Artist Q & A: Devin Friesen

Aug 4

by Jesse Locke

An interview with Calgary’s Devin Friesen, in advance of New Works Calgary’s upcoming presentation of his project Bitter Fictions.

How did you first become interested in music?

It was probably listening to tapes in my dad's car, especially on long drives to visit my grandmother in Saskatchewan. My mom's tapes were in the glove compartment, and much to my dad's chagrin I flipped past the Rolling Stones and found her copy of Michael Jackson's Thriller. I liked that immediately, particularly the song "Beat It" - even more specifically that gnarly Eddie Van Halen guitar solo. Nowadays I find those kinds of guitar pyrotechnics rather gauche, but at the time I'd never heard anything like it. It was probably the first song I'd encountered where I had to rewind the tape incessantly. I probably made my dad listen to that song at least ten times in a row. "Don't stop til you get enough"...

What inspired you to play music yourself? Was the guitar your first instrument?

Guitar was the first instrument I took seriously and felt comfortable expressing myself through. There was xylophone, recorder, and other assorted 'music class in elementary school' nonsense I couldn't take seriously. Hand bells? Get outta here.

It was probably punk rock and wanting to start a band with my friends. I had a big phase of listening to like, Green Day, Treble Charger, Bad Religion, eventually Jawbreaker. I went to Jr High with the singer from Gob's younger cousin, which I only know because he dug my Gob hoodie. Lots of pop/skate punk and its Canadian equivalents were on my radar, and nothing else made me feel as good as listening to music, so I knew I'd have to give it a try.

Punk made it feel okay to not be a virtuoso or whatever, and I had zero interest in playing the usual guitar teacher fare - Beatles, Led Zeppelin or whatever. For the year or so I took lessons I'd bring in like, Drive Like Jehu or Faraquet, and most of the lesson would be us trying to figure that out by ear instead of running scales/theory or other things I'd later teach myself.

How did you become interested in experimental and improvised music specifically?

Almost certainly through Sonic Youth. When I got into them it changed everything. They made tons of what I'd been listening to obsolete. By high school I'd moved on from radio punk, was reading Maximum Rock n' Roll and buying 'the real stuff' at Sloth, but I also knew I wasn't as crusty or drunk as most of the punks I'd be around. I'd started hanging out more with the art kids. I'd read Kerouac and wrote bad poetry. I got obsessed with all things SY, tracked down all I could - side projects, artists/bands in the "thank you" notes, tourmates etc, which turned into interests in free jazz, noise, Alan Licht's minimalism lists, all kinds of quote unquote experimental music.

I also started volunteering at CJSW when I was in grade 12. I can't understate how much I learned there. I went to university to study English but I joke that I got an uncredited master's in music instead. I spent far more time hanging out at CJSW than attending class, learning from other programmers and volunteers, getting involved in shows, finding Bug Incision (which was likely my first live exposure to free improvisation), then eventually becoming a programmer and the station's music librarian for a spell. It was an invaluable resource musically and socially, introducing me to more than I could list.

Who would you consider to be formative influences, either locally or on a wider scale?

The big two initially were the aforementioned Sonic Youth and Jawbreaker, plus Polvo, Unwound, Helium, North of America, lots of ’90s indie and post hardcore kinda stuff. A dash of Wolf Eyes, Black Dice, stranger electronic stuff. Lots of Windy & Carl, Flying Saucer Attack, NEU!, all the Steve Albini bands and so on. Oh, and hearing what Ian Williams was doing with guitar on Don Caballero's American Don with only a pair of loopers, that stuff is still crazy to me.

Locally, I learned a ton from Myke Atkinson, CJSW's music director at the time who also performed/recorded as Beneath These Idle Tides. Myke helped broaden my horizons into drone, ambient, those kinds of things, and was also the first person I ever saw do solo guitar performance in that vein. Also my former roommate Kevin Stebner (Bart Records & Revolution Winter, Fulfilment, Cold Water), whose relentless DIY spirit and creativity was very inspiring to be around - seeing firsthand someone run a tape and record label on their own proved to me that it could be done, even if it's a struggle.

You've done some touring and lived in other cities. With that experience, under your belt, what do you think is unique about the improv/experimental music community in Calgary?

I hype up the Bug Incision concert series anywhere I go. That is absolutely my favourite thing in Calgary. Here I am, an idiosyncratic autodidact playing feedback guitar with an electric toothbrush, paired with jazz musicians who've played their instruments as long (if not longer) than I've been alive. A 20-year old playing amplified objects alongside a cellist. No input mixing board and saxophone. These shows are welcoming, exploratory, open minded and decidedly un-snobbish - unless the more academic people show up, and I know for a fact I've hurt their hearing, so...

Calgary is an incredibly difficult city to make art in, especially that which falls left of the dial or outside of what is generally regarded as "legitimate" or "good" or such nonsense to a layperson. Many, many people here do not give a shit about anyone or anything beyond themselves, and even once you get past that, frequently what does manage to get attention here is generally not my cup of tea. I mean, look at how many people go out of their way for the Stampede. This place is profoundly embarrassing. I don't want to go full "us versus them" but I've accepted that I run better with a little bit of antagonism, and there's no shortage of things to drive that here.

However, this also means that the people who are making interesting things are working very hard and in relative isolation in the face of towering indifference or even antipathy, and that can result in some particularly intriguing and unique weirdos. It also helps foster a sense of community where you elevate each other, as opposed to the palpable sense of competition, jealousy, resentment, all the petty nervous spitefulness that stigmatizes many people in more popular locales.

How have you seen things change in Calgary over the years, either for better or worse? Is "the scene" in a good place right now?

I mean, like anywhere there are crests and valleys. It's tough to gauge between the crushing effects of the pandemic, losing venues, the general rise in the cost of living, the streaming economy and its accompanying creative malaise, etc. I used to joke "it's always 1995 in Calgary" when I worked at Sloth and saw the tickets we'd sell and the music that sold, but I'm old enough to not give a shit about that anymore. In general I think most places have a suffering musical ecosystem these days, but I think this makes the work of those who are trying even more special.

It's been heartwarming to see a lot of eager and often shockingly erudite (probably thanks to the internet) young people grow into their own - the people who were 18-21 when I left are now in their mid 20s and playing with more assurance in their abilities and ideas, and refreshingly outside of the stuff that was ubiquitous when I was growing up here. Same with people my age and older - they generally aren't complacent and want to push forward as well. It's invigorating to be around, especially with a more pronounced sense of positivity among peers. There's a lot working against artistically driven people here, which is probably why many of us are working even harder.

Can you tell me about some of the recent releases on your label, Shaking Box Music?

The newest one is Full Spite, the most noise rock of my solo releases. It's still 'solo guitar' but with more drum machines and samples to flesh out the arrangements. Total buzzsaw distortion negative feedback vibes with a hint of longing melodic tones. I painted all of the labels myself, so each tape is visually unique.

Prior to that was an improvised duo live session recorded at CJSW with one of my favourite drummers and best friends, Andrew Hume, which is probably even more 'noise rock' but that's mostly because Andrew and I have a great improv rapport from all the time we spent together jamming in Ashley Soft and with others. There was also a very cool archival Bent Spoon Duo (Chris Dadge and Monty Munro) tape for an assortment of instruments - viola, trombone, percussion, etc.

It's not exactly 'recent' now but the last LP was an international affair, Six Scores by the UK's Neil Campbell and Richard Youngs, two of my favourite artists. They've both been active at least as long as I've been alive, boundless creativity, utterly inspiring. Violin, casio keyboard and voice. That record managed to bewilder even the most experienced heads I know.

What music by other artists are you excited about these days?

I met Lydia Pineau last December when we played a Bug Incision gig together. She has a project called Arts&Crafts that I've been digging over the past several months. She's very prolific, and for a starting point her recent albums Colour Theory and Homeostasis are excellent, deeply interesting listens. She's currently working on a tape that I'm elated to put out on Shaking Box when it's ready. She's a brilliant multi-instrumentalist, producer and visual artist who I can't say enough kind things about.

There's also a duo called NUM that recently moved here from the middle east - Milad Bagheri and Maryam Sirvan - they had their Calgary live debut at Central United Church during Sled Island and it was excellent. I hope to see them both do more soon. They too have a rich bandcamp traversing electroacoustics, drone, voice and electronics.

Honestly though, I've been less active in keeping up on new music the past couple years, instead digging back through older things that I skipped over when I was younger. I went through almost all of Tom Verlaine and Lou Reed's solo albums, the good and the (very) bad. A bunch of Miles Davis, especially mid/late ’60s (E.S.P., Miles Smile, Filles de Kilimanjaro) and early ’70s bootlegs. A bunch of ECM stuff, which is super hit or miss. Some of that stuff is absolutely dreadful but I like a lot of Ralph Towner (Batik especially), Bill Connors, Eberhard Weber. Lots of Magazine, A.R. Kane, Siouxsie & the Banshees, all the recent Elevator reissues, a handful of Psychedelic Furs songs. Revisiting Portishead. I could go on.

What can people expect from your upcoming performance with New Works Calgary?

It'll be my first proper loud gig since pre-pandemic. I've been aching to get back to it.

I struggle to describe my music, mostly because I prefer not to, but I've come to use the term "serenity distortion" - there's beautiful atmospheric ambient/drone elements but also dissonance, noise, enough chaos to keep things interesting. It's also a double entendre, as in the distortion or disruption of serenity. The juxtaposition of beauty and decay, melody and noise. Also "grungebient" looks dumb and doesn't roll of the tongue.

I strive to imbue my playing with emotional resonance without relying on histrionics. However, I unexpectedly lost my dad towards the end of July. That wound is raw and will almost certainly have an influence.

On a technical level - I play alt-tuned electric guitar through a bunch of pedals and frequently utilise extended techniques and preparations. I've heard this kind of thing described as both "heavy pedal" and "fucking Sonic Spoof". I used to occasionally cover Wire and Rhys Chatham's "Guitar Trio", except with only one guitar that I'd loop. Does that paint a picture?

Can you tell me a bit about your visual art practice, and how that is connected to your music?

I decided to give painting a try again around the start of 2020. Watercolours. I figured that at worst it would result in raw materials to throw into photoshop for designing album art.

I mostly make 12 x 12 square (LP sized) paintings that tend toward the non-objective, abstract, expressionist. My favourites are ones that have no definitive 'right' way to look at - I encourage people to rotate them and look from different angles. I often think of them as potential record sleeves, asking "what might this sound/look like? what might this look/sound like?", and that feeds into the music where I sometimes think, okay, what kind of sound does this represent? Or alternately, how might this sound be visually represented? Like much of my music it also avoids being pedantic or like, "this is the proper way this is supposed to be consumed" - there's more room for interpretation. I like things ambiguous.

Do you have any other projects, releases, or events that you’d like to plug?

I usually have a lot of projects on the go but often struggle to finish them. "It's rather Arthur Russell". I've been putting up assorted digital releases on my Bitter Fictions bandcamp page, and eventually there's Amethyst & Emerald, recorded when I was living in Montreal, likely the best/most emotionally taxing album I've done. I would like that to be the third Bitter Fictions LP; aiming for next year on that one.

There's a trio recording of Nate Waters, Andrew Hume and myself from 2019 that I'd like to put out as well. Oh, and there's a video live session of Nate, Monty and myself improvising at the Theatre Grande last year - there were several sessions with Bug Incision regulars over the summer that turned out great, and if you've never been to one of those gigs these sessions on YouTube are a great starting point.

I played a gig last December with a trio including Jennifer Crighton on amplified harp/FX and Lydia Pineau on percussion/no input mixing board. We planned to get into the studio to record this past April but COVID and other personal issues said "no" - but that'll be a beaut when we get the chance to record hopefully later this year.

There's also Selected Paintings 2020-22, a 32 page book of paintings that I recently put together to sell at shows and markets. They turned out wonderfully and will be available to mailorder or purchase at a few local record and book shops soon.