Interview With Kelli Rudick, Avant Garde Guitarist & Looper

Written by Michael Garfield Monday, 05 October 2009 21:03

This Thursday night, experimental neo-classical indie multi-instrumentalist Kelli Rudick will be headlining at Boulder's B-Side Lounge (08 October, 9 pm, w/ Gloam & Simon Elwin - $7). Originally hailing from the Michael Hedges/Preston Reed/Kaki King school of percussive guitar, Kelli has diversified her sound to include a fantastic array of both acoustic and electronic elements and has definitely come into her own voice as a composer. I recently had the opportunity to interview Kelli by email, so here you go...whet your appetites for her impending set:

M - You do a lot of live looping in concert, bouncing around from guitar to keyboards to mbira. When I saw you in concert, your "neo-classical, experimental, indie" music reminded me quite a bit of both Brooklyn neominimalism and melodic indie-pop – a strange but appealing blend. Where do you draw your inspiration for mixing such diverse influences and instruments?

K - Everything I create comes from the randomness of being human, all of the intense fun, love, anxiety and pain to deal with, shifting around at light speed. There is no one sound or genre which neatly captures all of the things possible to communicate with music, the more opportunity to experiment with sound, the better.

M - Do you find that jumping back and forth between instruments in your writing process inspires new ideas on instruments you've put down for a while, or that it gives you tonal flexibility but is more of an obstacle to mastering any one instrument in specific?

K - I never begin with any specific intention regarding the instruments - there are no rules - what ever the feeling calls for gets played. I also get bored and distracted really easily! So before I know it I'm playing the guitars, arrays, floor, computer, peanut butter jar, whatever sound draws me into the moment. This also may explain why I'm moving away from so much solo guitar and into a multi-genre, multi-instrumental soundscape - it's infinite.

M - About your new record: How is this a departure from/elaboration on/continuation of your previous work?

K - The new songs are much more orchestral as I approach them as a composer rather than a player. The thought process in crafting new songs is more expansive regarding what the possibilities are - instruments, machines, other players, samples, noise... expressing different ideas that I have in my head through a more open-ended method is creating a more lush, full sound.

M - Where do you think music is headed in the next ten, twenty, fifty years?

K - It's moving away from the instrument player and more into electronics. It's challenging when touring, and creating the songs all myself, to maintain that connection to the organic aspects of the songs and accelerate forward into the future technology. Some of the digital creators who have dispensed completely with instruments are phenomenal, and the music is equally valid, no matter how it's crafted. The end result is whether the sound moves you, and that is constant from the beginning of time through the infinite future.

M - Anything else you'd like to say?

K - I'm always so grateful when I play shows and people get quiet as a mouse, to know they are really listening and hopefully receiving the music - and of course live performers always appreciate a reponse. But I wonder what they're thinking, how the emotional place from which I'm creating the sound is translating. So if you're at my next show, between songs yell something out and tell me what's going on in your thoughts! Clapping and yelling is awesome, but I love to hear words between songs when people call out, it's more fun. :0)