Me Retracto De Lo Dicho.: 01/01/2009

…“if my heart stopped falling, it wouldn’t feel any less… there’s a god in you, it’s trying to capture you…”
-Plane

G2

I first came across Plane about three (four by the time of this publication) years ago and became hooked on the lyrics and the personal feel that Edgar Legzdins; the main man behind Plane and other musical endeavors such as The Collection, gave to the band. Plane is a band that is clearly influenced by post-punk acts such as Joy Division and A Public Image Limited. Their sound isn’t as “depressing” though, they’ve got some interesting melodic hooks that suggest the likes of The Feelies and The Cure. Being sort of a follower of the band, I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Edgars before. This interview, which was done a little over two years ago, was published in my fanzine, “Me Retracto De Lo Dicho” (which translates roughly to “I Take Back what’s Been Said”).
The article featured an extensive interview with Mr. Legzdins and a review of their second album, “Hello More” This album gave a comprehensible idea of what Plane was creating in 2005. Plane’s indie-rock feel was complemented with different synthesizer sounds and computer generated drum beats. The result was a hip and fresh sound that came across as innovative and filled with hope. The Hello More release received a fair airplay in The University of Costa Rica’s radio station. Daniel Costura picked up the single “Heart & Soul” for his independent rock radio show called “Findependiente”. I even came out to the radio show a couple of times to talk about Plane, Edgars’s views on corporate media giants and pop music, and the innovative sounds of the band.
Fast forward to 2007. I was studying Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Plane was in the studio recording what would be their follow up to “Hello More”, “I see love in the future”. This album undoubtedly was more rock influenced; nevertheless, it still featured a melodic influence, and the band still sounded familiar to me. I was getting involved with the University’s radio station KCOU 88.1 and even had some friends that had hosted a couple of rock shows. Edgars was kind enough to send me a promo copy of the album before it was released. I was invited by my friend Kurt to put some music on his radio show. More than delighted, I came into the DJ booth with some albums, including Plane’s “I see love in the future”
-“Check this out” –I told Kurt as “The Calling Days” started coming out of the speakers. An acoustic guitar and a voice start singing the line “Come back out of the shallows, we’ll wash it back…in your ways we don’t care if you’re hip of hypocritical…” This song, as most of the album, marked an increase in the band’s experience. The sound of the album itself departs from the electronically enhanced beats and the synthesizer’s lovely sounds (some songs still feature the classic Plane sound though). This by any means doesn’t mean that the band has lost an important part at all; they have just geared their music in another way. “I see love in the future” was well received by the critics and Plane achieved more or less the cult status they were looking for.

It’s now the end of 2008 and Plane has changed completely once again. From what I hear, Edgars has had a fallout with the other band members and is currently the only founding member of the band that’s still in the Plane boat. They’ve been signed to a record label from Philippines, which expressed interest in working with them. A newly recorded EP is in the works and Edgars has been touring his home country, Latvia with the band and his father.
The three songs that were recorded for this new EP have been released in a compilation that presents the best of Plane until now. Reminiscent of The Cure and Joy Division, Legzdin’s Plane, has been able to shift their melodically correct music to a more serious/mature tone. From the musical standpoint, I have nothing to complain, as Plane is one of those groups that keep changing in a positive way through the years. The notorious fact is that the new album or compilation isn’t presented as Plane, it’s presented as only Edgars Legzdins. Even though Legzdins wrote most of the music featured in this release, the album doesn’t expose or present the band’s name. It’s as if the album was a solo release and not a Plane release.
From the three new songs, “The Last War” is probably the best. It may sound like The Cure, containing a bit of a lamenting tone in Legzdin’s voice. With a slow beat, Last War contains several interesting arrangements and productions techniques. Without pushing the envelope or making the song too pretentious, Legzdins adds to the song with his somewhat depressing tone of voice.
“Bipolar”, the next new song is probably the poppiest song of the three. Plane adds some nice guitar arrangements that remind me somewhat of Screeching Weasel or other pop-punk bands. The drums add a little bit of a New Order feel, and the bass, follows an intrepid but a little too typical post-punk line. Overall, the song is quite complete. The guitars are covered with distortion which gives it a little bit of shoegaze sound. It’s a little bit difficult for me to understand the vocals, as they’re overshadowed by all of the instruments.
The last of the three new songs, “In Eyes” is a melodramatic song filled with many guitars and a decent dose of white noise (aka distortion). Plane does a good job with the musical arrangements but fails once more to make the listener understand the lyrics. Personally, I would’ve notched up the vocals a tad more. Alas, maybe Legzdins intention was to make the music more important than the lyrics. The song reveals Plane’s emotional side once more.
Maybe Bipolar and In Eyes were a little bit to overproduced for my taste. Some parts of these two are a little bit too redundant and do tire out the ear.
Enough of the gibberish, let’s get down to business. Let’s hear from the man himself, who probably has more reliable information than your trusted reporter.

G2: So Edgars, starting off from where I left you, in what ways (musically, emotionally, intellectually, etc) do you feel that Plane has evolved?
Yes, more reliable information indeed. It's funny you ask about evolution, I've been pondering this topic the past two years. Obviously, computers have organized the mind and created new social networks etc... but I don't think we'll soon have talking dummy robots. So our minds have to grow, change radically for evolution to take place, but you won't notice when it happens. It'll be shocking and normal at the same time. Like a weed flowering out of a sidewalk crack.
What I'm talking about has a lot to do with the way Plane has evolved. I still say, "Shake My Ground" was Plane's best album. Original members being Joel Pasia on drums, Joe London on bass, myself and Ed Anderson on guitar/vocals. Ed and I came from Forty Piece Choir, which was an amazing band, Joel came from Ruck La Rou another good band and Joe was just a friend I gave a break to. So Plane itself evolved from other bands. "Shake My Ground" hit 46 on the CMJ charts and we were off to a quick musical start. I was writing most of the words and music then. Joel lost his marbles to psychedelics and we were forced to record the next album without a drummer. So you see, "Hello, More" an album we are known more for, evolved out of destruction and a logical unconcious choice as far as where we were heading musically. We used programmed beats and Ed got more involved vocally etc... I'm not into limiting the direction of art so I just went along with what we were creating. You'll see later, how that decision led to more destruction. A label out of San Francisco, Future Farmer, picked up the album and we got more nationwide exposure. One of the songs is on Sony Playstations NHL 2K6 hockey game. That was chuckling so I went out and bought PS2 and the game. Someone stole the game so now I don't even play the system. More chaos through evolution. Ed and I were now supercharged to create a great third album and really bust loose. So we spent a year and a half creating the album, "I See Love in The Future". We spent way too long creating that album. Ed and I were split on which way the album should go. He was more into the technical programmed beat aspect of it and I wanted to get back to the roots of a natural sound. So now you hear live drums layed over programmed drums. Initially, Ed sang more lead, but I changed that on the last day of recording when Ed announced he was leaving the band. After his last vocal take was done, he told Joe and I he didn't have any time for Plane. So I asked Ed to step outside of my studio for a second and I locked the studio door on him. Eventually, I let him back in cause he had to get his gear. So, I was on my own now and reconstructed the album to my liking. Unfortunately, you can never really reconstruct anything, since Ed's footprints were all over that album. One thing I did change, was taking over lead vocal duties and resinging the songs in tune. I let Ed stay on lead for one song, "Rundowners" cause I didn't care too much for the lyrics. I think the album was cursed from the beginning with it's title, "I See Love in the Future", cause making such a statement is in direct conflict with what love is about in the first place. If you listen to the words of that song it's not about love at all but about taking over a destructive place, a destructive self, viciously. It's all quite strange and f'd up cause I unleashed my vision of the band to collaborate with Ed, we become a musical tag team, he leaves the band and leaves me with an album (created to be our huge push into the musical world) which now just bandwise doesn't make sense. It does fulfill the prophecy of "I See Love in the Future", as Ed's leaving gets me back my musical soul at the same time leaving the band in a chaotic state which predicting love in the future would do to one's soul indeed. (Corinthians 13:8..."Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail...) So, as far as that goes, you can come up with your own conclusion where I have evolved musically. It creates itself. It's your typical ego striven destruction of a band. But, I thrive through chaos and so does evolution. So there's great hope for Plane musically.

Emotionally, all my songs come from heartbreaks. I've got a lot of great ones. "The Last War" is a killer for me. It's about my last two year long relationship. One morning around Christmas she wakes up, tells my I have no future (once again the curse of the album) and tosses me to the curb. "In Eyes" was also written about her. It's about people leaving themselves, changing their personality so they can soulfully accept false truths. I got dumped this Christmas again. I was told I was too passionate, that I brought too many gifts. So, I've started writing a new song about that, it will be called, "School Day Party". Quite frankly, I'm emotionally burnt out on this topic. I need a different kind of muse to survive, I fear developing cancer over all this inner turmoil.

Intellectually? There needs to be a radical change so I don't develop cancer. I'm attracted to knitwits, bad news chics with bad news tricks and problems ya know. I've reached a shaman state where I think of something and soon enough that desire appears. It's quite strange and terrifying, needless to say, I've been attracting just bad news chics. I won't go into details, but I have many facts to support this shamanic existence. I didn't believe it was possible for you to imagine things and for them to create themselves, but after reading a little about quantum physics and other scientific facts its proven to be possible. Once I find myself in these situations, I have to destroy them so they don't come back lingering around. So you see, I'm trying to destroy the topic that I write about, emotionally its killing me. Friedrich Nietzche wrote: "that one might get a hold of the truth too soon, before man has become strong enough, hard enough, artist enough" to handle it. Nietzsche proposed that the "seeker after knowledge," the "opposite-man," was "secretly lured and pushed forward by his cruelty, by those dangerous thrills of cruelty turned against oneself." The insistence on truth was "a violation, a desire to hurt the basic will of the spirit which unceasingly strives for the apparent and superficial."

Intellectually, I'm tossing superficial people out of my life.

G2: How has it been working with the new members of PLANE?
I love working with them as musicians. I couldn't be happier with the 3 new songs we came up with for the EP Side A/Side B. It's the way Plane should sound. Ryan Weston - keys, myself - guitar, vocals, Ryan Aylward - bass, Joe Schro - drums. Aylward and Schro also play for a band called Camera. You should check ‘em out.

As people, it's been more difficult. I get too passionate and intense about stuff and it rubs them the wrong way. I kicked the rhythm section off the stage or they kind of left on their own, cause I berated them from the audiences perspective on stage. We had to work through that. I just wanted to end the show and get off stage. My intent and perspective doesn't always match others' perspectives so we get into disagreements.

G2: Do they give the band a different feeling, does the band feel revived?
Yes, we are where I'd like to be. Much more organic and emotional. I'm wearing them out, so I'm not sure they feel revived. Their revival inspires mine, so I'm kind of worn out myself. Unfortunately, I'm only a product of my environment.

G2: What is expected from you guys in the future?
Oh, nothing. I'm trying to do my best, but we're only what we are through the perspectives of others. Once again quantum science proves this. Energy can be transmitted to others, however others' perspectives skew the results.

G2: I feel Plane has lost a little bit of the melodic and poppy sound. Do you feel this is so? What can you tell me of the new sound in the band?
Thank Jesus for that. What is melody? Noise in itself is sound which is melody. We now create noise and build around it.

G2: So what’s up with this new record label from the Philippines?
Peter Chan from Universal Records Philippines sent me a contract, a non-exclusive deal, for "I See Love in the Future". They've yet to release the album. He just told me, he's releasing it out there in the beginning of the New Year.

G2: Will they be releasing the band’s old catalog?
Right now they're just working, "I See Love in The Future".

G2: How has the Latvian tour been?
I toured with my father who's band Cikagas Piecisi, is an iconic group a national treasure in Latvia. I could write a book about my experiences. They're regarded as musicians that gave the country hope while Latvia was still under communistic rule. I regard them as the band that freed a country through song and hope. Music is the closest we can get to God and they're musical energy and spirituality helped keep the dreams and hopes of occupied souls alive.

G2: What’s in the near future for Plane, for you and the other member’s in the band?
I've found out that the future is a curse. You can just do what is now. I'm starting to believe a few members of the band are too superficially instinctive. In that case, they'll be let go.
In your synopsis, you state that I don't get along with others and then give them the boot. That's not the case. People in my band drop by the wayside. They have a difficulty of actualizing the truth.
As physicist Wheeler put it bluntly: "There is no space-time, there is no before, there is no after. The question what happens next is without meaning." As if anticipating Wheeler, Nietzsche also wrote: "Every power draws its ultimate consequences at every moment."

G2: Any plans for the holidays?
Yeah, I love the holidays. I like to make them special. I like to give. Mystically this year, I met this fine girl the same day a year ago my last relationship ended. We got along like a cake, burning candles and all. I sent her flowers and she loved it. She had me meet her father. She invited me over for Christmas day. I brought her presents. The next day she gave me the boot cause I was too passionate, she said. My heart was too big, she said. She stuffed all the presents in a bag and had me leave. A friend told me the wikipedia interpreted her name as the devil. So I might have spent Christmas with the devil this year.
On new years eve, I was working on a story, beat writer style. I was at a concert and decided to jump up on stage in-between bands and berate the crowd. To see what would happen. Quite ridiculous, but that's how I write my stories. You can read about it in my blogs www.myspace.com/plane. It was also part of destroying something that was creeping back in. A bad news chic was creeping back in and I had to do something foolish, ridiculous to keep her away. Like I said, I have a tendency to draw bad things in and I don't want that anymore. When the signs appear, I know I have to sabotage what's materializing so eventually I don't get burned. However, after I creatively destroy what's creating itself on it's own, I feel terribly guilty about my actions and it takes several weeks for me to apologize to the superficial souls I'm trying to avoid. In the end, I bear the guilt, embarrassment and pain. Being a shaman is a terrifying existence.

Pinchbeck says, "evolution and destruction enjoy dancing the tango together on the same razor's edge. What if the evolution of consciousness, rather than an adaptive quirk of the brain, was actually the central drama, purpose and point, of our whole show?... Inner development is an eccentric process, advancing in sudden jumps, in revelatory sparks and fizzles - each person is his or her own private universe. Strengthened by suffering and crisis.... What if this deepening of awareness takes place in the margins, in the nooks and crannies of contemporary life....Could it be, as the somnolent masses and the professional classes press forward in the old direction, seeking the same old rewards, that the new thing self-organizes out of chaos and noise, asserts itself in fragility and silence, then takes root and vitalizes until it suddenly manifests as established truth?"

Point being, as I witness signs and false truth appearing, I try to destroy my inward evolutionary process by destroying the truth before it happens. It will save me from waking up a third day Christmas year and having the one I dreamt of marrying reciting, "you have no future", breaking my being. I'm trying to stay ahead of evolution and it's destructive process.

G2: There are a couple of videos (one recorded live and another one in black & white) featured in your myspace page. Who filmed and produced these? Have they received any airplay? Is it cool to make a video?

Yeah, I love making videos. My songs are stories, autobiographies of my life and emotional state. Nothing is made up. So, it's great to express the songs conceptually through video. I wonder if music listeners ever listen to the words or just pay attention to the oh so important melody. Go to the orchestra for melody. My music is about the words and the music only expresses the emotional state of these thoughts. So, I can reach a larger audience through video.
We have a lot of videos, I wish I had one for each song. I was planning on doing that, but magically my video camera just flew into a toilet and I don't think it works anymore.

"In Eyes," is a super emotional song. It's about f'd up people, who change their personality to justify their being and rationalization of leaving others. Chorus being, "you're not leaving me, you're leaving you." I wanted to capture this emotion on video. I met a truely passionate artist in video/filmmaker Daniel Ryan (you can check his art at www.DANIELRYANVIDEO.com) and we began tossing ideas around. During the making of the song, a really super talented singer/rock star in Chicago decided to sing the female parts. I also gave her a verse to free form and come up with what she was thinking. She really opened up and made the song sick with words like, "I’m no indication of love, I can't stop leaving me, and I’ve got to be buried, bury me deep." Then I also met this guy with an amazing French voice that I wanted to include to give the song a 60's Gainesburg effect. I find people, I think not by chance, but through the theories of quantum science/energy, then the song creates itself. At first, no one takes it seriously, but after they hear my final produced version they are like, hey man pretty cool. This female artist who sang is quite a card though. After she laid down her tracks, she went through a grievous loss and reacted to the song negatively and didn't want her parts used. It was like she was leaving the song, leaving herself. Strange signs. I explained to her how the song was creating itself and how her personality and hardships perfectly matched what I was trying to express. Later, she agreed to let me use her vocals but only if I used a false name for her. So I call her Tea Moare. She's another sweetheart that's slapped me with the too intense heart joker card.
Daniel Ryan produced the video, this cat Aaron filmed it and Marika, a model, pretty much took over and made the video. I wasn't sure they understood the song so I became irritable during the shoot. After several martinis, I was excluded from its filming. Overall, budgetary wise, I think they did a great job. It's in the top 20 on Latvia's Latvian Music Channel. You can vote for it here: www.lmk.lv

Plane was also blessed by JBTV, this unbelievable cult video show hosted by Jerry Bryant. His programming gets syndicated nationwide. He had us perform live on his show, which was a great honor. That's where the other video on our myspace page came from (www.myspace.com/plane).

G2: What can the 2005 Edgars Legzdins say to the present Edgars Legzdins?
You ain't learned shit kid.

G2: What is your current view on commercial music? Do you feel or want that Plane needs to venture into this field?
I hear a lot of good riffs and tunes on commercials. I think commercials have the best music now. Much better than what's on the radio.

G2: In terms of exposure, does Plane want to maintain an underground status or hit the spotlight?
I have nothing to do with either

G2: Any new side projects in the making?
I’m going to revive some "Collection" songs that haven't been released
I also might release a solo album, with just an acoustic guitar
I’m thinking of doing a Christmas album with my dad
I’m writing a book
I’m pursuing a modeling career after my 2007. Dec issue of Playboy modeling debut p. 87
(My picture characterizes a deaf mute serial killer in a Stephen King short novel)

G2: Is your recording studio still open for business?
Yeah, but it's pretty private. i only record bands I like. Bands ask me to do stuff and I’ll help produce and arrange songs, even play on them. I’m not in it for the cash.

G2: So what’s up with this cold weather everywhere!? What’s your position on global warming?
The world will end before we get to that point.

G2: On the personal side, is Edgars Legzdins thinking about settling down sometime soon?
Sure, peace is where it's at. life is not a struggle. The last three girls I’ve cared for told me 1. I have no future 2. I’m too intense and weird
3. I’m too passionate.
So, I’ll have to change my name and personality to be able to settle down with anyone anytime soon.

G2: Will there be a Plane album soon? In the upcoming year?
We’re in the studio just recording now. we have a bunch of demos and are sorting through the good stuff. There’s no point in albums anymore due to mp3's and the digital revolution. we'll release one song at a time.

G2: Any plans on starting a North American tour or a South American tour sometime soon?
No, the last time I was on stage our rhythm section walked off the stage. i won't put up with ineptness. But I’ve always thought ineptness is where punk rock is at. So yeah, we'll be doing shows real soon.

G2: List your current favorite bands.
Sybris, ‘cause they beat me up after their last show.

G2: Have you been listening to independent music lately?
No, I’ve been going through my new wave collection to see which records i can sell.

G2: Have your writing influences changed in any way since “I See Love In The Future”?
No, I keep meeting horrible women. Unfortunately, they are my muses and serve as my writing material.

G2: Where did you record your new EP? Are these the best songs you guys have right now?
They could be better, but I’m not spending years recording songs anymore. "Last War" was recorded by Adam Yoffe at Blue Room Studio. All of our stuff is recorded at my studio.

G2: What can you tell me about your Dad’s music? Has he been an influence on you?
His music is classified as folk/country. Some of his songs are sung as hymns in Latvia. In the 60's when the communists occupied Latvia and they were trying to Russify Latvia and destroy the Latvian culture, my father's music was traded in the underground and the black market. If the communist police heard families listening to his music, the families would get severely punished, sent to Siberia etc....

My father's music stands for freedom, love, hope, Latvian nationalism, making fun of the commies. His band has been around for 50 years. They just finished tours in Ireland and Latvija. This November he received a standing ovation from a crowd of 40,000. He's a national hero in Latvia. A cult icon.

To me he represents, what you can accomplish with music. You can influence people, generate hope, fight the fight, do whatever it takes to never get old or give up.

You can Google his band: Cikagas Piecisi or go to www.cikagaspiecisi.com

G2: Is your father still active in the Latvian music scene?
Yeah, we just got back from a three week tour in Latvia. They sang in front of the President at the Latvian National Monument during Latvia's independence day, November 18th. He's always writing plays, musicals, songs etc....

G2: What does he sing about?
Love, Freedom, Drinking, His Country, Hope, Satirical Situations

G2: How was to play with him? Inspiring? Emotional?
I help out as sound engineer and stage manager. It's always inspiring to watch him play and see the audience react to his freedom songs. There's a lot of history there. It's as if the band was hand in hand with the people of Latvia, who had to endure the communist occupation, for forty years. The people and culture of Latvia, behind closed doors, trying to survive, maintain their language and culture. My father's music and lyrics inspired them, kept the fire in their hearts a live. There's countless of stories between the people of Latvia meeting my father for the first time. Once a taxi - driver recognized my father, so the driver drove my father to the cabbies home. In tears, the cab driver awarded my father, the cabbie's fallen father's war medal. He said my father had earned it, for what he had done to inspired a ravished nation. Stalin executed more people in World War 2 than Hitler did. Few people know that.

G2: For what I can hear it sounds quite folkish, is the music of his typical Latvian music?
No, it's not typical. It's very original as far as Latvian music goes. More accoustic/ballad driven. The lyrics are very special to the country of Latvia.

Me Retracto De Lo Dicho.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Poesía de momento

Friday, January 23, 2009

Plane is here, it's 2009, where are you!?