Photo:
J. Bennett
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"Music is an Obsession I Can
No Longer Control": An Interview with Comets On Fire
by Jeff Pearce
For over half a
decade now, Santa Cruz's Comets On Fire have been noodling their way to
nirvana, crafting shrieking masterpieces of sonic catharsis like there's
no tomorrow. In fact, the aftershocks of its latest album Blue Cathedral,
released almost a year ago, are still being felt far and wide. But even
so, Comets are still an under-the-radar phenomenon, despite the fact that
they haven't really stopped touring and are already working on a new album.
I caught up with the Comets' Ethan Miller to figure out where they get
all the energy. And who they plan on injecting it into come the beginning
of 2006.
Morphizm: Did
Jello have enough kleenex handy when you made the move from Alternative
Tentacles to Sub Pop?
Ethan: Well, the thing is we were never actually on Alternative
tentacles as recording artists per se. Jello said that he would
love to reissue our first album through Tentacles, which we thought was
perfect for that record. So we didn’t really leave them -- we weren’t
tied to any record label when we signed with Sub Pop. Jello and the AT
crew have been very good to us. It is possible we will continue to work
on other projects with them in the future -- we played the AT Halloween
with Jello and the Melvins among others, and also at the AT showcase at
South By Southwest last year. So we are on very friendly terms with him
and obviously continuing a relationship that we appreciate very much,
though we are committed to Sub Pop for our major album releases now.
Morphizm: Comets
on Fire are definitely getting around. How has the feedback been for you?
Ethan: It is something that we all appreciate, to have a lot of
people hearing our music. It has always been a thrill for us. We have
never really been a band that made music just for ourselves to hear, so
when the first 30 people discovered a Comets On Fire album, or when we
put out our first record and got a couple emails or ran into a few
folks that heard it, it was thrilling. Just as it is now, on a wider scale.
Comets on Fire isn’t a pure exercise in art for arts sake: It is a
celebration of music made for others, as well as ourselves.
Morphizm:
Let's talk about Blue Cathedral. What do you feel sets the album apart
from your earlier two?
Ethan: This album sounds different is because it
was written by the entire group equally, not just me pushing riffs
and tunes on everyone. And because we are living, changing people. Perhaps the changes
in sound are a sign of some kind of success for us on an
artistic level. What I mean by that is that records are made by people
who are moving through the world and changing on a daily basis to suit
their changing environment. So it seems like the kind of music or album
you make changes over time, just like your mind changes. It seems
like its unhealthy and a sign of failure for bands not to change -- except
for the Ramones, AC/DC and Motorhead of course!
Morphizm: Blue
Cathedral manages to rock fucking socks off, but also be incredibly spacious
and beautiful. The album feels almost visual. Have you ever thought about
soundtracking?
Ethan: Thanks first off for saying the record is beautiful. I appreciate
it. I also think the album turned out to be a fairly visual thing. Others
have said that to me also. At some point, we did decide to build the
longer epic jams, with verse-chorus-verse songs interspersed within,
tied together by segments that weren’t necessarily
fully realized or conventional songs in themselves, but rather kind of
a deja vu of their fully realized selves. They're meant to be beautiful bridges
and canals, not really neighborhoods or cities. I think that technique is
similar to abstract filmmaking. A
mix of pacing and an attention and obsession with beauty in meaningless
details. Myself and Utrillo have both always been drawn to soundtracks
and fantasized about working on music for film. Comets are talking right
now about working on soundtrack composition for an independent filmmaker
from Santa Cruz.
Photo:
J. Bennett
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Morphizm: So what's
next for the band?
Ethan: We are actually in a period of live performance hiatus to
write the fourth album. We’ll begin playing again on tour in June. Some of
the guys, I think, don’t love being on the road that much -- but I love it.
There are only a few towns out there or cities that have horrible vibes,
to the point that when you get into town you can feel the cloud hanging overhead.
I hate to say it, because we have friends out there, but Sacramento is one
of those towns -- despite a great turnout or good money there is always
really heavy vibes all over that place. Same with a place like Washington
D.C. or El Paso Texas. Atlanta has a little of the cloud, even though
we play with awesome bands there and have great friends. Some of those
places can be heavy with shadows.
Morphizm: I
know Ben Chasny is doing the Six Organs of Admittance, but I was wondering
if you, or any other of the Comets have anything else on the side
that fans can check out?
Ethan: Yeah, most all of us have other shit going on the side.
Noel has a solo shitstorm/electronics thing called Leprechaun. Utrillo has a solo singer/songwriter thing called Colossal
Yes that he is recording for in April or May. Ben Chasny also has a group
called August Born with the great Huroyuki from Japan, and an
album due out on Drag City in August. I have another group called
something like The Rusted Vultures or Electric Vultures or something
like that. Good-time jams -- should be out late 2005 or early 2006.
Morphizm: This
sounds cliche, but what does making music mean to you? I ask because you
have always seemed like an inspired person.
Ethan: Ahhh, that's a fucking endless question. To answer with
a cliche: "Because I can’t stop it." Or "Because I can’t do anything else
in this world as good." That's the best I can give. There are a million
other reasons, some outright and some hidden, that I would have to name.
A way to see the world, a way to be a part of a something, if only for
a moment, in what can be a solitary existence. For matters of ego, the
opportunity to act like an animal, for the opportunity to create. Music
is an obsession I can no longer control, if I ever could.
Morphizm: I
read in an interview with you somewhere online that you had some
interest in making music with Michael Jackson. Is that true?
Ethan: That interview was from a quite a long time ago. I can’t
say that I have the same desire to work on a Michael Jackson record. It’s
all just become too fucking insane. Things are not good in that camp.
My desire was to work as a session musician for him or play as a backing musician in his live show. But Michael has crossed over
in the world of celebrity beyond the abyss. Things are just too fucking
insane to still have a desire to want to be involved with any of that
kind of thing.
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