Clang Quartet – Slow Death For The Peacemaker

1. You have collaborated with many artists over the years, including Mike Watt, Ariel Pink, and Acid Mothers Temple. Can you discuss some of your favorite collaborations and how they influenced your work?

I have performed shows with Ariel Pink all over the USA. So far, our collaborations have not seen the light of day. I certainly hope they will one day! Acid Mothers and their many different members have shared many different stages with me in the US and Japan. Makoto Kawabata is the main person I have worked with. We have performed many shows with just the two of us. He is a tremendous improviser, and he really gave me a workout on our shows together! We are also part of a long distance recording project that I think is one of the best things I have ever been a part of. Mr. Mike Watt and Benjy Johnson are also involved. We have one album out now, and the band is called Spirit Of Hamlet. I am also working with a videographer/photographer who has worked with me in the past. His name is Chad Perry, and I think he may be as wacky as me! I have worked with many people since 1979. In addition to the ones I have mentioned, I would say Eugene Chadbourne is one of the most influential people I have worked with. He was an enormous help to me when I first started Clang Quartet, too. I also must mention my former bandmates in Geezer Lake. There would probably be no Clang Quartet if I had not been a member of that band first. Any artist I work with makes me a better artist just by giving me a chance to play or perform with them.

2. Your music often deals with heavy subject matter and contains elements of catharsis. How does your personal life and experiences inform your music?

More often than not, my personal life is the main thing on display. My love of Jesus, my belief that no matter what happens to me that God will get me through it, and the actual parts of my life that I choose to share not only provide a storyline to what I do with Clang Quartet, but it also provides the catharsis you mentioned. Absolutely.

3. You use homemade instruments and sculptures in your performances. Can you tell us more about the process of creating these instruments and how they enhance your music?

 The instruments, some of which I wear, are extensions of my artwork/percussion/noise aspects of what I do. I mentioned earlier about combining things that don’t normally go together, and each homemade instrument could have a paragraph on how I do that. They are all self-portraits in a way. My original goal for these instruments was to find other ways to create percussion and other extended sound ideas. Eventually, they became major visual parts of my live shows.

4. Slow Death For The Peacemaker marks a transition in sound for Clang Quartet, with the use of lyrics and a more targeted approach to composition. What led you to make this transition and how do you feel about the result?

 It’s actually a sister album to my 2020 release, JUDGE THY NEIGHBOR, LOVE THYSELF. That was the very first release that included a lyric sheet. That album also had more guitar riffs on it. Those were originally going to be used for a project outside of Clang Quartet. Long story short, I decided to skip the headache of trying to establish ANOTHER project and decided to branch out a little more with Clang Quartet. It occurred to me that CQ was mine and had changed a lot over the years. Why not add some other ingredients? A SLOW DEATH FOR THE PEACEMAKER is hopefully continuing to show that CQ has some surprises. I still think it can be called CQ, but I can’t keep doing the same thing over and over and expect it to remain interesting. This new one hopefully shows the new branches on the old tree. Yes, I just compared myself to a tree. Ha!

 5. The proceeds from sales of your new album through Strange Mono are being donated to Second Harvest, a hunger relief charity in North Carolina. Can you tell us more about why you chose to support this particular charity?

 I have seen with my own eyes how much hunger effects people. North Carolina is certainly not immune. Second Harvest was brought to my attention by a local news station, and I thought they lived up to words said about them. “I was hungry, and you gave me food…” -Matthew 25:30

 6. Your music has been called both brutal and endearing. How do you balance these two elements in your work?

 That’s a good question! I don’t know if I have an answer! I would say that I listen to a lot of music that could be called extreme in both hardness AND softness. Somewhere along the line I’m sure that has affected my creativity.

7. You have been performing and recording as Clang Quartet for over two decades. How has your approach to music evolved over time?

 I originally got into music for less than stellar reasons. I was interested but not in love with it, so to speak. I didn’t really start taking it seriously until I’d been playing a few months. So, my approach to music has VASTLY improved over the years! I think what I have to say next is coming up in your next question…

 8. What advice do you have for aspiring musicians who want to create unique and unconventional music like yours?

 Don’t go into any music like this halfway. Frank Zappa commented in a guitar magazine something along the same lines. This is the kind of music that I personally feel you have to jump in the deep water to do. No shallows in this! Be prepared to be laughed at, because you will be. The majority of the people who laugh don’t have the courage to do what you do, and they know it. You may lose some so-called friends for doing this, but if they don’t believe in you, you don’t need them to hold you back anyway. When creating, think more like a child than an adult. If you give a child a box of crayons and some paper and give them NO RESTRICTIONS, the results you get will from them will be far more interesting than the same results you get from the adults. Most adults have their OWN restrictions but can’t be free enough to play by their own rules. Don’t think outside the box, there IS NO BOX. Don’t be afraid. Do it because YOU want to, not because others do.

‘A Slow Death For The Peacemaker’ is coming out April, 11th via Strange Mono/No Rent Records – Strange Mono (bandcamp.com)

* Clang Quartet – photo credits: Derek Rush.