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Sparking Creativity: Indie Rocker After Avalanche

Posted: September 28, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Art, Creativity, Culture, Music, Oregon, Sparking Creativity | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |1 Comment »

As the latest in the continuing Sparking Creativity series, I’m pleased to present an exclusive interview with one of my oldest friends. Shawn (aka Shawnothan, Shawnzabar, Shang Pav, and After Avalanche) and I grew up together in the coastal hills of western Oregon. His formidable musical talents are becoming increasingly appreciated in Portland’s indie scene. Today, Shawn shares about non-musical inspiration, the pros and cons of the internet for musicians, and what happens when a song… isn’t happening. You can find Shawn on Facebook, Twitter, and various other online spaces. Be sure to download his recent Symptoms EP from Noisetrade, and leave him a tip.

Paul: What’s it like to be a musician in the Day of the Internet? What are the boons or challenges in relation to online distribution or promotion?

The internet is both an amazing resource and also a big pain. On the one hand, you have all these amazing companies and networks to promote and distribute your music (Tunecore, Soundcloud, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and so on). On the other hand, EVERYONE is using the internet to promote their band and that poses some problems to really standing out. The biggest challenge truly is how to engage an audience using only the internet. It’s really a hit or miss thing, unless you have unlimited funds to put into advertising.

I have definitely discovered tricks to engaging a wider audience online. Noisetrade has to be my favorite. Without them, I would not have the fan base I have today, and it continues to grow because of that site. For other musicians out there, Tunecore is the definitive place to release an album online for sale and streaming services both.

Big picture now. What drives you to create? 

Sometimes its boredom. Sometimes it’s pain. Other times its just from excitement or whims of inspiration. I can’t go a day without doing something creative. Rather than talk about the emotions I am feeling in any given situation, I like to grab hold of the most prominent illuminating thought and turn it into a song or some other work of art. It isn’t always something worth sharing with the world, but it’s a way of life for me. Much like some people keep a journal, or a twitter account…

You describe your style as having “relentless energy.” Where does that come from?

My passion for making music is the same passion I have for any artistic pursuit I put myself into. Music is definitely my main thing, but its the fact that I am an artist that makes me the way I am. I define an artist as someone who sees order in chaos and meaning in confusion and then attempts to recreate an interpretation of that meaning for others to also see/hear.  I see music as a way of creating a mental picture with more detail and layers than one could paint for the eyes to see.To me, art is a way of exploring the universe in a deeper sense than science or history. It’s a whole different level but just as beneficial to mankind in a more spiritual way. My passion comes from this worldview. Making music is what I am most passionate about, and the energy I put into my music just comes naturally to me. I’m looking to share my passion in a way that other people can feel things relevant to themselves when they hear my music.

Tell us about your songwriting process. How do ideas take shape?
 
It all boils down to what inspiration hits me first: the music or the lyrics. It also depends on the type of song. I have adopted a format with my loop station where I start with a beat that goes for two measures and then I loop some instrumental progression over that. I then take that and began writing rhymes to it, much like spoken word or rap… only I sing it. It helps me to write very rhythmic , catchy lyrics. There are other times though where I get a sudden inspiration for lyrics and have to sit down and pen my thoughts which I will later pick up my guitar and write a tune for.  These inspirations can be as random as a humorous text I receive (in the case of a recent Soundcloud upload called “Lost My Shoe”) or something sparked from thoughts while in my car feeling agitated about bad traffic.  It can be almost anything!
 
What do you do when a concept isn’t working?
 
There are definitely times where I come up with an idea or thought that I really want to make a song from, but it just isn’t clicking. In those cases, I generally put the partially written skeleton of a song on the back burner for a while and put it to the test of time. Believe it or not, while most of them just fade away and get forgotten about, I have more than once revived one of these “skeletons” weeks or months later into a song I end up really being happy with. A good example would be the song “Read Your Mind” from the Symptoms EP. I had written that song a certain way and I didn’t really like the way it came across. I let it go for a while, and three weeks later I had the song you hear on the album.

How do you know when a tune is finished?

That varies from song to song. Sometimes I sit down under a sudden wave of inspiration and write an entire song within a short time frame and it just works. In those cases, it almost doesn’t even feel like I wrote the song… it just sort of happened spontaneously! Other times I just keep writing and messing around with the melody and lyrics until something just sort of clicks. It’s not something I can easily explain. But I have a general rule of never fully closing the creative book on any song. Anything I write is always up for re-interpretation or a re-imagining. Anyone that follows my music on Soundcloud probably knows I have an obsession with releasing a song in different styles, tempos, etc

I’ve heard it said that every artist only has one basic theme that they explore through their craft. While you’re obviously early in your career, do you have any idea what your “single theme” might be?
 
That is a great question! Honestly, I can’t say I absolutely know what that is right now. I have changed my approach to my music a lot over the years, but I suppose I have always leaned towards an experimental exploration of sound. I like to use unconventional methods to create something that is still very accessible and not too far from mainstream. I don’t know if that would be a “theme” necessarily, but its definitely becoming a way to present more of an Icon for After Avalanche, and helping me leave a more memorable impression when I play live shows, etc.  I’ve been building my own custom equipment for a while now: mainly speakers and pedal kits from old vintage suitcases, but i am working on some new “beatboxes” that I will be hooking up to my loop station for some unconventional analog percussion.
The theme of my upcoming album “Pain Killers” is to me the theme of why I make music in general. It’s all about how music has this power, like a drug… to heal, rejuvenate, empower, encourage, and make people feel things like pain, anger, or excitement. It’s fascinating and awesome to me.
Do you see yourself as a singer who writes songs or a writer who sings? 

Well, I suppose am both! It is hard for me to do one without the other. I write words and instantly want to put them to music. I have a melody I want to sing and before I know it I am finding words to fit it. The writing portion is the creativity, the singing is the expression of that creativity.

You often reference other groups (Derek Webb, Foster the People, The Beatles) as influences. What non-musical influences do you look to for creative inspiration?

I am very influenced by visual art and nature. If it makes any sense, I almost hear music when I am out in nature somewhere far enough away from civilization. Also, I have a thing for long road trips. Sitting in a car for hours on end gives way to a lot of creative thought. I also find much inspiration in great storytelling… particularly conveyed in independent and foreign films. Anything that makes me think or question things eventually gives weigh to writing something. I am a huge fan of the book of Ecclesiastes for that reason. I get a lot of good thoughts from the Dalai Lama too.

What is your dream project?

I’m currently working on making it a reality. I also think it would be amazing to have the chance to write the soundtrack for a good film.
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One Comment on “Sparking Creativity: Indie Rocker After Avalanche”

  1. Sparks and Ashes « Some Kind Of Muffin says:
    September 28, 2012 at 10:17 am

    [...] The Chicken And Moonpie Nobot, one of my bands, on there. Today he has a great interview up with After Avalanche. Share this:ShareFacebookPrintTumblrPinterestTwitterEmailStumbleUponDiggLinkedInRedditLike [...]

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