Name: Anthony Pirog
Nationality: American
Occupation: Guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser
Current release: Anthony Pirog's The Nepenthe Series Vol. 1 is out November 10th 2023 via Otherly Love. It features collaborations with Nels Cline, John Frusciante, Luke Stewart, Andy Summers, Janel Leppin, Brandon Ross, Wendy Eisenberg and Ryan Ferreira.
Recommendations: Charles Ives - The Pond (Remembrance) - The San Francisco Orchestra; Allan Holdsworth - Non Brewed Condiment

[Read our Nels Cline interview]
[Read our Wendy Eisenberg interview]

If you enjoyed this Anthony Pirog interview and would like to keep up to date with his music, visit him on Instagram.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

These days I try to be very conscious of what is happening to my nervous system while I’m listening to music.

I’ve worked with SE therapy for many years now and am trying to see what happens as I take different music in. I’m not trying to avoid a particular reaction to music, or anything like that, but am interested in analyzing how I feel in relation to the piece I’m listening to.

I don’t have a standardized practice when it comes to listening but when I am fully immersed in the listening experience I enter a state which is fairly close to meditation. The best way I can describe it is completely being in the moment.
 
What were your very first steps in music like and how would you rate the gains made through experience - can one train/learn being an artist?

My first steps were really just an intense desire to understand how music and more specifically the guitar works. That feeling has never changed through the decades that I’ve been playing music and that’s something that I don’t think can be taught.

I still feel like I’m not as proficient as I’d like to be and there are still so many things that I want to learn. The most exciting thing about music to me is that you can keep getting better and better at it as long as you are able to play.
 
According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

When I was that age I was trying to hear everything I could. I was listening to everything from Doo-Wop to free improvisation. I was basically trying to seek out anything that I hadn’t heard before.

That feeling is still a big part of my pursuit as well. I don’t want to hear the same thing over and over again. I can’t stand hearing the same chord progressions repeated over and over.

That’s why I was specifically drawn to free improvisation. That music exists in the present moment only and I am very drawn to that being my primary focus.
 
What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and what motivates you to create?
 
To me creating something is almost as though I’m questioning whether something is possible for me to execute or not. I’m never fully convinced that I’ll be able to perform what I’m writing in the compositional process but I know I feel good when I push myself.

Sometimes it’s frustrating for me because it seems like I’m never playing in my comfort zone. But that also keeps things fresh.

To quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

It can be both. I think that as long as I’m working and I’m remaining open to any and all ideas things are going to be OK. Sometimes it takes forever to create an idea and sometimes you discover one immediately. Or vice verse.

I do feel that it takes me a certain amount of time to get into a focused state (the zone) and that’s where I’m the most receptive to ideas. I usually just have to sit and work on music in any way and then things start coming.
 
Paul Simon said “the way that I listen to my own records is not for the chords or the lyrics - my first impression is of the overall sound.” What's your own take on that and how would you define your personal sound?

I am hyper-focused on everything when I’m recording. The tones, the timing, the gain staging, etc.

The thing that is most important to me though is the overall emotional feeling that a recording is creating. Sometimes when I hear technical music it sounds very good but lacks emotional content. It’s like the technique overpowers the music or the music is there to serve the technique. The thing I care most about is the emotional content.

There is always a great moment when I’m making a record and I stop listening for negative things and hear it like a normal listener would. When I hear a recording like that I know it’s finished.
 
Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

I am 100% into sound. It’s why I use so many effects. I get inspiration from sounds from everywhere. My favorite moments are when multiple drones are made from several mechanical things like cars or planes and create a chord or diad. I love listening to subways. I love listening to water.

When I was in Kyoto with The Messthetics there was dripping water that we were listening to in a garden and that was one of the most beautiful sounds I’ve ever heard.
 
From very deep/high/loud/quiet sounds to very long/short/simple/complex compositions - are there extremes in music you feel drawn to and what response do they elicit?

I’m drawn to extremes all the time. I’ve made harsh noise guitar records (tm, BEAT tm) …



… and ambient guitar records (The Nepenthe Series, Vol. 1). I don’t like unoffensive things in art.
 
Could you describe your creative process on the basis of one of your pieces, live performances or albums that's particularly dear to you, please?

For The Nepenthe Series, Vol. 1, I gave myself the challenge of asking collaborators to send me tracks to play off of and respond to.

Having to create a response and not having complete control of the outcome is something that I find very inspiring. When I’m forced to find a way to react to something that I didn’t initiate, I generally am forced to re-examine my approach and step out of my comfort zones. I really like stretching my abilities and am usually much happier with the outcome when I’m collaborating with someone in real time.

I love having musical interactions that feel like spontaneous conversations.
 
Do you conduct “experiments” or make use of scientific insights when you're making music?

I enjoy working with the possible timbres the guitar is capable of making. I’m constantly experimenting with effects and extended techniques looking for new sounds. It’s a whole world and the potential seems limitless.

I’m also always practicing with uncommon scales for improvisation and composition.
 
How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

I think that if you keep an open mind, stay interested and try to stay humble you’ll be in pretty good shape no matter what you’re doing.

Instrumental music is a deep form of communication. It’s like poetry. It can express things without words. I love that it can be interpreted differently but never be truly wrong.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Performing music is a very personal and vulnerable way of expressing yourself. To me it’s a sacred practice.

I take coffee very serious with measurements and ratios but music is so open to being expressive of an idea. I could write an instrumental piece and you can understand what I’m saying without me telling you. You might not know my story but you can relate what the emotion is conveying based on your own experiences.

I think that’s a fascinating way to communicate.

Every time I listen to "Albedo 0.39" by Vangelis, I choke up. But the lyrics are made up of nothing but numbers and values. Do you, too, have a song or piece of music that affects you in a way that you can't explain?

Satie usually gets me pretty good.
 


If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?
 
I like to hear music that obviously isn’t made with overly eager expectations or intentionally made as a product.

If you stay true to the music the music will stay true to you.