Saturday, January 4, 2025

Interview to Hell Is Carbon (2025)

Hell is Carbon is an experimental, ritual noise, psychedelic, dark ambient  artist

 from South Bend, Indiana, US.

https://helliscarbon.bandcamp.com/

https://soundcloud.com/hell-is-carbon


- What is the meaning and the concept behind the name of your music project?

Well, the meaning and concept of Hell is Carbon is based on the carbon molecule

which has 6 protons, 6 neutrons, and 6 electrons.  So maybe hell (or evil) isn’t outside of us, maybe

it is in us.

- What equipment do you use for create music?

I use an old Epiphone Les Paul custom guitar, an Ibanez GIO guitar (recently purchased), a

Roland jdxi synthesizer as a midi controller for a Deepmind 12. Also, a pagan drum, which was

made for me by a friend.  And a DrumBrute Imapct drum machine.

- Tell us a little biography about your project, when  you started to make music?

I was very late to the party on making music.  I was about 35/36 when i first started playing. And then a couple years later created Hell is Carbon.


- Who are your main music and artistic influences?

I have very eclectic influences: from Tom Waits to jazz greats like Miles Davis, Nina Simone, The Flaming Lips, Sunn 0))), and recently Canadian musician Devin Townsend, Dengue Fever, Taksim Trio. Also, as far as books go, Phillip K. Dick, Stephen King, Haruki Murakami, The Beat Generation.


- What underground artists from the netlabel scene do you like?

Antoine Trauma, Mean Flow, Rauppwar, IO, Bode Gustav MA Bodes, Pete Swinton, Mike Benoit, Cousin Silas, Humanfobia.


- Do you have some influence from your country in your music?

Yes. The Flaming Lips, The Doors, Sunn 0))), Tomahawk, Mr. Bungle, Animal Collective, John Zorn, Frank Zappa.


 - What is your favorite album/ep composed by yours? And why?

If I had to pick one, I think it would be Thus Breaketh! The World Body! (pt. 2). Why? Because I had a lot of fun making it and was working with other artists’ voices.  It was also a challenge to satisfy those artists who gave me permission to use their voices.


- What are your preferred music platforms/websites? Why?

I'm in Bandcamp & Soundcloud. 

About labels I lean more toward the darker stuff. So, Shadowtears, Mist label, Church Of The Noisy Goat, Grimm Goat, Slithering Black Records, Sombre Soniks, weareallghosts, Petroglyph Music, Plataforma Records, to name a few.


- Any funny anecdote in the composition of a track or an album?

Yeah. If I was working on an album and didn’t have any self doubt, I’d be worried.


- Do you play live? How was the experience?

I do not play live. Hell is Carbon is strictly, for now, an in studio project. But I hope to someday.


- Any news for 2025?

Not right now. My music usually doesn’t have a schedule.  And as of this date, there isn’t anything on the horizon. Hopefully, though, I’ll be able to collaborate with someone that I haven’t before.


- Do you want to say anything else to your listeners?

I want to thank them all for taking the time to listen to my music. And for making it a part of their life. I hope I live up to their expectations.


 LATEST RELEASE: "The Jesus Egg Breaks":

https://helliscarbon.bandcamp.com/album/the-jesus-egg-breaks

https://soundcloud.com/hell-is-carbon/sets/the-jesus-egg-breaks