Since moving to NZ in 2000 I’ve discovered a certain detachment from the direct and sometimes overpowering influences of “scenes” which can really give NZ artists the ability and freedom to create new styles and sounds, to make bold decisions on song arrangement and production styles, to push the boundaries of expression, you only have to listen to EWH, Lisa Preston or Lewis McCallum to see that there is little commercial conformity to “a sound” and I think this leads to a fresh approach to the creative process and the production music.

I first met Lewis McCallum when he played synth on my last EP and it was a pleasure to have such a creative voice add a whole new level to my music. He’s a very humble fella and I was really excited to check out the follow up to his first solo album “Wake” titled Syntheology when it landed in my inbox a few weeks ago. The album continues on from Wake with it’s jazz/beat crossover but this time Lewis dives deeper and heavier in style and production. Lewis has worked with some of New Zealands finest artists including MdCL, Nathan Haines, Julien Dyne and Opensouls as a “gun for hire” and on this, his second album he really forges his own place and sound, taking his influences and inspirations and creating something new and exciting.

I sat down with Lewis before his launch gig for the album, which was held in a park in Auckland, and got a little rundown of the creative process involved in the making of Syntheology (iTunes).

Jason Bluevibe – Your first studio session work was back in 2000 with MDCL on 6 degrees, were you writing your own material back then?
Lewis McCallum- I’ve always written my own tunes but that was before I had a computer and was doing my own productions, I would have done my own gigs and played my own original tunes but they would have been jazz compositions with a live band, actually at that time I still would have had my own ideas and I wrote on the piano a lot.

J – Did playing on that mdcl album have any kind of production influence on you?
L – Yes through working with him and seeing him use the mpc and that you could make your own beats, but Nathan (Haineshad done a bit of that too and also Breaks Coop.

J – So your influences at the time were mainly jazz and some beats too?
L – I was influences by beat records, things with bass, but I also had my jazz records and I had this other bunch of records but they didn’t really seem to work with each other at all.

J – When did you figure out that these different styles could sit together, open up a new creative element for you?
L – Yes that would have been through hearing Nathans music and Mark and then tracking that to overseas stuff like Bugz or IG Culture, 4hero, thats when the light really went on.

Lewis McCallum – The Almanac feat. Mara TK

J – Is that when you started making beats with an MPC?
L – No I didn’t have an MPC, I was just programming things on the computer, dragging audio beats around in the sequencer, I did that for a little while just to make things that were interesting.

J – Did any of that earlier stuff make it on to Wake?
L – No no , there was a certain point were I started actually finishing tunes but the tunes didnt feel right, this was a totally unconscious process, just one day I finished a tune and thought, ah this is something that id be really glad to put on the radio and not be too surpirsed of other people actually enjoyed this, this could actually stand next to the other music I was hearing and could carry some weight and obviously you have to beleive in it because even when the tracks finished it takes a lot of work to actually get it on the shelf, so you really cant push things through that your not fully behind.

J – Who was involved in the making of the new album Syntheology?
L – Andy Morton did the mix on the album and that was a collaborative process although I really had to just stand back and let him do what he does.

J – Was that a creative process between you and Andy?
L – We decided that Andy would just go ahead and mix to start with and we would tweak after that, I think by choosing Andy to start off with we were already going to be in the ballpark of what conceptually I’m gonna want.

J – And are you still writing during the mix process?
L – No no its done once he’s got it, well, I think 1 note needed fixing but other than that its all finished before we start the mix.

J – So your writing, producing, playing the instruments?
L -And arranging too.

J – And was that the same with Wake?
L – Yes yes, and even the vocals to a large degree, the vocalist would come in and work to an instrumental or guide melody, its a collaborative process at the recording stage where we’re both in the studio.

J – Did you have an idea of who you wanted to work with on the new album?
L – I’m amazed with the performances and the people involved, im really lucky and flattered that my music is of a quality that they’re happy to be a part of, thats a real vote of confidence for me.

Lewis McCallum – Tales Of Mingus

J – With the new album theres equally a focus on the instrumentals too?
L – My musics quite dense and isn’t really something you can really digest on first listen , I think, but thats the way my brain operates, perhaps its my jazz background, I’m used to hearing lots of layers all at once.

J – There’s also a real progression and development from the start to finish of each track.
L – Thats right the beat might start out one way and then develop to what feels like a second movement, i’m usually having to tell myself to keep it straight ahead, like the track “First date” its the same riff from start to finish and thats actually been a conscious effort to just make that track a more digestible offering against the other tracks.

J – With the instrumental how are you putting those track together production wise, are you improvising on the mpc?
L – There’s no specific technique, I don’t get to decide in the end, I’ll just have some ideas and i’m sitting there just trying to connect and this is just what comes out next, thats what I get told to do by this creative source.

J – I know when you played on my EP you just play and play..

L – I’ll just jam away and be improvising in the studio but then the light will go on and you’ll just feel that this is the next idea, im just in record all the time letting the takes go round and round and then you’ll hit that next idea, and because I record all of it you’ve also got the development to that next idea so you can look at how it evolved.

J – So how long has Syntheology been in the making for?
L – I got into it heavily last July so its been a quick turnaround but obviously the ideas were coming since the end of Wake. I’m always tickering in the studio when I have new ideas.

J – Its good to hear the progression from Wake to Syntheology, I’m really enjoying the production on the new album especially the beats.
L – Yes I’ve discovered a lot of new production techniques on the new album, ive been using distortion and bitcrushers liberally which is something I didn’t do a lot on wake.

J – It sounds like a lot of hours went in to the new album?
L – Yes but sometimes not much time at all, Age of spiritual machines is a very dense and messy song but that was actually quite fast, it was a jam and I just developed the basic arrangement over the drums which is a bed of Julian Dynes which he sent to me, I quickly came up with the bass line, the main chord riff but then over that I just put the while song on loop and improvised over it 7 times and that was it, it was an extremely organic song.

LEWIS McCALLUM ORCHESTRA Live at Titirangi Music Fest 2009

J – Everything is played live except the sequenced beats?
L – Well I do edit but all the synths and instruments are all played live so I’m working with audio, this can be a problem sometimes because analog synths have no presets so sometimes you have to go back and replay something, like with Deviate, I had to go back and replay all the bass again because of some of the key changes in the song.

J – Was it a conscious thing to have more focus on the synths on the new album?
L – Its turned out that way, it was just what I was feeling at the time, there’s actually lots of things which had more horns on them that didn’t get used, some of the instrumentals had guide vocals on them too but didn’t get used.

J – How are you looking at translating this to a live thing?
L – You’ll have to come on Sunday! Its not too hard to do it, you’ve always got those extra layers on the productions that, when your doing things live you can fill out that dimension by improvising a lot more.

J – Is the live element a chance to try something new?
L – Yes I think its great to have that live energy and play it out in its own way and make it quite different to the album.

J – Any plans for an overseas move at the moment?
L – I don’t really have a massive need to break in to Europe and go in there and build it up, mainly because I haven’t marked this music as a “money making” thing, its not my income, I’ve got my professional job as a musician and “gun for hire” and that keeps me fed and whatever so I’m free to make this music as I feel it, just means I don’t have to create sales, I’ve got a balance with other things going on, i think I’ve got a great balance, i get to make the music i really wanna make, it get recognition and it gets played and i have a job as a musician which i really love. Some people don’t have the persona to work on other peoples stuff, i’m really lucky to have that, i can go and understand their idea for what they’re trying to get with their music and obviously i bring what I know to it, and i get to chose the jobs now, i don’t have to play shopping malls!

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