Keenan Lawler : National Steel Guitarist

Interview by John Berndt 5/30/01

Keenan Lawler is a composer/ improviser from Louisville, Kentucky, with an intensely focused, perhaps “minimalist” approach to steel guitar, playing drawn-out bluegrass-inflected tonalities along a harmonic series of sharp, electronically treated clouds. His playing, which is both hypnotic and ringing, often involves unusual string technique which is tightly integrated between the sounding of harmonics and articulation of notes. Perhaps dwelling in a blurring string-space between Tony Conrad and Elliot Sharp, Lawler has created an original idiom of music that is at once monolithic, cosmic, and yeah, deeply ‘American’.

John Berndt: What emotions, if any, do you think your music evokes? Or, alternately, do you associate it in any way with feelings of synesthesia?

Keenan Lawler:­ah so we dispense with any and all tech talk and get right down to business,right out of the box-emotions hmmm. -Speaking only for myself I feel a lot of things when I play this music ...a lot of emotions but, its closely connected to my experience. I suppose its best to let the listener decide what they feel rather than impose those things onto the music. If someone feels joy or even sadness from listening then great. Perhaps its enough that it evokes a response whatever that may be. I would be very curious to hear this question answered by other musicians about their own work . In any case thanks for recognizing the music as being something other than an intellectual exercise. If I'm understanding the next question correctly yes, sometimes sound can have such all encompassing immersive nature that it initiates a crossing over of the senses. I associate sound in terms which go well beyond explanation with notes or pitches .Were talking about shape & color very visual terms. Sound is pretty boring if you cant see & hear the Color. I'm very much into the notion of ecstatic music,dream sound ,hypnagogic prismatic music. Something which is clearly undefinable in normal every day terms. Any music which affects your perception of reality. Early on I had an interest in entrainment, pyschoacoustics. There are times in music ,sometimes only moments where something occurs -I'm sure you've experienced it too-call it elevation or transcendence but it feels like things got bumped up a notch and it surpasses anything in existence. I have a piece of music called “A Suspension In Dreamtime” which is made up of mostly overtones generated by bowing the strings in a cyclical fashion. The four sections are representative of flight, motion -and I was deliberately going for a kind of manic sustained euphoria-an overwhelming perceptual experience. I wanted to push the sound of the acoustic guitar into an area where it became something elemental ,pure ­it didn't really matter that it was a guitar anymore ­just sound. There's a real transformation which occurs through a visceral physical connection with the instrument. There are other examples-which achieve a similar result,timestretching sound down into continuos sine waves, articulating the the resonance of the guitar body using my voice. Different methods for returning back to an original state. I like to refer to sound in these terms ,very amorphous,transitory,unstable. I enjoy working with aspects of sound which are fleeting & ghost like in nature.

John Berndt: How did your playing technique evolve? Were there any direct influences?

Keenan Lawler: I come from a background in free improvisation,avant garde rock ,electronics etc. as an electric guitarist. I heard a lot of visionary figures for the first time in the late 80s-Evan Parker ,Albert Ayler, AMM, Derek, Terry Riley, Xenakis­Satie,Ives-Interestingly, its taken a few years to fully absorb & translate those influences into something which I could call my own. The idea of using the resonator guitar came from an interest in Indian music and delta blues. What initially started as being imitative became a bit more radical toward the end of the 90s, where I was heavily involved in making electronic music using sampling and DSPs. Around 3 or 4 years ago I began to use various types of bows, develop ideas about tunings, preparation, electronics sampling and processing. I did this in relative isolation that is, a lot of my friends didn't hear me play this way until I started doing solo shows. Much of my vocabulary evolved through experimentation, study, performance, lots of long nights spent playing in sewer pipes,towers,silos,in front of a parabolic mirror on main street. In freezing cold & burning humid summer sometimes dragging electronic gear along with me. I would really go to some pretty insane lenghts to capture a sound .Just being alone in those spaces really inspired me to create and I gained a lot of focus. I also felt very connected to an environment hearing those sounds all around me,..birds,cars,insects,thunder,trains etc. In fact I often place my recordings/improvisations in this context. They have a definite interaction with the external forces ,but also a part of it.

John Berndt: Do you see your music as essentially a solo music? Since there are long durations and sustained sounds, I find it creates something akin to “an environment” while it is going on. Is there any relation between your music and either the minimalism of, say La Monte Young, or with other sustained sound installations?

Keenan Lawler: Lets see... interesting questions. Yes I believe its ultimately solo music,but I don't see it as exclusively "guitar" music. Whatever that means these days. I've actually used these techniques of sound generation on other instruments like cello and harp. I've collaborated with others quite often -but in those cases ,some new hybrids are created. We kind of meet at a half way point and obviously this can result in real artistic growth. I have an interest in sound installations, particularly the idea of a generative sound space and I've actually worked in that area. I appreciate your use of the term "environment" as regards to the music. I do want it to be immersive. Evolving over a duration of time sometimes on a very small scale. In terms of performance /presentation ,Its best to work in a controlled environment ,one which can be tailored to the needs of the performer. Whenever possible I always try to give the listener a full frequency hearing experience. I go out of my way to set up multiple speaker arrays-I believe it makes a big difference in the perception of the sound ­when you're hearing things all around you,rather than a one dimensional version of what you could be hearing. I always prefer to play with a separate powered sub woofer ­That way I can get a huge range of sound ­from those frequencies that are far Below an amplified acoustic guitar ­that way it really locates the sound in your body but not in an abrasive overbearing way. Here we get back into sound as total sensory experience. La Monte Young would obviously be an influence here. Also Phill Niblock

John Berndt: If what you do was considered, broadly, to be a genre, are there any other musicians you would place in that genre? Are you particularly concerned with intonation?

Keenan Lawler: If you mean solo instrumentalists who utilize minimal tonal materials and devices to construct a larger framework -sure a few people come to mind & they cut across several genres-Evan Parker, Kevin Drumm, Rafael Toral, Alvin Lucier, Fennesz. As an improviser I'm setting up multiple ideas on a single instrument and sometimes work only within those parameters, As a composer ,that is someone who is crafting a piece over time in a meticulous fashion, I tend to take acoustic recordings and evolve them further into larger scale sound pieces. I think there are quite a few people out there making music which is focused on a similar process: Philip Samartzis, Oval, John Wall to name a few. I spent a few years learning about micotonality & just intonation and it opened up alot of possibilities. I'm very concerned with micro pitches,tones,etc.

John Berndt: What is the public reception of your music like these days?

Keenan Lawler:The response has always been favorable. I'm pleased the music I make appeals to a wide range of people within the so called "experimental" umbrella ­drone ,laptop,free improvisers and rock folks all seem to get something out of it. Of course I would still be playing it even if no one was listening. I've always wanted to work with like minded individuals -people I can connect with and I'm especially pleased with the work I've done in these collaborations. A very wide range of great musical minds-Matmos, Pelt, Rhys Chatham, improvising with Jack Wright, Alan Licht, Kevin Drumm, David Watson and Elliot Sharp. I've been inspired by many artists over the years and believe I'm engaged in a sort of reciprocal process. It seems very natural .

John Berndt: How do you relate what you do to American ethnic music, Bluegrass, etc? Can you give an idea of any intentional tonal or gestural considerations in your music?

Keenan Lawler: Well,I think the influence of bluegrass is primarily from the resonator guitar ,although there are some things that creep in. Its difficult to entirely divorce the instrument from its history and tradition. The suggestion of blues from using the slide on the guitar, imitative gestures of violin and jawharp, for me much of it comes from somewhere other than American music. The changing of tempo or superimposition of one onto another is very African or Asian. Of course I'll say all this and then turn around and put out something called Music for the Bluegrass States ­just to confuse things.

John Berndt: How do you know when to end a piece?

Keenan Lawler: When the cows come home, uh When I'm blue in the face Seriously... When the things have reached a conclusion. Usually its easy to tell, I've learned its very important to respect my audience and their threshold of patience /endurance. I generally limit my sets to around An hour or shorter. I find the effect that I'm going for is already achieved after that time and it becomes counter productive otherwise. I dont want to beat a dead horse. Again this is always dependent on the situation whatever that may be.

John Berndt: Is there anything crucial to your music that this interview is completely missing the point of?

Keenan Lawler: No ­I think we've covered a lot. And I really appreciate the opportunity to answer some very well conceived questions. Thanks John.

Links:

Keenan Lawler's Web Site