Jazznet Denmark had in September 2009, the oppertunity to do a interview with the guitarist Gayle Ellett of the amazing progressive band Djam Karet. The result can be seen below.
Jazznet Denmark : What does the name Djam Karet mean and how did you come up with a name like that ???
Gayle Ellett : The name Djam Karet is an indoneasian phrase, and it means “the hour that stretches” or “eleastic time”. For us, it is a good name because we started out only playing totally improvised music, and each tune we played was usually 45 to 60 minutes long, but it would always appear to us like the tunes were only maybe 20 minutes long. Time goes by quickly when you are having fun! Chuck Oken, our drummer, found that phrase in a book by Harlan Ellison, that he was reading. Also, we do not play mainsteam music and we are not trying to appeal to a wide audience, so having a strange name that is hard to pronounce, has not been a problem for us.
Jazznet Denmark : How did the adventure of Djam Karet begin, how did you meet some 25 years ago and decided to start you awesome band???
Gayle Ellett : Chuck Oken (our drummer) and I went to the same college in Claremont, California, near Los Angeles. Mike Henderson (guitars) and Henry Osborne (bass) both lived in Claremont. Before we formed Djam Karet, many of us had played together before, in previous bands. We formed Djam Karet in order to play totally improvised music. For the first few years, all of our rehearsals and performances were totally improvised. That really taught us how to listen well, which is one of the most important skills you need in music. Over the years, we slowly added in more structure. And over the past 25 years, we have released 15 CDs and numerous EPs.
Jazznet Denmark : What music do you yourself listen to, and is there some kind of music that inspires you???
Gayle Ellett : Like many people, I listen to a wide range of music and find inspiration in many styles. I very much love Swedish Death Metal, European ShoeGaze, Traditional World folk music, Fusion, Surf music, and other styles. So it is a hard question to answer.
Jazznet Denmark : If you should mention 5-10 records that have meant something to you and your music, what would they be???
Gayle Ellett : I was a teenager in the 1970’s, so the music of that era is important to me. I really loved listening to, and learning from, albums such as The Allman Brothers “Live At Fillmore East”, Mahavishnu Orchestra “Visions Of The Emerald Beyond”, Yes “Close To The Edge”, Gentle Giant “The Power And The Glory”, Pink Floyd “Dark Side Of The Moon”, King Crimson “In The Court Of The Crimson King”, ZZ Top “Tres Hombres”, ELP “Brain Salad Surgery”, etc.
Jazznet Denmark : You are in my ears a group of musician who are in constant movement and going in many different directions from track to track and from release to release. Where do you get your ideas from and what is your secret (if you have one)???
Gayle Ellett : Our secret is that we are free to play whatever styles we want to, because we are not trying to be popular, or sell CDs. We just make the music we want to hear, and if some people want to buy it on CD, then we press up CDs. If enough sell, then we’ll have money to press up more CDs. But if no one ever bought our CDs, we would still make music and record in the studio, because we are trying very hard to make great recordings like the masters from the past. We don’t care about pleasing our fans. So when we release an Electronic CD like “Suspenion & Displacement” or “Collaborator” we know that many of our fans will not like it. But we don’t care about that. We are trying to make ourselves happy, not our fans or the public at large. So we are free to do what we want to. It is a great thing!
Jazznet Denmark : Are you all full time musicians or is Djam Karet your second job?
Gayle Ellett : I am a full time musician, I make music for TV shows and films, and currently I have my music airing on 14 different TV networks here in the States. The other guys have regular day jobs: one owns a CD store, one is retired, one is an art designer, and one works at a retail store. But all of us also play and record with other music groups as well.
Jazznet Denmark : What are your plans for the future and what will be the next release from Djam Karet???
Gayle Ellett : I am not sure what our future will hold for us. But we are recording in our studio right now, and so I am sure there will be a new CD soon, within a year I think.
Jazznet Denmark : If a new listener were about to buy his first recording with your music, which one would you recommend as the best introduction to your amazing music???
Gayle Ellett : I would recommend the most current release, “Recollection Harvest”. We recorded it quite well, and I am very happy with how it turned out. It covers a lot of ground, and shows many of the different aspects of our sound.
Jazznet Denmark : Your music is hard to put in any musical boxes, because it has so many different styles mixed with each other. In my opinion you belong in the progressive/rock/experimental part of the music world. Do you agree with that? And what are your opinions on that genre, and genres in general???
Gayle Ellett : We don’t clearly fall right in the middle of any genres. And that is common amoung “Art” bands. Unlike nearly all other groups who are making CDs to sell, we are trying to make recorded music as an art form, not a commercial product. If we wanted our CDs to sell, we would hire a singer, and play songs that are much shorter, and that fall right into a specific genre. So I don’t really know what genre we play in, but some people call it “Art Rock” which is more of a concept, then a “sound”. There are many “Art Rock” groups like Magma, Univers Zero, Steve Tibbetts, etc. So, I would say yes, we do use many elements of Progressive Rock and Experimental/Electronic/Soundtrack music in our group, but also Jazz, Surf, Metal, Folk and other elements as well. Basically, I don’t really know what style we play in, because we are so free to play and create whatever we want to. So I leave that up to others to decide.
Jazznet Denmark : You have released numerous recordings over the years, both on the Cuneiform label and also self-released. Are there some of them that you see in particular as more important than others, or landmarks, in your production???
Gayle Ellett : People seem to really like “The Devouring”. It is seen by many as an important album. And when we released two CDs at the same time, in two totally different music styles: “Burning The Hard City” and “Suspention & Displacement” that showed people that we are interested in a wide range of styles. Also some of our CDs are totally improvised like “No Commercial Potential”. Those are the ones I would mention.
Jazznet Denmark : At your concerts and on your records as well, how much is improvised and how much is planned before you start?
Gayle Ellett : On most of our CDs, the music is very planned out. We are trying to create a flowing and groovey and jam-based feel, but in an organized way. Each instrument is recorded one at a time and layered up into the final version you hear on the CD. So it is very organized. On the other hand, our first few years were spent playing totally improvised music, and many of the ideas that are on our CDs were originally found through recording our regular jam sessions that we still do, and the listening to find parts that we can later expand into tune ideas. And we also have two totally improvised releases “No Commercial Potential” and “Still No Commercial Potential”
Jazznet Denmark : What's your best advice for young aspiring musicians?
Gayle Ellett : Work hard, work hard, work hard, work hard, and when you are done…work harder. Don’t wait for a record deal that is never going to come (and if it did, you wouldn’t be happy with the terms and conditions anyway) so instead form your own mini-label and record and release your own CDs. Buy ProTools or Digital Performer, and after you’ve made a few CDs, you’ll start to make good ones. If you spend a year just playing at performances, at the end of the year you won’t have much money or publicity or press exposure. But if you spent a year making a CD, then you have something that you can send out to magazines for review, and radio and TV shows for exposure. This is what we do, and it has worked out really well. We rarely play live, mostly we just record. Currently I play in five different bands, all in different styles, and I play a different instrument in each group. That really helps me learn and grow as a musician. And it is really fun too!
Jazznet Denmark : What are your funniest and worst experiences performing in front of an audience?
Gayle Ellett : We do not perform very often. In fact the performances that we just did a few weeks ago were the first live shows by Djam Karet in 7 years! We just got back from headlining the Crescendo Festival in France. The audience really loved our music, and you could see people crying while we played, because they loved it so much. That was incredible. I’ve never had any bad experiences playing live, but I do have some stage-fright, so I don’t really like playing live anyway, I get VERY nervous. Our music is deliberately hard to play on purpose, so playing our music live is really hard for me. I’ve played live in other bands where an audience member would jump up on the stage and start playing an instrument that they brought with them to the gig, and we had to physically throw them off the stage. It wasn’t funny at the time, but it sounds rather funny now, looking back at it! In closing, I’d like to say many thanks for giving me the chance to talk about our music and for giving our group some exposure. We greatly appreciate it!
Gayle Ellett : The name Djam Karet is an indoneasian phrase, and it means “the hour that stretches” or “eleastic time”. For us, it is a good name because we started out only playing totally improvised music, and each tune we played was usually 45 to 60 minutes long, but it would always appear to us like the tunes were only maybe 20 minutes long. Time goes by quickly when you are having fun! Chuck Oken, our drummer, found that phrase in a book by Harlan Ellison, that he was reading. Also, we do not play mainsteam music and we are not trying to appeal to a wide audience, so having a strange name that is hard to pronounce, has not been a problem for us.
Jazznet Denmark : How did the adventure of Djam Karet begin, how did you meet some 25 years ago and decided to start you awesome band???
Gayle Ellett : Chuck Oken (our drummer) and I went to the same college in Claremont, California, near Los Angeles. Mike Henderson (guitars) and Henry Osborne (bass) both lived in Claremont. Before we formed Djam Karet, many of us had played together before, in previous bands. We formed Djam Karet in order to play totally improvised music. For the first few years, all of our rehearsals and performances were totally improvised. That really taught us how to listen well, which is one of the most important skills you need in music. Over the years, we slowly added in more structure. And over the past 25 years, we have released 15 CDs and numerous EPs.
Jazznet Denmark : What music do you yourself listen to, and is there some kind of music that inspires you???
Gayle Ellett : Like many people, I listen to a wide range of music and find inspiration in many styles. I very much love Swedish Death Metal, European ShoeGaze, Traditional World folk music, Fusion, Surf music, and other styles. So it is a hard question to answer.
Jazznet Denmark : If you should mention 5-10 records that have meant something to you and your music, what would they be???
Gayle Ellett : I was a teenager in the 1970’s, so the music of that era is important to me. I really loved listening to, and learning from, albums such as The Allman Brothers “Live At Fillmore East”, Mahavishnu Orchestra “Visions Of The Emerald Beyond”, Yes “Close To The Edge”, Gentle Giant “The Power And The Glory”, Pink Floyd “Dark Side Of The Moon”, King Crimson “In The Court Of The Crimson King”, ZZ Top “Tres Hombres”, ELP “Brain Salad Surgery”, etc.
Jazznet Denmark : You are in my ears a group of musician who are in constant movement and going in many different directions from track to track and from release to release. Where do you get your ideas from and what is your secret (if you have one)???
Gayle Ellett : Our secret is that we are free to play whatever styles we want to, because we are not trying to be popular, or sell CDs. We just make the music we want to hear, and if some people want to buy it on CD, then we press up CDs. If enough sell, then we’ll have money to press up more CDs. But if no one ever bought our CDs, we would still make music and record in the studio, because we are trying very hard to make great recordings like the masters from the past. We don’t care about pleasing our fans. So when we release an Electronic CD like “Suspenion & Displacement” or “Collaborator” we know that many of our fans will not like it. But we don’t care about that. We are trying to make ourselves happy, not our fans or the public at large. So we are free to do what we want to. It is a great thing!
Jazznet Denmark : Are you all full time musicians or is Djam Karet your second job?
Gayle Ellett : I am a full time musician, I make music for TV shows and films, and currently I have my music airing on 14 different TV networks here in the States. The other guys have regular day jobs: one owns a CD store, one is retired, one is an art designer, and one works at a retail store. But all of us also play and record with other music groups as well.
Jazznet Denmark : What are your plans for the future and what will be the next release from Djam Karet???
Gayle Ellett : I am not sure what our future will hold for us. But we are recording in our studio right now, and so I am sure there will be a new CD soon, within a year I think.
Jazznet Denmark : If a new listener were about to buy his first recording with your music, which one would you recommend as the best introduction to your amazing music???
Gayle Ellett : I would recommend the most current release, “Recollection Harvest”. We recorded it quite well, and I am very happy with how it turned out. It covers a lot of ground, and shows many of the different aspects of our sound.
Jazznet Denmark : Your music is hard to put in any musical boxes, because it has so many different styles mixed with each other. In my opinion you belong in the progressive/rock/experimental part of the music world. Do you agree with that? And what are your opinions on that genre, and genres in general???
Gayle Ellett : We don’t clearly fall right in the middle of any genres. And that is common amoung “Art” bands. Unlike nearly all other groups who are making CDs to sell, we are trying to make recorded music as an art form, not a commercial product. If we wanted our CDs to sell, we would hire a singer, and play songs that are much shorter, and that fall right into a specific genre. So I don’t really know what genre we play in, but some people call it “Art Rock” which is more of a concept, then a “sound”. There are many “Art Rock” groups like Magma, Univers Zero, Steve Tibbetts, etc. So, I would say yes, we do use many elements of Progressive Rock and Experimental/Electronic/Soundtrack music in our group, but also Jazz, Surf, Metal, Folk and other elements as well. Basically, I don’t really know what style we play in, because we are so free to play and create whatever we want to. So I leave that up to others to decide.
Jazznet Denmark : You have released numerous recordings over the years, both on the Cuneiform label and also self-released. Are there some of them that you see in particular as more important than others, or landmarks, in your production???
Gayle Ellett : People seem to really like “The Devouring”. It is seen by many as an important album. And when we released two CDs at the same time, in two totally different music styles: “Burning The Hard City” and “Suspention & Displacement” that showed people that we are interested in a wide range of styles. Also some of our CDs are totally improvised like “No Commercial Potential”. Those are the ones I would mention.
Jazznet Denmark : At your concerts and on your records as well, how much is improvised and how much is planned before you start?
Gayle Ellett : On most of our CDs, the music is very planned out. We are trying to create a flowing and groovey and jam-based feel, but in an organized way. Each instrument is recorded one at a time and layered up into the final version you hear on the CD. So it is very organized. On the other hand, our first few years were spent playing totally improvised music, and many of the ideas that are on our CDs were originally found through recording our regular jam sessions that we still do, and the listening to find parts that we can later expand into tune ideas. And we also have two totally improvised releases “No Commercial Potential” and “Still No Commercial Potential”
Jazznet Denmark : What's your best advice for young aspiring musicians?
Gayle Ellett : Work hard, work hard, work hard, work hard, and when you are done…work harder. Don’t wait for a record deal that is never going to come (and if it did, you wouldn’t be happy with the terms and conditions anyway) so instead form your own mini-label and record and release your own CDs. Buy ProTools or Digital Performer, and after you’ve made a few CDs, you’ll start to make good ones. If you spend a year just playing at performances, at the end of the year you won’t have much money or publicity or press exposure. But if you spent a year making a CD, then you have something that you can send out to magazines for review, and radio and TV shows for exposure. This is what we do, and it has worked out really well. We rarely play live, mostly we just record. Currently I play in five different bands, all in different styles, and I play a different instrument in each group. That really helps me learn and grow as a musician. And it is really fun too!
Jazznet Denmark : What are your funniest and worst experiences performing in front of an audience?
Gayle Ellett : We do not perform very often. In fact the performances that we just did a few weeks ago were the first live shows by Djam Karet in 7 years! We just got back from headlining the Crescendo Festival in France. The audience really loved our music, and you could see people crying while we played, because they loved it so much. That was incredible. I’ve never had any bad experiences playing live, but I do have some stage-fright, so I don’t really like playing live anyway, I get VERY nervous. Our music is deliberately hard to play on purpose, so playing our music live is really hard for me. I’ve played live in other bands where an audience member would jump up on the stage and start playing an instrument that they brought with them to the gig, and we had to physically throw them off the stage. It wasn’t funny at the time, but it sounds rather funny now, looking back at it! In closing, I’d like to say many thanks for giving me the chance to talk about our music and for giving our group some exposure. We greatly appreciate it!