FAULT: You describe your sound as / Electronica / Psychedelic /Trance Experimental. How do you keep your sound so unique?

Wow, that’s a great question. Well, I try to experiment with several different genre’s and not limit myself to just one particular style. I think that helps. Also, I’m always exploring new sounds to incorporate into my music and it can be anything from a roaring car engine to the frogs singing in my back yard.

For me music is very fluid with many different dimensions and emotions and I try to incorporate that idea into everything I create. Basically, I want my music to personify not only our human nature, but the environment in which we live and the only way to produce that, for me, is to keep it multi-dimensional.

FAULT: Who did you grow up listening to?

I have several fond memories of the classic, “Peter and the Wolf”. My mother purchased this vinyl record for me when I was 7 years old – imagine that an actual record….am I that old? (Laughing) Anyway, I must have listened to that vinyl a thousand times, and I still do to this day. I absolutely love the wolf’s instrumental, still gives me chills.

It’s important to know that both my parents were musicians because they greatly influenced my concept of music at an early age. My mother sang and played guitar while my father played the drums and bass. They primarily toured around the eastern United States with undersigned bands. They played a lot of cover tunes from bands like Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Hendrix, Heart, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Black Sabbath… These bands were my first real introduction to live music – and it was so great to listen to. Around 12 years old, I began to exploring Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys, Motley Crue, Johnny Coltrane, Metallica, Moby, Rimsky-Korsakov, J.S. Back, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, and the list goes on and on. I try not to limit myself to one particular style of music. For me it’s like eating pizza all the time, how boring!

FAULT: You are a Composer as well as a and Musician, would you ever consider creating a film score?

Heck yeah!! If music is involved I’m there! If I were to be given the opportunity to create music for film, I would gladly welcome the experience.

FAULT: What are you currently experimenting with?

I would say a very synthetic and alien sound, but I’m also trying to balance that out with a natural and orchestrated adaptation. On occasion, I’ll try to push a sound to its ultimate limit, and just when I think it won’t go any further-push it some more. This pushing gives me an understanding of the qualities and limitations for the instruments or sounds I work with.

FAULT: What does Olympians Fall mean to you?

I got the idea for Olympians Fall when I was working on a theme for my first album. I wanted to combine my two passions, music and history, into my first series of compositions. As I worked on a theme for the album, I began to recall that every great and powerful civilization throughout our history came to power and ultimately fell from supremacy, just as the Olympians and the Titans in Greek mythology. Funny, I was in the shower when I thought to myself, oh yeah, Olympians Fall.

As each song for the album began to take shape, I started noticing several different patterns with respect to our “global civilization” that correlate directly with a rise and fall of previous societies throughout our history. Just looking at the headlines the last two years I noticed that the world’s economy is on the brink, world food shortages are prevalent, we have been at war with other nations for resources (mainly oil) for the last 50 years, and the struggle for “power” is just as prevalent today as it was when the ancient Greeks told tales of how the Titans were defeated by the Olympians.

In my mind, how we chose to treat each other hasn’t really changed in the last 2,000 plus years. Of course our technology has grown, but I don’t believe that we have achieved our true potential with respect to our humanity or technology. We can learn from the person next to us that believes in a different God, or has different colored skin, or possess unique qualities that define them as who they are, but we have so much fear and anger programmed within us that it clouds our evolution as a species. I don’t so much favor a fall of civilization, but rather the fall of an archaic way of thinking, acting, and feeling that only produces suffering. So for me the idea of Olympians Fall is directly linked to understanding who we are, where we come from, and the potential for shedding the old model for human behavior with a new paradigm.

FAULT: Are you inspired by your surroundings?

I would answer both yes and no. For the no, I don’t really think my immediate physical surroundings have much of an impact while I’m in the process of making music; I could be just as creative in a cave as I would be sitting down in my studio at home. Once the idea is established I literally go inside myself – my mind and spirit – and that’s when the metaphysical turns into something tangible.

On the other hand, I need some type of influence or idea before creating and it usually manifests itself through some type of emotional medium –pleasure, pain, and so forth. For the “Time Wave 0” album I did a lot of research into history and I needed to literally surround myself with as much material and influence as I could get my hands on. After that I searched for an emotional equivalent to describe each song.

FAULT: Do you have any live shows planned

Not at the moment, unfortunately. I’m actually working on a 5 song EP right now and hope to be finished with it by June 2011, and if I can complete it by then I hope to start a small tour, but I’ll have to wait and see.

FAULT: What do you think of modern day Psychedelia?

I think modern day psychedelia is very good otherwise the idea for my album wouldn’t exist! (Laughing). Seriously, I do believe that there are some valid uses for the stuff, medicinal and otherwise… I think anything we chose to consume can be abused and misused, and that applies to psychedelic substances. However, if it’s used in a manner that helps a person like Terrence Mckenna explore idea’s and it provides a better quality of life for a person by all means use it. I believe that each person has a right to their own life, and if that includes an occasional experiment with a plant so be it. Who knows the next great invention in energy conservation might be discovered.

It’s funny you mentioned psychedelia because one of the major contributors in my research for the album was a man by the name of Terrence Mckenna. He was an American writer and public speaker who was renown for his use of psychedelics. He also was a purveyor of metaphysics, shamanism, biology, physics, and developed the concept of Novelty Theory, also known as Time Wave Zero. This theory attempts to calculate the ebb and flow of novelty in the universe with respect to time. Time wave zero is also synonymous with the 2012 phenomenon, too, which is what my album is all about.

FAULT: What is your FAULT?

If you asked my wife than there might be a rather long list. (Laughing). Seriously though, I think not saying thank you enough. I think a lot of people can be more appreciative for what they have and the people who help them along the way. With that I would like to express my gratitude and thanks to FAULT Magazine for this interview, my wife’s love and support, Crystal Thomas for designing the artwork for the album, all my friends/family for their love, and the fans who support me in this music experience.

Hear more of Olympians Fall here:

http://www.reverbnation.com/olympiansfall

http://www.myspace.com/olympiansfall

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Olympians-Fall/177038555661653?v=app_2405167945

http://twitter.com/olympiansfall