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Interviews

Interview: Aaron Gonzalez on Punk and Jazz Mixing in the Family Living Room

By Chris Mosley |
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It’s safe to say that The Gonzalez Family (Father Dennis, and sons Aaron and Stefan) is something of an institution in Dallas, one that bridges the gap between the “high” and “low” cultures of jazz and the extreme hardcore found at house shows and DIY spaces.  Indeed, the family’s openness to many different styles of music is the ultimate critic muzzler. On the one hand, if someone found the racket that the two brothers made in Akkolyte too abrasive, then the boys could counter that they toured in Europe playing jazz with their father. Or since free jazz can be a bit on the cerebral side for some audiences, it could be countered that the brothers also spent a lot of time honing the cathartic blasts that makes up the work of Akkolyte.

As Akkolyte approaches the third decade of existence, I thought it would be helpful to take a step back and consider the career thus far of one of the most influential acts in local music. I asked Aaron about the band’s beginnings, the evolution of Dallas’ underground scene, the troubles that have plagued their recording and release process, and his brother Stefan’s recent move to Austin.

FrontRow: Refresh our memories about when Akkolyte actually formed and how old you and your brother were at the time. I believe I started hearing about you in the late 90’s, or right around 2000, which would make Stefan rather young at the time.

Aaron Gonzalez: Akkolyte actually started as a solo project for Stefan in the late 90’s when he was still in middle school. Having always been interested in heavy music, but recently introduced to the more raw and underground sounds and ideas of crust punk, grindcore and the like, Stefan began doing DIY multi-tracking experiments with the help of our father, creating raw, short punk songs all his own in our family living room. I believe the first of these was actually done when he was still 11 years old. By the time he was 13, he was using the name “Akkolyte”, and interested in doing shows. I was the only person around to really play this kind of music with him, and I was eager to oblige, even though it was not the type of music I was thinking about doing at the time. I would have been 17 or 18 at the time. I was drawn inevitably more and more into the creative process; Akkolyte becoming known for being the crazy, screamy brainchild of the brothers Gonzalez.

FR: Your father is a noted musician of course, but how did you get introduced to punk, hardcore, and grindcore? Do you feel an equally strong connection to jazz and punk? How does your father feel about Akkolyte’s music?

AG: Stefan and I had different ways to get into punk and hardcore initially, him coming more from an interest in metal, and me from an interest in more experimental types of music. I was first interested in grindcore after hearing John Zorn’s Naked City. Stefan came through a more direct route of hearing death metal and traversing more and more extreme metal subgenres from there.  Of course, even when we were interested in very different styles of music, our tastes did intertwine and influence each other in surprising ways, especially because we hung out extensively together through our formative years. Jazz was something we grew up with, our dad playing with people from all over since before we were children.  Even though our dad was involved in jazz that was more forward thinking (and “weird” for many people locally), we saw it as kind of a normal thing, and didn’t think of our father’s music as anything terribly extraordinary until much later, when it became a major influence.

People always ask how we can play both jazz and punk, metal, noise or any of the other various genres we’re involved in.  Growing up in a musical household (and with my dad having a radio show to boot!), we were around not just jazz, but classic rock, progressive rock, traditional music from all over the world, various experimental records, and more.  From the beginning, all music was valid, and our own explorations have unearthed much more monstrous stylistic hybrids than the stuff we’ve done.  For us now, genre distinctions are at best merely convenient points of reference, and at worst they can be intellectual and artistic straight-jackets.  I don’t see us becoming any more narrow minded about music anytime soon.  All that being said, my father, although admittedly sometimes a bit overwhelmed by our first youthful forays into extreme music, has always been very supportive, and I believe has grown to genuinely enjoy our music.

FR: I remember seeing some of your 7-inch releases on sale at Moon Tunes also around the beginning of the last decade. What was the recording and release process like at that time?

AG: To be honest, it was not that much different from now. We’ve always had some access to my father’s home studio, as well as a variety of local studios with engineers who are interested in similar music, as well as lots of friends just aching to try out their new home recording gear. This has led us into a variety of recording opportunities, from hi-fi to lo-fi, analog and digital. The problem back then that has remained constant until now (and consistently disrupted our release schedule!) is lack of money. The release process is similar. There have been a lot of people interested in helping us out through the years, and for that we’re grateful, but many times it has a been a financial and logistical struggle. There did seem to be more people interested in buying records then, as digital downloading had not yet completely changed the music nerd paradigm.

FR: Speaking of Moon Tunes, what do you feel are the main differences between the DIY scene during that era and now? What has improved and what is worse in your opinion?

AG: Well, some things have improved a little bit. In the last couple of years I see certain groups (1919 Hemphill, Phoenix Project) realizing that the illegality or quasi-legality of previous DIY ventures being a major limitation. Though I like the idea of a temporary autonomous zone, such ideas don’t necessarily work in a scene made up mostly of kids whose primary objectives are getting fucked up and fucking things up, or in a world where everything is publicized instantaneously on blogs and social media. Sure, there will still be house shows and underground happenings, but if any scene of music wants to have any viability outside the undesirable limitations of the local bar circuit, there needs to be an alternative that takes pains to legitimize itself. Of course, such efforts do not always work (just look at Sloppyworld).

I also see that scenes are becoming more open minded and cross-pollinating more, with kids more and more willing to step out of their chosen socio-cultural roles and experiencing new kinds of music, art, events, and people. The downside of this is that I feel that most scenes/genres currently are a lot weaker than they were a decade or even a few years ago, with little new that is truly groundbreaking.

Also, with the rise of social media, I see a lot less people meaningfully involved in the scene. There are much fewer bands that do something as simple as pass out flyers/put up posters. A lot less people are interested in buying records, even of local, underground, or rare artists. A lot of people download stuff, but sometimes I doubt how many people really deeply listen to or experience the music in the same way they used to. And a lot less people attend shows, really experience what is currently happening. I think many are content to “like” something on Facebook rather than really be involved in it in real life. The sad thing is, I think there’s a whole generation that really thinks they are experiencing things meaningfully, when the majority of their lives and glories are lived on the internet.

FR: In the invitation to your show, it mentions that you have been “led on by various labels and people regarding the release” of your upcoming record. Do you care to explain some of those situations?

AG: We did have a local label that was going to release it, but they ran into financial troubles after their previous release.  We have also had a number of other people who have offered to produce the record or put in money, only to realize they didn’t have the means, or just not follow up.  In the interest of not burning bridges or unfairly singling people out, I will choose to remain unspecific about the details and leave it at this: we are simply exhausted and frustrated by our search for help in the production of this record, and are trying to take matters into our own hands.  Of course, as I write this, there have actually been recent talks with another individual who is interested in launching a new label, and he wants to help us out.  If things work out with him, the production of this record will be a joint venture, with this benefit still helping out immensely.

FR: I seem to remember you were working on a full-length and ran into some trouble with the recording process and a local engineer. What happened there?

AG: F**k.  We did have a major problem in that department.  In fact, that problem set the entire project back more than anything else, and I am still very very angry about the whole thing.  I really don’t think it’s right to tell the story in a public forum right now.  It’s a personal situation, and in any case, the recording/mixing problems have been solved.  Unless I have reason not to, I would like to remain at peace about it now that it is resolved.

FR: Is Clues In The Chaospile a complete discography? Does it include everything? Even your cover of  (The Cure’s) “Killing An Arab?”

AG: No. Clues In The Chaospile is the new full-length you previously mentioned.  It is all new material.  There are plans to release an anthology of all the early material, as well, but that will be though another label, and on an entirely different format.  We think it’s important to make the earlier stuff available again, however, we think that the new full length is much, much more important.  It’s much better produced, conceived, and performed than anything we’ve previously released, and it is more of a representation of us now.  However, when we do re-issue the earlier stuff, yes, we do plan to include the ridiculous, overblown cover of “Killing an Arab.”  I know a few fans will be very happy about that.

FR: How has Stefan moving to Austin impacted Akkolyte? Do you feel it helps in a way? I know with some bands that have been together for an extended amount of time, they seem more happy to work on music together if they don’t see each other as often.

AG: Honestly, Stefan’s moving away has pained me more as a fond brother than as a fellow musician.  Akkolyte and our other projects together (Yells at Eels, Unconscious Collective, Humanization 4tet) survive because every time we see each other now, it is with a purpose-that of doing what we must do next with the music.  Sometimes, living in close proximity leads to being lazy about practicing and writing new music. Living apart also means that we must be more selective about which shows we agree to, which I think was becoming necessary, as we were doing two, three shows a week sometimes.

FR: How did the discussion to have a benefit show to put out the record formalize? Have you considered online venture projects like Kickstarter? What format or formats will you release the album on?

AG: It started out of necessity.  It took over a year to finish the album the way we wanted it, a process which left us (more) broke.  Since then, we’ve been sitting on it for months.  We don’t want something we put so much effort and heart in to be forgotten, and it’s been a painful process trying to deal with the amount of time and effort it has taken.  I’ve heard about Kickstarter, and it sounds like a good idea, but everyone I know who has used it has not reached their goals.  But it might not be a bad idea to get a portion of the money.  I don’t know, we’ll see what this first benefit show yields.  The album is specifically formulated for LP release, with the songs sequenced to fill two sides.  We might put it out on CD sometime later, but that is not the immediate goal.  We briefly discussed a downloadable version, but you know what?  I don’t like digital albums; I don’t think they do justice to the artistic experience of music (and specifically album) culture.  I’m sure that somebody will eventually put up a digital version that they bootleg.  We are not opposed to this.

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