Name: Massimo Pupillo
Nationality: Italian
Occupation: Composer, bassist, multi-instrumentalist, improviser
Current release: Massimo Pupillo teams up with thighpaulsandra for their first album as Uruk, The Great Central Sun, out as part of the Mind Travel Series on Ici d’ailleurs.

[Read our thighpaulsandra interview]

If you enjoyed this Massimo Pupillo interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit him on Facebook, and bandcamp. We also have a previous interview with him as part of the trio Brötzmann / Pupillo / Babel.

Over the course of his career, Massimo Pupillo has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Mats Gustafsson, Eraldo Bernocchi, Tony Buck, Tomas Järmyr, and Jim O'Rourke.

[Read our Mats Gustafsson interview]
[Read our Eraldo Bernocchi interview]
[Read our Jim O'Rourke interview]
[Read our Tony Buck interview]
[Read our Tomas Järmyr interview]



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

I think / feel it's something innate in every person. Whether you develop it or not is another matter.

I feel like music comes from the same place or dream. So it's hard to control it or push it where you want it go.

It's like a power to the psyche - not to personality.
 
For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

Absolutely not. It's enough to have the initial spark, a vision of what it is that wants or needs to be said, and let the work emerge. It's neither planning nor chance.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

Not really. I think I research anyway all year long. (it depends what you mean by it).

I keep listening, reading, living ... that's all research for me.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

No, and if I knew something worked last time, it wouldn't work now.

Life is constant change and so is whatever output. It's always different, you don't get to bathe in the same waters twice.
 
What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

It's the easiest part because it has all the enthusiasm in it.

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?

I reply to you with a question: When you wake up from a dream, did you create it or did it arrive from somewhere? I refer a lot to this question myself.

Once you've started, how does the work gradually emerge?

Really by itself. At least, if there is the spark. I ask myself, does this have the vajra (Tibetan for lightning bolt) inside?

It's really easy to feel it if you don't fool yourself - which we humans love to do anyways. :)))

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?
 
My control is only a traffic control, or that of a game referee.

The best work is allowing it to appear, creating the right conditions in terms of available time, space, mental condition, and so forth.

Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

I let it rest for a while and go to do other things. When I reopen that file, most of the time, it will immediately be clear to me.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?  

Yes. In everything, absolutely.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?

I don't think I refer to a piece in terms of personal satisfaction, more in terms of the piece itself. Is the piece happy? Did it say what it wanted to say? It doesn't need to be perfect.

Also, letting it rest for a while, as I said earlier, is very important. The only danger is that you may go back and change things over and over again - which is quite easy to do nowadays with technology.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? How involved do you get in this?

I learned to use a DAW just in the last few years and it helped me immensely.

That said, I love to work with like minded people that know a lot more than me in all those aspects. I'm lucky to have them as friends.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

The next creative act will be born from that emptiness. It's like inhale - exhale.

It's very important to allow yourself to feel that and not be troubled by this.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing 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?

Music for me bypasses the neocortex layer, in most cases (not for the critics but we don't care) so it has this immense power to touch deep areas of your psyche.

It's tremendous, and after decades of playing and listening, this is still completely fascinating to me.