WATCHING WATERS - INTERVIEW
1) How did you get your start making music?
I originally wanted to make Post Punk music but I never really had the money to rent out a practice space. Over the years I've collected a
good amount of effects pedals that eventually lead me to making some harsh noise music I was never really proud of, but then I discovered vaporwave and I was really was drawn to its boundless
possibilities. Making vaporwave was also very cathartic for me and its very much been an outlet in my life where I can lock away powerful moments I no longer want to carry with me anymore.
Playing as Watching Waters / W¯ was the first solo project I've done and I had a lot of fun really exercising full control over how I wanted thing to look, feel and sound like. But I guess I've
started like them all, I just listen to a ton of music and I just wanna grow up like my heroes and inspire people, or least try to.
2) A lot of your music is based on samples and what seem to be found sounds. Can you describe what makes you want to sample
something?
So story is very much the most important thing when I'm seeking out samples. The story dictates the ultimate vision I want people to feel
and with that I really go out of my way to find samples from music from my own collection, video game music, cinema scores, ambient city
field recordings to even quiet moments during Television and Movies. I normally always gravitate towards classical music, jazz and dark ambient samples, normally because the story calls for it, I
also find it refreshing compared to most samples the Vaporwave community normally uses. Overall the slowing down of music and the filtering and heavy editing, its all about helping the sample
sound "better" or to fit better with the story.
3) Your artwork is very striking and is a great counterpart to your music. Can you describe how your art and music fit together?
Thank you so much! So there was this lyric from the song "The Bird" by Cassandra Jenkins that goes: "Clear is the color of hell". In some
low points in my life I've felt that the reality we currently live in was hell itself and I wanted my art to really be displaying a dark and hellish aesthetic while also depicting reality itself.
All my art is my own digital photography that I filter, I try really hard to depict a sense of familiarity in my artwork, I was never really into the fantasy aspect that most vaporwave art
emulates. In terms of how the art ties in with the music, I think every album I've made has either been about a tragedy or an existential crisis, both of which really exhibit negative and dark
feelings. The overall hellish themes, the dark colors and the red veil over reality is something I think my music really compliments. Being that my music and conceptual thought processes are
rooted in reality I wanted the art to do the very same.
Check out Watching Waters' music below and for more vaporwave check out the Indicate Interest showcase in Rockaway Beach on July
20th!