Last week we came to you with part one of our interview with Lance Higdon: music maker extraordinaire and soon-to-be resident of Atlanta, Georgia. Our talk with him was so extensive that we had to split it into two pieces, and thus without further ado, we move to the rest of it. You can listen to the full audio version in these three posts. We'll lead off with a quote that we omitted from part one for continuity's sake.

Lance Higdon: The last year has probably been one of the most fruitful times in my stint in Houston in terms of booking & playing out, because of the generosity of Khon Lu, who runs where we're sitting, Khon's bar. [He's] like an old punk rocker/artist/wine guy and he opened this spot, and he's basically given us run of the place. I really owe him everything, in terms of the shows I've done - he's been really hands off as long as I clean up afterwards. He has such a refreshing attitude about art & music in Houston; he's really the first person I've met who seems to have a carte blanche attitude about it. He just wants to facilitate & cultivate everyone's creativity, without asking for anything.

H-Town Rock: So, we've touched on this: you've been running a series called the Resonant Interval Sound Series.
LH: You may be the first person to get that name right, so thank you.
HTR: That's been over here at some aspect of the Mekong Center...
LH: I think since September/October [2009]... We took over Sunday nights, & took the baton from a series that Dave Dove was running called They, Who Sound...When Marcus [Gausepohl] started working at Khon's, he said "we need something on Sunday nights, so people will come buy beer from me." That was the time that Bayou Sound was winding down. It was quite fortuitous.

HTR: It's been a nice outlet for some of the more eclectic music... Do you see someone rising to take the mantle of Resonant Interval when you leave?
LH: Yeah, they're already there. Jonathan Jindra is going to be taking over Sundays with his own series, which he calls Binarium. He's a guy with a lot of talent and drive as well. He has more of a focus on electronic music and audio-visual video art.

HTR: Historically I close out with a few Houston-specific questions, one of which being who in town do you think really deserves some notice, or who in town is someone who really impresses you?
LH: I feel very fortunate to be in the middle of and extremely creative amount of people... If we're talking about influences, people who have gotten me where I'm going... for a long time I was an associate of Esotype Records. I was all set to leave Houston - for a year I was studying music at the University of Houston and I was tired of the absolute squareness of everyone I encountered there, and then I got the invitation to play with Jeff [Price] and Jason Jordan in MiracleVersusMan. That was definitely a decisive moment - that was what got me on board with Esotype and what's kept me here until now.

In terms of other folks that I think are doing really awesome stuff, I have to say B L A C K I E. There's nothing like him, anywhere. He's drawing on so many sources, & the thing that really excites me is he's so into the grime tip, reconstituting grime aesthetic & style on his own terms in Houston. He's someone I really hope will make it; I think he deserves to make it based on his work ethic & doing his own thing.
LIMB - they're touring [with B L A C K I E]. I've played with James, and it's just not fair. I'll never catch up to his creative prowess. What those guys are doing, I think it's really distinct from what's happening almost anywhere.

HTR: It's weird, people don't conceive that Houston is capable of that.
LH: In anticipation of the move I've given a lot of thought to how to address Houston & my relationship to it. I think [for] a lot of people it's a very strong love-hate relationship. On the one hand, when I visit Austin or New York and I see bands - there's a lot of mediocrity. It's kind of easy to do it there, and they don't try hard. There's plenty of people that don't try hard here as well, but I feel like you have more freedom. I feel like the best analogy I can think of is that if you leave a closet closed, no light shines on it, no one goes into it for a while - all kinds of interesting things have can grow, specific to that little environment because no one is paying attention. I think a lot of my favorite music starts out as marginal music and only later is it recognized.

I'm trying to think of more people to give props to - I'd have to say all of the improvisers. Lucas Gorham: first of all, he's a sweet, good human being. I really admire him for his ability to traverse musical boundaries. Not many people - they're getting crazy to Grandfather Child - will know that he has this background in improvisation, doing Screwed Anthologies [with Dave Dove].

Robert Ellis would be another person. Aside from being truly prodigiously talented and very very focused on his craft, playing in as many bands as he does, and as far as I can tell maintaining his humility and approachability. I met that guy when he was like fifteen, we were playing a show in Lake Jackson. Tambersauro played a really great show with Colour Revolt and Anathallo and his old band Eyes Like Lions. He's another guy that I've watched gain a lot of success and I think he definitely deserves it, and it will endure.

Both of those guys, they work the way that I want to work. They get up and do it every day and persist, and have really built their lives around following their creative vision.

I really think there's no room for ego when you're in such a microcosm of music as we are. I'm kind of happy to escape the general negativity that seems to hang over Houston music like a cloud, for whatever reason. I try to avoid it and go my way, be positive myself and encouraging. There's no point in saying anything negative, there's enough blathering crap going on...

HTR: I was going to ask what wisdom you would impart before skipping town, and that's a pretty good one. Is there anything else that you want to say?
LH: Maybe this is cheesy, but I'd really like to say thank you to everyone that I've worked with and that has encouraged me. I really cannot give enough gratitude to Khon & Ashley Lu.

I've been playing in bands since I was 11, but it wasn't really until I was 25 [Ed. Note: Lance is 27] that I really got the heart of it, that is things don't happen for you very often. You've got to get up and do it yourself. I always had the mentality that it'll happen later - that "well, I haven't been on tour, I haven't done this or that." I think it's part of being immature, that it'll happen magically somewhere else. After my first year of teaching, I was approaching 25.. I had seen a serious winnowing of people, people setting music aside... and I remember thinking, that's not going to happen to me; I'm probably never going to stop doing this unless I'm forced to. So I decided from 25 to 26 I'm going to go full out for music. Everything who I've worked with since that time has really made that thing go. I'm really grateful.

I learned the power of asking - so often before I'd had the mentality that the answer would be no.

HTR: You told me, and I wanted to save this for the close, that you're going to have a "senior recital" where a lot of your projects play. When is that?
LH: Yes. Saturday, July 17th, at The Exoskeleton - which is an old Cricket store [in the Mekong Center]. It'll start at 7 pm - it won't cost anything. But I will take some donations because I am moving and I'm kinda broke - so if you want to put some money in a jar for me, then thanks. Having an end in view gives a significance to all of our actions. In theological terms, I think that's the virtue of hope - the idea that there is an end, an in light of that end our actions mean something. My move is impending, and I feel like I've got to do more stuff - I've got five or six recordings slated between now and when I leave; I've got a show every weekend in July. It's like I'm running as fast as I can, grabbing at everything like those shopping sprees they would have on Nickelodeon when you would have five minutes.

LH: So do I impart my wisdom, now?
HTR: Sure.
LH: I think if anyone were to ask me, "so, what did you do in Houston?" I would [say] "I was a participant." And I think philosophically, that's the greatest thing that we can aspire to in this music scene or any music scene. I've played in bands, I've booked shows, I've written critical reviews, I've been a radio DJ, I've been an audience member, I've been a buyer of local music - that's what everyone should aspire to I think. You can be on all sides of the stage. One of the important life lessons I've gleaned, that I've applied to my career as a teacher & you could apply to any part of your life is: you're tearing down the façades of life - that seemingly impenetrable wall between the stage & the audience. For me, it's all about the connection of the music. When I'm playing, especially if the audience is good, that's when I feel happiest. I grin like a fool.

I will say my one criticism of the Houston music community is people not going to shows. At this point it's not a dearth of talent; it's not a dearth of people devoted to making it happen; it's a dearth of people willing to get up and go... I'm guilty of the same thing - I can't point the finger at all, but I have made an effort in recent years to get out of that.

HTR: Definitely... the last year and half, I've done a lot more of that - ok, I'm gonna go see something else, and something else. It's incredible because you discover all this stuff that's going on, and I think Houston works that way on more than just a music level. It takes a minimal investment of yourself, and then it all just kind of explodes - there's stuff everywhere.
LH: Seriously. I think people in Houston finally have a little self-esteem about being creative. I'm kind of wondering where the tipping point is between being unquestionably supportive and being constructively critical. I think that's what needs to happen next. It's cool people are doing things, but we need to do some better things now. I feel really happy; I feel like I'm leaving on a high note. I feel like I couldn't leave at a better time.

So, those are my words. Anyone with half a brain and a little ambition can do what I've done - and an internet connection.

HTR: Well Lance, thanks for sitting down with us.
LH: My pleasure. Thanks for satisfying my ego. [laughs]

Filed in Arts & Events and tagged b l a c k i e, esotype records, eyes like lions, get to know a houston band, houston bands, houston music, interviews, khon's, lance higdon, limb, lucas gorham, robert ellis, tambersauro, the exoskeleton

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