Interview With the Ape
Adam Gates (a.k.a. The Filthy Ape) is the video artist behind Primus’ current North America Tour De Fromage. As a band known to offer their fans a different set list of every show, Primus enlisted The Ape to mix live visuals onstage to accompany each song during the bands three hour set.
Adam created a different multimedia performancefor every show using animations, vintage films, live camera feeds,and a slue of other bizarre footage that he shot and edited withthe band. Armed with Livid Union and a PowerBook, Adam projectedhis live creations on weather balloons that hung over the stage,giving their fans a unique live video experience and enhancing thesonic madness of a Primus show.
Livid: How did you get started with live visuals?
APE: Frankly I was never terribly impressed with many of the live visuals (Specifically projections) I’ve seen in rock shows. Most of it seemed terribly stagnant and tired. There are some notable exceptions but for the most part…. Let’s just say if I ever see another Mandelbrot rave video I will demand violent satisfaction. I’ve always had a layman’s interest in motion design and video editing but it wasn’t until recent developments in both hardware and software that allowed me to seriously consider video. I tend to be a project-based person and will use the excuse of a new project to motivate me to learn new software. So, I was recently tasked with creating the interface for the Primus “Animals” DVD which contained some brief and simple motion design elements. This led to conversations with Les Claypool where we both dreamed up an ideal live video performance set-up for their upcoming North American tour.
Livid: What is your background?
APE:I’ve been a graphic artist for many years, initially working in the recording industry on album design and packaging. In the mid-nineties I started a graphic design house with Les Claypool and Larry Lalonde of Primus, both of whom were looking to expand their creative horizons beyond music. [Our business] Prawn Song did very well and I managed to learn web design and Flash animation in a production environment. Eventually I moved on to become the Creative Director of Liquid Audio. It was at Liquid where I dusted my interface design skills from college and managed a wide variety of creative needs, managing a team etc. I’m also a musician and was in various bands over the years, the Spent Poets being of note. We put out a few albums on Geffen. Since then I’ve played with Les Claypool in his side-project Holy Mackerel and have worked with wunderkind musical madman DJ Disk of Skratch Picklz fame – we’ve put out a few albums on various underground labels and loads of other projects far too nefarious to note in this family forum.
Livid: What are some of your influences?
APE: Well, they come from many places. Animals, water, sky. I enjoy the work of Bill Viola, and Matmos is doing some wonderful real time video stuff. I try to be insular when it comes to my particular creative world view.
Livid: How did you hook up with Primus?
APE: Well, Les is a close friend, I’ve known him for close to 20 years now. I’ve always managed to be involved with many Primus projects, some willingly, others forced at gunpoint.
Livid: How did the collaboration of rock music and electronic visuals come about?
APE: Well, Les and I were trying to visualize a system that would enable us to project a large assortment of different images for each night of the upcoming Primus tour. We wanted something that would interact with the music, but not be slaved to any time-code – Les hates that stuff. I was interested in a system that would allow for realtime, rhythmic cutting, and effect treatments with the music. Immediacy was important to me, creating a system that would react with the band’s changes.
Livid: How do you decide what content to use, and where do you get your content from?
APE: Ideally the coolest content is the stuff you create yourself. I gathered a few friends and created some pretty strange David Lynch-style scenarios that worked out pretty well. During the tour I also managed to take the DV camera out into the streets, wearing a mask, and run around like a crack head, video taping the results. I’d then quickly edit the stuff before the evening’s performance. Lots of the content is old 1950′s-60′s ephemeral films that, when cut out of context, created some interesting visual sequences. Other times I’d take a live feed, turn the DV camera on myself, and play around with some rather disturbing macro images of the tongue.
Livid: How important is context between the songs and the images?
APE: It depends. If you put in the time and work closely with the musicians, the visuals can be quite impressive. Nine Inch Nails’ work with Bill Viola is a good example of two artists coming together. Othertimes – and I found this particularly true for Primus – the visuals could have nothing to do with the song but would somehow still work. The haphazard combination of musical and visual scenibility can be quite interesting. It’s almost like a Sun Ra free form session that you can see. The free form aspect of the technology is what makes this process shine, allowing the video performer to “jam” with the musicians. Some nights it was perfect, other nights it was horrible, but that’s the joy of a free jam, you’re skating on thin ice.
Livid: What was the importance of having the visuals created live?APE: Huge. The options (pushing play on a DVD player) are not acceptable as far as I’m concerned. If you cannot interact with the band visually then you’re basically just baby sitting a bunch of DVD players. I imagine if you’re working with time code then you can develop some interesting narratives (ala Pink Floyd or NIN) but most bands do not like working with that type of constriction.
Livid: What does your setup consist of?
APE: Well, for the last tour I used a 17″ Powerbook, a 200 Gig/800 Firewire drive to hold the images, and an Ozone MIDI keyboard controller. Sadly the Livid [MIDI] controllers were not quite ready for the tour. The software side consisted of the Livid software (In beta), Final Cut Pro, Cleaner to compress the films and ready them for live use. We also rented some pretty powerful projectors.
Livid: What does a typical day being a touring visual artist consist of?
APE: Well with Primus it was a fairly regulated affair. We’d arrive at the gig at 9:30 in the morn. I’d then wait around while the crew flew the PA system, then I’d blow up the huge Orbs (weather balloons that we projected the images on), hang the orbs, set up the projectors, plug in all the cabling and then test the system. We’d do sound-check and then the show. After the show It would come down in reverse order, be packed into the semi truck and off we’d go in the tour bus to the next town. A very well oiled machine…
Livid: Any favorite dates on the tour?
APE: Overall they were all good. Some nights would be better than others, when the video and music seemed to “click” better, and some nights it would suck. That’s one of the cool things about the Livid system is you never know what is going to happen. At least the way I set it up, and I like that dynamic of uncertainty.
Livid: Any good tour stories you want to share with us?
APE: Well, lots of the usual rock ‘n roll madness went down. I remember one night Les came over to my rig while playing and shut down my Powerbook. Just for laughs. Also NEVER have your Airport turned on during a performance. I learned the hard way about video lag. At least I think that was the problem…
Livid: How does Livid (software) help with what you are trying to accomplish?
APE: Well I simply could not and wouldn’t want to be involved with real time projections without the Livid software. I feel it’s that important. No one else is really offering anything like it, with the same feature sets that I find useful in a live arena. Also, the cool thing about Livid is the people that made the software are real musicians and programmers – these are people who wanted the software initially to use themselves. The result is software with feature sets that are very usable. I like the DIY approach that they’ve employed.
Livid: Do you have any advice for artists just beginning?
APE: It depends what your goals are. Certainly keep working on your craft everyday, that’s major. You have to be willing to discipline yourself. If you are working in the creative trade professionally then try to get involved with production work, with real deadlines etc. so you can develop your skills on the fly and learn how to creatively deal with stressful situations. Also limit the amount of software you purchase and milk it for all it’s worth. If you ask me, too much software is a sign of laziness. If you have too much you either didn’t research what you own correctly or haven’t learned the tools you own. Also focus on one area, it’s far to easy to become sidetracked with computers.
Livid: What’s up with the name Filthy Ape?
APE: That’s a difficult story to tell without breaking down into tears. It involves my Grandmother, motor oils and some medical plastic tubing used to clean the colon.
Livid: What’s next for you with live visuals?
APE: More Primus. Another leg of the tour is developing now.
Livid: Where do you see your work going in the future?
APE: I am interested in narratives rather than textures so I hope to explore that area more. Also I hope to purchase my own projectors so I can take a smaller scale rig out on the road with smaller bands. Sadly projectors are still very expensive and you need lots of lumens to cut the ambient light generated at most rock shows.