02/11/2008
VISUAL NOTES - ECSTATIC SUNSHINE: Post-Art-School Not-So-Confidential
ECSTATIC SUNSHINE is a Baltimore-based trio comprised of guitar and electronic soundweavers Matt Papich, Kieran Gillen, and David Zimmerman. All three are schooled visual artists in addition to musicians, and not one of them cares to draw a line between the two. Their unusual and heavily sonic-blanketed compositions border on the realm of intense sound/performance art. Their limited edition 12", LIVING, is unique - it's pressed in mint green vinyl!
LIVING (WILDFIREWILDFIRE Records, 2007)
With the recent farewell to co-founding member Dustin Wong, I wondered what these guys were up to and how their sound was evolving. I sat down with ECSTATIC SUNSHINE for "A Discourse on Contemporary Art" before their show at Johnny Brenda's this Saturday...
THE ART OF QUITTING...
Matt Papich: Dustin quit for a bunch of reasons. He wasn't as stoked on the music that we're doing anymore. Dustin is playing with a band called Ponytail, which is much more of a ROCK Band. This band doesn't have much to do with ROCK anymore. Dustin and I were together for a long time. Our creative fire had burned out.
THE ART OF THE HOME...
MP: We all live together. Our house is called The Floristree in Baltimore. It's a music venue and a DIY restaurant that can exist whenever you want it to.
Kieran Gillen: It's not like a club, with lots of rules. It has a proper stage, all the equipment, but no bouncer and high ticket costs.
THE ART OF PERCUSSION...
MP: The band is becoming more electronic than in the past. We have drums now. It's more...percussive, but we're very into having everything as minimal as possible.
KG: The no drums schtick: It's something that's like...enough! It started as a novelty, a means to make music. ECSTATIC SUNSHINE used that idea to its advantage, then it became too much.
THE ART OF WOULD-WORKING...
MP: I would go back to grad school.
KG: I would go back to school, I would be a professor.
David Zimmerman: I would go to work as an art handler.
THE ART OF ACADEMIA...
JG: We went to school together. I did painting and performance.
Matt Papich: We were in a weird department at school, the original version of the band was for school. I consider art and music with the same rigor, the ideas overlap.
THE ART OF THE CITY...
MP: I'm from Lancaster, PA. Kieran's from Philly. Philly is rad, it seems that people are supportive. There are a lot of bands and a lot of people who go to shows.
THE ART OF CHEESE...
DZ: Oh, all cheeses. I eat a lot of gruyere.
KG: Brie with apples and cinnamon.
MP: I love goat cheese. I like it fried.
THE ART OF EGGS...
KG: Over easy.
DZ: Over easy.
MP: Over easy or poached. Poaching eggs after staying up all last night at 7 am. There were eggs all over the floor. The yolk was dangling from the spoon. I felt bad, we left a terrible mess.
THE ART OF FIRE...
MP: I like a particular lighter...Clipper brand. They're cheap, 2 bucks? I never see them around here, it's the shit. Entirely rounded all the way around. Clipper lighters - that's my interest right now.
Check out this track from Way, ECSTATIC SUNSHINE's new album due out this Spring on Cardboard Records.
VISUAL NOTES is brought to you by Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction - a clothing company that hires innovative, contemporary artists to design exceptional and wearable pieces that combat the troubling possibility of artwork losing its presence and power in our image-saturated society.
MP3
Download 'ECSTATIC SUNSHINE - B'12:13 | 13.98MB
Posted by Robin on 02/11/2008 11:39 AM in Electronic, Experimental, Visual Notes
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