SOTEG

The last time you interviewed with Nubreaks, you interviewed yourself. How was that? Are you prepared for someone other than yourself to ask the hard-hitting questions?

[bil bless] Interviewing myself was a real eye-opener, at one point I broke down and held my own hand. It was at that moment, as the tears were streaming down my face, I looked into my heart and realized how very much my facial profile resembles the buzzards in Disney's movie 'Dumbo'. I'm definitely ready for someone else to ask some hard hitting questions. Finally someone to talk to besides that turd icegrill.


What's going on with the label these days? I saw that you're selling a Bless Records double pack CD of the 1st 7 releases and Live at Trigger for only 6 bucks.

[bil bless] man, I just ate about a pint and a half of purple hull peas with some pea sauce and a pickle. that's bass. the label has been disorganized from the beginning. certain things occur and then a release pops out. right now I don't have my eye on anything new I've heard or made that I've thought about releasing. I'm sure it'll happen though at some point. that CD is ghetto baby. my boy fats was gonna do it up right, but he stays so busy tryin to make some money that he just doesn't get around to much. at first he got that together so we could get him over to trigger this second time, but then we got sidetracked with some folded horn projects and decided to invest that CD money into our prototype bins. we got somethin' brewin' in the workshop for '05.

What happened to "Rythymnal", why isn't it on the Bless CD?

[bil bless] I think it wouldn't fit physically on the CD. something had to go.


Got any info on the new LP that's in the works?

[bil bless] yea, that piece of crap has been rejected by everybody and their mother. so we'll do what we always do. bless it. pending we can trick our distributor into 2 more records, and pending they'll fit physically...you'll see 8 of the tracks on vinyl as bless 13 and 14. we've spoken to a friend about doing an iTunes thing, but if (when) that tanks, we'll do a digital pressing and run those through a stateside distributor. of course, when we get denied by all the distributors we'll try and sell them through Hypnotech. if he won't respond to our emails, we'll just Paypal(.com) the stupid thing for a dollar or two. If our Paypal(.com) account is no longer active, you can download the material for free, pending Ed doesn't close down our access to the server. If that happens, call me up and i'll send it to you in the mail. That is of course if I've managed to scrape a dollar or two from out the bottom of my clothes hamper. I do recall already looking there for lunch money yesterday. I'm thinkin' if you want this CD you'd better send me cash in the mail that'll cover a stamp and some gas money to get to the post office. anyways. that's the update. and a potential future.
the album will be available through system Dec. 14 on iTunes and various other online services. the vinyl samplers will be available January, 2 records 4 tracks a piece...hopefully that will be a bit more economical for that broke suckaz that share my plight in life. the second of those two vinyls will have a joint on there that is exclusive to the vinyl called 'mirrored 2 create'.


How would you describe your style to someone unfamiliar with your work?

[bil bless] it kinda sounds like


Can you describe your stylistic evolution from the start till now?

[bil bless] I couldn't say man. I sit down with no particular thought in mind and start tinkering. eventually things begin to take shape and the track assumes whatever roll it wants to take and my mind catches on. that's how its always been. I can say I've made a conscious effort lately to explore more avenues of mood. I think I've been guilty in the past of just hammering completely technical tracks together that only reflect one particular emotion. the entire gambit of notes could have ranged from a g to a g-flat and the only variation between the two were 8 billion control changes. I feel like what I write should reflect more of how I am. I'm not always in a bad scary lets bwombwombwombwombwom in your face mood. I don't know many people who are. and those that are, nobody typically wants to hang with them. to me, sitting down and forcing that mood into a tune is worse than formulaic...the music should reflect my variety of moods. sometimes there are fun moods, sometimes sad, sometimes angry, sometimes cheesy. so while I'm noodling, I keep this in mind...hopefully the new stuff shows it.


So what's up with your artwork style? I don't know if you know this, but there is other more advanced programs other then MS Paint.

[bil bless] my sister used to draw these faces like the ones I draw. I thought they were so funny growing up. hers resembled the people she was trying to draw, so the big nose or sunken eyes or whatever, were excellent ribs at the people she was drawing. I used to draw in another style until I was about 8. that was when I drew a horse. I was proud of that horse. I took it to my sister and momz for them to check out. they told me it looked like a duck and laughed at me until I cried. MS Paint? I ain't got that one. I just got a picture-deally on my computer screen that looks like a bucket of paint and I hit it with the pointer and it comes up. I think it's called windows.


Rumor had it that The Beatles hid "Paul is Dead" clues in their albums and songs and another that Michael Jackson's phone number can be found in the UPC code on his Thriller album. Looking at what it's done for their carriers. Have you ever thought of putting hidden messages into your tracks or artwork?

[bil bless] the messages are there.


What's Abelton Live? Why are their so many pasty white studio geeks praising its creation? Have you finally stepped away from that beta version of Cakewalk?

[bil bless] ableton live is just a program that plays back audio (and midi now) in a way that is more elastic than tunes on a static medium. I think of it as a glorified dj tool because I have all my tracks as well as the pieces that layer or go between or make up the track, and I can make changes to my set on the fly if the set is just sucking way too badly. it's much more flexible, to me, than when I had an external sequencer running everything. with that joker I could go from point a to point b in a set based on how i'd programmed it. ableton gives the performer the ability to dump point b and reroute the set to point c.

I think the pasty whites are finally praising it's creation because they realized that after all those hours of hauling keyboards, racks, mixers, midi cables, audio cables, power cables, stands.....after all those hours of sorting the patches and trying to figure out why all their sounds won't load because sysex is totally bombing and the battery in their 1981 fx unit finally died....after they finally get their gear just like they remember the orbital setup looking and they slide those glasses with the lights on either sides of the eyepieces onto their faces....after they stand back and puff their chests in awe of their NASA-looking control system...after all this!! they realize that the only people in the audience who cared were two geeks in the back of the room, who were only there to hate on their setup anyway.

I have stepped away from my beta cakewalk. that's about all I've got to say about that. I'm working on legitimizing all my software. until then I'm cursed, and wish not to speak of it..


What direction do you see your sound taking in the future?

[bil bless] tomorrow its going north east. God willing.

You just flew back from New York after playing a show with the likes of Tipper, Sean Infinitee, CEOS and JP001. How was that show?

[bil bless] I never know how shows are except to say that people were there or people weren't there. and if they were there, that they didn't all leave at once to get drinks once I started playing. at this particular show, they didn't. I think that puts it into the success column. I did get to meet quite a few new people that were very much fun to be around. hazen and christina, sean, the guard at the met who wouldn't check my computer into the back.

How was it playing at Trigger? They invited you back so it must have gone well. [It's not everyday that a small town Texan plays there] What about the having a spot on the Trigger Tour?

[bil bless] trigger was dope. even more enjoyable than my performance was the people I was able to meet. really great people. neil (kosmik) did invite me back, and I'm quite thankful for that. we've managed to maintain a nice friendship since I was over last. I think I managed a spot on the tour because we all hit it off so well. not just on the music tip, but in very mental way as well. which is equally, if not more, important.


A few weeks back you fly to Atlanta for a gig (it was awesome), then to New York, your going to Boston in a few days and then back to London next week. You've been seen signing autographs after shows. Sounds like the life of a true rockstar. Are you prepared?

[bil bless] I just got back from england a day ago. I had to take a spanish test the next morning. jet lag set in. they're gonna need to bring in the feds to deactivate that bomb. an 'F' is an 'F' whether yer speaking spanish or not. I don't think rockstars are on payment plans at their local community colleges are they?

I heard that you nearly over dosed on tea while at the pub?

[bil bless] I did! they carted me off to the nearest hospital and pumped my stomach. no really, I don't have a gut. it's my pumped up stomach. no I'm not pregnant. it's my pumped stomach. 40 psi.

I have been to 2 shows [I should have been to more] and have heard a few others that had been recorded. All the shows are really diverse. Do you try and arrange all your shows differently? What's the process you go through to prepare for a gig?

[bil bless] yea you should have been to more. it's disgusting. 2 shows. man that's pathetic. why are you even talking to me?
I do arrange every show differently. I get scared that some one from a previous show might just happen to be at the next show and then all roll up on me like 'yo, yer shows are the same'. typically preparing for a gig is just writing more and more new music and then playing it out. that's the good exciting part for me. the sequencing anyway. its all ableton though in the shows so I tend to put a rough draft together when I'm at the airport or on a plane or wherever and then drag alternate escape routes into my song bin, along with whatever mix pieces I want to play with. that way if a set just isn't working well with the crowd I can change it up.

Where did the name Son of the Electric Ghost come from? There was an 80's band called Tuxedomoon that had a tune called "Joeboy the Electric Ghost"

[bil bless] it came from clay parish in louisiana, in the second bedroom of a two bedroom house that had a horrible flea problem. there's no such thing as the 80's. and you lie.

Some people say "Son of the Electric Ghost" and there are others that just say "SOTEG". My friend's 9-year-old daughter came up with Toasty Eggs. [can't be very many 9-year-old girls out there that know names like SOTEG, Chris Carter and Tipper. ]

[bil bless] I say soteg usually because the other name sounds like some kind of dungeon and dragons character that I've created and it can be embarrassing. like 'son of the electric ghost has lost 20 hit points but uses his power up to defeat your dark lord'. the problem with soteg for short is that the wiccan crowd tries to interpret it as 'servant of the elder gods'. it aint that either. 9 year old girls know the name tipper? imma leave it at that.

They closed down the Del Taco by my house for nearly a month. They reopened it a couple weeks ago and now its Super Del Taco Dairy Queen. I went there the other day and ordered 2 Big Fat Steak Tacos, a Macho Chicken Burrito, some Deluxe Chili Cheddar Fries and a Butterfinger Blizzard. What are two restaurants you would like to see merged into one? What would your 1st order be?

[bil bless] man I swear to you, I hate those abominations that are double restaurants. the taco bell pizza hut. the pizza hut KFC. and the beast itself, the tacobellpizzahutKFCtcby all in one combo. that mutation makes me sick to my stomach. keep yer stink butt beakless blind no legged broke wing chickens away from the pureness. you understands?

So my idea of combing a Taco Bell with a Del Taco doesn't appeal to you?

[bil bless] I think you should leave this alone.

I was going to ask you what type of music you liked. Then I remembered somebody asking you that question before and instead of answering him you kind of went on a triad about how much you detest celery. Let me tell you, I totally hate celery as well man. What other vegetables do you dislike?

[bil bless] it's not about what vegetables a person doesn't like. it's what they do like. and I do like roasted potatoes. the potato is such a peaceful character. wise and patient. sitting quietly underground until *pluck* time to go to market!

Seriously though can I ask what music you like?

[bil bless] music.. I like anything that has imagination, emotion, and brilliant intention built into it. I don't really care what the genre is. it just needs to do something. lately my wife has been tuning me into to a lot of late nights with Delilah on magic 95.5. smooth love songs and wonderful stories of love and longing in between each song. Delilah knows how to pick those tracks that work perfectly for each callers dedications. can ya dig?

Got any question you want to ask?

[bil bless] yea, when death calls, what then?