Feature

EOTO has emerged from the ashes of String Cheese Incident. What was almost a hobby for String Cheese drummer Michael Travis and percussionist Jason Hann has become their career focus. This duo is taking both jam and electronica to the next level with what is known as “Live Looping.” Whereas DJs rely heavily on using previously recorded samples, EOTO employs the use of looping software to record samples of their performance as they are playing on various instruments and then mix-up and mash-up the sounds to create an unique electronic experience. This technique allows them to have a truly unique performance on a nightly basis. When Lagniappe spoke with Michael Travis, he gave the impression that he and Hann had truly found their calling.

SC: So, how would you describe life after String Cheese?

MT: Well, it’s peculiar! There’s definitely a gap in my life, a little missing of the big machine that is String Cheese, but I’m feeling super satisfied with this project. It feels like a new career to me. I’ve been pouring all my energy into this. So, it’s very fulfilling. I don’t have a lot of time to think about what I’m missing.

SC: How did EOTO get started?

MT: EOTO got started when Jason (Hann) joined the band (String Cheese) in 04, I guess. He would stay over at my house during String Cheese practice. So, we practiced for five hours a day with String Cheese like from two to five, and then he’d come over to my house and we would jam and do a lot of playing started with me on seven-string bass doing double-handed tapping and him playing drum kit. Then, I brought in a loop pedal to it and started looping that stuff. Then, he said, ‘If you wanna get really serious, we should use this program called ‘Ableton Live’ for looping. It’s really so much better than any other loop device.’ So, we started digging into that and realizing that it was the wellspring of all looping technology. Well, not the wellspring, but the future of all looping technology. It really blows away all other loop scenarios. We worked on it for like a year and a half and realized that we could make a viable product out of it. We kept incubating it, so that we got the tools we needed to make it an actual dance party. You know, trying hard to emulate the whole DJ experience except making all the parts live instead of having anything pre-recorded.

SC: So, what are some of the challenges you faced with a live looping show?

MT: One of the major challenges is pacing. For me, electronic music fans, they are really intuitive to big phrases: the big 16 measure and 32 measure phrases. So, when that big turn-around is supposed to come, it better be hitting, and if it’s not hitting, they’re off. They’re gone; they’re gonna go get a beer or whatever. To build all the parts fast enough to keep the phrase in mind to know when to try to get four or five parts really quickly at four measures a piece, and so on the sixteenth measure, drop down or add another really peak part. It’s getting the parts up fast enough and thinking of parts fast enough that I don’t meander and dwell around. Sometimes, I’ll put in a part in the sound bank by accident, and I have to erase it and do it again. When I have to do that multiple times in a row, it just kills me! That’s one of the major challenges and to pick up music all night long so that it doesn’t all sound like the same song because it’s improvised and yet to think of music dancie enough to keep them moving.

SC: One thing that amazes me is how music work sometimes like the jam scene embracing the electronica. What do you think it is about the two genres that makes them so complimentary?

MT: In a lot of ways, electronic music is the one of the new cutting edges of psychedlia. I think the Grateful Dead set forth this whole explosive path of kinda delving into broader regions of the mind, and everybody’s been furthering that in their own different ways. Some of the great psytrance bands and a lot of the great rave scene have been co-evolving as a psychedelic explosion in Europe. Then, with the American jam bands getting more and more into funk realized that electronic is the ultimate in funk and the ultimate in psychedelia, especially when you can re-humanize it and grab it from the computer and do it with real people. Like for the new deal the new great forefathers of that, Disco Biscuits’ new deal and (Sound Tribe) Sector 9 are some of the great beginners of taking the electronic music and making it alive again, at least in the American jam culture. It sets off the same sparks as the American hippie revolution, except for the much more funky, keep the people dancing undercurrent.

SC: What’s the story behind the name EOTO?

MT: EOTO stands for ‘End of Time Observatory.’ It’s a concept that I feel that time is coming to a close, not meaning that it’s the end of the world just the end of time. Reality is going to seem more transparent. Events are going to be starting, and coincidences are going to be more rapid. The Observatory would be you’re personal, quiet standpoint above it all. We also found out that EOTO means good sound in Japanese, so that’s pretty handy!

SC: Is EOTO going to be a permanent thing, or do you have other projects that you’re working?

MT: EOTO is definitely going to be a permanent thing. For me, it’s my tonal outlet. I’ve been waiting and practicing with tonal instruments for years to get good enough that I could put my music out of tonal expression. Jason is super, super committed to the project. We’re really gonna work on making this the main thing for awhile.

Stephen Centanni is Lagniappe music editor. Contact him at scentanni@lagniappemobile.com.

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