1 - Tell us how your project(s) were started.
NON - I always felt cheated by popular music. Rock-n-Roll never lived up to it's promise as far as I was concerned. It was supposed to be loud, noisy, iconoclastic and dangerous; but for my taste it wasn't loud enough, noisy enough, iconoclastic enough or dangerous enough. I thought that it couldn't be terribly difficult to create something that was louder, noisier, and more minimal than anything anyone had ever done before. Having formulated that premise, the rest was easy.
2 - What does music, in it's entirety, mean to you?
When it's good, music can be the ultimate art form, because it's the only art form you can physically experience. It can physically alter your metabolism and take your thoughts and emotions to places they might not go otherwise. It can bypass the mind and touch you on a purely instinctual level. Sound can express things that are so abstract and intangible that they couldn't be communicated in any other way. Of course, it goes without saying that not all music is good music.
3 - What does art, in it's entirety, mean to you?
Really great art, like great architecture, speaks to the soul. It's gone out of vogue because fewer and fewer people still possess souls.
4 - Who is your favorite author, and why?
L. A. Waddell. He was able to demonstrate back in the 1920's that all the world religions and mythologies could be traced to a single source, and that the gods of ancient cultures such as Greece, Rome, and so on were actually historical figures who were once kings of Sumaria. Waddell's books should have led to a total rethinking of world history. That didn't happen, but it certainly altered my conception of history. His ideas have inspired a lot of the research I've been doing the last five or six years.,
5 - As your best friend, describe yourself.
The most wonderful guy you'd want to meet.
6 - As your worst enemy, describe yourself.
A horrible asshole who has managed to fool to many people into thinking he's some sort of wonderful guy.
7 - If your persona were immortalized as a cartoon character, who would it be?
I already have been made into a cartoon. Check out what some people are saying about me on the internet.
8 - Do you think there are conspiracies against the "everyday person"?
Any conspiracies are purely for the benefit of those conspiring. The "everyday person" is simply along for the ride.
9 - What do you do with your spare or free time?
For the last several years I've been researching material for a book I'm writing, and that's what I do full time when I'm not touring or recording. I write everyday, sometimes I read a book a day and sometimes I do nothing at all.
10 - Please give us your interpretation of "the meaning of life".
Life transcends meaning. If someone's seeking the meaning of life, it implies to me that their life must be pretty meaningless.
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