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Just thought this guy is into lot's of stuff and the music's okay. His story some may relate to as well.
So.....here it is
Far
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0Cftwtlho4
Wasting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqBMq5Q4s1o
Desertion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekXl3VOVhT8
http://www.allmusic.com/blog/post/the-soft-moons-luis-vasquez-more-than-a-post-punk-obsessive
Apr. 13, 2015 · Features – Interviews
The Soft Moon's Luis Vasquez, More Than a Post-Punk Obsessive
By Chris Steffen
The terms that seem to always come up regarding Luis Vasquez and his Soft Moon project are words like dark, pulsing, hypnotic and cinematic, and comparisons to Bauhaus, Joy Division, the Cure and other post-punk bands run rampant. While none of these are inaccurate and he doesn't always mind being typecast, there's more to Vasquez than the most obvious descriptors and comparisons.
Deeper, the third album from the Soft Moon, came out last week, and received four stars and the "album pick" designation from editor Heather Phares, who praised the album for its artful pruning and attention to songcraft which enhances the purity of Vasquez' expression. On the eve of the album's release, we talked to Vasquez about the myriad styles he dabbled in before landing on the Soft Moon, what he was into as a kid and some of his unlikely vocal inspirations.
AllMusic: Did you know right away that this style was what you wanted to work with or were there some false starts?
Luis Vasquez: I discovered this type of music pretty much when I started creating the project. Before that, I touched upon many genres, I was kind of looking for the right formula. For me, it started out with punk music, and I played punk music for many years, and then I started getting into writing music on my own, and I did some electronic music, I think I was even messing around with drum and bass for a really short time. I tried some Afro-Cuban world music, acoustic stuff, funk, I just like to make music in general, but I guess it never felt right until the Soft Moon was created.
AllMusic: It sounds like something very solitary, versus a more collaborative project. Was the solitary nature of it more appealing to you?
Vasquez: I highly enjoy collaboration, there’s something about the communication when you’re writing music with someone or just playing music with someone, it’s kind of this unexplainable feeling that I've always loved, but for the Soft Moon, when I approached it I knew it was something completely personal, and it wasn't really intended to grow into what it is now, I was just writing music alone at home, just for myself, and just to do it because I needed it. At the time I had a corporate job, so I was working the nine to five thing, and it was a means of escape for me. Before that, I had taken a break from making music for a few years, so I guess it all just happened naturally. I guess I let go, when in the past I was forcing myself to be successful in the music industry, I had dreams of being a musician, and finally when I let everything go and started letting the music come out naturally without trying to be anything different than I am, it all happened, and it turned out to be something very personal, something I needed to do in solitude.
AllMusic: What's an example of when you were "forcing it" early on?
Vasquez: I joined this jazz band, just to try it out, for the experience, but that was a weird thing for me. I went through a jazz phase at one point, but I just pretty much enjoyed listening to it, and I knew it wasn't me, but I still wanted the experience. Electronic music, I did that in ’97, and it felt a little forced, as well. It wasn't unique enough to me.
AllMusic: What era of punk were you drawn to?
Vasquez: What I was listening to was current at the time, bands like Face to Face, later Descendents, Bad Religion. So it was music from the past, the first Descendents album I got into was their first record, same with Bad Religion. I discovered the music through watching skateboard videos, but when I was exposed to it, I started getting into the contemporary punk at that time, and I was into the past, as well, like Bad Brains, Fugazi, Minor Threat.
AllMusic: Your music is often described as cinematic, and you contributed to a John Carpenter tribute record. Is working on films a goal of yours?
Vasquez: I would love to score film, that’s definitely a goal of mine for sure, and I feel like with my music, it does paint a picture, and it’s kind of already there, so I hope it’s just a matter of time before I can work in creating music for something visual. With my music, I've always said that I make music that you can see, I really like to paint a picture. For me, atmospherics, moods, it’s very important.
AllMusic: I imagine you'd get pigeonholed a bit, genre-wise, with the types of films that would come calling.
Vasquez: I think at the moment I’d definitely be typecast, and I’d be totally OK with that. I’d love to do my sound, what people are aware of, for a film, I’d probably get typecast more in the horror realm, or sci-fi, suspense, definitely, which is really cool. I think if I were to be typecast for a long period of time, at that point is when I’d like to surprise people and want to try a different avenue.
AllMusic: Is there a particular track on the new record that evokes a specific mental image for you?
Vasquez: It’s more about a feeling, when I listen to tracks. Something like the final track on Deeper, it becomes pretty epic at the climax, and it’s more about…for me, when I listen to my music, I love to feel something, I love to feel something on an extreme level, I think that’s what I always push, but if I were to pick a song, maybe something like “Desertion,” I can see the desert, I can see a Mad Max scenario, a chase scene, like in a dystopian world, something like that.
AllMusic: Was it always obvious to you that the Soft Moon would have vocals versus being instrumental?
Vasquez: When it started out, I didn't have any words to describe how I felt, and therefore I let the music tell the story. I purposely would bury my vocals a little bit to give myself a sense of strain, I’m trying to get something out but I just can’t, and I felt like because I didn't know the right words to say, I didn't want to limit the song, either, and once you give it a narrative, it becomes just that, and I want it to be more open-ended. As I've evolved with Deeper, I just felt it was natural to express my voice more, and now that I've evolved as a human being, I feel like I understand myself a little bit more and a little bit of why I feel certain ways, so now I can put words that actually mean something.
AllMusic: You've got a big tour coming up, how did you first approach taking this music to the stage?
Vasquez: I had no clue, I really struggled with that. I was like, “How am I going to get a band together?” What happened was right after I’d gotten signed with Captured Tracks, there’s Blank Dogs, Mike Sniper’s band, and he’s the head guy at Captured Tracks, and right after I got signed, I didn't think I was going to perform live, and he mentioned he was coming to Oakland, where I was living, and he wanted me to support his band. They gave me about three weeks to prepare, so I went a little bit crazy, I had different approaches in my head, am I going to be alone onstage, do I need to get a band, and I ended up getting two guys together and I performed a 12-minute set. We only had three rehearsals and we learned maybe four songs. Once I experienced the Soft Moon live, I realized it was so important and a huge aspect of the project that I need to continue and evolve.
AllMusic: What do you like to see in the crowd during your shows?
Vasquez: I love when their eyes are closed, it’s pretty amazing. I've seen people cry, which is very beautiful. Most of the time I keep my eyes closed and I just depend on the energy that I receive, I completely let go live. I’m in my own world, and it’s the only moment, that one hour onstage, it’s that only moment where I feel confidence. I suffer from insecurity and I’m super self-conscious and paranoid and anxiety and all that stuff that harbors my daily life, that one hour is super amazing for me and is so cathartic and important for me to stay sane.
AllMusic: You're often compared to the same bands. Are there any less-obvious influences we should be listening for?
Vasquez: Michael Jackson, for sure, the track “Feel” on Deeper, the beat is completely influenced by “Billie Jean.” The way I do my howls with my vocals, my screams and howls, that’s inspired by Axl Rose and Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, things like that. People don’t really catch onto those, and those were huge influences for me, but people just compare the overall sound of the music to Bauhaus or the Cure or Joy Division.
AllMusic: You're a big Axl fan?
Vasquez: Yeah, huge, I had the Appetite for Destruction poster, a velvet poster, in my room, I think it was even glow in the dark. Even the Use Your Illusion albums were great, too, and “Patience,” that was on Lies, I love “Patience.”
AllMusic: What about Iron Maiden, how did you get into them?
Vasquez: That’s a funny story, it’s the first record I ever bought with my own money, it was a cassette, I had saved up some money from doing some chores and mowing some people’s lawns in my neighborhood, and I asked my mom to take me to the record shop, and I went in and I had no idea, I wasn't aware of too much music at that time, it was my very first cassette ever, and I just wandered around the record shop and I came across Iron Maiden, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, and I only bought it because I really liked the cover art, I had no idea what they sounded like, and I took it home and it was the only cassette I had for a while, because I had to wait to save up money to buy whatever the next record was, and so it started with Iron Maiden.
AllMusic: Is there an album you think you've heard more than any other?
Vasquez: I think Fuagzi’s Repeater, when I started getting into punk, when I was exposed to Fugazi, they had kind of a different approach, a little more artistic, in a way, a little different than the usual formula you’d get. I’d always felt inspired by that record, it opened my mind a bit and led me to believe there are no limits with music. And from there, you can go even crazier, with psychedelic rock or krautrock and things like that, but with punk rock, that’s what opened my mind, in general. I still listen to that record.
AllMusic: What about the idea of a perfect song, do any come to mind?
Vasquez: Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.” I was watching MTV as a kid and it just hit home. Those sad ballads really touch me. There’s another one that’s maybe even better, kind of a guilty pleasure: George Michael, “One More Try.” That song is amazing, that’s a perfect song.
AllMusic: You probably couldn't tell your punk friends.
Vasquez: Not at all, I had to stick with Dead Kennedys and things like that, but when I’d go home, in my room I’d listen to things like this.
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