Tim Reynolds

0:00The Minch, Los Angeles, California, talking with Tim Reynolds. Fantastic solo career. Some Dave Matthews work as well. A whole bunch of other stuff. What other bands have you played with? I mean, everyone probably knows. Yeah, the only one anybody would mostly have heard of or Dave. I mean, I recorded with some other people from Charlottesville. Craig Howard, we have an improv group that was just him and myself called Sticks and Stones. And recorded with Mike Salkolsky from Charlottesville. recorded with a guy from Santa Fe and his more like his concept, his band or whatever, it was called Tuku and he's built T-U-L-K-U. How come you got to school? Where are you out there now? I just moved there almost ten years ago just because it's so awesome. Basically, the first time I went out there on vacation, I had friends tell me how nice it was.

0:48I'd never been there before. So it was like, okay, I'll come stay here. New Mexico is just very special, you know. First time playing the mint, is this where you play when you come out here? It's the first time I play here, yeah. Cool. And it looks like it'd be pretty cool. It's a little snazzy class you joined on. Yeah, I like little places like this for Kussy Guitar. I play a lot of the more bar kind of places here. And then with the bars, you know, like the Key Club and the House of Blues and music star, McCabe's. That's all that comes to mind, but it's probably a few more. Cool. Let's start the show off of the song. One of your tunes, what do you want to hear something off the new record? Something off an old record, TR3. What do you feel it hearing? Oh, a song, huh? Yeah. Playing Daconate from the new city. Cool. That's pretty much more like what this is so beef.

2:05It ain't no mystery. And Dr. Nae, and Dr. Kae my name. This stupidity of the average man is controlled by propaganda. Fied simplify the world and passive. Took a fight simplify the world and masses. We're governed by asses.

2:51They teach it in the classes. And Dr. Nae, and the mask destruction.

3:41The media is a weapon of nice instruction. Mask control till you feel a little debt. Control the mask till you catch your breath. The media is a weapon of mass and structure. The media is a weapon of mass destruction. Mask control what the media do. Man, control the mask so you can't decide. Dr. Nae. You just heard some Tim Reynolds new music off parallel universe.

4:27Two different CDs, sonically different. One's got more, a little more experimental. The other one's got, it's all electric guitar though. Your tour's acoustic. How does that work? How are you pulling off the songs? Well, I've done actually, like I started doing a lot of that music live probably a year before I made that record was finished. And I kind of spent a long time doing it. And then I released it. And that played a lot of gigs with drum machines and electric. And I'm just kind of person, since I don't have a record company breathing, telling me I got to do something. As soon as I changed the way I want to do it. And the way those shows were structured was it was already an hour of acoustic. And then mostly just a half an hour of some of those songs. And then maybe a few others. And so this year was already structured around being acoustic.

5:13And the tour before that, it was like half and half. And then the tour before that, it was all electric. But I also just realized when I played more electric and was drum machines, it was just like one of those things. It didn't really work as far as having people show up. I realized that they are expected more acoustic. And maybe that's a subjective judgment. But it seemed like that. It's like the Pavlovian thing. I think people are more into hearing the acoustic. So I just kind of, also after using the drum machines, it kind of ties you down to using the song as your program. So I just kind of wanted to drop a half an hour. And for me, the plus was to play more 12-string. Because that was really the thing that inspired me to play a lot more acoustic. So I just kind of, and we've done some of those songs.

6:00To me, it's all so similar, even though records are different. It's all just music, whatever you play it on. It's like the Aboriginal people. They don't even use the instruments. They go on their walkabout. And this one book I read with this lady went with them for a while. And they were like, there's going to be a concert tonight. And they're walking in the desert. She's like, wow. We're going to see a concert. And they're like, oh, you're going to see a concert? And then they start to settle down for camp. And he's like, where is the concert? Because, oh, in a little while. And they start picking up stuff. And they start making instruments. That's pretty cool. And they play that night. They have a big, wild thing. And they're just like, oh, you know, crazy. She's like, wow. At the end of the next day, they take the part there. And she puts them back right where they found them. And they leave like nobody came. That's pretty cool. So I just think that's a great thing. And then she asks them later, what's all the potential?

6:46What the music is inside us? That's just what we bring it through. How we bring it. So that's kind of an idea with electric machines or whatever. It's all the same. And I just kind of keep the mostly. The most consistent thing is probably playing acoustic. And I use a lot of other things around it. So I just kind of get, I reached the level, but maybe a saturation point for myself playing with the drum machines and the electric. And I just to learn more music and to just go on and move on and do something that I've already been doing and just kind of expand on it a little more because I felt like I was kind of leaving it by the wayside and really getting into the electric and the drum machines, which I still do all the time. I never stopped doing it. But I also realized it's a little harder to play the acoustic and so a little more of a challenge for that last half hour

7:31to take the energy up. And I realized this one gig that made me kind of realize how I can do that was playing it aspen. It was in the Hunter S Thompson town. I felt like the whole audience was Hunter S Thompson. Because you're like really just drunk and partying, you know? And it was like a acoustic guitar. And I started just pulling out shit out of my ass, literally like some old songs that I like. And I realized that they were covers, but people like them. I like them. I'm sure I didn't play like the artists because I can. But you know, if you... Right, several albums apply it. Some like that, you know, certain songs that I literally grew up at that complainist are now by Sam and Dave called, hold on, I'm coming written by Isaac Hayes. Nice. But that's the first record, one of the first records I ever heard. And I got high on the music. I was like, man, this is something. You know, it just made me want to rock and go to school all hot.

8:18You know, happy. So I just started doing that spontaneously at a sound check at that gig. And I thought about it later, let me go forget the record and see what that's about. And I finally figured out I could do this. And I didn't even think, you know, it's something that's part of my cellular body, you know, that kind of... You know what I mean? Yeah. It's always a search for music that's like that. So I don't really have to learn it. I just kind of figured out my body. I already remembers it. That's a fun thing to do. But it is, you never know which one's going to be like that, which one's going to fool you. And you're going to think you got that going on. Any covers coming out tonight? You're going to do a Saturday too? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, I do that a lot because that's when I... It's not hard. I don't have to think about if I'm singing a kid, you know, because it kind of doesn't matter because it's just... I feel it, you know. Yeah. And I'm always trying to work on new ones, you know. Let's play at Salmon Dave to right now in the original.

9:03What's that? Let's play at Salmon Dave to me. Alright, yeah. It's cool, so. Hold on, I'm coming. It's wicked. The groove and the vocals and everything.

11:44I want to talk about Dave for a second. Okay. That's because, I mean, that's how I heard you for the first time. Keep on... What's your favorite experience in the studio with him? I remember when they recorded that song and this song is that thing and it's just a happy, happy song no matter even if it didn't have the same lyrics. That melody is just magic right there and I just remember what this is going to be. What do you play on? At times when the record company kind of more figures out, you want it to be in this kind of model, oh yeah, it's going to be that one. What was your question? What were you playing on it? Just guitar, you know, that record was like, you know, I'll just play guitar.

12:29Yeah, electric or acoustic. How do you decide what to play? What to throw? I know, it's a producer's call in those situations, you know, that's what record companies do, man, they kind of, well, they don't tell you what to do, but they find out what they're looking for and what the artist's looking for and they kind of figure it out scientifically in a way. It was beautiful because you can take music that's like a religion and apply how to get the best thing, you know, so you can improvise and that's not really scientifically thinking when you're improvising, but the guy at the board is like recording, you're improvising a bunch of times and then he goes back and uses the best couple of notes and maybe work that out. Like that's how David Gilmore does guitar solos. He plays and wails a bunch of guitar solos and then goes back and comps each part together so that he creates a composition that's pretty cool based on a bunch of improv and then of course you relearn it so it doesn't, you know, but that's a great thing.

13:16That's like, to me that's a scientific way of taking time and music that is real right now, but then you make a time with some record it and then play it back and then get all the really good ones and make the best, you know. That's a really cool thing. I mean, you don't approach everything like that, but you know, there's other ways like a jazz musician wouldn't do that. It would just play. That's the way it is because that's the improv. That sounds done, yeah, exactly. And that's the both valid, you know, for sure. Would you ever consider producing? You ever want to? I'll produce the records that I do so I don't really claim to be a producer that's on par with anybody that's a producer, that's a producer, you know what I mean? But I have fun doing it. This one of the great joys of life is, you know, I don't really call it producing in a way because it's kind of a funny word because it's a loose definition. Some producers are just the people who pay for the album. There's the executive. In the executive movies, yeah.

14:02You know, you can see that in some labels that there's always this one guy executive producing, but it really isn't written any songs or it doesn't do any engineering or whatever. You know, anyway, it's all good. Cool. It's another song. Yeah. It's a song you worked with Dave on, a live one from the acoustic CD or studio track, whatever you want, 41? It's a good, sweet, yeah. It is a cool tune.

15:27I'm talking to your Tim Reynolds.

20:00You just heard 41, some Dave Matthews. As you mentioned, like producing as well and record labels and stuff like that. It seems that you don't even need one anymore. You can make a record in your own house, put it on MySpace, throw it up on the internet. You don't even need a label. You think that's the way it's going to be going? We saw them. I mean, some people like the structure and some people need the structure. You know, a lot of people aren't focused, you know, and it's a valid thing. Now record companies like I would you say, and there's a scientific approach. You get a producer who's wise in his ways and energy. I come with a band in the studio. I'm limited resources. You can't help but wait unless they just suck, you know. So, but then you can do that at home on your own time. Yeah, if you want to, if you're focused. I mean, when I was younger, I could never be that focused. I remember the first time I was in a band and we were like, I'll do one of my songs. I knew what I was going to play.

20:45And I realized, wow, you don't know what you want to keep our play. I mean, I eventually figured it out, but then I realized, well, if you're going to have a song and a band, your part is almost the most, least important because you have to know what they're going to do with you. And that's why I like doing those kind of recordings like that. What you, you know, the parallel universe is kind of like the ultimate scientific experiment or an animal experiment. The second side, more so. But, you know, just taking the studio as an instrument where the next record or two is probably going to be way more stripped down just acoustic. Oh, really? Have you started working on them at all? Oh, yeah. I've recorded it actually. I'm thinking about recording some more stuff at home with Cusick, which I've never done much because I don't have a really good mic, but that's all it's separate and really from. You know what I mean? Because it's so simple. And every time I go in the studio, I've learned like now to do all the electric stuff I can do at home on just the most simple cassette machine and dump it on a CD, take it to the mastering.

21:35And it sounds great because I've got a guy who could master. He's a genius. But I've never been able to do great recordings of a Cusick at home because I've just never invested in a nice mic, which isn't really a big deal. I just never. When I'm at home, I do a lot of Cusick gigs on tour. I come home, I usually want to wail on an electric and dump machines. Fair enough, yeah. And I realize that, well, you know, if you just get on a good mic, you can make whole albums at home under the best of circumstances. And I actually recorded all these new songs on a Cusick at home. I didn't have a great mic, I did it anyway. Okay, that's a good practice. I went into the studio and I didn't. That's okay, but I realized I can come up with versions that are more relaxed and sound more the way the song was intended to be played. And the studio is almost like the time you're thinking about how much time this take.

22:21I gotta make it up. I gotta get another take. It's more time. Even though you shouldn't think about it. I used to really think about it. I just realized, you know, the intimacy of recording solo acoustic, if I got a, I'll probably want to do that at home more often because that's really good. I just did one in the studio and I probably want to be using it, you know, but I'll be sitting around for a while waiting to release it. I might wind up doing stuff, you know. There's a whole other CD that's going to be another double CD, the new one, but the other CD is more like a space CD. It's probably going to be called space. And it's when I was mixing parallel universe with all the music, you know, where you get kind of fried after mixing a tune. And when we take a break and I started just making drones and playing with this keyboard that I have, it says great sounds. I'm just kind of doing simple little things just with the keyboard.

23:07And I took it home and I was like, hey, I mean, look at this nice space record. And it's all nice and space. He goes, play guitar to it. And I just played the minimalist things. Like I didn't want to wail. I wanted to play. The idea was relax, you know. So, and because most music is about, hey, here I am. I'm loud and I'm proud. And that's why rock and roll is great at, you know. It's also good at the other direction. So this whole CD kind of came about as a feeling relaxed in a studio enough to just, well, I'm here. I'll just have some fun. But I'm not going to go like this yet. Why am I going to do that? I'll just play some simple stuff. So I want to be this like 10 tracks of very like sound tracking kind of stuff. But really, it has a lot of heart like so much that I want to release it and just pair it with another acoustic CD.

23:54So I don't have to like go through the whole thing, you know, just practical to do two CDs at the close. No, it makes sense for sure. And I like the idea like it's old school. Me as somebody in my favorite CDs or double CDs like Aphrodite's Child 666. Anything from there. That's my favorite album. I just realized. Oh really? Yeah, it's like one of the greatest albums of all time. Because it just covers everything, bro. Let's play tracking that. Yeah, the first track. I'm up now.

25:05Keep my eyes in the face. Go ahead and find the fight. Here's to Aphrodite's Child song called System Requested by Tim Reynolds.

27:24It's one of those things where it's one of the most brilliant long form records of all time up there with the wall and Genesis lame lies down. It's just, it's very kind of like the Beatles, Sergeant Pepper's flavor. But it's this Greek rock band that just is so good that whatever similarities that you might not like because of that. Even though nothing's nothing like. But they're so original anyway. I mean it's like the way that Peter Gable Passion album is so worldly wise. This album is like that. But it's rock and roll. Like almost so far man. It's really great. I love it. It's like my favorite record. Nice. We're going to get away from that though with the iPods now. You're not going to have records anymore. It's all just a single string. It's a sad thing. We'll all come back because you know how people, it's not a lot of people, but they're still, you can get a record store now and go see a bunch of records.

28:13Yeah. Not all of them. Not like a best brand. But if you go to like a. Well me, what's down here. A folder that's called my record. They got records all over the place. You know, some people actually still buy records because there's people that love music that much. I mean, I don't, I have records, but I don't really. I have them on CD. I like the idea of the little thing or the big thing. So that's not going to go away. The convenience is okay. But and then it'll be neat as long as it's the new thing. But I think people will still want the other thing, whether it's a CD or a record. I think in the same way that records just quaint now and CDs will become quaint and they're easier to make. So who knows? Yeah, I know what you mean. I don't know what to say about all that. I think it's good and bad like anything else. You know, like guns and jets and cars, you know.

28:59They're bad. We'll have to see French Revolution. We don't know. I don't know how it turned out yet. I don't know. Speaking of good and bad though and guns you mentioned, I was just thinking you have the Dennis Kucinich ad on your website. How do you feel the direction of the country? What do you think is going to happen? Bush has done? You think we're going to get the democratic? I would love to say yes and I hope so that that happens. I don't know that it won't take some kind of real serious cataclysmic shit to make the government and the way the world works changed to be less selfish. America being the head of that selfish curve in the sense that economic interests and words like that, free trade and all that don't mean what the words say at all.

29:45Free trade is like slave trade. You can take any concept that they use in their rhetoric and go back in history and look at Hitler's rhetoric. They were monsters with nice words to say about the being monsters and we have the same case now unfortunately although disguised in a friendly or more sportsman like that. Like you know like that. Whatever. So I hope that it can change. I kind of see that it can and I don't see it's impossible. I think it just has to reach a tipping point organically. You think we're going to gotten there already with all the lies but you know what was encouraging for me is to see this immigrant issue bring out so many people. They showed that the whole piece movement and anybody who ever claims to be anybody that went out to protest what to do come out in big numbers.

30:36Especially out here. It's all over the paper. Which really sad though it's okay that the Congress does to take a break and instead of waiting until they decide what to do they're locking people up now. Instead of waiting to see if Congress is going to make immigrants illegal or let them have a stay which they should. They shouldn't just kick people out because that's not America. That's whatever you want to call. Instead they're like this. Okay now that next week this week we're going to just increase the board. Do exactly what they shouldn't do. And I piss enough people off that people will come out in numbers to frighten them in the change in the policies that can't happen. French just didn't.

31:21They changed the one law that pissed off the people to write and that was the work law. Oh interesting. I changed it. Because it's pretty cool not as general as it was. It's probably still not good but they changed it enough. So that's going to have to happen here or I just don't think America will let itself become the fascist state that George Bush wants it to become. Or if they take the kind of drastic measures that they hint at I don't think it'll go the way they want this country ultimately doesn't put up with that kind of shit. It does to a large degree but if you tip it to a certain point it might not work. But I don't know if they really have to lock up a lot of people. Mostly anybody with a dissenting opinion which they're trying to do and they've been doing incrementally. But I don't know.

32:06It just makes you want to say well this world is what's the next one like. Which I'm all about. I'm all about. I wonder. Read into that a lot man. I'm going to like Tibetan Buddhism there. The Tibetan Book of the Dead. It really gets into the openness of the other experience. In a way learning about that teaches you more about this side. Yeah it makes sense. Let's read it with that kind of stuff. In a way it gives you a different kind of grounding. Isn't based on fear. It's more like continuousness. And just inevitable. Continuousness. Layers and layers of dealing with it. And obviously governments have been going in bad directions mainly selfless directions.

32:53And people don't like it and there's always that thing. But the bottom line is that because they divide into left and right labor industry they don't really address the real issue. And who owns all the money is the banks. Not like your little banks but like the big corporations. Like the world banks. They control what's going on. The government doesn't print money. They do. Federal Reserve is not the government. It's private banks. And then it's gone on in all of history by different names. And as long as those people are in power the other two sides will just keep arguing until their faces turn blue because nothing will change because that's not the change that needs to happen.

33:39So even though Marx was brilliant. He didn't address the bank issue. And I'm just learning about that now from this book I guess got that Dennis Kistun is his friend has written. Oh no. And it's this is the most brilliant. It's like that. The Howard's in the history book but in the money area. You know what I mean? It's that kind of an in-depth thing that is not eye opening. It's called The Lost Science of Money put out by the American Money Institute. I believe that's what it's called. Monetary Institute. Stephen Zarlinga I guess. Would you pronounce it like that? Stephen Zarlinga. Yeah. Yeah. Zarlinga. Anyway I met that guy. This I'm halfway through this book and it's this as eye opening is the Howard's in history of America is because it's really Jesus a conduit for information that we haven't heard before.

34:26That's true and proven and stuff that everyone's scared about. And it just explains a lot but it does explain and this guy and Dennis are really into this idea that well everything else is not going to change until that gets dealt with. You can talk left, right, blue in the face and they want you to. Yeah of course they are. Because you're not even getting to the night of the issue. Go ahead and talk yourself blue in the face and we'll just take a towel. Just right behind the back door. Yeah. So you never get too old to learn a new thing. So I'm just I'm joyous at learning that because it just one had it gives you hope because that information is out in the other is depressing because you've seen that the same thing has been going on since the fucking Greek Aristotle you know he came up with the science of money and he knew what it was but they've since kind of suppressed that information to the degree

35:11that it works for them because money isn't really anything but what the government decides it is. Good point. But most people don't both know that. Man. And they get based on gold and they say it is but it's not. That's just what they hoard. And people just accept it because it's such a complicated thing. Kind of the main economics. Yeah it doesn't it's not it can't work because they proved it when they discovered America and they had all the gold and flux to Europe well their inflation and their rate their everything went up like hundreds of percent. So that you know what I mean it's not really and it's because this is selfish people in control of it. Banks or whoever functions as the creditor or the people that control that's why the government loves to go into debt because the banks make a killing.

35:56And who's really running the government now but the banks so going to debt to the fucking squirting blood you know but you know trillions of dollars because the banks are going to make that much money. Great. It's brilliant. They're so smart I can't off to them. Maybe they all right in hell you know. I hope so. They're all making it definitely on the other side that's waiting for them. They're going to be having good times. I'll be there the great. Laughing over them. Playing their song. What do you want to hear? Oh a brand-of-grap generator. First song from Pawn Hearts. Whatever that one is. Cool. I don't know.

36:47The poem of highest pay of time. The down and the down and the home that I could see. The things that I would hear you not to share with you. Crashing on a blind to the sea. I tried to ask what came this was. But knew I wouldn't. The voice as one as no one came. For a-

38:03Talking here with Tim Reynolds you just heard the Vandergrath generator.

48:00The song called Lemmings. Some people say you're the greatest guitar player on the planet right now. Oh god no. No way. Question for you. Who is the greatest? I'm the greatest guitar player on the planet. One of the greatest that I've ever heard in person is Stanley Jordan because he's just taking it to another level. Who's that? I've never heard that man. He's a guy that plays this tapping technique like stick players play but I'm the guitar. But what it is is he's just a serious jazz beep-op and be on. But man when he goes and plays that jazz blues at a pimple he can- he's the best at that. Right. There's a lot of things other than that too. But to me he's the epitome of the beep-op one guy like playing like a you know like an artetum or an Oscar Peterson or piano. I mean I respect that because I tried to play jazz for many years and I realize that my soul is much more into like the more rock with jazz influence around what the progressive influence or a world be.

48:51But I realize I couldn't just stay into jazz and learn it as the ultimate thing. But he has obviously you know and I respect that. He's just technically you know and he's not even like in the limelight as it were these days. He was more like an 80s you know but just amazing a nice spiritual person you know I met him and played with him recently. I'm not impressed with that a lot of guitar players because they can play a lot of stuff but it doesn't have this you know. I need this man so they can play anything but he's got both you know. Nice. Let me ask you this thing. Clap in her Hendrix. Oh for me it's always Hendrix. Clapton's great but it was boring after Cream and Layla was good. And I think he's one of the nicest people on earth though so I won't really break up to him for being able to be a star right to this day.

49:37Make good music that satisfies him you know. I mean I just had different tastes so I know. Oh, no. You know what I mean? Like even then I didn't I wasn't all about Clapton although I there are some songs that I really love of his. Like there's the six Cream great songs that they did and then there's like some stuff from Layla. You know that period I really enjoyed because he could get. He could rock. It was always like Jimmy Henry's Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and Tom McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra and yes and Genesis and you know crazy shit pink for it and they're crazy experimental sonic orgasms. I mean it's a thing every five questions five quick questions one more answers. I plot our CDs. I still see these for me. I make copies of them so they don't get worn out.

50:23I just go on the road all the time. Yeah. My kids have iPads and I see the thing but I'm a whole album guy. I couldn't just say I want to pick a song. I need the whole album. I like to have the. Yeah. I'm still old school. Cool man. Letting her with her. Letting her hands down. I figured you say that you're more of a rocker. I'm not going to get. Just because he was cool. He has the easiest way to put it. I like his politics. I like his music. Pomegranate is a great guy. He's really sweet. I'm a great musician really. Probably the best musician of the Beatles although I think George Harrison was a tastefulest musician of the Beatles. Yeah. He was really the spiritual to me in a way in a spiritual sense he was above all of them because he rose above all the sides of anything because he knew.

51:10I mean he was a deep really way. Actually George Harrison was the deepest cat. John Lennon to me was the most tantric. Yeah. I think Harrison turned him on to that whole thing. Yeah. And the music and spiritualization. He was the only brother that not literally an age number. No. He turned him on to all that shit. I thought he was also the best to deal with it because he was always spiritual. And I think that comes from hanging out with the Ravi Shankar. He kind of accepted all that whereas Lennon rejected it. But I couldn't relate to both sides because I accepted to reject. Lennon was great. Goddamn. I love that the collection of all his songs when there's all these kind of outtakes of him. You know just doing silly shit. This fucking great. Like some New Year's thing. He's in his house and he's got this crazy music in background. He's talking about the walk. And he's doing like a, I am here from the walk.

51:56And we are talking with the walk. I would do, you know, it's just, you know. He's an, you know, kind of stuff. Just stupid humor. He just enjoyed life. Cool. Speaking of a joint life, the next question is alcohol in marijuana. Yeah. So I figured you'd say. Song you've written you're most proud of. In document only because it's really no, no, no, no. I guess I took notes out of put to the songs. I guess it's not fair. One of my most proud of is really an improv. It's the last song on the side one at parallel universe. It's because it's sweet and it's nothing to it except melody. Dedicates to your mom as that. And it's really kind of got little goofs in it. But I would listen to it over the years. You know, that's just kind of thing. It's sweet. And then in a way that's the ultimate thing to have.

52:43You know, just a sweet thing. Nice. You know, that's what music is supposed to do is make you feel good instead of like, you know, whatever. But it's all good. You know, rock and roll. That comes in many colors and speeds. One word. Tim Reynolds. No one. Good answer. I'm going to have heard that before. One song close to that. What do you want to hear? Maybe play that Chomsky tune if you want. It's a song from Bash. Oh, from my record. Well, whatever you want to hear? Oh, who'd have compassion? That'd be nice. Cool. Well, thank you so much.