tag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:/blogs/interviews-press?p=1INTERVIEWS & PRESS 2019-05-28T11:28:25-07:00Russian Circles falsetag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:Post/57711042019-05-28T11:28:25-07:002019-09-12T10:45:09-07:00Riff Rundown: Russian Circles' "Arluck" // Premier Guitar<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="93" data-orig-width="490"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/28935-riff-rundown-russian-circles-arluck" target="_blank"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/06926191a60005859422f731844b289a/tumblr_inline_ps87opKPuo1qbab62_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/a056f6415c6ce9becdd0b8285e8d12af/tumblr_inline_ps87z4Num31qbab62_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="364" id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a1uagT0lFaE?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="600"></iframe></p></figure>
<p><a contents="(via Premier Guitar)" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/28935-riff-rundown-russian-circles-arluck" target="_blank">(via Premier Guitar)</a><br><br>Russian Circles’ Mike Sullivan demonstrates how to play the first single off the instrumental-metal band's forthcoming album, 'Blood Year'.<br>Russian Circles Rig Rundown: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&v=a1uagT0lFaE&q=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FRussianCirclesRRPG&redir_token=sAgfyGagLagqfF9_cURPlS2U6nF8MTU1OTE1MzI5NUAxNTU5MDY2ODk1">http://bit.ly/RussianCirclesRRPG</a></p>Russian Circles tag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:Post/56767622019-03-11T15:55:47-07:002019-07-29T13:45:28-07:00Riff Rundown: Russian Circles’ “Harper Lewis” // PremierGuitar (2019)<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="93" data-orig-width="490"><h3 style="text-align: center;">
<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/28675-riff-rundown-russian-circles-harper-lewis" target="_blank"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/06926191a60005859422f731844b289a/tumblr_inline_po7sj8Wxi81qbab62_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a><br><span class="font_large">Riff Rundown: Russian Circles’ “Harper Lewis”</span>
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<figure class="tmblr-embed tmblr-full" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540" data-provider="youtube" data-url="https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2F6-rqic_DMFI"><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="304" id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6-rqic_DMFI?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="600"></iframe></p></figure>
<p><a href="https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/28675-riff-rundown-russian-circles-harper-lewis" target="_blank">Via Premier Guitar</a><br><br>Mike Sullivan of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/russiancirclesmusic/?__tn__=K-R&eid=ARCWg3hEFdEPaQkxQWbVVI3uQF0DsXFgejX6qBmnKQBJ5YApTJ5kJevoB3EshjaDV9AUrWWSGy4QpPYV&fref=mentions&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARBSztD6XSez4bqX1APFj8p_zbKAArybbw2d2cznLzK5Qb30l91p0zrpKeMatSaL4JmiP7aMGs1K3A0hpkTdZKLh3T2dVNR_ADvoOA95y0au2nkf9SDy_vVe9out9k3HWVioQXWL-wftQmmzbocOhL7yWd6ODIOUpKdT3OKQtLv3tS23Ii340MtePfdzqg6kRD5h1nrYxKtYnLdRY1qcnUg_aUMrkPSyHd_RjawpXjNdIiOgRi6NZfBNEMEqOUcLGx-9_KYnsZpKdye_C7xM-bey2Zyg7yUmy9UxAWBva1jqSKFB5Ghrf2fMzAB7bZzc4BwwfMqAfT9-IBWesg" target="_blank">Russian Circles</a> shows us how to play ‘Harper Lewis’ off of their album, “Station”.</p>Russian Circles tag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:Post/48398642017-09-06T17:08:41-07:002019-11-15T00:06:36-08:00Mike Sullivan Rig Tour // Total Guitar<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/330e79c8c0c3544c6d2090db4ead42cbd8ae4d3d/original/rc1.jpg?1504742703" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/cd4925b65bc8140be1d5a916cedb8e571c8d8ac3/original/rc2.jpg?1504742704" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/b72fdc955345712795369b24f520828a794066a1/original/rc3.jpg?1504742704" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/949187f8800f19ca4d55230d0cefccd368b1c4f3/original/rc4.jpg?1504742704" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Russian Circles tag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:Post/47289432017-05-31T14:15:56-07:002019-11-22T03:26:45-08:00Mike Sullivan of Russian Circles : Rig Rundown // Premier Guitar<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="182" data-orig-width="1010"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/9d9d6c376ba315f2b95e20a56add0ef6/tumblr_inline_oqu561jstJ1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /><img src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/bcf941bd632d88ade2508c75189b4e5b/tumblr_inline_oqu564GLlo1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VVK87xE3NBI" width="560"></iframe></p></figure>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="1110" data-orig-width="1274"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/4977a5a3f44ad34a448899d25888caf9/tumblr_inline_oqu5coURNI1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /><img src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/f1afead988e300ab2875bb4735dcf16e/tumblr_inline_oqu5ddnIcb1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></p></figure>
<p>Mike’s full Rig Rundown <a href="https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/25756-rig-rundown-russian-circles-2017">HERE</a> via <a href="https://www.premierguitar.com/">Premier Guitar</a></p>Russian Circles tag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:Post/43691042016-07-06T13:35:00-07:002019-06-05T23:18:17-07:00Music Radar Interview with Mike Sullivan (2016)<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="96" data-orig-width="816"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/russian-circles-mike-sullivan-the-11-records-that-changed-my-life-640047" target="_blank"><img src="//66.media.tumblr.com/5b1ed7ff7a4e1afb33df69cffea61fcd/tumblr_inline_o9ysqkbqz11qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/russian-circles-mike-sullivan-the-11-records-that-changed-my-life-640047" target="_blank"><img src="//65.media.tumblr.com/d287c9dc9a74c48c3622ecce9a816fa6/tumblr_inline_o9yss0GWmZ1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a></p></figure>
<p>“My tastes have become broader, I’m more open-minded,” admits Mike Sullivan as we prepare to grill him about the albums that shaped his life as a musician, as well as his own band’s latest recording.</p>
<p>“What I like I’m in love with and can’t get enough of. I walk around with headphones and listen every day to certain bands and I’m humbled by them. I’ll think, ‘Maybe I should go into gardening or become a cook because I’m so knocked down by these guys who write great riffs.'”</p>
<p>Mike’s a humble man. Because he doesn’t just deliver inventive riffs of his own with instrumental trio Russian Circles, but a wide palette of expression and tone that has helped the band build an immersive discography. Post-rock, post-metal… whatever you want to claim this Chicago band as, they are masters of their own versatile craft.</p>
<p>Sixth album Guidance affirms that, a powerful seven-song journey through the emotive lengths Mike travels with bassist Brian Cook and drummer Dave Turncrantz to move deftly between crushing metal war marches (Vorel), delicate hymns (Overboard) and anthemic major-key positivity (Afrika).</p>
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<p>And looking back on their journey to get here, it makes perfect sense that they would eventually collaborate with Converge’s Kurt Ballou as producer at his intimate God City Studios in Salem.</p>
<p>“That was a first for me, to work with a producer who is a guitar player himself,” admits Mike, as the mutual fans “went all in” for the project.</p>
<p>“When it came to the first day of tracking guitars, we sat there with just Kurt, myself and his assistant engineer for a good six or seven hours just dialling in the tones.”</p>
<p>A wall of Ballou’s amps and cabs would yield a combination of setups, with Mike’s live pedalboard and trusted 1985 Les Paul Custom providing the bedrock for distortion, discordance and delay.</p>
<p>Mike has expanded on both his use of drones and tremolo picking to enhance Guidance’s compositions with a depth that again belies the perceived limitations of a trio.</p>
<p>“With this record, there’s drones everywhere,” he admits, “and it’s a matter of keeping them interesting. They are low in the mix, and it’s fun to make sure they’re diverse.”</p>
<p>His Strymon Flint reverb pedal remains a favourite for this.</p>
<p>“The Flint is an ace in the hole,” Mike enthuses. “When you get to the '80s reverb setting and that outer space sound that has nearly infinite sustain, you can have so much fun.</p>
<p>“It’s really great for getting drones. You’re able to get a lot of cool things without necessarily looping. It’s not just a static, fixed sound. There’s more movement to it. You can go to town with those Strymon pedals and make no wrong turns.”</p>
<p>That was the case with the writing process, too.</p>
<p>“There wasn’t much discussion with this record,” Mike notes. “As far as when we started writing, it’s one of the fastest records we’ve done. It came together quite easily; we all saw eye-to-eye on each song, and it all fell into place without needing much cajoling.”</p>
<p>If Russian Circles’ creativity seems almost instinctive at this point, it’s still fuelled by a conscious desire to explore their potential as fully as possible.</p>
<p>“We are an instrumental band, three of us doing our thing: let’s find the peaks and valleys and play with major and minor. There are a million ways to make things different from song to song, and it’s not just tempo and volume. It’s more rewarding for us to take advantage of those opportunities to make songs different from one another.”</p>
<p>The time and care Mike obviously takes over his music seems to be reflected in his album choices, too. Because what emerges are considered selections that represent the facets of a unique and gifted guitarist. So if Mike’s list goes up to 11, it’s for a necessary reason.</p>
<p>“You never know what’s going to resonate with you,” he notes of his journey so far as a music lover. “Some people hit it off right away, and sometimes you expect it, but not always. I think music is the same way. Certain bands hit you, and certain lyrics cut to the soul right away. I look forward to that as a listener.”</p>
<p>Guidance is released on 5 August via <a contents="Sargent House" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.sargenthouse.com" target="_blank">Sargent House</a>.</p>Russian Circles tag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:Post/43708602016-06-25T16:20:00-07:002019-09-17T22:50:05-07:00Culture Creature Interview w/ Mike Sullivan (2016)<p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.culturecreature.com/russian-circles-interview-2016-mike-sullivan/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/28bd08fc6cf233478b747cdc3ecbe322dc503f4a/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-3-54-16-pm.png?1473807674" class="size_m justify_none border_" /></a><br><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.culturecreature.com/russian-circles-interview-2016-mike-sullivan/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/9d9a0ceffceb7ad93be1223d5fff3334112e0c49/original/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-3-54-32-pm.png?1473807683/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.png?1473807683" class="size_l justify_none border_" /></a></p>
<p><br>Stalwart instrumental trio <a contents="Russian Circles" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://sargenthouse.com/russian-circles">Russian Circles</a> have forged their own path in the music industry. The Chicago rock band is over a decade into its career, and they continue to broaden their musical palette and experiment with genre boundaries. The band’s sixth album, Guidance (available August 5th, preorder here), is their first collaboration with producer Kurt Ballou. According to Russian Circles guitarist Mike Sullivan, the album explores the band’s “really dark and dissonant” side while also venturing into “overtly melodic” territory. Listen to the alternately introspective and menacing cut ‘Vorel’ below. </p>
<p>Earlier this month, the band was forced to cancel a few gigs due to a car accident that hospitalized Sullivan. I spoke with Sullivan recently for a discussion about his recovery (which, thankfully, sounds to be going well), the creative process of Guidance, and much more. </p><!-- more -->
<p><strong>Dan Redding: I know you’ve been recovering from a car accident during the last few weeks – how are you feeling? </strong></p>
<p>Mike Sullivan: Yeah, that was somethin’ – I’m getting better day by day here. Unfortunately, we had to cancel a few shows. It was an unfortunate accident, but it’s the kind of thing where I feel blessed to be walking and talking, because it was a pretty gnarly one. It could’ve been a lot worse on my end. The other car didn’t fare so well. It was an ugly situation, but I’m taking it easy and letting the painkillers do the work for now. I’m gonna be good. I appreciate you asking. </p>
<p><strong>Well I’m glad you’re starting to feel better. I want to discuss Guidance. What impact did working with Kurt Ballou have on the new album? </strong></p>
<p>He had a significant part. He was somebody we wanted to work with for a number of years. We always kind of avoided it because it seemed too obvious. A lot of our friends were going with him, and we tried to not do the obvious choice. But once he showed enthusiasm – as did we – to work on this record together, we hit it off right away. It was really smooth. It was productive – every day there, we were getting stuff done. He would always have ideas for us, or a different tone to throw on top of an existing track that was complimentary to the overall mix. It was cool. It was fun. </p>
<p><strong>Did he have an impact on songwriting? </strong></p>
<p>The songs were all fleshed out. They were all arranged, and a done deal. Maybe here or there, he’d say, ‘I could hear that one part coming back at the end of the song for a few more measures,’ but his expertise lied in serving a song and finding what tonally needed to happen, how to carve the mix out to make each instrument speak loudly and make room for one another. Each one of us – we wouldn’t settle for anything until we were truly happy. There was one delay pattern that I wasn’t totally comfortable with. I’d tell myself I was cool with it, and then I’d hear it back, and be like, ‘Kurt, I’m sorry man – it’s just not there for me yet. I’m not hearing it.’ </p>
<p><strong>You have a reputation as having a refined sense of the sound you’re looking for, and for knowing your gear really well. So does Kurt – he has a reputation for auditioning gear and fine-tuning sounds. Were you guys able to bond over that? </strong></p>
<p>Yeah, I think there was some common respect there as far as how we approach things. We have different tones as guitar players, but it was fun to articulate how I wanted it to sound, and go through a plethora of amps … and I’d be able to find the sound without struggling [to communicate my goal to Kurt]. At the end of the day, we wanted a warm yet clear sound, which is sometimes two opposite things. He was able to help dial that in with the right configuration of amps and cabinets. Elsewhere, on previous records, we wouldn’t spend as much time honing in on the guitar tone. This is the first time I’ve recorded with a guitar-playing producer/engineer, so he really got what I was saying, and we could really get right into it and plow through every combination possible until we found something that really satisfied us. </p>
<p><strong>Kurt’s band Converge played possibly the heaviest and loudest live show I’ve ever seen in my life. Did he bring out your aggressive tendencies at all, as a guitarist or as a songwriter? </strong></p>
<p>Not so much as a songwriter, but again, back to the tonal aspect – he would never say, ‘That’s too distorted,’ or ‘That’s too blown out,’ ‘That’s too compressed.’ Usually in the studio, you’re kind of told, ‘Hey, take it easy man, pump the breaks, that’s getting a little too sizzle-y.’ … Kurt’s always game to throw it up there and see how it sounds. He never said no. He’s always like, ‘Cool, let’s give that a shot and see if we can make that work.’ He definitely encouraged me to mess around with different tones. </p>
<p><strong>Can you describe the process of writing the song ‘Vorel’? </strong></p>
<p>That one was pieced together through different riffs. Typically, songs start off with me working on riffs on my own. Then Dave and I start messing around, to see how they’re working out together – the different parts of songs. … [‘Vorel’] was, for the most part, all written in advance, just messin’ around with riffs. Then some of it just kind of happened with finding out, ‘oh this launches into the next part in a really cool way to us,’ and pursuing that. That’s another instance of Kurt in the studio, helping out with melodies and then entertaining all kinds of ideas of low mix countermelodies and harmonies happening, supporting the main riff. It’s a very simple song, very minimal structure to it – but with all the underlying melodies, it winds up being more of a dynamic song. </p>
<p>Photo by Ryan Russell </p>
<p><strong>Does that writing process change over the years – or is that a pretty set process at this point? </strong></p>
<p>More so the latter. It is kind of what we’ve fallen into, comfort-wise. It seems most productive, so we don’t go to a practice space without any ideas. … There’s a lot of pre-work on my end – just kind of organizing what songs kinda play well together, and then getting together with Dave. Once we hear Dave on there, it changes the feel of the song. They start unfolding in a different direction than I thought they would. In a cool way. The more brains you get on the song, it gets more interesting – without it being too much, cause there’s only three of us. Once Brian steps in, the presence of the low end will make more room for myself to step back, or for him and Dave to lock in on various parts. It’s kind of a three-fold process. </p>
<p><strong>What can you tell me about the schedule and work ethic when you and Dave are writing? </strong></p>
<p>I love playing guitar, so I’m just playing every day, and recording riffs every day. They’re all over the map, whether they’re heavy, or more folk-oriented, or weird, drone-type ambient stuff. … Usually it’s just me taking my time for months and months, having fun with different ideas. And once we’re ready to start arranging the songs, Dave and I will go down [to rehearsal] and casually have fun. There’s enough material to draw from, it’s never like, ‘Oh shit, now what do we do?’ It’s always several fingers in the pie – different pies. It’s like, ‘Okay, this is not working, let’s try this other one. Cool.’ </p>
<p>It’s not really intense labor until we get to the studio. Then it’s working as much as you can on the work day, then afterwards, working out melodies and other ideas that’re coming out more so in the studio, and you wanna alter something or work something out more that didn’t quite sound right. In the studio, that’s pretty obsessive-compulsive – just really zeroing in on what’s working and how we can make it better. Otherwise, it’s pretty casual and we try to make sure it’s fun. When we’re stressed out or not on the same page, it’s not productive. If we go to the space and nothing’s working, we just go home. It’s not productive to force it. You can’t just work hard; you have to be in the right headspace, we’ve learned. </p>
<p><strong>There are vocals on your previous album, Memorial. Are there any vocals on Guidance? </strong></p>
<p>No, not on this one. We thought about it. This was the first record where it’s just all three of us – no friends or guest musicians. We were gonna have some people sing, but the more we talked about it, we thought it’d be cool to let it sit with just us three. </p>
<p><strong>I want to ask about another producer. Russian Circles recorded two albums in Steve Albini’s studio, and I know that Albini’s work made an impression on you as a teenager. What’s your relationship with Steve Albini? </strong></p>
<p>We have never worked with Steve directly. We’ve worked at the studio, so we’ve met him in passing at the studio. I can only say great things about him. He’s a humorous, level-headed guy when it comes to recording records. We’ve never recorded with him because the way he records isn’t quite the way we prefer to record, oddly enough. I love what he’s done with a lot of my favorite bands. The way we operate – we don’t like to just throw up the mic and say, ‘this is us as a band.’ That’s a lot of his ethos, and how he likes to approach recording. Whereas, we like to really have total freedom to do whatever we want – if we want to compress something hard and do that, or do stuff via Pro Tools, and have the freedom to mess with stuff and not just go the tape route. We’ve done that a few times, and I enjoy the approach of recording to tape, because you get it in your head: ‘Okay, let’s make this take count.’ There is a different feel to the playing on analog recordings. I can’t say much about Steve – personally working with him – we’ve never sought that out. But the studio’s amazing. By far one of the best studios I’ve ever set foot in. I’m sure we’ll end up there at some point again. Such a beautiful-sounding place and comfortable to be in. </p>
<p><strong>Did you grow up in Chicago? </strong></p>
<p>Dave and I both grew up in St. Louis. We played in punk bands together in St. Louis, and always stayed in touch. Then I came to Chicago for college, and Dave and I stayed in touch. I convinced him to come to Chicago. Then we started Russian Circles in 2004. </p>
<p><strong>When did you start playing the guitar? </strong></p>
<p>Fourth grade or so. My brother and I both got a guitar for my birthday. That led to the biggest fight ever. My parents realized right away that it was a horrible idea – we just fought over the guitar constantly. They quickly got a second guitar to alleviate the headaches. </p>
<p>Having an older brother was the kind of thing where he said, ‘Here’s Metallica. Here’s Pantera. Here’s Fugazi – here’s all this music.’ He was kind of my lifeline for good music. He kind of curated what I got into for the first ten years or so. That set me off on the races down the path. From the get go, I had fun playing in rock bands, and always gravitated towards heavier stuff, whether it be punk or metal bands. I was always learning – learning trial by fire, pretty much, by not quite getting it right for a long time. But having fun. Having fun playing guitar is one of the best ways to learn, because you’ll keep playing and picking up things through experience. </p>
<p><strong>What was the name of your first band and how old were you? </strong></p>
<p>The first band was called Powerhouse, and that was fourth grade. We covered Van Halen songs, Metallica, the Beatles. All that stuff. We had a few originals. The kind of thing where we’d play a party at a friend’s house. I remember we played one song first, and thought it was really cool. … We ran out of songs and played the first song again to end the set. We played ‘You Really Got Me,’ the Kinks song. I had no idea it was a Kinks song – I only knew the Van Halen version. Five years later I was like, ‘Oh shit, I’m an asshole, I had no idea that was a Kinks song.’ </p>
<p><strong>I think that’s an excusable mistake from a fourth grader! </strong></p>
<p>[laughs] Fair enough. </p>
<p><strong>You know? That’s kind of amazing that you were writing original songs and playing house parties in fourth grade. </strong></p>
<p>I’m sure we sucked. We had the benefit of teachers thinking we were cute – little kids playing rock. We played at school assemblies and that kind of thing. It was a lot of fun for us. Something to get into besides sports at that age. </p>
<p><strong>I read an interview where you discussed being something of an introverted person. When Russian Circles started to gain popularity, what was that adjustment like? </strong></p>
<p>I still am, I’d say, rather introverted. Once I’m comfortable, I’m comfortable, you know? It’s been such a gradual growth with the band that nothing has seemed like a giant step. It’s been twelve or thirteen years now. Nothing seemed out of our grasp, or like we were getting into water that was too deep. It’s funny – playing shows is totally fun, I have zero problem playing shows. I don’t get nervous, don’t get worried about it. But being in public spaces – I’d rather not do that, you know? It’s funny. Unless I’m playing with a friend’s band, on guitar, playing their songs with them – that’s when I feel kind of uncomfortable and nervous. But with our own songs, it’s second nature, so not a whole lot can go wrong. I shouldn’t say that – it can, but thankfully it doesn’t too often. </p>
<p>As far as the growth, it’s nothing that’s happened too intimidating. It’s been very comfortable. You get to meet people and learn from other people. It comes very organically. You just keep working to the best of your ability, and realize that it could all end so quickly. There’s no room for ego or any of that, you know? My favorite musicians end up being the coolest people as far as keeping their humility and loving music in general. That’s what saves most bands – is staying huge music fans. That’s what keeps them interested in writing and learning. It comes down to love of music. That helps you overcome everything, as far as any apprehension about anything socially. </p>
<p><strong>Russian Circles has been around longer than most contemporary hard rock bands. You guys have a devoted, solid foundation of fans. What do you find has changed the most over the years – does it get easier? </strong></p>
<p>To a certain extent, it does get easier. Basically, the fan base grows, just by nature of the duration of time. Hopefully, with each record, we retain a certain amount of those listeners and fans. I’m sure we’ll lose some here and there, with different writing, or just different strokes of life for people – but we already have a captive ear… </p>
<p>And it gets easier as far as you learn how to tour better. How to be more respectful of your bandmates. How to be more respectful of the clubs and the promoters. You don’t want to leave a reputation of being a rude band. It’s easier to be nice people and go through life expecting that you’ll see most of those people again, you know? Things happen here and there with certain people, and you have to trust your gut – if something doesn’t feel right, or you let them know, ‘hey, this isn’t working.’ But it’s like any other business: it behooves you to take it seriously and respect those around you who are helping you, or attending your shows, or buying your records, or playing shows with you – whether you’re opening for them or they’re opening for you. We’ve learned so much from other bands who’ve done it right. That really resonates with us – to treat people with respect. </p>
<p><strong>During your long career, you’ve also seen a lot of change in the music industry – it’s been turned on its head during your career. How has the band’s strategy for making income changed over the past decade? </strong></p>
<p>We don’t consider that too much. We’re more concerned about touring smart, not hard. … First things first, it’s make the best record we can, or what we’re pleased with. And then if those songs aren’t good and don’t live up to what we expect, then that’s the first problem. All the support in the world with a bad record is not going to help out as much as having a strong record with support around it. You need both support and you need a good record. But it all comes down to writing is the name of the game, and performing at a caliber you’re happy with. With every tour, we’re aware of how we can get stronger and better live. Always making changes with our gear to make things smoother and more interesting. There’s always another bar to reach to get better as a band live, and in the studio, and writing. </p>
<p><strong>In terms of those advancements in playing, were there specific advancements that happened on Guidance, in terms of playing or equipment? </strong></p>
<p>As far as writing, each record we try to spread out a little further stylistically. Just further spread the web each record, and go into new territory without it being weird or off-putting. Some of this record has some really gnarly moments that are really dark and dissonant. Other songs – well, even the same song – can be overtly pop-feeling. That kind of weirds us out, or weirds me out. But if it’s resonating with you, don’t question it… Some of those parts, we’re pushing ourselves into territory where we wouldn’t usually go. And not overthinking it. We may lose some people, we may not, I don’t even know. </p>
<p>Who wants to do the same record over? It’s always fun to say, hey, let’s do something different. Not just for the sake of it – but if something comes up that seems right, let’s pursue that and check it out. </p>
<p><strong>In the past when you have tried new things and surprised your fans, is that fun – to see the audience’s reaction? Like if you release a song online and people are surprised? You mentioned this poppy direction; that might surprise people. Is that fun to do? </strong></p>
<p>For me, it’s nerve-wracking. I don’t like thinking about it. I’m not trying to mess with anybody – it’s just, here’s the music, and whether you connect with it, if it has some emotional merit to you, that’s the point of it. And I don’t know if ‘poppy’ is the right word to use, but maybe just overtly melodic. We are curious though. Certain songs – I don’t know what people will make of them. … Who knows? I still don’t know what to expect or what people will think of the record. I think that’s okay. I don’t assume that people will like it the same way that we did when we wrote it. I think that’s naïve – expecting too much. </p>
<p>I think that people trust our music and what we are inclined to follow, and will trust that we’re doing what we think is interesting. And will be on board with our taste and instincts. </p>
<p><strong>You toured with Tool in 2007. What do you remember of that experience? </strong></p>
<p>We really can’t say enough good things about that. Earlier, I mentioned how we learned from other bands being polite and cool to other people. Tool was one of those bands that went out of their way – we only did three shows with them in the U.K., but they treated us so well and introduced themselves to us. Adam, their guitar player, helped us out in a rough spot. My amps weren’t working one night. He came to our door and introduced himself. He told me he’d have his guitar tech set up a whole rig behind mine in case anything didn’t work out. It really disarmed everybody, and made it really comfortable to be there. It wasn’t intimidating. We knew their crowd could be kind of brutal to opening bands – bands we love that are much bigger than us that have opened for them, and hearing them get booed, we were pretty much ready for whatever was thrown our way. </p>
<p>When first played that show in London, I wore a hat onstage. I walked out there, not really worried, but just ready to go play our set. Right when we walked out there, someone yelled, ‘Nice hat, f**got!’ I looked at Dave, like, ‘Dude, strap in, man. This might be the most brutal half hour of our lives.’ But thankfully, everybody kinda got it. Their crowd piped down, and the crowd was actually receptive and cool. </p>
<p>Maynard, he sticks to himself, and that’s fine, I knew that. Isis toured with them, and they didn’t really have much interaction with him. I can’t say anything bad about the guy. I respect that he wants privacy… Tool couldn’t have been nicer. I can’t really say enough about how cool of an experience it was for us, as fans, just to be treated so welcoming by a band of that stature. </p>
<p><strong>As you look at the road ahead for Russian Circles, I’m sure the main goal is making great albums and touring behind them – but are there other specific goals that you have for the band? </strong></p>
<p>There’s not so much goals, but we are open-minded about what comes our way. There’s no, ‘We need to do a live album,’ or, ‘We need to do a cool video.’ But if the opportunity presented itself, and it seemed like a good fit, I think that’d be fun to do, just to keep things interesting. We talk about different ideas… I think it’d be cool to document more live footage of us three playing in the studio, just to see what we sound like in that snapshot of time. I like seeing bands being documented like that… A little portrait of where they are at that point in their career. </p>
<p><strong>If you have a friend to visit Chicago, what’s on the schedule for the first day? </strong></p>
<p>Chicago is such a food-driven city, that I’d take them to so many different restaurants. They’d gain twenty pounds. I like to see the city – hop in a car and check out the spots. There’s so much to see. … If a friend came here in February, I’d say, dude, get the fuck out of here. Unless you’re going to the bar… This city totally transforms, there’s not a lot of hubbub and action on the streets come winter. You’ve gotta take advantage of the summer. </p>
<p><strong>Do you eat a lot of pizza, or is that more of a touristy stereotype? </strong></p>
<p>That’s a tourist thing, I feel like. The whole Chicago deep dish pizza thing – when everybody moves here, you have a few slices, then you feel like a sack of shit. Each slice weighs about five pounds and you just go into a food coma. I prefer thin crust. Most people here do. Like you said, the whole deep dish thing is kind of a tourist thing to do. But yeah, there’s so much good food here. … I haven’t had a deep dish in probably eight years or so. When someone orders a box of it delivered to their house, you’d think you have a twenty-five pound weight in there. It’s fucking hilarious. You look at each other, like, ‘We’re fucked. There’s no way we can do this. We’re gonna try to do this, and we’re gonna die at the end of the night.’ But if you haven’t done it, it’s worth checking out.</p>
<p> </p>
<div> </div>Russian Circles tag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:Post/43708692015-09-13T16:40:00-07:002019-02-28T14:19:20-08:00Mike Sullivan feature on Effects Bay (2015)<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.effectsbay.com/2015/10/russian-circles-mike-sullivan-pedalboard-2015/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/468ff7869c3210873b3c4db55519139b18f837e7/small/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-4-33-04-pm.png?1473809609" class="size_s justify_none border_" /></a>
<p><a contents="Russian Circles" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.russiancirclesband.com" target="_blank">Russian Circles</a> is a Chicago based band that I’m very fond of. I’ve talked about them on this site several times, and I really enjoy all of their releases. They are the champion of instrumental music (but on the harder side of the spectrum). Instrumental bands are generally broken into 2 camps. The ambient, but driving – Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, etc, and then the harder stuff – Russian Circles, Trans Am, Champs, etc. Russian Circles is the band that can bridge the gap between ambient to in-your-face, and that is why I really like them. Also, they’re a 3 piece, which is also amazing. Normally instrumental bands have 4-6 musicians, so a power trio is pretty rare in this genre of music. </p>
<p>Mike Sullivan, the guitarist, uses some clever techniques from unconventional tapping (which you would not expect from this style of music) and the use of loopers. If any of you have personally used loopers in a band, you understand that it’s not very easy. Time is everything, and with a looper, if you record the loop a few milliseconds late, eventually it sounds horrible. This is fine if you’re a singer/songwriter playing solo, but when you’re working with a drummer and other musicians, you need to be on the money for the song to work correctly. Again, Russian Circles has the ability to nail this, so lots of respect for them using looper in the way that they do. </p>
<p>I was contacted by Nick last week via Facebook. He knew I was a Russian Circles fan, and he just them play and wanted to know if I wanted some of the photos he took. Well.. hell yes! Nick.. if you’re reading.. thanks much for taking photos!! He got a great one of Mike Sullivan’s pedalboard, and I thought I would do an updated break down. He’s changed his board a few times, so it’s great to get a recent shot:<br><br><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.effectsbay.com/2015/10/russian-circles-mike-sullivan-pedalboard-2015/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/d86b727d2e1606444157be30cc36ec69dc0b905a/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-4-35-10-pm.png?1473809734" class="size_m justify_none border_" /></a></p>Russian Circles tag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:Post/43708632014-12-04T16:25:00-08:002019-10-09T21:51:53-07:00The Aquarian Interview w/ Mike Sullivan (2014)<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.theaquarian.com/2014/12/03/interview-with-russian-circles-the-road-so-far/"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/66e05b1815ad9f7b1c7c35ae881d5f2bec60f61e/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-4-20-35-pm.png?1473808875" class="size_m justify_none border_" /></a><br><br><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.theaquarian.com/2014/12/03/interview-with-russian-circles-the-road-so-far/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/fedd0484c14f4ab049d4e54dac3cb3f71e60a789/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-2-38-24-pm.png?1473802732" class="size_m justify_none border_" /></a><br><br><a contents="Russian Circles" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://sargenthouse.com/russian-circles">Russian Circles</a> released their latest effort, Memorial, back in October of last year. I spoke to bassist Brian Cook back in February to advance the start of their U.S. tour. Since then, the band has had a very busy year on the road. They took their new material to Europe, Asia, and Australia, playing festivals and clubs alike. It’s been a great year for the band so far, and they made sure to translate their new tracks into their live show as seamlessly as possible. A year out on the road has also been humbling for this mostly Chicago-based band, but nothing beats the love they have for their home. Back in March, they were honored by local favorites, Kuma’s and DryHop Brewers, when a burger and beer pairing was announced in their name.
<p>I recently had the chance to sit down and talk about the Death Rides A Horse Russian Imperial Stout with Russian Circles guitarist Mike Sullivan. We discussed beer culture and the differences in the metal scene in the U.S. compared to in Europe. Gearing up for a string of 10th anniversary shows in December, we also talked about the process of booking shows around the holidays, what it’s like seeing the new material translate to live shows, and the idea of digging into their back catalogue. Check out what Mike had to say below: </p><!-- more -->
<p><strong>I last spoke with Brian back in February, and I asked him about his gear and setup on Memorial. Have you changed or added any gear for the record yourself? </strong></p>
<p>After a record or at the end of every tour cycle, gear will come and go. I always wonder what I can tweak and what would sound better in different scenarios. So, over time, pedalboards start changing and morphing a little bit tour by tour. The quest is always kinda there. </p>
<p><strong>Do you have a favorite new addition? </strong></p>
<p>Well, there is some stuff coming in the mail (laughs). Earlier this year I picked up a B.B. King Lucille guitar. That thing is huge, and the way it is shaped changes the way you write. I haven’t used it live much, but it’s been big in terms of coming up with new ideas. Matching it with different pedals has actually changed the way we approach new songs. I’m looking forward to seeing how that gets implemented live once we have the next record done. It’s such a versatile guitar and I am very impressed with it. </p>
<p><strong>Have any of the songs from Memorial changed and grown legs of their own now that you have been playing the material for quite a bit? </strong></p>
<p>We always joke about how tough the first practice after recording is. In recording, you tinker with a lot of stuff in the studio and add a few things like harmonies, overdubs, and things like that. We would get excited and say, “Oh man, this is going to sound so good.” Then when we go to practice, it’s like we would forget all of the little bells and whistles that we added. If we have songs with a lot of content, we have to understand what we should focus on and sort of trim the fat. </p>
<p><strong>That’s definitely a challenge with the transition from album to live, but I think once you reach that level of comfortability, as an artist, the songs are there and translated well. </strong></p>
<p>Yeah, exactly. There are no nerves like, “Oh, I hope I don’t blow this” (laughs). It’s all in memory, comfortable, and everything falls into place now. </p>
<p><strong>You guys were also recently announced for the 20th anniversary of Roadburn festival. You will be playing alongside some great bands. Are there any you hope to check out if you can? </strong></p>
<p>I need to re-familiarize myself with the bill, but I love Goblin and I am excited to get to see them play. I like Zombi a lot as well; I haven’t seen them in ages. I was talking to my friend last night about that festival. It’s pretty cool, because there are a lot of European bands on the bill, and you may not know them, but they could have a huge following over there. The European metal scene is different than the American metal scene because they seem a little more cultural and have more of a connection to the art community. I’m looking forward to the bands that I am unfamiliar with. </p>
<p><strong>Do you observe these differences between scenes while on stage? </strong></p>
<p>They are different, sure, not in a good or bad way. For heavy music, they seem more serious about it. It seems like a more respectable scene over there. I feel like there might be less shenanigans over there during a show as compared to here in the States. Might have less cell phones being waved around as well. I just think there is a cultural difference, different etiquette. It seems like there is more of a connection with the audience and the band. I don’t think either one is better or worse, they are both great in different ways. </p>
<p><strong>Back in March, the Death Rides A Horse stout was announced. How was it? Are you a big beer fan? </strong></p>
<p>I’m a big fan of the whole craft beer revolution (laughs). It seems as if there are a million great choices out there now. That particular one was paired with a burger over at Kuma’s here in Chicago. It was a Russian Imperial Stout brewed with coffee and all of that good stuff. As a beer fan, it was delicious, and as a member of the band, I was honored and flattered that we were chosen for it. </p>
<p><strong>Are you knowledgeable enough to where you describe everything like the guys that post on BeerAdvocate, or are you like me, where you just rate it and say, “Very nice” (laughs). </strong></p>
<p>I am way more casual like yourself (laughs). I’m not one to differentiate between different little things. I know what beers I like and what beers I am less into. </p>
<p><strong>I will check the reviews and stuff before I try a new beer, but I couldn’t care less what color the head is, or that there are slight notes of toffee. </strong></p>
<p>Absolutely (laughs). I know I enjoy stouts, IPAs, porters, and that kind of stuff, but that is it. All I can tell you is what percentage of alcohol it has, that’s what is important to me (laughs). </p>
<p><strong>You will be celebrating your 10th anniversary by playing a number of shows, including stops in New York and Philadelphia. Do you have a favorite brewery in the area? </strong></p>
<p>I am actually more familiar with the breweries that are based on the West Coast. The only brewery in those areas that I know is Brooklyn Brewery. </p>
<p><strong>Brooklyn might be one of my favorites in the area. </strong></p>
<p>Yeah, Brian lives in that area, so it’s funny that he will mention their happy hour to us. In Chicago, we don’t really have one of those. Every hour is happy hour (laughs). He’ll tell us how people will get out of work early sometimes and head over to the bars. It’s like a little reward for getting through work. </p>
<p><strong>Do you guys have anything special planned for these 10th anniversary shows? </strong></p>
<p>Yeah, we plan on playing a lot of older songs that we haven’t played or heard in ages. There will be a few from Enter and Station that we haven’t played in a while, so that will be fun. I’m not sure yet about the other albums, so we don’t know which songs we will throw in there just yet. This will be a tour that will focus more on the back catalogue. </p>
<p><strong>Is it a bit difficult being on the road around the holidays, or is everything scheduled to where you have enough time in between to go home and relax? </strong></p>
<p>It’s not too bad really. We actually will be doing more shows for our 10th anniversary on the West Coast and those will be around New Year’s and Christmas. We do have a show in Denver that comes close to interfering with our travel plans, but to be honest, none of us have kids, so we will definitely have enough time to pop in home and say hi to our families and loved ones. Fortunately, at this stage, we are pretty flexible dudes. </p>
<p><strong>Anything else planned for you guys in the future? </strong></p>
<p>In April we will be in Europe with Helms Alee and of course, we will be playing Roadburn Festival. And whenever we are a year into a record, we start thinking about the next one. Try to get some ideas floating around so we aren’t saying, “Oh shit, we should get another record out there.” So it’s all about touring, playing shows, and writing. Unfortunately, there isn’t going to be any recording anytime soon, but we are mainly focused on creating a strong album and will get in the studio when we need to. </p>
<p> </p>Russian Circles tag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:Post/43709472014-03-14T17:20:00-07:002019-11-18T08:36:11-08:00Chicago Tribune Talks to Mike Sullivan (2014)<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-03-13/entertainment/ct-russian-circles-chicago-music-metro-shows-20140313_1_guitarist-mike-sullivan-dave-turncrantz-russian-circles" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/c0bfc92f7ffdee1e58788c8a72b2b37d5c3f59b0/original/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-5-17-08-pm.png?1473812258" class="size_l justify_left border_" /></a><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/8e5eb033b30d93ebc30462fc00eab5013400f51b/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-1-44-42-pm.png?1473799525" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><br><a contents="Russian Circles" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://sargenthouse.com/russian-circles">Russian Circles</a> works in a relatively esoteric area – an instrumental trio that finds the sweet spot at the intersection of metal, hard rock, progressive and experimental music. Its five albums, culminating with last year's elegiac "Memorial" (Sargent House), demonstrate just how expressive and dynamic a rock band without a lead vocalist can be. If an album can be both thrashy and poignant, "Memorial" is it. </p>
<p>Guitarist Mike Sullivan says he and drummer Dave Turncrantz (later joined by bassist Brian Cook, who replaced cofounder Colin DeKuiper) didn't set out to be an instrumental band, but ended up loving the freedom of being able to compose music without being restricted by a singer's range or a lyric sheet. He describes early rehearsals as open-ended, guided only by a motto of "keep it simple, stupid." </p><!-- more -->
<p>"Find the groove, line up the kick (drum) with the bass, create a solid foundation, get into repetition. It wasn't about having notes coming at you at a million miles an hour. It was more about building themes than licks. We wanted to look at composition and arrangement, and learn more about the song than individual parts." </p>
<p>Early jams could sprawl past 10 minutes or more. "That would've been tough for a vocalist, and after a while we didn't see why it was necessary. Besides, when Dave and I started playing together, if either one of us sang, it would've been an abomination. If we ever try to sing, we should be put in front of a firing squad. Fortunately, it never got to the point where we even had to consider singing because the music was working on its own." </p>
<p>Sullivan had moved to Chicago from St. Louis in 1999 to attend DePaul University. He was already a fan of the city's independent music scene, and soon put together a band, Dakota/Dakota in that spirit. After that band imploded, he rejoined forces with Turncrantz, an old music companion from St. Louis, to launch Russian Circles. The band takes its name from training drill that Turncrantz and Sullivan remembered from their high school ice-hockey practices. "We needed a band name for our first show …," Sullivan explains, and it stuck. </p>
<p>"We practiced every day, holed up in our practice space, and friends like Pelican helped immensely by putting us in touch with booking agencies and playing shows with us," says Sullivan, affirming that his long-distance admiration for the Chicago music scene was not misplaced. </p>
<p>Along the way, all the band members worked jobs that they'd rather forget. </p>
<p>"I was a greeter at a (retail) store," Sullivan says. "I'm not the most social person, but I had to say 'Hello' to customers. It was like asking me to climb Everest. I had to wear a headset. That was a fun one to walk away from. But it's great to have jobs you can't stand. What better motivator is there than that? I'd get to practice and it would be like, 'Let's jam, because I need to forget about that eight hours of embarrassment I just went through.'" </p>
<p>Despite low expectations – "our only goal was to play with a few bands we like, to have fun playing music, and have a few beers" – things evolved where day jobs were no longer a necessity, budgets increased and established labels distributed the recordings. A rigorous set of standards has evolved, where the trio is constantly challenging itself to stretch boundaries and expectations, with Cook playing a key role as a kind of editor for the songs written by Sullivan and Turncrantz. </p>
<p>"We're very hard on ourselves and each other," Sullivan says. "It's brutal. No one's afraid to say, 'That's not working, man.' I can work on a part for 18 hours and they can say it sounds like some band I can't stand. We move on. It's important to have that, and I'm grateful for it. It makes it harder, but it also makes the music better." </p>
<p>The last three Russian Circles albums were produced by former Secret Machines member Brandon Curtis, with an uptick in sophistication and density. "Memorial" covers a range of textures, from acoustic delicacy to rapid-fire aggression. It also includes a rare vocal from a guest singer, Chelsea Wolfe, whose voice doesn't articulate words so much as apply another color to the chillingly beautiful title song. </p>
<p>"We toured together two years ago, and we're huge fans," Sullivan says of Wolfe. "The song was written in a key with her vocals in mind. When we asked her about doing some vocals, she says, 'That's funny. I always sing along while watching you guys.'" </p>
<p>As Wolfe suggests, the freedom the musicians find in not being bound by a vocalist also applies to their fans. "Memorial" is an album that evokes a certain darkness, various stages in the mourning process. But there are no lyrics to spell that out. Even Clarke's vocals are less about literal meaning than sound. </p>
<p>"The song titles mean something to us, but we like to keep it cryptic and open to interpretation," Sullivan says. "The goal is that people can get into it and apply whatever they hear in the songs to their own lives."</p>Russian Circles tag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:Post/43708642013-11-20T16:30:00-08:002019-05-27T23:18:59-07:00Mike Sullivan Noisey feature (2013)<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/underrated-but-great-guitar-players-you-need-to-know-about" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/3bcf1db8197b87ce48b520cda7a2f6f4b29c51b8/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-4-26-18-pm.png?1473809227" class="size_m justify_none border_" /></a><br><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/underrated-but-great-guitar-players-you-need-to-know-about" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/ba0a24e08550177bbe37fcdd7245e5bf5b680088/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-4-27-25-pm.png?1473809271" class="size_m justify_none border_" /></a>
<p>Alongside guys like McCoy and Knudson (both of whom have toured with <a contents="Russian Circles" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.russiancirclesband.com" target="_blank">Russian Circles</a>), RC guitarist Mike Sullivan is also redefining what being a guitar player in a heavy band means by figuring out a way to implement chugging hardcore riffs into an atmospheric arena and making both dynamics more powerful in the process. Sullivan can also two-handed tap and live loop like a champ, making him a triple threat onstage. To be honest we have no idea how he'll be able to pull off some of the sonic textures on the band's latest album Memorial—but we have no doubt he'll find a way to do it in stunning fashion. </p><br> Russian Circles tag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:Post/43708592013-11-07T16:10:00-08:002019-07-16T06:05:43-07:00Mike Sullivan talks to Music Radar about Memorial (2013)<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/russian-circles-guitarist-talks-new-album-memorial-587791" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/80b4cd8cf544713f7519883032671ec420899aea/medium/tumblr-inline-o9ysqkbqz11qbzv4w-540.png?1473726457" class="size_m justify_none border_" /></a><br><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/russian-circles-guitarist-talks-new-album-memorial-587791" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/fd6f4dfe43c5e6c443667a519f29e347c1250600/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-4-04-05-pm.png?1473807930" class="size_m justify_none border_" /></a>
<p><strong>We've long been fans of Chicago instrumental trio Russian Circles, but their new album, Memorial, might just be our favourite release from them yet. Bleak, brutal and beautiful, it moves from blackened metal to haunting, ethereal layers on a compelling journey that offers a complete experience, rather than just a collection of strong songs.</strong> </p>
<p>It's one of our favourite albums of 2013, so naturally, we wanted to probe the creative mind of their amiable guitarist Mike Sullivan on everything from mini amps to fully collaborating with a vocalist. </p>
<p><strong>Your last album, Empros, had its dark moments, but there are parts on Memorial that are a whole new shade of black for the band. What was the mindset for this album compared to its predecessor? </strong></p>
<p>"Once we finished Empros we were terrified because we were worried how the album sounded with the fidelity limitations we were working with. While that album was written in the studio and changed around – and was my favourite record up to that point – we knew we could do better. We knew we could get better tones, better sounds, get our ideas across clearer. We thought that album was going to screw us; we were proud of the songs but we weren't sure whether it came out the way we wanted it to be. </p>
<p>"So before we even started recording [this time] we decided what we needed to do differently. So we just kept working on riffs, homing in on parts, individually and tonally, figuring out how we fitted into the band. It was a matter of taking a broader scope to everything in terms of what serves the song from each member. Also, a big part of it was that we tuned down to B on certain songs, and that really opened up some sonic potential that we couldn't tap into before. We were capturing ourselves with a more accurate feel. But that said, I'm really happy with Empros but there's no feeling of 'Oh s**t' like there was last time." <br> </p><!-- more -->
<p><strong>It feels like your most complete and cohesive album yet, especially with the same theme of music bookending the album. What was the process to achieve that? </strong></p>
<p>"We tried to make it like that, so I'm glad it came across that way. It was a matter of seeing which songs fitted because we ended up dropping one song that didn't really fit in with the rest. We decided there was going to be a split point in the middle for the vinyl. So we said, 'Let's see it as side A and side B.' The songs are all individual pieces in there, but we wanted the first few songs and the latter ones to all work together. That didn't take much construction once we had an idea we were aware of how to transition things. </p>
<p>"We made sure we allowed some time at the end of recording for segues and transitions, so we had plenty of options and weren't left with a situation where we just cram one song into the next. For example, Memoriam and Memorial [the first and final album tracks] are in different keys, so they transition well into the next song or come out well from the one before. Trying different keys and tunings to see how it affects the listener – there was some thought put into that." </p>
<p>"Dissonance is more effective than a cool riff to me… it translates." </p>
<p><strong>It's interesting listening back through your previous albums to this one. You seem to have moved from to focusing more on textures, discordance and huge, expansive soundscapes. What were you trying to achieve on this album? </strong></p>
<p>"Effectiveness, I guess; I want to get the point across – something that really carries weight. By throwing all these neat changes in there you can lose the point of it all. We're still learning that on each album we find what translates well. Some of the tunes were based more on feel and rhythm than actual riffs. There's not that many riffs on the album, I'd say. </p>
<p>"We actually went in and pulled out some riffs because it felt like we were cramming stuff in there. Dissonance is more effective than a cool riff to me, because you can understand that. It translates. Okay, those notes don't work together but it elicits a feeling nevertheless. At the same time, we're conscious of having something for the listener to hold on to. It's a matter of balancing the ambience with that element to hang on to. Sometimes the busier, faster stuff just won't stick with you. It comes and goes." </p>
<p><strong>Like the song 309 on Empros, there seems to be a black metal influence working its way in on this album's Deficit and Burial tracks, with the bleak atmospheres and the tremolo picking. Is black metal a genre that's had an impact on you as a player or is it coincidental? </strong></p>
<p>"I can't say it's coincidental. There's definitely influence from that genre, for sure. But at the same time we'll look at it as, here's a black metal approach for guitar with a more hip-hop influenced drum line. We don't talk about it, but it ends up happening. We don't want to re-do something that people have done better." </p>
<p><strong>You're sidestepping musical expectations associated with guitar parts like that… </strong></p>
<p>"Exactly. So if this is an intense black metal-ish part, let's not got down that route intentionally. Let's try to see what the bass can do to offset that riff and give it more groove, that kind of thing. That's where the beauty of having three different brains working together comes in: 'If you're doing this, I'm going to intentionally try to do something completely different.' The people in the practice space next to us must hear us write awful songs before we start feeling that things work! </p>
<p>"The important thing is to always groove. Tap your feet. It's simple, but you have to ask yourself does the idea feel good to you? In black metal, so many bands get caught up being tough and they need to step back and say, 'Is that working?' It's a good riff but that just blew by me and I don't know what's going on now. I love to set up a groove and sit in it for a while, just bathe in it. Back with Karutrock it would be, 'this is the guitar line – this is going to be it for a few minutes.' Don't worry about what's next, just enjoy the ride."</p>
<p><strong>It's interesting to hear how powerful restraint and delicacy can be on this record, too – like on 1777 when everything backs off for the fingerpicked arpeggio part… </strong></p>
<p>"That's actually Brian [Cook, bassist] playing that, which was great because it came out of leftfield. It started out as a totally different song, unrecognisable to how it ended up on the studio recording. It was initially a folk song with chords in standard tuning with a little melody on top of it. We had a chat and Dave said, 'What if we took that main melody and made it a heavier song with more of an aggressive approach?' So I started putting other ideas in and I had the skeleton song worked out. Then Brian said he had a crazy fingerpicking part already and could transpose the key to make it work with the riff. So he spent some time with that and Dave and I fell in love with it. </p>
<p>"My brain can get so absorbed that I'm thinking too much about stuff and I miss the big picture. So he comes in with that and it's brilliant, it needed that. I would never have come up with that, so it was a welcome addition. Once he started doing that we opened the part up more and that ended up changing the structure of the song a little. The best thing to do as a musician is to shut up for a while. That was one of my goals with this record and I failed miserably, unfortunately [laughs]! I should shut up more: don't play! I've listened to Jesus Lizard records and Duane [Denison] would just cut out and you'd just hear the groove of the rhythm section and it just sounds so powerful – then he would come in again and it would sound so intense. They were a four-piece band, but they'd make it sound so much bigger than it actually was, without any spoke and mirrors. Just good writing. I still need to take my own advice, I suppose, but it is good to take a breath without being too minimalist. But we were conscious of that on this record." </p>
<p><strong>What is Brian playing that part on? </strong></p>
<p>"It's a baritone. There are a few songs, when we started tuning down, where there was room for something else in the mix. He had a baritone and on the first half of Deficit and for a good bit of 1777 it's on the baritone for him. He went nuts with the Taurus as well. He's got that Moog Taurus synth." </p>
<p><strong>Like Rush used…</strong> </p>
<p>"Yes, if you're going to be a prog rock band why f**k around, I suppose! He fully embraced it. So there's that and tons of guitar drones hidden in there that ended up really giving us more freedom where that helps fills up the texture a bit, where you don't have to be as busy, per se, as you usually would be. Again, it lets the density of the music come to the fore more." </p>
<p><strong>The low end is immense on the track Burial. What's the key behind that sound? </strong></p>
<p>"There's no funny business there, I don't know what it is – maybe it's the nature of the tuning. It's funny because that song was written pretty quickly. Brian and Dave [Turncrantz, drummer] were just talking and I was horsing around with a riff quietly and they said, 'What is that?' It was one of those moments where we said, 'Let's jam with that' and it came together. There wasn't too much tweaking and then recording. It fell into place, but mixing was tough. One of the guitar tracks had chorus, so we brought that up to round it out, where you don't hear the chorus but somehow it affects the guitar tone. It was a matter of getting the bass to really have a weight to it. Not about hearing the notes." </p>
<p><strong>So it's more about a presence? </strong></p>
<p>"Exactly. And Brian was kind of apprehensive about that. We loved it: it sounds like a wall, and fills out the whole low end. I feel like it's a happy accident. We mixed it every way with the EQ to make that a little more articulate. But that was the missing piece – to have that blown out low end that was naturally there. It's a really simple song to us, but the marriage of the instruments happens to work out in a natural way. Chalk that one up to low end!" </p>
<p><strong>It's interesting to see the extremes in the way that song came together relatively quickly in writing, but with others you will tear elements apart and analyse them… </strong></p>
<p>"It is interesting, but we're our harshest critics and always fine-[tooth] comb every riff, every transition. But sometimes it's a case of, 'Let's not tinker with that too much because it's sounding pretty good.' It's a matter of knowing when to step away from it or decide, we need to work on this." </p>
<p><strong>Cheyenne is the album's midpoint and sounds like the most layered piece of music you've ever done. What are the elements in there? </strong></p>
<p>"I'll always record stuff and throw it into a [DigiTech] JamMan – I have one in the house so I can record loops and save them. It all came from messing around by myself. I had three or four parts stacked and a lot of it was filling with drones. There are a lot of drones on the record, getting a really ethereal kind of reverb'd washed out note. Just one note by itself and then occasionally bringing another note to harmonise with that. </p>
<p>"I'm giving away a trade secret now… but I used that Strymon Flint pedal. I picked that up a few weeks before recording and, man, that thing is my ace in the hole. It's so cool. A lot of that stuff sounds like synth, and there are strings on the record – don't get me wrong – but that's a versatile pedal. Even a hint of distortion will make stuff break up in an organic, cool way. You don't even need delay – with that pedal alone you could do a solo noise set! Robert Fripp secretly made that pedal years ago but didn't tell anybody about it. </p>
<p>"So a lot of that came from simple drones. Again, finding the right wrong note to make it uncomfortable. A lot of that stuff is tucked in the mix where you may not notice it, where t there's a little perversion of the melody with one wrong note being introduced here and there." </p>
<p><strong>So the Strymon is a permanent resident on your pedalboard now? </strong></p>
<p>"For sure. That and I picked up another one from Strymon called the El Capistan delay. That's another really versatile, cool pedal. Very musical. I can't say enough. I'm not endorsed by them or anything, but I'm looking forward to checking out other pedals by them." </p>
<p><strong>Did you mainly use your Verellen amps in the studio? </strong></p>
<p>"I did – the Meatsmoke and the Loucks. The Meatsmoke is my guy, I love it so much, but during tracking something didn't sound quite right. In mixing that was always the go-to amp just because of the way it sat with everything else in the mix. It's funny how your ears can deceive you. So I had those two and then oddly enough I had a Fender Bassman that was in the studio. It sounded great, I think it was late 60s. Right away we were dialling in pretty cool tones. So that was on there a lot and then Emperor brought by a head to recording for the hell of it. So we set that up. It was a really good amp, but not until mixing did we see its use. </p>
<p>"One thing we learned was that for a three-piece band that's doing what we're doing, it never hurts to record more tracks than you need. Three of the same take and then there are plenty of room mics to play with. Electrical [Audio Studios in Chicago] is a great studio like that, and we kept the volume reasonable so we could use those mics and it wasn't a blown up version of a direct line." </p>
<p><strong>We did wonder how loud you played when tracking… </strong></p>
<p>"The last record we did in that studio was [third album] Geneva and that room was on fire, it was so loud. But I don't know if there's much benefit of it. I like the guitar tone on there – but I don't know if it's clipping too hard or something, but it's not as pleasing to the ear. Turning up a tube amp has its benefit; you definitely need to reach a certain volume to optimise that tone. But at a certain point I find I'm doing more harm than good if I'm too loud in the studio." </p>
<p><strong>There was a photo a Marshall micro amp on your Facebook pics from the studio. Was that a joke or did it end up on the record? </strong></p>
<p>"That was on the last album and it's on this album, too. It's on Deficit quite a lot, actually. When the song changes to a chug halfway through, right before that there's a little black metal-type part and that was just my whole pedalboard through that amp. That amp got slammed with distortion pedals. There's something about that – again, it plays well in the mix. It's really difficult to get bad sounds in that studio oddly enough. You have to really to push it to get low-fidelity sounds and Greg [Norman, who engineered the record] is trained to make it sound as clear as possible. So meanwhile while he's doing that we're trying to make it sound as horrendous as possible. That was fun, because when we listened to it we knew that part of the song needed more of a three-dimensional tone." </p>
<p><strong>It's good to see someone using one on a record! </strong></p>
<p>"They're cool. It's funny, man, because you play it in a room and it sounds like an iPod and then you go to the control room and hear the playback and wonder, 'Are you f**king with me?!' We have all this costly gear and that sounds so good!" </p>
<p><strong>What were your main guitars for tracking? Is the Cherry Les Paul Custom still a go-to? </strong></p>
<p>"It was, and I now have the same guitar in black. I tried some guitars, but those always sounded the best. There's something about ebony with distortion; it always catches my ear. You can hear the articulation, you can hear the notes still. Pickups have a big part, but something about those guitars really works for me. I refuse to accept it and I'm always trying different guitars, but then I go back to them and think, 'What am I doing? I'm good to go.' </p>
<p>"They're back and forth between tunings so there's countless hours of painfully intonating guitars, which I should be way better at but am still p*ss poor at. So between every track I'm left screwing something around. But I love those guitars: big fat necks and they sustain for days. So they'll be around for years I think." </p>
<p><strong>It's good to hear you using tapping again on Ethel… </strong></p>
<p>"That was a funny song. I'm always laying on the riffs for the other guys – here's this one, here's that one. It went through variations: should it be minor, more melodic, or in a major key? It's the first song where it's all just tapping. It started as a tapping riff and there was no intention of making a whole song of just tapping, because that sounded like an awful idea. But we got an intro going that sounded like a nice little foundation, and then once the guitar comes in it's off to the races from there. Brian did a nice job of keeping it simple for that one and making the most of that riff without overplaying." </p>
<p><strong>Especially the part where his bass takes a lead role in the mix… </strong></p>
<p>"It's so simple, it doesn't need more. We ended up throwing some horns in, but it's one of those things where Brian isn't even trying. First off is best off sometimes. It had that sombre feel to it and that brought out the mood of the song. It's kind of a ballad. It's a fun song, because Dave is doing a shuffle that he's always loved playing as a huge Bonham fan. He couldn't be happier about that. But we look at the song now and say, 'How did that happen?!' It's one of those songs where you keep working at it and don't throw it away, don't throw that riff away."</p>Russian Circles tag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:Post/43709082012-12-12T17:15:00-08:002019-02-28T14:36:04-08:00Ghettoblaster Magazine Sits Down w/ Mike Sullivan (2012)<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://ghettoblastermagazine.com/2012/top-ten-of-twenty-twelve-mike-sullivan-russian-circles/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/11c961c33b6d950ca00166ec4f4cbe91517a8971/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-5-10-23-pm.png?1473811880" class="size_m justify_none border_" /></a><br><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://ghettoblastermagazine.com/2012/top-ten-of-twenty-twelve-mike-sullivan-russian-circles/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/d1ad3aee9a719654dc22eba4eb5ca30ccb819478/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-5-10-40-pm.png?1473811881" class="size_m justify_none border_" /></a><br><a contents="Russian Circles" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://sargenthouse.com/russian-circles">Russian Circles</a> released their most recent album, Empros, last October via Sargent House and it was a barn burner. Empros picked up where the anthemic riffs and melodies of 2009’s Geneva left off and injected evermore slithering rhythms amid skull-crushing heft with all the visceral intensity of Godflesh, Swans and Neurosis. For all intents and purposes, it was a radical revision of both heavy and melody that is monolithic in its clarity and perfection. Coupled with an unparalleled live show that is as masterful as the album it supports, Russian Circles have been road warriors in 2012 in support of the fantastic effort.
<p>Ghettoblaster asked guitarist Mike Sullivan what he’s been enjoying this year. Here are his favorites: </p>
<p>Swans – The Seer </p>
<p><a contents="Chelsea Wolfe" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://sargenthouse.com/chelsea-wolfe">Chelsea Wolfe</a> – Unknown Rooms </p>
<p>Beak – >> </p>
<p>God Seed – I begin </p>
<p>Black Breath – Sentenced to Life </p>
<p>Gaza – No Absolutes in Human Suffering </p>
<p>Beach House – Bloom </p>
<p>Tame Impala – Lonerism </p>
<p><a contents="Earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://sargenthouse.com/earth">Earth</a> – Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II </p>
<p>Disappears – Pre-Language</p>Russian Circles tag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:Post/43708432012-02-08T15:50:00-08:002018-12-07T02:05:57-08:00Guitar Player Magazine Interview with Mike Sullivan (2012)<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.guitarplayer.com/miscellaneous/1139/russian-circles-mike-sullivan/21694" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/814f9004b7f2c5505abe0296f95662086929b8ea/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-3-47-18-pm.png?1473806894" class="size_m justify_none border_" /></a><br><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.guitarplayer.com/miscellaneous/1139/russian-circles-mike-sullivan/21694" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/ddbbb04af9503ec19bff06605ae89503b79211cf/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-3-47-40-pm.png?1473806902" class="size_m justify_none border_" /></a>
<p>Russian Circles takes its name from a hockey maneuver that involves skating in circles—a fitting moniker considering the band’s combination of brute muscularity and fleet dexterity, and the key role that looping plays in the music, particularly when layering guitars during live performances. Although typically billed as a “metal” band, Russian Circles largely eschews the drastically detuned guitars, relentless rapid-fire riffing, and highly technical soloing endemic to the genre. The band can be monstrously heavy, pummeling an audience with the best of them, but there’s majesty to the mayhem. An uncanny mastery of dissonance fused with keen dynamics and a minimalistic, almost serial melodic sense results in beautifully foreboding soundscapes of cinematic scope. On Russian Circles’ fourth album, Empros [Sargent House], guitarist Mike Sullivan, bassist Brian Cook, and drummer Dave Turncrantz have further concentrated those elements into what may be their masterpiece. </p>
<p><strong>Russian Circles is in some ways the antithesis of the average hyper-technical metal band. What put you on that course? </strong></p>
<p>My last band was also an instrumental band, and we were a bit more technical, though not in the sense of over-the-top death metal-type sweep arpeggios. I can’t even make that happen, so that’s not a concern. But when Dave and I started Russian Circles, we decided to keep things reallysimple, and to focus more on song structure and on groove. It was challenging at first, partly because there weren’t a lot of reference points for what we were trying to do. But the simpler and more malleable the song structure, the more freeing it is, because you can take the music in any direction from there. <br> </p><!-- more -->
<p><strong>Describe your compositional process. </strong></p>
<p>Usually, I’ll come up with a ton of different riffs and ideas that are compatible, and I’ll let Brian and Dave sift through them— mostly Dave initially—and see what works. Say I have five parts for a song and two work out—cool. And once we begin jamming and developing ideas we may end up ditching the original idea or ideas entirely if something else feels good to everybody. We’ve also been recording our rehearsals so we can refer to them, which is something I’ve known I should do for 20 years but haven’t, kind of like playing with a metronome. You never do it and then when you finally do you’re like, “Son of a bitch, this is great!” </p>
<p><strong>What guitars did you play on the new record? </strong></p>
<p>I mostly played a Gibson Les Paul Custom that has a Dirty Fingers ceramic bridge pickup and a 498T alnico neck pickup. The Dirty Fingers has a lot of body, which I like, and the combination works well for me. I also have a stock ’57 Les Paul Reissue with a pair of 57 Classic Vintage humbuckers in it. One thing we did differently this time was to double a lot of parts with a Fender Jazzmaster, which blended well with the thick Les Paul tones on both distorted and mellower parts, and added clarity and definition. There’s also a Gibson Sonex 180 on a few tracks, and I played a Larrivee acoustic on the intro to “Atackla,” an Alvarez acoustic on “Schiphol,” and an inexpensive nylonstring here and there. I string the electrics with Dean Markley strings, gauged .011–. 052. </p>
<p><strong>Do you ever play in standard tuning?</strong></p>
<p>I do for educational purposes, but not with the band. I took a huge break from standard tuning and going back to it has been a lot of fun. But the more I play in standard, the more I’m writing riffs, and I’m like, “Oh crap, now I’ll have to bring another guitar on stage.” </p>
<p><strong>What tunings are you playing in? </strong></p>
<p>“Schiphol” and “Atackla” are played in DADGAD, and “Mladek” and “Batu” are played in a variation of DADGAD, with the first and sixth strings dropped down to Db. On “309,” I also drop the fifth string down to Ab, because I missed having a low power chord in open position. They’re tunings that make no sense, but I’m really happy with how dissonant and disgusting they sound. </p>
<p><strong>Speaking of “309,” how are you getting that massive tone on the dissonant drone section? </strong></p>
<p>That was re-tracked several times because it was almost too over the top, and there are all kinds of guitars coming and going, including the Jazzmaster. Most of the tone was coming from a Sunn Model T Reissue with just a little bit of distortion, set at like 4 or 5. The really gnarly, out-of-control sound is a Z.Vex Fuzz Factory. I could just be in a room with it all day having a good time—limitless tonal options there—and it’s amazing how it cuts through even heavily distorted parts. Of course, if something bumps the knobs and they move even a fraction of an inch, it can change the sound completely. When that happens at a sound check the dudes in the band are like, “What’s Mike up to? Checking the damn Fuzz Factory. I’m going to go have a smoke.” </p>
<p><strong>What about the tones on “Schiphol”? </strong></p>
<p>The mock organ part was done with an Electro-Harmonix P.O.G., and the P.O.G. is also used to get the low-end notes in the heavy part, though there is also a ton of stuff on top of that, which is mostly harmonized chords and my version of a solo. That’s all with a wah going through the fuzz—a classic combination that sounds awesome. The wah is expressive like a voice, and I like using it to slowly filter the sound of the fuzz, so each note sounds a little different. The really heavy tone on that tune is a combination of guitar and bass. We doubled some lines and then lined them up in the mix rather than separating them out. </p>
<p><strong>What other pedals are you using?</strong> </p>
<p>My main distortion pedal is a Fulltone PlimSoul. If I want a little more grit and girth I’ll add in a Fulltone OCD, and if I want to push things even further I’ll kick in an MXR Micro Amp. Those three are in addition to the Fuzz Factory. My live signal path is guitar, wah, volume pedal, Fuzz Factory, OCD, PlimSoul, Micro Amp, various delay and reverb pedals, and the Akai Head Rush looping pedal. We also got a TONEbUTCHer Pocket Pus pedal just before recording, which we used for some of the noisier stuff. It is a tiny pedal that runs on a watch battery and looks totally innocent—but it creates the most heinous noises in the world. </p>
<p><strong>Do you ever have all of the distortion and boost pedals on at the same time? </strong></p>
<p>Yeah. For example, I got one of the tones on “309” by having all of them on at once. And having the fuzz in an unconventional place in the chain makes it sound a little weirder and more muffled in a good way. </p>
<p><strong>So, you prefer to get distortion with pedals rather than with an amp? </strong></p>
<p>Generally, and although I do combine distortion pedals sometimes, I prefer using as few pedals in the studio as possible. Also, the studio is a little more forgiving in terms of which amps give you the perfect clean sound, but live an amp also has to be loud. My favorite amp right now is the Verellen Meatsmoke, a 300-watt tube amp that was designed for both bass and guitar. But if I have a backline rental, the first thing I do is dial in the maximum clean volume, and then I’ll work my pedals around that. When we did some shows in Australia on the last tour, I played through a vintage Orange and it sounded great. I was like, “That’s it. No wonder Tony Iommi and you name it used those back in the day.” Something’s been lost since then. </p>
<p><strong>Looping is a big part of how you reproduce the sounds on your albums live.</strong> </p>
<p>Yeah, and the Head Rush has proven to be the most reliable and efficient as far as live looping. During a straight up section of a song, when I’m playing with a drummer, I’ll generally just use a single loop. I’ll do two or even three loops in some cases, but that tends to muddy things up pretty quickly, and if the drummer can’t hear the main loop that means trouble. During the interludes, doing the noisier drone kind of stuff, I’ll set, say, a ten-second loop, and just leave record on as I layer new parts, letting the older ones gradually fade out. </p>
<p><strong>What advice can you offer when it comes to live looping? </strong></p>
<p>If you are going to use a loop as a main part of a song, keep it simple, and loop it early on so that if you mess up you can re-loop the part before you have to do something else. Also, try to create loops that retain the melody, so that there’s something there to accentuate, or harmonize, or play off of rhythmically. Don’t just loop for the sake of looping. </p>
<p><strong>What are your thoughts on seven or more strings on guitars? </strong></p>
<p>I’m currently awaiting a 12-string SG from Gibson, so I’m into the idea. Unfortunately, 7-string guitars don’t look cool, so I’m kind of turned off by that as a gear snob. Also, many metal guitarists tune down so low, playing through massive walls of cabinets, and you can hardly hear the bass player. Let the bass player take care of the low end and add some highs, because without highs there’s also an absence of low end in an odd way. Being low is a big trend now, but some metal guitarists miss the mark by neglecting the higher end. The guitar is a unique and very versatile instrument, and I think those players kind of forget all of the things a guitar can do.</p>Russian Circles tag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:Post/43708622011-11-11T16:20:00-08:002018-12-07T02:05:39-08:00Mike Sullivan interview with Guitar World (2011)<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.guitarworld.com/interview-mike-sullivan-russian-circles-talks-about-bands-new-album-empros" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/b396868a1524bd0e6ef5d3db67d7ca8cb9fdcc38/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-4-15-11-pm.png?1473808551" class="size_m justify_none border_" /></a><br><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.guitarworld.com/interview-mike-sullivan-russian-circles-talks-about-bands-new-album-empros" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/470b0f47beff222dc856d43ed1f87e83c310007f/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-4-15-20-pm.png?1473808560" class="size_m justify_none border_" /></a><br> <p><em>"Once it gets too fancy, I start losing the groove," says Mike Sullivan of the challenges of playing guitar in Russian Circles' deceptively dense musical pockets. </em></p>
<p>Indeed the Chicago-based post-rock band are capable of creating intricately layered pieces of music, often from simple, intertwining melodies that when combined are capable of creating harsh soundscapes, vast acoustic caverns and everything in between.</p>
<p>On their latest album, Empros, Russian Circles tend to pay more attention to those extremes than the stuff in the middle. You might swear Johnny Greenwood was behind the ambient folk of "Schiphol," while "309" wouldn't sound out of place on an early Celtic Frost record. And dynamics aside, Empros also features a major first for the band: Their first track with vocals, album closer "Praise Be Man." </p>
<p>I recently caught up with Russian Circles guitarist Mike Sullivan, who acted as a guide through the musical journey that is Empros. </p>
<p><strong>The last time we talked, I asked you how you could describe the sound of Russian Circles to someone who had never heard it before, and you said it sounded like a mix between Metallica and Pink Floyd. I think this album absolutely captures that, and then some. Parts of "309," for instance, sound like Celtic Frost or Emperor. How did those extremes come to be on the album? What inspired you to go into harsher sonic territories? </strong></p>
<p>There wasn’t much thought to, "Well this song sounds different." Anything that different sounds kind of fun and exciting. It didn’t take much effort, actually. It was one of those songs that kind of wrote itself after a while, you know. The riff's there, and you try to change it, and then you want to go back to how it was; it had a little groove there. </p>
<p>There was definitely a lot of heavier influences as far as that song goes. We’re obsessed with that band Craft and the album Fuck the Universe. So we liked them for some time now, but it’s a matter of finally getting more comfortable doing certain things, especially heavier stuff. <br> </p><!-- more -->
<p><strong>That’s a great album; I’m glad you mentioned that. </strong></p>
<p>Yeah, it's one that kills me. Its one of the meanest, angriest albums ever. </p>
<p><strong>After an album <em>[Geneva] </em>that saw you bring in strings and brass, this album seemed like a conscious effort to strip back to the three-piece mentality. Was it a conscious effort to get back to having the three of you guys playing and not go too far outside of that? </strong></p>
<p>Exactly. Geneva we had the resources and the time to finally add the strings, which is something we always wanted to do but just never worked out in recording time frame. But it worked out with Geneva, and that was cool, but afterwards it was time to go play those songs live and we found ourselves in a little conundrum. "Alright, who the fuck will play the strings part? Who’s going to do this part? Who's playing the trombone here? What the fuck have we done to ourselves here?" [laughs] </p>
<p>Just to make things easier and keep it true to the three piece, we intentionally made this album something that just us three, we can reproduce live, more or less. Its funny; it took a little more work, actually. You can’t just rest on the strings to carry the song. But overall I think it’s a more powerful record as a result. Different vibe. </p>
<p>I’m happy we had the strings on the last album, but it's definitely healthy to get back to three core members and have us take care of all the instrumentation. </p>
<p><strong>This definitely still sounds fairly busy for a three piece. There's usually more than one guitar line going on. For people who aren’t familiar with your live setup, how do you reproduce that live? </strong></p>
<p>Most of the stuff is pretty doable live, as far as throwing a loop down and playing on top of it -- and in some cases a few loops. Nothing’s too tricky, thankfully, and some previous songs will have a passage going that’s a guitar loop of three of the same notes but different octaves in a rhythmic pattern, and its almost impossible to decipher what’s happening once the drums and bass are going, so that kind of lends itself to getting off the beat and getting muddy. </p>
<p>Thankfully, all the stuff on this record is kept pretty simple so it lends itself nicely to the looping and kind of taking away the loop. Reintroducing it without there being any problems with time and whatnot. Nothing’s too tricky at this point, but we’ll see what happens when we go on tour.</p>
<p><strong>Is there anything off Empros that you’re concerned about playing live? </strong></p>
<p>"Schiphol" is the more mellow song on the album, and there’s a whole lot of guitars, bass and baritone happening there. It’s the kind of thing where we can definitely play it live but it might be a different interpretation of the song, so to speak. And "Praise Be Man," I don’t think we plan on playing that live, but if we do we can make it work. </p>
<p>That’s another thing that might not sound as similar to the record but all the conventional songs on the record, short of "Schiphol"; those should be no problem to play. </p>
<p><strong>Speaking of adventurous, I think what will take the fans by the biggest surprise is that there are actually vocals on "Praise Be Man." How did that happen -- who’s doing them? </strong></p>
<p>That’s Brian. It's actually all Brian’s song. He wrote and did everything for that. We were kind of just piecing together ideas, since Brian lives in Seattle and Dave and I are in Chicago; we email ideas back and forth just to keep each other in touch as far as what we’re up to. </p>
<p>That was something he emailed to us and I thought it was beautiful right away, and I gave him a call and I said, “Uhh, so what is this? Is this you? What’s going on here, this is neat, what is this?" And said, "No, I just did that in my bedroom having fun." </p>
<p>We ended up, a lot of that actual recording made the record. A lot of that was pulled form that actual cassette four-track he did in his bedroom, and we just enhanced it live. As far as vocals, we’ve always been open minded to vocals, but it never seemed to fit or be appropriate. It never really presented itself. But this came up and sounded like good music and it was a no-brainer to us. "This sounds great, it's Brian, someone in the band singing." That was more comfortable than looking for someone outside of the band for somebody else. It seemed natural, and this record is all over the place, and somehow that seemed to fit even more since it was different than some of the rest of the tracks. </p>
<p><strong>Since we touched on some of the heavier extremes, I want to talk about the song called "Schiphol," which someone might even describe is a bit Radiohead-like. Who are some of the more melodic influences that might have informed that and "Praise Be Man"? </strong></p>
<p>"Schiphol," that was taken from Brian Eno. I would fall asleep every night to different songs from Brian Eno, and there was one track from Another Green Worldwhere it's just a simple drone. So that song initially was just a giant keyboard kind of drone just doing two different chord progressions throughout the whole song, and I intentionally left it very simple and minimal, and as I kept practicing, I kept adding more and more. </p>
<p>In the studio I added acoustic guitar just to anchor the rhythm since there wasn’t much presence of drums in the first half. That song totally changed from being more of a drone, ambient piece to being more of the structure of a folky, classical weird piece. The ending initially had no guitar solo like that. That was another thing in the studio where we all were thinking this needs something. "How about an over-the-top guitar solo?" That was kind of an example of a song taking itself in another direction. Since ["Praise Be Man"] is mainly Brian’s song, I guess I can’t speak too much about it, but there’s a lot of folk and noise influence over that song. </p>
<p>I can definitely hear Swans or Sparklehorse in that song. You mentioned Eno; have you ever gotten into trying to reproduce any of his guitar effects? The whole Frippertronics thing? </p>
<p>No, I haven’t messed with that kind of stuff. I have a buddy of mine who did some stuff, studying with Robert Fripp, and he told me about the Frippertronics, and that was out of my league. I think it’s beautiful and I’ll leave it at that. Leave it at pure enjoyment and inspiration; that’s a little too intimidating to me. </p>
<p>It’s amazing how well all that music stood up from that era of Eno and Fripp, that ambient stuff. It’s almost untouchable. It still has a melodic element to it. At the end of the song "Batu," there's four minutes of additional drone track, for lack of a better word. That’s just guitar tones being stacked on top of eachother to create a unique ambient kind of mood that just sits there for a while. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s on the actual CD. </p>
<p><strong>You mentioned brining in acoustic guitars, which I would never associate with you guys. Were you guys always open to that idea and they just hadn't fit in until now? </strong></p>
<p>Yeah, God knows we're open minded to a lot, and if it ends up working out, that’s great. Like I said, there wasn’t intentionally a whole lot of acoustic on there. Since we broke the recording up into two different sessions, we had some time to sit on the first few batches of songs that were recorded and all the preproduction of all the demos. Sometimes the acoustic helps to add a three-dimensional quality to the overall music. Whether it's very present or not in the mix, it adds something to the top that’s not quite there with an amp flat guitar. </p>
<p>A lot of that just happens for texture to reinforce what’s already happening but to make it a little more round overall. With the classic guitar in "Schipol," that was more, "You know what lets add this." It calls for this part. Not a whole lot of thought, but it just worked out in the studio. </p>
<p><strong>What acoustics and electrics did you use in recording? </strong></p>
<p>The nylon string guitar on "Schiphol" was mainly done on an old Alvarez; nothing fancy, just something my dad bought to keep around the house so we wouldn't mess up a nice guitar. So that's been in my family for 20-plus years now. For better or worse, I end up playing that guitar almost more than any other guitar. For the most part, it was a Les Paul Custom '57 Reissue -- two of those, actually, one with some hotter pickups and one with the standard '57 pickups. </p>
<p>Believe it or not, I used a Jazzmaster to double all of the guitar parts just to use something that sounded totally different than the stuff that sticks out on the Les Paul, especially on songs like "309" that has a really saturated tone, kind of abrasive overall, and sometimes it's hard to find the notes in there; in all the distortion, it gets kind of lost. Having the Fender in there kind of helped to bring out some of the tones and the actual melodies that would be kind of hard to pick up otherwise. </p>
<p>And there were a few other random guitars. There was a Gibson Sonex, which is like an early '80s Gibson bolt-on guitar made from like composite, kitchen-counter type stuff which has kind of a weird, cool tone that's like halfway between a Fender and a Gibson. </p>
<p><strong>What's your pedalboard like? </strong></p>
<p>That I try to keep pretty simple for recording; there was nothing too crazy in terms of overall effects. A lot of distortion came from a Sunn Model T reissue. I use an OCD here and there, but only for thicker parts. We got our hands on a Malekko phase pedal which we used a lot. For delays, it was mostly Electro Harmonix Memory Man type stuff. But there weren't too many crazy effects over all, looking back. Maybe some reverb here and there, but I tried to get a lot of that tone through the amps. </p>
<p><strong>I know you just finished Empros, but I could see multiple directions the band could go in after this. You've got your first vocal track now, is that somewhere you could see the band going? </strong></p>
<p>Maybe, but I don't really think so. I'm sure if the opportunity comes up to have more vocals then we'll probably go with it, but at the heart of it, we play instrumental music, and that's what we have fun doing. </p>
<p><em>Russian Circles' new album, Empros, is out now.</em></p>Russian Circles tag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:Post/43709042011-09-01T17:10:00-07:002019-10-03T01:48:07-07:00Noisecreep Interview w/ Mike Sullivan (2009)<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://noisecreep.com/russian-circles-guitarist-geneva/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/9abbc4486c0eee9898823a93dc30fd53e12666a8/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-5-02-05-pm.png?1473811405" class="size_m justify_none border_" /></a><br><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://noisecreep.com/russian-circles-guitarist-geneva/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/edf0ea2b4a45bbf6669c39bbf5a6b18ac404964a/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-5-02-22-pm.png?1473811408" class="size_m justify_none border_" /></a><br>Many are going to call ‘Geneva,’ <a contents="Russian Circles" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://sargenthouse.com/russian-circles">Russian Circles</a>‘ third album, a return to a heavy frame of mind that wasn’t displayed on the band’s last effort, 2008’s ‘Station.’ But for guitarist Mike Sullivan, ‘Geneva’ is much more than a loud record. “There are a lot of unsaid emotions,” he told Noisecreep, while discussing what lies behind the record for himself. For Sullivan, the tucked emotions come from his battle with two major health issues over the past year, with one making him question whether he would be able to play guitar again — and the other if he was going to live or die. <br><!-- more --><p>“For a while, we didn’t know if it was cancer.” Sullivan revealed about the health issue that began his time of struggle. “Oddly enough, it’s a gluten insensitivity, and it was kind of acting like autoimmune disease because my body was kind of attacking itself in many ways — like the whole nervous system, that caused a whole onset of different seizures and this other crap.” </p>
<p>Needless to say, coming up with a diagnosis was a harrowing ordeal. “After twice-a-week, non-stop doctor’s visits with zero answers and canceling tours here and there, things are starting to shape up,” Sullivan says, but there was actually another attack on his health that happened during this time as well. “In the middle of all that, I got a repetitive strain injury in my arm, and I couldn’t play guitar for a month or so; and this is a month and a half before recording.” </p>
<p>The repetitive strain injury put Sullivan’s arm in a sling, and the entire record in question. “It was scary for a while. We already had the release date set and the recording time booked and tours lined up,” he recalled. “Thankfully I feel very fortunate that everything worked out and all the work paid off with the therapy and acupuncture; which I always thought was bulls— before,” laughed Sullivan. “But now I’m a walking billboard for it.” </p>
<p>And, of course, it was his time playing music that contributed to the problem in the first place. “I had a lot of built up tension from playing guitar for all those years, and when you release the tension it releases energy that has been built up for years that really can’t do with any other method,” Sullivan thankfully says of acupuncture. “It’s a good way to let things restore back to the natural state of the muscle.” </p>
<p>Even with the health issues that put the band in question, it feels like ‘Geneva’ was recorded much quicker than last year’s ‘Station,’ which seemed like a record the band worked and toiled for some time to put out. But Sullivan says it’s the exact opposite. “‘We didn’t want things to sit there; we didn’t have a bassist and we just wanted to record a record out of a therapeutic experience to prove to ourselves that we we’re good to go,” Sullivan says of ‘Station. “That was all written in a two month period and this time we had way more time to demo, more time to work on songs, change things around, decide when some things aren’t working, or working; so ironically we had way more time this time around. And we had Brian fully on board so we hard more time with him to work around the songs and incorporate him more; where as last time he was just he was just part of the demos and played here and there.” </p>
<p>‘Geneva’ is the first recording that bassist Brian Cook of These Arms Are Snakes — and Botch alumni — played on as a member of the band. Previously Brian had only contributed on demos and played shows here and there. Sullivan says the band had “way more preparation” this time around, through trading demos and flying Brian out from Seattle to Chicago a week before tours to write and work on songs. Some days the band even recorded up to five demos a day. </p>
<p>“We went out of our way to make it sound nasty, not low-fi,” Sullivan said. “But rough around the edges, so it sounds more like a live record.” </p>
<p>Read More: Russian Circles Guitarist Almost Didn’t Get to Make ‘Geneva’ | http://noisecreep.com/russian-circles-guitarist-geneva/?trackback=tsmclip</p>Russian Circles tag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:Post/43706392011-08-10T14:45:00-07:002019-07-06T04:26:22-07:00Music Radar Interview with Mike Sullivan (2010)<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.musicradar.com/guitarist/russian-circles-interview-with-mike-sullivan-270637" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/80b4cd8cf544713f7519883032671ec420899aea/medium/tumblr-inline-o9ysqkbqz11qbzv4w-540.png?1473726457" class="size_m justify_none border_" /><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/8e5eb033b30d93ebc30462fc00eab5013400f51b/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-1-44-42-pm.png?1473799525" class="size_m justify_none border_" /></a>
<p><strong>We're all Russian Circles fans here on Guitarist – there is simply no other instrumental band making music as atmospheric, emotional and powerful as this US trio. </strong></p>
<p>Back in issue 326 we featured guitarist Mike Sullivan but now here's the full transcript of our conversation with even more detail on the making of their third album Geneva and Mike's special playing approach. </p>
<p><strong>One of the biggest changes to your sound on Geneva is bringing in musicians outside of the band for a number of tracks – string and brass players. How did that come about? </strong></p>
<p><strong>Mike Sullivan: </strong>"The strings were something we had planned out long in advance. We made sure we got together with the cellist and violinist, arranged the parts and had that all worked out. </p>
<p>"The brass came about because Greg [Norman engineer] plays trumpet and trombone. Late at night when we were done tracking he'd be kind of messing around after we'd had a few beers. He's try some stuff out and it started off as a joke but then we'd go away for an hour and he'd worked something out and we thought, these horns sound pretty good – let's do it. It was kind of a last minute thing." </p>
<p><strong>How do you feel about your own playing on this album? In some ways it sounds like you're playing less on a technical level but bringing even more to the atmosphere and mood of the music… </strong></p>
<p>"Exactly. It wasn't a conscious shift but in the evolution of what we've been doing so far, it just seemed natural. I guess we're more concerned about the actual arrangement than how technical it is. It's also fun to do the technical stuff too so I can't say that's behind us but it felt more natural this way for all three of us. We can play off of each other more – it's more open to that. More room for expression." <br> </p><!-- more -->
<p><strong>Were you less concerned with being able to completely recreate this album live than you have been in the past? </strong></p>
<p>"Yes. At this point, this being our third album, we felt a little more freedom to add elements. If we hear more things that could go into a song – let's throw them in there. A nylon string guitar or a different drum that can add percussion over what is already there… if we can hear something let's try it and if it works cool, if it doesn't let's not push it. But at the root of it we are a three-piece band and we keep that in mind when we're in the studio and adding stuff. A lot of the songs would sound different live without the strings but I don't think they'd lose too much by that." </p>
<p><strong>So using samples live isn't something you'd consider in the future? </strong></p>
<p>"We're not opposed to that actually. We're leaving to go on tour in two weeks and we're still playing with ideas. Still deciding which songs we're going to perform. </p>
<p>"You do lose a some of the organic quality when it's for an actual instrument, like a cello per se, but we'll see how it goes. I think it will work out fine and a lot of the songs and a lot of the songs so far we're going to be playing live don't really involve strings that much so it's not an issue. A lot of the strings either came from a melody that Brian or I had on keyboard or guitar transposed to strings so it's something that one of us did originally, then we let the strings take care of it."</p>
<p><strong>The title track, Fathom and When The Mountain Come To Muhammad are incredibly dark, desolate sounding songs – what were the influences behind that mood? Were there books or films that inspired you? </strong></p>
<p>"There isn't a source we can point to in terms of influence. It's more the mood of what was going on personally between the three of us – not between us as people but in our own lives. Most of it was written back in Wisconsin where Dave lived for a time. It's a remote area and it was winter so we were up there on our own free to do whatever we wanted. </p>
<p>"I think the environment definitely had something to do with it. But it's been a tense year and a half for people personally and I think it came out through the music without us having to bitch about it to our friends instead! Our friends are probably thankful to us for not opening our mouths."</p>
<p><strong>Did you experiment with your gear more on this album? Amp placement for example… </strong></p>
<p>"I had two amps going for each take – the Sunn Model T reissue and then a 100-watt HiWatt head in the studio but I'm not sure what model that one was. That sounded good next to the Sunn, a little bit different – not quite as dark for some reason. I think we had a little Fender Bronco too that had blown out for tones if we needed. </p>
<p>"The experimentation was with the guitars more than the amps though. I usually use Les Pauls with humbuckers but there's a lot of Telecaster on this record. For the cleaner passages it really gave more articulation – adds more touch. It sounds more exposed, in a good way, and added more to the desolate sounding passages. It has less bottom end so makes for more separation between Brian and I. </p>
<p>"I'd also try different guitars for different takes – so if I was doing an overdub I'd look for a different tone for it. Most of it was still Les Pauls – an ebony Custom. I'm using Bare Knuckle Miracle Man pickups and for the louder, heavier songs they sounded awesome. Those arrived a week before recording so perfect timing. There's a few weird guitars here and there too – a Veleno Italian aluminium guitar. That was used for the opening drone guitar part on Fathom and it worked out really well for that."</p>
<p><strong>Is that your guitar? </strong></p>
<p>"It's actually Steve Albini's that he keeps in the studio. All his gear is laying around there so as a huge fan it's hard not to geek out and check it out! But that guitar had a piercing mid range, that's the nature of the construction, so that was just great for an irritating, abrasive tone that warmed up to the amps a little. It helped to standout against the guitar sound that follows it. I'm learning that even bad tones can be used in a good way." </p>
<p><strong>What Telecaster did you use? </strong></p>
<p>Actually it's a Telecaster-style guitar by a friend of mine, Scale Model Guitars is the name of his company. He had a prototype Tele-style laying around – that was also fitted with Bare Knuckles as a matter of fact – but it was heavy as hell. It weighed eight or nine pounds. It was like a tree trunk! Well maybe not that bad but it was heavy. Whatever it was made from, it was certainly substantial. </p>
<p>"So I used that and an old Tele of mine which I've had since I was a kid. That thing is really high end – no bass whatsoever – so we used it for a few parts here and there to distinguish it from the other Tele. It could have probably been done with a pedal but it always feels good to mess with things and get a nuance here and there." </p>
<p><strong>So you're a convert to Bare Knuckle pickups now then? </strong></p>
<p>"Yes, I came across them from my friend who makes Scale Model Guitars then I got in touch with Tim from Bare Knuckle and we exchanged e-mails back and forth. Then he offered to send me some stuff for free and I've been very impressed with them for sure. They get plenty of love over here in the US. The word is spreading over here."</p>
<p><strong>What delay units did you us for the album? </strong></p>
<p>"I used a Memory Man for a longer, kind of washed out delay sound. For a quick, not quite slapback, short delay I used a MXR Carbon Copy. Those are pretty cool and they're certainly analogue in the way the signal decays very quickly. Those are cool – a fun little pedal. </p>
<p>"There's some Moogerfooger delay here and there just because the Memory Man is so noisy for quiet stuff. That was cool – the Moog stuff is always a blast to play. There was a BOSS DD-3 for Malko to get a really syncopated soulless delay – that was great for that." </p>
<p><strong>What about overdrive? </strong></p>
<p>"That was interesting. I used a lot less gain on this album than I have done previously but it worked out sounding a little fuller for some reason. We did less guitars tracks, less overdubs. </p>
<p>"I used a TS-9 with a Keeley mod and that was actually Brandon's who produced the album – he brought a whole suitcase of pedals for us to play with. I had a Fulldrive 2 before that and wasn't totally happy with it but that TS-9 has some sparkle to it and all the notes ring out in a unique way. Different to a stock TS-9 for sure. That was for a milder distortion but for the full-blown mondo distorto it would be the Fulltone OCD because that thing is just a wall. </p>
<p>"I also used a [Crowther] Hotcake here and there but because there was all kinds of crap laying around we'd throw things in. For the most part it was the OCD though." </p>
<p>"I'm into the Fulltone Minivibe right now. That thing is awesome for me when I'm looping. That pedal will sound a little higher for some reason – it colours the tone a little so when you add another loop on top they sound different.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/e89e406dcda02678d262943d4e97a311d2502fad/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-2-32-52-pm.png?1473802407" class="size_m justify_none border_" /><br> </p>
<p><strong>Will any new equipment be going into your live rig?</strong> </p>
<p>"I'm into the Fulltone Deja Vibe right now. That thing is awesome for me when I'm looping. That pedal will sound a little higher for some reason – it colours the tone a little so when you add another loop on top they sound different. It helps me make the distinction between different loops. As far as new toys that's my latest obsession and that's used here and there on the album too." </p>
<p><strong>Brian joined the band on bass or the Station album but it sounds like he's been a much greater influence on Geneva. How did he affect the music? </strong></p>
<p>"When we wrote Station he wasn't in the band, Dave and I had already written all the songs and when Brian offered to play on the record for us we said, cool. We didn't have a bassist at the time and we needed to get that record out for ourselves more than anything else. We gave him the demos and he played to those and we didn't rearrange things too much after that. </p>
<p>"This time around Brian was much more involved. Most of the writing happens with Dave and I, Brian is in Seattle and we're in Chicago. We'll get the foundation for a song and he'll come in and say, I have an idea for this – he'll come out with certain basslines and a certain bassline can change the whole feel of a song. The direction could change 180 degrees from any one of us changing one part. I hear a jazzy metal riff, then Dave will play something completely the opposite of that and Brian will come up with something really interesting. I then leapfrog and the song takes off by itself." </p>
<p><strong>Is that way of working challenging for you as a guitarist?</strong> </p>
<p>"Yes – things may come from me melodically but they can often springboard other ideas and I end up dropping the original riff or whatever that I was working on. But it's cool though – everything feels more collaborative that way and it was more comfortable to record and play because all three of us were working together. If somebody wasn't comfortable with one part we'd work on it or change it to make sure all three of us were onboard. It was meticulous and we'd make small changes here and there."<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/ee58159786bc819cf2e997b13822efd814c68124/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-2-35-09-pm.png?1473802546" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br> </p>
<p><strong>Hexed All is a very restrained song, it's almost like a waltz - did that go through different versions before you got to that sound? </strong></p>
<p>"That one started originally as a nylon string classical guitar piece and then at one point in practice we started playing it a little heavier, more aggressive – more doom-sounding, if you will. That sounded cool but it lost something – it was less melancholic that way. It seemed more rock. So we went back to a slower, very simple arrangement. </p>
<p>"Initially, the strings and one guitar are doing a similar thing to each other then a non repeating guitar solo evolves through the track – it moves with each part but doesn't really repeat itself. So that was supposed to be a part of it but then hearing back the two different versions in the studio, we had one with strings and one with guitars but that sounded like a mush of crap, too much going on at once. </p>
<p>"The string version sounded more moving, there was more space but with the guitar solos it just sounded like a doodling song. And before that we have we have Malko which is a very busy, active song so it felt more natural to give the album a break before that."</p>
<p><strong>The closing song Philos is a real standout, you released another version of that earlier in the year as a split single with These Arms Are Snakes. What prompted you to go back and rework it? </strong></p>
<p>"That song was written and recorded in a few days last summer. I had some chords bouncing around in my head for the intro but we intentionally didn't overthink that song and kept it simple. We came up with an arrangement and jammed through it a few times and felt some parts out. We did a few takes of it and one of them felt really good and that's the one that ended up on the split 12-inch. </p>
<p>"But we knew we wanted to re-do it because we saw so much opportunity to make it a better song – or at the very least a different version. We hadn't heard the song in months and it was fun to step back after all that time, it offered us a new way to look at it – more objectively, almost in the third person. We thought, we could change this, and add this… experiment with that. </p>
<p>"As we were recording it we were hearing ideas that made sense to try. When recording a song in a professional that you've done before it's easier but I had to relearn the guitar parts. And when I recorded them they sounded a little flat, something wasn't there so a few days later I went back re-recorded half the guitars for that and thank god I did because it would have driven me crazy if we didn't fix it."</p>
<p><strong>Is it a volume swell at the start of that song? </strong></p>
<p>"With a Memory Man – it's a one trick pony sometimes but I think it's more fun than playing chords, notes or straight-up shredding because it's more melody-specific. You have to think more about what notes you're playing and what feelings they'll elicit. It's more about the melody and the notes, not about thinking too much – how should I finger that part, or whatever. There are a million things you can think about when playing guitar and using [the Memory Man] almost dumbs things down but makes it more interesting." </p>
<p><strong>But the more technical side of guitar playing still interests you too? </strong></p>
<p>"Over the last couple of years I've been interested in experimenting in scales, not that I'm well versed in music theory by any means but it's just been about being able to elicit certain feelings through notes. All the scales boggle the mind and it starts to bore me to death after a while but taking out certain elements of that and using them for the actual music is a lot more fun."<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/fedd0484c14f4ab049d4e54dac3cb3f71e60a789/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-2-38-24-pm.png?1473802732" class="size_m justify_none border_" /><br> </p>
<p><strong>Do you play other styles away from the band? </strong></p>
<p>"Definitely – when I'm home it's mainly folk when I'm messing around with a hollowbody or an acoustic. When I'm by myself in the practice space it'll be the loudest, most obnoxious sound – our neighbours probably hate us that's for sure! It's fun to go from one thing to another as a guitarist, I think it's healthy and it makes you more rounded. </p>
<p>"Just now I'm finally getting round to taking more lessons and learning more about music theory so I'm looking forward to seeing where that takes me. I'm starting after the tour so now I'm just brushing up on all the things I was learning when I was a kid! </p>
<p>"I got into John Williams about a year or so ago and that just floored me. Who needs Vai and Satriani when you have this guy shredding faces off with a nylon string guitar? It's got melody to it, counter rhythms… so much going on but it's just one person doing all this stuff. Ever since then I've been fascinated with it. I couldn't do it last summer because I had a wrist injury and couldn't play guitar but that's healed up and now I'm ready for lessons."</p>
<p><strong>So you'll be exploring that whole classical and folk style? </strong></p>
<p>"Yes, I figured I've been playing long enough, I may as well learn a little about it! Use it as a tool, I know so little it's embarrassing so I think I owe it to myself at this point until I'm too old. Actually I think the main reason is when I got to guitar stores and I go to try and guitar or a pedal, I feel like a dumbass sitting there because I rarely play in standard tuning and I always feel on the spot and uncomfortable. So maybe it's just so I can feel not as uncomfortable in front of Guitar Center employees!" </p>
<p><strong>Three acclaimed albums in, and you've been over to Europe a couple of times, as well as playing in the US, how do you feel things have progressed for the band so far? </strong></p>
<p>"It feels very natural and it's progressing at a comfortable rate. When we started off we'd almost take any tour we could get – we'd very rarely ever turn down tours. We'd bust our asses touring, not worrying about who was there, who's not there – just playing. It's slowly grown, and it's good because anything happening overnight would weird me out because I'm a firm believer that it is quicker up, quicker out. </p>
<p>"We'd rather establish a foundation of who we are and what we do and have people support us. It's more meaningful than any quick success. Whatever happens now, happens. As long as it's fun and rewarding for us we'll keep taking this route. So far it's been fun."</p>
<p><strong>Tool requested you as their support act when they played in Europe back in 2007, what was that experience like for you? </strong></p>
<p>That was awesome – that was my favourite moment so far playing live. Enter had just come out on Black Records in the UK so the tour was to support that. We did three shows with Tool and the rest were with High On Fire. I'm a huge Tool fan so I'm a bit biased here but those shows were great. The crowd was very receptive which we weren't expecting. The Tool band members and their crew were really nice, very helpful – they went out of their way to make sure we were comfortable and if we had any problems they'd come and help out. </p>
<p>"It's funny to see a band that big and see how down to earth they still are. You see other bands who have egos that are a fraction of the size in terms of success. It was a 100 per cent positive experience for the band in every way possible."</p>
<p><strong>Your use of a looper pedal is an integral part of the live sound, but there might be a perception by some that a looper is an easy route to layering guitar parts but it's actually a huge challenge in a band like Russian Circles by the sounds of it… </strong></p>
<p>"It takes a lot of work to relearn our songs. It's embarrassing! It helps to have notes of what you were doing before for some songs. But it enables us not to have that second guitarist. I can have the most simple part going for minutes with a looper and a guitar player would lose their mind if they had to play it! It helps us to hear simple things back differently in the context of the song too." </p>
<p>"I'm surprised how cool Les Pauls can sound when they're coil tapped." </p>
<p><strong>Yes, the droning sound in Fathom is so simple but so incredibly important – that's a heavier song than most of the metal bands we've heard this year because the atmosphere is just so dark and oppressive…</strong> </p>
<p>"I appreciate that because I listen to a lot of heavy music too and I prefer something with dissonance over something that's just thick and heavy. That can sound awesome too of course but there's something about dissonance that can make you feel uneasy and pull something out of you rather than just how heavy it is. Heavy is a relative term, if you like."</p>
<p><strong>Will you be using either of your Telecasters live alongside your Les Pauls? </strong></p>
<p>"No, I have a coil tap on the Les Pauls. Having a third guitar seems like a headache because I already have two different tunings and within the songs are heavier parts that I couldn't use the Telecaster for anyway. I'm surprised how cool Les Pauls can sound when they're coil tapped – it's obviously not a bolt-on Telecaster kind of vibe but it's still different enough and there's more tone to play with per song." </p>
<p><strong>So one of your tunings is DADGAD, what's the other one you use? </strong></p>
<p>"It's very similar to DADGAD but the high and low Ds are dropped half a step. I did that because it took my brain off the map – took me out of a comfort zone. It was a case of, OK let's not think about predictable notes here, let's make it more challenging and see what happens. After a while we did a few songs in that tuning and now it's a case of, oh crap I have to use this for half the songs in the set now! There are three songs on Station in that tuning as well as some on Geneva." </p>
<p><strong>The word cinematic gets used to describe a lot of music but it genuinely applies to some of your songs – do you get many requests for your music to be used in television and film productions? </strong></p>
<p>"Yes. We've been used on several television shows. We come from an underground background and we're very conscious of those DIY ethics and we're the money's coming from and where it's going to. But at the same time, if this can help support us and what we're trying to do… it helps cushion where we're at because CD sales are dying so if you can use something like that to supplement your income it helps to keep things floating." </p>
<p>"It's cool for me – I don't have a problem with it as long as I believe that it's not something like the US army. As far as films it's been surfing and skate documentaries but there's a recent film that used a number of songs from Station. It excites me when it's a cool project, it's a lot of fun." </p>
<p><strong>Would you ever consider scoring a soundtrack then? </strong></p>
<p>"Yes for sure. We're fans of a lot of artists that compose soundtracks. We listen to that as much as other music. Maybe it means I'm getting old and boring! My parents tastes and mine are becoming closer together [laughs]. It's oddly terrifying. But if something came along and it felt right, I think it would be a fun project to do because that's the most fun part of being in a band, the creative part." </p>
<p>"Some bands are trying to reproduce what one band did years ago. That's cool, but there's also other stuff to explore." </p>
<p><strong>Looking back, what guitarists have inspired you over the years? </strong></p>
<p>"It's kind of all over the place. When I was younger I was a huge metalhead – I was obsessed with Dimebag and Van Halen. At the same time I was into blues and experimenting with all these blues musicians. It wasn't until I was 15 or so that I got into Fugazi and Shellacin the same year and that changed things for me. It shaped the way I look at music now. </p>
<p>"It goes back to what I was saying before about dissonance where you have notes running the wrong way, it says a lot and that hit me like a ton of bricks. It was ten times heavier than whatever I thought was heavy before. It seemed more free form too, they weren't guitarists playing in the pentatonic scale. No attitude of, time for solo – here are the safe notes! It was less of that and more free. Those two bands changed everything for me."</p>
<p><strong>Brian made a joke in an online interview that maybe bands should start needing a license to use a delay pedal. Do you think that whole post rock sound has reached a clichéd dead end for many other bands? </strong></p>
<p>"I think it's really easy to buy a delay pedal and sound pretty good. Sounding good is one thing, but having something there to latch on to, something memorable is different. Music that puts you into a different place and feeling is another story. </p>
<p>"There's always going to be people who try and do that [post rock] stuff. They like it so they try to capture it and more power to them. But those who are different will always stand out. I don't really think about it too much – it's like playing powerchords, it's just one element of music. You can do it a little or you can do it too much and if you do you'll probably be thrown into a certain genre. But it is funny, I'd say half the opening bands we play with that aren't part of the tour run are usually just like a derivative band copying Isis. That's what comes to my mind when you talk about that delay thing…" </p>
<p><strong>It's all been done already by that band… </strong></p>
<p>"Exactly and that band are always progressing. Some bands are trying to reproduce what one band did years ago. That's cool, but there's also other stuff to explore."</p>
<p><strong>In the Loop <br>Mike's four insider tips for using a looper pedal </strong></p>
<p>1. Timing is everything <br>"If the loop is off by even a fraction of a second and you don't immediately account for it, you'll be in a mess a few bars down the line. Know when to stop and try again." </p>
<p>2. Make sure the drummer can hear you <br>"Using a looper is a challenge for whoever you're playing with but that first loop sets the tempo. Our drummer uses a monitor and I have to make sure my loops are articulate and clear for him. <br>"A bad tempo means the drummer has to play around it on the fly. Sometimes you don't get the chance to fix it and have to keep things going to you don't expose the mistake. That's not good because it interferes with the flow of the song. So again, make sure the timing is right." </p>
<p>3. Choose the right pedal <br>"You need to be very comfortable with the looper pedal you choose. I've tried all kinds but certain ones it's hard to really feel when exactly they start and stop recording. With the Headrush there's no down and up motion with the pedal – it's instantly recording and there's no discrepancy for me as to when it's recording me, it's as soon as I touch it." </p>
<p>4. Practice, and practice again <br>"It's finicky using a looper and the pay-off isn't monumental, it's a lot of hard work for me just to be in time. But once you get it you're good to go."</p>Russian Circles tag:russiancirclesband.com,2005:Post/43708742011-05-01T16:55:00-07:002018-12-07T02:04:53-08:00Punk News Interview w/ Mike Sullivan (2008)<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.punknews.org/article/28943/interviews-mike-sullivan-of-russian-circles" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/54f10e1f0b618b96e1abc8036762b2b5cdf327dc/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-4-37-49-pm.png?1473809886" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></a><br><br><br> <p><br><a contents="Russian Circles " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.punknews.org/article/28943/interviews-mike-sullivan-of-russian-circles" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/158639/04881f8fa903f56a246216796eea51fcc5300022/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-4-38-06-pm.png?1473809891" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></a><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><a contents="Russian Circles" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://sargenthouse.com/russian-circles">Russian Circles</a> have been having a busy 2008. They released their second album, Station, and have been hitting the road quite a bit in support of it and will embark on a US tour with Daughters in June. </p>
<p>Our own Jason Gardner recently sat down with Russian Circles' Mike Sullivan to discuss what's been going on with the band. <br> </p><!-- more -->
<p><strong>For starters, could you tell me a little bit about how Russian Circles formed? At what point did you decide to be an instrumental band? </strong></p>
<p>We started out in 2004. At that time Colin [DeKuiper] and I had been part of Dakota/Dakota, which was also instrumental, and Dave [Turncrantz] had just finished up with Riddle of Steel. We wanted to do something new from what we had been doing before. We weren�??t initially instrumental, but we weren�??t opposed to it. We all can�??t sing to save our lives either. There would be so much down time for a vocalist in our music, and in the end we were comfortable with instrumental music and not having a singer. It was not really a conscious decision. We also had a keyboardist initially, but there was a lot going on musically so we decided against that. </p>
<p><strong>With your second full-length now released, how would you compare the recording and writing of this record, your first with Suicide Squeeze, to the process of Enter? </strong></p>
<p>Not all that different. Just got together and wrote stuff for Enter. For Station, it was a slower writing process. We didn�??t play shows and just wrote for awhile. It was also different because [ex-Botch/These Arms Are Snakes bassist] Brian [Cook] played bass instead of Colin. We would demo stuff and send it to Brian and then we�??d be back and forth via email. The three of us got together for a bit of rehearsing before we went in to record. Recording was different. Matt Bayles was a little more forceful and deliberate. He would worry about how accurate the take was and I worried about the music side of it. I learned a lot from recording with him as far as things I needed to work on. It was great to work with him and the sound of the record is great because of him. </p>
<p><strong>How would you compare the accessibility and appeal of instrumental bands today to when Russian Circles first started out? </strong></p>
<p>I think it�??s growing. Instrumental bands have been around for years and certain bands have helped out the genre. People talk about it getting bigger now, but there are bands from Chicago like Tortoise that have been around for years. There are definitely more kinds of instrumental bands now. People are more willing to accept more types of music. They are sick of the same angle-haircut, cookie cutter bullshit. Things are starting to change around. </p>
<p><strong>Would you say that it is easier for someone who is seeing you in concert for the first time without having heard you before to get into your music since you don�??t have a lyrical aspect for draw them in? </strong></p>
<p>With the heavier bands, like hardcore and metal, a lot of people are turned off by the vocals. Some people are drawn to that though. Old people don�??t want to hear that. If that element is not there, you have a little more accessibility, especially the heavier stuff. With the mellower stuff, you get the music, but there�??s no wussy vocalist on top of it. With being an instrumental band, we can convey different genre styles without the lyrics. <br><br><strong>Have you guys decided on who will fill in on bass for shows? </strong></p>
<p>Brian will be around for awhile, and he wants to be a part of recording for the next album. I can�??t say for sure what will happen, but we love playing with him and he�??s a great addition to the writing process. He�??ll be busy too with his work in These Arms Are Snakes. </p>
<p><strong>Tell me a little bit about your relationship with Suicide Squeeze Records - how has this differed from your time with Flameshovel Records? </strong></p>
<p>We did a 7-inch with SSR in 2006. They weren�??t aggressive about getting us signed up. The label expressed interest in liking us and wanted to put out some of our music. We also have friends on that label like Chin Up Chin Up and Minus The Bear, and the people running the label, Dave and Bekah, are two of the nicest people I�??ve ever met. They care about their artists and if we want to do something they are always all for it. it didn�??t seem like a huge step - it was a natural move. Flameshovel was great too - they were kind enough to help us out when other labels were trying to give us miserable deals. There were no contracts at the beginning, just kind of like a handshake deal. </p>
<p><strong>Of all the touring you�??ve done, what is one show or tour that stands out from the rest and why? </strong></p>
<p>I hate to state the obvious, but the Tool shows in London were the coolest shows we�??ve ever played -- at least for me. The crowd was very receptive and diverse, but I respect them. They were a great crowd. It was also terrifying because we expecting to be booed off the stage and have everything we could think of thrown at us. The venues were great too - venues made for playing music with nice balconies and vaulted ceilings. Definitely not like the big arenas here. Plus I�??m a big Tool fan. It was a short set, I hate playing long sets. The only thing it lacked was the intimacy of a small show. We like when people are right there and we can feel the connection between us and the crowd. It wasn�??t quite there, but we realized there were plenty of people there to make up for that. </p>
<p><strong>What do you guys have planned for the future? </strong></p>
<p>In June, we start an almost full-US tour with Daughters and Widows. After that, we�??ll probably take some time and write for some of the summer. Though nothing is set in stone, we�??re also hoping to head back to Europe in the fall.</p>Russian Circles