Scrit: When exactly did 500 Ft of Pipe break-up, and how much time elapsed before Aquarius Void began to jam together? Was it just time to call it a day for the Pipe?
Ross: I don`t actually know exactly when it was that 500 Ft of Pipe broke up, but it`s been at least a few years by now. And it was at least a year between then and when Aquarius Void started playing. Probably a bit longer. It took a long time to get things started, and there were a lot of false starts. There was a lot of trial and error going on. It was such a slow process of things just kind of settling into place that it would be really hard to put any kind of time-line on it. Was it just time to call it a day for the Pipe? Yeah, maybe. I don`t know, I try not to think about the dynamics of it too much these days. I would say that I had my own reasons for not wanting to do it anymore, and it was more or less inevitable. Which is kind of a shame, because there were a lot of things I really liked about the band, but I kind of have a life-goes-on attitude about it.
Scrit: There was Better Living through Alchemy, The Electrifying Church of the New Light, and the final one Dope Deal; were there any others - vinyl, singles, etc?
Ross: The only other thing I can think of is a 7� single of "So Good" and "Your Heart Is Angry."
Scrit: You are or were a mathematics teacher if memory serves me, correct? What age group do/did you teach? What type of math exactly? I only put a point on this as it seems to be a rather uncommon �other occupation� for psychedelic rock musicians.
Ross: This is true. I teach part-time at the college level. I do the usual calculus-sequence classes, which is everything from basic algebra through second semester calculus. Although I took this particular semester off to work on some music projects.
Scrit: Have you played the organ/ keyboard all your life? You play other instruments?
Ross: I started out on piano when I was a kid. I never really tried to play anything else until I was a lot older, which I kind of regret, but I`ve tried to learn some guitar, bass, drums. I`ve always felt like if you haven`t been doing it since you were little, there isn`t much chance of being very good at it.
Scrit: You�re always playing two organs at once right? What kind are they, what do you swear by?
Ross: Not organs. Two Rhodes electric pianos, one standard Mark I-Seventy Three, and one Rhodes Piano Bass.
Scrit: Have you always been a Detroit native?
Ross: Yeah, more or less. I`ve only lived in Detroit proper for a couple of years. Other than that I`ve lived in different Detroit suburbs here and there. Right now I`m in Hamtramck, which is a little city that sits completely inside of Detroit.
Scrit: What was the best/most fun show you recall playing?
Ross: Actually the very last Aquarius Void show at the Lager House in Detroit was about as good a show as I can remember. We played with The Skeemin` No Goods from Detroit and Wolfbite from Milwaukee. Wolfbite got some bad Mapquest directions and showed up really late, and The Skeemin` No Goods blew up a guitar amp, and so did we, but it still turned out to be a really good time. Good vibes all around.
Scrit: Where�s the farthest from home you�ve played? Make it out to California ever?
Ross: Personally, the farthest away I`ve ever played was England, but that wasn`t with Aquarius Void. And I think Mike and Zach have played about as far from Detroit as you could get, in one capacity or another. But Aquarius Void has played exclusively in Detroit and Hamtramck at this point.
Scrit: Aquarius Void is another three-piece outfit. What are the primary differences you would say in the sound or aim compared to 500 Ft?
Ross: I`d say Aquarius Void is more raw, more straightforward. It`s hard to be really specific, because I didn`t have a specific idea of what I thought Aquarius Void should sound like when we started, just some vague notions. For me, the idea is that the sound of the band should evolve to fit the players. A lot of the first few songs we wrote we threw out, and they sounded very different from the sort of thing we settled into. It was kind of a refining process until things started to feel right. But I think it ultimately turned into a very unique sort of thing, many of the same kinds of influences as 500 Ft of Pipe, but with a very different personality.
Scrit: �The Electrifying Church of The New Light� is one of my favorite songs of yours: epic, tripped-out, deep as space gets. So when you say Aquarius Void is more straightforward, does that mean you stay away from long wandering journeys such as this, and it�s more shorter-blast rock tunes?
Ross: No, not necessarily. We play our share of ten or fifteen minute jams, along with the shorter straight-up rock numbers. It`s really more in the overall mood, the feel of the songs themselves. It`s admittedly a pretty vague distinction, but we really aren`t making any conscious effort towards doing anything in particular, other than what feels right.
Scrit: When do you think we can expect the band�s first full-length album to come out?
Ross: Hopefully this summer. We`re all busy with other things, so it`s been kind of hard to find time to get the recording together. But we`ll have a few weeks in April to work, and we might be able to wrap-up the tracking then. We`ve kind of adopted a slow and steady wins the race philosophy.
Scrit: Are your shows the kind where people are moshing and knocking the shit out each other, or is it a little more introspective?
Ross: No, no moshing whatsoever. Our shows have been very mellow. We`re not really an aggressive sort of band. We have a few heavier numbers, but I think the vibe ultimately stays very laid back.
Scrit: Who would you ideally love for Aquarius Void to play a show with?
Ross: Monster Magnet for sure. Wyndorf changed my life.
Scrit: What�s your favorite Monster Magnet album? Are you a fan of the new one, Monolithic Baby?
Ross: Spine of God is one of my favorite records. And that`s including everything - Led Zeppelin, Beatles, everything else. Hearing that record for the first time- I believe I was nineteen at the time- was one of those moments for me, where the world sort of opens up to you a little and you get a sense of the possibilities. I mean, that album sounded very right to me, in kind of an instinctual way. And it was really exciting to know that something that cool was current and modern- up until then I almost exclusively listened to sixties and seventies classic rock type stuff. But hearing Spine of God gave me a sense that it`s not really an "it`s all been done" situation. It felt good to know that there was at least one record from my generation that spoke my language in a deep, meaningful way. I knew that was the kind of record I always wanted to hear, even before I heard it. And it was a roadmap- or at least a jumping-off point, for how to make the kind of music I knew I wanted to make. That being said, I hate to confess that I haven`t listened to Monolithic Baby yet.
Scrit: You�re the man, Ross, thanks very much for your time. |
