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Artist Profile: Distant Earth
Japan based Distant Earth (a reference to the Arther C
Clarke novel, Songs from a Distant Earth) is hardly an
average producer making average music. The alias of Jeremy
Eastwood, the New Zealand born guitarist from Tokyo's
indie post-punk group Second Tempo, it is electronic music
made by someone who has confessed to "not knowing what
the hell he's doing."
Inspired by Radioheads album Kid A, Eastwood decided to
put his guitar to one side and give electronic music a go.
"I thought if Radiohead can confess to know nothing
about DJing, samplers and so on, and make a great track
like Idiotech, then I might as well have a go too. Actually
the fact that you don't understand and are just pushing
buttons gives a kind of artistic freedom"
Influenced by a wide varity of styles and genres, Distant
Earth is an example of the genre mixing nature of the New
Zealand music scene.
"New Zealand's a very small country, so we
don't really have scenes like the UK, the US or even
Japan does. Growing up and going out clubbing it was
completely normal to have house, drum'n'bass, dub,
hip-hop or other kinds of DJs all playing at the same club
on the same night. So I guess when we make music we
don't think that much about if it's this or that,
just if it sounds cool or not."
When asked the big influences, Eastwood gives several
names that top the list.
"I listened to a lot of Chemical Brothers and Daft
Punk like everybody else in the early 2000s but I think
that The Future Sound of London's album Dead Cities was
maybe the biggest influence for Distant Earths sound. Also
Pitch Black, a dark dub techno group from New Zealand were
a big inspiration as well. More recently I've been influenced
by Rhian Sheehan, another guy from New
Zealand, who writes these epic ambient tracks. They have
this "drifting alone in space" feel which is
exactly what I wanted in Distant Earth, but I've never
quite been able to get."
What's in the future for Distant Earth? Eastwood
says that a new album is on the way, slowly but surely.
"Distant Earths been kind of in the freezer since I
came to Japan 5 years ago. However I've got a lot of new
tracks coming together and I think a full length album is
starting to come together. Its a pretty eclectic mix of
styles but it's mostly pretty dark and mencing while
still quite ambient. It's like Tool making an
electronic album I think."
When asked about playing live.
"I've played guitar live a lot with rock groups
like Second Tempo and love it but to best honest I've
never really played Distant Live but it is something
I'd like to do. Mostly for the challenge. All these
tracks are written in quite a quiet somber way in my little
private space at home. To figure out how to pull them off
live in pumping club means completely rethinking a lot of
it, but it would certianly be interesting."
Distant Earth on MySpace
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