1. I think it's reasonable to start our conversation from that moment when Grief quit the second time in 2008. For me, like for many fans of "slow & heavy", the whole chapter in doom music history was finished after Grief disbanding. You devoted enough time to this band and that were hard times, turbulent times, if we can say so! Which moments, or episodes from your Grief career are most memorable for you?
All of the time with GRIEF is worth remembering. my favorite times are the tour of Europe and our tours down south in Terry’s van, our tours of the east coast, west coast, the “Titans of The Underground Festival” as well as the “Loud Az Fuck Festivals” both at the legendary CBGB’s … so much fun, such relief from everyday life. There really are too many memories to choose from.
2/ Looking back to that times... You were the first to play music, called "sludge" nowadays. Many bands of that period had become so-called "sludge icons", like 13, EHG, Cavity, -(16)- and, of course, Grief. Do you keep up with doom scene progress? And can you recommend a couple of releases according to your personal choice? Maybe not brand new, but albums, which are really important for you?
I listen to music very sporadically. For the last month all I’ve listened to is THE RUDIMENTARY PENI albums I have on my ipod - mostly the album DEATH CHURCH in massive repetition. and a few songs here and there by other bands. Sometimes I listen to the same albums over and over and over and over and over and over and over … it’s comfortable.
b>3/ Now you make a new project B9K9. What about a title? Is it connected with dogs somehow? Tell us please about your band...
B9K9 phonetically reads as “Benign Canine.” All of the B9K9 band members (Eric C. Harrison, Dargo Zoner & Chuck-Naked Mccauley suffer from Canine Lycanthropy – meaning that we become half man / half dog under the conditions presented in certain lunar situations. We play and write our songs when in this half man / half dog form. We are not aggressive or dangerous. We love to howl and make noise.
4/ Surfing B9K9 myspace we face rather cheerful punk rock! That's really unexpectedly to see you making such kind of music. As I know, being in B9K9 you've changed not only music direction, but also started to play drums! Do you feel more comfortable beating drums?
What you will find online right now is limited to the early and experimental stuff. I’m not sure if I’d call it “cheery” it’s often sarcastic and comical. I am a devotee to the patron saint of Smart Asses. What you hear is to be expected – when I am part canine I am usually happy. It feels good to shed some of my humanity (as if it were fur.) We consider our music to be Hound-core.
5/ In the nearest future B9K9 is going to take part in 8-way split "The Will To Fail", which will be released at Goat Skull Records. Also, you've announced a full length album release in 2013 at Goat Skull too. How is the process?
We are waiting for the release now. It is done and in the process of being pressed and put together. I have put it out of my mind for the time being. I go crazy if I have to spend time anticipating. I am not good at waiting if I think about it as waiting. So… when I have it in my hands I think about it. But I did talk to Corey (Fistula) this morning and he told me they are about a week from completion.
6/ If we started to speak about Goat Skull Records, we should mention Fistula. You made artwork for some of their releases before. As I know, you make artwork for "The Will To Fail" too. You are famous for such kind of things, lots of your works adorn CDs, t-shirts. It must be not an easy work.... Which artwork and for which bands can you figure out as most interesting for you and why?
Yes, I’m a world famous failure. Isn’t that nice? The art for The Will To Fail is a drawing I did last year during an anxiety attack. I do a lot of drawing nowadays – much more than ever before, simply to keep from flipping out. And yes, I’ve done a few pieces of art for FISTULA , I did the IDIOPATHIC LP cover – this was a large work at least 14”x14” , done with watercolors, inks and brushes and detailed with pen. When I did this album cover I was broken. Injured. Trapped like a ghost in a haunted house. The LOSER LP cover – which is actually a very tiny drawing, about 4”x4” – was done with colored pencils and pens. I also did an insert for this lp, black and white art. Both drawings are very small. PATAC Records did a great job with the reproduction here. I was very impressed. Dan knows his shit. I also did an insert for FISTULA’s album BURDENED BY YOUR EXISTENCE - it’s a simple skull drawing but it was done with pipe resin, like … pot-tar and some paint. Then I detailed it with pens – which is interesting. At the time I did this I was still kind of a ghost. FISTULA will also be producing some shirts with art that I did last year on them. (two of these appear in my newest art book, QUIRKISH DELIGHT).
7/ So, we came closely to the theme of your art. Frankly speaking, I have always been admired with your works - greatest inner power, pain and pressure... they really engrave on memory! I can tell it for sure! Please, tell when and how did you start painting?
Thank you. I am not able to not do art. Like… if I don’t draw and paint or play music when I need to - i get edgy, stressed out and depressed. Scared kind of. Paranoid. Angry. Worried. I’ve done art as long as I can remember. The oldest I’ve seen are drawings from childhood … things I did when I was 2 years old. Mostly drawings of fish and monsters. Painting I took up later in life really.
8/ Undoubtedly, every creative person is inspired by somebodies works. Whose works, or creative manner have influenced you as an artist?
This is also a hard question to answer. My favorite artist is probably NICK BLINKO, I’m generally inspired by a need to escape. Or a need to look away. Or a need to work something out in an abstract way. I draw upon involuntary synesthesia. These days I draw without putting an idea in my head and I let the images of sounds and smells and memory run their course. I listen to the voices from the past and put those words to scribbles. Lately I’ve been into outsider art. Studies that go back to the early 1900’s show repetition in imagery used as symbols that I even find in my own works. It’s strange to see artwork from a hundred years ago visually echoing your own. A voice from the past I never intended to hear with my eyes and repeat with my hand.
9/ You should have had a period of experiments, searching for your own individual style. How soon have you realised that you follow the right direction?
One interesting thing I did this year is a book called FINDING THE SECRET SEA – this is a book made up of sketches I did mostly while traveling on buses and trains…. To help me ignore people, to help me not feel worried or be consumed by paranoia. when the sketchbook was fileld I sent the pictures to a writer I know a few pictures a t a time. He basically let the pictures tell him a story. And I put those words with the pictures it’s a very cool little book. Its sort of abstract and you get something different from it every time. I’ve stopped thinking like that. I have no direction. I have ideas about what to do with my art, like putting it in books so each pieces has a safe home. But with pictures, I just draw or paint. Sometimes it’s something specific but usually I am just following loose trails in my mind. To sort of quote the great Nick Blinko “the mind is a shifting cloud, not a solid fossil.”
10/ Sooner or later, every artist faces the moment of choosing instruments and materials for work. Please, tell us about your experience. Which materials, paints, paper did you use in the beginning of your career and what's your choice now?
I approach each piece differently. I use a little bit of everything and sometimes I choose the wrong thing so I do it with something else. The best example I can think of was a piece called “when rotten ideas break free” = I tried to do this as a drawing with markers, it did not look like the idea I had, so I wrote it into a poem. The poem did not sound right either so I added music to it and it became a song performed by GRIEF.
11/ If we compare two periods like Grief times and B9K9 days, it's obviously that you started to use less colours. Is it your intentional choice, or it's just a coincidence? Is colour important for you?
I use colors but don’t share those pictures very often. I do much more black and white work because it is fast. When I need to get something out the tedious process of colors can fuck me up. So I do a lot of drawing in between. But I do use colors, I did a painting for the mermaid I live with just last week. I’ll try to remember to send you a jpeg of something newer I’ve done with colors.
12/ Your works make rather heavy emotional impression. Feels like they touch the darkest and most gloomy depths of human mind. Is it hard for you to create your works? How long does every artwork take?
It varies… something painted can take a long time. Weeks. Most of the drawings I do are done in one sitting of anywhere from 2 to 10 hours . usually nonstop. Or at least done over the course of one day. It depends on how much crap there is in my head that I need to try and exorcise with ink. Sometimes the pictures fool me. They act done and later reveal that they need more work.
13/ There is no doubt that "Eric C. Harrison's world" is full of demons and paranoia. Where do all these images come from? What does feed them?
I have some issues. The worst are paranoid delusions and insomnia. I worry a lot. I have vague paranoid ideas about people screwing me over and fucking with my life. I make associations that make no sense later. I get a falst idea in my head about something and it grows and grows and gathers details and becomes this enormous thing … and in the end it was nothing. Something someone said the wrong way that made me worry they had lied about something else. It’s very confusing. I have a hard time trusting anyone at all. And even then I feel like they are not who they say they are. I have given up trying to label it. I went to psychiatrists for years, off and on all of my life. They have told me everything from manic depression, to bipolar disorder to schizoaffective disorder.
I don’t think I’m always wrong. It’s hard to believe I am paranoid, or that paranoia is a bad thing when I am right sometimes. And I am right about people a lot, about how rotten they are. Full of ulterior motives and selfish actions. It makes it hard to have a job or relationships when you never believe people and are not sure why you don’t believe them. Like when someone looks at you and you understand something about the way their eyes feel on you but don’t know what you don’t like, just that it is bad and that they would not think twice about taking what they want from you without worrying about hurting you as long as they are happy. Either way I do not go to drs anymore and do not take any form of mental health medication any longer I have tried some and they did not work for very long.
14/ I came up with your art through the artworks, which you made for music bands, like many other people did. Now you got one more way for bringing your art - Marsh Paw Press! A few words about your publishing house. What's the idea, the message of it?
I love books. I collect books. I read all the time and love art books. I decided in 2005 or 2006 to start producing zines or chap-books of my poetry. This was fun but it was not a good way to reproduce art. This year I took it more seriously and started putting out perfect-bound books and hardcover books. The main goal is to put out books of art and creative writing in a world where books, art and creative writing are going more digital. poetry and fine-art are becoming more obsolete every year to the masses. The goal of MARSH PAW PRESS is to put out my own art and writing as well as the art and writing of others in a nice format that keeps the art looking good and does not cost a ton of money. The first couple of books I did , the deluxe photo books were not as “affordable” as most of the books I will prodice. I want to put out books of art that are reasonably priced. And I think i‘m doing a pretty good job so far.
But, MARSH PAW PRESS needs customers and circulation so please spread the word. Check out www.marshpawpress.com
15/ Marsh Paw Press brings books, which contains your poetry, prose, besides artworks. Of course, not all russian audience can enjoy your texts in the original. Anyway, tell us about it. How long have you been writing and which points do you try to figure out?
I have been writing things as long as I can remember. This is also like my art . I have to write or I go a little crazy. It keeps me from bottling things up and having it get to me. Sometimes you need to write something out before it registers in your head correctly. I have been writing stories and poems seriously for about 12 years. But I do this very slowly. My book PICTURE OF A PARANOID has 10 years of things I have had published . This book also has art by my favorite artist (and musician) Nick Blinko from the anarcho punk band THE RUDIMENTARY PENI – this is an enormous honor for me. I have admired Nick’s work since I was a kid. I’ve been haunted by it really.
16/ Your art book "Denizens of Distraction" contains a very strong, deep portrait of William S. Burroughs. I'm crazy about his literary manner. That's the thing, which you always want to come back and read again. Burroughs is a multilayer, magnificent artist. "Cities of red nights" is my favorite one! And what about you? Which book by William S. Burroughs do you like most?
If you have 3 d glasses, look at that Burroughs painting with the 3d glasses on, it is sort of 3d, I think my favorite William S. Burroughs book is “Exterminator!” but this a tough question. Burroughs has a lot of brilliant works. He too was very spontaneous and often set out with little idea in mind of what he was doing. I respect his work a lot for its truth and raw feeling. I like exterminator because it is dark, dreamy and has varied feelings from start to finish, but also stays on a path, it keeps a voice going.
17/ By the end of the conversation, I'd like you to give a piece of your prose to russian audience, instead of last question... That would be the best conclusion!
- "Near the Door" is below, this is a selection from Picture of a Paranoid. It is a true story. An observation of something kind of beautiful really, I hope it takes you away a little.
It was very early Sunday morning. The sun had only been up for a few minutes when a man and his dog reached Rising River. The tide was high and the water was running strong. Bubbles swirled just below the surface; a deep blue strip of paisley with white detail.
Sunrise had given the marshlands a backdrop of fiery orange patches that were streaked with deep crimson. This dark red lingered beneath a layer of deepening, cadmium blue. It was a combination that made the early morning sky beautiful; in places like the tobacco sunburst of Gibson’s Les Paul. Overhead, a few thin clouds drifted above the general stillness that blanketed the surrounding neighborhood, which was not yet wholly awake. There were no other people out walking and very few cars were on the road. As the amorphous puffs of white crossed the sky, dissipating as they went, the overall silence was suddenly disrupted by the squawking of many seagulls. They just suddenly appeared, circling overhead; a noisy flock of what seemed like nearly a hundred birds.
The gulls made their way to the Riverside Bar and Grill, where they swooped down to feed from the restaurant’s dumpster. Saturday night was regularly a busy night at the Riverside, so the Sunday morning garbage was always worthwhile booty for these feathered pirates. Some of the birds had to compete with the river rats that had already staked a claim on the same heap. Some of the larger gulls simply fed on the rats. A large black-backed gull caught one of the gorged rodents by its hind leg and flew up above the parking lot. When it had lifted the rat about sixty feet above the ground it dropped the screeching animal from its blood covered beak. The rat landed on asphalt with a meaty thud. It twitched thirty seven times as life left it.
When the rodent’s shattered body finally stopped moving, the gull that had dropped it flew down with the intention of eating it. The other gulls, having heard the animal’s death cries, also swooped down to feast. Before the rat’s killer could claim it, these other gulls were upon the carcass and tore the dead animal to pieces in seconds. There were so many birds fighting over one prize that none of them ended up with more than a taste. Eventually, cars pulled into the lot as the restaurant’s cleaning crew arrived. Both bird and rat alike retreated. The man and his dog walked toward home, where they would enjoy a wonderful breakfast of their own. Under the influence of the sun, the moon became more transparent with each minute; the fading face of a ghost in slow departure. - 2005
Click Here For Original Russian Version Of This Interview at BLACK ASPRIN
Interview By Eugene