Lueda Alia
02/17/09, 02:39 PM
I had the opportunity to ask Arne Van Petegem (the man behind Styrofoam (http://www.myspace.com/styrofoam)) some questions a little while ago, and I would like to thank him for taking the time to answer them. It was a pleasure to finally talk to him after all these years, so thank you, Arne. And thank you Laura for making this possible!
Many people don’t realize that there is only one face behind Styrofoam: Arne Van Petegem. Could you please introduce yourself to our users?
I record and produce most of my music on my own here at home. After playing in a couple of different Indie Rock bands I started recording on my own (and as Styrofoam) in 2000 and have released a number of albums since then. I used to be signed to German electronic label Morr Music but switched to US label Nettwerk for the most recent one, "A Thousand Words", which came out in April of 2008.
What made you pick a stage name, and why “Styrofoam”?
I think my birth name Arne Van Petegem isn't that well suited for stage use. I picked up the name Styrofoam pretty randomly - I thought it had a nice ring to it and have used it ever since.
The Point Misser came out almost 9 years ago and you have been making music nonstop since. Tell us a little about your experience as a musician.
Styrofoam has always been a constantly evolving project. I'm producing and working on music pretty much all of the time and I like exploring new things and collaborating with different people, trying out different live line-ups. I feel really privileged to be able to record music and play it live and travel around the world doing so. I've had so many amazing experiences along the way.
Do you have another job on the side? Someone mentioned that you are a teacher a while ago, though I had never heard about that before.
I used to work until the end of 2007 when I quit my full-time job. Now I'm still teaching "electronic music production" one day a week at PHL Music which is a music college education. I also do some writing every now and then.
Coming back to the Point Misser – you started out with tracks that were just instrumental and or featured no one. Now your albums always feature other musicians as vocalists. What made you decide to add vocals to your tracks?
It's always been a gradual process. One of the main advantages of working on your own is that you can pretty much do whatever you want to do - there's no one else who has to agree, not much compromises to be made. When I made the first couple of Styrofoam albums I just came out of being in bands and I guess I wanted to make more of a conscious break with the typical band format (songs/vocals/choruses etc.) whereas now I'm much more open to whatever I happen to find along the way.
Nothing’s Lost was the first album I was exposed to back in ’04 and I remember it only received attention in the “Indie” community. What is it like having so many more fans worldwide now?
It's amazing to have so many people get in touch from all over the world. One of my favourite things of the tours we did with Jimmy Eat World and Death Cab For Cutie last year, was playing to so many new people. It's always great to get your music out there, to get more people to find about it and be enthusiastic.
“Misguided” was one of my favourite tracks on Nothing’s Lost, because the music and Alias’ rapping sound great together. Naturally, I was excited to see that you had an album coming out in which you collaborated with Fat Jon. What made you decide to do a whole album that consisted of electronic music and rapping?
I was listening to a lot of hiphop music at that time and running into people such as Alias and Fat Jon who are really open to experimentation. Producing "The Same Channel" was a very special experience and I still think that album deserves to be heard by more people. It was just Jon and me banging it out in the studio. It took us such a long time to finish that album, working on it on and off for almost three years.
Do you think more people are catching on to this type of music now? Alias and Tarsier and 13 & God have been doing it for a while but more mainstream musicians seem to be following the trend now.
There was quite some of that stuff around at the time, but I don't think there's too much left of the "leftfield hiphop" movement of a couple years ago. A lot of the people producing that stuff have moved along which is totally fine off course. Then again there are projects such as Gorillaz or Gnarls Barkley that might work along some of the same lines and manage to be hugely successful doing so.
How do you go about picking the musicians you work with? You always seem to pick the perfect ones.
It's pretty random. It's mostly people I run into while remixing or touring. People from record companies or booking agents or whatever also sometimes make suggestions as to who I should work with. I'm working on a new record right now and I'm pretty sure I'll end up having some guests again but I have no idea who it will be at the moment.
What about the actual songs – how do you make songs with musicians that live across the ocean? Do you send tracks back and forth like the Postal Service? And what comes first, the vocals/lyrics or the music?
Most of the songs start as instrumental versions. They can range from completely finished to very rough ideas. I send these out to people I'm collaborating with and they mostly record their contributions at their home studio and then send those recordings back to me so I can integrate them in the songs I'm working on.
It would be unfair to ask you what is the single most exciting experience and or collaboration because you have worked with so many talented musicians. Who would you list as your top five?
This might seem like a cliché answer but I feel really honoured to have worked with all of those people. I couldn't really pick out a top five. It's also very rewarding to see some of those collaborations turn into long lasting friendships - I'm still in touch with most of the people I've collaborated with and they end up coming to the shows or I go to their shows whenever they're in Belgium.
Many fans probably want to know the answer to this so I’ll go ahead and make them happy: Are there any future plans to work with Ben Gibbard again? The track “Couches in Alleys” seems to be many people’s favourite.
I'm still in touch with Ben but we don't have any plans to collaborate in the future. Ben was kind enough to invite us on tour with Death Cab last July which was great fun - those were some of the best shows we've played with the current Styrofoam live line-up.
How did the relationship with Jimmy Eat World start? You remixed their track “Drugs or Me,” and before I knew it, you were touring together and Jim Adkins made an appearance on A Thousand Words.
That pretty much sums it up. I did a remix for them a couple of years ago and after that it seemed very natural for me to check if Jim would be into collaborating. When Jimmy Eat World started touring right after their last album came out, Jim asked if we'd be interested in touring with them. Sadly we weren't able to do the full tour, since we hadn't even started rehearsing for the live shows at that point, but we played most of the UK shows with them and had a great time playing the "A Thousand Words" songs for the first time on stage.
You sound great in all the tracks I’ve heard you sing and would consider them some of my favourites in your discography. Do you plan to use your voice more in the future?
I think the next album will be the same mix of me singing and having some guest singers as well. I'd love to have some female vocalists on the new album I'm working on.
Are there any musicians on Morr Music that you have not worked with yet but would love to? What about other bands and musicians out there?
There's a whole bunch of people I'd love to collaborate with but we'll see what happens. I'm not that much in touch with the current Morr roster anymore, since leaving the label.
Which bands would you say have had the biggest impact on you musically and personally?
Hüsker Dü/Bob Mould and the whole late eighties/early nineties Indie Rock scene in general has been a huge influence with bands such as Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, Sebadoh. The whole concept of having these beautful popsongs but sort of undermining them with weird noises and other things happening.
Do you still keep in touch with fans through sites like myspace even though now you have thousands more of them on your friends list?
It does get much harder to keep track of things with so many people getting in touch. It's certainly not that manageable anymore. I do try to answer most of the mails I'm getting through Myspace.
Has it been hard gaining attention in North America?
Well, it's a big country and there's a huge music scene. I really love touring and traveling around the US. I think it would be fair to say that it's my favourite country in the world. Recording in LA (like I did for the last album) was a great experience and being signed to a North American based record label certainly helps moving things along.
What music do you listen to these days?
These are some of the last records I bought: A.C. Newman solo record, Bon Iver, My Morning Jacket, Hudson Mohawke, Various Production, Zomby, Why?... That A.C. Newman record is my favourite at the moment.
I'm also a big sucker for US TV shows: The Wire, Big Love, Nip/Tuck and the classics such as Seinfeld or The West Wing.
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these. I have been a fan for such a long time, and it’s so great to finally ask some of these questions. You have had an enormous impact in my taste of music and that of many others’. I look forward to hearing more from you in the future!
THANKS!
Many people don’t realize that there is only one face behind Styrofoam: Arne Van Petegem. Could you please introduce yourself to our users?
I record and produce most of my music on my own here at home. After playing in a couple of different Indie Rock bands I started recording on my own (and as Styrofoam) in 2000 and have released a number of albums since then. I used to be signed to German electronic label Morr Music but switched to US label Nettwerk for the most recent one, "A Thousand Words", which came out in April of 2008.
What made you pick a stage name, and why “Styrofoam”?
I think my birth name Arne Van Petegem isn't that well suited for stage use. I picked up the name Styrofoam pretty randomly - I thought it had a nice ring to it and have used it ever since.
The Point Misser came out almost 9 years ago and you have been making music nonstop since. Tell us a little about your experience as a musician.
Styrofoam has always been a constantly evolving project. I'm producing and working on music pretty much all of the time and I like exploring new things and collaborating with different people, trying out different live line-ups. I feel really privileged to be able to record music and play it live and travel around the world doing so. I've had so many amazing experiences along the way.
Do you have another job on the side? Someone mentioned that you are a teacher a while ago, though I had never heard about that before.
I used to work until the end of 2007 when I quit my full-time job. Now I'm still teaching "electronic music production" one day a week at PHL Music which is a music college education. I also do some writing every now and then.
Coming back to the Point Misser – you started out with tracks that were just instrumental and or featured no one. Now your albums always feature other musicians as vocalists. What made you decide to add vocals to your tracks?
It's always been a gradual process. One of the main advantages of working on your own is that you can pretty much do whatever you want to do - there's no one else who has to agree, not much compromises to be made. When I made the first couple of Styrofoam albums I just came out of being in bands and I guess I wanted to make more of a conscious break with the typical band format (songs/vocals/choruses etc.) whereas now I'm much more open to whatever I happen to find along the way.
Nothing’s Lost was the first album I was exposed to back in ’04 and I remember it only received attention in the “Indie” community. What is it like having so many more fans worldwide now?
It's amazing to have so many people get in touch from all over the world. One of my favourite things of the tours we did with Jimmy Eat World and Death Cab For Cutie last year, was playing to so many new people. It's always great to get your music out there, to get more people to find about it and be enthusiastic.
“Misguided” was one of my favourite tracks on Nothing’s Lost, because the music and Alias’ rapping sound great together. Naturally, I was excited to see that you had an album coming out in which you collaborated with Fat Jon. What made you decide to do a whole album that consisted of electronic music and rapping?
I was listening to a lot of hiphop music at that time and running into people such as Alias and Fat Jon who are really open to experimentation. Producing "The Same Channel" was a very special experience and I still think that album deserves to be heard by more people. It was just Jon and me banging it out in the studio. It took us such a long time to finish that album, working on it on and off for almost three years.
Do you think more people are catching on to this type of music now? Alias and Tarsier and 13 & God have been doing it for a while but more mainstream musicians seem to be following the trend now.
There was quite some of that stuff around at the time, but I don't think there's too much left of the "leftfield hiphop" movement of a couple years ago. A lot of the people producing that stuff have moved along which is totally fine off course. Then again there are projects such as Gorillaz or Gnarls Barkley that might work along some of the same lines and manage to be hugely successful doing so.
How do you go about picking the musicians you work with? You always seem to pick the perfect ones.
It's pretty random. It's mostly people I run into while remixing or touring. People from record companies or booking agents or whatever also sometimes make suggestions as to who I should work with. I'm working on a new record right now and I'm pretty sure I'll end up having some guests again but I have no idea who it will be at the moment.
What about the actual songs – how do you make songs with musicians that live across the ocean? Do you send tracks back and forth like the Postal Service? And what comes first, the vocals/lyrics or the music?
Most of the songs start as instrumental versions. They can range from completely finished to very rough ideas. I send these out to people I'm collaborating with and they mostly record their contributions at their home studio and then send those recordings back to me so I can integrate them in the songs I'm working on.
It would be unfair to ask you what is the single most exciting experience and or collaboration because you have worked with so many talented musicians. Who would you list as your top five?
This might seem like a cliché answer but I feel really honoured to have worked with all of those people. I couldn't really pick out a top five. It's also very rewarding to see some of those collaborations turn into long lasting friendships - I'm still in touch with most of the people I've collaborated with and they end up coming to the shows or I go to their shows whenever they're in Belgium.
Many fans probably want to know the answer to this so I’ll go ahead and make them happy: Are there any future plans to work with Ben Gibbard again? The track “Couches in Alleys” seems to be many people’s favourite.
I'm still in touch with Ben but we don't have any plans to collaborate in the future. Ben was kind enough to invite us on tour with Death Cab last July which was great fun - those were some of the best shows we've played with the current Styrofoam live line-up.
How did the relationship with Jimmy Eat World start? You remixed their track “Drugs or Me,” and before I knew it, you were touring together and Jim Adkins made an appearance on A Thousand Words.
That pretty much sums it up. I did a remix for them a couple of years ago and after that it seemed very natural for me to check if Jim would be into collaborating. When Jimmy Eat World started touring right after their last album came out, Jim asked if we'd be interested in touring with them. Sadly we weren't able to do the full tour, since we hadn't even started rehearsing for the live shows at that point, but we played most of the UK shows with them and had a great time playing the "A Thousand Words" songs for the first time on stage.
You sound great in all the tracks I’ve heard you sing and would consider them some of my favourites in your discography. Do you plan to use your voice more in the future?
I think the next album will be the same mix of me singing and having some guest singers as well. I'd love to have some female vocalists on the new album I'm working on.
Are there any musicians on Morr Music that you have not worked with yet but would love to? What about other bands and musicians out there?
There's a whole bunch of people I'd love to collaborate with but we'll see what happens. I'm not that much in touch with the current Morr roster anymore, since leaving the label.
Which bands would you say have had the biggest impact on you musically and personally?
Hüsker Dü/Bob Mould and the whole late eighties/early nineties Indie Rock scene in general has been a huge influence with bands such as Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, Sebadoh. The whole concept of having these beautful popsongs but sort of undermining them with weird noises and other things happening.
Do you still keep in touch with fans through sites like myspace even though now you have thousands more of them on your friends list?
It does get much harder to keep track of things with so many people getting in touch. It's certainly not that manageable anymore. I do try to answer most of the mails I'm getting through Myspace.
Has it been hard gaining attention in North America?
Well, it's a big country and there's a huge music scene. I really love touring and traveling around the US. I think it would be fair to say that it's my favourite country in the world. Recording in LA (like I did for the last album) was a great experience and being signed to a North American based record label certainly helps moving things along.
What music do you listen to these days?
These are some of the last records I bought: A.C. Newman solo record, Bon Iver, My Morning Jacket, Hudson Mohawke, Various Production, Zomby, Why?... That A.C. Newman record is my favourite at the moment.
I'm also a big sucker for US TV shows: The Wire, Big Love, Nip/Tuck and the classics such as Seinfeld or The West Wing.
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these. I have been a fan for such a long time, and it’s so great to finally ask some of these questions. You have had an enormous impact in my taste of music and that of many others’. I look forward to hearing more from you in the future!
THANKS!