INTERVIEW WITH DR SPACE OF THE ØRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE
PHIL: I believe it’s the band’s 20th anniversary- happy birthday! I think I was in from the off; you used so send me stuff to review for Acid Dragon, from whom I still review, as well as on my own DISS website. So, you get the best of both worlds: some words in DISS and some ‘same but different’ words in Acid Dragon! I’d like to start by asking you about “Relaxing in the Himalayas”. This was actually first released ten years ago, wasn’t it? And, according to your press release, also in 2021 for Bandcamp subscribers; why release it again now?
DR SPACE: It’s been pretty amazing to have kept this collective going for 20 years. Thanks to all the amazing musicians who make it happen. As for “Relaxing….”, this was a track that was recorded 10 years ago and never saw the light of day until 2021, where it was on a limited CD for our Bandcamp subscribers at first and then later to the public. As it was one 45-minute track, we had many people asking if we would release it on vinyl and we finally decided to do that.
PHIL: The response to the album has been fantastic; only the black vinyl is not, at the time of writing, sold out. It was recorded over a few days of jams in your Black Tornado studios in Copenhagen. So, you had Norwegian HASSE HORRIGMOE of TANGLE EDGE there along with JONATHAN SIEGEL on violin and guitar; K.G. WESTMAN (SIENNA ROOT) on sitar and synths; MATHIAS DANIELSSON on pedal steel and guitar; JONAS BERGE (AGUSA) on organ, piano and guitar, MATS ORBATON on bass, both from Malmö and Alex from GÖSTA BERLING’S SAGA on drums, is that correct? I am intrigued by how you went about a 46-minute (give or take) piece: who came up with the ideas, what preconceptions and discussions were there, how did you decide who did what, who came in where; anything about the process.
DR SPACE: Yes, the musicians’ list is correct. The clear one is only sold out on our web site but still available from Space Rock Productions and Sapphire Records in Germany. We approached this jam like the rest in the session, it was decided KG would play sitar on this one and they choose a key like F, that works well for sitar and rock and off we go. Everyone just listens and follows and the track develops. Sometimes the magic happens like this one and sometimes not. Most everyone likes this track a lot.
PHIL: I am listening to it as I type and I am struck by the vividness of the sound, it sounds like a very disciplined jam and impressionistic eastern influences certainly come through; crescendos and diminuendos, light and shade, very important in any music. I’d like to talk about this in conjunction with your Crescendo festival album which I listened to late last night, which was something very different, a live concert, and yet still very much improvisational. I’d like to use the 32-minute long ‘Colourful Band Man’, which was a standout for me, as an example. When I listened to that, I got very different impressions from listening to “Relaxing in the Himalayas” which is a more unified approach, while on ‘Colourful Band Man’. various ideas and influences floated through my mind: The Grateful Dead at first and then more rooted in eastern culture and music and finally more of a blues-rock vibe to conclude, in other words more disparate and diverse than “Relaxing in the Himalayas”. So, my question is: are there any conscious inspirations or influences, which may differ, of course, depending on who is participating, that you bring to your jams or is it just a melting pot that is difficult to define?
DR SPACE: “Relaxing…” was recorded in a great studio in Copenhagen, the Black Tornado, where all our records were recorded before I created my studio in Portugal. Jonathan did a great job of mixing this one. Sadly, for “Crescendo”, we only got a stereo soundboard to work with but the sound is not bad. ‘Colourful Band Man’ (Jiri, our bass player), is also my stand out track from that concert. The main difference between a studio track and live track is that live, we have not time to discuss anything much except what key to play and if it should be slow or fast and that is about it, whereas in the studio, we can discuss a few ideas ahead of time or not. The line-up of players, the place, the audience, the sound on stage, all influences the jams as well.
PHIL: Also, what was the process for what emerged at the Crescendo Festival. Was there much time for rehearsal beforehand and how did you communicate on stage to signal changes in tempo, theme and so on. It’s a similar question to my second one, but a different context, of course.
DR SPACE: We had not met since May when we played in Germany and Vemund had not played with us in 3 years! Mogens and Tim also did not play on the boat, so it was a different band. No rehearsals… we just decided to start up-tempo and take it from there.
PHIL: Can you tell us about more about the musicians who played with you at the Crescendo Festival; and would you say there is a core membership now of ØSC, or is it just fluid?
DR SPACE: The line up at Crescendo, except for Vemund, guitarist from Black Moon Circle, is the core live line up for the past 6 years or so. Mogens has been the lead synthesizer player since almost the very beginning 20 years ago. Jonathan and Tim first played with us about 10 years ago. Tim is super busy with lots of music projects, so sadly, will join us less in the future. Jiri has been the main live bass player for almost 10 years now as he is amazing. So are the rest of the guys. I have been bringing in new people into the studio and live, there are some old and new people now and then, depending on who can make it and who is available.
PHIL: Are there any pieces that you think turned out particularly well in the studio jam context and in the live performances; pieces that perhaps you would like to explore further in the future?
DR SPACE: The first ØSC session in my studio was in 2022 and lasted 10 days with lots of different people playing, some were here for 3 days others a week, etc. 18 hours of material was recorded so there are a lot of great pieces that you will still hear from this session. The next studio album, “Alotta Hella down in Estrela” is from this session. Another album of longer jams is also nearly finished. The guys also came down in 2023 and 12 hours of music was recorded. There is “Espaço 2” and nearly two other albums of material mixed from this as well. As for live, we have the “Kozfest” DVD coming out next year from our gig in July 2023 over in the U.K. Multitrack audio and multiple camera mix, so this is a really nice one like “Crescendo”.
PHIL: I see that the 4-camera footage DVD of the Crescendo Festival was expensive, nearly 1,000 euros by my reckoning. I believe this isn’t the first time you’ve done this. It is fantastic to see that you have such a fan base to undertake such a project. Is there anything you would like to say about this?
DR SPACE: It was very expensive but it was our first DVD with 4K footage and it was a powerful performance, so it was worth it in the end but we will not make any money on it. I just hope we break even. We are very lucky to have this group of dedicated Bandcamp subscribers, as this motivates me to get more of our music out in the world and create these special DVDs.
PHIL: Finally, what are your immediate plans, and thank you again for sharing your music with us and for taking the time to answer these questions. Please feel free to add in anything you like!
DR SPACE: At the moment, I am focusing on promoting the “Relaxing in the Himalayas” and new West Space and Love III album (LP and CD) our on Space Rock Productions in December. I also released two solo CDs a few months ago, which I am really proud of and have had some great reviews. We will meet in Stockholm in December to make some music for a short animated film and have some fresh jams with new musicians, so that will be fun. Next year will likely see the release of the “Kozfest” DVD, “Espaço 2”, “Alotta Hella down in Estrela”, “Ode to a Black Hole DVD (with 5.1 surround sound mix) and who knows. I have made the vinyl master now for “Glossolalia”, which was an interesting collaboration with Dan McGuire some years ago and this was only ever on CD. This could also come out. Live, we will have the 20th anniversary shows in Copenhagen April 11-12th, 2025. These are going to be a lot of fun, with us playing 2 x 90-minute sets each night with different bands for each set. Some folks that have not played with us in a long time will join, which is great. We will film and record this as well. In May we will have the 10th spaceboat in Hamburg on the 23-24th weekend. Tickets go on sale in January. Tickets for the anniversary show are on sale now. We also hope to have a tour in Sept with dates in Germany, Italy, France, and the Netherlands. I am trying to set this up now.
Thanks for all the support. Peace. Dr Space… Links are below:
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