El Almacen Del Rock

EL ALMACÉN DEL ROCK

www.almacendelrock.com

Borja Mozo Martín

Tel. +34 619 97 84 07

The way you played bass was already very “experimental”, but you had to overcome to the limitations of that instrument. Does Stick finally provide you complete freedom to express what you feel?

The Chapman Stick and I had a very spontaneous and organic encounter. I did not begin playing the Chapman because I felt the bass had limitations of any kind. I have never gotten to a point of “mastering” any instrument and then moving on…….far from that. If I was to be completely honest, I would say that a lot of my experimentation was born out of necessity and fuelled at times by frustration at my own limitations as a musician as well as my need for further expression. I have to say that I never felt satisfied or comfortable trying to copy another person’s sound or style and failed miserably if I did try! Haha!!! I just love to play and I’m still very curious about sounds, rhythms and the exquisite possibilities of all forms of music. I enjoy the freedom in knowing that experimentation is part of my musical identity and comfortable now with the things that might set me apart from other musicians/singers, but it took me a while to get to that point. As far as expression, the Stick is so appropriate for me at this time and my more percussive approach to music. It is still a relative baby in the music world, so we are growing and changing together. I’ve only just begun to experiment with this instrument and I am very much still a student of the Stick and of life…….haha!!!

Your brother was going through a hard situation while you were working on “Poetica”. The new album is also dedicated to him. What place does Larry have in your life?

I have re-written this answer a million times now, wondering if this or that was inappropriate or perhaps too personal. Maybe this question is why the interview has been so late in reaching you! Haha!

Oxygene8 is music that I will always keep alive in memory of Larry, who has been my muse and the source of some of my deepest learning and reflection. He has remained an inspiration for all I do and will always set a high standard for me in my work as well as in my life. I am honoured to be called his sister and I’ll end here by saying that most significantly, I have experienced "unconditional love” because of Larry. What a beautiful thing to have felt and experienced in one’s lifetime, yes?

Maybe that’s why your music is so rich, because the feelings come from deep in your heart. They are so honest that only full experimental freedom can translate them into music.

You are so kind, Borja. Many years ago, I promised myself that if ever I began to feel that the music wasn’t real for me, or if I ever lost the passion to play and be with the audience, I would stop. I have never stopped playing music and have never desired to even take a break from it and I just don’t see that ever happening.

Did the music represent for you a way to break away from what was happening? Or a way to look it in the eye and face it?

I wanted to look it in the eye and treasure every moment of the experience. The whole time we were in the studio, I felt that everyone involved was really a part of something much bigger …… and the music real and pure. It was incredible. But, it has been suggested more than once that I tend to use my music and travel as a form of escapism – that I do not live in the “real” world. A smile here….for no reason, really, just a smile.

“World is not as broken as it seems” Your words are so optimistic... Is it an individual (a message to yourself) or a worldwide message? I mean, who is the message adressed to?

I think we are all responsible for each other here on this earth, Borja. I believe that we are all one and that love does have the power to heal…… a broken heart or a broken world. However, I know nothing. Haha!!

I try to surround myself with positive, optimistic people. I used to have quite a challenge in that I get very attached to people, even when the situation would call for me to let go and move on. I am better at these choices now……and choose to have less drama in my life these days too. I put most of my energy into my music and my other passions. But I am a very imperfect person and I have my days when I do get negative; I do have times when I am not a very nice person to be around. I do have a great sense of humour, however, and I can usually change my mind about a situation by finding the humour, the humanity, the lesson within. ………this is a crazy, beautiful life, yes?! We have to laugh at ourselves especially! I think we are all just children deep inside and some of us need a little more attention than others. Linda. Hahaha!!

Anyways, your music is not just a way to express what you feel. It is so evocative that the listener is surrounded by the magic, the atmospheres, every detail. He shares your feelings, but at the same time he feels them on his own way. It´s some kind of dialogue between you both, and this dialogue is possible due to your universal language.

That is a high compliment and if with my music, I have ever created a universal dialogue and have caused anyone to feel magic, I am left deeply touched and honoured.

2006 has been an intense year for you: some european dates and a south american tour during the last months. Did you get the answer you were expecting to from a completely new audience?

An intense year, yes……..I think I spent most of the year travelling and playing music and it was so rewarding in so many ways. I’m living my dreams and I am encountering some really exceptional people in my travels. I received such a warm response and in more ways than I can even explain. As a performer and musician, it is the beauty of the moment that binds you to your passion and has you strive to reach this incomparable pure feeling again and again, when you are one with the music, the audience. I have so many beautiful moments to remember with the audience and the people I met while travelling, with the musicians I shared the stage with and the families that included me in their lives while travelling. It was a truly incredible year and one that I will never forget.

Do people still stare at you with surprised eyes when you come to the stage and begin caressing your Chapman Stick?

The Chapman Stick always gets a lot of attention, beginning at airport security. The Stick is a very provocative instrument both in its sound and its imagery; I have a very fine dance partner and musical friend in this instrument. There are many people that have not ever seen or heard a Chapman Stick and I really enjoy it when anyone that is curious about it comes to speak with me after a concert. I usually try to just strap it on them with the shoulder strap and belt and the works, for I feel that one must really “feel” it as well as hear it to know if it is right for them or not. Children often come up to me after a Stick clinic or concert and want to try to play the Chapman. Would you like to see these photos? I will soon present to Emmett Chapman, inventor of the Stick, the idea of a “mini-Stick” for children and smaller people that wish to learn this instrument. Children seem fascinated by its sounds but it is very large and out of control for its size, weight…. and for little fingers and hands.

The main mission of the Stick Center, Stick Camps and International Stick Meetings (the first one took place in Chile) is to show this instrument to people who have never seen it, but also to meet other musicians and share some tricks, music, ideas... I suppose the sensation of discovering a new way to make music, to let your ideas flow with no boundaries because anything has been already explored, is incredible.

The clinics and meetings really are more than music. Stick Center sponsored a Stick Camp in Mallorca, the island paradise of Spain. The musicians and families were from Spain, Italy, Argentina, the UK, the US; the music, the environment was stimulating on many levels and it was a wonderful holiday as well as a time to play and learn more about the Stick. It was an opportunity to share cultural differences as well as similarities in the arms of music. In Mallorca and at the recent StickCHILE 2006 in Santiago, Chile, I met many people that I feel will always remain a part of my life both in music and in friendship. As we speak, the “Segundo Encuentro Internacional de Chapman Stick Chile 2007” is being planned and I will post those dates on my web-site.

When did you meet Tim Alexander, who collaborated with you in “Poetica” and plays again in “Freak of Chance”?

I played bass and Tim played drums in a band called MAJOR LINGO from Jerome, Arizona. We all relocated as a band from Arizona to the Bay Area in California (we all lived in a round house shaped like a big pumpkin, haha!). There in California, Tim’s drumming immediately caught the attention of incredible bassist, Les Claypool from PRIMUS. Tim and I continued to communicate and collaborate all through his years with PRIMUS – he is like family to me. Tim sings and plays guitar now also in his own project called FATA MORGANA and their debut CD has just been mastered and sounds really great!

“Freak of Chance” goes further than “Poetica” insofar as now you have a full band. Everyone took part in the writing process.Wasn´t it difficult to you to share ideas with other musicians, as Oxygene was, at first, an expression of your individual feelings?

Never, never! I absolutely love to work and collaborate with other musicians and will always find the time and energy to do so. If any project is successful, I always look to everyone involved in the project…….for it takes a village! I feel that any CD is a document of time……and everyone I worked with on this album is very much a part of my life in some way and therefore a part of my expression of how I see things in my world at the time. If you enjoy “Freak of Chance,” you are hearing the work of many talented and gifted people. I’d like to give you all their web site addresses :

It´s a BIG project with very accurate artists such as Tim, Tony Levin and even Uri Geller! How did you manage to gather this crazy crowd?

It IS quite a crazy crowd, isn’t it? Haha!! Tim and I, as you know--are always involved in some crazy project or another and when Steve Parrish and I began to record the song “Close Your Eyes” – I had this gut feeling that it was Tony Levin that needed to be on that track. I just listened to my intuition and asked Tony if he had the time to do it and he graciously responded. Uri Geller is another special human being that graced my album. His illustration is found on the inside of the CD.

Please visit their web-sites when you have a minute…..they are quite remarkable people.

Ah, actually it is not a re-recording. This song or “soundscape” has never been recorded before, but I wanted to make a connection from the first Oxygene8 album, “Poetica,” so if you hear similarities, this was intentional. The current album, “Freak,” is a transitional album for me musically….but I wanted to connect the dots a little to the debut CD. I recorded a few of the sounds on this piece with the same midi equipment as for the first album, a Roland GR-33 guitar synth, GK-33 MIDI pick-up with my Chapman Stick and Electrix Repeater Looper. Of course there’s a lot of studio magic too. Steve and I used snippets of all the other songs in the mix, and therefore we established all the performers on the album as writers in this piece.

Steve Parrish wrote two of the songs and co-wrote the rest of them. Did he also produce “Freak of Chance”? You could bring him on tour, as the fifth Oxygene 8 member!

Yes, he did also produce the album and I would love to have him on tour! He always has his hands very full with his studio, but he has a beautiful voice and plays many instruments as well. I’ll have to invite him! Haha!

Haha!! You really ARE the journalist……first my ex-relationship and now this! I must make it a point to hide all my nude photos from you! Ha!

In answer, yes! I am very proud to say that I am represented by the FORD Robert Black Agency. I do films, commercials and some print-modelling. I try to participate in a lot of independent films when I have the time – it is great experience for me and I get the opportunity to work with many talented up and coming writers, actors and filmmakers. My first film experience was working with director Mike Nichols. It was a very minor role in a scene with the dazzling actress, Annette Bening. It was fascinating to watch them and all the film crew work together – such respect and professionalism. Finding the time for acting studies and auditions is one of my priorities. I am very fortunate to be working with this agency and Matt, my agent, for they have been really good to me through the years and very flexible and supportive of my music as well.

Do you think this may have an influence on the way you move on stage, the way you communicate not only with your Chapman Stick, but also with people?

Well, I have to say that Mr. Chapman Stick is a great dance partner! Haha!! This is a great question and also a poignant one for me. I feel a good actor/actress leaves the acting outside the door. Somewhere deep inside must be found an experience in one’s own heart and history to draw from that can create the essence of a believable person in a role whether it be comedy, drama, or any genre. So in other words, “acting” to me is just the opposite…..it is being your most “real.” It is very challenging and often very emotional for me because I must go deep inside and often into places I would prefer not to revisit in order to be in the moment and really be feeling whatever is asked of the role. It must be real if you want others to feel it too. It is also very much about breathing and oxygen. You must breathe life into the words, both literally and figuratively…….. a real life human being that is speaking the words with their own truth. So I feel acting is just the opposite of acting. But, I know nothing……..haha!

There is something that comes to mind here, Borja, as an illustration of this and perhaps in conclusion of our interview -- the Oxygene8 concerts in Spain and my most recent concerts with Guillermo Cides in Argentina and Chile. The response to the music when I was with Oxygene8 in Madrid and Barcelona, the response and experiences in Argentina and Chile, Guillermo and his family that he shared with me, the people that came to the concerts and those that helped create them, the kind words and energy I felt from everyone and the love I felt for them and from them…….all this is beyond words. I was so overwhelmed by emotion at these concerts and this time of my life is never to be forgotten by me…..not ever. This is what I mean when I say that acting is not meant to be acting – for now I have this experience to draw from if ever asked to do a role that requires a deep emotion or memory of being overwhelmed by love and kindness.