Baron Lesh Singer "Dlas Scott" Interview Part 2

This is part 2 of an interview conducted with Dlas Scott for MPx magazine,while he was in the studio recording "Hiding in the Eye".-(jason stuart)

JS-Tell us the brief history of your band.

Dlas Scott:"The Still" was "officially" formed sometime in the summer of 2005,although the idea of the band was some years before.I've always looked at my band (Baron Lesh)and it's musical projects as visual concepts,Something i can wrap my mind around and see from beginning to end."The Still" became a place i could put all the ideas that i couldn't see within the Lesh context.

interviewer:Who are your musical and non-musical influences?

Dlas Scott:I've never really considered other musicians or bands as being influential but as inspirational.My fellow musicians and my closest circle of friends probably have the biggest influence on me.

interviewer:Who writes the songs and how are they written?

Dlas Scott:I guess i bring the musical blue prints to the table then we build off them as a collective.Lyrically i write everything for "The Still".It makes things very personable to me.

interviewer:Personable as in personal experiences?

Dlas Scott:They are all very personal as they are all my own theories about things. But, in fact, I'd say that maybe only one or two of them are relevant to my own experiences. What I've tended to do is to use my own experiences to get into someone else's mind, like books I've read. I deliberately personalise them by reading about the main character as "I". That's very important because music is a very personal process. But not all the songs are necessarily to do with me.

interviewer: what are they about?

Dlas Scott:I think if there were a common theme or feel on "hiding in the eye" it came before the sound or the songs, for me it came even before the act of writing.And on this project that's all I could focused on.It became my occupation, I'm a"Stillist". My profession was about artistically painting myself into corners.
And;"I'm trying to find some way to express this", was all i wanted to say.

Interviewer:Had the writing gotten smoother or rougher the closer you came to completion?Or are you hurrying or waiting?

Dlas Scott:Both.Hurry up and wait. like in the song "trial by fire" a man's salvation is found watching his house, farm and everything he'd worked for all his life burn to the ground.The moment he finds having nothing is nothing left to lose, he also finds that he's the one who lit the fire.Now he's just stuck there wondering how I'm gonna get him up off his knees,but I'm still here wondering how long it'll take this paint to dry.
(Jeff chimes in from the next room,"And I'm wondering about Scott's sanity!")

interviewer:Describe your show, visual and musically.

Dlas Scott:I try to incorporate principles I've learned from the theater.I tend to like building on the contrast between songs,showing the light against the dark.

interviewer:What's your outlook on the record industry today?

Dlas Scott:Pretty bleek at the moment. I'm almost a non-participant as far as main stream music.The air waves are full of fifteen year olds singing the blues.

interviewer:What are some of your pet peeves about other musicians/bands?

Dlas Scott:It seems theres only so many spaces available for a band to be seen and heard and i hate that there filled up with all these corporate cookie cutter acts or old dinosaur bands that cant seem to gracefully bow out.Theres to many people thinking their musicians, I dont think I'm a brain surgeon so i stay the hell out of the operating room.

interviewer:What's new in the recording of your music?

Dlas Scott:Probably the way we communicate our ideas.After working for so long inside the Lesh bubble,were exploring new ways to approach our music.Developing a new language to tell the story of "The Still".

Baron Lesh singer/songsmith "Dlas Scott" Interview Part 3

The Still Interviews part 3

Part three of our interview was taken from transcripts and conversations over the phone in 2009. the Still had just begun laying down the first tracks of a conceptual project called "Hiding in the Eye".

This Interview was conducted with Dlas Scott for MX3 Magazine®, in person, Sept 11th, near Lake Calhoun in uptown Minneapolis,MN.-(jason stuart)

JS - So before this interview, I was doing some research and wound up on kind of a E-bender connecting all the dots from your early career to becoming "the Stillist".

Dlas - Becoming who you are, becoming who you want to see in yourself is a matter of choice but, without my cohorts and counterparts to see me, I sometimes have to stay here all day and work on other projects I've involved myself with.

JS - I was surprised by the range of musical styles and players of note that have been involved.

Dlas - I'm fortunate to have had the opportunities I've had and to be surrounded by such good friends and talented players.

JS - How has your music evolved since you first began songwriting up until now?

Dlas - Since the beginning almost all of the music that I've written I see visually and it's there that the story is told. There I see lyrics as sign posts or guides to points of view, in this way it keeps me invisible to the story unfolding from the vision. In my favorite stories as a reader, or as a listener, I'm made to believe I have a choice on which way to go. If theres an evolution it's in how to choose.

JS - It's been just over a year since we last spoke. The band had a few "wet ink" mixes but was still writing material. How has the project progressed since then?

Dlas - We've always had a blueprint or story arc to follow. From the beginning we knew we were going to record in several studio environments, using a number of different engineers. So we just let the sound dictate which songs to record and where.

JS - Why so many sessions?

Dlas - I wanted to keep the project moving. We've always been more productive when were on the move. It forces us to make decisions as a band, but the Still is in its own nature an unmoving timepiece, to glimpse this world I have to be an anti-time traveller.

JS - Are you looking for a time machine?

Dlas - I'm not looking for a time machine, I'm looking for a machine without time to take its place.

JS - How does this differ from previous Baron Lesh projects?

Dlas - I was younger for sure and our projects didn't have such a hinge on movement.

JS - How So?

Dlas - Lesh has always been a collaborated effort, having a producing or engineering partner in the studio keeps the creative process in focus and keeps the distractions out . In the Still the process takes much longer, I'm always forcing myself into separate spaces.

JS - How do you know where to draw to line?

Dlas - Not sure I do... part of me can't leave and part of me doesn't know I've arrived.

JS - I can see why you'd want to leave that to someone else. How did you choose the studio's?

Dlas - Lesh has always had label resources and studio interest, but the idea of losing any type of control, lead us to build our own production studio and kept us from signing with anyone. On the "Hiding in the Eye" project I wanted to completely hand off all responsibilities other than creative control. It seemed the perfect time to call in a few favors. To keep the project moving we would rehearse in different locations and we recorded the foundation tracks in three different studios. But the end result seemed to be a loss of continuity, loss of a bassist, and Watt's and my opinion differing greatly on the overall sound. Jeff wanting more of a echo type texture and myself wanting a cleaner sound. Once again we were overwhelmed with choices.

JS - So where does that leave the project?

Dlas - With the base tracks completed "Hiding in the Eye" has become a solitary venture. I knew from the beginning it could only be this way. Still in the end I'm running around wondering what happens now? I have to take a passive approach, otherwise, I can burn out here in the sticks.