Fafard, Antoine (Spaced Out) (January 2003)

Head Spaced Case: Antoine Fafard

Progressive jazz rock is one of those genres of music that is standing on a really fine line. More rock than fusion and more jazz than progressive rock, it is a type of music that not many decide to pursue, and those that do bravely venture into risky areas. Meet Spaced Out, a Montreal act that, led by bassist/composer/arranger Antoine Fafard, has already released two albums in a short lapse of time and decided to join the small but select army of progressive jazz rock. Deciding to question the bassist on the band's evolution, his future plans, and reclinable sidewalks, the staff at Progfreaks.com [where this initially appeared in September 2001] prepared a few questions, which he answered in full detail much to our content, and perhaps also to yours as you read on...

MS: Spaced Out features a very heavy mixture between rock and jazz, with a very important aspect of it being the fact that it's very harsh, but not extremely dissonant. How did you come up with that style? Was it a natural result of your influences or was it a consciously planned idea?

Antoine Fafard: The style of music that we are developing is the result of a mixture of numerous styles ... I listen to a wide range of music, and when I compose, I try to integrate a little bit of everything that I find interesting into my own music. The challenge is to create something that is unique but with unity as well.

MS: Now that we're on the subject of Spaced Out's musical style, what kind of people do you think would enjoy the band's music? Couldn't it be too heavy for fusion and too jazzy for progressive rock?

AF: It's hard to tell precisely which group of people will enjoy our music. It's true that we are too rock for some jazz listeners and vice versa. So far, I realize that most of Spaced Out's fans are musicians, or people who enjoy music with a lot of notes and weirdness; those are the people who are discovering our albums by listening to them more than once. Also, to a certain extent, we are more accessible to an audience who likes an intense live performance because we try to deliver a very visually entertaining show.

MS: On another matter entirely, you came up with the concept of Spaced Out alone in and then set out to find the appropriate musicians to help you complete the project, something that finally happened in 1998. How hard was it to find like-minded people? And just how much exactly is Spaced Out a band or a project?

AF: It was not that hard to find the right musicians to form Spaced Out. We are all music students who met in college or in university. What was and is still very hard is to keep the band together. When you form a band with professional musicians, it's normal for them to play in a lot of contexts and usually, the priority will be on the gig that pays the most... and I can't afford to pay a salary to the guys in the band!

But I do insist that Spaced Out is a band. I don't want to hire musicians to tell them how to play their instrument or how to improvise on my compositions. I guide the players towards the sound that I want, but I like to get a personal input from the other players in the band.

MS: Another question regarding the other musicians in Spaced Out. You've already had three guitarists in the band, the first one of them being Mathieu Bouchard, the second Louis Côté, and the third Mark Tremblay (since June of this year). Why the guitarist changes? Additionally, I take it that drummer Martin Maheaux and keyboardist Éric St-Jean have become pretty much permanent members?

AF: The reason why the guitar slot is vacant all the time is not because of any musical or personal reasons ... it's simply because of a matter of availability from the guitar players! Like I said earlier, it's not easy to keep a band together, and the fact that I had to replace the guitar player more than once is only coincidental.

Anyway, I decided to make a radical change in my music for the next album: I won't deal with any guitar players at all! But don't get me wrong ... it's not that I don't like guitar players; Martin (drummer) and I think that it's time to explore some new sounds. So the instrumentation will be bass, drums, and keyboards. The keys will be oriented towards the B3 & the Moog synth. It may not have been that obvious so far, but I'm a big Keith Emerson and Eddy Jobson fan! So I'm now composing new songs for the next CD.

MS: Something that stood out when we heard Eponymus II was your bass playing. It was very impressive technically and also very tasteful, which, as usual, is a characteristic of good jazz players. Did you receive any formal education regarding bass playing and composition? How much of that education do you apply to Spaced Out's concept and songs? Haven't you ever been tempted to just play more traditional jazz or fusion?

AF: Firstly, thank you very much for your nice comments! I studied the electric bass in a local college and university here in Montreal, Canada. Also, during that time, I had the opportunity to study big band arrangement, classical orchestration, jazz improvisation, and jazz theory. But I never had any composition lessons. I started to compose around 10 years ago. My teacher at the time encouraged me to write down every idea that I came up with musically on paper.

I don't really apply anything that I learned in school intentionally. My approach to composition, arrangement, and improvisation is very personal and intuitive. I always try to explore new horizons rhythmically, harmonically, and on my instrument.

I never really wanted to compose any original music in a traditional jazz or fusion genre, but I did play in other ensembles with a more common approach to music.

MS: Another thing that stood out regarding your latest album, but concerning the booklet this time around, was the pictures of the band that were included. It became immediately apparent that you have a sense of humor and are not afraid to make it part of Spaced Out. How do you think that works out in a field of music that is normally considered more serious? Do you try to reflect that in your music?

AF: I really think that it's important for Spaced Out to give a wild and different image and sound to what you usually see and hear in this field of music. I don't want to give an image of musicians who are taking themselves seriously. I want to give the listener what I think is a good musical product without being pretentious.

On stage, we offer a very entertaining show for anybody who has a weird and absurd sense of humour. I often joke with the crowd and the reaction is funny to watch! People are not expecting us to act like madmen or to joke on stage while we play that kind of music. Actually, I have many ideas for more grandiose shows that one day, if we have a decent budget, I'll try to develop. I'm talking about video and image projections, choreography, etc.

MS: Expressing emotions through music is obviously not a problem, since that's the whole point of music in the first place, but expressing ideas of, say, a political nature, is a bit harder to do when there isn't a singer or lyrics in a band. Does Spaced Out have any ideologies that are harder to express through music alone? Has there ever been the desire to work with guest singers on a couple of tracks from your albums?

AF: I don't think there will be any singer on the future albums ... but I'll definitely continue to experiment with the narration. But we don't have any ideology that we want to express to the world. It's all about the music really. We offer raw, basic emotions. It can be joy, anger, euphoria, aggression, etc ... something that can be understood by any human being (and extra-terrestrials???).

MS: Ok, now we'll move on to a series of oddball questions, with which we veer away a bit from the music and the band and concentrate more on weird or unusual interaction in order to dig a bit deeper into your mind! Here's the first one: why do you think chairs and sofas can be reclined, while sidewalks can't?

AF: I don't know what you mean because here in Canada all the sidewalks are reclined!

MS: Suppose there is a train going from Toronto to New York and another one going from New York to Toronto on the exact same rail. Being the only one aware of this, would you:

a. Beep Superman?
b. Try to reach the trains' crashing point and prevent the accident by stopping the trains with your bare hands?
c. Go have a beer?
d. Bury your head in the earth like an ostrich?

AF: My answer would be c) ... and I would write a song about it ... with lyrics!!!

MS: Why do you think paper is white instead of red if wood is normally brown?

AF: For the same reason that when you go to the bathroom to brush your teeth they are brown, and then become white.

MS: Quebec: part of Canada or independent country?

AF: No comment ?

MS: Ok, thanks for letting us throw a couple of curveballs your way! Anyway, getting back to Spaced Out, both your albums have eagles on the cover artwork, and your website has a prominent one as well. Is there any special significance of that in relation to the band?

AF: The comeback of an eagle on the cover of the second album is pure coincidence. On the first album, I asked the artist who painted it to put one; but on the second, I asked another artist, who didn't even see the first one, to paint a dragon. When I saw the final result, I saw that he added two eagle heads at the end of the dragon's wings ... I thought it was interesting! But the eagle doesn't have any real significance. I'm thinking about putting a giraffe on the next album.

MS: Regarding the development of your instrumentals ... how much improvisation actually goes into recording? And how exactly does the band function? Do you come in with harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic structures and just let the others work over that or use a different approach?

AF: I do all the writing and arranging. I actually sequence the music first and when the song is complete, I print out the music parts on separate charts. After that, I rehearse along with Martin, as well as with the sequences. At this stage, and if necessary, he will rearrange his drums parts for the best results. Once satisfied with these parts, I book the other rehearsals with the keyboard player and the guitarist to give birth to the tunes. But I always provide the musicians with the charts and tapes before the rehearsals because the music is generally difficult to execute!

But when I work with musicians, I like them to have some input in the music. For example, there's a lot of improvisation in the songs; in the solo sections, the improviser is totally free to play it as he feels. The objective is to create teamwork, so in the end you are not just listening to Spaced Out's music for the bass player or the guitar player, but for the music created by a group of individuals.

MS: How successful have you been in getting the opportunity to play live in different places since the release of Eponymus II as far as your ambitions are concerned? Are there any chances of you playing in jazz or progressive rock festivals in the future?

AF: We haven't had the opportunity to go on tour yet. We are looking to play festivals. One of our major gigs was when we opened for Under The Sun on their visit to Montreal. I really hope we'll have the chance to play festivals around the world one day! [They were at NEARfest 2002 as these pics here indicate -ed.]

MS: You mentioned that you were planning to expand the Spaced Out live show in order to interact a lot more with the music and offer fans a more spectacular experience. Could you give us any details as to what you are planning and how you hope to achieve it? How do you think Spaced Out fans will react to the changes?

AF: Those expanding plans regarding the live performances are still concepts? My idea would be to have two or three white screens, one behind and two on the side of the stage, where there would be some film projections. Those images would be controlled to appear at specific moments. There would be some image projections on the walls of the venue as well. Also, I really enjoy watching a good light show at a concert. I'd like to add some of that and gradually build a team of people who would put some of their ideas into the event. But like I said, those plans will be possible to execute only when Spaced Out will be more than a studio band with a few rare gigs.

MS: Last question. What is the deal with the Spaced Out Orchestra and when will we be able to listen/see it?

AF: That is something I'll definitely do one day! The idea is to rearrange some of my best compositions for a big ensemble. I'd like to make a fusion of elements of classical orchestra with jazz big band. I like the colours of those two distinct orchestras. And I think that my music would benefit a lot from this wall of sound and textures. So, the Spaced Out band would be there ... with some more power behind it! Before even thinking about making this project possible live, I'd rather start thinking about the studio recording of it. Which I think will be done in the first place.

So when will it be? Probably somewhere in this lifetime!

www.antoinefafard.com

Discography:
Spaced Out (2000)
Eponymus II (2001)
Slow Gin (2003)
Unstable Matter (2006)
Live At The Crescendo Festival (2007)
Antoine Fafard - Solus Operandi (2011)
Antoine Fafard - Occultus Tramitis (2013)
Antoine Fafard - Ad Perpetuum (2014)

Live In 2000 (DVD)
Live At The Crescendo Festival (2007)