Part 1

Name: Marijus Aleksa
Nationality: Lithuanian
Occupation: Drummer, producer, composer
Current release: Marijus Aleksa's As They Are is out March 17th 2023 via Music Information Centre Lithuania.
Recommendations: I’ll just reccomend two that I’m into today:
A poetry book by David Whyte, called Consolations
An album by ‘9ms’, called ll

If you enjoyed this interview with Marijus Aleksa and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit his official website. He is also on Instagram, and Facebook.



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

I started drumming naturally when I was 5 on anything I could find at home, usually the big peanut butter cans that a distant family members had sent us from the USA (I was born and raised in Vilnius and we were still occupied by Soviet Russia back then so we didn’t have any products from the West in the shops. So anything like Snickers bars, peanut butter or even bananas were super rare. Peanut butter cans came in handy - not only for the butter).

I’m not sure why I was so passionate about the drums especially. But I was definitely growing up in a musical family. My dad was playing bass and writing lyrics, singing bv’s in a rock band and my mom played and taught classical piano at a music school. My aunt played bass in a heavy metal band. And my older brother played cello and then switched to bass. So obviously when I turned like 6 or 7, my mom brought me to the music school she taught at. That’s where it all started.

And then writing / producing music - I only started doing that like 5 or 6 years ago, when I felt I have my own musical ideas that I want to express, and when I felt like the majority of artists that I do session drumming for were a musical compromise for me. I liked some things they'd come up with and some I didn’t. So I decided to try and do it on my own to feel 100% when I play the music.

I can’t say that I’m 100% now that I write and produce my own music though haha … Once the track is finished I already know what could have been done better. But I definitely love the process of making music and learning every day. It makes me happy.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

I guess the feeling is similar to eating food to me. Like there’s different cuisines, different dishes, different foods. If it’s made by a really good chef and is very good for what it is - it still doesn’t mean that I will like it.

It’s a matter of taste. And to know your taste is partly knowing yourself as you are today. One can as well not know one’s taste, and it’s something you can work on or investigate and find out something about yourself. So when I like some piece of music - it comes as a pure feeling of appreciation, familiarity which I try and savour.

Let’s say a piece of music or just a sound or it can also be just a small detail from the whole track, I always try to save it somehow - be it a note on my phone in writing or audio recording, or put a track on my personal playlist. And then later, when I come back to this big pile of musical ideas and sounds that I liked at some point, I start to understand what I like about them and what my musical taste is.

And then obviously that influences my own creations, my own “recipes”.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

It’s a constant everyday adventure for me, like a continuous thought. Especially the search for a personal voice. Some artists are born with it. And some has to spend a lot of time searching for it. As one of my musical heroes Miles Davis said: “Sometimes it takes you a long time to sound like yourself”.

I’m definitely a latebloomer and I feel like I’m only starting to shape my own voice. It’s a really interesting process though. It takes time and digging deep because in my opinion we (Lithuanians or even all the Baltic states) don’t really have an obvious and profound root in music. Lithuanian folk music fans will be offended if they read this haha.

What I mean is - there are places in the world where the music is very characteristic to its people and place and culture. Let’s say NY Jazz, Brazilian songs, Cuban rhythms or Berlin's electronic dance music scene. We don’t yet have a distinct musical voice over here. I mean, again, we have the folk songs, the polyphonic vocal songs called “Sutartinės” are my favourites.



But one doesn’t really relate to it today (definitely not the young generation), you don’t hear it on the radio and it’s not an active genre that’s developing and / or finds its place in contemporary music as an influence in the world today.

An exception is a band called Merope, led by my classmate Indrė. They’re blending Lithuanian folk singing with electronic music and it works really well I think.



I think partly it has to do with hundreds of years of Lithuanian occupation . We’ve been an independent country for more than 30 years now, but probably it takes even more time for the identity in music to brew after so many years of censoring what you can and can not play or even listen to. So it’s kind of a blank page for us to start with. When you can’t draw influence from your ancestors - you have to come up with something on your own if you want to have an identity in music and not just copy someone that you’ve heard and liked a lot.

For a long time I felt a bit like a musical tourist when session drumming for various jazz, world, electronic, pop and rock artists. This album As They Are is the phase where I mixed all the influences together, and the new music that I hear in my head is drifting away from my experiences as a session drummer and hopefully moving closer towards a more distinctive and recognisable voice.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

As I mentioned before - I think the music for a creator can be a key to self understanding.

In the past 5 years or so of making my own music I realised I like warm sounds, meditative forms, I don’t really like dramatic compositions or harsh sounding instruments. Wether I listen, produce or play music.

And I realised this is because of my personality. I like routines - doing the same things I like every day. I like long walks, I like calm cool colours, I like nature. Even when it is dramatic, it is still harmonious and continuous.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

My ideas change with every album I make wether my own or collaborating with someone. This album As They Are is something I call a music collage. I act more as an editor than a composer here.

I did write a few melodies for some tracks on the album. But mostly I had my musician friends come by my studio and jam over some musical sketches I had. Or sometimes they even recorded without me being in the same room. As the majority of the album was recorded during Covid, I had some friends record at their home studios in different parts of the world and send their parts to me. Then I edited and produced everything at the last stage of the process.

23 musicians from Lithuania, UK, USA, and Cuba have recorded on the album, and each of them brought their own spice to the sound.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

That’s a topic that is very interesting and important to me. As is mentioned before - I don’t feel like a have a strong tradition to continue just because where I’m from and that’s why in a way I’m forced to come up with something on my own.

Of course one can continue a tradition of let’s say Afrobeat, without being raised in Ghana or Nigeria. But somehow it touches me the most when I hear musicians play the music of their own culture they grew up in. You can learn the rhythms and melodies of different countries, but there’s that something extra in the notes when you hear a New York raised drummer playing bebop.

And then also just in general - I think I’m quite curious as a person and that’s why I’m definitely more interested in a “music of the future”.