RECORDS LiVE

Donna: Good evening, everybody. My name is Deviant Donna and thank you so much for joining us today for our third episode of RECORDS LiVE where we interview musicians about their influences and not about the music that they specifically make. Well, of course, a little bit of that, too. I am so stoked to have you guys here with me tonight. Thank you so much for joining. Quin is just so excited to get in here. Let’s give him a round of applause. Hello, welcome in. Welcome to my humble abode.

Quin: All right! I got my RECORDS LiVE tote as well.

Donna: Who else has gotten their RECORDS LiVE tote? Yes, yes, a few, amazing.

Quin: Nice. Nice. Nice. All right.

Donna: Yes, thank you. We love merch. Quin, do you have some records for me?

Quin: I do. I’ve brought some of my faves.

Donna: Incredible. I love it.

Quin: First off, we got Sun Ra. The great and powerful.

Donna: Ohh, yes.

Song Plays: Sun Ra – Door of the Cosmos

Donna: So, do you think that they had some kind of like, a religiously related acid trip while they were writing this song?

Quin: I don’t know. I think he might legitimately just be from another planet if I had to guess. I don’t even think it’s induced by drugs or anything. I think he’s just like a cosmic being. I don’t know. There’s something going on there, though, for sure.

Donna: Yeah. What about the sounds of “Door of the Cosmos” that calls upon these celestial feelings for you?

Quin: There’s something about the dissonance and the beauty of it, that kind of reflects the chaos of space, but also the harmony of orbits and how everything kind of falls into place. And it’s this nice balance of things that might seemingly be polar opposites.

Donna: Is that how you view your own music as well?

Quin: If I was going to be kind? Yeah, yeah. If I was going to be really kind to myself, maybe.

Donna: And if you were going to be brutal?

Quin: It’s just chaos. I don’t know. No, it’s definitely, definitely a big influence. And I like to try to incorporate things that you have to work for a little bit. You know what I mean? You have to get through the rougher parts, the more dissonant parts to get back to the harmony and go through the more chaotic bits to get to where it’s flowing again.

Donna: How did you get to the point where you started appreciating the dissonance of the music?

Quin: Getting introduced to jazz in general. At first, there’s a complexity that you can’t really even describe. It’s more of a color that you hear in certain songs. I remember my music appreciation teacher in high school…I had her write down the chord changes to a Miles Davis song and going home and learning it. Just the chords. It was a four-chord phrase, and that opened up so much that it just blew my mind. Some of the chords are so crunchy when you hear them on their own. They’re not really pleasing to the ear but then in context and mixed in, it creates this beautiful color. Really drives the song forward.

Donna: So, when you move through life, what are some sounds that you find that may not be conventionally appealing that you feel have become kind of like staples in terms of your creations?

Quin: Traffic? Dogs barking in the desert. We live out in the High Desert, so it’s actually really quiet most of the time. And then silence as well. I feel like the lack of noise helps a lot too at times.

Donna: What does a lack of noise signify to you? What is that sound for you?

Quin: Potential. It’s a void, a fertile void to be filled, you know?

Donna: Do you think all voids have to be filled?

Quin: Not necessarily. Sometimes there’s nothing to be said. Sometimes the best thing to say is nothing at all.

Donna: I love that. So as this song progresses, what do you feel the melody is calling back to? Because you know, at first it was a little more dissonant and a little more, almost like a tribal worship in a way. And then all of a sudden it just gets into this much more melodic section where it’s just like straight up jazz.So, what is your take on the transition?

Quin: It’s the individual voices coming together to contribute to the collective sound, and I feel like that’s really present in a lot of his work. Sometimes it’s almost polyphonic and there’s multiple people soloing and they’re really good at sharing space and leaving space for one another. It’s the combination of those individual voices coming together in an expressive way that creates its own color that you might not get had it just been an individual soloist.

Donna: Now, you’ve mentioned a couple of times that you see music as color. Can you explain how that is portrayed in your mind’s eye? What is the specific correlation between the sound and the color as you see it?

Quin: I think color is just a useful device because a lot of times it’s really hard to describe sound. It’s really hard to describe why a song sounds a certain way, and then color is just a device that describes it better than if you tried to pick apart the individual pieces, a color or a timbre. It describes the indescribable, I guess.

Donna: Yeah. Well, let’s see what else is in that bag that may or may not be indescribable.

Quin: Yes. We got Chet Baker.

Donna: Oooh, alright. This is a complete side note, but I think one of the most hilarious party conversations I’ve ever overheard was at a little wine night at a friend’s house and the entire apartment was full of musicians. As I walked past, these two people were talking and all of a sudden, literally no context, all I heard was, “Chet Faker? No! Chet Baker,” and I had no idea what was happening, but I got such a kick out of it.

Quin: Yeah! And all due respect to Chet Faker, it wasn’t what I was expecting. I actually came across his set at festival one time. And only being familiar with Chet Baker, I don’t know what I expected necessarily, but yeah. It’s a whole separate vibe.

Song Plays: Chet Baker – But Not For Me

Donna: Well, in terms of Chet Baker, what is the vibe for you?

Quin: I feel like what I appreciate about him is similar to Sun Ra. It’s kind of things that are seemingly opposite coming together and creating this unique thing because there’s something really playful about his music or like, innocent. But there’s also kind of a darkness or a somber aspect to his music and I really like the contrast that’s captured there.

Donna: A personal favorite of mine is the upright base that you can hear. It’s so prominent in this song, and I think it adds such a beautiful layer.

Quin: It keeps it moving.

Donna: Yeah, it really does. When were you originally introduced to Chet Baker?

Quin: As we’re talking, I’m realizing, which I knew she was a huge influence in my life, but the music appreciation teacher freshman year in high school. I came up as being really into metal and hardcore music. That’s just what I fell into, and I still have an appreciation for that but taking that class is my first exposure to jazz, and she showed me Chet Baker. He was a really big influence in me wanting to sing. I’ve always enjoyed singing, but I just fell in love with his voice, and it was definitely a big influence on me wanting to take that leap and try to actually do that.

Donna: So, when did you decide to explore singing for the very first time?

Quin: Oh, it was right around that time because I had always written songs. I’d always been a drummer, and it was around that time that I started just playing with melody. I started learning guitar and needed to accompany those guitars…those pieces with vocals, and it kind of popped out of necessity. I couldn’t find a singer, and I just decided to go for it. And that’s carried me for the past 10 years.

Donna: That’s amazing. So, what is it about Chet Baker’s signature style, as you see fit, that you draw upon for your own music?

Quin: This is a great example. It’s complex enough to be interesting, but it’s still accessible and it’s digestible and it’s just a nice balance that I enjoy.

Donna: Yeah, Chet Baker. He’s pretty much a household name at this point.

Quin: Yeah. You’d be surprised though, you know? He gets obscured sometimes by some of the bigger names, but definitely.

Donna: I mean, I’m not one for experimental jazz. If I’m listening to jazz, it’s going to be someone like Chet Baker. I don’t really know what the kids are listening to these days jazz-wise.

Quin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.Jazz-wise, me neither. Well, Xinxin’s holding it down.

Donna: Yeah, alright! Well, what do we have next?

Quin: We’re going to change gears.

Donna: Perfect.

Quin: Love them or hate them? I picked a Grateful Dead tune.

Song Plays: The Grateful Dead – Terrapin Station Medley

Donna: You know what’s funny is that I was looking at your list of songs on my way over here and I feel like every single show someone has either a Grateful Dead song or a Beach Boys song.

Quin: I’m surprised. I usually feel like I’m in the minority. I must say it took me a really long time. I was a staunch Grateful Dead hater for a number of years and for whatever reason, at some point it just clicked.

Donna: Well, did your dad listen to him growing up?

Quin: No, no. They’re 70s rockers. They like Led Zeppelin and that’s what I grew up on. When they find out I’m listening to Grateful Dead they’re like, “Why? It’s just old?” Yeah, it’s funny.

Donna: Whaaat? Their discography spans decades at this point.

Quin: Exactly. And the breadth, the diversity of styles is something that I hadn’t been exposed to. I just thought they were either way too trippy or just like a country band. And those were two things that I kind of steered away from.

Donna: Did you know that they were originally a jug band?

Quin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Before Jerry even had a beard.

Donna: You’re like the only person I’ve ever met who also knows that piece of information. That’s amazing.

Quin: Yeah. He used to dress up, like all fly. He had little suits and played a banjo. It’s a vibe.

Donna: Their songs incorporated still so much banjo and a lot of that influence really carried over, especially in their earlier stuff.

Quin: Yeah, and oddly enough, that’s still a present for us. I know Billy Strings is really popular right now. It’s like a whole modern bluegrass revival type thing. It’s pretty cool.

Donna: Well, why this song in particular?

Quin: For what I mentioned earlier, I feel like this kind of captures some of the diversity of their sound. It starts very accessible and then if you can make it through the whole 17-minute suite or whatever, it’s a journey. I really appreciate when an artist can take something that’s maybe a little bit drawn out or requires a little bit of work, but this is I feel is a good example of something that’s pretty progressive but has a nice flow to it.

Donna: So, you seem to have a lot of patience when you listen to music and the things that really call to you. That patience, is it something that you had to learn over time, or is that just something that seemed innate to you in terms of understanding the music?

Quin: I feel like part of it comes from being a player and learning music and trying to find music that pushes your ability. And a lot of times that kind of leads more towards experimental or progressive arenas. But I think it’s just spending so much time listening to music too. “She Loves You” is a great song. There’s great Beatles songs and great pop songs, but at a certain point you get hungry and you crave a little bit more.

Donna: So how experimental would you say your music is in terms of where you’ve been and where you’d like to go?

Quin: We’ve definitely slowed down a bit. In our younger days we were very, very experimental and it was never an explicit intention, or we weren’t trying to be complex or anything, but we were just having fun and kind of anything that we could come up with, just record it, just see how it goes. And now we’ve definitely tried to be more conscious about the amount of space that we’re leaving in songs and maybe just because a parts really, really cool and fun to play as a player, does it serve the piece as a whole? And I feel like we’ve gotten a lot more mindful about and hopefully better at getting what we’re trying to get across, you know? Because sometimes you get lost in the complexity. There’s something that becomes inaccessible, and then as a listener it’s just too much to digest. It’s like you put too much in the sandwich, and you can’t even chew it. You know?

Donna: Right. Well, I would argue that Grateful Dead does something kind of similar. I feel like their discography is so expansive that sometimes, let’s say you’re a Grateful Dead novice, it’s kind of difficult to just dive right in. And it is a lot to chew. So where would you recommend for someone to start?

Quin: Oh, I like this question. We debate this question a lot at the house. I think “Shakedown Street” is a good one because it was their attempt at selling out, which is kind of funny because it still didn’t do that well, commercially. But songs like that I feel are kind of universal. You don’t have to be into bluegrass or prog or jazz or trippy, psychedelic 20-minute jams. You can just kind of dive right in. That’s a good place to start.

Donna: Well, what is your personal favorite besides this track in particular? Something that is perhaps not necessarily as appealing to the fans at large, but something that’s near and dear to your heart personally.

Quin: Their record Blues for Allah. That’s probably my favorite of all time. The first three tracks all lead into each other. It’s kind of one big piece, and it’s similar to Terrapin Station where it’s like a prog roller coaster, and then it all cascades into “Franklin’s Tower”, which is just this kind of celebratory, nice little dancey tune, you know? And it’s kind of what we were talking about earlier, where you get through the rough part of it, and there’s a really big payoff at the end, and it’s a nice way to kind of celebrate.

Donna: Yeah, I’m gonna have to revisit that record.

Quin: That’s a good one. Yeah, that’s a good one.

Donna: Not to like name drop or anything, but I was briefly summer camp friends with Mickey Hart’s daughter. I went to Wavy Gravy summer camp as a kid.

Quin: Did you really? I’ve heard a lot about it. That’s up in…

Donna: Northern Mendocino.

Quin: Yeah, my wife and I just got married not far from there, actually.

Donna: Oh, my God. Well, first of all, congratulations.

Quin:  Thank you. Thank you.

Donna: Yeah, it’s a weird little area. Every time my parents would drive me up there, they’d be like, “Oh, they grow weed there.”

Quin: It’s definitely that part of the country.

Donna: But they would still do it. So, I don’t know what they were complaining about.

Quin: Yeah, yeah, well, they know. I mean, you’re in good hands.

Song Plays: Yes – Long Distance Runaround

Donna: So, this looks a little different from the rest of your records.

Quin: So, mentioning my parents being 70s rockers. My mom’s a huge Yes fan. It was kind of like, “My parents are into that. It’s lame. I don’t want anything to do with it.” And then later in life, I actually dove into their discography, and it opened up a whole world for me. I mean, the theatrics of it, everything about it. There’s just so much there. It’s so dense and it’s similar to the Dead. It’s kind of a hard thing to dive into. Once you dive in, there’s a lot there. The water is cool.

Donna: Before I was fully familiar with Yes, I had originally thought that they kind of sounded like a prelude to an 80s pop anthem.

Quin: Well, “Owner of a Lonely Heart”. If you’ve heard that track, yeah. And I think that’s their number one played song too, which is funny because you hear that and you’re like, “Ohh, they’re like Toto or something.”

Donna: Exactly. But you don’t view them that way, though?

Quin: No. The earlier works, everything up until like 1977 give or take, when it started changing a little bit and I know there were some personnel changes involved in the difference of sound. But there was a there was a nice period there where they were really making some really special work.

Donna: And when you hear this song in particular, does it bring you back to any special memories either? You know, growing up or with your mom or what does it call to mind? Because to me, Yes is a very prog rock, but also it seems like it has sentimental value to you as well.

Quin: Absolutely, yeah. Like my mom vacuuming, just playing “Long Distance Runaround” and full-on rocking out. Yeah, it’s a family thing too. I’ve turned a lot of my friends on to these records, and it’s cool just to see that go across generations and then full circle. Going to see Steve Howe with my mom last year in Riverside was a huge deal because by now I’m all up on the material, and she’s been trying to convince me that they’re amazing for like 26 years and I finally came around. Yeah, they’re incredible. So, it’s cool.

Donna: Well, so this is your mom’s influence. But then I also know that your dad was a touring lighting person, right?

Quin: Yeah, yeah.

Donna: So how did his music experience and his work in the industry influence you?

Quin: There’s a picture of me when I’m at two years old, literally asleep at an Offspring concert with these big headphones on. And I think just being around music my whole life, it was never really an option. I just always knew, it was like, “OK, that’s what I want to do.” Seeing the joy that it brought my mom. Seeing my dad love what he does and then just being around fans and seeing the interaction, the joy that’s brought, you know? It’s just so special for us and to even be a small part of that. I always knew.

Donna: Yeah, you always knew. I love that. It’s like this innate calling. That’s beautiful. Oh, that’s so sweet.

Donna: So, where do The Beach Boys fit in this scope of things?

Song Plays: The Beach Boys – Let’s Go Away for Awhile

Quin: I feel like I had to round it off with The Beach Boys when we’re talking about balance. “Barbara Ann” is pretty far from Pet Sounds. You know what I mean? They have stuff that’s just total bubble gum pop, and that’s awesome too. But it’s just cool to see someone, the arc of someone’s career like Brian Wilson going from writing songs like “Barbara Ann” and just kind of like almost being a caricature of California culture to this really rich, orchestral piece of art that’s timeless. And even when this came out, I know it was a couple months after, if I’m recalling it correctly, he heard Sgt. Pepper’s and was incredibly disappointed because it was like, “Oh, I’ll never be that good.” And at the time, the record wasn’t really performing commercially. And through the test of time, it’s considered this masterwork. I feel honored to be able to have that catalog to dive through, and then witness that arc and it’s just super inspiring.

Donna: Well, he went through such a personal arc as well writing these songs, you know? For someone who was the lead of a very popular pop band, a very dark personal history. So, do you feel any of those remnants in this album in particular?

Quin: Absolutely. And I think when you put it in context too, for him to be talking about some of the subject matter, it’s not just about the pop song. It’s not just about how digestible is this? Or how relatable is this, or are they going to play this on the radio? It feels like it’s a portrait of a human being. In my humble opinion, that’s maybe one of the most profound things you can do as an artist is just to give a representation of your soul, sonically, and for me this album is a perfect example of that.

Donna: What would you say to someone who isn’t sure how to properly appreciate a wordless track from The Beach Boys?

Quin: Go for a drive. Yeah, yeah. We’re fortunate enough to live in sunny Southern California. Go for a drive.

Donna: Yeah, I love that. I’m going to use that.

Quin: Feel free. Feel free.

Donna: That’s amazing. Well, you know I feel like I’ve never properly dove into The Beach Boys discography, and I think this album in particular. It’s kind of on the money that I’ve properly neglected it compared to other things, but I love that I had been able to previously discuss the song with you as well. I feel like it kind of brought my attention back to it, which is so cool to be able to see how other people interpret their full body of work.

Quin: Sure, for sure, and they get lost in that too, you know? And that’s what’s so cool about being in a time where we have Spotify and the streaming services. I mean say what you will about compensation and all that jazz but having the ability to dive into an artist’s work and have access to all this music. So, you don’t have to view The Beach Boys as just like “Surfin’ California”. You can dive into everything, and it’s all available. I feel like there’s all these timeless artists and timeless works and if you find the time and the headspace to dive into it, you can appreciate that and integrate it.

Donna: So, what is one song in the discography of Plantasia that you feel probably gets a similar rap?

Quin: I don’t know. We suck. Let me think.

Donna: What is the song that you would consider underrated that you wish more people would listen to?

Quin: I think “Fool’s Gold”. It’s a good one just because I think it really represents all of the influences that we’re trying to incorporate, and it has elements of some of our more progressive stuff and there’s like odd times or whatever. It’s just fun, you know? And it’s a journey.

Donna: I love a journey. Well, Quin, thank you so much for being here today.

Quin: Thank you, guys. Thank you, RECORDS LiVE. This has been a lot of fun.