Name: Terms
Members: Chris Trull (guitar), Danny Piechocki (drums)
Nationality: American
Current release: Terms's All Becomes Indistinct is out via SKiN GRAFT.



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?
 
Chris Trull: I do often feel as if there's an undefinable 'thing' inside me that needs to come out. When I have gone through periods of my life when I haven't had active projects, or been able to work on music consistently, it absolutely had a negative effect on my mood and general well-being.
 
Danny Piechocki: The impulse to create for me usually stems from having a morsel of an idea for a pattern, rhythm, or melody and from the curiosity of what it could then be expanded into. The impulse to create can also occur by sitting down at an instrument and becoming inspired by the array of different sounds and textures you can pull from it.
 
For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualization' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?
 
Chris Trull: For me, my writing (nearly) always begins by improvising with my guitar and stumbling upon an idea that I feel has potential which I can then start exploring. Every once in a while, I will attempt something more conceptual - for example, there is a song on our second LP called "Blurred Photo Of A Fragment Of A Drawing" that I composed using an element of chance operations: in that case a 20-sided die.



I had been improvising in a general sonic area and I decided to roll the dice (literally) to see what meter the part should be in. Then, I continued to roll the dice and wrote distinct parts for each number that came up, and if a number that I had rolled previously was rolled again, then I would repeat the part already written. As I progressed, I got the idea that I would continue until the number of the very first part was rolled a second time, so the piece would end the way it began.

I originally thought that piece was just going to be an exercise of sorts, but I liked how it turned out enough to present it to Danny as a Terms song.
 
Danny Piechocki: I sometimes have some strong visions of how certain sections could sound once finished right off the bat from the guitar ideas Chris sends me, and then other times it's a complete mystery and I end up throwing ten thousand different ideas at a section of music until the right pieces fit.
 
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'?

Chris Trull: I have a room in my basement that I built myself where I practice and write every day. It's also where I record all of the Terms guitar and bass parts. Everything I need (instruments, recording equipment, paper and a pencil, etc) is all within arms reach.

Generally, I consider anything I'm working on as an "early version'/rough draft / etc until it's done.
 
Danny Piechocki: As long as I have drums set up there isn't too much additional preparation during the writing process. Once the parts are established for a song I tend to have more of a preparation phase happen right before recording that consists of tuning the drums and focusing on microphone choices and placement.
 
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?

Chris Trull: I do love coffee, but the most important ritual for me is the habit of playing / writing / practicing daily. I think there may be some ingrained Midwestern work-ethic at play, but I think the most important thing is the focused time spent on music.

A large part of the time, I don't accomplish anything tangible; but the work is the most important thing and it does eventually lead to music. Eventually. (Hopefully.)
 
Danny Piechocki: All I need is a concerning amount of coffee and I'm good to go!
 
What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

Chris Trull: I start by picking up a guitar. Often, I won't even realize I've begun composing something until I have the conscious thought that whatever I've stumbled upon while improvising is worthwhile. Then I'll record a sketch, or write it down, so I don't forget it (and I WILL immediately forget it!)
 
Danny Piechocki: Step one is to find a drum key, they're always so illusive no matter how many you have. I'll usually sit down at the drum set while looping a segment of an idea Chris sent me and play along to it and better develop the first beat or pattern that comes to mind for it.

From there I tend to try and find what could be perceived as the opposite of that initial idea and either go with that or bridge the difference.
 
Once you've started, how does the work gradually emerge?

Chris Trull: It varies, but generally, I will start piecing together different ideas to see what works together and what doesn't. Often that presents challenges, such as thinking two distinct sections could live together in the same song, but they are in different tempos, or wildly different tonalities … that means a lot of problem-solving has to occur.
 
Danny Piechocki: The music evolves in sections at a time with lots of starting ideas being reworked as the piece evolves. Sometimes we'll have concrete ideas for a certain section of a song and try to figure out more fluid ways to lead up to it or out of it.
 
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 over the process or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

Chris Trull: I am a big fan of happy accidents. I think trying to control every aspect is a losing battle and it's better to follow the material to see where it leads.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that it "writes itself", but it does sometimes express a preference!
 
Danny Piechocki: I'm also a big fan of welcoming happy accidents, and anything else Bob Ross related for that matter.
 
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?

Chris Trull: This happens often, and I welcome it! I do not subscribe to the adage that the first idea is the best one. I try not to be precious about anything I'm creating. Often the things that turn out the best are nearly unrecognizable from the initial idea.
 
Danny Piechocki: I agree with Chris and definitely welcome such instances too.
 
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?

Chris Trull: I would not describe it as spirituality, but the closest thing I've ever experienced to what I might be tempted to call a "religious experience" have come via playing, or listening to music. For me, though, those are rare and elusive, fleeting moments.

The bulk of the creative process is simply doing the work - trying to generate ideas, arranging, revising, learning to perform the piece once I begin to have a sense of what it should be.
 
Danny Piechocki: For me it's mostly about exploring things sonically and discovering what keeps me interested and inspired.
 
Especially in the digital age, the writing and production process tends towards the infinite. What marks the end of the process? How do you finish a work?

Chris Trull: In the context of Terms, the production / recording process and the writing process are inexorably intertwined. The way we send ideas to each other is through recordings that eventually become the final song / album / completed work. We work until we're both happy with every aspect - or as close as we can get.

I could probably tinker with mixes endlessly, but I'm able to let go when things have reached a point where we are both satisfied.
 
Danny Piechocki: What Chris said. We'll go through a few different revisions of a mix for any given song on the album before being able to call it done.
 
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 practice?

Chris Trull: After I consider something 'finished', I try not to think about it too much, or I would drive myself crazy. There's always one more mix tweak, or slightly off-time note that I wish we could fix. I do prefer the process to allow for some mistakes / human error, though …

Honestly, I do have some fondness for the old days when "the album" would consist of whatever could be accomplished within the couple of days you could afford in the recording studio. Whatever you walked out with at the end of that session was IT. Sometimes external constraints like that can help focus the work.
 
Danny Piechocki: When writing drums to a piece of music I'll often record demos of sections and listen back to them many times over the course of several days to weeks and update them with changes I may want to hear or audition as I go. This process can be a bit tedious and can go on for quite a while but I can't imagine any other way of doing it for me personally.

Once it's finished most of the evaluations later on focus solely on production and mix notes typically.
 
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?

Chris Trull: As I said, "production" and composition are two aspects of the same process for Terms. We write by sharing recorded tracks, so we can't avoid being involved!

I will say, Danny is the real talent behind our recordings actually sounding great. His mixing and recording skills have allowed us to make records at home, in our free time that sound as good as anything we could do in a "real" studio.
 
Danny Piechocki: I think it's extremely important and tend to start some of it early on in the demo stages of a given song. Doing this early on can help give an even more defined idea of where the finished piece could end up.  
 
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?

Chris Trull: I can definitely relate to this - whenever I complete a work, be it an album, or even just a song, I feel as if that work will likely be the last one I ever complete. I don't mean that in a gloomy "I could die tomorrow" type of way, but it always seems like such an unlikely collision of hard work and dumb luck when something comes together satisfactorily.

I'm often genuinely surprised when new ideas start to present themselves again.
 
Danny Piechocki: For me personally, after finishing an album I usually get excited for a fresh start tackling the next all new batch of songs or musical endeavors soon after.

TERMS are already starting to cultivate some ideas for the next record that I've been very inspired by.
 
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?

Chris Trull: I don't think writing music is any more or less mundane than brewing coffee, or installing a faucet, or baking a cake, or mowing a lawn … it's all about focused attention, detail oriented thinking, and putting in the necessary time and effort.
 
Danny Piechocki: I think it's all just means of evoking different types of feelings and emotions.

Also I've never had a great cup of coffee stuck in my head for a few days like I have had some of the music we've worked on.