#theysetfire

Another CTRLE//COVERS vid. A very different kind of experimentation again.

Hello, my name is ctrle. Welcome to ctrlesession.

My wife and I are quite deep in a House of Cards addiction. What started as intentional white noise/ post-dinner entertainment has become an interesting, psychological exploration.

For those of you who aren’t acquainted with this Netflix exclusive, let me give you a brief synopsis:

Here is Frank Underwood- he’s gonna rule the world someday. Here is Claire Underwood- she’s probably gonna rule the world too, we aren’t yet sure how far she would go for it though. Two phenomenally motivated and strategic characters who, no matter what you think of their ethical stance, are very, very good at being and searching for success.

I’ve been musing for some time as to some of the ‘assets’ that these characters have and how they (Frank and Claire) can be so successful in such an intense environment. Sure, they are both: pragmatic, ruthless, knowledgable, intimidating and they scarcely show real emotion, but I don’t believe any of these personality facets are the prime reasons that a person can be so successful.

What I find most interesting is that they can go for such long periods of time, working, researching, holding conferences, planning, instigating and inputing with what seems like zero rest. They carry on working indefinitely until the work is done.

How can a person function at any sort of capacity forever? It’s impossible!?

It does make me wonder, however, if there are ways that we can optimise our own work efficiency; for longer periods of time. It is in this idea that I have discovered something.

Frank and Claire are very good at being leisurely. We see equal(ish) amounts of them at home and at work. While they do plenty of stuff from home, we always see them engaging in some sort of leisure activity.

Frank- he’s a bit of a dork. He paints military models and plays video games. 

Claire- she runs. A bunch. We can only assume that she is pretty interested in art and photography too (!).

They go for jogs together. We see them on the couch together. We see them rest. They set aside time for recovery. I feel quite surprise that at the end of a long and arduous day, somebody with that amount of responsibility wouldn’t just crash out on a bed!

This suggests to me that there is great importance in structured and intentional leisure.

Leisure helps us to recover and replenish many valuable resources; not just energy. Motivation, creativity, divergent thinking, patience, enthusiasm, enjoyment and a slew of other things. The concept of leisure is that you are undertaking an activity that is neither productive, nor counter-productive. Like the importance of ‘pit lane’- without is, you will not go the distance.

What I am suggesting, is that we all need to have something to go to to chill at the end of the day. You can work 11 hours in your studio today, but you’re going to need to indulge a little at the end of the day. Else, your next 11 hour shift may as well be only worth 5 or 6 hours of actual work. You need to have time off.

One of the ways people often forget to problem solve is to meditate on the dilemma that you are faced with. Sit on it, go away, think and come back with a fresh pair of eyes. We need that meditation time in order to make the right decisions and be efficient with out time.

I am feeding a great deal of thoughts this week. A lot of them are thoughts that have really helped me to maintain my own creativity. I like to paint, run, drink tea and play video games for hours. Sometimes, my least productive days will proceed my most productive days. I must keep remembering this as I thoroughly enjoy coming back to a half-finished track. After a day or two of recovery finally being able to breathe life into my work is the best!

My advice for you- find and enjoy the things that you do for leisure. Make time, every day, to spend indulging in things that aren’t your work. I’m not saying you need to fall of the horse entirely, but, the better you are at resting, the more efficient and the happier you will be as a creative.

My name is ctrle.

On the road back to Port Pirie, from Adelaide, I find myself musing about the idea of distance. Distance is: the stuff that makes up all of the little points on a line between where you are now and where you’re headed.

Two things are equally possible with this theory in our minds:

One, is that you can be only a few feet (literal) between where you are and where you want to be but the route you have to take may be a considerable distance. Two, is that you can be across the other side of the world to your goals but there are multiple, possible and simple paths you can take to get there.

Distance can seem like an incredible paradox in this day and age!

Have I lost you at this point? Let me break down this concept into two, simple questions.

 What is the significance of the distance between you and your goals?

 What significance does this route have for you as a creative artist?

The first should be easy enough to answer. The distance is significant for you because it is the road that you are currently on. It’s what you are currently doing today and what you plan to do tomorrow in order to achieve your goals. Each step you take, have taken and will take make  up the distance that you have to travel.

The second might be a more complex question to answer. What significance does this ‘pre-determined’ distance have for you as an artist (apart from being a great deal of effort)?

We all want to get to the end of the uphill battle of success and live in the moment of completion. We all can decisively say- there is no absolute high point of success for any one person. There will always be more work to do at the other end.

For me, there is a great deal of distance- literal distance- between where I am now and many of my goals. Realistically, if my wife and I choose to continue to live in the country, the city is a distance I will have to travel in order to stay connected with my fans and sell my product. On top of that, saving money and funding my projects is another distance I have to travel. Simply because of the magnitude of time and money, I have some pretty significant distances I am yet to travel. 

Why is this all significant, at all, to you as an artist?

The truth is, the distance you face is what becomes your art. The road that you’re travelling on now is not meant to be an intermission before your success; it should be your inspiration. 

How far are you willing to travel for success? I believe, the further you’re willing to go for your art, the more comprehensive, complex and beautiful it will be.

As the say, ‘Rome wasn’t build in a day’. Nor should it have been. The careful meditation, thorough procedure and complete freedom to create- without time as a constraint- is what forms the best art.

Don’t forget how significant your story is to your creations. It coincides perfectly with the distance you have to travel. The best things to do is embrace it.

As I mentioned before, some of the most significant distances can be the easiest to travel. This theory often applies to literal distances. In the world that we currently live in, technology has already bridged the gap for us to be able to reach any part of the world you can imagine. Don’t let distance become a burden when it is so simple to connect; all you really need is your smartphone.

So, I ask again: would you go the distance?

The reality is, you are already on the way there. Make the most of it. Use it as both your tools and your material. Create a path for your story. Own your personal, unique journey and let it become your art.

My name is ctrle.

Hi, I’m ctrle. Welcome to ctrlesession.

This week, I’m addressing a less recognised problem. Something I have been pondering. I figure, asking you about it might help me to give myself some honest feedback. That is, if anybody feels the same!

When you create and perform your art, you’re capturing a feeling in a snapshot of time. Something tangible that you decided you need to record and share with other people. This is significant for so many reasons. It may be the central reason as to why we create and re-create things; but, this isn’t the issue that I want to bring to light.

When it comes time to reproduce, perform or share your creation, how easy is it for you to really feel, experience, re-create and that share that moment again?

I have experienced this ‘block’ countless times during the lead up to a performance. The lead up becomes the most exciting part; the performance is hollow. It becomes disconnected from it’s origin. I find it difficult to, if you will, re-perform the nature of the music and to find the original significance of the piece.

What I am asking is: have you ever had your fire go out at the worst possible time?

What can we do, as artists, to re-kindle and ignite that spark? When faced with a lack of enthusiasm, how can we re-connect with our art and give it justice on the stage? Whilst writing this, I have come across a few things that help when they are tuned and used properly.

The first of these, is Meditation.

Don’t be afraid of stagnation and under-productivity. Being a creative artist can be both a physically and emotionally demanding career. We literally spend our time magnifying, extrapolating and recording our feelings. Nobody has the capacity or the endurance to feel and create for that long; nor to feel at such high intensity. We have to enjoy the opportunity to just- stop.

Find your way to recharge. Do something that is counter-productive to your projects.

Some days, the most productive tasks we can assign ourselves are: long walks, cups of tea, video games, books or even admin. Whatever helps you to turn off, helps you to recharge. It gives you the capacity to enjoy feeling and enjoy your art.

The second of these, is Fellowship.

Often, meaning is lost simply through repetition and being enclosed with your project for too long. If you have to edit, compile, tidy or spend weeks on a particular piece, it is perfectly reasonable for you to become disenchanted by it. You grow accustomed to being with those ‘feelings’ and they begin to lose their meaning entirely.

It is helpful, at these times, to seek the council of people that you’re close to. This is helpful for a number of reasons.

1. Projection. Bouncing your thoughts off of somebody often helps to amplify and clarify your ideas. It helps you assign merit to your work, simply by having a fresh perspective.

2. Feedback. If you want people to enjoy your art, you’ll want people’s feedback. It will help you to grow as an artist. It is helpful to see and hear things from a different perspective in order to create an environment for your art that exudes authenticity.

And 3, re-creation. Your art is a synergy of a myriad of different things; your skills, your passions, your emotions, your experiences and your dreams. Sometimes, more often than not, you haven’t yet solved the riddle as to how these things all fit together. Take a step back, remove a few pieces, look at where you have to grow and learn in order to make things work. Then, put it back together again- in a different way. Change doesn’t have to be frightening; it can be very rewarding.

I’d like to know what you think on these matters. Does it happen to you? Have these things helped you to create a clearer picture? What are your strategies to remain motivated?

As they say, there is more than one way to skin a cat (lovely turn of phrase). The better you understand your own emotional strengths, the more equipped you are to share your art with honesty and enthusiasm.

My name is ctrle.

Hi! Welcome to my friends and family. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Dil.

I live in Port Pirie, South Australia, and I am: a music producer, a performer, a creative and an enthusiast for a range of different things. Most namely:

Tea and the tea ceremony

Video games (of which I never consider myself a master)

Design

Culture (in all it’s aspects)

Live Music, and

Sound Creation

I intend to make a series of blogs (and videos) which assess and explain what I do, where I come from and what I want to achieve with my life as a creative.

My story begins in little old, Adelaide, where I grew up and spent the most part of my life writing music. I’ve created and been a part of many different projects which range from: rock n roll bands to acoustic acts and creative arts ministries for young people. Each and every one of these projects have built upon the next one and given me the opportunity to grow as a human and as a creative artist.

I love Australian music. I especially love music from the 80′s and 90′s. I feel that they are the most identifiable eras of music, simply for their choice of instrumentation. Musicians were learning how to use new technologies, synthesisers and computers; combining them with the traditional guitar, drums and vocals to create an unusual palette of colours. I find, no matter how much you enjoy 80′s and 90′s music, it is always catchy and is a perpetual inspiration for music that is to come in the future. Pop music, alternative music, rock and electronic music alike.

I grew up listening to my parent’s albums. Bands like: The Skyhooks, Pseudo Echo, Duran Duran, Icehouse, INXS, A-Ha, Divo, Powderfinger and some I dare not mention. Of all of these bands, I really have the greatest respect for the Australian artists of this era. Australian rock n roll, to me, is hallowed ground that is unlike any other kind of rock n roll in the world.

Now, onto my own music. I like to use all sorts of sounds and sound manipulation to create my music. I use:

A combination of electronic and live drums

Lots of chorus and tremolo effects (especially on guitars)

A harsh, ‘Australian’ style of singing, most prominent in my vowels

Combined with a mix of styles which are not often used in traditional music production

I love to take live sound, sample it and then re-synthesise it using Ableton Live. I stretch the sample, stutter it, chop it and consolidate it. Over and over I keep morphing the sound- colouring it using some heavy compression and some great macros in Live to warp and change the body of the sound.

Then, after all that, I take all of the parts that I have created; and I smash them back together to create my production. More often than not, the structure of a song will follow the way I initially wrote the piece using a guitar and vocals. It’s a great big circle of: writing, recording, re-synthesising, consolidating and then writing again.

Apart from sound creation, I like to use a lot of alias’s to define where my music comes from. Many artists that I enjoy, will go by an alias or an alternate name so they can convey meaning; or to define exactly what their art is about. Similarly, this is why I believe that bands have names. Not just to become identifiable, but so that they can identify with an issue, create relevance or define their own ‘sound’ into a simple, memorable phrase.

A couple of artists that I admire use great alias’s to immediately define their music without having to go into too much detail:

Classixx: I instantly would imagine their sound to be, ‘old school’ and ‘classic’ sounding; which they greatly live up to with their live instrumentation, great production and use of some great lead-synth sounds and basslines.

Shigeto: this is a name that he has taken from his grandfather; also, incidentally being his middle name. Shigeto is very proud of his Japanese descent, including his cultural background into his musical styles and inspiration. ‘Shigeto’, also means ‘to grow’ or to ‘increase in volume’, which is a great ethos to align yourself with in an ever challenging and changing world. 

I go by two Alias’s: ‘They Set Fire’ and ‘ctrle’. (control- e)

ctrl-e: is the split/ edit function in Ableton Live and across many other digital audio workstations. It’s the name that I use for all or my sound creation and production, kind of like a DJ name. It is also concurrent with the way that I choose to make music; to cut, to paste and to re-synthesise sounds. It’s also a great way to live your life, as life often requires you to re-evaluate and re-create yourself in both big and small ways.

They Set Fire: my ‘band name’. It is concurrent with my own story and the things that I write about. It defines the idea of ‘legacy’ for me. When people think of my music, and of me, I would like to think that it has been an inspiration for them. I want my own creativity to set a fire for people’s passions which makes them enduring and un-tameable creatives. It’s also a mirror for the way that I see my friends, my family, my wife and my loved-ones. I know so many beautiful, wonderful and inspiring people, and it is their inspiration which sets fire to my own passions, making me want to be more like them and beyond them.

They Set Fire also defines my personal faith. ‘Setting fire’; is like being a torch for the gospel; being on the frontline of the battle between good and evil. I work hard so that I may be courageous and strive to be a light in other people’s lives. Courage, to me, is something that is lived out through: the discipline to learn, through integrity and through being honest about your own short-comings. 

That is what ‘They Set Fire’ means to me.

To this day, I have 3 professional releases under my belt.

1. ‘Hawthorne Avenue’

It is an EP that I self-produced in 2012 and then re-released in 2013. It’s a collection of songs about growing up and leaving my teenage years behind me. It’s also about experimenting, discovering my voice and how to create my own palette of ‘colours’. I will perpetually love and come back to this EP; often to re-produce these tracks again. It’s my origin, where I came from and where I began. Even in it’s minimalist and somewhat incomplete form, I will always be proud of it. It’s the point from which all of my future decisions with my career and the things that I choose to create will stem.

2. My release of ‘3 Hour Walk (End To End)’ on ‘Justice More Than A Word’

I wrote this song specifically for this release. Affectionally called JMTAW (or gym towel), it is a compilation album, featuring local artists as well as some international artists, all to raise money for World Vision. It began at the church that I was apart of at the time and I had the chance to be involved in the promotion, design and creation of this project, as well as be featured on the album. At the time, I was experimenting with more of a ‘rock band’ approach to They Set Fire, something that was more catchy and palatable for a wider audience. I chose to reign in my experimental side in order to increase my fanbase to a younger generation of people. I thoroughly enjoyed this project, however, I found that the more musicians that I played with, the more I coveted the solitary creative process I was used to. I realised how personal my story really was and I wanted to own it entirely. I spent months dealing with the fact that I am a control freak and that I am determined to be self-sufficient in my musical career. This began my journey into electronic music and live music production.

3. Dreaming, Searching, Falling, Learning.

I released this full-length album late in August this year, though it was written over a period of 3-4 years in it’s entirety. Over those years, I taught myself how to produce, to create interesting sounds, own my own uniqueness and see the value in sharing my own story, through my own medium; It became my rite of passage into adulthood. Over this period of 3-4 years, I: got engaged (and married), worked really hard at another job, studied business and commerce, moved out of home and began to deal with accumulated feelings of loss, anxiety, anger and lust that I had acquired over my life. DSFL is a climax for my own learning in the first 20 odd years of my life and fundamentally changed my own legacy. It also tired me out in more ways than one! It stretched me to my physical and emotional limits in order to create these 11 songs which I am thoroughly pleased with.

I hope that these things have shed some light onto why I chose to be a creative artist. I am always learning and growing and I intend to share my findings with as many people as I can; in order to inspire you. There are several ways in which you can support my projects and keep informed with my works everyday.

It would be great if you could:

Like my page on Facebook

Follow me and stream my music on Soundcloud

Follow this blog

send me some feedback on both Soundcloud and Triple J Unearthed

Head to NoiseTrade and purchase some digital copies of my music (feel free to listen for free first)

And, keep up to date on FB to know when I’ll be playing my next show.

My name is ctrle.