Tom Parsons; aka Arwr Neb
In the next few days, Mayfly Records will be pointing a well deserved spotlight on its roster’s esteemed talents. In WordPress form. *cough*
We start with an interview conducted with Tom Parsons, who has gone under the guise of Arwr Neb these past few years. The last year of it has seen a remarkable output of subversive materials by the artist. Not in quantity, mind you – but in sheer quality.
He is an artist that not only encourages the listener to laugh out loud, but also to pause and think. It’s challenging enough to find a genuinely good person, but when they’re also a talented sound designer with a purposeful vision, it’s an irresistible combination.
Tom Parsons is that good person.
Q: Tell us a little about yourself.
A: I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the youngest of three kids. I think I was always struggling between acceptance as part of the crowd and shining a light on my own uniqueness.
What are some of the things that have shaped you?
I started playing music at a fairly young age – starting with piano lessons at the age of six and continuing them throughout my youth until my final year of high school. I also played trumpet in the grade school band and played the bagpipes, competing in solo and band competitions throughout North America.
I also believe I’ve been shaped by my experiences of living abroad in Asia and in Europe. Getting out of Minneapolis to go to college in Upstate New York really broadened my horizons and gave me a lot of confidence in establishing myself in the world.
What are some of the things that you are most proud of?
I’m probably most proud of the friendships I’ve cultivated, the knowledge of language and culture that I’ve explored, and the knowledge that has helped me broaden my horizons.
Who are some of your favorite artists?
I have a pretty broad taste in music. From a young age, I was very taken with classical music, particularly Beethoven and Mozart. That interest blossomed into broader and deeper tastes in the Romantic and Modernist composers, namely Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, and Saint-Saëns.
As a teenager, I followed mostly pop groups that were mainstream until a friend of mine in eight grade introduced me to such wonders as Devo, Iggy Pop, Talking Heads, The Cure, James Chance (and his various permutations) Kraftwerk (which really stuck with me when I started doing electronic music) and ska bands, such as The Specials and Madness. That’s when the subversiveness in my musical tastes really took root. I’ve been exploring the weird, wacky, wonderful stuff since then.
These days, some of my favorite artists are Four Tet, Super Furry Animals, Datblygu, and Gwenno, and many too many others to name. I just can’t box myself into who is my favorite.
What is your favorite book?
My favorite book is Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. He is hands down my favorite author.
Is happiness the main gauge of Life?
Happiness is a spectrum as far as I’m concerned. It’s not the be all and end all of satisfaction with life, but a pretty good gauge of how well you’re enjoying it. That said, I think it’s important to know what makes you happy in life and not rely on what others tell you it should be, namely a good job, status, etc. When I’m listening to and playing music, I’m at my happiest.
When was it that you decided that music and/or sound design was a passion?
Initially, it was just a way of me working on music without the need to play in a band. I then started working with Ableton and needed some more formal training. I took a few classes and really enjoyed it.
Is it a passion?
Yes, very much so!
Why?
After realizing what sounds I could create, I became enchanted with synthesis and sound design. A whole new world opened up to me and I feel like I can’t go back to the rigidity of pop music.
What is it that you are trying to get across to the listeners you manage to snare?
Initially, my focus was to promote the Welsh language in electronic music, and I still aim to do that, but now I’m trying to create sound environments that shake people out of their reliance on traditional formulas of how music is experienced. Whether that makes them uncomfortable or not, but ultimately to make them think about sound in a new way.
What have been your artistic highlights?
I thought creating my first EP was quite a highlight, but after working on collaborations with such inspiration and talented artists like Bärkər, Subtlety, and Feminoise that has been the greatest highlight so far in my short electronic musical career.
Many claim that we do this for ourselves – but if that were truly the case, we’d all pull an Emily Dickinson and keep the work to ourselves:
From where have you gained the confidence to put yourself out there (musically or otherwise)?
I have developed a close-knit group of supporters, both old friends and new, who have really shown great support to my strange musical endeavors. I never expected to have this much support and am truly grateful for those that have shown an interest in my rantings via sound design.
This is a question inspired by Deb LeMotta’s interviews: If you could go back and give your younger self a piece of needed advice, what would it be?
I would absolutely tell my younger self to express myself with more passion and less fear of being accepted by polite society. The interesting people are the ones that really matter in this existence.
Thank you for reading. You can also find the works of Arwr Neb on the Mayfly Records Bandcamp page. There you can find the various collaborative efforts that he has enriched – Uned Drydan’s C3: C4: Energy, Bärkər & Arwr Neb’s Subversions, and the Mayfly Radio compilation.
Power to the Imagination.