MAKING A "POISEFUL NOISE:" ILYA INTERIVEW
- interview by Jianda Johnson

Slowly, steadily, and sweetly in their own atypical way, the (he)art-rock project ILYA bestowed me with enough trust to interview with me not once, but twice. You see, they're gentle in revealing their underbellies to folks. But when it comes to musical integrity and direction? ILYA is BRUTAL. Brutally-honest, brutally-lovely, brutally-raw, brutally-skilled. Taking no prisoners. Giving it all to you. Offstage, it's a different matter entirely. I tried my best to respect their time, and talents. Maybe you can tell me how well I did. C'mon. Scale of 1-10:

JJ: You'd said the name "ILYA" is arbitrary: why do you want your band "NOT to represent," as it were--what is the artistic statement this makes?

ILYA: The name "ILYA" (in the context of our music endeavor) is arbitrary - the meaning is not. ILYA represents: absence of judgement.

JJ: How long have you been together--how did ILYA come to be?

ILYA: Since February of 2001. ILYA came to be through six people getting together with the mutual passion to create something beautiful involving music, and the intent of forming a truly collaborative effort... no dictators. A platform where everyone could express themselves musically. It's amazing how this works out. Although there are six of us, we always seem to figure out something that makes us all happy, and we are blessed to have this.

JJ: "Poise is The Greater Architect:" what's the significance of this album title?

ILYA: Well...in the current music world it seems that brut force both musically and lyrically seems to be "the way to go" and very popular...we just feel that more "poise" and a gentler approach can be just as powerful, if not "greater."

JJ: How are songwriting and lyrical duties split up, if at all?

ILYA: Matthew and Blanca use personal songs and poetry written years ago, or spontaneously create lyrics inspired by music ILYA plays during rehearsals.

JJ: How do you generate such atmospheric sounds--what kind of gear do you use?
ILYA: Pedals...experimentation and creativity with pedals...we have a lot of pedals. We really learned how many we had when we just had to bring them to Japan for tour.

JJ: You control your sounds and levels very masterfully, but--how much noise is too much? How do you craft the sound to be 'just so?'

ILYA: Thank you for noticing. We all just know where we fit as individuals into the sound of ILYA. Nobody steps on each others "musical toes". We know our place. There are a few points in our songs were we do get loud/noisy, but we do it in a dynamic way...we are very big on our dynamics.

JJ: How much would you say dreams and the unconscious influence your work?

ILYA: Dreams and the unconscious rarely influence our work - at times, they are the aftermath of our work.