronaut” EP?
We certainly look forward to releasing more material and right now it’s just a matter of focusing our effort on a given list of material – we are currently overwhelmed with song ideas, compositions, ‘directions’ the band can go in a live setting – we are experiencing some crowd feedback with our first few shows and will keep refining our motives as we go. Ultimately we want to have fun and write some impressive songs to share with people – and hopefully, listeners enjoy that – but we need to satisfy our own vision first – selfish as it sounds.
Your last track had a mixture of claymation and live-action, how did you go about creating that? Are there any plans to create a video for ID2?
Claymation was a fun way to start with a DIY style and distinguish ourselves from others. It’s tedious but very fun and we do want to evolve this idea on more songs – Id2 is certainly in the running for being next.
What is the most interesting venue you have performed at?
Mike: I played with a blues/country band at a ‘Gambler 500’ rally-car-party type thing that was just beyond weird and insanely cool (and cold). There were chopped cars, pirate flags, mud courses, and a big crowd of music lovers to perform for.
Zak: The Brick House of Corvallis, Oregon! There was this decommissioned greek-living house that Mike lived toward the end of his OSU days. 20+ students lived here and regularly had people over for game-day parties and jam-nights with the resident musicians. We played there a couple times and always had fun. We ended the last one in an obnoxiously awesome jam with Mike and Chris Friesen (PDX-based bass guru) …both on bass guitars for some reason…and Zak overplaying the hell out of drums while different guitar players tag-teamed in and out like it was WWE.
Here at Artistic Echoes, we are always on the lookout for new artists do you have anyone to recommend?
Mike: I have been on a steady rotation of Hiatus Kaiyote (Australian neo-soul/jazz) the last 5 years, and Zak and I both have PDX’s 89.1 local jazz/funk station on in the vehicles at all times.
Zak: I’ve been really into Zoe Keating lately, she may be new to you – check her out!
What plans do you have for the rest of the year?
We plan to end the year playing as many shows as we can and finish up all the songs we have been writing. We need to tie all the loose ends and pick what to release next. Then focus on getting that ready to hit the studio again. We learned a lot writing and recording the first e.p. and cant wait to be more efficient finding and tracking the sounds we want.
Find out more:
Website: https://www.inkblotastronaut.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkblotastronaut/
What a great and distinctive sound this band have!
I am honored to be one of 4 Reverbnation winners!