“"The Poet's Song"”
Hello
Monte, thank you for this interview.
You are welcome,
thank you for asking.
Could you
tell our readers who is Monte Nordstrom?
Yo soy un hombre sincero…
Like anyone, I am a spiritual being living in the material world, learning from
my mistakes and trying to help people as much as I can. I express myself with
music and I try to keep an open mind.
Until about 12 years ago I supported my family exclusively with money made from performing music. This resulted in having to be very versatile and open to playing many different styles of music. I collected over 1500 songs for my act. I also wrote and recorded music in the manner that my audiences could relate to. My bands were quite popular locally and I was fortunate to employ very talented musicians. It was a lot of fun at times.
These days I am employed by various agencies to provide mental health support services to people living with various challenges. I perform less often but I am able to be more selective of the engagements I accept. I still have a great trio and we play as often as possible. I also perform as a solo artist while my wife MaryAnn and I enjoy traveling the world as musical tourists.
What elements define your
music?
My music is a fusion
of styles from various influences. I try to bring a sense of spontaneity to my
performances and recordings. I like to improvise over atmospheric chordal
movements and use melody and rhythm to present my lyrical ideas. Sometimes I
try to include a specific message with poetry. Other times the mood is the
message.
Who has influenced your work?
I have many influences. I grew up listening to North American country music,
rock & roll and pop radio in the 50’s. Elvis, Hank Williams
and Frank Sinatra were the icons of that era, as well as many others. I
also listened to classical music, my favorites being Beethoven, Bartok,
Segovia and later Villa-Lobos. In the early 60’s The Beatles
and Bob Dylan showed what a group or a solo singer/songwriter could do.
That’s when I started playing. My tastes rapidly expanded to include Miles
Davis “Bitches Brew”, “Cosmic Music” by John Coltrane,
early funk by James Brown, southern soul by Otis Redding and raw
blues by Howling Wolf/Muddy Waters, etc. Living on the Pacific
coast when the psychedelic movement started I was directly influenced by the
San Francisco/Los Angeles bands, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead,
Quicksilver, Zappa, The Doors, etc. Atmospheric jazz
guitarists Lenny Breau, Gabor Szabo, John McLaughlin, Antonio
Carlos Jobim and others like Sandy Bull were all of interest. The
early Prog bands were emerging. The Moody Blues and Procol Harum
were my first taste of that style. Of course when Hendrix arrived
everything changed. The power trio was revolutionary & at times music
became political as well as entertaining. The 70’s brought about technical
virtuosity but sometimes imagination gave way to formlessness. I started
writing my own material in 1968. By 1970 I joined my first serious band, Ptarmigan
and the focus was on reflective acoustic soundscapes. By this time Yes, Genesis,
ELP, Soft Machine and King Crimson were getting big. The
Mellotron and synthesizers taking over, making music more orchestral &
complex. At times virtuosity and imagination gave way to bombastic
self-indulgence. But that’s rock & roll…
How do you
resist fashions and fads?
Trends and fads in music come and go. We take the bad with the good. Sometimes
a fashion becomes a movement. The reggae sounds of Bob Marley or the
Bossa Nova of Jobim for example. Other times it is a current teen-age
gimmick that is forgettable. One has to keep an open mind to all music.
Otherwise we’d all still be beating on a hollow log with a stick. We have to
evolve & absorb fresh ideas, creating mutations as we expand the lexicon of
our musicality.
How have
you been able to maintain your originality?
I am conscious about my influences when I write and know the difference between
composing in a particular mode versus stealing someone else’s ideas. Stealing
my own ideas is allowable. I often return to certain favorite progressions and
moods depending on what I am trying to express. That is simply developing a
style. But each composition must be able to stand up on its own merits.
How does
the process of the creation work in you?
Sometimes the poetry
comes first, inspiring the music to follow- or vice versa. The feeling of the
music can evoke a mood, which inspires a lyric or message. Ideas evolve through
performance, interplay and experimentation.
When do you
understand that a work is well achieved?
When a composition conveys an emotional expression or mood, it is ready to
perform. The performance itself is a spontaneous creation inspired by the
concept of the song.
At some
time you did look back in your career and evaluate it?
I recently reviewed a video interview/performance of mine from about 1975. I
was amazed that if the same questions were asked of me today I would answer
them in a similar fashion. I am still following the path I set out on in 1968.
What perspective
do you have of your career?
I see my career from a variety of perspectives. When I first started out I made
a statement that I would like to be an underground artist. You must be careful
what you wish for. I see now that many of my career decisions have been
commercially non-productive. Sometimes I find it frustrating that I did
not develop a more supportive and wider audience when I was younger. Even so I
must say that there are many levels of success and you can’t judge yourself
compared to the music business because it is largely a false image. Due to my
personality I probably wouldn’t have been able to survive the rigors of life on
the road through the 70s and 80s had I been a "Star". The fact that I
have survived and I am still following my own creative path is reward enough.
Being married for 26 years and having a well-adjusted 22 year old daughter is
my biggest success. Being able to live on Vancouver Island and travel about the
world from time to time is a beautiful thing.
What things
do you find the best and which the worst?
The worst was during
the 80s when I performed in bars and lounges as a solo singer guitarist. There
were good points but it was very lonely work and demeaning at times. The best
times are found in a well-appointed recording studio or in front of a
responsive audience.
What are
your the most significant contributions as an artist?
If I have a good
audience I have the ability to perform "in the moment", channeling
the soul of inspiration. When I am in this frame of mind it is a transcendental
experience. I also feel that bringing a positive message is important. There
are so many negative things in the world already. If I can uplift someone’s
spirits with a song or my guitar playing, then I am happy.
When making
a balance, what satisfaction has your music given you?
Performing is a
catharsis that releases the stress of everyday existence for me & hopefully
for my audience.
What road
are you traveling now as an artist? Where do you go with your music?
I continue to learn
from the past as I move into the future. I will follow my music wherever it
takes me. With the Internet making the world a smaller place, I keep being
surprised by the opportunities that are presented by people’s curiosity.
Is it
premature to speak of a new disc? Does new clever material already exist?
I have at least 2
albums of material ready to record, once the budgeting can be arranged. Being
self-financed is my biggest limitation. I am currently in the process of having
the 1974 “Ptarmigan” album re-released by Vincent Tornatore of The
Lion Productions. He will distribute that CD and my latest release “After
All… ” from 2004. We are also working on a couple of other re-releases from
my back catalog, including “Silhouette of our Insanity” from 1978 and “Voodoo
Rage” from 1983. Once these titles are all available I will look at
recording new material.
What new
sounds are you experiencing?
I enjoy some
worldbeat, trance and ambient material but don’t really keep up on the current
scene that much. There are lots of new singer/songwriters that are wonderful
and worthwhile, but as a rule I tend to favour music of a mature vintage or new
material written by mature artists. It speaks to me more directly. Bob Dylan’s
“Love and Theft” was wonderful and we saw him in concert this month and
he continues to amaze me by moving forward. We will be seeing the Rolling
Stones in November and hearing their new material. That may be a bit of a
chance, but it will be a spectacle. Last year we saw Procol Harum and King
Crimson, both acts presenting new albums. Brooker and Fisher
were in fantastic form. Crimson was truly beyond description.
Frightening beauty.
What you
are listening at the moment?
Procol Harum “Live at the Union Hall” DVD; Miles Davis “On the Corner/Jack Johnson”; Joni
Mitchell “Woman of Heart and Mind” DVD; Fiamma Fumana, a young band
from Milan, Italy; Classical M “Bad Guys”, a Parisian band from the
60’s.
Which are
your favorite artists?
I prefer artists
that perform with passion and commitment. The genius of creativity must come
through at some point.
Does a
genuine philosophy of innovation exist in the music scene today?
Yes and No. There
are an amazing number of brilliant artists using the latest technology to
create new mutations of music. Some of it is truly innovative and can be
beautiful or terrifying or both. The thing about technology is that it tends to
recreate rather than innovate. It takes a true pioneer to enter new
territories. After a while others will follow and end up going over the same
ground until it becomes commonplace. That is why King Crimson is such an
impressive band. They continue to move forward in creative spasms, harnessing
technology and pushing the envelope. Even then after awhile they are faced with
growing stale and have to somehow reinvent themselves. That is an art in
itself. It would be interesting to hear King Crimson perform in an
acoustic setting without all the machines, wouldn’t it? I choose to operate
with a mixture of vintage and modern equipment using acoustic and electric
instruments while I focus on the music itself and the innovation of an inspired
performance.
Many thanks
Monte, do you have some message for our readers?
Yes, please continue
to support unknown and non-commercial artists, buy their recordings & go to
their concerts. Promote love and peace wherever you are. Celebrate diversity!
Thank you for your interest!
Nucleus interview: 12/08/05