Extract from an interview with Angus Dean Slepkovich for Kodiak Weekly Magazine.
- by Anne Cassidy -

What is the idea behind "Ehrich Weiss"?

We sailed straight through the shallow of our emotional world and put what was worth into our music to make it the best record we ever made. The songs were mainly recorded in Ruby, Alaska and from time to time you can even hear a snowflake touching the mike. On some of the microphones you still see traces of oxidation. There are only 7000 copies pressed. After the album disappears, there will be no second pressing.

What is the influence of Ehrich Weiss - who is known much better under his alias Harry Houdini - on your album?

He was the worlds most popular escapist and self-liberator. I was very impressed after I have read Kenneth Silverman's biography on Houdini. In fact, it was Michael Chabon's "The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" that grew my interest in Houdini. After researching I found Silverman's book. I mean, Houdini somehow is like a synonym for human trying to free ourselves from all that is binding us. There's a psychological link to what he did practically. He took it step-by-step and he seemed to search for the ultimative bars that could hold him. On the other side he was trying to deal with unrealised longings that now, looking back on his career, seem to be the tragic of his life. Such stories make me want to express my thoughts and feelings in music. For me the music starts, when one should stop speaking.

This is your first album. What was your experience recording parts of it in Alaskan snow in the area of Ruby, Alaska? I've never heard of something like this before. What is so special about recording in cold weather?

Though I grew up in Mexico I remember my father talking about the snow in the Vojvodina where he was born. When my father came to Mexico in 1968 he always missed the Yugoslavian winter. The Danube river, that flows near by the place my father was born, is about one mile bright there. When the winters were very strong the wolves used to come from the forests at nights, tresspass the Danube ice and kill the sheep or chicken. From the stories of my father I always had an affinity to winter. I love the snow and the silence it provides. I've read that the Inuit have some 53 different expressions for snow. And here's the story about the recordings: It was in late 2003 when Joey Bergman (music journalist from San Francisco) sent me this tape recorded by some strange Inuit musicians. They recorded it outside in the snowy winter the year before, presumable because they wanted to catch the cold on the songs they played. The tape is broken now, but I remember listening to it quite a lot of times, and really, it always gave me a strong magical feeling that the music on it belonged to a quiet wintery and dark landscape. So I called Sid and Crusoé and asked them about their opinion on going to Alaska to record the album. They said 'ok! let's go there'.

Mr. Slepkovich, you once said that sound and silence create a dialectical union. Has this statement impact on the recording of your album?

Well, yes. Yes of course!

"Ehrich Weiss or the art of getting out of things" was released on an independent label and is only sold on the internet so far. What is your opinion on the musical business in our days and why didn't you release on a major company label?

Major record companies don't care too much about young artists that try to make their stand and want to develop in their art. If you can't sell thousands of copies in a couple of weeks they lose interest very fast. According to that, there is not enough liberty when working together with a big label that puts a lot of money into promoting an album. They want to see their product having succes as soon as possible. It's not personal at all. When you don't sell you're not involved into that kind of business. We want to be free like many other artists and musicians. A lot of very good musicians are doing lots of different jobs to keep their liberty of art. Like us. We're writing songs for commercial t.v. advertising. That was the plan: raise as much money as possible to do our own stuff without any kind of compromise. We're happy with that but would be even more happy if we sell more copies of our album. We are fed up with those A & R's in their coats and their ties, free to drink martini and watch the sun rise...
Once you know one of these egomaniacs you know them all.

 

Extract from an interview with Angus Dean Slepkovich for "SUSPICIOUS MIND".
- by Paul Keller-

You decided to distribute your album via an unknown small label in Germany. Why did you choose a partner overseas and why didn't you release on a major company?

Big companies eat your soul. It is almost accepted that for bands like us the model is broken and it's time for a new approach.

In "Free Like Houdini" you sing "...drop me from the Chrysler Building...". Is New York important to you as a musician, as a songwriter?

When most of the people think of the Chrysler Building they think of the top - of the crown with its spire drilling toward the clouds. I always wondered what was up there. It is quiet and lonely at the top. I found out that this building is really the icon of New York City, that's one of the reasons why I had to place "Free Like Houdini" there. New York still is the heart of modern man and the home of unfulfilled but available dreams. In this way "8 Million" is my song about the city.

 

 

 

 

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