Interview with B'eirth (In Gowan Ring)

To my mind, In Gowan Ring’s music is quite atypical for America…
How did its idea appeared? What are "the roots" of your music?

The ‘Roots’ of the music are, from my perspective, found in the imaginal realm. I myself don’t bother with ultimate philosophical distinctions concerning "collective unconscious" vrs "personal fantasy" because these realms interact and overlap. By and large I may not be aware of the cultural conditionings or unconscious directives that may flavor the style of music I conduct, but it was born of a playful idiosyncratic approach – a personal experimentalism. As I become more familiar with other systems I can apprehend correlating approaches and even see the music as part of some kind of archetypal tradition, but I was never aware of this at the outset.
The music may indeed be atypical of the prevailing American music of this generation and, as for myself, I find it singular in some ways to the music of any generation in any part of the world. However that may be, I would suggest that it is as much informed by threads of European-New-World American music than that of any other place. Certain aspects I would hope to be ‘timeless’ in the sense of dealing with recurrent existential phenomena and so to some extent even trans-cultural, though in the end I suppose it would be basically within an Indo-European context. The Folk musics of the New-World America is by necessity essentially surviving threads, occasional conglomerations or mutations of their European precedents.
The ‘Idea’ for In Gowan Ring was merely the natural crystallization of a creative and poetic impetus that emerged out of fascination with experiments in sound recording and poesy; which I had been spontaneously engaged in during adolescence. A searching to reflect or apprehend peculiar things that charm or haunt the imagination.

All the musicians of In Gowan Ring are taking the active part in creation of the musical canvas, aren’t they? Or are they more of the session players that embody your ideas?

Some of each. Often I will compose parts and run into players for particular instruments. Performances are of necessity much different than recordings because I spend an obtuse amount of time on the recordings (2 or 3 years average) – piecing them together, taking them ‘round with me on picaresque misadventures and hermitic reclusions. But performances, however, put together comparatively quickly with whomever is at hand. By necessity the cast of characters I work with is somewhat fluid. I could define my ‘role’ as that of ‘co-ordinating catalyst’.

Can you tell us, what was your life before In Gowan Ring? 
Were there any other musical projects of yours?

I was acquainted early on with the song-and-Dance routine, playing parts in standard musicals (Cheshire Cat in Through the looking glass; Oliver in Oliver Twist; Sound of Music etc… Oh, and the Gingerbread Man!) This a all made a poignant impression, because I had the opportunity to experience a thespian tribal society, virtually living with the theatre company for months on end while the show was getting up. I suppose one gets spoiled or at least ‘hooked’ I have played in several creative projects since those early days; mostly musical projects though occasionally theatrical as well. A "Surreal Circus" (variety troupe), a cacophonous pop group (‘Mary Throwing Stones’) as well as various short lived experiments and collaborations. My first serious musical collaboration was with a fellow persecuted teenager. We called our project "Subculture" and our sonic constructions were liberally laced throughout with adolescent despair. Our first and only performance was a complete catastrophe, but I suppose its best to deal with public humiliation early on.

Your first album was unbelievably mystical – favour to that unusual witchy voice of a girl. Why did you split up with her? Do we have a chance of meeting her again on the forthcoming albums?

I am afraid there is none but myself to take responsibility for the lyrical renditions on ‘Love Charms’. There are some vocal "coo-ings" on "Listen to Colours" performed by a female friend of mine whom I have not seen for some years. I suppose a single human voice has many occasions for morphological variation and changes through time and circumstance; perhaps especially malleable when experimenting with musical trance-fixation.

Where is In Gowan Ring most popular, to your opinion, in Europe – or in your homeland?

I don’t really know. I used to think Europe, but as far as I can tell it is rather comparable. It is not really "Popular" (as in widely known by people in general) anywhere, but does have a few adherents scattered throughout the world. Of course when I stay in one place for a while, more people in those areas become acquainted with the music through performances. I do think this music is actually accessible to a wide array of individuals irrespective of social segregation (very young children and elderly people for instance). But however that may be, the music certainly does not lend itself to the modern arenas of "Popular" music whether due to an inherent stultification of a jaded populous or the propaganda abetting and pandering to the vapid propensities inherent in mass culture. But let us hope for a shift in the popular uses of music in cultural arenas to better take advantage of it’s harmonizing potential.

As far as I’m concerned, you were brought up in a Mormon family. 
How do they treat your music in Salt Lake City?

I was in fact raised in Mormon family in the Great Lakes (very different climate, other side of continent, further north) by an urban Californian father and a rural Canadian mother. I was, in fact, the first ‘black sheep’ to appear in said family (not a small one). I do however have genealogical ties to "Deseret" (Mormon theocratic state one time at war with the US). My mothers line is from the Fourth Prophet of the Mormon church and my fathers line is from a scout that was on the first reconnaissance of Utah. I have lived in Salt Lake City for various small stints and have made many performances and friends there. As a result the music of In Gowan Ring is fairly well known in arty underground circles and somewhat appreciated.

What do you think, does the city that one lives in, influence the artist? What would your music be like, if you were living in , exempli gratia, Melbourne or Prague?

Well, as it happens, some of the music in "Love Charms" was recorded in Prague while I was living there in ‘92/’93. Certainly the environment one lives in affects the artist and therefor to some degree the art. As for myself, my own vagrancy has perhaps enriched the music as well as hindered the completion of the works. (I think the incessant travelling has done no good for my health either.) It is the experience or interactions in the environments that may nurture the awareness and imaginal potencies that go into the art, which for me is most saliently experienced in less urbanized environments. But certainly Prague is all round one of the more beautiful cities that I have lived in; and the black-light theatre was sublime. There was a conspiratorial artfulness, a magic that lingered in the streets and the stones of old buildings, the kind of atmosphere that Shvankmeyer’s "Faust" presents to good effect.

Talking about the Mormons – what do you think, why did the religion exists as solely American religious tradition?

The New world 1800’s engendered many new religious movements and hodge-podges, few of which survived. The Mormons had a faith suited to their pioneering enterprise and social experiments. Along with the more recent Scientology, Mormonism could be considered as America’s premier religious cult, although the surviving vestiges are considerably less interesting than the mythologized inception.

What inspires you?

Please see question 14 where I deal with this subject.

What was the music, the literature that you were brought up with?

As for music, there was the ubiquitous so-called "Classical"; Then the show tunes that I sang. Concordant with this was HEAVY doses of The Beatles which effectively piqued my imaginative sentimentality. But I recall Simon & Garfunkle, Cat Stevens, Rod McKuen and John Denver as well so there were aspects of the popularized legacy of Folk music that I was exposed to.
Regards literature, I did manage to plunder through the so-called existentialist philosophers (Keirkegaard, Sartre et al.)at an early age. There was the more colourful Baudelair, Yeats, Wilde, Poe (Edgar). Lets see… Greek Mythology was readily available. Emerson & Thaurau, Fancis Bacon, Voltaire. I’ve always quite liked the Sherlock Holmes of Arthur Conan-Doyle.
There was Albert Camus, Huxley and Herman Hesse. This was stuff that could usually be acquired at libraries – some of it even school curriculum reading (I’m thinking Hesse and Emerson) I do recall searching out "channeled" writing which as I remember was not so accessible to obtain then. I did research and reports on UFO’s presumably because I had seen one with my family when I was 7. I would also construct flying saucers with paper plates I suppose inspired by this experience. Lately I’ve had an opportunity to reread Culianu, I can not recommend "Eros and magic in the Renaissance" enough. I think it can be found in several language translations as well as the original French. "The Body Electric" (Becker M.D.) has been keeping me intrigued. While I was in Portugal I went through a lot of Henry James and Thomas Hardy because it was among the few English language books that could be acquired for 2.50Ђ/volume. But I prefer Somerset-Maugham for this kind of evaluational realism. I’ve more recently had access to a more extensive library and have been perusing the psychology/philosophy of R.D. Lang, and the poetry of Christina Rossetti and Kathleen Raine among much else.

Can you name your way of writing music a visioner-alike?

I do feel the music of In Gowan Ring to be within a Poetic / visionary tradition; a tradition that utilized music and the arts as a catalyst for experiences which lie beyond hearing. This tradition could appear as visual art, science, philosophy, poetry, mythology or religion. This impetus or cultural necessity engages the function of negotiating human social awareness with the spirit of natural processes and trans-rational reality.

Do you make the difference between "loneliness" and "hermitage"? Is the last one a real need for an artist?

"Loneliness" can persist in spite of being surrounded by humanity. In fact this is when I tend to feel it most poignantly. "Hermitage" however, for myself, helps to balance the internal processes and so has become a necessity for the higher art to manifest. I believe it to be more or less necessary for profoundly relevant art. Solitude is for certain temperaments psychedelic. A certain personal energy tends to build up.

The live CD "Live at the Mizpah - May 28th, 1999" you sent us is magnificent, bright and emotional. It’s the rare case, when a recording keeps the air of a performance… Can you tell us more about the concert?

This was the last performance in the itinerary with the ensemble that I was working with and it was unscheduled – that is – it was thrown together a few days before hand since we were in the area. We also had a few extra musicians with us, friends from the area (Portland, Oregon) so there was a cast of six. I had only met Annabel some days before when we played another house show at Markus Wolff’s house. I practiced with Annabel some of the themes of the songs we were to play the day before, but without a full group practice. The Mizpah church was segregated into living quarters and actually later next year I ended up living there for a while. This performance was the first time I had met Michael Northam who was living there at the time and who recorded the show. We had a very comfortable atmosphere with fruit and tea among other amenities.. I think that everyone enjoyed themselves, myself included.

Amongst the musicians there we saw a name of Annabel Lee, a violinist famous due to her recordings with Blood Axis and Waldteufel. For how long do you know her? What do you think of her – as a person? 
As a creative musician?

As we had only met a few days before hand (talking of music and exchanging melodies), I was surprised at her alacrity in picking everything up so quickly. Since that time I have had the opportunity to play with her for concerts in Portugal ("Ring of Fire and Blood" – Fire+Ice, Blood Axis, In Gowan Ring) as well as farmers markets, gigs at elementary schools and "developmentally challenged" (i.e.: bad kid) schools. I think that she may be the best violinist I have had the opportunity to play with. The qualities on the Alraune recordings are rare and I enjoy her contribution to the Walteufel & Blood Axis recordings. She will also be featured on the next In Gowan Ring album "Hazel Steps through a Weathered Home".

We're trying to translate or, so to speak,- to interprete your poetry into Russian, for it‘s too impressionistic. It"s some Joyce, cummings and Elliot flavour - and this alchemy of word reminds me of Velimir Hlebnikov. So, could you tell what leads you on your way of writing poetry?

There is usually a single minded immersion in some particular contour or savour of being that is deemed significant. There is a Seeking without striving that fosters a revelation off the animate essence. The seed or vision of the work is a spontaneous gift of generation, yet there need be an open space for the collection of impressions. Sometimes one can experience the world in lucid forms but the fragility of this lucidity necessitates a material home for these impressions lest they become effaced. This is the major impetus of Poetry: To communicate ideas and ways of being that are not potentially communicable by other means. There are some theories of linguistics that regard the exchange of language ass a chemico-physical process. This is an idea that I find relevant: that poetry and language may elicit a chemical change within both propounder and audience; that the iterated word modifies emotional (among other) response is empirically obvious, yet we must consider what gardens of knowledge and co-relations are secreted from our apprehension… Knowledge is transmitted through vibration; Knowledge IS patterned vibration moving through all the world which is also a conglomeration of variously patterned vibrations.

Do you have any contacts with people from Neo-Paganist, Heathen or Occult society?

A few.

Do you practice magic or the craft?

"Magic" is an aspect of the existent world that can be observed or ignored. "Magic" (in one aspect) is a bonding relevance or synchronization of the individual with the cosmos. I think it is important to be as aware as possible of what one creates around oneself (or brings to oneself) and this taking of responsibility is an aspect of Magical mindfulness. Music is of the more potent Magical engagements that I know of and has traditionally be granted an awesome power over the phenomenal world. Currently I do not invoke the quintessence of Azymoithe at sunrise, nor in withershins do I plume whispered oblations unto the Golden Ass, being at present occupied with other projects.

What do you think of different hallucinogenic or psychotrope substances? Do you use them in the process of writing songs? If yes – how do they influence the music?

I have used hallucinogenic experiences in the process of my own development, which of necessity would influence the processes of writing songs as well as other creative actions. At a key juncture in my life psychedelic experiences may have reaffirmed my regard for imaginative functions that I had associated with a surreal childhood or an unrecoverable innocence. I would not say exactly that I "use" them for writing songs but of course songs are the distillations of experiences. I’m sure many different substances have a long and varied relationship with humans that we may be only dimly aware of today. certain of these substances have been known to be cathartic or beneficial to foster specific ends. Some plants or chemical compounds thereof could most realistically be regarded as ambassadors of a kingdom. But their Kingdom is in a wider sense a part of us as they relate with our neural network in specific ways that denote a complex and inherent superstructure. Above much else I think it important to respect these experiences with preparation, precaution and intent if they are to be of any value and if one is not to ‘get burned’. In general I would de-emphasize the role of psychotropic substances in regard to its possible influence in the creation of the music. People tend to marginalize unfamiliar traits in art they find strange, assuming them to be the product of drug addled minds when these tendencies are often inherent in the idiosyncrasies of certain creative modes with or without the aid of enhancement. It does not take being tripped-out to display peculiarity, bizarre fascination, or ecstatic mania. Drugs in and of themselves are not necessarily a source of creative, magical action, or transcendental being as can be readily attested to by abounding casualties on all sides.

Somehow you’re an American child. What’s your opinion of American mass-culture?

American mass mono-culture ass espoused by Big Mac™ and shopping malls has indeed produced symptoms like unto a cancerous growth and could easily be seen as an aspect of an unregenerate, dying civilization. However in actuality American culture is multifarious as that of any large landmass would be. "Mass-culture" is not real but only becomes to seem so through these same means of subtle imperialist propaganda (TV, capitalist expansion of mediocre big-business similitude, engineered fashion & fabricated fads, "educational" institutions etc) But this kind of technologically driven materialism is a trans-border phenomenon. Americans may have apparently more thoroughly succumbed to the bait on account of a lack in deeper traditional identity or relation with place.
I mean here that it is easier for European bound culture to remember their traditional identity on account of subconscious traditions inherent in more established long term relationship with environment. Even the long standing edifices have their effect. But it seems even these reminders are effete against the ubiquitous malaise of modern parasitism. Americans are perhaps naive and easily fooled, but it seems now men everywhere are naОve and easily fooled. The trappings of what is seen as American mass-culture can appear disgusting and repellant in the extreme but it is important to discern the disease. It is absurd to vilify a general populous for crimes that are committed by a manipulative elite caste of imperialists (masquerading as a "country") even if much of the general populous is duped into going along or doesn’t notice. Most of the populous’ everywhere are duped into going along to some extent or don’t notice having been dulled with incessant propaganda or narrow minded obsessive belief systems. I find it ironic in the extreme when those living in Europe exult in the refinement of their modern milieu of popular culture (as compared to North America) just as when I see Americans exult in their supposed "freedom". Its not that it isn’t true to some minor degree, but that the distinction is so paltry in relation to the scope of possibility. To be truthful, the dearth of a meaningful cultural cohesion is symptomatic on most parts of the colonized planet at this time and is due (I believe) to a lack of genuine relationship with Land and Spirit.

Can you name any of the neo-folk or dark folk bands your "counterparts"? Nope. Can you?
When are you planning to release your next album? Is the work already on its way?

"Hazel Steps through a Weathered Home" has been recorded and is nearly completed. I hope to have it released by sometime in Autumn as it is particularly suited to audition in this time of year.

What would you say to your Russian listeners?

There is an aesthetic sense that is in danger of extinction. When one lives within this sense, certain music can be regarded as a means of survival in an increasingly hostile environment. It would be a truism to suggest that the aesthetic sense is requisite for meaningful existence, but it is less and less avoidable for me to conclude that the aesthetic sense is ultimately a required sense for human and non-human cohabitation, and therefore, survival of the human species. If the extent of one’s perspective is merely human than one is divorced from the absolute reality that forms the basis of existence. Music can be used as an invigorating tool in attempting to revivify the atrophied abilities of the human organism to relate meaningfully (hence responsibly) with the world at large. Music and the arts do have the power (however seldom actualized) to guide man to an awareness and contemplation of the higher beauty of an ultimate reality.

What do you dream of? While you re asleep, surely?

I often dream of reconfigured spaces, hidden rooms within rooms and people I’ve never known. Little lives with games inside. I do dream of peopled situational events as well as abstract non-anthropomorphic experience. There is one remarkable recurring dream I have had where all of the psychical landscape or seeming physical universe (spread out in open space) implodes into nothingness within an instant while at the same time this cosmic event is somehow married with the plucking of a flower in a void. When I was young I thought of it as the "Universal Trash Compactor Effect".

And the simple one: Who are you?

I am one with the Weaver of Roses.
I am the Watcher of the Wonder Flame.
I am a manifold of innumerable futures.
I am the dew on fleeting bloom in the Moonlight Gardens.

The official In Gowan Ring website

Interview by Seidr
2001-2002

 

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