INSIDES: ERIC ARN
Hello, how are you?
Not so bad, considering everything. I feel lucky to have the best partner for isolation. That makes all the difference.
Where are you right now?
At home, in front of the computer, as I am so much of my time these days.
Which sounds surround you?
A mix of bird and cat sounds from the Innenhof, low rumbles from the U6/Gürtel, and whatever music I’m streaming or playing on the stereo. It works well together.
Have you been productive so far? What are you working on?
Unfortunately not so much – given the lack of concerts, sessions, etc, I’ve ended up instead with much more unrelated Brotarbeit. This plus all the general stress these days has left little time/energy for creative work. But I do force myself to get some in when I can. We may have just finished a new Primordial Undermind album, and I am shaping recordings for a second duo album with Margaret Unknown. I actually sent a new solo album off to a label just before the lockdown, but the schedule for that is in limbo now…
What inspires you right now?
The selflessness and bravery of people looking out for others and thinking beyond themselves.
Reading material you can recommend?
Have recently read Raymond Chandler’s Spanish Blood, John Campbell’s Inner Reaches of Outer Space, Wasson/Hofmann/Ruck’s Road to Eleusis. Now in the middle of Keith Laumer’s Five Fates and Peter Ackroyd’s Hawksmoor
To listen?
https://soundcloud.com/zewmusic
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL94gOvpr5yt3PFlqlREugZ7lyZp3l87yk
To watch?
Spirited Away, Assa (1987), Dispatches from Elsewhere, Demolition, and for comfort food: all 6 seasons of Community
What’s your opinion on live-streams? You see any alternative ways to support the music community?
I’ve done just a couple and watched a few more. They can definitely be interesting as a form in their own, but they’re no substitute for live interaction. I’ll take what I can get theses days, though. Bandcamp has been very helpful!
What are you missing most? What are you afraid of?
Missing most – playing music with and for people, also not having the chance to commune with people and share our losses; Most afraid of people no longer taking this situation seriously, so that we end up with a second wave and have to start the lockdown all over again. Also the popularity of conspiracy theories, and of course political actors taking advantage of the situation.
What will change you think?
Things certainly will never be the same as before, but the changes can go in very good or very bad directions. Seeing plenty of evidence for both ways right now, so I really can’t even try to predict.
What is the gig or occasion you were most looking for, that was cancelled in this period?
Primordial Undermind had a Czech/Austrian tour with Olomouc band Lebanon, set to begin on 9 March – the day they closed the borders. That would have been something special.
Are you still able to pay your rent?
At the moment, yes. But the cost in lack of musical activity and human contact feels quite high.
Eric Arn