The Eighth Note is 8 quick Questions with Wellington Musicians. A chance for us to catch up with people & see what they’re up to, or introduce you to a new musician/band and their music. Up next is Marc Chesterman.
Who are you? Tell us a bit about your music:
Marc Chesterman, music artist with a background in rock, jazz, field recording and electronic manipulation. A lot of my work has been soundtrack oriented, firstly for theatre then for a number of indie films. I played in bands throughout the nineties then got into soundtracking. I didn’t study music formally so have no real qualifications in the area! Firstly I got into drumming, and making up songs with friends. I acquired a 4 track cassette recorder and a dictaphone around 1987. The world of recording, layering and messing about with sound opened up & I’ve been chipping away at it ever since. Like many artists in NZ, one has a career that’s a whole other thread to life. In my case that hasn’t been too far from away from music, so I’m thankful for that.
What have you been working on lately? Any new tracks or albums on the way?
One recent release is the Woodenhead Soundtrack & Woodenhead Reimagined albums, a vinyl & digital release of the soundtrack to Florian Habicht’s 2003 film alongside a swathe of remixes by luminary locals, Scott Mannion, epsilon-blue, Charlotte Yates, Mimi Gilbert and others. My most recent release is Jean’s Piano (an hour of piano music), an album of ambient piano pieces based on a recording of my grandmother playing piano. This is available on cassette and digital. Lately I’ve been using my android phone to create sample based tunes. The immediacy & easy access is addictive.
Where is the best place people can follow you & find your music?
My Website, Bandcamp, Soundcloud & Woodenhead.
What were the 5 most influential albums to you growing up?
Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
Michael Jackson – Off The Wall.
The Clash – London Calling.
The Cure – 17 Seconds.
Mikes Davis – Kind of Blue.
Which other Wellington musician (s) would you most like to work with?
Nick Bollinger, Ross Harris, Gregory O’Brien, Ryan Smith, Dan Beban, The Phoenix Foundation, Steak, Earth Tongue, Womb, Denver Grenell.
What ’s your favourite Wellington venue to play in?
The Opera House, The Roxy, Community Halls, people’s lounges.
In your songwriting or composing (or the bands songwriting) how do the compositions and songs take shape?
In a recent interview Cloudboy’s Demarnia Lloyd said “I’m not a musician as such, I don’t read music, I don’t really play any instruments apart from by ear. But there’s a part of my brain makeup of what feels good to me, what makes sense, & that’s what I turn into the songs……. I create music but I’m not a technical musician. I’m an instinctive & intuitive musician.” This really resonated with me, thank you Demarnia!
Sampling and recording sounds has always been central to my process. In the album notes for the recent release of Jean’s Piano (an hour of piano music) – I describe a way I like to work: “These sounds originate from a recording of my grandmother playing piano. She loved to play, & was often tinkering away, playing by ear & singing – at home in Whitianga, Coromandel. I’d always intended to create something from the recording. Here’s how I went about it. A phrase of the original recording is selected, it becomes a ‘sample’, a couple of bars that will loop forwards & backwards. Now the sample can be played via a midi keyboard. Playing the sample is like playing any instrument – different pitches, notes are layered, new chords and combinations form. Plus you control the ‘envelope’, meaning, how fast a sound starts (attack) and finishes (decay). You form a new piece with a new sound. The resulting sound can also be processed, by adding reverb, echo, filtering, & oscillation. It’s instinct you’re going on. You record what is played. Remembering your grandmother’s joy at playing piano, you have fun also.”
A couple of other ways I enjoy creating is – as a poorly trained drummer – creating rhythms & finding sounds to fit. And, working with other musicians will generally lead you down paths you never expected, so that is always worthwhile.
Where/when is your next gig?
I’m trying to get a silent film soundtrack underway so stay tuned for that.