Lovebones
Newsflash: Lovebones is now known as "By Them I Mean Us"
Open Labs Exclusive Artist Interview
- by Carson Barker, Open Labs Staff Writer
Headed by Myres and business partner/roommate/musician Michael Drayer, Lovebones is an organization that taps into various sides of the music dimension. Their product, if you will, is a techno odyssey of old world meets new, mixing sounds like Tibetan chants and tribal congas with digitized drum beats and electric synthesizer lashings. The first album was written, recorded and mixed at their home studio under their self-run label, One Lisa Productions. Every song on their 22-track CD, titled DEKOI, is sonically different, yet has a unified world vibe like a digital religion. But according to Lovebones, this album is just a foreshadowing compared to their next, which is currently in production.
"Right now we are focusing on our second album, Manifestiny," says Myres. "We'll have it done by June, we'll have it pressed and have the release party in July."
The house that holds Lovebones is an architectural fusion of technology, spirituality and death. Buddha sculptures perch on top of hi-def speakers, various tribal masks adorn the walls around a Panasonic plasma screen TV, and a crystal sapphire pool in the backyard is framed with lavish greenery. Interweaving the Hindu artifacts, the flat screen Sony monitor, Open Labs NeKo and MiKo, stack of guitars, basses, keyboards and synths are artworks of skulls; one of which is mirrored as a tattoo on Myres' right calf. The trinity of future, past and infinity is a predominant feature in all of their works, and in the land of Lovebones, technology is religion, religion is existence and existence is sound.
"We always like to mix our acoustic sound with electronic music," says Drayer.
"Thats why I don't like to classify our music necessarily as electronic music," added Myres. "It's dance music and beat oriented, but the more real world/natural instruments, the better. Synth-wise, a bass line here and a lead here, and we'll mix some effects at the end. But definitely our sound is the contrast between real instruments and electronic."
Lovebones' sound illuminates itself with elaborate instrumentation. Their writing process begins with Myres and Drayer transmitting melodies from beyond via guitars and bass, then adding on the extras with the help of their Open Labs gear. Gamelan bowls, nylon guitar strings and orchestral incarnations all make subtle appearances to add texture and spirit to their hip-hop/ electronica groove. Courtesy of the band's MiKo LX and their NeKo, Lovebones can capture the worldly vibes that they once heard in the mountains of Nevada under the influence of spiritual communion -- whether on the stage or in their customized, in-house studio shrine.
"Our whole live set is just a MiKo, an acoustic guitar, an acoustic bass and turntables," Myres says. "We use an amp modeler, we don't really tote around amps. I cut the handles out and put a drum controller on the NeKo. We use trackers to mix the backing tracks, and play stuff over it with VSTs, turntables, guitars and everything else."
Before the Lovebones era, the guided guru trip in the mountains, and the advent of One Lisa Productions, Myers and Drayer were planted in New York City until they landed in Austin, TX. Their musical conquest over the years resulted in Myres receiving an audio degree from The Institute of Audio Research in NYC, and Drayer postponing his economics degree at the Catholic private institution, St. Edward's University, to pursue their music career. The journey also scored Lovebones a gig at SXSW 2007, an upcoming show at the Burning Man festival, and a path crossing with longtime Beck turntablist, DJ Swamp a few years back. Ever since the three formed a holy trinity, DJ Swamp's turns and scratches are all over the Lovebones freshman album, and the collaboration has been nothing short of enlightening.
"Live-wise he is really good, he sets his turntables on fire and breaths fire," Myres says. "He's 6 foot 4, and launches himself right on top of the crowd. There could be five people there or 500. We've been working on and off with him for the last couple of years, he pointed us in the right direction and told us who to talk to."
Their days with the Swamp, traveling in the mountains and trekking through the desert have been and will be accompanied by their guiding staff, the MiKo LX. Acting as a transmitter of universal language, Lovebones' MiKo LX, is fitted, customized and built to handle all the instruments of our world and beyond, and has ignited a revelation for the band. Put it together with their NeKo, and its like heaven and earth in one package for One Lisa Productions.
"NeKo is what we do the majority of the work on in our studio, but we transferred everything over to the MiKo to finish up the album that we are working on," says Myres. "The NeKo is awesome, I have no complaints about the NeKo. It doesn't necessarily change the way that I write music, but the actual writing process is very more streamlined."
"They (the NeKo and MiKo) enable me to work at a good pace, which is how I'm able to do what we want to do," says Drayer.
Their Open Labs products miraculously destroyed a plague and simultaneously created life, by eliminating their old gear, and introducing them to the world of virtual instruments.
"In the past we had a Microkorg, before that it was sample-based and acoustic instruments. We didn't get too much into virtual instruments until we got the NeKo," says Myres. "On our sitar song, we'll just sample one tone of a sitar and just put it to the keys, we do that a lot. It gives it a western feel with an eastern sound. Before, we were doing a laptop with two turntables hooked up to it so I could spin my digital work off that and a sampler. It was all over the place with all this stuff, now it's just my guitar a NeKo and we're good."
"We would of never been able to do anything like this without hearing all that music from that guy out there. He had tons and tons of South American music, lots of voodoo and all types of crazy stuff," says Myres.
"We got turned on to him via music," says Drayer. "It was a spiritual experience."
Lovebones' journey across various physical and musical terrains has encompassed a variety of significant events. The first, as they will tell you, are the congregation of Lovebones and Open Labs gear. The second is their four-month musical séance held in California with the music Shaman.
Equipment Used
Purchased NeKo LX (Gen 3)
Purchased MiKo LX (Gen 3)
Artist Links