Chris Russell Interview-The Final on Vinyl Podcast

Great conversation with Chris Russell about his recent release, Lumen!

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:14

Hello everybody, this is Keith MuzikMan Hannaleck with the Final on Vinyl Podcast, and today I have Chris Russell who is putting out um music over the years and recently on January twenty-third this year through spotted a peckery uh label put out Lumen. And I looked at it as a contemporary ambient progressive instrumental, uh influenced by New Age. Uh, but that's my take on it. We'll see what Chris has to say. Welcome aboard, Chris. Hi, how's it going? Great to be here. Good. Glad to have you on board. Appreciate you showing up. So let's talk about that album of yours and how that all came about. What was the process for you? Uh what are some of your inspirations? Um, you know, uh some kind of some of the equipment you might be using, uh, when did it all start for you with with music? Multitude of things we can talk about, and I'll just let you go ahead and let's hear what we have to say on all this.

Speaker 1:18

Well, the initial idea for this record started around the time where I wrapped up my 2024 release on Project was called No War. That album was um about the losing my father. And it was it was uh, you know, it it it was um had a darker theme and and and it had uh you know it it was really part of um the moving forward healing process for me personally. It encapsulated into an album, and I realized then um I wanted to do I wanted to do a flip side of that record. I wanted to do something that was like a lighter response. So that's what really was the beginning of the path with Lumen. Um was staying in that space, using those instruments, using the a lot of the um the like the instruments that I used for noir, a lot of Slate Ash plugins and stuff from native instruments, and um and saying, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna stay within this you know this palette of sounds and and create something that's lighter. And I also wanted to add piano. I I got the idea that I wanted to break the album up with like these piano interludes and and have it where you have the natural environment of light, nature, you know, hearing leaves blowing around with like autumn skyline track, and and uh and then I also wanted to create like these tracks like Vortexon and have these um shimmering spiritual energy-like um realms. And and you said in your intro that it was inspired of the New Age, but that's actually not the case. There's nothing new age about this record at all. As a matter of fact, I went through the process of becoming an Orthodox Christian. So the baptism and charismation of that also led me into the lighter aspect of the music that I created for this album. So going back almost 2,000 years in the in with the with the icon of the i the icons and the history of that whole thing, just being inspired by um being accepted into that. Uh I even you know put my church in the thank you notes for the record. So it was a really, really transitional process for me. And even on a personal note, I hadn't released a solo album on Spotted Pecker since 2020's Destiny. And that was a real milestone record for me. And it within that six years, there was a lot of growth and maturity for me as an artist, where I'm a totally different person now than I was when I had put that record out. And I and I had to go through a lot of things um to get to that to that point where I'm at now. And um so I'm really I'm really like you know, humbled and and thankful to to have went through those difficult life experiences that I don't think I wouldn't have been able to do an album like um Lumen, you know, so many years back. And then I also the ending of the Lumen album uh with a track called Whisper Moon, I loop it back to the last track of my album on Labyrinth, which would have been my first release on Spotted Pecoray. You know, so I feel like there's like this for me personally, there's almost like um a a circle that has been you know made there's a a beginning and ending, you know, but but I'm moving forward, you know? But it loops back it loops back to that. And um so it there yeah, there's a lot of really neat things that that happen with that record and um it was a lot of fun to create. It was a it was a great place to be in creating that record. And um I think I'm gonna I I I normally don't like to repeat myself. I normally don't like to do lots of follow-ups and stuff, but with Lumen, I I I dec I could definitely see myself creating something again out of out of that, you know, like going forward down that path.

Speaker 1 5:42

Progression. That's what it's all about, right? With life and music. Yeah, definitely. And I I hear you about the New Age thing. I think to clarify, I think people who enjoy listening to New Age music will enjoy your album.

Speaker 4 5:57

Oh, I hope they do.

Speaker 1 5:59

Yeah, and I'm definitely gonna put it up on the New Age site, but I'll also put it up on musicman.net, which is my oldest site. Um it just went over two million, but it's been around over twenty years, so it's my oldest site and it gets the most traffic, so we'll make sure I get it up on that too.

Speaker 6:15

So yeah, it because it is very spiritual in nature, and however you want to however you want to filter it, it's just for me personally, um, you know, I just wanted to just to clarify that, you know, and it wasn't like you know crystals and energy and stuff.

Speaker 2 6:30

Right.

Speaker 1 6:31

You know that so you're going back thousands of years to uh re religious foundations is where you're coming from. I get it. Yeah. Yeah. So growing up, what was it like for you? You know, what did you listen to and when did you start playing keyboards?

Speaker 6:52

Well, that's I part of me wants to say I was raised on Roach. I started listening to Steve Roach when I was a young kid. Well, before I discovered that music around probably twelve or thirteen years old, I was into, you know, tool, raised against the machine, and I played in bands. I I I played in I played locally in bands all the way up into my early twenties, you know, with it being keyboards or bass, you know, doing metal or or industrial music. But um I at a very young age, I found Howards of Space and Steve Roach in Aphex Twin around the same time. And I I remember being even younger going through my parents, they had a real eclectic record collection. Lots of jazz, lots of um, you know, stuff that wasn't really mainstream. And I remember some of those records were being Tomeda. I'm being remember being a little kid and listening to like the Cosmos Record and the Debusy and and and just looking at the back of that album and you're you'd see Tomita with all the knobs and wires. And I remember being a kid thinking, wow, that's so cool that one person can create all this with music, you know, and be like a you know, a creator like these symphonies with the electronic instruments. And so that struck with stuck with me for a long time, and that it was reignited in my teens when I had first heard the music of Steve Roach and Richard James. And uh at some point I made the decision that I was done with the bands. You know, I was done performing live and doing all this band stuff, and I and I got real serious with probably around 2009, is when I said, alright, I'm gonna do this ambient stuff, and I'm just gonna devote the rest of my creative energies to creating you know ambient music and building a legacy with that. And um, but as far as what I listen to, it's all over the place. I mean, um, you know, I enjoy uh when I'm not doing my music and re and recording for myself with ambient, I can listen to anything from like Primus, Quincy Jones, Earth, Wind and Fire, um just all over the place. Anything that's not ambient. I get inspired by stuff that, you know, good music that gives you like goosebumps, like, you know, I sometimes I like Lord Huron or Fleet Foxes or I mean I'm just all over the place. I rarely listen to Ambient unless I'm creating it, if that makes any sense. When I was younger, I listened to everybody. I was you know, it was Brian Eno, you know, Michael Stearns, Steve Roach, uh, Robert Ridge, uh all those people. But the more that I started to put lots of time into producing and recording these albums, that's where I I kind of dropped off as far as what's everybody else doing.

Speaker 1 9:48

Well, I think it's pretty cool your parents had a record collection and you got into that because that's how it all started for me as a little boy, listening uh, you know, to my brother and sister um buying the 45 and the albums that were older than me, and then I started getting my own collection, you know, and you like we were listening to some very advanced music at a very young age.

Speaker 10:12

And oh yeah, I mean I'd be jamming on to like yeah, I'd be jamming on to like records like Led Zeppelin, Chuck Manioni, Maynard Ferguson. I mean, I just you name it. I mean, that I was just digging into the my parents' record collection, I was finding all this cool stuff back then. It was awesome. I still like it to this day.

Speaker 1 10:34

Well, is there any opportunity for you to put your music out on vinyl? Have you looked into that at all?

Speaker 10:39

No, I have never I have released a ton of stuff and I have yet to have a vinyl release. I think that would be amazing. I I'm sure someday it will happen, God willing. But um yeah, no, I've never had anything pressed on vinyl yet. I've had CDs, but never any vinyl.

Speaker 1 10:58

Well, I think music like yours and and any other artists out there is ready-made for vinyl. Definitely. It would just be a totally different experience.

Speaker 11:09

I believe it. I mean, if you just look at the quality of the packaging that Spider Pecquery does, the artwork, I mean it's just amazing. And and the the bigger the format to be able to hold and look at, the better, right?

Speaker 1 11:23

Right.

Speaker 11:23

Right.

Speaker 1 11:25

They are a very cool label. I I love everything that they're doing, and and obviously they treat the artist well. Oh, they're fantastic. I love 'em. I just yeah, I'm very thankful.

Speaker 3 11:38

That's good to hear.

Speaker 1 11:40

So I I'm thinking about how complicated um it is to get your music out there nowadays with all the different platforms. And I've been really into uh doing some research and and learning more about AI uh over the past year or so. I think it's fascinating and I've learned so much. And I've done some, you know, independent research on, you know, you know, telling AI I'm a public I'm a publicity agent and I want to tell my artists what music platforms to use and you know how to go about launching their their recording career. And you wouldn't believe all the things that came up for that. It is just incredible the things that are out there.

Speaker 12:24

Hmm. Yeah, I'm uh as far as the AI goes, I I don't I don't like it for music creation at all. I I don't I actually had to recently sign a document for project saying that there's no AI in my music. Um but I do like AI in a sense of I'm not a good wordsmith. So if I write something up, I can run it to Grok or something, and then it can get polished. You know what I mean? As far as that goes, yeah, as far as that goes, helping me writing things, I don't mind it. But to to use it for just for artwork and for for just creating things, and I I'm not I'm not for it at all. Really I'm not. And I like to think that the uh newness is going to wear off and at the end of the day, real musicians, real artists are gonna are are gonna win, you know, because AI, in my opinion, it can only do so much, and it tries to make everything super polished and super like just perfect, and um it and you need to have that human element. Right, it's not reality.

Speaker 1 13:36

Well, yeah, what I mean to have that human element there. I think it's a great tool. Um I'm totally against people making music that way, just like you. And and to be honest, I've been able to create some pretty cool graphics with it. Kind of surprised me how good it was. So you may want to reconsider taking a look at that. And Grok is a great tool. Groc creates images really quick compared to chat uh GPC, I've noticed. So okay.

Speaker 14:06

Well, I'll tell you something. I'll give your listeners a little cue in. Right now I'm working on an album uh Enceladus, it's about the icy moon of Saturn. And so I want to have all these different perspectives of that moon because a lot of times images help me with the music that I create. And so I'm doing this album inspired by this you know, this icy moon. So I'm like, I want, you know, ground level pictures, you know. There's not a lot of high resolution images from that moon, you know, and Grok helps get me to different perspectives that helps me with putting this music together. So that's uh that's one way where visually I've used AI to help me with things that I can't just pull up. That's great. You know? So that's one way that's one way that I've used it, um just giving me giving me images to inspire me to go deeper into this uh environment that I'm creating music for, basically.

Speaker 1 15:08

That's great you're doing that. And you know, it always seems like when I talk to artists with recordings that the music always aligns with their life, their emotions, things they've gone through, their story. And to be able to relay that to a listener just through instruments uh that's not an easy thing to do. And when I listen and it just triggers things and it makes me feel different things, to me, that's a job well done if you're able to do that.

Speaker 3 15:43

Yeah. Is that what's nice?

Speaker 15:49

When you listen to the case, you know Yeah, I mean something that's gonna trigger like the images, you know, like this is one of the cool things about ambient music is it it provides like a soundtrack to your mind's eye. And and and you know, one person's gonna hear things and they're gonna dream up stuff and it it'll be completely different from someone else. You just never really know. Um but really it's it's the intention behind you know what I'm doing and I and and you definitely hit on that um even with your review of the record, you know, i i it just the fact that you picked up on, you know, the delighter and a spiritual and um you know, so that I I guess I I did my job there, you know, that you know, it's uh it's nice to be able to put something out that's not in a in the great ambient era or uh genre. I guess it's a lot of my releases have always been a little, you know, uh you know different, darker, I guess. Um so it it was nice to be able to come out with something that was not like that anywhere. From top to bottom, the whole record. It's just a really really nice listening experience.

Speaker 1 17:08

Yeah, like you said at the beginning you went from dark to light. It's like you were in a dark room and then you got up and you flipped the switch and the light came on. And now you're in a different room, right?

Speaker 17:18

Yeah, yeah, definitely. It is, you know, and I feel like I don't know, I just I just feel like from going forward that um there's probably not going to be a lot of really dark releases for me uh because there's just so much of that stuff out there already now, and I don't really want to contribute more to it at this point in time. So that's just why where I'm at and that's how I feel about it, you know.

Speaker 1 17:43

Well I agree. I think you should stay on the same path musically, uh, you know, and I'm sure you're good to do some experimenting and uh how long did it take you to put together lumen? Just curious.

Speaker 17:55

Maybe maybe a year, year and a half before I turned it in. Um it was really hot off the heels of Noir, so there wasn't like sometimes I'll um do a lot of recording and I'll just do like planing, and it could be a couple of months before I actually like start nailing tracks down. But from what I remember, um it it was once no water was finished and sent off, it was almost I want to say maybe a a month or two of break, and then I went right back into it. There wasn't a there wasn't a huge gap.

Speaker 1 18:31

So I know you have a day job, so you must work at night. You must have very long days if you're making music at the same time.

Speaker 18:39

Um yeah, I mean I work my job is uh you know early in the mornings, and then um, you know, I'm done by I I go in real early in the morning and I'm done by like uh around the afternoon, and um some days I will literally come home and have a little little downtime and and get right into the studio and and then uh I'll be in the studio on the weekends and you know depending on what time of year it is, it's it's weather related. If it's nice outside, I probably won't be in the studio. So I like rainy days, you know. I I I like uh I like it when there's a snowstorm coming, it's like, okay, cool, I'm gonna be in the studio, you know.

Speaker 1 19:23

So rainy days and Mondays don't get you down, huh?

Speaker 19:26

No, no, uh uh it's it's just whenever, you know, um whenever I get the the you know the the itch to to create, I try to, you know, um get down into the studio as much as I can and and just just make it happen. You know, I I've been able to with the you know work schedule and and being staying on task with these albums, uh it's it's it's been you know, it's a balance like everything. You know, I can't be here all the time. My wife would get mad if I was always in the studio, so that you have to have like a balance with everything. It just took a while to find that rhythm of what works.

Speaker 1 20:06

Right. Well of us, you know. Everybody needs to find a balance, it's just a matter of finding it. And uh everybody's so busy, so many things going on at once, especially if you're working full time and you have a family, so I get it. Well, Chris, it's been wonderful speaking to you. And uh just to reiterate to listeners out there, Chris Russell, his album Lumen, is now available. You can stream it, you can buy it. And uh thank you so much for your time, sir. I appreciate it. It was wonderful speaking to you today.

Speaker 20:39

Oh yeah, no problem. Thank you. Thank you for having me on, and uh thanks to everybody at Spider Pack Creek um helping with this amazing release. And um I'm just I hope your listeners enjoy it. It was a pleasure to create it. And I'm really looking forward to diving back in and you know, seeing what else I can do going down this this road with seeing where Lumen takes me next. Looking forward to it. Stay in stay in touch. I'd like to hear it.

Speaker 1 21:05

Okay. All right, take care.

Speaker 3 21:08

Bye bye.