Pleased To Meet Me : Eric Quach (Thisquietarmy)
Introduce yourself… (Where are you from, what band do you play in etc..)
Eric Quach – Born & raised & still lives in Montreal, QC. Canada. My main project is Thisquietarmy (solo guitar-based drone/experimental project) which has been on-going since roughly 2005. Though, I've also been collaborating with Michel “Away” Langevin (drummer of Voivod) as Thisquietarmy x Away, Aidan Girt (drummer of Godspeed You! Black Emperor) as Some Became Hollow Tubes, Aidan Baker (Nadja) with our Berlin-based collective Hypnodrone Ensemble, Noveller (Iggy Pop), Syndrome (Amenra), Scott Cortez (lovesliescrushing), Year Of No Light, Yellow6, Hellenica, AUN, Philippe Leonard (visuals for GY!BE), Annie Lafleur (poet on Le Quartanier) and a lot more. I also co-founded post-shoegaze/post-rock band Destroyalldreamers (2002-2007).
Why do you play music?
Hard to say. It wasn't exactly a childhood dream, nor something that was planned or that I liked or even thought I could do – it was more of a calling, a survival tool, a search for an artistic vehicle to be able to express certain things that aren't exactly tangible. I actually have a degree in Mechanical engineering and I worked in that field for quite a few years before getting too absorbed and too close to the evilness of it all – the manipulating politics, the capitalist economics, the career ladder, all that old-school “out of touch” boomer stuff. I just had a real need to step away from the essence of the essential infrastructure/material consumerism world, and I would slowly devote myself to self-taught artistic expression, mostly through sounds – which led to, in my opinion, a somewhat healthier comprehension of society and an independent self-sustaining lifestyle based on DIY, community and punk/underground ethics. Before music, I also used to paint as a way to express myself but I'm also quite still active in visual arts such as documenting things in forms of photos, illustration and graphic design.
What was a major influence on you as an Artist/Band?
Probably society in general, and how society is evolving, and how different types of societies around the world are functioning – meeting new people, visiting new countries, exchanging with people from different cultures and different backgrounds, and learning from them. Basically just being an observer, gathering information, having feelings and thoughts about them, then condense and purge it all through raw sounds and shape them as musical-type forms.
What’s a favourite book or film?
1984/Soylent Green.
Do you prefer the recording process or performing live?
Two very completely different things to me, that complement each other in ways that are more complicated than they seem. Both are about self-expression, both processes can alternate between being either more raw, intuitive, thoughtful and analytic than the other. I don't necessarily think that both need to co-exist, as they are very different experiences with very different intentions and results. However tackling both can be pretty challenging as they can be as interconnected as they don't even need to be – if that makes sense. The commercial, promotional idea that you have to perform your album (whether it took two week or two years to produce) as a live set is a drastically dated concept that I rarely adhere with.
What would be a dream collaboration?
I honestly don't know, as I've done quite many of them already with as many high profile artist as “unknown” ones (for lack of better term). They were basically all people I've connected or crossed paths with at some point, and these relationships developed in very organic ways – some worked better than others, some were easier than others, some collaborations were aborted or didn't even happen. It's not really about a specific person or artist but rather about a specific chemistry that you're hoping to have and it can be totally random. The most surprising results are often the best ones, and you can't really pin that to this pre-conceived idea of what a fantasy collaboration with someone would/could be like.
Describe a favourite album.
An album that you can't explain why it makes you feel the way it makes you feel, and not necessarily good positive feelings either.
What's your favourite local haunt?
Too many that came and went.
What's your strangest experience while performing live?
Once, someone came on stage while I was playing, telling me to turn it down because his friends and himself couldn't hear themselves talking. Later, I found out they just came back from a funeral but they just made it seem like I'm the one who crashed their mourning/death party.
What are some of your favourite aspects of being a musician in MTL?
Being part of this really complicated and unique social fabric in the world – this whole “Montreal is an Island, that is not (like the rest of) Quebec, that is not (like the rest of) Canada, that is not (like) America” thing. And the fact that a lot of this exciting experimental DIY scene was built on that uniqueness, when a lot of people left the most populated city in the country based on politics during the referendum years, which made a lot of artists from across the continent move to Montreal due to the subsequent economic crisis, taking over affordable empty broken spaces and starting to build artistic communities, creating these renown indie myths that would attract yuppies and investors that would/will eventually destroy the very essence of this scene. And the diversity of people, the diversity of cultures, the diversity of languages, the diversity of communities, the diversity of priorities, the diversity of individuality – and how one half of the people is constantly fighting for their rights and their spaces to co-exist, and how the other half is trying to destroy them. The moment they win, the moment you find peace, the moment you are somewhere you don't have to deal with all that is the moment that you cease to be a MTL artist. Touring helps to escape it to come back with a better view of how to deal with MTL things, as a MTL artist.
Has the current COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine influenced your creative process?
It's still early to understand the real impact of the pandemic on creativity when we are currently still dealing with it. I'd definitely say that there was a period of non-creative contemplation, in which the role of creating was put into question as whether it was an essential activity in the whole scheme of the pending apocalypse. It was difficult to put meaning into art when it was entirely possible that everything as we knew could cease to exist, at least for a long while. There was this inner fight to stop or at least to slow down this ingrained inner-capitalism of constantly having to be productive, whether it's figuring out the next artistic direction, booking the next show, releasing the next album, and all these things that you need to do to stay “relevant”. The pandemic basically allowed me to analyze what I've been doing and why, for the last 15 years – more so the last 10 years since I quit my engineering job. It put a lot of things back into perspective, such as figuring out what creating meant to the creator and what creations meant to people looking for hope, entertainment or things to escape into, and so maybe, temporarily, it became about the idea of creating to help others get through this strange “voided” period, while the rest of the chaotic world leaders and decision makers figure out our fate, and how to “fix” this problem. And so far, we haven't figured it out yet and we're still dealing with this new normal before finding out if we'll ever get to the other side, and finding out what it'll look like. But I'll do my part in throwing some new art out there once in a while, as it also helps me to stay idle, but without constantly putting as much pressure on myself as before. I also don't give as much importance to the reception of what I'm putting out at this moment – everyone is exhausted, everyone is dealing with it and everyone is doing the best they can.
If you weren’t playing music in MTL where would you be ?
Before the pandemic, I was playing music 4-6 months outside of MTL, mostly in Europe but also in Asia and South America. The second place I've performed the most is Berlin – where I've been going for the last 10 years, which I consider as my second home, having a community of friends and artists based there, with on-going projects currently still active. But who knows what will be left of it, and how things will change and how things will be rebuilt for the next few years. Definitely a lot of places will need to be revisited – some of my favourites are France, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Iceland, Russia, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, Brazil, Chile, Argentina & so much more.
Any sage advice for young musicians?
If it doesn't take a lifetime of work to get where you want to be, you're doing it wrong. Don't act so entitled.