UPDATE: Since publication, Nonagon has released a superb, full-length album entitled “Days Away” along with posting many cool live videos and free mixes on his blog. The staff at LEGENDmag loves this album and has been eagerly anticipating it since the day we first heard about it. Go now, and discover for yourself! To name-your-price and download, please visit nonagon.bandcamp.com. (Or if you are a collector, purchase a CD with full album artwork for $10.)
Where are you from?
Born and raised in LA, but a Bay Area local since ‘99.
Where do you look for inspiration?
Inside, to the things I can’t forget (the good and the bad). Otherwise: movies, stories, and rainy days.
Where is you favorite spot on earth?
A safe place on a misty morning, with a cup of tea and a view.
Where is the best place to start?
With an open mind. The first few moments of brainstorming a new track are my favorite thing in the world: there are no rules, no obligations, just pure possibility. Ending up with a cohesive and polished musical concept can be an arduous process, but in those first minutes nothing is off-limits.
How did you start?
I discovered MOD tracking in high school, back in the MS-DOS days. I was playing more “real” instruments then, but the musical potential of software, even that relatively primitive variety, had me hooked instantly.
How did you decide on this path/thing?
At the risk of sounding corny, I think it sort of chose me. I unwittingly did everything I could to supress it- spent all my time stressing about schoolwork, then all my time stressing about work-work. In the end I had to admit to myself that making music was all I really wanted to do. To deny myself that would kill me inside.
How many times have you wanted to quit?
Making music: never. Doing the things that keep me from making music: just about every day. I actually managed to save up and take a year off of work in 2007. Life on a shoestring was never sweeter.
How do you pay your bills?
My secret identity as a software engineer will keep a roof over my head until the Grammy’s start rolling in. =)
How do you become legendary?
By doing your own thing. Originality has never been a prerequisite for fame, but it’s THE thing that separates the legends from the rest of us. They were the ones who had the confidence to pursue their creative visions when nobody else gave a damn, sometimes for their entire lives. It’s a rare breed of person who’s willing to make that kind of sacrifice for something they believe in, and I think we can all learn something from their example.
What makes you good?
The belief that I’m never good enough, coupled with the ability to (begrudingly) admit when I’ve created something to be proud of. Hubris can ruin one’s musical development, but I think that not recognizing and celebrating things done right, no matter how small, is in some ways just as bad.
What is your end goal?
The ability to support myself financially doing what I love to do. I’m not particularly interested in fame and fortune (not that a yacht wouldn’t be nice), but I’d be incredibly happy if I could make music all day and still pay the bills. I know how slim the chances of that happening are, and to an extent the privilege of even a little free time for creative endeavors is more than most will ever have the chance to ask for, but it’s not a fight I’m planning on giving up on any time soon.
What is your style?
Atmospheric, evocative electronic music with a slice of the funk. I come from a drum ‘n bass / dub background, but most of my tracks don’t fall easily into any particular genre (that I’m aware of) so I made up my own: “Step Core”. The ambiguity and inherent meaninglessness of that phrase really appeals to me. If it ends up taking off, though, you heard it here first!
What is your formula?
If I knew, I’d probably get tracks finished a lot quicker =). In general though, I always try to create a palpable atmosphere with my songs, a sense of time and place that frames the thoughts and feelings I’m hoping to express.
Who influences you?
I have to acknowledge Trent Reznor as my all-time musical hero. Twenty years later, and more relevant now than ever. Otherwise, though, the usual suspects: Boards of Canada, Orbital, Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Four Tet… like any music lover I could name drop ‘til the cows come home. Ultimately, any artist that can give me the tingles is right up there in my book.
Who is on your team?
I’m particularly fortunate to have an incredible group of friends and family who’d pat me on the back and buy me a drink no matter what kind of shit I came up with.
Who have you enlisted for help?
For a long time I treated music making as a strictly solitary thing. Fairly recently though, I’ve started branching out and meeting with other musicians to jam, compose, and talk shop. I think a part of me is still very possessive of “the process” and doesn’t want to let anyone else in, but I have to admit that working with others has opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities. It’s good to know that I’m finally ready for the third grade.
Who do you call family?
My family, of course! I lucked out on that front, can’t say enough good things about each and every one of them.
Why are you independent?
Because I get to make up the rules. Being independent isn’t about who’s paying you, it’s about having the freedom to make your own decisions no matter what anyone says. If a major label wanted to pay me to do what I want to do then hell, I’d take their money in a second! I’m just not willing to compromise my ideas for collateral benefits like popularity and money, and that’s the true spirit of independent music.
Why do you do what you do?
Because it makes me whole. And, Hallmark as it sounds, because when I’m on my deathbed I’d rather have tried and failed miserably than spent my whole life dreaming about the things that could have been.
Why should we care?
I’m not the best at what I do, not by a long shot. But I put all of myself into the music that I make, and in the end that’s what I most hope comes through to listeners. No matter what you ultimately think of the tunes, my heart is in them, and that’s a pretty good reason to care.
Why don’t most people make it?
That depends on what you mean by “make it.” Most musicians will never hit the charts, never hear their tracks on the radio, never sell out Madison Square Garden- but that doesn’t mean they haven’t “made it.” If you’re doing what you love to do, then in my mind you’ve already made it. There will always more to achieve, and it’s a worthwhile fight, but ultimately the real reward isn’t money or fame, it’s the opportunity to express yourself and to affect others with your work. But ask me again when Radiohead is my opening act- perspectives change. =)
Photography by Vinay Venkatesh
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