Name: Soft Machine
Members: John Etheridge (guitar), Theo Travis (flute, saxophone), Fred Thelonious Baker (guitar, bass), Asaf Sirkis (drums)
Interviewee: Theo Travis
Nationality: British, Israeli (Asaf)
Current release: The new Soft Machine album Other Doors  is out June 30th 2023 via MoonJune.

If you enjoyed this Soft Machine interview and would like to stay up to date with the band, visit their official homepage or Facebook profile. Theo Travis has a personal website as well.
 


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?

It is hard to say where the impulse comes from. Somewhere deep inside. It is a feeling. I like to make music. I enjoy creating new music. Making something from nothing is like magic. It is the creative force within us.

The triggers, or sources of ideas can be other pieces of music that inspire. Sounds that resonate but start you on a journey where you want to combine sources and inspirations, adding a bit of your own thing to make it new and personal to you. Sometmes there will be multiple sources inspiring you and the resulting music can be like a combination of those, or nothing like them. But they got you started, and that is what is crucial.

Sometimes a particular instrument can be the inpiration. For example, recently for me the duduk. I heard it, I wanted to learn it, I wanted to make an album. Which I did.



Or the sound of alto flutes looped live was very inspiring to me and I immediately felt motivated to go into a recording studio and record tracks and what became the Slow life album.



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?

I don’t need to visualise the finished work at the outset. I may visualise the first steps, the first phrase, the first sound. I may have an idea for a shape, an overall length or an idea, but not necessarily more than that. The idea might be a groove.



Often an atmosphere or mood that I am after, which can immediatley dictate the instrumentation. Flute, tenor sax, soprano sax, duduk, Fender Rhodes piano with effects all immediately point the music in certain directions. There needs to be a plan, but nearly all pieces evolve during creation. So chance is an important part of the process.

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'?

Once I know I will be working on a composition I am to some extent mentally and creatively preparing. I will at some level be thinking about a flavour, a sound, an instrument, a harmonic area, a melody … things that will be a part of the piece. It can be subtle or even subliminal but it will be going on in my mind at some level.

I may improvise on the ideas (usually on acoustic piano). I may use computer software – for example notation software, or sound creation and processing software e.g. Ableton Live.

This is all part of the gathering ideas and letting the piece manifest itself gradually.

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?

Generally I do not have rituals as you say, though nice lighting can set a mood. And I do drink lots of cups of tea! And feeling good physically can set you up well for being productive, so I like to swim regularly and walk in the woods near my house.

Deadlines are a common motivator to composing new music. For example if I have projects that are coming up – for example an album that is going to be recorded and a time schedule is set with studio dates planned - then I need to get to work!

What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

The ‘ballpark idea‘ is what I start with. Am I writing a ballad? A fast and furious track in a minor key? An experimental atmospheric textural piece? A meditative drone with woodwind meditation?



These types of broad idea are the starting point. They describe what the overall sound picture is. Then it is a case of building the piece up using musical building blocks – melody, texture, choice of instruments, a rhythm, a time signature etc.

I don’t find the first note hard, but sometimes the initial ideas just are not very good. So you have to keep starting again until you get something that you feel is good and worth working on further.

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

Building up from the broad idea, you then try ideas out. They may be good / satisfying / pleasing, or they may not. Sometimes nothing comes out that is not a cliche or predictable, or boring, or unsatisfying. You just have to keep working away until you have it.

Sometimes it can be quick, other times hard graft and much slower.

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?

If there is a broad picture that is decided on, let's say you need an “epic“ compostion, or you need a ballad that features the flute, you try to keep the piece within those parameters. That is what you need.

Within that brief, sometimes the composition may take unusual turns, or develop in a way unexpected. Sometimes it may develop into something that is not what is wanted for the original purpos. But if it sounds good, you put it to one side for use at a later time for another project  for which it would be suitable.

Sometimes you might be looking for something and an old half written piece comes to mind and is just what you are looking for. So you take that and develop it.

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?

If that happens and the piece is not suitable for the original purpose, then I would put it on the shelf for another day, another project, when it is what is requried.

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?

When you come up with something good, it is very satisfying and fulfilling. When not, it is frustrating.

I find it hard to answer whether there is an element of spiituality to it or not. Maybe ...

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?

A feeling of completion. A good shape. It just feels right and complete.

If on a recording schedule then maybe it has to be recorded by a certain date, as it  has to be mixed by certain date. Sometimes there there is a whole time frame for the whole album and touring cycle - with recording, mixing, mastering, manufacturing, release date, press and promotion, touring etc.

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 like to definitely leave it, come back to it and see how it is a day or so later. This is crucial for me. I don’t trust myself to believe it if I like it first time.

Always go away and come back … If you are still happy with it later, then you know it is OK.

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?

100% involved. The mixed and mastered sound is the sound that you hear. It can be hard to differentiate what it is you like or do not like about a piece of music. One’s response to a piece of music is often just a feeling and that feeling can be because of the sound of the mixed piece of music. Mixing and production can therefore be as important as the composition.

So the whole process is crucual and I get very involved in it.

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?

Generally I would be onto the next project, that will have been brewing in the back of my mind, or maybe further forward!

I don’t tend to feel the emptiness you refer to. Feeling creative is usually a constant. It is an animal that needs feeding! I will often have a list of projects I am working on. Often one I am mixing and finishing, one I am writing and getting ready to record, and one just slowly brewing in my mind as an idea for the future. Then if something has been released recently, there is promotion and publicity for that.

If I am happy with a piece or album that is being released into the world I am usually happy with it, and there is a sense of satisfaction that it came out OK.

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?

Yes. It is much deeper. I have heard it said that it is like giving birth in that you are creating something and bringing it into the world

That sound a bit epic and over the top (!), but there is definitely something special about bringing something artistic into the world that reflects your own personal emotions and feelings and artistic vision. You are expressing something deeply personal but in a palatable and presentable way. Maybe you are communing with the divine and touching the immortal!

Certainly more than making a cup of coffee (even a damn fine one!)