- All About Iris
- An Interview With Sax Myle
- by C. M. Schmieg & W. S. Brewster
- April '97, Vol 2 Issue No. 4
- infinity@gorilla.net
- (with notes added -marked -J.H.)
IP recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Jeff Hail
(guitar) and Brian Cupp (percussion) of Sax Myle in their favorite think-tank, the bar at
Tulsa’s Bennigan’s. Over several sodas and a couple of packs of smokes, they
filled us in on the conceptual identity of both their band and it’s first CD release,
“The Iris Whitefly Project.” Hail, age 27, and Cupp 26, are both instructors at
Drum World in addition to being “bandmates.” Both are native Tulsans and draw
upon their heritage for song writing inspiration. Their sound reflects many elements from
gothic overtones to spiritual intensity to the power of the spoken word over psychedelic
guitar and ambient rhythm. In the following interview, they gave us a window into their
world, and when we left the table, we carried with us some deep feelings of introspection
into both ourselves and the place which we call home.
IP: The most obvious question- what the hell does
Sax Myle mean?
Hail: The name was taken from a quote by a 17th century
man by the name of Sir David Lindsay. I stumbled across this quote because it was the
source of the title of one of C. S. Lewis’ books in his space trilogy where he got
the term “that hideous strength.” He was talking about the shadow that was cast
from the Tower of Babel and the length of this shadow he called Sax Myle { old English for
six miles -J.H.}. When I saw this on the page it spoke to me because what I had been
dealing with was the whole concept of trying to search for God and spirituality. Whether
it is an upwardly mobile society or whether it is people trying to search for God and what
they perceive to be truth and trying to push that on other people. The base is that we are
all trying to climb this tower. The darkness that we refer to is also tied into that is
being cast from a tower we as a society have created to try to achieve these things. We
are all in the shadow of the tower we have created. If you are trying to climb this tower
to search for yourself, I will tell you it’s not that way.
IP: What is the significance, and I know that there
probably is, behind the title of the album “The Iris Whitefly Project”?
Hail: Actually, we know people will read a lot into the
title. There’s kind of an esoteric side to it and an exoteric side. Whitefly is a
name we’ve had with us for a long time, along with Sax Myle and a few others.
IP: So was Iris Whitefly at one point the name of
the band?
Hail: It was under consideration for that. There have been
several other people that have worked with us- as far as bass players and so on, but we
were always wondering what should we call this thing we do. So that was definitely under
consideration for the band name, but, as far as the meaning behind it, I think we tend to
describe it as more of a collective personality of who we are. Mainly I think the reason
why we went with “Whitefly” for the title of this album was because we
didn’t want to wait around for a particular person to join the fold. We more or less
decided to go ahead and make this stuff happen ourselves and pretty much put that title as
the collective personality being the two of us But It’s almost as if Sax Myle or Iris
Whitefly, or a combination of the two, personifies Brian and myself. We kinda leave a
little bit of a mystery about it.
IP: So Iris is sort of this imaginary person who
has joined the band in spirit and takes over some of the parts that you would have liked
other musicians to play?
Hail: I think we actually revere this character of our as
a wise mentor, because to us he is not just an imaginary thing. Like I said it’s a
collective personality and there’s a lot of things that go into that. Iris Whitefly
is our life’s experience, it’s a personification of the things that we’ve
gone through.
IP: Sort of a collective soul of the band?
Hail: I would say that’s pretty accurate.
IP: So Bennigan’s is a regular haunt for the
Whitefly? Were any of the concepts for the album written in this restaurant?
Cupp: If it wasn’t in this booth, then the one
adjacent on the other side of the bar- 50/50. That’s a fair assessment.
Hail: We have spent many nights here. They would
frequently close the place down and lock the door before we even left. Actually, we would
sit here and undergo hours of discussion of concepts and even theories about things that
most people would look at and say, “What does that have to do with what you did on
the album?” But it’s all in there, it was all conceptualized.
Cupp: Yeah, I think the album represents such a patchwork
or collage of so many musical genres. The Wild Bill’s concept the Okie tradition vs.
a free-form , avant-garde, dip in water gongs type of musical thrill where we could run
the gambit back and forth. We could segue from obscure conversations to things that had to
do with the project at hand while we were recording it. So yeah, this establishment was
very important to the album.
Hail: It actually got to the point that we were
considering putting the bartenders, waiters and waitresses in the credits.
IP: When you listen to the album, you can pick out
a lot of different musical influences that have obviously made a dramatic impact on you
guys. I’d like to know who you feel has had some of the biggest impact on you as
musical stylists, and the people you’ve listened to throughout your life who have
helped create your individual musical personalities.
Cupp: Speaking for myself, I would have to say as far as
my musical discipline and related influences, players like Terry Bozzio, the 80’s
cats, Copeland, Mel Gayner, Richie Hayward. In the medium of being a progressive rock
drummer, these guys really defined the persona of players from my generation, the
mid-twenties guys, and I think more from an analytical perspective of what precedes my
music, a priority has always been philosophers that I studied in college and literature.
Top of the list- Jean Paul Sartre, the French vanguard whoop-ass son of a bitch, and
Niche, the disgruntled old man. Basically the darker thinkers the existentialists, the
relegators of nothingness, the true literary vamps of darkness. On to the current day-
Michael Sterns, John Ferrie, a lot of the new age composers, David Bagsby’s
“Gothic”, he in particular is a local conceptual genius.
IP: Influences on you Jeff?
Hail: Actually as far as music when I was growing up, I
was exposed to mostly contemporary Christian artists. It’s a big influence, pro or
con or whatever. Anyway, being exposed to Christian artists growing up, I was able to hear
a lot of what you might call the underground Christian artists, and while a lot of my
friends were listening to KISS and whoever, I was listening to Resurrection Band and lots
of others like them. I wouldn’t necessarily call it ambient or experimental in any
way, but there were certain artists that definitely seemed to project an image through
their sound and through their personae that I really identified with. When I was probably
about 14, I decided to devote more time to delving into the whole world of guitar and all
the possibilities that lay in that and I began listening to artists like Michael Hedges,
Alan Holdsworth, and more recently, David Torn- these were artists and albums that were
more improvisational and absolutely having certain ambient overtones. As I started
learning about music, it was almost a way of learning about life itself. This caused me to
ask more questions about my own spirituality because of the things that I had taken for
granted growing up.
Cupp: If you dig back to your early 70’s acid rock
roots you’ll find a player, a gem named Robin Trower who released an album in
‘74 called “Bridge of Size” { correct spelling: “Bridge of
Sighs”. -J.H.} which was named a gateway in Venice, Italy. The textures the
symbolism, the allegory, the oneness that I found in that music had a lasting effect on
who I am as a musician today.
Hail: Trower talks about a field in his music that is
particularly important to Brian and to me. And anyone who has lived in Oklahoma for any
amount of time who has gone on a drive outside the city has seen these open fields and
vast expanses that are signature in this state. That became something that was embedded in
our style, not just form the Robin Trower influence, but from the fact that both Brian and
I had grandmothers who lived way out in the sticks. When you get that far out , there is a
definite vibe that the city can’t afford.
Cupp: If one were to drive into the outskirts as Jeff had
mentioned, somewhere between these identities that we call civilization, one would find
something between point A and point B - another world, the darkness that permeates- it is
a literal place. Every one of these agricultural wastelands has a tree line surrounding
it. Perhaps they forgot to mow it, or never saw it, or simply forgot to tear it down. But
for whatever reason, they stand. Beyond those trees is the void- allegorically, the mode
of self discovery, a f*cking reality check. When one stands in the middle of such a place-
desolate as they are, one looks to the trees as the expand into the darkness, and there is
a definite eeriness to them. Getting past the tree line- shrouded mystery about ourselves
and it is dark. Sartre once came up with the analogy, “Does essence precede
existence, or does existence precede essence?” That’s the nether-world that the
field represents. It is the reality that such a desolate and dark place can exist in every
individual. It’s about all of us. It is hell. What’s beyond that tree line?
That’s one of the questions of human understanding. There is something about when the
sun goes down and everything changes. A metamorphosis occurs and all of a sudden, there is
now this perimeter -a dividing line- and you don’t want to know what’s on the
other side you are searching for what’s inside of you- the darker side of self.
IP: Do you think that the environment in Tulsa is
stifling musical creativity and do you think that local artists may be giving into that
control, keeping creativity from being explored in many cases in Tulsa?
Cupp: No. Quite frankly, I think that the mother of
invention was killed off a long time ago. As I propose to my students on a daily basis, in
futility I might add, creativity is held in the oneness- in the uniqueness of a persons
fingerprint. And a person or a band can dig deep, the reality check is people, it’s
Tulsa- get over yourselves. If I have to read one more article about how many freaking
enchiladas Brad Mitcho stuffed down while being aimlessly interviewed by Jarrod Gollihare
about a bunch of crap that had nothing to do with anything in a pseudophile magazine that
promotes this grandiose want-a-be image of corporate rock and corporate mentality,
I’m going to be sick. There is your manifesto for a brave new world, there is your
ideal lucky charm for music. In a local scene, in a micro-market like Tulsa, and in the
major markets of the world- dig deep, it’s in the fingertip. Wash your hands
sometimes, it’s all in the print. It’s right here looking at you in the mirror.
We all have the power to make a statement.
