Interviews - Live 4 Metal

Interview with Hunter Ginn of Canvas Solaris
June 2008 by Metal Mark

Hailing from Georgia, Canvas Solaris have been around for almost a decade. It took few years before they settled on the musical direction. I recently got to check in with drummer Hunter Ginn to find out more about this band.

Tell us some about the history of this band.
Nathan and I started playing in 1999 with Jimmy McCall on bass. This incarnation, along with Brad Jeffcoat on vocals, lasted until 2002, when Ben Simpkins was added. It was at this juncture that we decided to go instru-tech. In 2006 Ben bowed out due to academic obligations. We added D. Smith, C. Rushing, and G. Pirlot. That line-up recorded 'The Atomized Dream' and persists to this date.

I have been listening to your new release the Atomized Dream lately. How do you think that it is different from your previous albums?
It's the full realization of the Canvas Solaris vision. If 'Penumbra Diffuse' was a start, then 'The Atomized Dream' is its logical conclusion. It's everything that I've ever wanted to hear this band do.

Many of your songs seem rather complex yet they flow so smoothly at times. What is the writing process like for your music? Do you start with a part and build and add from there or do just jam and iron things out as you go along?
Normally, Nate and I both have ideas for particular songs, and we bounce those ideas against each other. However, band members write entire compositions and look to other band members to fill in the lines. 'Cortical Tectonics' and 'The Atomized Dream' were written in their entirety by Nathan and myself.

What are some of your favorite tracks on the new album?
The Binaural Beat, Photovoltaic, and The Unknowable and Defeating Glow.

You have been on Sensory records since 2005. How did you signed by them and how has relationship with them been since then?
Our friend Jeff Wagner recommended to Ken Golden (CEO of The Lasers Edge) that he give us a listen. He seemed to be adequately impressed with Penumbra Diffused to offer us a deal. We love and respect the label that Ken has built and we function quite harmoniously.

Do you have a tour in the works? Do you know any areas or approximate dates you might be playing yet?
We'll be playing ProgDay in Chapel Hill, NC on August 31. That is as far as we're committed. If the right offer comes together, we'll consider it. Otherwise, no tours are in the works.

What’s the club scene like in your area of Georgia? Any fantastic unsigned acts that we should be aware of?
It's non-existent. For the most part, however, we're not aware of what's going on, club-wise. We're rather introverted, in that sense. I wish I could offer tips re: hip club groups, but I can't. I can recommend that everyone listen to Jermaine Stewart's "We Don't Have to Take our Clothes Off," which is one of the funkiest joints ever. I'm listening to it right now!

Who did the artwork for the Atomized Dream?
Mars-1, who is an amazing artist to whom Ken hipped us. In fact, we plan on working with him until notified otherwise. His art sums up our music quite perfectly, I think.

What should someone who comes to see you live expect?
Boring looking guys playing their recorded music quite faithfully. Sorry, but the truth is the truth.

Is your music difficult to reproduce? Do you improvise much live?
There is absolutely no improvisation. Given adequate rehearsal time, our music is not difficult to reproduce live. We all live 5 hours apart, though, so rehearsal time is rationed.

Your Myspace page says you started out doing weird death metal. In what way was it weird? When and why did you change your musical direction?
It had nothing to do with the blast-attack trend, which, at the time, was the norm. Our death metal looked back to quirkier and cooler early 90s traditions.

How do you think that your band has improved over the years? In what areas would you still like to grow or improve upon?
Our music has become richer and more comprehensive of the metal idea. I'd like to push things even further, perhaps into realms unknown even to metal.

What do you hope to accomplish over the next year?
Not to break up over the impossibility of doing nothing absolutely new.

If you could only listen to three albums over the next month then what would you choose?
Fela Kuti--He Miss Road/Expensive Shit
Julian Priester--Love, Love
Sonic Youth--Daydream Nation

Is there anything else that you would like to say about your band or your music?
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk about the music of Canvas Solaris. I hope that I did our project justice! All hail Baudrillard's theory of meaning deriving from absence!

-Hunter