Culture of Greed
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INTERVIEW WITH JIM WALKER, "CULTURE OF GREED", By Lyric LaCeile
Lyric: I'm sitting here with Jim Walker of "Culture of Greed", a multi-instrumentalist/video montage solo artist and the guitarist for MEDIAWHORE's recent projects. You're obviously an 'outside the box' creative creature. Do you consider yourself a maverick, an iconoclast, and how would you say that it affects your compositions now ?
Jim: We all walk in the shadow of giants. I am no maverick. Breaking the rules is what makes writing interesting and if your too absorbed in theory its harder to think outside the box. All musicians are thieves, its just how well you disguise the fact you are stealing. If your a musician and think your completely original you are delusional.
Lyric: How eloquent you are but then, 'genius is mysterious'. (stole that quote from Marcel Marceau in his only spoken word in "Barbarella") Its no different for a writer. We graft from what we see, hear, taste, feel and experience. Who inspired you to master the guitar the way you have now, to initially to grind out the sounds you make ?
Jim: My inspiration on guitar would have to be the punk icon guitarist Rikk Agnew of the original L.A. band, 'Christian Death' and the 'Adolescents'. His no nonsense approach to melodic rhythm guitar is second to none. He is a great guy as well!
Lyric: Ah, "Christian Death", saw them a long time ago, growing up and working in the music scene/industry in L.A. Having interviewed Mikee Plastik of MEDIAWHORE, the project that you grace with your stellar guitar and brilliant musicianship at that , that connection is quite obviously a highly palpable one. What do you attribute to this remarkable chemistry, fusion of minds, and how, if at all, do you feel that it pours over into your solo projects ?
Jim: Mikee and myself are really like two sides of the same coin. It is so easy to work with him because we really have very similar visions of art, yet still express them in completely different ways. We are completely comfortable with each other because we both know that we believe in each other's message, art, and talent. Mikee is such a talented performer and artist that it makes my jobs so incredibly easy. He is truly inspirational, so calling it a 'working situation' is really a stretch. It's not work at all. Also, our extended telephone conversations are legendary. We talk for hours on our plots and schemes!
Lyric: I'm back with Jim Walker, solo artist, with his newest project, "Culture of Greed". Everyone gets this question gotta have my fun, you know. In this 'just-add-water' condition of the music industry, how do you feel that the Internet has helped/harmed artists and why?
Jim: The internet has done both. It has harmed the music industry because the mystique that surrounded acts before the Internet has now vanished. We now can know everything about an artist in seconds. There are no bootleg recordings, rare videos, or strange pictures that cannot be accessed immediately. This means that part of the magic of music industry is gone forever.
Lyric: Tis true, and a sad departure of the alchemistic past that you speak of as well, but then there is the ease and endless resourcing of self-promotion!
Jim: What the Internet has done from a promotional stand point is amazing. Bands now have the ability to promote globally and to compete with any major music distributors. However, the sheer amount of music is staggering. Getting your material to be heard through this din is a huge challenge. I do not believe that anyone has invented the best way of marketing music in the information age that guarantees a living wage for the musicians and at the same time embraces the file sharing culture. Until this is reconciled I feel both the artist and the consumer suffer.
Lyric: Great to hear that about Toxic Shock. It is rare to hear, that a small Indie label are actually doing more for you than merely handling the distribution . On adequate promotion and press, I see that in many great artists' situation as a problem.
Jim: I think 'Culture of Greed' is firmly grounded in 'Toxic Shock's' agenda. My hands are in many things. I have a track I co-wrote with Mikee Plastik on his 'Mediawhore' CD released earlier this year; I have a 'Culture of Greed' track that will be appearing on a compilation this year (I have already done one compilation released last year); Promotion is something that every artist today has to take responsibility for. The days of big labels making unknowns famous is dying very fast.
Note: Toxic Shock compilation "The Fetish of Sound" Featuring Culture of Greed and many others will be released August 5th http://www.toxicshockrecords.com/
Lyric: Any important authors/poets , and if so, how any of them might have driven you in some way to do what you do now?
Jim: My favorite poet is T.S. Elliot. My favorite authors are Herman Hess, Albert Camus, Franz Kafka, and Samuel Beckett. All of these authors flirt with the absurd. It is within the absurd that we can best understand our own condition. My music tries to do the same. My success is left to the listener.
Lyric: Absurdity is something the more developed mind can grasp. More succinctly, share with us if you would, a favorite quote that best sums up the way that you live your life.
Jim: "Nietzche's quote, "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."
Note that 'Culture of Greed's' first full length CD is now finished and is in the manufacturing process. It will be officially available from the Toxic Shock Records' website in the coming weeks. How do you feel about that, Jim, stoked?
Jim: I am very excited about this CD. It represents a full circle of my creative energies. In my youth I was fully engrossed in the sounds that are present in this work. It pays homage to my past yet, I believe, is fresh and new. I hope everyone who reads this picks up the cd as well as perusing the site on myspace, lots of interesting stuff there
Lyric: What disturbs you most about the human condition, ie, racism , one world order, child neglect and abuse, complacency, you get the gist and does it exude from your music? .
Jim: There are many things that disturb me about society and the human condition, mostly though it is the endless pursuit of material wealth that we see from our culture. People seem to think that money will somehow free them and make them happy or important. We see this especially in the young hip-hop culture. But in the end, the blind pursuit of material goods through consumerism is just a more clever form of slavery. Instead of chains around their neck, materialism is the hypnotic lust for unimportant bling that binds them to a system of control that they can not perceive or remove themselves from. Worse than that however, such endless blind consumerism is unsustainable in a world of finite resources.
Lyric: How do you approach this awakening of the comatose state of our government and the so-called secret societal elements ?
Jim: I would love to simply trash these elites, but I realize that most people have no idea about this topic. So I try to spoon feed it to them in a way in which they can come to their own conclusions. If I can get them to do that it is almost a certainty they will not think "secret societies and those who manipulate our world are wonderful!" If I bash too hard I am afraid that I may come across as a hater and that may turn off those who don't understand. So I try to point these things out subtly and hopefully in a way that will have people look for more information on their own. Doing this and being artistic at the same time is a challenge indeed.
Lyric: So its safe to say that your lyrical approach is more in the vein of humanity?
Jim: How I express this in my music in more subtle than most acts which try to relay a political message. Most of my lyrics really have little to with my political beliefs and more to do with the human condition and existence in general. I really expose my political ideas in my video element. I meticulously collect video clips that are rarely more than 3 to 5 seconds long. I interpose and collage these clips to create a story-like video that portrays many of my anti-corporate and anti-consumerism ideas interlaced with many other images to create surreal and ever evolving visuals. Lately, I have also also enjoyed poking fun at secret societies as well.
Lyric:. Jim, I gave you a bit of advice on overcoming the futility that slams all artists at one time or another. I experience it in my writing as well. When you reach out to an audience and they 'get' you, this has to feel gratifying. If not, who else are you truly doing this for? Should it not be for your own pleasure?
Jim: Its very gratifying when you see that they get it. It really makes it all worth while. It makes doing it worth while. The reason I make music is because I have too. It is part of me that will never leave me or be diminished. I am always listening to music. I think listening is much different than just hearing music. Too much music seems to be for just hearing, rather than listening. It is either too 3rd person or some tired cliche. I want to write 1st person music - figuratively I mean.
Lyric: You're a seasoned musician with a veritable "who's who" resume.
Jim: I have been lucky to work with some great talent.
Lyric: Yes, you have , and Jim, its been a real pleasure to dive into your head!
"Dasein" , "CULTURE OF GREED"s latest release is available at: www.toxicshockrecords.com, www.myspace.com/cultureofgreedmusic www.cultureofgreed.comContact
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