Bridgetown Records / Kevin Greenspon

My Pillars Of Shame
Ancient Crux

In-depth interview with Travis / Ancient Crux regarding the new Stage Fright EP + live album on Bridgetown, and MP3 of “My Pillars Of Shame.”

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artistough:

Ancient Crux have just released their second extended play, Stage Fright on Bridgetown Records. This is an interview I did with their leader Travis Von Sydow:

 

AIT: What is the personnel on “Stage Fright”?   

TVS: The E.P. portion of the release was basically I, Brent Mitzner and Tyler Haran collaborating throughout. It sort of developed like a jigsaw puzzle. Some portions were recorded by Brent onto an 8 track tape recorder, and other portions were done months later by Tyler at his home studio setup, then the whole release was mixed and mastered digitally there. Brent wrote and performed the bass line on “Alma Reville” and Tyler played bass, synth, backing vocals, and other various extraneous instrumentation throughout the release in addition to helping me develop and write the title track. The live portion was myself on guitar/vocals, Brent Wyman on drums, and Collin Webb on bass. 

AIT: So is Ancient Crux a solo project or a group effort?

TVS: Both, really. I definitely consider it my project, and all the songs are primarily written by me, but I would be lying if I said there hasn’t been a tremendous amount of influence from others since the beginning of this project. I definitely plan on continuing to collaborate with outside forces because it helps me defeat my own preconceived notions about what my music is supposed to sound like. Having group influence helps me balance my ideas and keeps me interested in my songs long enough to fully develop them. 

AIT: Stage fright is a departure for you, do you feel like this is a preview of what to expect on a full length or do you feel within growth right now?

TVS: I wouldn’t say Stage Fright is a preview of what to expect per se, but I do think there is a lot more going on dynamically with this EP than anything else I’ve done before, and I want that aspect to carry over onto the full length. “Within growth” seems more fitting for where I am right now. I’m trying to focus on making the full length more cohesive and dynamic than everything else Ancient Crux has done thus far.  

AIT: the cover art differs from the rest of Bridgetown Record’s releases, who did the artwork? 

TVS: The cover is comprised of two separate photos that I took of the neighborhood surrounding this supposedly haunted, abandoned mill in Old Town Murrieta. I basically drove around with an expired disposable film camera and took photos through my open driver’s side window. After developing them, I picked the two pictures I liked best, scanned them into my computer, and superimposed them together digitally. One of the pictures was shot through a translucent orange CD case as a makeshift color filter, and each picture features a different perspective of the abandoned mill, slightly masked by the detail in each’s opposing picture. Bridgetown’s aesthetic is partially centered on where the artists live and reside, so when I started taking pictures for the release, I set out to create something that, in my mind, epitomized the tone of living in Murrieta. The mill was the perfect setting because It’s a landmark of the city and also because the area around it has served as the setting for so many of my own personal memories. In a way, it symbolically captures the essence and tone of my existence and the people I’ve grown up with and learned from. I’m actually really proud of how it came out. 

AIT: On past tracks like “Colossal Debt” “In Teen Dreams” and various others you focus on somewhat personal themes, is this consistent in the songs on “Stage Fright”? 

TVS: I would say yes, but to a lesser degree. A lot of the lyrics on Stage Fright are sort of hypothetical, and many are based on dreams and abstract ideas so I wouldn’t say it is quite as personal or literal as say, Interracial Coupling was, but there are still some deeply personal lyrics in there, and I think it is definitely still a part of the overall aesthetic and purpose. I make a lot of references to film, lyrically and otherwise, so I wanted it to partially feel like a collection of scenes, and some of the lyrics serve that purpose. I think that there are songs on this release that may seem deeply personal when in fact they are mostly fictional and metaphorical, while others may seem more metaphorical but are actually rooted more deeply in reality. My goal is to try and blur the lines well enough so that there is something for a variety of people to relate to. 

AIT: What are some songs you have been listening to a lot lately?

TVS: Top 5 songs lately:
1. David Bowie - Five Years
2. The Monochrome Set - Ici Les Enfants
3. Elliott Smith - The White Lady Loves You More
4. Suicide - Cheree 5. Karl Blau - The Business 

AIT: I know a lot of people go through musical phases that don’t last through their adolescence, are there any albums from your teen years that you can still relate to and draw influence from?

TVS:There are literally hundreds of albums I could think of. I honestly don’t even know where to begin. I guess the most recent “re-discovery” I’ve had lately is Beat Happening. That’s a band that really epitomized a good portion of my teen years and I hadn’t really listened to them for quite a while until the song “Noise” popped up on my iPod’s shuffle about a week ago. I was driving and it was a beautiful day and even though I have heard that song a thousand-and-one times, it somehow felt new. It was just the perfect song for that moment and I’ve been mildly obsessed with Jamboree and You Turn Me On since. The recordings on both of those albums are just so pretty and inviting, it makes me really envious.  

AIT: Do you think where you live has effected the music you make?  

TVS: Definately. I wouldn’t say that my hometown is all that inspiring of a place, but the experiences I’ve had growing up here and the people I’ve met in the process have absolutely influenced everything in my life, including music. I’m constantly amazed by how lucky I am to have met the people I did when I was younger, and to have lived and grown with my small group of friends in such a prime location to discover music, being almost directly in between San Diego and Los Angeles. I’ve seen a lot of amazing shows and met some equally amazing people at 16 and 17 years old that I totally wouldn’t have been to experience had I grown up somewhere outside of Riverside County.

AIT: I know stage fright just came out, but what is the next Ancient Crux release due out?

TVS: I’m currently working on a full length which should be done by late 2k10/early2k11.

Stage Fright is an awesome showcase of what Ancient Crux is and can do, I suggest you get it before it is sold out.

It is available in limited quantities over at Bridgetown Records.