Interview met Erin Birgy (Mega Bog)

achtergrond: concertavond 17 november 2019

Net voor haar concert in Het Bos spraken we met Erin over haar creatieve proces, samenwerkingen, inspiratie en gelijkgestemde zielen.

First of all, congratulations with your latest record Dolphine. You’ve had some fine people collaborating on the recordings, like Meg Duffy and James Krivchenia . Do you feel you are part of a certain community of musicians and artists? If so, and also if not so, can you tell me something about it?

We do have a really special community. Most of those people met through Mega Bog projects and flourished inside & outside of it through the years. I felt very lucky to join and help form a special musical/artistic community of muppets in the Pacific Northwest United States when I was younger. I had ambitions of actualising an alternative reality, and met many who wanted to help. My community, now, is a little more exclusive - to preserve energy and be available to deepest friends when they need. It mostly exists within Mega Bog projects, which easily become quite vast, and the groups that those dear ones bring near and have become a part of just meld into the crystal city we’ve deemed important and special.

Are there specific places that are important to you for creating, getting inspired, meeting kindred spirits? And when does one feel like a kindred spirit to you?

Everyone is massively accountable for whatever the project and mirror into the universe, so for us, it’s important to find creatures who have a sense of humour, who get along with all species, are tender, but overflowing with ideas and energy. It could be anyone, there’s no formula to finding a blossom buddy, but when you find a friend for life, at least I know they’re down to be a little twisted and confident in the push and power they can have and want to give the world a little relief and a little puzzle.

Can you tell me something about your creation process?
How does it come to being and how does it evolve to the final recording?

It feels perpetual, every move you make is crucial even if you don’t want that part of yourself exposed. I suppose it’s the points of the day or year you choose to make time to filter and document which can be called the creation process, but it’s actually always. I do love to take breaks, or even run away from my fears and let my confidence slip into what could be called music. A trip to find a horse always helps.

How different is recording and performing for you?

Both are very valuable performance, but performing live has many uncontrollable factors, and outside influence. It’s all so sudden, too. Rarely do I stop in the middle of a song and try to figure something out, you generally have to power through, which is also an amazing skill. The two influence each other a lot. We sometimes have different people performing live than who play on the albums, so it’s a challenge to respect different styles of playing and personalities, while at the same time presenting intentional art. I don’t prefer either over the other, but I am currently craving some studio time, to pick and digest some of the the sounds and feelings I’ve experienced recently.

Can you tell us about three of your all-time favorite records?

Woo’s “A La Luna”
Franco Battiatio’s “La Voce Del Padrone”
Kate Bush’s “The Dreaming”
All very mysterious albums, and conjure beyond music.

Any books or films recommendations that you feel reside in the same universe as your music?

So many to think of, but The Neverending Story, both the movie and the book, have been of life long influence, visually, spiritually, sounds and ethics. I still listen to the soundtrack regularly. All goes the same for The Last Unicorn, and I started watching these movies when I was three.

Your lyrics have a surreal, mystical tone. Is this a vibe that is interwoven in your daily life of is it a side of you that just comes out in the music?

Many of the songs are patchwork’s of thoughts I keep track of through a day or a week, and obviously all along the big path we live. I enjoy collating poems and finding a way to recite in song. It’s important to me to mention the names or figures that appear throughout the hours, and in dreaming if I can help it. Everything we sense or speak is a spell, so I try to be mindful of that, and maybe that’s where the mystical quality comes into play.

Linked to that, how’s life when you are not touring?

It’s hard to be still. I’ve been running for a long time.