that stops fl ow is when you get in your head . And one of the easiest ways to get out of your head is to get into your body . And I fi nd that both in martial arts and in music . When I ’ m sitting still and creating music in the studio , the sedentary nature of being at a computer lends itself to getting trapped in my head a lot more , and not really trusting that I don ’ t need to be in total control to create something that I like . I get to trust a bigger part of myself when I ’ m performing , because I ’ m actually trusting my body . It ’ s one of the reasons why I move so much on stage .
In order to be in that flow , there still must be a preparation phase as well . When you ’ re at the beginning of building up what will become your track , you must collect in your imagination a palette of sample options , timbres , and textures , and a sense of how they ’ re going to layer , work together , or contrast before you ever get to the live performance . What is that process like for you ? It ’ s a different form of fl ow , I think . There ’ s much more of a dance between learning and practicing and playing around and experimenting . I have a ton of options these days . I get the question a lot , “ How do you know when something ’ s done ; how do you know when you ’ ve got the right sound ?” For me , there ’ s a very physical reaction . Sometimes , if a song ’ s not done , like it ’ s 98 % done , and I feel the 2 % is missing , I ’ ll start to dislike the song . It annoys me . I keep working at it , that little 2 %. And then I love it , when I fi nd it .
How did Solillaquists of Sound , and more recently Chakra Khan , get formed ? I came down here to study in Full Sail University ’ s Recording Arts degree program in 2000 . Towards the end of my time at Full Sail , I was introduced to MC Swamburger , who knew Alexandra Love Sarton from Chicago . We started working together . He brought down Alex . Alex and I knocked an album out in a week . And we all hit it off . We formed Solillaquists of Sound along with my wife , Tonya Combs . We ’ ve all been living together since , for the last 15 years .
( To Alex ) How did you and MC Swamburger come together ? ALS : I went to Columbia College in Chicago to study fi lm directing and editing . I met Swam there and we became good friends , and he heard me singing one day . He said , “ Wait , why are you going to school for fi lm ? You should be singing .” I hadn ’ t really thought about it before . But he and I started making music before he moved back to Orlando because his parents were here . After he met DiViNCi and Tonya , they all came up to visit me in Chicago . They came on a Sunday , and by Wednesday I ’ d given away all my stuff to move down here . I hadn ’ t planned on doing music , but when he said it , it felt right .
And you all live in a house together ? ALS : Yes , we live in a house together , which is great , because it ’ s a big enough house where we all have our own space , but then we can make music constantly . So it has been like a non-stop factory of creativity for over a decade .
Here ’ s what I ’ ve picked up about you from knowing you at Sak Comedy Lab , but even more from your presence on Facebook : You seem devoted to creativity in every form that you can muster . You sell mandala and other types of coloring books ; you have several musical groups that you belong to ; you are very philosophical on Facebook and spiritually generous about it . The language of self-help is common on Facebook . But you have
Orlando Arts & Culture , v . 2.3 a higher signal-to-noise ratio than most . I wonder what kind of stuff you ’ ve studied to arrive at the things that you ’ ve said . ALS : For me , it ’ s weird to talk about these things because it ’ s so easy to fall into cliché , and I ’ m hyper-aware of that possibility . I share authentically , and the BS factor is way down , or non-existent , because I don ’ t live in that place . I try to just use my own experience and the things I ’ ve learned from it . Moving from Chicago to Orlando and starting over , trying to be an entrepreneur , building something up in the music industry , going on tour in the country and then the world — there are a lot of lessons in all that .
What stood out for you on tour ? ALS : A recent performance with Solillaquists was a festival on an island off the coast of Madagascar . France has an unlimited amount of creative , beautifully put together festivals . But I most love performing in natural , outdoor spaces .
You just opened for Lauryn Hill . How did that come to pass ? ALS : DiViNCi ’ s been working with her for the past fi ve years , so we got know her and her crew .
What about your musical background ? I imagine you ’ re doing the bulk , if not all , of the composing for the women ’ s vocal group you lead , Beautiful Chorus . Are you writing some of these songs for Chakra Khan too ? ALS : I played the violin for nine years . I grew up playing in an orchestra . I sometimes will write lyrics and a melody and give them to Di- ViNCi , or sometimes he will give me just a drum track , and I ’ ll create a symphony of voices over that . I write all the Beautiful Chorus stuff . We do full rhythmic songs ; we do a cappella hymns ; we do wordless waves of harmony with music ; and we do mantras , which are , for lack of a better term , positive affi rmations repeated in harmony .
What ’ s the story with the newest Chakra Khan release , The Cope Aesthetic ? ALS : We ’ re releasing the album song by song . We ’ re releasing one on Valentine ’ s Day . And then a song every few weeks from there for two or three months , and then we ’ ll release it as an album and have a party .
DiViNCi : We just want people to follow the process , follow the website , and have an extended experience of the release instead of dropping it all at once . With all the projects we do , we want to include people in the process as much as possible .
ALS : I ’ ll be making music videos for many of the songs . And artwork for the album . For the cover , we ’ re going to work with geometry . It ’ s about looking at our lives like , this plus this is creating this reality for me , so if I can change one of the two variables involved , then my trajectory is different . What it equals can change . The Cope Aesthetic is like looking at things differently , which to me always feels like geometry . Ever since growing up , I felt like there was an equation to life that we could implement that would help make it easier . And I feel like my life experience has been about uncovering what that means for myself .
Image provided by the artist
You can see more at : ChkrKhn . com
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