cerberus shoal &NEIコミュのChriss of Shoal

Could you tell us the story about how was
cerberus shoal formed? and how was changed?

-Well, Tom Rogers (original drummer) and I had been doing a band together since early high school in central Maine.
Caleb Mulkerin (guitar etc. only other original member) was kind of doing the same thing down here in Portland. After a couple of years our paths crossed. Caleb and I became good friends and continued to keep in touch. We planned to meet up in Boston after high school to start a group. Tom was already down there attending Berklee. That all took place in the fall of '94. We were really into the punk and DIY method of artistic operation and it helped fuel our passion for about three years. But, as we continued that ethic slowly was taken over by musical growth and a new interest in playing the most original and natural music possible. Basically, we have evolved and changed mostly due to the people who have floated in and out of our group. It has always been Tom Rogers, Caleb Mulkerin and I, but the people who have made up the other part of Cerberus Shoal has varied greatly and that is most represented in the music. Also Caleb, Tom and I have grown greatly over the years. Our tastes and wants have changed and evolved. We are trying constantly to make music that is representative of who we are at the present moment. Anything goes with us, no ideas are turned away until they are tried. With these ideals we are guranteed a freshness and excitement that enables us to continue making original and artistic music.


I think cerberus shoal is very free and unlimited band. Why can you make so free and awesome records? Do
you write score? Is there any improvisation?

-I think it is a mixture of many things. We do a lot of improvising as an exercise to create new material. Usually ideas will be born from our improvisations and then those basic ideas are worked on heavily over days, weeks and months until they are completly structured and "written". Many times though we will allow room within a peice for further improvisation and growth. We also do a lot of conceptualizing through conversation and hanging out. We live together and are a very close group so the creative process is kind of ongoing. We create as we live.

Cerberus Shoal music has so many elements. (It's so difficult question. If you don't answer, I won't post it.) What kind of artist or music that you had been influenced?

-Yes this is a tough question because if I answer i'm speaking for about twelve people over the past ten years. I'll give you a basic list:

Sun City Girls, Sun Ra, Erguner Brothers, Necdet Ensemble, Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, Neal Young and Bob Dylan, The Residents, Steven Reich, King Crimson, Steel Pulse, Thomas Mapfumo, Jolie Holland, De Kift, Herman Dune, Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Leadbelly, George Jones, Hank Williams, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Tarpigh, Nusrat Fetah Ali Khan, Captain Beefheart, Evinyd Kang, Tom Waits, Fats Waller, Miles Davis, Radio Tarifa, Tarif De Haidouks etc... and not to mention Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, Carlos Castenada, Robert Anton Wilson, Freddie Pearlman, Rumi etc...


Please introduce new album and tell us your future schedule etc.

-The new record is called "The Land We All Believe In" and it will be release in North America by NEI this coming fall and in Europe (hopefully Japan and Australia as well) by Montreme Records in the UK. We will tour the US in the fall of 2005 for a month and a half and then go and do the same thing in Europe in the spring.

Have you been to Japan? Would you like to come to Japan?

-No we haven't yet been to Japan. But of course we would love to come. It is an expensive trip but if we could find an organizer and some support we would gladly make the journey.


How was the Europe tour? Please tell me impressive episodes.

-The tour was truly an amazing experience for us andall things considered one of our best tours ever. The whole thing was crazy as we played Holland to Poland to Czech to Croatia to Slovenia to Italy to France to Spain to UK then back to France to Belgium and finally back to Holland. We met so many old friends and made many, many new ones. We were able to play with our "split" partners Herman Dune and Guapo as well as open for this great Australian group called The Necks. Our car was tiny and we couldn't fit all of our equipment so we really had to strip down our set-up which was challenging in a good way. I think we pulled it off!

You live in Maine. Where do other members live?
What kind of place is Maine?

-Yes. The current line up all lives in Maine. Through out the past ten years we have had members from Philadelphia, Columbus Ohio, Boston and New Jersey. At the moment Caleb, Erin, Tim and myself live in the same house which is the house the band has always lived in for the last ten years. It is where we rehearse and it is kind of our home base. Colleen and Karl have their own apartments in the city (Portland).

Maine is a very large and spacious state with very few people (1 million in the whole state). Portland (Maines largest city) is a cool small city where it is easy to get stuff done because their isn't too much distraction. It's relatively quiet without being too quiet. Though to really make a career in the
arts/music you have to go outside Maine to legitimize.

-Who manages North East Indie? Please introduce other bands or projects to us.

North East Indie is managed by a great guy named Paul Agnew who is fom St. Louis, Missouri. We call him St.
Paul. Right now he represents Chuck Bettis (a solo laptop musician who has worked with Iku Mori, John Zorn, Kathleen Hanna among others), Micah Blue Smaldone (solo ragtime/country blues guitarist/singer), Death Vessel (kind of alternative indie country songwriter) , tarpigh (used to be part of Cerberus Shoal during the homb, Crash My Moon Yacht, Mr. Boy Dog era) I think that is it right now though he is looking to expand.