Interview – I And I Will Survive


Hello I And I Will Survive, and welcome to College Radio Charts! How has the summer been treating you?

This summer has been a flurry of activity. It started with digging into the whole catalog of old music and I decided to release it all despite some lack of completeness and sound quality. When I first started creating music I had few resources and had not learned fully how to master my tracks, that being said they still had a unique sound blend and diversity of sound and felt its important to make available to contextualize the evolution of sound.

This resulted in the re-release of Walls of Babylon and Wingspan Overture, and the new release of Singularity and Wasteland, as well as the release of some of the earlier tracks in the remainder of the Phantom Dynasty Trilogy, which was supposed to a trilogy of albums with some of the most central work of the early sound. Most of which, many tracks had been just lying around collecting dust.

On top of that I began working on Origins which would mark the re-introduction and evolution of my musical journey. Shortly after this came to fruition and I marked Origins for release, 2 different friends inspired me and pushed me to expand my production approach and abilities and I started investing in better tools and applying new knowledge to my craft. One of these individuals being Dan Vadnais who has been working on music production for his YouTube channel “Breathwork Beats”, Thus I ended up pulling together the pieces for the album Spectacle. Even though Origins was just about to drop, I could have waited to put out another new album, but there’s more in the works and I wanted to get it out so people could have a broader exposure to the sounds and a chance to follow the musical journey and evolution, because my new music will cater to a much broader audience than before.

Your latest single “Spectacle” has a powerful and almost otherworldly energy. Can you walk us through the creative process behind this track? What was the initial spark that inspired it?

At the time Origins was being completed, the universe put me in the path of a spiritual collective known as the Royal Starseeds who have a vision for a project that is in alignment and we began collaborating on some sounds. In that process one of the girls was sharing some songs produced by some of the top EDM artists at present, and so the spark initially was experimenting with my new tools and styles of music. This ended up in Spectacle bringing the tribal otherworldly elements that is inherent in my sound to a harder, more mainstream EDM Techno sound whilst sprinkling in some of the fundamental tribal and psytrance elements.

Upon incorporating the learnings from creating Origins and new sounds to work with, I produced most of the tracks for the whole album in a matter of weeks. I started out just experimenting and getting into focused flow and letting the work manifest, This ended up with a new defining sound for I And I Will Survive setting the stage for the next album already in the works that is set to launch the new sound beyond Spectacle.

My musical influences stretch far and wide as we touch on later, but for some reason while I was working on this project lyrics from Fear Inoculum by Tool popped in my head “Exhale, expel Recast my tale, weave my allegorical elegy Forfeit all control You poison You spectacle” How appropriate for a defining moment in my musical journey as I am redefining and re-imagining the entirety of my creative outlet and artistic expression.  Spectacle is defined as “a visually striking performance or display.”

And the synchronicity of life always makes things appear more magical and curious, thus the ‘spectacle’ of life, and the appropriately named album and title track. The first track “Mechanics of Time” also came into play here philosophically speaking. Most of the time the tracks name themselves, I don’t name them, the name just comes while the work is speaking to me. In this case Mechanics of Time could refer to the mechanism of time, or it could refer to actual beings, entities that act as mechanics behind all the happenings in time. It might sound odd, but much of the work just comes through me, sometimes i don’t even remember making the song as I am so ingrained in the process.

How did you get your start in music? Did you come from a musical family?

Not at all, but as a kid I loved music. It was my solace and sometimes my escape. I would listen to whatever I could find. I was in the school band in 5th grade for a little while playing trumpet but it didn’t last long. In my teens after school I would watch MTV back when they actually played music videos and drew a lot of inspiration from mainstream influences like Smashing Pumpkins and the Offspring, who would guess right? I also had a lot of appreciation for old school classic rock, and many varieties of music, and especially Pink Floyd early on, so I always knew there was better or different music out there and so my taste evolved especially as I began to discover different genres and music from around the world.

What is your earliest musical memory?

As a kid I remember sitting in my room listening to Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins on CD in my Sony discman. I also remember when I discovered my moms record player and 8 tracks and would sit around all day listening to classic rock like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd. As for techno, when i was young, my sister and I would wait for the 90’s dance music power hour on our local radio station to hit at 9PM on Friday nights, and we would throw our own dance party to 90’s house and techno hits like Real McCoy, C+C Music Factory, Ace of Base, and Technotronic. Funny enough in the last few years when I revisited Ace of Base, I realized their focus on simple yet pronounced melodies had a lasting impact on my recently evolved approach to my production. (And shout out to them for being the most underrated artist of the 90’s)

You mentioned that the history of I And I Will Survive began around 2000, during the explosion of modern technology and the rise of the internet. How has technology shaped your music, and how do you see its role in the future of music creation and distribution?

In the early 2000’s Myspace came on the scene and being a musician and a creator was the thing to do aside from learning HTML to update your MySpace Wallpaper. I was already in rock bands with friends but I never fully vibed with what we were making because my taste and exposure to all these different styles and genres was so broad. One day I was at my cousin’s house for a family gathering and her boyfriend at the time loaded Fruity Loops 3 onto their family computer.

We were all still in high school and he was this kind of off brand preppy dude that drove a Nissan GT or something like that, so I wasn’t really sure what was going on but when he opened up this program and started making beats with the visual clocks lighting up as the colored blocks moved by I was intrigued. Later on I downloaded Fruity Loops 3 myself and started playing around and eventually downloaded some drum packs. I have evolved through multiple versions and now officially on FL Studio 20.

This was around the time Napster came out and I started seeking out all types of sounds and one day downloaded a bunch of bollywood music and heard songs like Jaan Pehchan Ho, and something Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan that tripped me out so hard I couldn’t believe what i was hearing. Somewhere along the line I picked up the album “Chants of India” by Ravi Shankar and George Harrison. When I discovered Ravi Shankar this was a defining moment where I knew I wanted to explore more about classical Indian music and philosophy and take these sounds and mix them into some of the electronic music I had been getting introduced at the time like DJ Shadow, STS9, Pretty Lights, and Thievery Corporation.

Then one day “Hold Your Color” by Pendulum came out and blew everyone’s mind. I think I speak for the EDM scene collectively when I say this was a historic and defining moment. For me personally this caused a major shift towards Techno/Drum and Bass for me mentally in music at the time.

Being strictly driven by computer beats and techno production technology is inherent in my music. Also with the times was heavy influence from the Matrix trilogy, religious philosophy, and an awakening consciousness perspective that has largely driven the evolution of humanity since that time. I see it as taking a rational approach to mysticism and pop culture conspiracies, and tie it all together holistically as part of humanity’s spiritual awakening. Technology has driven so much of this evolution by connecting and sharing ideas and doing so much good to improve our lives, and now we are seeing the dark side of that has become more pervasive in mainstream culture such as misinformation, covert agendas, political warfare and distrust for authority. With that I see the music as a quintessential tool for the evolution and awakening of individual consciousness by inspiring listeners into a contemplative state on the truth of their existence.

It can be seen as mere entertainment but without a higher purpose the music would lose its value over time, thus the work to me is a spiritual mission and that is what infuses the soul into the music. There was a psychic and advocate for holistic health in the mid century named Edgar Cayce who made a lot of fascinating predictions about the future of humanity and the most relevant thing he said was that “music will be the medicine of the future.”

Computer beats and making music for me was just a means of expressing not just the love for sound and music, but the ability to evoke emotion, drive introspection, share spiritual lessons, holistic philosophy, and questions about life and existence as a means to inspire others to seek greater knowledge of life and awareness of self, a sort of catalyst for the spiritual evolution of those who are looking for it.

The name “I And I Will Survive” carries a strong sense of resilience and individuality. What does this name represent for you, and how does it reflect your journey as an artist?

One of my many music phases was reggae, (of which I am still a big fan). Barrington Levy, Burning Spear, Bob Marley, etc … In one song (maybe a dub remix, i don’t even remember) the artist would refer to himself as I And I, and said I And I Will Survive. A lot of Reggae is very spiritual, and so you can add Rastafarianism to the list of influences when it comes to religious philosophy. I became fascinated by this idea, I And I refers to the self or the individual being as one “I” and the other “I” as God or the divinely perfected aspect of being that is one with god. So that was the name and it stuck.

There was a time when I thought of changing the new music entirely under the name Phantom Dynasty (Which eventually just became the name of the label/publisher, and the name of a trilogy of albums instead) and M3TATRON (referring to Archangel Metatron with 3’s as the master number for christ consciousness), but this ultimately got used for another project that was never released. At this time, I And I Will Survive is about this very legacy, the knowledge, philosophy, relevant sound at this blip in time making a dent in the universe and carrying forward into infinity.

Your music seems to draw from a vast array of influences, from Ravi Shankar to Infected Mushroom. How do you blend these diverse sounds into a cohesive artistic vision?

This is a result of having so many influences and diversity flying around as I was discovering all these different sounds and genres and finding a way to mix them and blend them into what i was drawn to creating at the time. I covered a lot of influence so far and the artists that influenced me over time are part of these different phases of which there were probably too many to mention. As I was discovering world music and psytrance, the 90s techno and classic psychedelic rock like Pink Floyd was already ingrained in my musical taste, and so the more diverse pond of ideas I can draw from the more the boundaries dissolve and the more possibilities come about. As mentioned so far, probably my personal favorite artists as a whole include Pink Floyd, Tool, Ace of Base, The Offspring, Smashing Pumpkins, Ravi Shankar, and Pendulum, with hundreds more unnamed despite their probable relevance.

With such a wide array of influences, what’s the one album or artist you always return to for inspiration, and why?

This is definitely a tough question. For now I return to my own work, to understand what’s there, why and how it was done at the time, what I would do differently now and how I would evolve the sound. Based on everything I’ve shared so far, one artist would be impossible. I look at those key pivotal moments starting with Pink Floyd and classic rock and the 90’s techno, and the classical Indian music, the trip hop lounge days of Thievery Corporation, STS9, and DJ Shadow and my reggae and gangster rap days with many years of pop punk, progressive rock like Tool and into the fusion of rock and techno Pendulum. Since that time EDM Techno and House has evolved in so many amazing ways where key mentions would include mainstream house and EDM artists like Kaskade, Tiesto, David Guetta, Kaaze, Don diablo etc.

These have all become a source of influence for me. Inspiration for me as I described above is part of my spiritual path and music is just part of the exploration of soul and a creative outlet. In other words it’s just a way to express and share that inspiration with the world. I would certainly add a notable point to this in that growing up with the albums Undertow and Aenima by Tool and experiencing the apparent spiritual transformation that occurs with Lateralus and 10,000 Days did have a huge impact over the years and Tool definitely contributes to some of the darker elements of my music that makes it a bit different from standard mainstream EDM or House music.

The description of your music as an ‘artistic transfusion’ is intriguing. How do you approach the creative process when combining genres like EDM, psychedelic trip-hop, and tribal house?

At this point I can’t explain it. It comes upon me as a strong urge and desire to create, and the style comes out of the moment. Thus Many of my songs vary in tempo, style, approach and sound. I probably spent the first 10 to 20 years of my life absorbing all these ideas and sounds and varieties of music. At a certain point I just have so much creative power backlogged in my mind it just comes out uncontrollably when I’m in a creative flow.

Your track “Spectacle” has been described as a sonic awakening. What message or experience do you hope listeners take away from it?

The song Spectacle is also part of the album of the same title. As soon as Origins was complete, it marked a sort of transition from the old school mystical chill-out lounge psychedelic techno combo into a more refined, modern and updated/sophisticated house style that is the culmination of the sound that began it all.

While Origins was all about the origin of new sound, revisiting the inspiration that started my journey creating music in the first place and creating from a grounded space of spiritual oneness I was reflecting on the past and integrating it into the now, whereas Spectacle the album came out just a month later and marks the shift towards the future, from a space of awe where I had a new perspective and a view of life’s events and synchronicities some of which seem truly unbelievable. Thus spectacle is relegated to that ebb and flow of life.

The eyes in the album cover symbolize the observer effect on reality and acceptance of the duality and revelation of this spectacle of life and our part in it, and so I guess it could be described as a sonic awakening, that’s actually quite a ‘download’ from the song if you will. There was no initial intention behind it other than what exists for the artist as a whole, and I think that’s it, its awakening a new brand, the next step in evolution of sound for this work. Reflecting back on the art as a whole, it has surely been part of a great big spectacle, and so the name fits.

You’ve got a fascinating backstory involving Y2K, aliens, and the internet. How does this narrative shape your identity as an artist and the music you create?

Ha well I’m not sure how this came about but I was definitely alive during Y2K and I remember the big whole stink about the world is going to end because computers are all going to crash which funny enough actually happened a couple months ago with that cloudstrike thing, but certainly nothing happened in Y2K. I even remember finding a VHS in a thrift shop in the 2,000s of some doomsayers talking about the travesty of Y2K that never happened. It’s a key point here that we simply can’t believe things because they are published on the internet or spread about as rumors, or even in cases where they’re seemingly published by credible sources. The only test of truth and credibility is your soul and spirit which recognizes and discerns the truth.

In 2012 when the world was supposedly ending according to the Mayan calendar, I was in my early heyday as an artist after creating Daylight Savings and I timed multiple releases for this event. It’s part of our collective experience and its part of the intrigue, fascination and wonder that forces people to explore outside the boundaries of the regular from time to time. I’m not sure where aliens came from here as a topic but I guess it’s the same thing. It goes along with the spiritual journey, discerning and rationalizing the unexplainable experiences, exploring the possibility of paranormal and psychic phenomena, and exploring the idea of starseeds and benevolent light beings that pervades some areas of folk spirituality. With my interest in religious and spiritual philosophy, I would say there is more so inherently a link with my music or music history in general and shamanism.

Humans evolved throughout history with certain guides and mystical gurus who could understand, interpret and explain these phenomena in a way that sparks fascination and intrigue from the masses. And it would be wise to mention that this too has a dark side in history concerning cults, religious control, sectarian manipulation etc. and is part of the journey of awakening. Our experience of life and reclaiming our sovereignty as divine beings or having a spiritual experience is also part of that. I don’t see myself as a guru or anyone’s guide, but the experience of my music acts as sort of a guide through my journey and acts as a tool by sharing these ideas and feelings/emotions to help others to explore in the expanding of their own consciousness and awareness of life and spirituality.

Your catalog is quite impressive, going back 20 years! How has the industry changed during this time for you as an artist?

Certainly as I mentioned I went through many phases. I almost wiped all the old work off the face of the earth. I wasn’t happy with who I was at the time and how it represented me now, and stopped creating for many years. The quality and mastering of the old ways was also not exactly up to par but eventually I realized erasing it would cancel out the backstory and evolution that will become critical to the end user’s experience of the whole body of work.

Probably I could say as my new music expands its audience, more devout fans will begin to see what they’ve been missing. I was never part of the industry, I just made art. I think where things are going a lot will change, but I will probably never sell any of the older catalog. I have been collaborating on a Joint Venture with LX Xander, a billboard charting producer who is reworking some of my sounds into Hip Hop Beats for various artists, of course I can’t say for who but that  secret will be out soon enough. Aside from that I am coming into an era where I will be capable of navigating the industry, but solely on my own terms.

Are there any dream collaborators you’d like to work with in the future?

Certainly I would love to work with any of the artists mentioned here, Pendulum, Maynard from Tool/Puscifer, Ace of Base etc. but I’ve also learned over the years it’s best not to meet those you are a ‘fan’ of to avoid disappointment and lose the relationship with your experience of their work, but I am open to it if the opportunity ever arises. Also, based on some of the beats LX is producing, it would be cool to be a producer for some of the top hip hop artists just for the heck of it.

What’s next for I And I Will Survive?

More music. Even Better. Better production quality, infusing my trademark elements into new styles, new experiments, and most of all just sharing what I have out there with the world, and hopefully eventually some shows. I have never really done any Shows or DJing but eventually it will be in order. I am also excited to see what LX does with some of my tracks and what artists we end up going platinum with. He is quite a talented and highly sought after producer in the world of Hip Hop and has worked with big names like Rick Ross and Riff Raff. I’m also collaborating with a female DJ to produce some future house music for some festivals and events and will release that music as “I And I Will Survive & The Royal Starseeds” For now, we are just marching towards the future.

Thank you so much for spending some time with us today! Where can people to find out more about you and your music?

Everywhere – ITunes, Spotify, YoutubeMusic Amazon etc.

YouTube:

Website

www.iandiwillsurvive.com

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