Interview with Ben Chasny of Comets on Fire/Six Organs of Admittance

Interview with Ben Chasny---

Ben Chasny is the man behind the Six Organs of Admittance moniker, as well as a member of the psych-noise extravaganza Comets On Fire. Ben Chasny also got caught in traffic around the time of our interview, so I returned to the depths of the Doug Fir basement later in the evening, hoping to ask him a few questions. Regardless of my near-sightedness, he could be the most unassuming figure in music right now, visually speaking. After seeking assistance from the green room, I found him by the bar, drinking wine and listening to the opening band. I stammered an introduction and he politely led me to the band’s closet-sized hotel room at the Jupiter, politely apologizing for what he deemed to be a seedy place for an interview, or for that matter, a seedy place to stay. (Condoms in place of pillow mints seem to have that effect.) I struggled with the rickety tape recorder as he sipped his wine, and I soon realized he was an authority in the realm of obscure music.

First off, are you as big a music geek as you seem? More specifically, you definitely turned people on to unknown artists like Gary Higgins, how much responsibility do you take for that?

I think that that record is so good that if it didn’t come out last year it would’ve come out in two years, you can’t keep such a good record hidden forever; it at least would’ve been bootlegged in a major way. No matter what, people would have heard that record.

“The Sun Awakens” was one of the first Six Organs records done in a studio. Are you typically more 4-track oriented?

I was for years, but the last couple have been in the studio---24 tracks is a lot better than 4, especially doing the drones and layering.

So tonight I see there will be a backing band. Last time I saw you at Berbati’s it was solo and…

---He cringed as I started to recount the night. Sir Richard Bishop (of the Sun City Girls) had gone on prior, and impressed the hell out of me. Six Organs of Admittance (only Ben Chasny on that date) was the headliner, and definitely had left an impression. All I will say is that Chasny gave me my best “drunken musician” story ever. Obviously embarrassed, he interrupted me, hesitant to talk about it.----

Oh god.

You remember that?

Of course I remember that. That was one of the worst shows I’ve ever done in my life. That show is why I don’t play acoustic anymore. That was a long and involved thing that has to do with the fact that Richard Bishop was playing and he is one of my favorite guitarists in the world. I felt really bad, in my mind he should not play ahead of me (on a bill). In my mind, I would not be playing acoustic guitar if it were not for him. He’s a hero of mine, and he’s aware of that. Something I’ve talked with him about is the element of ‘gunfighter’ with guitarists, not exactly a macho thing, but it taps into that. It isn’t necessarily macho, because it could be women, although I’ve never really talked to a woman about that, but I should. It definitely applies more to solo acoustic guitar. Seeing Rick play, and he is totally aware of the ‘gunfighter’ aspect, he totally shot me down. He was doing immaculate runs on guitar, and I’ve seen him play a lot, but that night was one of his best shows ever. That and the fact that that was one of the last shows that I’ve ever put whiskey on my rider, and that was it! No more whiskey on my rider, only red wine! But also my guitar broke and that was horrible, because I was trying to do this merzbow move, and everything broke. I felt really bad about that show.

Do you consider Jack Rose to be in that same group?

Yeah, actually I just hung out with Jack Rose on this tour and he’s a really good friend of mine—I love Jack Rose a lot. We are very similar about acoustic guitar. Jack’s one of the greatest, you know, gunfighters/drinkers/acoustic guitar players. He’s a model for that kind of thing. And so he’s one of the best. He’s one of the reasons I retired from that sort of thing.

Have you really retired?

Kind of. I might go back to it, but Jack’s been kicking ass so hard, and other people as well. But when we were touring together we were fighting about who would play first, because, uh, we also like to drink a lot, and we knew whoever went second would not be able to do the “fight” you know, it all goes back to the gunfighter thing.

Weren’t you and David Tibet and Steven O’Malley (of SunnO))) supposed to record an album together?

It is definitely gonna happen. The thing about that project was that O’Malley is, like, the busiest guy, and a total inspiration, in that all the different levels that he works. Visual media, and sound, and that dude is just fucking amazing. It was supposed to happen but David just got totally exhausted from being on the road. He told me ‘I wanna do a metal record with you,” and I do love metal, but it all made sense, you know. ‘No, you want to do a metal record with O’Malley!’ like let’s just work this out and get it together.

What kind of metal is (Tibet) talking about?

I don’t know, he’s got his own idea about it. I mean, he likes metal, and he’s another big music nerd. Always trying to turn people on to stuff.

And you’re playing with him in Current 93, right?

Yeah, it’s going great. I’ve been a fan of his for a really long time.

You’re pretty busy yourself, huh?

Ehhh, I’m a little busy, no busier than anyone else.

---by Leigh van der Werff