Canvas Solaris is an instrumental prog metal band from USA. Their
musiac is very hard to classification, but really interesting. Check out
our short interview and enjoy it.
Canvas Solaris is not a well known band in Poland. We know that The
Atomized Dream is the fourth album in your discography. How has your
music evolved over the last couple of years? How does this change look
from your perspective?
I think the band has evolved in a number of ways, but most notably
through the addition of our three new members, all of whom bring to the
table a host of different and complimentary sensibilities. Our music has
become more experimental and more varied, but that really started with
our second album. I think you can expect the band to continue to evolve
and change its sound, adding new elements and, possibly, subtracting old
ones. From my perspective, we’re making some of our best and most
original music.
Ben Simpkins was replaced with three people. Chris Rushing, Gael
Pirlot and Donnie Smith joined the lineup. The most interestig thing
about this change is, first of all the fact that there is a full time
keyboard player on board and, secondly the number of people involved.
Chris and Donnie joined immediately after Ben’s departure. They are both
old friends and were, really, the only imaginable replacements. Gael
came several months later through Chris. Having a full-time keyboardist
has really allowed our music to venture down new avenues of sound and
texture. We’ve always employed synthesizers, but it’s a wonderful luxury
to have an actual keyboardist in the band. I think our new music will
attempt to push that aspect
Third and forth album was recorded for Sensory label. Why this
change? What was the reason behind the decision to change the label?
Well, we were interested from the outset in working with Ken Golden and
Sensory. Two of our favorite bands, Spiral Architect and Gordian Knot,
are affiliated with the label, which only made it more attractive. Ken
has a very special vision, and he was really in line with our mode of
thinking. But let me be perfectly clear about something else: Tribunal
was a fantastic label, and we are forever indebted to the label for
their openness and generosity. Matt Rudzinski is an amazing guy, and he
and I are still close friends. Ultimately, we just wanted a change in
landscape, if you will, and Sensory offered us a different sort of
avenue.
Your music is definitely very complex and multilayered. Is it difficult to play it live?
It’s not particularly hard to play, though it does require some degree
of rehearsal. That we only rehearse about every 6 weeks says something
about the amount of work needed to play these pieces competently.
Really, it’s a matter of concentration; live, our music doesn’t allow
for the mind to wander! I’ve certainly been guilty of spacing-out and
missing one or two notes! But, overall, there are no real difficulties
posed by our music.
In
metal archives there’s a mention of a lead singer in Canvas Solaris.
Have you ever recorded any tracks with him? Don’t you think of a full
time a lead singer?
Well, we had a singer pre-Spatial/Design, when we were playing death
metal. We parted ways with our singer in early 2002, right as we were
beginning to write songs like ‘Exstatik Parataxis’ and ‘Camera Obscura.’
There are 9 demo tracks from 2000 and 2001 that have vocals. However,
since we first became an instrumental band, we’ve never thought twice
about our decision. I would never, ever want to have a singer now. Being
instrumental allows us so much freedom, a freedom that we always found
muted by a vocalist. Vocals inevitably become the focal point, and we
don’t need to have our sound defined by one thing. Our music, at this
point, is fairly democratic in the sense that everyone is contributing
pretty equally. I’m so thrilled with the new music that we’re writing at
the moment. This band is really beginning to come into its own, I
think.
It’s been a a while since The Atomized Dream has hit the market. How do people perceive this album?
It’s been received very well lately. When it first came out, I didn’t
see any reviews and did only a few interviews. But lately, thanks to
magazines like yours, things have really picked up. I expected people to
be taken aback—perhaps in a bad way—by the very different approach
taken on this album, but our listeners’ ears have proven quite flexible.
In fact, much to my puzzlement, some reviews have complained about a
lack of difference! How absurd! Ultimately what matters is what we, the
band, think of the music. But it’s always encouraging when others enjoy
and appreciate your efforts.
Why did you decide to play instrumental music?
As I mentioned earlier, by the end of 2001, we were seeking a freer,
more open kind of sound. We found that we were censoring ourselves just
to write for a particular style of vocal. Eventually, we realized that
we couldn’t continue down that path; we simply would have burned out on
playing music. So, we decided to part ways with our vocalist and begin
work on new music. That resulted in the music on ‘Spatial/Design’ and a
few of the songs on ‘Sublimation.’
What are the bands that have and had the greatest impact on your music?
Well, we all individually listen to a lot of different music. But in
terms of what has impacted us collectively: Death, Kraftwerk, King
Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Carcass, Skinny Puppy, Goblin, Enslaved,
Miles Davis, Dead Can Dance, early Dark Tranquillity, etc.
Covers of your previous albums were more abstract. The artwork
included on is full of details and it seems that it fits your music
better. How important is cover artwork for you?
For me, cover art is absolutely crucial. I have always associated the
way a cover looks with the way the corresponding music sounds. So,
naturally, I want there to be a similar connection between our music and
our art. I’d like to think that our albums are comprehensive packages,
where song titles, artwork, and music are wrapped up in a powerful
synergy, and where one element makes the others even stronger.
As for the cover of your latest album, what’s your interpretation of it?
I don’t really have an interpretation of it, per se. I respond to it
very strongly, however. To me it evoked the sort of wintry and surreal
landcape that is summoned by, say, Bjork’s Vespertine album. To me, the
music on Atomized is so different for us, so it seemed reasonable that
we should approach the cover art differently, too. I think it’s a
gorgeous piece of work, and likewise I think that it makes the music
even more powerful. I hope to work with the artist, Mars-1, again in the
near future. He does amazing work.
Do you play in any other bands apart from Canvas Solaris?
I do not. Honestly, I don’t like to divy up my ideas between projects. I
would rather focus all of my energy on Canvas Solaris, and since our
music allows for so many differnt sounds, it really makes sense to play
in this band solely. I recently recorded drum tracks for Chris’ other
band, The Burden of Existence, however, because I was working more in a
session capacity.
What do your concerts look like? Do you use any animations, images or any other stage tricks?
The only stage prop that we use is a wooden model ground sloth that
holds cue cards (and thus ‘speaks’ for us!). We don’t talk onstage,
largely because we like things to be totally instrumental. We’re not a
particularly exciting band, visually, so this adds a little something to
the stage. Really, though, it’s just 5 guys playing songs from the
albums. Hopefully, it entertains people enough!
Will the promotion of the album include any concert tours and is there any chance that Canvas Solaris will play in Europe?
At this point, I can’t see the possibility of any European shows. We can
hardly manage to play together in the states! The band is spread out
across 3 different cities, which makes the logistics of rehearsal and
gigging rather difficult. Beyond that, three of us are married and we
all have full-time jobs, so life obligations and viccissitudes also get
in the way of live work. We have played several shows lately, though,
including two shows with Behold…the Arctopus and Dysrhythmia. We also
recently played ProgDay, which is America’s longest-running progressive
music festival. We would absolutely love to play Europe, but the chances
right now are slim.
Please write a few words to Polish fans.
Thank you so much for your support and for listening to our music. It
means a tremendous deal to us that you would take the time to get into
the music of Canvas Solaris. Thank you, to, for taking the time to craft
such wonderful questions! All the best!
Piotr Michalski/Piotr Spyra
