What was it like to work behind the drum kit on Colossus? What other instruments did you play on the album?

I guess, to me, I see the main discipline being drums, bass, keyboard and guitar. Everything else I really just sort of built extensions from those instruments. An example is the difference between a harpsichord and piano, besides specifics, are a similar technique as long as they are keyboard based. So I use the harpsichord as an extension of the keyboard. Synthesizer, acoustic and electric guitars, bass and drums were the basics.

Is there a particular philosophy behind the making of your music? Does each album have a theme or certain influence that propels it?

The more deep I get into the record mission, the more that is the case with the overall philosophy. My first record was a compilation of songs. Reason being, the only means I had to complete a song at that time was a sampler. Thus everything I made for that record was sample-based music. For the second record I had bought a couple of keyboards and sort of got into tracking live stuff a little bit. There was also a couple of songs that I sang on that record. Not everything was sample-based per se, but the only driving philosophy behind it was for me to just keep expanding and provide new and interesting songs. By the time The Third Hand came around, that was the first record that had a theme, whereas the point of it for me was to see how far I could get just by myself without drawing on anyone else. And now The Colossus has a completely opposite theme than The Third Hand. The intent was to collaborate as much as possible, with as many outside influences and players and resources on the record as possible. Additionally on this album, there is also an overview of the different approaches I’ve taken to making music and also specific references to my first 3 albums that are “hidden”; I don’t think they’re hidden, I think they’re pretty obvious but with that said they’re hidden in the music if you will.

This is the first album you released on your newly established label, RJ’s Electrical Connections. What led you to release this album on your own?

I guess the main motive being that I didn’t need anyone else’s money to complete this album [laughs]. I know that it’s common to actually complete the record before it even gets signed. I know how that whole thing works. And that was the thing with The Third Hand, that record was done before I decided to put it out. I know that’s a common experience but I started having more and more of an issue with that process. It just didn’t make sense to me to drop back into a label this time around. I had this record and was mulling over whether I should try and make it work with another label. But then on a totally unrelated matter, I went through this process of reacquiring the ownership of my masters from Def Jux so then I suddenly needed a place to distribute them. So there was another argument why I should be doing this and essentially starting a label. I look back on the fundamentals of the music industry and I think I’ve gained enough of an understanding of what gets done to release a record that I basically felt confident in on my own. I didn’t think it was going to be easy but I was confident that I was going to be able to have a handle on the decisions that needed to be made.

You just announced an extensive 2010 tour that will take place from January to April of this year. Is this the largest tour you’ve ever scheduled on a consecutive show basis? Is there any strategy or meaning behind the venues or locations you chose to perform?

This is definitely the longest. Essentially it is two weeks on and two weeks off, so I don’t do all of the dates all at once. I am able to go home in between each leg which is nice. I don’t do well when I’m away too long. That’s my threshold for being away from home, about two weeks and after that I’m ready to go back. That’s the way I’ve been formatting my tours for a couple years now. In 2007, the tour for The Third Hand was three legs of two weeks and this one is four legs of two weeks and then I go off to Europe for a fifth leg. This is definitely the biggest tour and as far as the decisions of why I chose these destinations, I just wanted to cover as many bases as possible. We also paid attention to the routing of the tour considering the weather. We did the down south stuff first because it will be in the middle of the winter and should be comfortable down there at that time.

To what extent will your live show move beyond songs from The Colossus and showcase your entire catalog?

I am certainly going to showcase the whole catalog for sure. It was a learning experience when I went on tour for The Third Hand. I have a band for this tour. When I first went out with a band, we did songs from The Third Hand album and over the years I’ve realized that people want to hear their favorite songs and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. So even though I’m now doing songs from Deadringer live with a band and a different format, it’s still fun doing a hybrid thing substituting the sampler with an actual drummer. A lot of these songs are also a lot easier to execute. I sometimes feel like I’m shooting fish in barrel when I revisit songs from previous albums. We can do it easily, but at the same time people don’t go to a show for the sake of virtuosity either. The artists are not there for themselves, the artist is there for the sake of the fans. So you basically want to play songs that people are going to want to here.

Will any artists featured on the album be accompanying you throughout the tour?

Hopefully the cities I visit where they live or are at the time, they will come and do their respective songs. On the whole, it’s a four piece band including myself, a drummer and two multi instrumentalists who will be playing bass, keys or guitars. I can’t really afford to take the guests on the road just to do one song, you know, I had to be realistic. But hopefully they can come out in their home towns.

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