October 2021 - Veronik

 



In the October 2021 episode of the Theremin 30 podcast, host Rick Reid plays music from the USA, Canada, and Peru. Rick's interview guest is Veronik, host and producer of Magica Escuela de Theremin on YouTube. 

▶️ Listen to this episode on Spotify.

FEATURED MUSIC*

*The full-length recordings featured in this show were used with the knowledge and permission of the artists and composers. Please support the artists by visiting their websites, purchasing their recordings, and attending their performances. 

ADDITIONAL MUSIC

INTERVIEW GUEST

CALENDAR OF THEREMIN EVENTS

MEDIA LINKS

CONTACT

CREDITS 

Copyright 2021 Rick Reid 


--------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIPT

David Brower  0:04  
This is Theremin 30, thirty minutes of theremin music, news, events, and interviews, with a new episode about every 30 days. Now here's your host from Denver, Colorado, USA, Rick Reid.

Rick Reid  0:19  
Hey there, welcome to the 29th episode of the Theremin 30 podcast. If you're new to this show, I hope you'll go back and listen to the previous episodes to hear interviews and music from all over the theremin world. This month I've got four new music tracks to play for you. And my special guest is Veronik, a singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Peru. She recently launched a series of Spanish language shortform theremin lessons on YouTube. Now let's get this show on the road with music from Portland, Maine band Supernormal. Here is an edit of a track they released in 2020 called "The Meanderer." 

Rick Reid  9:25  
We started the show with the psychedelic stylings of Supernormal featuring Eric Eaton on theremin. That track is called "The Meanderer," and it's available on the band's 2020 maxi-single release Short Wave. After that we heard it "Just Yesterday" recorded just last month by Bay area artist Anna Glyph. There is a very cool stop-motion video for "Just Yesterday" on the Theremin 30 YouTube playlist. To learn more about Supernormal and Anna Glyph click on their names in this month's show notes at Theremin30.com. Coming up after the break, I'll take a look at the calendar of events and play a new single from Canadian singing scientist, Dr. G. So stick around.

Rick Reid  10:16  
It's time now for the Theremin 30 calendar. Look at theremin-related concerts, workshops, and other events happening around the world in the weeks ahead. On October 21st, Bob Moog will be posthumously inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. Also on the 21st, Rob Schwimmer will perform in the backing band of The Beatles-themed modern dance show Pepperland in Tucson, Arizona. The Octopus Project takes the stage in Austin, Texas on October 28th, and Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel will perform in Atlanta, Georgia on October 30. For details about these events and more, check out the interactive calendar on Theremin30.com. If you have an event you'd like me to put on the calendar, send me the details through the website, Twitter, or Facebook. Nova Scotia-based recording artist Dr. G turns scientific concepts into catchy pop tunes for kids. His latest single is for the youngest of kids. Here's his new lullaby called "Matter."

Rick Reid  15:11  
That was Dr. G's new song called "Matter." It's part of Physics, a five-track EP available now on Bandcamp. Coming up after the break, I'll visit with Veronik. So stay tuned.

Rick Reid  15:35  
Veronik is a recording artists based in Lima, Peru. We've featured music from her solo work and from her Cosmic Cafe project in past episodes. I spoke with Veronik recently to learn about her new theremin lesson videos on YouTube and her latest recording. Veronik, thank you for being on Theremin 30.

Veronik  15:52  
Hi, Rick, thank you for inviting me.

Rick Reid  15:55  
You were one of the very first musicians to offer your music to play in the show two years ago when I first started this podcast, so I really appreciate the support you gave me. 

Veronik  16:05  
Oh, yeah, I remember that.

Rick Reid  16:07  
And I love your music. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing it right - Anomala? 

Veronik  16:11  
Anomola.

Rick Reid  16:11  
Anomala album is really cool. And I enjoy listening to that. 

Veronik  16:15  
Thank you. 

Rick Reid  16:16  
I invited you on this show because I wanted to find out your history with the theorem. And first of all, how did you get involved with the Theremin?

Veronik  16:24  
I discovered music when I was a child. And I used to listen to a lot of classical music, you know, and I first begin playing music with the flute when I was 11-12 year old and I became very passionate about music. And then I got bored because I went for two years in conservatory, Conservatoire Maurice Ravel. I used to live in France during my teenage years. And then I found conservatory very boring. And I discovered rock and roll music. And that was a whole new thing for me. And my dream was founding my own band. You know, that was my dream. And I did it finally when I was 18 and back to Peru. So I began making music, writing my own songs, performing with my own band. And when I was about 10 years doing this, I discovered the theremin and that was a whole new thing for me. I just came across that documentary Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey from Steve Martin. And what a wonderful movie. You know, it's so emotional. The whole thing is amazing, but I never saw a theremin before. I already knew about the sound, you know, that spooky creepy sound. And that was a like a cliche. You know that theremin sound. And that spooky thing, that crazy sound effect, but I didn't know that it was actually a real music instrument. And when I saw Clara rockmore performing on the movie, I was like, Oh my god, I need this in my life just right now. I want it now and I'm gonna learn how to perform it. And I don't know how but I will do this. And I want this now. And then about one week finding out anything I could about the theremin and taking my first lessons with Thomas Grillo YouTube series, we're talking about 2008. My first theremin was an Etherwave Standard. I ordered it via eBay. I started doing what I could and learning bit by bit. It wasn't easy at all. It was nearly impossible to perform properly a song but it was cool for doing effects and stuff. So by this time, I was working on my first solo album and people already knew me so I got very soon my first job as a theremin player. I was about like a month playing around with my theremin and stuff but I was asked to record some theremin lines for a surf rock band. Were friends of mine and that was my beginning as a theremin player.

Rick Reid  19:19  
The next thing I wanted to ask you about is your current project that I think is really fun. You're doing a series of lesson videos on YouTube.

Veronik  19:27  
Yeah, Magica Escuela de Theremin, Magic Theremin School and the name was very influenced by the Magical Mystery Tour. The Beatles. That name you know. I'm a rock and roll performer so that's rock part was quite important to me. It's a project that looks for making the theremin known as music instrument in Spanish of course because I'm Peruvian and I speak Spanish mostly, also French is my main language. I came across many theremin content, but not many things in Spanish spoken, you know. And I tried to do something about teaching people and not only theremin geeks, but also people who could be interested by the theremin, if you tell what's this thing about and what you can do with the thermin. I really find it's a very, very versatile instrument. But we need to forget those theremin cliches about spooky things about effect sounds and that sort of thing. Really it's, it's a whole universe that we can rediscover and build. So that's my intention. Also, my interest is about building a network between people interested and theremin players that we don't know yet because of the language issue. Also, my mission is to make it fun in some way, not very complicated stuff to understand, and I want it to be easy for anyone.

Rick Reid  20:09  
I like how the videos are poquito.

Veronik  21:15  
It's important to make them short, so you can make sure people are gonna watch the most part of the content. This is my intention to do short videos, and explain some basic tips to understand theremin psychology, you know. That's a very special instrument because it's similar to violin, but at the same time, it's similar to a voice, but it's electronic. But it's not a synth. It's a weird animal. You know, theremin. It's a very organic instrument. There is no one way of playing it. You can build your own playing technique by learning lots of different styles, approaches. So that makes it very, very interesting.

Rick Reid  22:08  
You have a new single out or you're the guest artist on someone else's recording. The track is called by "Ballena," which I learned means "whale." Tell me about "Whale."

Veronik  22:17  
That's a nice project. Oliver Castillo is a wonderful bass player, longtime friend, and he asked me to participate in his new solo album. He decided to design his album project as laboratory with other artists, friends who would build up each song along with him, like a laboratory project, in which collaboration would be the main ingredient to build up new sounds and each tune personality. He sent me two ideas, and I chose this one who had this aquatic sound. And I feel like a whale or something to do like in this way with my theremin, of course. And I wanted to try something with my voice, too. Unfortunately, it was a mess with the pandemic, and actually the sound engineer who passed away with the virus and it was really, really a very hard moment. It was a hard journey, actually. But maybe we take it as like a part of history. We finally got it done, and we liked the result. But there were some hard times, too.

Rick Reid  23:38  
You are working on a new album. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Veronik  23:42  
I have actually two album projects. The first one is a rock album. That's my third solo album. It's a bunch of love songs, let's say. An album about being immersed in toxic relationships in several aspects. The theremin is not the protagonist in this album. I'm really also working on theremin stuff. And my next project is another theremin album. But that new album I'm working on now is a rock album. And the theremin maybe fits on some of the tracks but not in every song because I feel that each song has his own sound, his own personality. And I'm trying to get back to the guitar playing but it's very hard to me because I actually work daily with my theremin because I'm doing lessons and stuff. So making this album for me it's like a challenge to do stuff with my voice, with guitar, and also with theremin and work on music production again. But I know I can do it. So the album should be released maybe the next year. Also we have another reissue of Anomala this year. So that's my, my main projects.

Rick Reid  25:09  
Veronik, it's been so much fun visiting with you today. Thank you for being on Theremin 30.

Veronik  25:14  
Oh, thank you, Rick. It's been a pleasure for me.

Rick Reid  25:18  
Let's finish the show now with new music from Veronica. She's a featured thereminist and vocalist on this new track from Oliver Castillo called "Ballena."

Rick Reid  29:20  
We're running out of time for this 30 minutes of theremin music. So I will quickly thank Supernormal, Anna Glyph, Dr. G, and Veronik for sharing their talents with us. And thank you for the listeners who make small monthly donations to support this show. Every little bit helps. I've already got some interesting theremin music and interview guests lined up for the next episode. So subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast app. Until next time, I'm your host, Rick Reid. See you again soon.

David Brower  29:49  
You've been listening to the Theremin 30 podcast. Visit Theremin 30 on the web at Theremin30.com.



Labels: , , , , , , , ,