Mark Hillis
Musician, Photographer and
Digital Artist
(photo credit - Mark Hillis)
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Musical genre -
Acoustic/Progressive/Jazz/World
LA MESA, California
United States
Mark Hillis is a musician, photographer and
digital artist based in California. He has been playing guitar for
over 22 years, and has explored photography & the digital art medium
for over a decade. He humbly refers to his musical genre “music for
driving and thinking that doesn’t suck”. Talent, modesty and a
sense of humor….very cool.
On Hillis’ latest cd, "Acoustic Environment", the
strings blend beautifully and smoothly with acoustic guitar into
classical/progressive/jazz movements - all very fluidly interwoven.
Graceful and well composed, the pieces travel in and out of
different time signatures & feature succinct & perfectly resolved
endings. The bass lines add a nice rhythm counterpart to build the
impact of the music. These are beautiful compositions, and very
organic.
Mark Hillis (in the vein of California Guitar
Trio, King Crimson, Trey Gunn, Tony Levin, and all the top
progressive guys--too many to name!) has created complex and
captivating compositions that are extremely intimate in essence &
passionate in nature.
Newest cd, “Acoustic Environments”
features –
Mark Hillis : Acoustic Guitar
Tiffany Modell: Violin
Bryan Kuban:
Bass
Tom Griesgraber : Chapman Stick
Jeff Hurt: Trumpet
Mike Bromann: Percussion
Ike Van Atta: Bass samples and Synth (track 5)
Cover art by Jeff Hurt.
Insert photography by Mark Hillis.
1. Thank you for agreeing to interview with
us! I enjoyed your artist statement, I couldn't agree more that an
artist's work should speak for itself. What is your approach when
conceptualizing a piece from a technical aspect? Do you first
consider instrumentation, then collect musicians to work with based
on that? What is your writing process as far as that goes?
:-) Good question....I think that even though my
music can be very technical in nature, I tend to
not approach writing from a technical angle....yet somehow it
sometimes ends up sounding that way LOL. Generally, my best writing
comes when I'm not trying to compose. For instance, when I'm just
lost in thought with the guitar in hand, and really just "doodling"
around. I think maybe the conscious mind lets the creative side
take over then and things start to come out. I believe that also at
this time the culmination of your "style" seeps through as it's
basically all instinctual when you're in this mode as an artist.
Once I have a basic framework for a song, then my left brain might
kick in as I try to piece sections together or create new parts. I
do however try not to look at things from a technical aspect and try
to remain open to trying things that might not normally work. For
instance, I might try fitting 2 sections together that I wrote
months apart and seeing if they work together in an unforeseen
way....kinda like "hey, your chocolate's in my peanut
butter..."...hey, that tastes good! (remember the old commercial
for Reeses?) :-) Even though my style might sound more like CA Gtr
Trio or King Crimson, I think my writing approach is more akin to
Brian Eno. There's a book out there written about his composition
style called: "Brian Eno: His Music & the Vertical Color of Sound".
It's very good stuff.
To answer the other part of your question, I love
seeing what other creative minds can add to my stuff, so I enjoy
leaving some of the composition "open" and letting a talented
musician like Tom, Jeff or Tiffany take it and run with it. It's
amazing to see your piece change flavors right in front of your eyes
to something that you hadn't quite envisioned.
(photo credit - self
portrait by Mark Hillis)
2. You have been playing guitar for 22 years
now - is that both electric & acoustic? If not, how long have you
been playing acoustic guitar, and do you prefer acoustic to
electric? Do you play any other instruments?
Yes, I guess it's actually like 25 years now.
Wow! At least I haven't hit the classic Monty Python "I'm not old,
I'm 37" yet :-).....I started with electric and I was determined to
be like Eddie. There was and still is only 1 Eddie. Of course then
I discovered Joe Satriani, Yngwie, Jimmy (Page) and all the classics
and thus began my hours of practice. I discovered Robert Fripp much
later and really got into Crimson, but much after my style had
already been formed (or deformed) from all those rock guitar heros.
My first CD, "Harlequin" was recorded in 1990 and featured vocals by
Jerry Harrison of the metal band Icon. The CD had a very "Whitesnake
meets Queensryche meets Dio meets Pink Floyd" feel. So, to answer
the actual question :-), I later gravitated to the acoustic guitar
because of the pureness of the sound. I've been playing it since
about '96 I guess. I really like the acoustic now, but do still
really enjoy the electric even though I don't get around to playing
it much.
3. There are some strong King Crimson,
Porcupine Tree, Tony Levin & California Guitar Trio influences in
that song that make it such a progressive gem. That's my
interpretation, but who are your influences and which players today
currently inspire you the most?
Yes, I've been told this and do hear most of those
influences in my work. Some of the sound comes from the Stick and
Tom's style on tracks 2 & 4, but some is definitely my compositional
style for certain tracks. I never set out to make any particular
"style" when I wrote the songs, but there's no denying the fact that
I have been listening to most of the above musicians and they must
be influencing me :-) I haven't heard Porcupine Tree yet, but have
heard of them and will go check them out ;-)
4. Very poetic song titles, who names the
pieces?
I named them...thanks for the compliment :-)
5. "Shades of Red" is a very classical
sounding piece, very well performed and starts very stacatto &
blends in ambient swells to build up the piece. Then, it goes from
slightly Celtic sounding to almost Flamenco flavored. Do you listen
to a lot of ecclectic music of those sorts?
Yes, I'm kind of a music sponge, and over the
years have listened to just about everything except Country, so I
guess it all just seeps out.
6. You also do photography & digital art, who
and what are your influences in these areas?
I've thought about this one, and honestly I have
no answer. Visually, we all see so much every day that it's so
hard to track where we get ideas from. I never had
photographer heroes at all like with the music, so I have no idea
where my visual style came from. Some say Geiger can be seen
in some compositions, and I definitely loved Aliens, but never
really studied his stuff or tried to emulate him.
7. Your photos range broadly in subject from
introspective, blurred/brooding seductive nudes to dark, Geiger-esque
outspoken-type digital art. What are your favorite photography
subjects, and what is your digital working method?
I'll have to say that I really do enjoy the
digital medium. There's so much you can do with it, but, on
the other hand, there something really satisfying about making an
"analog" shot where you're really just working with light,
perspective and composition. I go through phases.
Sometimes I work just from a visual standpoint and don't try to say
anything specific with the piece, but other times like with
"Purgatory" and "Gemini" there's a definite "idea" or statement.
Another thing that comes into play at times with any art form and it
happens with photography is the "happy accident". Sometimes a
piece evolves almost exactly as you intended, and sometimes it
doesn't quite happen that way, but comes together more as an
"accident" and ends up looking better. This happens to all
artists. If they say it doesn't they're either perfect,
ignorant, or they're lying. I think it's pivotal for an artist
to not get caught up in his ego and if something is happening that
he didn't plan and it's good, to go with it and fulfill it to it's
potential.
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>> Interview by
Kris Swenson for Art Anomaly
Mark Hillis links:
