We’re less than ONE WEEK away from jamtronica duo, Eoto’s fully-improvised bass music meltdown at Pittsburgh’s Rex Theater. I was lucky enough to sneak a peak into the mind of Michael Travis, Eoto’s multi-instrumentalist co-pilot earlier this week. Read on to hear his thoughts on Shambhala Music Festival, his dream collaborations, and Eoto’s most remote performance location to date!
Eoto Performing at Sonic Bloom Festival
Subbassics: So I hear DJ Skream’s set at Shambhala in 2008 really made you guys dive headfirst into the drop-heavy style of bass music. What specifically about that set hit home?
Michael Travis: “Well I had been toying with whether or not I liked dubstep and at the moment it was dark and dirty and very goth – something about it – I remember the intensity of the Canadian audience – Shambhala. There’s no better, basically. They’re so expressive and so alive and they’re so with whoever’s on stage. And I remember at one point he just dropped a giant, single, wide open note that had so many overtones and so much craziness and I just thought it was the most impactful musical moment I had ever witnessed. I was so impressed with the weight of a single note. Just realizing it was the sounds of a generation and the sound everyone was looking for, and it all came together on a head. And it created quite a wave and I realized the sheer power dubstep had.”
Subbassics: “Wow, that took me right there! Thank you! So in the tragic event that you were forced to abandon music and live performance what would be the next best platform to releasing your creativity and message to the world?”
Michael Travis: “Um, well if I could make other music I’d be happy! But I’m really into sports, skiing and para-gliding specifically. If whatever this event was that kept me from playing music allowed me to para-glide I’d probably do that.”
Subbassics: “Do you have any outrageous fan interactions you care to share?”
Michael Travis: “Oh god there are so many. It’s such an interesting position to be in. As musicians expose themselves on stage I think the audience feels they know them and they do on some very real level because they’re exposing their soul, but then they walk right up to you and start a conversation and it’s like wait, you don’t really know what I’m about at all. That can set up some disconnect.”
Subbassics: “Have you and Jason ever thought about switching roles on stage? Being such gifted and open-source musicians how would that effect your sound/vision?”
Michael Travis: “Eh, We never really talked about it. We’re both plugged into our world so significantly and what we do as it is, to reverse roles would be quite a scenario. We’ll reverse roles in String Cheese though! That worked out well.”
Subbassics: “If you could collaborate with anyone or work directly with them in the future who would it be?”
Michael Travis: “With Eoto it’s different I guess. You know I’ve always loved Pat McGee’s music. I don’t know if you’re familiar. He’s a jazz guitar player. I’ve always wanted to play with him. I thought that would be pretty amazing. I always like the idea of taking certain players out of their element and I guess Lorin Ashton (Bassnectar) used to be a metal guitar player and I always wanted to fit him in on guitar.”
Subbassics: “Haha, I’m waiting for that one! Is there anyone you’re excited to play with in the future or want to share a bill with more often?
Michael Travis: “I want to play with [Sound Tribe] Sector Nine more because I feel like they get with our vibe and range of emotions. That would be awesome. I really want to play a show with this guy Dosh from Minneapolis. He’s an amazing artist with really quirky cool stuff. That’d be really fun.”
Subbassics: “Are there ever moments when you aren’t keen on what Jason is playing or what direction he’s headed in on stage? Is there some sort of secret language you use to move out of a certain jam/rhythm and into something more fluid for both of you?
Michael Travis: “We do have a symbol and ideally no one’s using it. *LAUGHS* Sometimes one or the other, we’ll start tripping a little, and think, why don’t we move on?… The symbol is a hand back and forth like a flat hand facing the ground, just moving it back and forth.”
Subbassics: “Where’s the most backwoods, down-home stage or event you ever played at?
Michael Travis: “There are some really rootsy places…There’s a festival called Pink Moon in West Virginia. That’s just a couple friends of ours that saw us and were really inspired and started dragging around a giant Chinese dragon at a lot of our shows and performing with it. They started throwing a fest on their property they’ve lived on for many years that was his great grandpas. It’s been in his family for many years. You just drive and drive and drive way the hell up in the West Virginia wilderness, and up all these crazy little dirt roads, and there they are in a rickety 100 year old house with a couple stages they set up and it is the sweetest, most backwoodsy, rootsy thing. It’s really good. It’s hard to describe how rootsy it is.”
Subbassics: “Anything special stick out in your head from the Halloween show you played in Pittsburgh 2 years ago? Anything you’re looking forward to coming back?”
Michael Travis: “Well Pittsburgh is always a fun, vigorous situation. I love Pittsburgh! It’s a cool town and I’m looking forward to playing there.”
Come hear Eoto’s on-the-spot evolution as they tear open the cosmic funk continuum with openers ELM and DeltaNine this coming Thursday, Feb. 6th at the Rex Theater. The show is brought to you by Grey Area Productions and if you’re feeling lucky follow this link to win a pair of tickets to the show compliments of Spinr Pittsburgh!
See you Thursday!
-s
Subbassics 