Sound Colour Vibration interviews Toni Oswald

+ SCV Podcasts Vol 85 curated by Toni Oswald

Sound Colour Vibration was contacted by Toni Oswald through a mutual friend and we were blown away by her requests to do an interview about her book and two part album, The Diary of Ic Explura – A Love Letter To The Transformer. What initially began as a simple email resulted in a very moving moment of time in my life when I was finally able to play both parts together, front to back. The first part was recorded some time ago with Josh Klinghoffer and the second with her lover and musical soulmate, Max Davies. The second part has a full band contributing various parts and the first is a duo recording that is heavily layered. Both albums pull in so many influences that to define it in terms of this intro would be useless. We ask that you get a quiet and comfortable setting and let the music speak for itself.

The book and two part album, The Diary of Ic Explura – A Love Letter To The Transformer, are heavily influenced by the time Toni was in a relationship with Red Hot Chilli Peppers guitarist John Frusciante and the many worlds that have extended from that relationship and period of her life. The first part was even recorded on the 8 track that John was using during that time and recorded in the house they were living in together. There is a clear window of new types of energy and shapes in sound coming from Toni Oswald and Max Davies. Toni has a beautiful spirit and we are honored to present this interview we did with her. Toni made us a special hour and thirty minute mix which we have split into two parts. Please give the albums a listen and check out her mixes. Be sure to add her fb page and check out Mooonchild Vintage, her etsy shop for unique vintage clothing. After completing the interview she sent her collection of music and I was blown away by the diversity she presented. Her mix is something that I knew would fit in at home with Sound Colour Vibration. – Erik Otis

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SCV Interviews Toni Oswald
Interview conducted by Erik Otis
August 2011

SCV: Hi Toni

Toni: Good morning! Max is here with me too as I made the album [The Diary of Ic Explura] with him.

SCV: Lovely, well the second half right?

Toni: Yes sir.

SCV: And he did all remaster work too, right?

Toni: Yes that is right.

SCV: Was that his choice to go through all the tracks and materials and remaster or was that yours?

Toni: Well, a friend of mine had done it originally and it was done pretty fast as this french label was putting it out and I had a very short deadline and then maybe a year or more ago Max strongly suggested we could re-master it and I am so glad he did.

SCV: How long did it take him to complete this work and was there any hurdles to get over?

Toni: Regarding mastering on the first part?

SCV: On the entire project.

Toni: For part 1, it took Josh and I about a month and half to record it separated into two different time periods and that is not including my initial writing period alone on some songs and then mixing etc. and then for Part 2 Max and I started working on it when we were living in Nevada City, CA. about 2 1/2 years ago but we got most of the recording done last summer and fall and then mixing and mastering and a few bits of recording here and there this past spring. The germ of the project though began as a book that I wrote and I was researching that and then writing it back in 1999-2001, so it has been a long journey.

SCV: I was going to ask you about the origins of this book next. Are there specific experiences that shaped the foundations of this book or does it reflect a broader sense of time?

Toni: Well, initially I had started learning to play guitar and I got a 4-track and I was writing love songs to Lou Reed so i thought I would write a whole album like that and call it A Loveletter to the Transformer, but at the same time I was reading all of these outer space books and books on Atlantis and this idea about a girl traveling through time and space started germinating in me and I and I had been through a long and very serious relationship and so those two stories began to merge. So it is a fiction based on something real.

SCV: Wow, that’s amazing, do you remember any of the book titles?

Toni: Book titles….one was called High Strangeness about UFO’s and such and I don’t remember any of the others to be honest.

SCV: Where did the name Ic Explura source itself from?

Toni: The name Ic Explura came from my old boyfriend John Frusciante. We were sitting in bed and both were kind of involved in writing and drawing in these separate notebooks and I asked him if he were to give me a nickname what would it be? He didn’t say anything really haha and then the next day or so he gave me Ic Explura…I have no idea what it meant to him as I believe it came from some spirits and for me it does of mean anything specific but it is an alter ego and a place I have gone to to make sense of things in my life. John was very into phonetics at the time so it could have been some kind of word play as well but I love the mystery of it as well as they fact that in the dictionary ic means a stellar flux which is very appropriate I think.

SCV: Was John the one who suggested you work with Josh Klinghoffer for part 1 or did that happen outside of John?

Toni: Outside of John. Josh had become both of our friends very recently at that point..he was playing with Bob Forrest at the time and I asked Josh if he would teach me guitar stuff as I was trying to learn and out of getting together and doing that and hanging out it just seemed natural to ask him as I had so many ideas I just did not have the technical skill to realize. We did record most of it at John;s house on his equipment though as he was away on tour at the time.

SCV: With the first recorded part with Josh Klinghoffer and the next part is with who you have dubbed your superhero, Max Davies. What are some of the biggest differences between the two musicians on the experiences that shaped the entire process for these records?

Toni: Well, with Josh I was kind of telling him what to do most of the time LOL as I had a very specific idea of what I wanted as it was a concept piece and so we would spend time playing with the oblique strategy cards and playing games of chance to get to certain places and also Josh would play things on the piano or guitar and I would sit there with my notebook and he would come up with things that seemed right and I would add lyrics and so on….it was a kind of playful experience more than anything, as where with Max I know a lot more about music now and have more skill so that is different but the most important part is that it has been a much more collaborative effort with Max having a lot of ideas and input into the piece as he has read the book as well (It was not finished when Josh and I were working). Plus Max and I are best friends and lovers so that dynamic is different as well…it is more symbiotic and we are together all the time so always running ideas or thoughts by each other. and he is my super hero!

SCV: It mentions that all the individual track art on your bandcamp page for each release is found in the book The Diary of Ic Explura- A Love Letter to the Transformer. I was blown away when I started going through them, is this the work of one artist or many?

Toni: It is all my own artwork from the book. The book is a picture type book with text, the story is told through letters with some prose and poetry as well filling the story out too. I had always done notebooks (diary type pictures poetry kind of thing), I have tons of them and people would look at them and say I should publish them so I choose that format when I decided to do the Transformer book.

SCV: The images are really amazing, do you plan to utilize them for live shows in any way?

Toni: Well, we don’t have any live shows planned as we both want to do new things, but if we did do something I would want it to be very theatrical and would definitely use images from the book.

SCV: Are you both constantly working on new music or did this project consume a lot of that energy exchange?

Toni: Max is constantly working on music all the time. I usually work here and there. Now that this piece is finished Max is working on a solo record and I am practicing bass and drums and thinking about a new project. And we also plan on doing some kind of new thing/band together that will be totally collaborative.

SCV: Who did you go through for printing on The Diary of Ic Explura- A Love Letter to the Transformer and would you change anything if you could go back and do the prints all over?

Toni: It has never been published or printed up professionally. I sent it out to a few publishers and they all seemed to think it would be very expensive to remake. I still would love to have it published and I don’t think it would cost a lot at all.

SCV: We are starting our multi media label Magnetic Inscriptions within a year or so, we would love to take on that project!

Toni: Well that would be awesome!! It would make a wonderful book and I just think it need to be printed well…it is a very textural book and I think people assumed I wanted it printed with all of the textures, for instance there is a page of hair clippings but I would only be into the letters staying 3 dimensional. I thank you for the offer and would love to talk more about it when you are ready.

SCV: We will definitely love to do something like that. Damn, so areas of the book come out at you?

Toni: Yes, not like a pop up, although in way it pops out sometimes, but it is very 3 dimensional…the letters are in envelopes and you take them out and read them.

SCV: There is a book project based out of New Zealand that does these digital short films of a book and the path the book goes on and how it evolves is so beautiful. That could be a possible approach you could take with your book in digital form. I will send you a link later today so you can see exactly what I am referring to.

Toni: That sounds awesome. It’s funny as a friend of mine suggested something like that to me before. It is a very personal story though so holding it as a book is a rich experience as it is like reading someone’s diary.

SCV: I agree. Did it take awhile to conceptualize all of this? I ask because I don’t see many artists go this length and I have to say I love it so much that you have with your vision.

Toni: It did. I mean initially I had a very basic kind of story and I made an outline, but a very basic one and for around a 6-9 month period i would get up every morning around 6am and start working on it as a book and I just kind of let it go where it wanted to until it was done, The music is almost like another key into the book, it expounds on things as well as offering new insights into the story. I mean the basic story is a personal one based on my relationship with John but it is so much bigger than that now, it has a life of its own that goes beyond my own personal story. I learn a lot from it and still find so many new symbols and teachings in it. Max just said that the music amplifies the emotional resonance of the story. As for how long it took Max and I talk a lot about how everything goes so fast these days and people think they have to deliver art very quickly and put it out, but things take as long as they take if you are in them and really trying to let them emerge. Some things might be quick but people taken 10 years to write novels or someone like Kubrick took 10 years or more to make films and these kinds of things are so rich, I think people should explore that at least once. Max just came up with the SLOW MUSIC movement haha

SCV: I definitely love that style of creation where one moment in time is the shifting phase that sets in motion everything else to come. All the relationships that unfold, all the moments of connection towards those around us, this world and the self. I really feel that on these two albums. Do you hear the record in a different way every time yu listen to it? Or does it grab you at the heart of specific situations?

Toni: I do, it changes constantly to me in many ways, the same with the book. Everything is connected and creates so many tributaries off of initial rivers so to speak so I love seeing those new pathways that emerge from the one.

SCV: You mentioned for part 1 of Ic Explura, the record was committed to tape in John Frusciante’s house, was part 2 done in the same home studio style or did you record this in a studio?

Toni: Part one was made on a digital 8 track of John’s actually, which is what he was recording on at the time and then another session on a tape 8 track as well. Max and I recorded in a home studio of our own and we did recording mostly through logic but also did some stuff on a 4-track and then dumped it into logic. I like a low fi feel myself and both Max and I would like to do something on Tape at some point but Max is very savvy with the computer and getting it to have vibe and such.

SCV: Can’t go wrong with the trusty tascam 4 track, I hate how the new ones are made though with the cheap plastic and the crazy amounts of hiss. A buddy of mine has one from the 90′s and it’s the cleanest sounding 4 tracks I have ever heard!

Toni: I know! I love 4-tracks! Those older ones are excellent, I want another one of those.
Probably not. Life is mysterious.

SCV: Indeed, I know this is far fetched, but when I listen to part 2 I feel like I am watching a musical, with dancers everywhere and a full stage design. Is this something you have ever thought about with the music you create? “Toni Oswald presents super hero Max Davies in a broadway you have never seen…” I get that in my head when I listen to part two.

Toni: That is so cool you feel and see that. I have thought about it as a musical type performance piece for sure. It would be beautiful…like a glam musical. We are laughing at that last part! LOL

SCV: Do you ever catch musicals? I ask cause whenever I bring them up to people, I get the we’re not in the 30′s look and it disturbs me slightly.

Toni: I love musicals and they actually have a huge influence on me musically. I started as an actor and a dancer when I was young and was very influenced by Bob Fosse and that kind of thing as well as early David Bowie which is like a musical and both Max and I love The Rocky Horror Show and Hair. I picture an Ic Explura musical in that kind of vein. But I even love old corny type musicals as well!

SCV: What kind of dancing did you get involved in and is film something you plan to dive into as much as you have with music?

Toni: I started with Ballet and then got into jazz because of Bob Fosse. I stopped though around 13-14 as I got into punk rock I guess LOL I kept acting till only about 6-7 years ago though. I just hated the business. I did make my own short 18 minute film called Desert in the Shape in the early 90′s that John is in and did the music for but it has not been released.

SCV: Are there any plans to release that in the future?

Toni: Tons of people write me all the time wondering haha I would like to but I really don’t know how to do it. I could release it online I suppose but it really is the kind of film that works better live in a room where it is projected big. I would love to do a tour with it and go around and play it to people but I need some sponsorship on that one. I could also see releasing it on DVD I suppose through the right people of course. It is not a pop culture kind of film though. It was inspired by people like Maya Deren and Man Ray and surrealist films of the 20′s and 30′s. It was shot on super 8mm in black and white staring myself, John, a friend of ours Matt Polish and Flea’s daughter Clara when she was 4 years old.

SCV: Wow, I would really love to see this. It would be amazing to do select screenings in various cities along with the film festivals. Whose super 8 did you use?

Toni: A friend of mine named Greg Gibbs shot it all on his beaulieu. He is an amazing painter and back when I came up with the story ( and I am in most of it so I could not shoot it myself) I thought he would be great to shoot it as he was a painter and I wanted that kind of aesthetic and he did an amazing job. It is beautiful and looks like an old silent film.

SCV: What type of music did John compose for the film?

Toni: John made an electronic /experimental type piece that goes perfectly. There is also one song from his album Smile From the Streets You Hold as well as a Maria Callas song.

SCV: Speaking of film, who are some of your favorite directors and what are your favorite films from this generation?

Toni: Louis Bunel, Woody Allen, David Lynch, Maya Deren, Kenneth Anger, Hal Ashby, Bergman, Fellini and more. As for this generation of films I like my friend Aza Jacobs (who actually edited my film), I like the Mexican directors and the Chinese right now a lot, films like Amores Perros or the films of Zhang Zimou. I think The Polish Brothers make interesting films as well. I tend to watch a lot of documentaries these days though.

SCV: Film is something my partner at SCV is really opening up for me. I recently started watching Twin Peaks with my girlfriend for the first time on Netflix and I absolutely love the way it’s made. The part where the little man is dancing with the FBI agent and he looks aged; surreal filming, the scene hasn’t left me since I watched it.

Toni: I am a dedicated Twin Peaks fanatic and so is Max. David Lynch takes you into his worlds and it is such a divine experience for me. Oh and I meant to say as well that I love the filmmaker Terrence Malick and his latest film in theaters now is the best thing I have seen in ages and it is called The Tree of Life. No that sounds wonderful though!

SCV: We covered that at Sound Colour Vibration, I have yet to see it though! Pouya raves about it and is slightly angry at me for not seeing it yet.

Toni: Run! Max and I talk about wanting to see it again, it is so rich and full. Malick is another one who takes ages to create something. He has only made like 5 films in 45 years or something like that.

SCV: I heard Tree of Life took him 20 years to make, I am going to make sure I see it now.

Toni: On the The Tree of Life…it shows!

SCV: I wanted to ask you about vocalist influences. I have been into Linda Perhacs for the last two years and I think of her every time I hear your music. The balance of experimentalism and psychedelic nuances with the beautiful bridge of angelic vocals and lush layering. Do you find her works to be an inspiration and what other vocalist really grab you?

Toni: Wow! That is a compliment as I think Linda Perhacs is unbelievable and I actually only recently got into her through my friend Paula Frazer (who is an amazing singer and musician as well). And I actually did relate to Linda Perhacs a lot when I heard her, so it makes sense in some way. as for vocalist I love that have influenced me I would say Nina Hagen, Scott Walker, Bowie, Siouxsie Sioux, Kate Bush, Polly Harvey, Anita O’day, Diamanda Galas and now Linda Perhacs as well. There are tons of other singers I love but not necessarily in an inspiration type way.

SCV: Indeed, I love a lot of the female vocal groups.

Toni: me too!!!

SCV: Like the Crystals, they are so good.

Toni: I have a great box set called Girl Groups Lost and Found or something like that. I loved how Amy Winehouse was carrying on that tradition. Someone else that really influenced me vocally was a performance artist named Johanna Went who I got the amazing chance to work with int the late 80′s as she did a guest month with a theater group I had with two other guys called Theater Carnivale and she used her voice in so many interesting ways and was so free with it and I know that got in to me later when I started to sing more.

SCV: Adele is doing really great stuff with sound as well like Amy was.

I like her old fashioned thing too although I don’t know her that well.

SCV: I wanted to jump back into Ic Explura. Was there specific guitars and models of instruments you utilized to achieve a certain sound or is there a wide mixture of models used for various intervals of the recordings?

Toni: On part one Josh and I used what we had, which at the time was mainly John’s equipment consisting of two older synths, a Kawaii and a little old Korg, a digital piano he had and then I had a ES 175 Gibson and Josh had a Jaguar…and then we had some drums and percussion stuff as well. I am sure there may be other things but I cannot remember now. As for Part Two we used a Gibson Les Paul, a fender Mustang, a baritone ukulele, acoustic guitars, a bunch of percussion stuff, drums,Roland Juno 106 synth, Korg Micro synth, a grand piano, and a few synths on the computer, a baritone 6 guitar and a few effects.

SCV: Damn, baritone ukulele, that sounds wild! How much time and energy do you dedicate to crafting your sound with all these instruments in mind?

As much time as it takes and that is never a fixed thing. Sometimes it just blurts out easily, other times we can’t get what we want and try a bunch of different things until we find it and sometimes Max has probably been hatching a plan for months.

SCV: I love the line “the transformer wore a coat of mirrors when you first met to remind you that everything you saw in him was only a reflection of yourself”…that line touches home in a deep way with me.

Toni: It means a lot to me when people relate to things in the piece.

SCV: You had mentioned before that you had trouble with the previous label who had put out vol 1, are you a lot happier now that you are able to put it out online and move towards getting it all in print the way you need it to be?

Toni: Absolutely. It was mainly the fact that they were in France and were French and my French is beyond limited so just communicating and the logistics of the distance mad it difficult. I like this much better. we would like to put it out as a double vinyl if we can find someone to do it and distribute it properly and we have some ideas but regardless i am happy at this point. the book coming out would be the ultimate though.

SCV: We will definitely talk later about all of this, we would love to take on this project when our label starts.

Toni: For sure I look forward to discussing it.

SCV: We are going to do 180 gram vinyl prints and a ton of other materials.

Toni: Wow, That is wonderful!

SCV: I have a lot to tell you about the direction of the label, we will discuss that over the phone very soon. Before we wrap this up, I wanted to say thank you so much for your time Toni, this has been a wonderful experience for me. We are huge fans of your sound and I look forward to setting up some stuff for the future.

Toni: Thank YOU so much too!! I and Max enjoyed this too. I really appreciate your support so much!

Below is the two part music cloudcast Toni Oswald made for our podcast series streamed with Mixcloud, enjoy!

Compiled by Toni Oswald and Max Davies
Mixed by Erik Otis

SCV Podcasts Vol 85 (Part 1)

• P.J. Harvey – Legs
• Bauhaus – Boys
• John Cale – Dying On The Vine
• Genesis – Carpet Crawlers
• The Residents – Six Things to a Cycle: Part 6
• The Clash – Lose This Skin
• Donovan – Hurdy Gurdy Man
• Linda Perhacs - Chimacum Rain
• Sun Ra – China Gates
• Nina Hagen – BORN IN XIXAX
• Roxy Music – Beauty Queen
• Nico – You Forgot To Answer

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SCV Podcasts Vol 85 (Part 2)

• Judy Henske & Jerry Yester – Snowblind
• David Bowie – We Are The Dead
• T.Rex – Life’s An Elevator
• The Walker Brothers – The Electrician
• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Stranger Than Kindness
• Eddie Vedder – Society
• Brian Eno – The Fat Lady of Limbourg
• Dino Valente – Children Of The Sun
• Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band – Dali’s Car
• Lou Reed – Coney Island Baby

Toni Roxanne Oswald // Moonchild Vintage
www.etsy.com/moonchildvintage
www.moonchild-vintage.blogspot.com
www.maxdavies.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/TheDiaryofIcExplura
www.facebook.com/MaxDavies