Bert Strolenberg talks with Thought Guild (aka Gregory Kyryluk & Christopher Cameron)
Date: April 2006
How was Thought Guild founded? Did you know each other formerly?
Christopher: We both have a close mutual friend, Jim Cole, who is well known in ambient circles for his brilliant and sublime overtone singing. At the time, Greg and Jim were working on “Bislama”.
Jim thought it would be good for us two keyboardists to meet and we hit it off immediately. Our first co-composition came in 2000, “Tetrahedral Anomalies”, on “Context”. The remainder of that recording was made as a series of jams with no particular intention for release over the following 14 months.
Gregory: I think Christopher summed it up rather well but I also think we have very similar music tastes. By this I mean what we grew up listening to. I mean the whole Berlin School and even some “new age” we both share appreciation of good electronic music and that is a nice solid foundation to lay the building blocks of musical architecture. I think our goal from the beginning was just to hook up the old machines and see what happens. Not too much preconceived ideas other than making something fun, melodic music as well as a nod to our influences. Plus it was nice at least for me to make music with another electronic music enthusiast, as you know there are not a lot out here even in the US.
Is there a concept to the albums and music of the band?
Christopher: As we did more jams together it became clear that Greg and I wanted to explore the sound of classic EM that we had both grown up on. Cameron Obscura studios had grown to an impressive arsenal of vintage analogue synthesizers, and it seemed appropriate to let them shine. Memorymoog, Yamaha CS-50, Moog Source, and Oberheim Xpander along with some cool older Roland’s and Korg’s (MonoPoly and 700s) meet Ensoniq SQ-80, Wavestation, and Triton in a synthesizer-driven time warp. I think it’s entirely relevant that old school meets new, left brain meets right in this union. The sum is greater than its parts in a synergistic evolution of the classic sound. While retro inspired, we are definitely king ahead and forging our own sound. The new album, “Continuum”, I think really delves deeper in finding that.
Gregory: To my knowledge the toughest times we had is with track titles and names for the albums (cds). The music is spontaneous. I also think because I am much more comfortable using the more modern synthesizers by this I mean the Triton LE and Ensoniq’s and Christopher’s deep knowledge of the old analogues it makes Thought Guild’s music a little slice of both worlds of sound.
Please tell some more how the debut album “Context” was established…
Christopher: As mentioned, it began as a series of jams, and as it became apparent how varied and expressive our co-compositions were becoming, we embraced the idea of releasing something. We also felt it was important to preserve the immediacy and energy of live composition. This was for several reasons- to keep it fresh and to challenge ourselves musically. Also because a number of our favourite recordings were made this way; e.g. classic live TD and Jarre in China. Thus, minimal MIDI and overdubs were used and all lead lines are on the first take, or soon after. If nothing else, both albums evoke a multitude of soundscapes in the full range of EM over the last 20 years. I think the variety of our styles within Thought Guild, and for us both as solo players are a real strength.
Gregory: I think my strong point was the actual drum programming its something I enjoy and Christopher is the man playing the melody lines as well as the person in charge of analogue diagnostics when things got a little odd.
Gregory, how’s your project Alpha Wave Movement (AWM) doing, was the Harmonic Resonance label your own label from the start?
The AWM-project is going well as you know “Beyond Silence” was released a few months ago with a very positive feedback from fans and I have two more AWM projects in the works. Though they will be released under the AWM name they will have considerable differences in style. One cd will be 100% pure drifty space music with no drum programming at all and the second is something different all together. The second project which is half way done has a more should I say psychedelic/cosmic feel. Sort of a mix of Air, krautrock and art rock all mixed together. So expect lots of mellotron, drums and semi-classic synthesizer sounds. I have always enjoyed that spirit of cosmic experimentalism many of the German underground bands on the 1970’s and I felt I needed to stretch myself in that direction.
Harmonic Resonance was invented to release my debut release “Transcendence” back in 1995 when I got no response from any US labels. I just stuck with it even after working with Groove and Waveform. I like the name and have now released AWM, Thought Guild and my own Gregory Kyryluk cds. Its fun and I can do whatever I want without any interjections from third parties. Total control, but aren’t real artists control freaks anyway?
Christopher, did you ever compose and release any solo music yourself, or have you plans to do so?
Yes, I’m definitely working on several projects in the last couple of years. A solo work is in process, with similar instrumentation and even older gear. That of course is why it takes so long!
In addition, I have two side projects going. One is with Jim Cole and a phenomenal percussionist, called Expansion Project. It is very spacey and yet primal at times. More like David Parsons with acoustic drums, than say, Roach. It’s also very improvisational in nature and I challenge listeners to distinguish between Jim’s overtone singing and deftly played ring modulated sounds on my old Moog. There’s also some cool MS200 all over it. We have one cd out, “Stars Pour Forth”, and another coming soon. The other project I have is with a guitarist, playing acoustic, electric and e-bow. It’s quite textural and spacey and is evocative of early to mid-period Popol Vuh, with ‘beautiful noise’ elements that quite appeal to me. Look for this release, tentatively called “Jewel Box”‘ very soon.
What do you guys think of nowadays electronic music scene? What are your thoughts about the internet, its networks and numerous music communities?
Christopher: It’s an excellent dedicated audience which I wish was wider. We don’t know why more people don’t get into instrumental music. It works so well. We also wish that more listeners would buy the music that they hear on the radio. “Context” was played on Hearts of Space here in the US and it translated into almost no direct sales.
Gregory: I have been composing music for a while now and I would like to say the internet has its pluses and minuses. On the plus side I can do an interview for fans anywhere like I am doing at this moment and internet radio is a great medium to get really interesting music out to hungry ears. The down side is that sales have been lost and I have really noticed this since the days of Napster. In general people aren’t taught responsibility so down load music and don’t want to pay for it, which is basically theft. This is a fact from friends to stranger I hear it all the time that it’s okay to download music without paying the artists. The world we live in doesn’t seem to think musicians are worthy of earning a living on their craft unless you are a pop star making mindless and empty easily digestible music. As far as communities I am not sure they do very much either. It seems to me the EM-community is still stuck on the same old artists and music styles and people are very biased to anything new. There are many musicians who make very good e-music but are not getting enough exposure with a minority still taking all the “limelight”.
What’s in the can for the future?
Christopher: We’ll see what may develop. It’s too soon after releasing “Continuum” to even speculating. But besides playing, we are good friends too, so…
Gregory: I’m very busy with my own projects but if Thought Guild ever gets together again rest assured the recorder will be rolling and if we think the music’s worthy of release we will release it. I just take the whole Thought Guild project as a fun and spontaneous environment to make music in the moment in the style we grew up listening.
Anything else you’d like to bring forward or share with us?
Gregory: Well, please don’t forget Christopher is also playing on the two tracks on the AWM-album “Cosmology”. Feedback is always appreciated.
Also please check out my website as there is the wonderful dvd “Terra” I and Rudy Adrian are waiting to release this year. It has beautiful unreleased ambient music by Alpha Wave Movement with beautiful organic images of New Zealand. Rudy is tremendously talented as an electronic musician and as a video/photographer.
Thanks for everyone out in the scene for your support to for keeping the e-music dreams alive!
Editor’s note:
In October 2007, Gregory informed me that the Thought Guild-project is discontinued.
There still are some Though Guild tracks that were never released, so they might end up on a compilation someday, as they seem to be very good….
