So the other day Daniel Bellury was like “Hey, I’m gonna put out this EP called Vague Borders.” And we were all “Whaaat?” And he was like “Yea, and I’m gonna call the project Common Future.” And we were all “Whoa, we need to ask questions.”
Q. Where did the name Common Future come from?
At my wedding we had a lot of my wife’s German relatives coming up to us and wishing us well in broken English. Her Uncle Rudolf at one point came up to us and said “Congratulations on your common future”. Lily and I talked about that later on and thought it was such a cool thing to say. When we went through all the presents and cards we found he’d actually written that phrase in the card. At that point I said Common Future should be a band name. Then I did it.
Q. What was on your mind as you started the project and recording?
I had just left two bands in a matter of months so the only thing on my mind was making something that was fully my own. I didn’t want to answer to bandmates. I wanted to explore my own head.
Q. How did you record and what instruments did you use during recording? What was the most fun?
As a guitarist/bassist in bands, I have collected a lot of guitar effects pedals. Basically I took my two synths, a sequencer, guitars and bass and just ran everything through an assload of pedals. On “Impulses” in particular I decided to experiment with running every instrument through a tremolo pedal and I’d have to vary the speed of the tremolo just to see if I could make something that wasn’t absolute chaos.
Everything about making this was fun for me. I did it all in my apartment. Every time I recorded, my room would transform into this chaotic web of wires. It’s definitely interesting how space influences the product, because I had to sit on the floor a lot and my ass would get tired from the hardwood, but it also felt very meditative to me to sit and concentrate on one particular sound at a time. I think that idea of meditation comes through in the repetitive nature of the music.
Q. How would you describe the ethos behind the project?
I don’t know if there’s a clear cut ethos for Common Future as a project. I think that each recording will probably take on a different ideology. Like, I’m not convinced that it’ll always be a solo project, but for now it is. I don’t know if it’ll always be instrumental, but right now it is. So maybe the ethos is just to be open to change and let the music dictate the direction.
