DON FALCONE Interviews

Interviews with Don Falcone & Collaborators

Music Is Out There Interview with Albert Bouchard, Michael Moorcock, and Don Falcone
(accompanied PowerPlay Issue #251, May 2022)

"SPIRITS BURNING & MICHAEL MOORCOCK, are a rock, space rock, prog rock band, which includes musicians from around the world. The home base is in Northern California, with the main collaborators for this album located in New York and Texas."

Ghettoraga "The Third Ear Band's Official Archive" two-part interview of Don Falcone
(by Luca Ferrari, Ghettoraga, September 11, 2021 and September 30, 2021)

Part 1: URSULA SMITH played in Spirits Burning's latest album. A two-parts interview with DON FALCONE

Part 2:"It's more about wishes, never about regrets"
The second part of the interview with DON FALCONE

Breakfast In The Ruins podcast Spirits Burning with Don Falcone
(February 2021)

Gonzo Weekly #307/8 We meet Michael Moorcock and talk about his new collaboration with Spirits Burning

Music Street Journal / Progressive Rock Interviews Interview with Don Falcone of Spirits Burning from 2018

"DF: In 2017, three big things happened for Spirits Burning."
(by Gary Hill, January, 2018)

Gonzo Weekly Spirits Burning UK 2017 Tour

[SB Live]
(Interview by Jonathan Downes, Gonzo Weekly #251, September 8, 2017)

Music Street Journal / Progressive Rock Interviews Don Falcone of Spirits Burning
(by Gary Hill, January, 2017)

DF: In the 90’s, I was in a number of ambient projects on the Silent Records label: Thessalonians, Spice Barons, the original Astralfish - primarily as a synth player. I was also a founding member of Melting Euphoria and was on their first album, prior to them getting signed to Cleopatra Records. For that band, I played keys and handled poetry and vocals. A few years later, I had a solo project named "Spaceship Eyes," and signed with Cleopatra’s Hypnotic imprint. This was an experimental drum ‘n’ bass project. Live, I brought in other musicians and it was more of an ethno-ambient space rock band. Deeper into the nineties, I relaunched Spirits Burning as a space rock collective, working with musicians in the San Francisco area, including visiting musicians like Daevid Allen, Graham Clarke, and, years later, Cyrille Verdeaux. I also started connecting with musicians from around the world, like Steven Wilson, and eventually members of Hawkwind and other space rock bands.

Over the last decade and a half, there have been 13 Spirits Burning studio albums, with over 230 musicians involved. Plus, I’ve continued doing other projects, like the second Astralfish (an instrumental project with Bridget Wishart, which showcases her EWI playing) and Grindlestone (a darker ambient project).

MSJ: If you weren't involved in music what do you think you'd be doing?

DF: In terms of something artistic: Maybe poetry. Maybe fiction. Probably both.

MSJ: Who would you see as your musical influences?

DF: As a keyboardist, I’d start with Jon Lord, Vangelis, and Tangerine Dream. As a vocalist, Robert Calvert, Peter Gabriel, and… Kate Bush (although I can’t sing like her on any level). As a songwriter, it gets complicated, as there are different styles at different times. Kate Bush, Michael Oldfield, a bit of The Stranglers, lots of hard rock roots, Ennio Morricone, so many others…

MSJ: What's ahead for you?

DF: Spirits Burning and Michael Moorcock An Alien Heat. This is a musical adaptation of Mike’s first Dancers at the End of Time books, with a collection of songs started by Albert Bouchard, my Grindlestone cohort Doug Erickson, or me. The plan is to do three albums to cover the entire Dancers... trilogy. So far, An Alien Heat includes Al, Doug, and me, bassists Adrian Shaw, Steve York, and Lux Vibratus, guitarists Andy Dalby, Richie Castellano, and Gregg McKella, keyboardists Cyrille Verdeaux and Harvey Bainbridge, violinists Jonathan Segel and Craig Fry, drummers Ken Pustelnik and Jack Gold-Molina, along with the Damned’s Monty Oxymoron on percussion. Jason Atoms does vocals on the opening tracks. Al sings one song and brought in Don Fleming for another. I really hope that I haven’t forgotten anyone. Otherwise, there are more invites in place, and I’m planning on doing a session with Mike early next year. I’m also working on multiple instrumental Spirits Burning albums.

MSJ: I know many artists hate to have their music pigeonholed or labeled, but how would you describe your music?

DF: A musical adventure with mystery. If we’re talking about Spirits Burning, I tend to alternate between instrumental and vocal albums. All the albums have a bit of space rock, prog, tinges of jazz and folk, new wave, and ambient. I’d like to think that there are still experimental elements within this pluralistic construct. Plus, a surprise or two along the way, whether it’s an unexpected grouping of musicians, or styles. I guess one surprise the last few years is that I’ve started to add a bit of groove, or sense of 60s soundtracks. I am also involved in a number of ambient and instrumental projects. These include Astralfish, Grindlestone, and Spice Barons.

MSJ: Are there musicians with whom you would like to play with in the future?

DF: Plenty. To name a few for Spirits Burning, I’ve always wanted to work with Arthur Brown on vocals, David Jackson on sax, Guy Evans on drums, and Paul Rudolph on guitar or bass. Sometimes there are musicians that I don’t think about until a song expresses a need. This happened with The Roadmap in Your Head album, where I knew I needed a sax on the “Coffee for Coltrane” piece, and then Cyrille suggested adding more wind and reed players on other songs. That led me down a path to reach out and connect with Theo Travis for “Coffee,” and then Gong’s Ian East, Paul Booth (who Ian recommended), and David Newhouse (who played with Paul Sears in the Muffins, and was an old friend of my cousins).

MSJ: Do you think that illegal downloading or streaming of music is a help or hindrance to the careers of musicians?

DF: It’s a convoluted package. I’m in the process, or planning stages, of re-releasing the first decade of Spirits Burning albums on Noh Poetry Records as downloads, and streaming is something that I need to consider. Do I create a non-presence on places like YouTube, or do I make sure I’m there and can be noticed? Free streaming of music (and if you stretch it, illegal downloads), can be a marketing tool if and when it leads to actual sales. Streaming does pay, albeit miniscule amounts. Help? Hindrance? I would say it’s a reality, and makes being a musician additionally challenging.

MSJ: In a related question, how do you feel about fans recording shows and trading them or posting them online?

DF: In 2017, Spirits Burning will be playing a live show at a U.K. festival and I don’t mind if people record it. I really like bands that support their fans' interest in sharing recorded shows.

MSJ: If you were a superhero, what music person would be your arch nemesis and why?

DF: I try to be positive, patient, and supportive of people, so having an arch nemesis is not usually part of the world I live in. If there is anyone out there feeling like they are an arch nemesis, I wish them the best, and hope they find their way to a better light in the nearest of futures.

MSJ: If you were to put together your ultimate band (a band you'd like to hear or catch live), who would be in it and why?

DF: I suspect I would answer this question differently every ten minutes. In the here and now, I’ll go with one that would primarily bring together musicians no longer with us, which in and of itself would make it a special event… Jimi Hendrix, Tommy Bolin, Phil Lynott, Jon Lord, Robert Calvert for a couple of pieces, and one living person, Guy Evans. If they give each other room, and do a bit of ebb and flow, the sound and output would be quite adventurous, mysterious, spiritual.

MSJ: If you were in charge of assembling a music festival and wanted it to be the ultimate one from your point of view who would be playing?

DF: I like the idea of celebrating a type of music, say space rock, but making sure to encompass as many interpretations of what space rock is, or can be. Fill in the band and project names from there.

MSJ: What was the last CD you bought and/or what have you been listening to lately?

DF: I’ve been listening to Nick Cave’s last couple of albums. My wife Karen and I recently saw a live concert of his on TV, and went to see the “Once More with Feeling” movie at a local theatre. I’ve been following up on that. I have also been listening to songs from Game of Thrones. I suspect that going to the 2017 Game of Thrones live concert is in my future.

MSJ: Have you read any good books lately?

DF: I’ve gotten into a bad habit of starting some books, and then stopping. My current excuse is that I’m reading and rereading An Alien Heat, to better decipher sounds and approaches to the songs we are working on. Plus, I’m creating lyrics for one song, bringing together Mike’s text from two chapters… where one of the dancers from the future arrives in 19th century England.

MSJ: What about the last concert you attended for your enjoyment?

DF: Black Sabbath. It’s been a great couple of years in the states, as lots of British bands have made their way here. Everyone from Steven Wilson, The Damned, Sting and Peter Gabriel, Steeleye Span, King Crimson, and Magma (well, they’re not British).

MSJ: Do you have a musical “guilty pleasure?”

DF: All the techno and trance remixes of “Heaven?”

MSJ: What has been your biggest Spinal Tap moment?

DF: Once upon a time… I was in an early version of Spirits Burning, and I would occasionally leave my keyboard perch and sing a song out front. There was this song, where I’d sing, “We take from the hand and give to the world the unknown.” I thought it would be cool to accentuate this phrase by throwing Starburst candies into the audience. This night there were 25 or so people standing in front of the stage and beyond. I didn’t have any Starburst, but was able to get a Milky Way bar. When the time came, I pulled it off perfectly. “We take from the hand, and give to the world the un-” and I cranked my left arm up into the air, and as I sang “known” successfully threw the Milky Way bar into our sea of listeners. After the gig, I walked out in front of the stage, and a cute girl came up to me and our eyes immediately met. She said to me, “Why did you hit me in the head with a candy bar?”

MSJ: If you could sit down to dinner with any three people, living or dead, for food and conversation, with whom would you be dining?

DF: Jesus would be interesting, if he showed up. I’d like to get his thoughts on his legacy. I’d probably give him a copy of Michael Moorcock’s Behold the Man as a dinner gift. Actually, that probably should be a prerequisite, for him to read prior to dinner. Otherwise, I’d love to have one more dinner with my parents, who passed away a few years ago. A very long dinner.

MSJ: What would be on the menu?

DF: Ah, you’re not done with this line of thought. One side of me would like to introduce my parents to something that I love, but they aren’t familiar with: for example, a dinner with a great variety of Thai food. On the other hand, if I’m getting the gift of them being at this dinner, it probably makes more sense to have something that they like. So, spaghetti and meatballs, a side of gnocchis, and both hot and sweet sausage from the Schmidt’s Sausage Shop, which is available only in the Pennsylvania area where I grew up.

MSJ: Are there any closing thoughts you would like to get out there?

DF: Someone recently asked me: "Why do you do music?" Which means, why write songs, why collaborate, why have them released on CD or other medium, why bother? I gave my stock answer of the last five years or so. I like to make a mark, via music, however small that mark may be. That’s true, although it feels incomplete. I thought about my answer a bit over the ensuing days, and came up with additional thoughts.

I really enjoy the journey: collaborating and bringing musicians together, watching each song grow from a seed into something more, and listening. Especially those moments when you have headphones on and just bop around with the music, or turn out the lights and chill, and maybe feel a wash of emotion, whether it’s a moment of joy, sadness, intrigue, mystery, or something unknown. I really enjoy the destination. It is a special feeling to complete an album, and share it. Being an artist is often a statement of personal, or group hope. It is a hope that everyone who listens will experience some of the same emotions that were experienced during that journey and its destination.

Gonzo Weekly Saying goodbye to Daevid Allen

[Gonzo Weekly #142 cover]

(by Douglas Harr, Gonzo Weekly #142, August 7, 2015)

Perfect Sound Forever online music magazine presents... Don Falcone "Poetry and Melting Euphoria"

[Donplaysbass] (by Jack Gold-Molina, October, 2014)

Gonzo Web Radio Show, conversation between Don Falcone and host Jonathan Downes

(January 2013)

JON: Sorry it has taken so long to get to you… every time I try something happens

DON: The timing is kind of good – this week the CDs arrived; the artist copies so I actually feel like it is more real because I have a physical copy I can listen to it, and look at it and all that.

JON: Well I sat down with my dog last night and listened to the album. It is very good. It is the first time I have actually heard it

DON: Thank you.

JON: It is probably actually a good thing that I had to wait until today to interview you, because until last night I had no real idea of what it was all about.

DON: Yeah every Spirits Burning CD is kind of different. There is a consistency maybe with the concept and that I’m involved, but one CD might be instrumental, one might be more vocal. There is one CD I tried to do my effort almost to do Rock in Opposition, and another one more space rock, and the Bridget Wishart albums have a festival element to it.

JON: So tell me, what is the guiding concept?

DON: The original concept was to basically celebrate space rock and so what I did was, I put out a call – I guess it was in 1997 – to a number of musicians to say would you be interested in gathering and celebrating space rock?

And what I think has developed over that time given some of my interests, and then also what I kind of perceive as the openness and possibilities of space rock, and that includes everything from synth and electronic music. There is a folk and a blues aspect in some space rock, prog rock and art rock and then if you take it a little further, what some might call experimental music. So at some point I think it has become a celebration of music possibilities and then the other side of it, I was real influenced and also a big fan of the Brian Eno albums, especially the early ones and things like Bob Calvert, places you’d have these interesting combinations of people.

Kind of unexpected combinations, so you’d have the more art rock, Roxy Music kind of people and Fripp from heavily respected King Crimson and you’d have members of Hawkwind and The Pink Fairies, and you’d get these kind of happy accidents. I really wanted to see what I could do bringing together people who you wouldn’t normally see coming together. I wasn’t in the position of – financially – of bringing in big name players, so we’d end up having a combination of some people from more known bands of the ‘70s and the ‘80s, and then some people from bands who were influenced or liked those people and so you would have bands that were kind of up and coming – let’s say at that period of time, late ‘90s early 2000s – so you have this interesting mix of past skilled musicians and a kind of fresh take on it.

JON: Do you do it in the studio, or do you do it by long distance?

DON: A little bit of both. I have a home studio which is basically an extra room in the house here that has a Pro Tools system and I used to work for Digidesign for 11 years so I was kind of able to be on the cutting edge of inheriting equipment, and there was another system I used way back before I worked at Digidesign and people like Daevid Allen used to visit the bay area here in – you know we are pretty close to San Francisco – and he used to visit once a year and he would actually record here. But the majority of musicians are actually scattered across the world so there’s a – I think on the newest CD, there’s 10 to 15 people from outside the United States. Either in South America, or Europe, and then there’s others.

I think that another thing that has happened is that there’s a number of people who used to live in San Francisco and who have moved away. What’s happened, going back to the old days, some people long distance, would send me DAT tapes – it could go both ways also. I could start a tune, then send them something, and they would record their track, or I could actually have them start a tune and they would send me something first. But in the old days, which were not really that long ago, we’re talking maybe 14/15 years ago, the majority of people were communicating with DAT or CDRs. Nowadays, it is more likely that people are posting to places like Dropbox or YouSendIt or SendSpace. For example, the person starting the piece can post a *.wav or *.mp3 to get the initial track started, to hear it.

JON: Back in the old days, when anybody was recording in a studio, you would always start off with a bass and drums. Is this how you work?

DON: Not necessarily, and it is a good question. It would be good for me to try to do that more often. I’m mainly a keyboard player and although I was a bass player years ago, there is a tendency for everything that I start to be done with keyboards.

Long ago, before I got into the bars and beats side of things, I would just play and you’d have this keyboard passage and people would start playing on top of it. The change to bars and beats meant that — OK, I have a digital workspace and that could make sure that from start to finish you’re playing in 4/4, 6/8, or whatever, but you could actually, if you wanted to, play a quick track.

In the last few years, there are better drum machines, or electronic emulators of drums, which really sound like drum kits. You can actually feel like you have a drummer in the room, and you can have this MIDI-triggered drum kit playing from start to finish, so that you stay in time.

What tends to happen now is I will start with a drum kit and then play an organ line or a piano line, or a synth or arpeggio line, and then at some point bring in a real drummer. The ideal would be to have the drummer come in next. What happened with the Clearlight CD was that there were a few pieces where the real drums were the last thing added. Paul Sears is a good example. He was actually building his studio, so he wasn’t able to record for me for about a year, so I just hung in there because I really wanted him on the CD, and I knew he would be a good fit. Eventually, he built his studio up, and was able to record at his home in Arizona. I am pretty sure he was either the last or next to the last instrument on the pieces that he’s on.

JON: So he actually did the drums in a separate studio?

DON: Yes, yeah.

JON: That’s amazing.

DON: Drummers tend to be the most difficult part of the equation. It’s easy for people to have a little home studio and plug in a keyboard and plug in a guitar, but drums… – I’ll be honest, I do like the sound of a real drum kit rather than a drum machine or even a good drum plug in. I will use those on occasion, and I am real intrigued with the combination of both — I think that is always kind of intriguing, and there is some of that on the new CD, but I do like acoustic instruments a lot, especially when it comes to the drum kit. And for a drum kit, you really do need multiple microphones, a good sounding drums, a good room, although I’ve probably recorded a drummer in this house once, and where we used to live in the late 90s a couple of times.

That place was a little better, at least for recording, because there was a solid underground. Here the drummer makes the room bounce and I get nervous that my little workstation — the equipment and the cards in the computers — are going to come out. I don’t have that many microphones anymore, so it’s not really the best place to record a drummer. It really makes sense for me to find drummers who basically have something a bit more than a home studio, that have maybe a whole garage set up as a studio.

There has been a couple of other people, like Kevin Carnes of a local band here (Broun Fellinis), who did drums on two pieces — he actually has an engineer who he works with who has a proper studio. When I invited him, part of the deal was to set it up so he could go to that studio and record.

JON: Because this is a very 21st Century way of recording, isn’t it?

DON: It is. But I guess for me it’s: How can I create a virtual band so that you have something that is new performances and brings together people?

On the last 8, 9 releases, everybody on a piece get credited as a composer. I learned long ago that each person brings in their little element, so even if I start the chords or there is a basic riff, no matter what somebody does, they are bringing their compositional skills forward to make the piece become a new whole and hopefully make it something more special.

JON: Do you ever miss the synergy though? I have been a musician both pre- and post-digital, and sometimes, I miss having the synergy of just having four sweaty bodies in the same room playing off each other.

DON: Yeah at times I do. When I was a bass player, I played heavily off the kick drum, especially a couple of years in the mid-80s. There was a drummer I played with, and I basically watched his foot a lot and found it inspirational, and then really played off of what he was doing. He actually made me a better bass player and drove me to play harder, more intriguingly. There was a guitar player who I played with in the mid-to-late 80s — in fact a couple of guitar players — who probably inspired me to be more melodic on keyboards.

In the early 90s, I used to be on a label called Silent Records, which did ambient music, and the guy who headed the label (Kim Cascone) really influenced me heavily to start listening to and thinking about sound. For instance, I remember we would get together almost weekly, mainly him, I, and another keyboardist, and part of these sessions would be him recommending we take a listen to Miles Davis and Bitches Brew or take a listen to the first Eno ambient albums, or listen to African Head Charge — and what was going on with the sounds. Sometimes, the interactions were playing, and sometimes the interactions were just talking.

The one thing that has happened with long distance — both with Cyrille Verdeaux with the Clearlight CD and it actually probably happens more often with the Spirits Burning & Bridget Wishart stuff — there is a lot of conversation long distance as the pieces grow and I send mixes to them.

Maybe I can back up here a little bit... The tendency for most people involved: I invite them, they work on a part, they may ask for some direction, they may not, they may ask are you OK with what I’ve done so far? But for the most part, most of the people on the CD don’t really hear it until it is released. However, if I’m doing something where it’s not just Spirits Burning — say it’s Spirits Burning & Clearlight, which is Cyrille, or Spirits Burning & Bridget Wishart, which is with Bridget — we are in contact a lot. For example, the Bridget Wishart CD — where we are about 75% percent through what is going to be the third one coming out maybe mid-to-late this year — we are in contact sometimes almost daily, where we are talking about a piece. Do you like where it is going, who should we invite for the next part, what type of guitar sound do we want, what type of drummer do we want?

What is happening here is a way of getting from the sweaty bodies in the room experience to something where you are still communicating and have a dialogue.

That being said, there are things I miss and there are things I don’t miss. I don’t miss paying for renting a studio and I don’t miss band arguments . Bridget did an interview recently for Positive Creed magazine, and she said working with Spirits Burning equals freedom. I think that really captured it —it’s not 100% every moment, but we can kind of do anything. We can try anything and we can kind of go at our pace and we can invite whoever. If they say yes, that’s great, if they don’t, that’s fine; even if they say yes and it doesn’t happen —because that occurs. Sometimes you go long periods where you don’t hear back from somebody, or you need to nudge them a little and make sure they really want to do this. So there is a lot of patience involved, but I think it gets back to the possibilities, and then seeing where it goes and taking some risks, taking some chances. Hopefully, what you heard when you listened to the new CD.

JON: I’m afraid the new CD is the only stuff of yours that I have heard. That and the one thing Rob sent me on YouTube so I didn’t actually know that you did so much with Bridget. I thought that the era when Bridget was fronting Hawkwind was one of the most interesting eras that Hawkwind did.

DON: Yeah, it’s wonderful stuff. That period was probably my last favourite period of Hawkwind. There’s been many periods of them that I really love a lot. I remember when I bought Space Ritual and I was not sure what to make of it, and then really did like it. But that ‘74/’75 period right after I loved. I loved Calvert, the stuff with Ginger Baker was intriguing. I am someone who did like the Moorcock stuff in the early ‘80s – not so much the hard rock Elric period. The Bridget stuff I thought was really refreshing and I thought they were getting back into a new era, and in retrospect, I think that they didn’t take advantage of her. She plays the EWI – the electronic wind instrument. They could have had her doing sax and sounds on stage.

The other thing about her that I discovered working with her so much over the last few years, is that she is also a really good song writer and has a good sense of song structure, and she really hadn’t quite gotten to that point when that could have happened with Hawkwind. What happened with her – I don’t know if you read up on this on line, is I basically – in my hunt to keep Spirits Burning fresh - I am always looking for new people that would be interesting to be part of the collective. And a few years ago a guy named David Law – I think he’s running the Hawkwind site now – he used to have a thing called the Hawkind Museum, and he did an interview on Bridget. It was the first time I had heard of her in years, as she pretty much disappeared after the Hawkwind years. And I asked him if he could put me in touch with her and give her an invite. She was kind of concerned about it because the last thing she wanted to do was get back into music, she had her daily life going on. And she said yes, she would give it a try, and she sent me some vocals that she did.

And so I basically said, OK, now I have these vocals. How do I put them in time and create a rhythm, keyboards and do something to start – you know a drummer and a bass player and a guitarist could now make this into a song? And that piece we called Salome and that ended up on the Spirits Burning “Alien Injection” release, which is on Black Widow Records. And she was really happy with it, so she said I’ll send you another one and we did a second piece. Both were on that CD, which was also actually released on vinyl because Black Widow often does both. After that release, we got talking even more and she felt a bit more comfortable with it and through long distance started to build up a trust – a respect of each other – she said what do you think of doing a full length CD? So we did, for Voiceprint, the Earthborn CD and we did the second one, which was Bloodlines, and we are now working on a third one that’s called Make Believe It Real.

JON: And that’s going to be for Gonzo as well?

DON: Well as long as Rob continues to be happy with Spirits Burning.

JON: Well I know Rob has always spoken very highly of you, and he said man you’ve got to interview this guy so…..

DON: Yeah, he’s been very supportive, and I do feel a sense of responsibility to him and the label and I also feel a responsibility towards musicians on the CD – trying to make each piece, each CD, be intriguing and be worthwhile so they feel good for being involved and maybe would want to be involved again.

JON: I don’t know if you read the Gonzo Daily..

DON: I read parts of it. And I saw the breaking news that Steve Howe quit Asia.

JON: That was quite a shock to everybody I think.

DON: I do look at it, because it comes in, but I find with so much happening that I am scanning it more. There are certain things I will read more than other things... there’s like a long-distance vibe I get from Judy Dyble and I remember reading most of her interview.

JON: Oh she’s a honey. She’s someone you ought to think about doing something with.

DON: Yeah I had thought of that. One idea I have is doing an acoustic space rock album and one thought would maybe make that more instrumental, but another thought would be, hey, add vocals, and she would be someone who would be good for that. We actually had a piece a few years ago we asked Judy to be involved with and I think it was in the wrong key for her – this wasn’t for vocals. She plays a little harp – and it’s tuned to a couple of keys. And so the piece we had just wasn’t a good fit. But we did try once, and I have learned over the years, it does make sense to try again.

JON: It sounds a lovely idea.

And so the interview finished, mostly because my telephone handset batteries were running out. But over the next few days I listened to a lot of his music, both with and without Bridget Wishart and much of it is nothing short of extraordinary. Last night I was listening to one of the albums featuring Bridget Wishart and was completely blown away. This is as exquisite a piece of edenic electric folk as anything within the pages of Electric Eden, and it can only open the doors to more gloriously surrealchemical music in the years to come

Mystery Tour Radio Show Interview with Don Falcone (Spirits Burning & Clearlight)
(Italian Radio Show on Mixcloud, 2014)

[Mystery Tour Radio Show]

The Prog Rock Diner interviews Don Falcone
(February 2013)

Audio interview. We will add to this page in the future.

The Terry Hawke Show on HFM Radio, Don Falcone Interview interview
(June 9th 2012)

Colossus Interview
(by Ian Abrahams, Colossus Issue #34)

Colossus: Don, your Spirits Burning ensemble celebrates the boundless possibilities of space-rock. Who originally sparked your interest in the genre?

Don Falcone: Hawkwind's Space Ritual was first, though it took some time for me to get comfortable with the music. It was darker and more intense than other things I was listening to. Hearing Hall of the Mountain Grill sealed the deal. I had been a big fan of Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, and was also into Tangerine Dream and Vangelis. Hawkwind represented a place where all those sounds and ideas came together.

Back then, Nektar's Remember the Future was my favorite concept album, Floating Anarchy my favorite plate of Gong. Can's Landed was perhaps the most experimental of the space-rock albums I was listening to. That album's use of electronics remains timeless. And, the Holger Czukay solo material that followed is still a handbook for using found sounds.

Most importantly, these bands and artists continued to do new things that I enjoyed and admired. Hawkwind developed lyrical when Bob Calvert took over as lead vocalist and then became more power prog during Ginger Baker's brief stint and then took on a new flavor when Harvey Bainbridge moved to keyboards. I recently saw the Live Legends video with Bridget, Alan, Richard, Simon, and Harvey. I had forgotten how good this line-up was. Plus, there was a personal "wow" moment. It hit me that I had done songs with everyone onstage except for Dave Brock and the fire-breathers!

Aural Innovations
(by Jerry Kranitz, Aural Innovations #34, August, 2006)

And then, seemingly out of nowhere, Don's output increased with a stunning variety of projects, including Spirits Burning, Quiet Celebration, Fireclan, Weird Biscuit Teatime, another Spaceship Eyes release, the release of an older unreleased Thessalonians album, a collaboration with Stephen Palmer (Mooch, Blue Lily Commission), and.... I've surely forgotten something! Having been immersed in Don's music over the years it seemed appropriate to revisit him for a more in-depth conversation. The following interview was conducted by phone from the Aural Innovations headquarters in Ohio to Don's home in California.

Aural Innovations (AI): Regarding your early ambient days, I was browsing a web site with information on Silent Records and saw this line… "Don released full length albums and individual tracks for Silent under the names Thessalonians, Spice Barons, Satellite IV, Patternclear, Hydrosphere, Astralfish, and so on. Were albums released under these names? Were they one shots?

Don Falcone (DF): There were 3 CDs on Silent. The first one was Thessalonians "Soulcraft". That was with Kim Cascone, Larry Thrasher, Paul Neyrinck and two other people. At some point after that came out we ended up becoming a 3-piece with Kim, myself and Paul Neyrinck. From there we continued on and put out a CD called UFA, or Unidentified Floating Ambience. And for each piece we took a different name. So there was a piece by Hydrosphere, a couple pieces by Spice Barons, a couple pieces by Patternclear, and one piece or two by Astralfish. I'm not sure that was the best way of doing it. We may have confused a lot of people who probably thought it was a compilation. But that was the second CD. From there was finally settled on who this trio was going to be and we did Spice Barons. So that was the third CD. At that point we started recording a new Thessalonians CD, and Larry came back on board and the four of us completed the material. At the time it was going to come out there was a lot going on with the distributor for Silent, and Kim decided to concentrate more on a solo career and also get out of the business… he was running Silent Records. So once he sold Silent and the new person picked it up, we couldn't reach an agreement to release the second Thessalonians CD. And that CD ("Solaristics") was put out by Noh Poetry a year ago. So you could say there were four CDs from that period. And then we were on a lot of compilations that Silent put out.

AI: So these band names that I listed, those are different configurations of the same people?

DF: Of the 3-piece. The only other thing I could add to that is, at the first moment that we were a 3-piece, when Thessalonians still existed, there was a compilation being put together called "50 Years of Sunshine", to celebrate LSD. I actually got a Harvey Bainbridge track from one of his solo CDs on it. And there's a Hawkwind piece, and Timothy Leary's on it. And we did a piece and called ourselves Satellite IV. So that was actually the original name of the 3-piece. Then we did the UFA thing with all the different names and finally settled on Spice Barons.

AI: Was this all still early 90's, mid 90's?

DF: The "Solaristics" was probably '95-'96. When I put out the Spaceship Eyes "Kamarupa" CD that was pretty much at the tail end of it.

AI: When I first started communicating with you was right around when Kamarupa first came out. And when I look back at what ended up being 3 Spaceship Eyes CDs, they're all very different from one another. You had the Tangerine Dreamy "Kamarupa", and then the drum 'n bass and techno elements in "Truth in the Eyes of a Spaceship", and "Of Cosmic Repercussions" went into a variety of directions.

DF: The Silent stuff were ambient projects. Silent was an ambient label. When I did "Kamarupa" I think it was in reaction to… I wanted it to be kind of ambient, but at the same time I wanted to have melody. There was a tendency for the Silent stuff not to really have melody. The other thing was I was done with Melting Euphoria. I can't say those were ideas I would have presented to Melting Euphoria. But I was still doing rock stuff. The second and third CDs were both for Cleopatra. And Cleopatra had asked me to do a drum 'n bass CD. And I ended up listening to a guy named DJ Hype. I was heavily influenced by him. He used samples in a much weirder way than the Silent projects had. So I thought, let's take that and really run with it, and I did. And the third CD was almost a strange attempt to bring the first 2 together, but lean towards the second one. So in my mind I'm kind of doing electronica but with a little bit of progressive elements. I'm proud of all three of them, for different reasons, but I think there's some moments on "Of Cosmic Repercussions" that are like nothing I'd ever heard before.

AI: Speaking of Melting Euphoria, the reissue of the first CD (the only one with Don as a member) will be released by Mellow Records soon. Which is good because I'm guessing that one would have had less distribution than the subsequent Melting Euphoria CDs, given that they were all on Cleopatra.

DF: I was in a number of rock bands in the Bay area in the 80's. In the early 90's I was working with the same company as Kim and Paul from Thessalonians. I wasn't in Thessalonians yet, but I was in a couple bands with Anthony. One was called Red Gypsy Rain. And they have 2 Red Gypsy Rain pieces on the new re-release. At some point we lost our drummer. So we continued with a part-time drummer and even did some things with poetry. So it was totally different for a couple gigs, but we were on our last leg. So Anthony and I decided to start a new band. We put an ad out and got a response from two people - Mychael Merrill and Dan Miller. And we had a band called By Design, which was an odd little mixture of Hawkwind and even Genesis. We did a few gigs and then it kind of died. Anthony went to England for a little bit and then came back with his family, and at that point Mychael, him and I regrouped and started Melting Euphoria. We were together for almost a year and working towards releasing a CD. That first CD was called Through the Strands of Time. It was on Stratospheric Records, which for all intents and purposes was Anthony's label. Before it came out I ended up leaving the band, and about a month later the CD came out and they used it as a demo at Cleopatra and Cleopatra said they wanted to sign them, but that they wanted them to redo the songs. They replaced me with 3 people, and this ended up being the first CD for Cleopatra. They added a keyboardist, which was Luis, or Zero. And they added Dan who was in the By Design band. Probably the weirdest thing was reading a review of both CDs at the same time. It's all the same songs except for one, and I thought it was hilarious that the reviewer didn't understand that. They then got a gig opening for Hawkwind in San Francisco. I went to the gig and they had decided to give away that first CD. Give copies to everybody in the audience, which I thought was a great idea. So to tie this all back to Mellow… I had always felt that first CD would be a good re-release because a lot of people didn't know about it, or hadn't heard it. I guess there are certain elements of it that are different from the Melting Euphoria most people know. But it's the same rhythm section and it was the starting point. But over the years there's been about 3 or 4 labels that I thought would be appropriate to re-release it, and Mellow was one of the ones I gave it to and they said yes. It probably was at the same time I was shopping the new material for Spirits Burning and Quiet Celebration.

AI: So talking about Melting Euphoria is probably a good lead in to talking about Fireclan. Both Mychael and Luis were part of that with you.

DF: It would have been interesting if Melting Euphoria wasn't in limbo at that point. Partially because people were living in different parts of the US. This was probably a few months after the Strange Daze gig [1998]. They were in limbo and it wasn't clear whether they were going to regroup someday or make more CDs. So Mychael and Luis started jamming a bit, and I always wondered if that material could have ended up being a Melting Euphoria CD. But to me the Fireclan stuff is much different in the way Luis was playing keyboards. It's more sequence driven, but also with more melody. It wasn't just these little spacey sounds in the background. It just felt very different. I don't know what would have happened if Melting Euphoria was still together and done that material. What would happen when you add a heavy guitarist like Bob Clic. And heavy bass parts like Anthony. So at the point Mychael and Luis came to me… I was having them guest star left and right on Spirits Burning, and actually Mychael is on the Quiet Celebration CD. And I basically said I'd love to produce it and be a member of a band. And really I think the only caveats were I wanted it to be serious and try to become a live band. And the other thing was I said let me produce it, and I'll get your opinion, but really let me produce it and shape it and re-shape it. I think maybe the only other thing that happened was Mychael had ideas for different guests, and some of them I semi shot down, but I loved the idea of having a cello. And I had Daevid Allen over and I thought it would be really good to get his name on that CD, and he could do some nice gliss stuff.

AI: Did Fireclan ever do anything live?

DF: No. The great plan I had about 3 or 4 years ago, and I'm not sure how well I would have followed it through because I've already got so many projects going on… but I'd setup two bands to play live. One was Fireclan and the other one was Quiet Celebration. And things just happened in people's lives that made it impossible to get together and practice. And at this point I probably had less interest in playing live in general.

AI: Is there any other Fireclan material that wasn't released that you might do something with in the future?

DF: No.

AI: Just a one-shot?

DF: Yeah. Actually it was a blast to play bass again, because I originally was a bass player. It was a lot of fun.

AI: Getting back to the Melting Euphoria reissue, tell me about the two bonus track bands - Red Gypsy Rain and Myrth.

DF: Myrth is a band I know very little about. But at the time I was in Red Gypsy Rain, Mychael was in Myrth. They were more into folk and prog. There's a moment where it almost feels like it could be Spinal Tap. But it's also kind of quaint. I think it's actually a nice close to the CD. Red Gypsy Rain, on the other hand… I had run my course of bands in the 80's, and I guess the first couple years of the 90's. There was different versions of Spirits Burning in those days. There was lots of different styles. Bits of space, bits of prog, with bits of new wave and bits of punk. But it all ran its course. So I decided to take one more shot and I tried out for a band - I hadn't tried out for a band in 10 years - and it was this band with Anthony on bass, a guitarist and a drummer. So basically, Red Gypsy Rain at that point was kind of this weird mixture of Yes, Grateful Dead and little bits of Gong and Hawkwind. And it turns out they were really into space rock. I kind of influenced them a little bit, suggesting we do more of that, maybe do a song or two with vocals. So we practiced intensely and did a bunch of gigs. And it was around that same time that I got the offer to join Thessalonians. There were a lot of things going on at the same time. So Red Gypsy Rain had me and Anthony in it, and Myrth had Mychael.

AI: Those tracks round out the reissue very nicely.

DF: Yeah, I hope it makes it something really worthwhile. And it's got a nice little booklet and all that too.

AI: Let's talk about Spirits Burning. It started out as a live band. Tell me how this gathering of space rock musicians concept came together. These are light years beyond mere compilations.

DF: They're more like virtual bands, where with each piece there's a shifting of the lineup. I was really enthralled with the first few Eno albums, where he'd have members of Pink Fairies, Hawkwind, Roxy Music and King Crimson on the same piece. And I thought that's an odd get-together. It's people who usually go in different directions. And I thought what Eno was doing was really brilliant, bringing these different sounds and different characters and personas together. I think he was actually very successful with that. At the time that I came up with the idea, things were happening where I now had a home studio. I could record digitally, with the workstation I had I could bring things in either through DAT or cassette tapes if I had to or CDRs… there's just so many ways of communicating. And the internet also made it possible to email people and get in touch with people long distance to see if they would be interested in something like this. It's funny… it's not a band I listen to a lot, but the band that maybe influenced it at the moment of inception was Pigface. I had read about them and they were kind of a gathering of people who seemed to be into industrial and punk. I can't remember who the leader is, but it turns out that Larry Thrasher from Thessalonians had been a part of Pigface. But at some point I heard about them and it gave me the idea to have a gathering of space rock people. I tend to be more pluralistic in what I do musically. So it was very unlikely that I was going to gather people together and do a Hawkwind CD. As much as I've liked Hawkwind over the years, I'd rather gather all these influences but also hopefully take it somewhere new. When Musea picked up the first two CDs I liked that they were calling it new music. It's debatable as to what extent is it prog, to what extent is it space, to what extent is it occasionally Rock in Opposition. It's very debatable. I kind of like that it's debatable.

AI: I think it's all those things. I've listened to all 4 of them over the past couple weeks, and revisited the first 2, and really in a lot of ways it covers all that ground. So do you stitch all this together yourself? I read the credits and in some cases it seems like you're working with 3 or more sources sometimes.

DF: Here's an analogy. You know how when you're working on your web site… you can add text, you can add graphics, you can add audio, you have the ability to bring all that together to make a web page. When you're working in music, traditionally you would have to have all the instruments in one place, or at some point people visiting, and you record the whole thing to tape. And now you're doing it digitally. For instance, let's say somebody starts a piece. It could be me, it could be somebody else. And let's say there's 4 minutes of music, and every now and then it changes key. I can record that, put it on a CDR, send it to somebody in England or wherever. They do something on top of it, but in the sense that they also ideally have a multi-track recorder, so that they do their part separately. So that there's now two separate tracks. So they send me back their part. I usually ask them to send back their part separate… PLUS… their part with whatever other parts there were before. I never send people 3 or 4 parts. I'll do a 2-track of maybe like if there were 8 tracks at this point in time. So they know that this is how it sounds at this point in time. When they send it back to me, I import it back in digitally. But at that point I have all these choices. Basically I've got all these parts, do I want to keep it? Do I want to keep only what they did on the verses. Do I want to take something and process it and redo it. I don't do this that often but sometimes I'll take a little piece of something, like a drum, and make a new loop and a new part. I have the ability to do all that. So then the piece continues growing as there's more people involved. I'll do a mixdown of the parts and send that to somebody else, and wait until I get their thing back and send it to somebody else. Sometimes I work more parallel where there may be three people that have been invited, and they're all about to send me their parts, but they're all listening to something that was maybe thinner, and maybe only had just drums and keyboards. Now what's going to occur, as you might expect, is occasionally things don't meld together very well. So that's where it comes to me as the producer to try to make it work.

AI: I can imagine this has got to be a great networking tool as well.

DF: Yeah. Believe it or not, for as much as I've been doing with all this, and I wish I had more time, we have lots of tools available to us and I could be networking even more.

AI: One of the exciting things for me with the Spirits Burning CDs is that they're very much a who's who of contemporary space rock musicians. But you've also got some pioneers involved as well. One of the people you've collaborated with on a number of projects is Daevid Allen. You've done quite a bit with him.

DF: I'm surprised that it's worked as well as it has. I definitely wanted to get some bigger names to have one foot in the past and one foot in the present and another foot in the future. The thing about Daevid is he's not somebody who's just the past. He continues to do stuff - University of Errors, Acid Mother's Temple - he always seems to be reinventing himself. The other thing was that I had no idea that he was such a talented guitar player. I knew that he was the leader of Gong, that he was a lyricist and he could be entertaining on stage, but I just didn't have a clue that he was that good at guitar. And especially improvising. Some of these sessions I'd have him only for a weekend. And he'd come over and look at me and look at his pedals and he'd just go for it. And there's just some amazing things that are on the CDs that he's done.

AI: How did you ever get Bridget Wishart involved? I always thought she viewed her Hawkwind involvement as a brief flirtation with this kind of music. How did you hook up with her?

DF: The big key to all this is if you want something you have to try and make an attempt. There was an interview that was online and I got in touch with the person that did the interview, asking could they pass a message on that I'd be interested in having her guest star. I actually met her once. Hawkwind were playing a club in Haight-Ashbury. I'd taken off from work that day and I told my wife, let's go over to the Haight, you never know we might meet somebody from Hawkwind. So we were walking and I saw this women leaning on a wall and eating a kiwi. And she had a Hawkwind tour jacket. And I asked her if by chance she was the new female singer in Hawkwind. And she said yes. And we said hi, and goodbye and we walked onward. So when I did get in touch with her I mentioned that, though I'm sure she didn't remember. But again, it just goes back to if you don't try… I take this very seriously in terms of respecting people's privacy. So if I do get in touch with people and have their contact info I'm not spreading it around, and go to great lengths to make sure I don't over-email them.

AI: Well I think that will be an interesting one for Hawkwind fans. But that's on Alien Injection, the Black Widow release. When will that be ready?

DF: I was really pushing them to get it released this year. So we came to an agreement that it would be some time in the fall. What was unexpected was Mellow not releasing Found In Nature 2 years ago. So when it finally got released this year they were a little concerned that there would be too many Spirits Burning CDs in one year.

AI: So Black Widow wants to hold tight because Mellow just released one?

DF: When I called them I said one's all instrumental and one's all vocal. They're different enough. The other weird thing is probably a lot of people think the Mellow one was already released 2 years ago, because there's places on the web that say it came out in 2004.

AI: The date on the CD is 2004.

DF: Yeah, the artwork still shows that because that's when it was done.

AI: So Alien Injection really is the next CD as far as the recordings go.

DF: Yes. There are 2 pieces on Alien Injection that were done at the time of Found In Nature or even before. Usually there's pieces that aren't right for one CD but kind of get pushed out to another one.

AI: You've had Malcolm Mooney participate in Spirits Burning. He's another one of those whatever happened to him people.

DF: There's a CD he put out a couple years before that track popped up. And that track is from that CD. That's the only time I've done that to my knowledge, where the piece has appeared on 2 CDs.

AI: So the first 2 Spirits Burning CDs were on Musea/Gazul. And this year you've got 2 more on Mellow and Black Widow. Of all the people I communicate with in the space rock underground you seem to have had the most success with labels. How did these albums end up on a variety of labels?

DF: Musea releases CDs in two different ways. Either they pay for the manufacturing and then do all the distribution and marketing. Or you can pay to do the manufacturing and then they'll pick up the distribution and do the marketing. For the third CD they offered the distribution deal and I said no. Because it really doesn't do me much good to have all these CDs manufactured here and then mail them for hundreds of dollars to France. I could pay them to do the manufacturing, but that just seems like the old pay-to-play live thing. So it just seemed common sense that if there's someone out there that will release it, why not go that route. But to make that happen it has to be something that really has validity. And that does get into getting some good guest stars and having good music. And Mellow seems to really like what I do. And Black Widow, I know they really like Alien Injection and they're looking for me to do more.

AI: Let's talk about Weird Biscuit Teatime. How did that come about?

DF: I'm always working with things on the side. And there was some material I had done that could have maybe been the Spirits Burning CD after the 2 Gazul CDs. It's also potentially on the rhythmic/percussive side where I was going to take Spaceship Eyes. It just wasn't really clear. But I had a bunch of things I had started. Michael Clare heard it and said why don't you have Daevid and I add stuff to it, and let's make it a project that's just us. So they did that and it sounded great. And when Daevid heard the first mixes of it, his first comment was that we needed a drummer. I work with a guy named Trey Sabatelli who's played with Todd Rundgren, Jefferson Starship and The Tubes. So we added Trey. And then I did some mixes, and at that point I made the switch from my old Audicy workstation to Pro Tools. It gave me the ability to add more tracks. It gave me the ability to add more plug-in effects, like more delay and reverb and other things. I was mixing that CD on a laptop, believe it or not. And Daevid was in town. Daevid and Michael came over and they reviewed what I was doing. And Daevid wanted me to make it a little less dense. So it's probably a little less like Spaceship Eyes and Spirits Burning and perhaps a little bit more like - at least element wise - like University of Errors and maybe even Gong, although the music is clearly going in a different place. At that point I thought the CD was pretty much finished, and Daevid made about 3 or 4 suggestions that really served to enhance the CD, adding trumpet to the one piece, actually detuning the one piece a little bit, which was amazing how that worked out. And I think one piece Michael re-did a bass part into something totally different from what he'd done before. The other clear thing was, where with Spirits Burning, Daevid contributed as a guest star, and basically I could do what I wanted, this was a case of saying, ok here's a band, in the sense that he's willing to take a part in this. His name's on it, as part of this quartet. But to get to that we really had to achieve certain things. There had to be a certain quality. And I think that's fair.

AI: Is that a one-off or do you think something else will happen with that?

DF: We've already started the second one.

AI: You've also got a new Quiet Celebration album coming out on Mellow. I noticed the first Quiet Celebration was a Gazul/Noh Poetry co-release.

DF: It's the one time in my life I decided to do the distribution deal. What we did was instead of sending all the CDs to Gazul we made a deal with them to keep half of them. So that gave Noh Poetry the ability to sell them. On some level it was good because we had more on hand. But on the other hand I'm just not into distribution deals. Now the thing about that CD… of all the CDs I've ever been on, that one has kind of sprouted wings all over the place. Almost every piece has been used on TV. Things like Animal Planet, and Pamela Anderson Driven and the Davinci Code special…

AI: Well listening to the music I can easily imagine that.

DF: Yeah. It's not like it's long passages. Sometimes it's maybe 5 seconds, or 15-20 seconds. But it's really sprouted wings. So I'm hoping the second CD and some of the other instrumental things get the same success. I am trying to build upon that. The other thing about the new one… it's coming out on Mellow, so I think it has a little more exposure than being a co-release. Noh Poetry is really small. We don't have much distribution at all. But the other thing that happened was we lost one of our original members - Ashley Adams. And instead of replacing her with one person, what we did was we added a guest star on each piece. You get Rich Landar from King Black Acid on one piece. You get Daevid on another piece. We're also trying to be a little less dense than the first CD.

AI: Was the new Quiet Celebration recorded later than the first one? Recorded earlier? The first one was released in 2000.

DF: It was recorded later. About 3-4 years ago. The other thing was on the first one all the keyboard parts were done first, and all those songs were, in my mind, completed. And that probably would have been the second Spaceship Eyes CD. Then I got signed to Cleopatra. And first they asked for an ambient piece. And I took one of the pieces - it's called Sea of Steps - it popped up on the Ambient Time Travellers CD. And then they said try drum 'n bass, and I was headed towards electronica. And that was fine, but I did a totally different CD, a totally different direction. And then I took all those other pieces, except for the one that they had used on the compilation, and asked myself what am I going to do with this. There was a couple people I knew… John Purves, who is a multi-instrumentalist, playing flute, sax and other instruments. And the husband of somebody I worked with was Edward Huson, on tabla. And then Ashley was there as well. I think at that point, John for instance, didn't think anything was ever going to come of those sessions. Or even when the CD came out, anything of the CD. And then here it is getting airplay, and it's on TV shows, and he was surprised when I said we're going to do a second CD, and then when a label picked it up. And we're now planning on doing a cover for a future Mellow Records Santana tribute CD.

AI: About the collaboration with Stephen Palmer, Gothic Ships? You had sent me a preview of that music long ago.

DF: Yeah, I was trying to shop it around. The reality of that was probably on the one hand I didn't shop it around as much as I could have, and at some point I just wanted for people who were interested in hearing it to hear it. That's why Noh Poetry put it out. We only pressed 100 of them. But I really like it a lot. I always thought it was a really cool ambient CD.

AI: I've been getting a lot of enthusiastic emails from Roger Neville-Neil about the upcoming Action Man project. Anything you can tell me about that at this point?

DF: Yes. The concept is to take his Action Man character and some of what happens in the Action Man stories, and some of the musicians that he meets in the Action Man stories, and do a space rock take on film noir. What we need for that to happen is for me to go back to school and learn a little bit more about film noir. Because that's really Roger's neck of the woods and his expertise. So what's happened is over the last month he's sent me some books and videos. Actually my wife and I have started to go on Netflix and get some film noir stuff. We've seen a bunch of Bogey films and other things. And I think what I've discovered is while initially if I wouldn't have done that, I would have loosely done a rock thing that maybe had some lyrics that tied into this. But the more I think about it, I'd like to take the quality of the music that was used for some of those films and build off of those motifs, but in a ROCK way. The other thing is, we need to be darker. When we initially started it was like, are we going to do the tongue in cheek Lucky Leif & the Longships, or are we going to do the kind of storyline with talking like Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters. There were all kinds of possibilities. And while we're both influenced by that, it is important to me, artistically, to try to capture as many elements as we can. The other thing happening, in terms of who's involved, we're trying to get this combination of the worldwide space rock community and then some of the musicians from the Portland area.

AI: I think the possibilities are wide open with this. I'm always so bowled over by Roger's stories. I'm no literary expert, but these stories are definitely in a class all their own.

DF: We were talking about the tongue in cheek experience of the detective. It would be great to have Mike Moorcock do a voiceover. So again, that's another way of going. I started re-reading Roger's stories, and you get these moments where there's the Action Man persona and somebody else talking, like a bartender or something. And it hit me that maybe we could actually do some of the Robert Calvert type things where we have a little scene for a couple minutes, and have music in the background, almost like in a nightclub or something. I wondered what it would be like taking a remix of a Spaceship Eyes song and having it way in the back. And then it slides into another song that's maybe from a Spirits Burning CD. And then while that's going on have these two people talk. And then it opens up the possibility of who would do the Action Man character, who would do the bartender… there's people who are close by, like maybe I could get Paul Fox to do it. We'll see. But at this point it looks like we have Don Xaliman from Melodic Energy Commission doing a couple pieces. It looks like Tommy Grenas is starting a piece. There's a couple pieces that I had written in the 80's… Roger's ok if I do new versions of those. I actually need to read all his stories again. I really do believe in immersing myself in what he's done and understanding more about film noir. It can only help shape this and maybe make it more of an artistic thing.

AI: Well I'll be very excited to see how that pans out. So any other projects I missed that we should talk about?

DF: From the past, there was also the Where Stalks The Sandman compilation [see AI #17]. That had the only piece I've ever released under my own name. It's called "An Isolated Craft". See… I'm a poet at heart. But looking toward the future, I'm working toward a Spirits Burning CD that's potentially called "CrazyFluidTM & SpaceRIO". But it's basically got Daevid, as usual, and people from this R.I.O. band called Cartoon. So that's a little bit of a stranger space rock CD. But all the pieces are started. There's another Spirits Burning CD that I'm working on that has a bunch of Mushroom outtakes that Pat Thomas gave me. And my goal is to call that "Healthy Music in Large Doses". One of the pieces is no longer a part of that collection now because it ended up being used on Alien Injection. That's the piece with Brian Tawn. Let's see… Quiet Celebration, we'd like to do a third CD. I have a Spaceship Eyes thing I've been holding on to for 5 years that I'd like to get back to. It's all based on percussive sounds. So it would have no keyboards and no instruments. And the other thing is a project I have called Grindlestone. Grindlestone is a project I have with a friend of mine named Doug Erickson. He's a guitarist that was in a band called New Sun years ago. He's appeared on Spirits Burning and was on the last Spaceship Eyes CD. But he's friends with Peter Thelen at Expose, and years ago Spaceship Eyes did a couple gigs for Expose's Exposure music series. And the guy who setup the gig was Jeff Melton. Basically, Jeff and I met in the parking lot outside of Rasputin's music store. We got to talking and he was intrigued with some of my past, in terms of the Silent ambient stuff, and said he had a good friend who plays guitar and is a disciple of Fripp, and it might be interesting if the two of us got together and did a kind of Fripp and Eno type thing. So Doug and I got together. Finally after 7 or 8 years of starting pieces and throwing them out, we finally got to a point of throwing out stuff and starting new stuff, and continually not doing the Fripp/Eno idea that Jeff was probably thinking we would do, and we came up with this more of a dark ambient industrial CD. And I've just started in the last couple months to shop that around. It's got a real good sound. There's moments of Tangerine Dream. There is some moments of Fripp/Eno. But there's some stuff that starts getting more into Robert Rich and darker. I'm also hoping in another year or two to do a Where Stalks the Sandman II. That's one where I'd love to get some bigger names.

AI: You know Don, I'm just blown away by all the projects you have and all you manage to accomplish. And it's such a wide variety of music too.

DF: It does go back to if you want something, if you try to do it and see what happens, it's not a guarantee, but if you don't try…..

Seque, Spaceship Eyes Interview
(by Eric Ewing, Segue, Sept/Oct, 1999)

Don Falcone, who performs under the name Spaceship Eyes, appears on EC as Alien Heat. "The second IA CD gave me a chance to experiment with sound in new ways," he says, "challenging me to marry found audio (from film) and traditional composition in an inventive and enjoyable context." Despite disparate motivations, they [the artists] all feel that sampling is a valid way to recycle sound.

"Found sound is like water in a pond. You always have choices: which pond, which flavor of pond water. The pond is part of nature, part of our world. So is sound. There's no reason why an artist shouldn't consider tasting the waters of each and every pond.

I only have a problem with taking huge amounts of pond water...it's much like being in a cover band, a style that has never interested me.

The beauty of sampling is to take from the past and create something new. Sounding newcan be a challenge when the source is already out there."

Aural Innovations, Spaceship Eyes Interview
(by Jerry Kranitz, Aural Innovations #4, 1998)

Spaceship Eyes is the work of synth/electronics maestro Don Falcone (ex. Melting Euphoria and Thessalonians). While last year's Kamarupa was an ethereal, trancey instrumental effort, this new release is an interesting mix of techno dance beats, freaky space electronics, and ambient soundscapes. Falcone plays most of the music and is joined on most tracks by various guests including Harvey Bainbridge.

The opening track, "Mind The Alien", sets the tone for the disc by starting off with a spacey orchestral wash that soon launches into a techno beat. The ambient parts return periodically as well as lots of freaky gurgling electronics with the techno beat in the foreground, a combination that seems to be the CD's trademark sound. This is music that could appeal to a wide audience and indeed Falcone reveals his own varied interests when he says in the liner notes, "I'd like to welcome all lovers of ambient, dance, electronic, progressive, and space music".

Of note to readers of this magazine is that while on the surface this disc is more techno/dance than Kamarupa, in terms of sound exploration (and sound playfulness) I found it more adventurous. A cursory listen might put off some SpaceRock fans, but the more interesting space gems are easily missed. In fact, I had listened to the disc a few times, but I too heard the music in a new light after listening close enough to write about it. I have to confess that I'm partial to musicians who throw me for a loop from one release to the next and indeed this was a surprise after Kamarupa. Aural Innovations explored these differences in an email interview with Don Falcone.

AI: Tell me about the differences between Kamarupa and the new CD. Kamarupa is very ethereal while the techno and hip hop influences are prominent on Truth.

DF: They are interpretations of the same theme, but from very different perspectives. I started Spaceship Eyes to explore rhythms in space, where space is ambient, spacerock, or techno. On Kamarupa, the rhythms are light rock, jazz and techno sequences or a mix of these with Gary Parra, an avant garde drummer I knew from Cartoon. You could say that Kamarupa is the calm before the storm. On Truth there's probably more real drum sounds, but they are samples and they come together in unnatural ways. These are also mixed with electronic patterns, but the perspective has shifted to electronica and drum 'n' bass. The freaky bits are more like spacey stuff I did with Thessalonians, but freakier. Symbolically, I'd say Truth is the storm. The repetition offers another reference point. The hypnotic nature of Kamarupa breathes from the arpeggios and pads. Classic ambient and space techniques. The hypnosis of Truth lies in the percussion. I find it very interesting to listen to one of Truths manic 160 beat per minute tracks at a quiet volume. It's like turning all the basic concepts of new age music inside out.

AI: Your music over the years has been rooted in space rock, ambient, techno, etc. How do you see these genres as being separate or converging? Do you see your space/Hawkwind scene background as influencing, or bringing something new to, the techno scene?

DF: I often describe Hawkwind as old Black Sabbath meets old Tangerine Dream, two bands I like on their own, one for their hard earthiness, the other for their expansive spaceness. Then, of course, I have to come up with a movie that had Dream music in it. I think many musicians are still coming to grips with balancing earth and space, or acoustic and electronic. Do you try to marry them, or do you keep them apart? Both approaches have something to offer. One of the joys I find in Hawkwind is that they keep redefining themselves as they experiment with this balance. I think we're all better off if things keep converging and then take off in new directions. Life is not about being static. It's about push and pull. Reflecting and growing. You asked about audience before. For me, the mixture of genres is the key. As a listener, I like to hear music that I've never experienced before. I love hearing new sounds just like I like eating and tasting a new spice. I love the Eno-type mixed marriages - on his first two solo CDs he used well-respected musicians like Fripp, well-respected popsters from Roxy Music, and then our heroes from Hawkwind who are not always so respected. Such a marriage is unchartered territory. It can lead to something unexpected, fresh. For the musician, growing, you need to dig deep into your entire bag of tricks. Maybe like James Joyce taking the Odyssey and applying an entire new language (or perspective) to each leg of the journey. This means it's just as important for me to create new patches on my keys, as it is to write a song in a key I tend not to use. Plus, I have a better chance of creating something interesting if I consciously or unconsciously consider Hawkwind and all my other influences, then proceed forward. In fact, why not consider genres that aren't influences? It's a greater challenge, and it makes the musical journey all the more mysterious. That being said, I've found spacerockers, as well as proggers very open to this mix. Many of us inherently believe in freedom -- a better world -- so it's not surprising when our open attitude spills over into our musical tastes.

AI: In your article on the Calvert web page you say you were a poet before you were a musician. How did the poet gravitate toward music?

DF: I wrote poetry first, but once I moved to San Francisco and began performing in public, I was doing both concurrently. But it was like leading a second (but not so secret) life. In the 80' I wrote a lot of poetry which I recited at cafes; much of this was language poetry and some of the rat-tat-tat and "dig-a-the dig-a-the dig-a-thee earth" rhythms were kind of influenced by Calvert and his machine gun delivery. I also wrote a lot of vocal pieces that were performed with rock songs. And, I was writing instrumentals. For some reason, I always kept these separate, neatly tucked in their own box. With both Thessalonians and Melting Euphoria, it finally felt ok to bring some of the poetry into the ambient and rock forums. Maybe the biggest influence was a poetry teacher at San Francisco State named Francis Mayes. (She's currently got a bestseller out.) When asked by a fellow student about how important it is to find one's 'voice', she responded that we need to find our 'voices'. I've taken this plurality as a personal mantra and I believe we're all better off (and have far more to offer) if we look for the chameleon within.

AI: As Spaceship Eyes is instrumental music, is the poet expressing himself in some way through music alone?

DF: Moreso than ever. First, I try hard to choose voice samples that have character, or emanate characters. Whether you consider the figure in a photo, or a friend that just does things that keeps your life interesting, characters have stories to tell. They're perfect for instrumental music. The voice on "Cheebahcabra," Luis Endara, just has this great way of saying 'check it out' It's his verbal signature, if you will. So, I asked him if I could add his voice to the story of that track on Truth and he said yes. For "Dreaming Without The Right Side" I had this dream where I was being operated on by some sci-fi baddies and they removed the right side of my brain. But the dream continued after the operation. When I returned to reality, I asked my brother who's a psychology professor what would it theoretically be like if one could dream without the right side. He dialogued a full tape on the subject and I chose choice phrases to build a musical piece. I actually used different samples on the 12-inch version of "Dreaming." The version on the CD was the second interpretation. Not only do they have some musical variations, but they have different messages at the end. More recently, I did a remix with Gary Numan on vocals for his In The Mix CD. For the "Deadliner" track, I tried to use phrases and sounds that emulate his words. Without falling into clich' sound effects associated with radio commercials and TV bloopers. I expect to have a few vocal tracks on the next Spaceship Eyes CD, so I'll try to delve deeper into this experiment.

AI: You seem to work concurrently, and in live performance, in combination with Spirits Burning. How do you view one band vs. the other, and what musical needs are met for you by your participation in one vs. the other?

DF: Spaceship Eyes is a solo project, with occasional guests. When I bring Spaceship Eyes into the live setting, I try to assemble an interesting group of musicians to re-interpret the studio works. For example, I'll do one show with just a tabla player, then another with up to seven people on stage. In 1996 or so, I decided I wanted to continue the work I started with Melting Euphoria and do more of a Hawkwind style band. Taking their best moments and moving forward. My bandmates suggested I resurrect a band name I created in the 80's, Spirits Burning. That was the good news. Unfortunately, I didn't choose people who love spacerock, love to experiment, or just create a passionate atmosphere where it's fun to play. With Spaceship Eyes comfortable as a solo act, I didn't need to be in a band just for the sake of it. However . . . . I really had unfinished business in purer spacerock. And Aural Innovations gets to be the first publication that I announce that Spirits Burning is becoming a gathering of spacerock artists. A few months ago, I decided to start contacting spacerock artists from throughout the world, and ask them if they'd like to be a part of something new and different. Basically we all become part of Spirits Burning. So far, almost 50% of the invites have said yes. If all goes well, you should see a full-length Spirits Burning CD next year. When we're closer to completion, I'll let you in on who's contributing. It'll be quite a trip, like none before it.

AI: Do you get to play live much? If so, is it solo with Spaceship Eyes or with others? Just in California or do you get to tour around at all?

DF: If I can get a core of musicians in the Bay Area (and maybe a fly-in guest), then we'll consider playing some of the Spirits Burning material live again. While I love performing as Spaceship Eyes, I sometimes miss rocking in space. Spirits Burning is all about filling that void. Now, in terms of Spaceship Eyes. I like playing special events. Even if it's an ongoing series. San Francisco has a couple of showcases, like Cafe Du Nord's Downhear series where you can see a spacey electronica act open, then an avante garde artist perform and then a DJ. It's a nice variety for those who like the stimulation. That's why I've played the Expose Progressive Rock showcase twice. I really believe in what they're trying to do. Maybe someday I'll be able to work out playing something special that's further away, like Strange Daze, or Baja Prog. I'm open to traveling if the event is special enough.

AI: I mentioned earlier that it seems your music would appeal to a varied audience. Do you think this is reflected in the audience at your shows?

DF: Only in that I'm playing events that naturally draw different types of listeners; listeners that are likely searching for adventurous music. I probably don't perform often enough to build a strong local following, but I'm not convinced I would do so even if I played more. A local jazz act like the Broun Fellinis can play regularly because jazz, even when it's a little experimental, is rather easy to digest. I've never seen a spacerock dinner show. At least I don't think I have. In the long run, it's easier for bands like the Spaceship Eyes, Thessalonians, Melting Euphorias, etc., to create a worldwide buzz, as if there was something special going on in San Francisco. And there is, in the sense that music is being created that touches people far away. But the truth is that these are local underground bands that the average person here has never heard of. The real audience for this music is global, and the first point of contact is usually via a recorded piece.

AI: I'm a big Present fan. How did that show go? Were you a good pairing with them in terms of audience response?

DF: Present is incredibly intense (and confident). Not only did I enjoy the pairing, but I got to chat with them one-on-one the night after at a dinner party. We did a special one-time Spirits Burning vs. Spaceship Eyes to open the show. I wanted to create a sonic war. And I think our material -- the mix of electronica themes juxtaposed with 'Levitation' style Hawkwind created its own special intensity. At it's height, I was playing keys with my hands, one foot on a Sequential Circuits synth on the stage floor, another foot on my Digital Audio Workstation's scrubwheel. I was really happy with the Spaceship Eyes side of things. For that night's version of Spirits Burning, it was a night full of attempts. Some worked. Some didn't. I was asking a lot of musicians not really into spacerock and experimenting. But I think they hung in there and there were some great moments. I do think there's something special in attempting something with potential highs. I used to think Hawkwind was special in that sense: some of their jams bombed, but others moments -- like the segue into Golden Void -- are breathtaking surprises.

AI: How did you hook up with Harvey Bainbridge?

DF: One of my earliest recorded works was with Satellite IV for Silent Records and its Fifty Years Of Sunshine LSD tribute album. Satellite IV included Kim Cascone and Paul Neyrinck; the three of us later recorded with Thessalonians and Spice Barons. (Paul actually mixed a couple of tracks on Truth.) Anyway, here's this comp featuring Timothy Leary and Psychic TV and it just begged to have Hawkwind on it. So I made contact and was able to get both Hawkwind and Harvey on the CD. In fact, by mistake, Harvey got two tracks from Interstellar Chaos on it. A couple of years ago, I visited England and my wife and I made arrangements to visit Harvey while he was living in Gloucestershire. She took the picture in Amberley. When he was driving us around, he pointed out -- tongue-in-cheek -- the largest hedge in all of England, saying "There's the great yew hedge." That's how I named the track he contributed to.

AI: Finally, what are you working on currently? Any news you would like to share?

DF: The Spirits Burning spacerock project is underway. If I missed inviting anyone, and they're interested, they can contact me through the Spaceship Eyes web site. I'm almost finished with a new ethno-ambient project called Quiet Celebration with Edward Huson on tabla, a Native American Indian flute player from Albuquerque named David Fein, and myself on synths. Maybe it's space-folk music. Then it's back to the Spaceship Eyes journey. I plan on using a little more guitar and vocals on the next one. Even a poem. It'll probably be titled "Of Cosmic Repercussions." And it'll be the consequences of everything I've done up to this point.

[Jerry Kranitz, Aural Innovations #4 from October 1998]

Margen Magazine, Don Falcone Interview
(by Rafa Dorado, Margen Magazine, #13 Spring 1998)

Margen: When did you get interested in music and composing? Formal Education? Influences?

Don Falcone: I've always been into artistic expression that digs deep. First with comic book artists like Barry Windsor Smith, then sci-fi writers like John Brunner and Michael Moorcock. I was writing poetry before music, eventually earning a Masters in English at San Francisco State University. In college, I studied John Ashberry and writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and James Joyce. I fell in love with breaking expectations and exposing new spices.

I played trombone in school, but not very well. Moved onto bass and began writing and jamming. But I was destined to play keyboards, as I loved sonically tripping out to Tangerine Dream, Hawkwind, Oldfield. Soon I was playing keys and composing songs for bands with one foot tied to the clubs, the other tied to practice studios; unfortunately these bands never understood the need to record to vinyl or CD. When I got involved in Silent Records and the ambient scene in 1993, it gave me a chance to apply many of my linguistic philosophies to music. And Kim Cascone (of Thessalonians, HMC) introduced me to things I just flat out missed, like Miles Davis Bitches Brew.

M: I would say that Kamarupa is an electronic revolutionary work, a type of techno-trance-space experimental. Are you o.k. with this opinion?

DF: Definitely. I take that as a compliment. I felt I attempted much, and each time I get a positive response it tells me I succeeded on at least one more front.

M: In the last years as a composer. How have you changed as a writer? What elements have remained? Do you think your actual music it's more accessible than your early music or vice versa?

DF: Sometimes change seems to happen from piece to piece. Sometimes change is because I pick up an operators manual and find a new way of manipulating a sound. Reading mags like Future Music always supplies a brilliant idea or two. Sometimes it's from listening to the radio; we've got a DJ in San Francisco named Sep, who just plays the best electronica. When Brian, the president of Hypnotic, asked me to do a techno cover of a disco song, instead of reverting to the +I hate disco+ mentality of my youth, I took it as a challenge.

M: What are some of your different creative approaches to writing? Are there any usual procedures? Is it the improvisation important in your writing process?

DF: Everything from it's infancy is improvisation. I'd like to think that even the final mix retains a sense of this, revealed differently with repeated listening. When I play live I try to maintain that. I don't like to lock myself into making carbon copies.

M: How will music be in the next century? Are your searching for the reply to this questions with your music? How do you view the current progressive / new music scene and where do you see it going in the next 10 years?

DF: Wow! I didn't expect that question.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see more of what Eno and Coldcut have given us. Eno, via the KOAN program, takes a piece and reinterprets it with each playing. The newest Coldcut CD includes a CDR with a number of interactive programs. I think one is called PlayKit; it allows a listener to become the reinterpreter. While the piece plays, the user can choose rhythms and spices. Maybe electronica will be the folk music of the future. In the same way the average person could pick up a guitar and strum and sing, any computer owner is now able to become part of a music history. I can see people gathering together in a living room (or even online) interacting with these sound devices.

For the ultimate rhythm experience: There's nothing like a rave. If you do nothing else this year, do at least one rave. Dancing with your new neighbor is a good thing. And, there's nothing wrong when the dance becomes more important than the individuals creating the dance. This was the tease of 60's music, before rock musicians became icons. Music can unite, create change, help us all to grow.

All-in-all, participation is usually better than watching. So maybe there will be more musicians in the future. And potentially more to listen to.

I do see prog elements seeping into techno and alternative rock. This could prove quite interesting. With the millenium coming, I won't be surprised to see an anything goes attitude. Look at 1900. It could be a mess, mind you, but it'll be a loaded one.

Am I searching for a reply to future paths? Yes. But so are many other. The answers are coming in faster than humanly possible to interpret. The best one can do is assimilate some of the whole. From there, we can take a number of worthy trips together.