Kangarot

Thanks so much for taking time out to answer a few questions for us here at BR. I guess the burning question is, what is Kangarot? Google told me it was hybrid of a chupacabra and kangaroo? I doubt that's the answer, hence why it's my first question.
Josh: - "My pleasure. The name Kangarot kind of started out as a joke. When I got more serious about working on music the name stuck. I've wanted to change it several times but I always end up getting talked out of it. At this point i've kept the name for so long I don't see myself changing the name. I was listening to a lot of John Foxx at the time of Kangarot's conception. I don't know if that had any sort influence on the animal related moniker at all. It's also the last name of an environmental scientist who's published lots of journals on the effects of different pollutants on the environment."

Who is involved in Kangarot? How did Kangarot come to be?
Josh: - "The music and production is done by me. My friend Sam Witherspoon has been playing synth drums for all of the live Kangarot shows lately. He has a project called By Any Means Necessary and has since taken a break from it. I think hearing his music and seeing him play live had a pretty big influence on me. Ever since I was a kid in middle school band class, I wanted to write my own music. I thought for a while, as a kid, that I wanted to be a composer. When I started learning about synthesizers I was amazed at how you could amass this vast array of instrumentation and tonality from a single instrument. The first Kangarot song was this horrible minimalistic synth track written by a friend and I on a laptop. It was called "Sticky Shirt" in reference to a John Foxx lyric. Working with a free virtual synth on a laptop was fun, but not amazing. I was midway through a film degree when I started buying my own equipment and began working on music more seriously. Getting my first "real" synthesizer was what created Kangarot."

The themes in your music are very complex. The 'Starborn Architects' cassette explores the realm of megaliths such as the Carnac stones and Puma Punku. 'Nursery of New Stars' cassette reaches into the area of cosmic thinking, metaphysics and automatons. What draws you to these themes? Do themes dictate the sound of your music? I definitely get a mystical vibe from your musical arrangements.
Josh: - " I'm not sure what exactly draws me to those themes. I grew up watching a ton of sci-fi and horror movies with my dad. Many of which I was probably a little too young for, maybe that warped my psyche in some ways. I definitely want the music to match the themes i'm exploring with a release. Most of the things I've released I think are pretty conceptual. I'm fascinated by space and cults and especially the combination of those two. I also love of the strange marriage of psychedelia and space. I originally set out to only release music very conceptually based on the heavens gate cult, but realized that may be a little limiting. My very first full release was done in that fashion. I may do that again at some point, now that I have more experience under my belt and much more equipment to play with. But thematically, I think that synthesizers certainly lend themselves well to exploring themes like space and mysticism."

In a predominately instrumental project, does it force you to raise the bar on your music? As a listener, for me to be truly captivated by an album's worth of mostly instrumental music, my expectations will be very high for the music. Do you consider this while you are in the studio?
Josh: - " Haha, It's funny that you say studio, because I wish I had access to a real studio and help from people that know about mixing and EQ and all that. Most of the time I feel like i'm stumbling around when it comes to mixing tracks together. Again, when I was young I really thought I wanted to compose music for a living. So, for me, most of the fun of writing music comes from the instrumentation. I know that it's kind of hard to keep the listener's attention when you're doing something without many, or any, vocals. If I do add vocals it's very much an after thought. It's something that i'm trying to do more of in the future, but I don't want it to distract from the music at all. I tend to only add vocals if I strongly feel like it adds something to the track. I try my hardest to keep a sense of momentum in songs to ensure that something new is happening enough in the track to keep the listener engaged. Music in film I think is a major part of why I love writing songs. I want the music to evoke strong imagery and to be powerful and emotive."

I think with the release of 'Nursery of New Stars' you have moved to a different level than your previous work. Is there something to this? From start to finish, 'Nursery of New Stars' is non stop brilliance! With that being said, I am also a huge fan of your earlier work. What's different if anything?
Josh: - " Thanks so much. That really means a lot. I think maybe that i've finally gotten somewhat used to the equipment i'm using. A lot of the earlier releases are me experimenting with different methods of writing with the equipment I have. I think also that I just took more time with 'Nursery of New Stars' and tried not to rush songs. When i'm happy with something i've written I have a tendency to go ahead and call it done even though I know there's so much more I could flesh out. Maybe i'm learning to hang on to ideas a little longer and letting them mature more before moving on. That's my main problem, being too ADD with my ideas, to the point where I move from one thing to the next too quickly and never fully finish what I've started. I'm definitely not rushing things as much anymore."

Talk to us about future releases and live shows. More tapes? Vinyl? Digital? Etc.
Josh: - " I'm slowly working on some new material. So far I think it's going to be a little less spacey and a little more raw oldschool industrial. I uploaded a rough demo to soundcloud not long ago. It will hopefully have more vocals than the last release. As far as format goes, i've done quite a few releases on tape now and it's not that i'm bored with cassettes but I've always dreamed of having my own vinyl. I'm trying to shoot for vinyl for this next release. We'll see. I kind of have a vinyl problem and will go without a meal to buy a specific record haha. Live shows, i'm currently trying to plan a super short week long tour up and down the east coast. I've never played outside of Asheville, NC, and to be honest there's not much of an industrial scene here."

Are there any artists out there that really peek your interest to possibly collaborate with musically or even visually?
Josh: - "There are a ton of amazing artists that I would love to collaborate with. If I could pick anyone anytime it would be Tangerine Dream or Yes in the mid 70's haha. I had the pleasure of playing a couple shows with profligate and umberto. I would never turn down the chance to collaborate with either of them. I've been collaborating with Sam of By any Means Necessary on a very different style of music. It's called Stasis IX. We've been recording these live improvisational heavy doom psych rock synth jams. It seriously sounds like some psychedelic/doom band but with synths and drum machines instead of traditional rock instruments. We both grew up listening to Yes and Black Sabbath. I think this is our weird synth geek interpretation of that. He's been doing all of the sequencing and programming for it and i've just been jamming along with the minibrute I recently bought."

Are you signed to a label? Are you interested in signing to a label?
Josh: - "I'm not really signed to a label. I've done all of my releases with a few different labels, some local some not. Mainly i've released with people that I know and are friends with. I'm not against the idea of signing with a label by any means. I just don't know exactly where to start or who is interested."

Anything goes here, last words, comments, future themes anything? Thanks!
Josh: - "Just wanted to say thanks for the interest and support in Kangarot. Look us up on facebook for news and such, we've also got quite a few t-shirts left if people are interested. Feel free to drop us a line!"