With the release of Plini's "The End of Everything" we had named the inspiring solo artist as our Artist of the Week. With this, I had the chance to catch up with the man and ask him a few of our questions as well as a few of yours. Read up and learn!
Plini = P
Mike Stahl = MS
MS – This isn’t really “The End of Everything” for Plini, is it?
P – Got some shows coming up in Australia, the UK and Japan, with plans for more… so I sure hope not! Also starting to piece together ideas for an album which I hope to start working on properly very soon!
MS – Phew. That's great news. Was the EP trilogy planned since the beginning? I love how “Paper Moon” loops right back into “Heart”.
P – At first “Other Things” was meant to be the precursor to an album called “Things”, but at some point I ditched that idea and decided to do a second EP instead, which soon turned into the idea to do a trilogy. “Selenium Forest” already reprised a melody from “Opening” (which I actually wrote first, even though it came out after), so as I went on I started building up a bit of a story line and figuring out when certain characters/melodies should repeat and where! So no, it wasn’t planned from the beginning, but sorta planned as I went along haha.
MS – There were some truly awesome guest musicians involved on “The End of Everything”. No less than Marco Minnemann, Chris Letchford, Jakub Zytecki and many more! Can you tell us how these came about?
P – Someone linked me to a post where Chris said he liked my music, so I said “hello” on facebook and we chatted a bit and he ended up offering to play a solo, which I obviously wasn’t gonna say no to! Jakub’s one of my favourite young players and I’ve had him in mind forever and decided to give him a spot on the last track before I’d even written it. Marco was a series of very fortunate events – around the time I hooked up with Strandberg Guitarworks, Ola Strandberg passed on my music to an awesome guy who works with the Aristocrats, who really liked it. He basically thought that Marco would be the perfect drummer to have on my recordings, and arranged for us to meet up while Marco was here in Sydney touring with Joe Satriani. We hung out for a few hours – he’s one of the most easy going people ever, and completely hilarious – and he ended up offering to track some drums for me if I wanted! I happened to be wrapping up the recording of this EP, so I had him go to town on the tracks and the rest is history as they say!
MS – Can you name some of your biggest musical inspirations?
P – Dream Theater, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Guthrie Govan, Tigran Hamasyan.
MS – You’ve done some significant charity work, both through your music and as an individual. Can you tell us about that?
P – While studying architecture at uni, I did an elective that was concerned with the design of a community facility for an extremely poor village in Cambodia called Ko Ki. Through this course, we had the option of actually going to the village to help construct the winning design. I thought this sounded like it could be one of the coolest experiences ever (which indeed it was), so I wrote a song, named it Ko Ki after the village and offered it up on bandcamp, with all the money raised going towards funding the trip. Spent a couple of weeks in January over there helping construct the building, and man, I could go on forever about what a great time it was but I’ll keep it brief – it was probably the most rewarding experience of my life. Can’t wait to do something like this again!
MS – That's awesome. Any words of advice for aspiring musicians?
P – Don’t let anyone (including yourself) distract you from your love of music! If you get too absorbed in trying to get fans/make money/etc, take a minute and remember why you started in the first place. Personally, I like making cool sounds in the hope that they will provoke some sort of emotional response in a listener.
MS – We also have some questions from your fans… Do you remember the first song you wrote?
P – All I remember is that I used some super old sequencing software – I think I must have been about 7 – and captured the sound onto a cassette, but I don’t think I have that cassette anymore which is very sad.
MS – Would you be down to bust out some tab books?
P – I’ve done a full transcription (all instruments) for Ko Ki, with the guys from Sheet Happens Publishing (a company started by the guitarists in Protest the Hero), and we’re currently working on guitar transcriptions for the full EP trilogy – keep an eye out for it in a month or two!
MS – What’s your favorite snack?
P – Anything cheesy.
MS – What is your approach to songwriting?
P – Sit down and see what happens.
MS – What artist would you highly recommend to the masses?
P – Michael Jackson and The Beatles… don’t forget how good that shit is.
MS – What’s it like to be a god?
P – A very human experience as far as I can tell.
MS – And that’s all we have for you! Thanks so much for your time!
P – Thanks for caring! <3
So there you have it! Be sure to listen to the Plini trilogy if haven't already and check out our review for the "The End of Everything" If you desire further reading. Hope you all have a great day!
Links: Facebook // Bandcamp // Merch
