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BACKGROUND

Artist Bio: Spieglass is the solo project of Josh D. based in Austin, Texas.

Genres: Post-Rock, Metal

Band Lineup: “Just little ol’ me on guitar and piano, and performing/programming all other instrument samples”

Website: http://spieglass.bandcamp.com/

Most Recent Release: Toward My Hand (LP, February 2022)

Sputnik User(s): Josh D.

INTERVIEW

I caught up with Josh D. of Spieglass to discuss his intimidating discography, his intent as an artist, and the Sputnik community.

You are the sole member of Spieglass, a post-rock/metal project. What have you found to be the pros and cons of being a solo musician? Would you ever aspire to be in a band (or to add other musicians to your project) if the opportunity presented itself?

Of course the best thing about solo work is complete autonomy. The only thing I feel like I’m missing most days is a pro-level mixer/producer. I would love to work with other people, although maybe under a different project/name. That way Spieglass is something I can have as my own, sort of like how Toby Driver has his distinct projects and solo material. I don’t think I’ve actually played music with another person in over a decade, but just from a creative standpoint, getting out your own head is needed from time to time.

A casual perusal of your bandcamp page indicates that you released three albums in 2021 (plus a covers compilation)! That’s a pretty prolific rate of production. Can you elaborate on what goes into making a Spieglass album?

As for “writing”, there are two ways I start songs: one is just sudden inspiration, where even just a three-note melody can enter my mind. I will write it down or track something to not lose the idea, and it gets fleshed out from there. The other way is through noodling. I’ll put on a drum groove to play over, or just mess around on guitar or piano until I hit on something that makes me think “oh that was cool, let me see if I can develop that”. There’s a decent amount of improvised stuff too, and ideas just start flowing and snowballing. Once I get eight songs in the can I just put them up. I’m not doing album cycles and my music is free to download, so there’s no need to sit on music that’s ready to go. It keeps my name popping up anyway.

How has your sound matured/evolved/shifted over the course of your intimidating discography (twenty eight releases dating back to 2017’s Colorist)?

This is what’s most interesting to me about this whole thing. I grew up playing drums, but for some reason never thought about doing stuff on my own. So the first two releases are silly experimental things using Garageband instruments, I made them on an iPhone SE. I didn’t even know anything about DAWs, MIDI controllers, virtual instruments, and I hadn’t even drummed in years due to apartment living. So how much material I’ve made I think is greatly driven by learning about guitar, piano, recording, gear, mixing, etc. all at the same time as I go. Consequently it was very aimless. I’ve settled into a style over the last year or two, although still don’t consider myself wed to anything in particular.

What famous artist(s) would you liken Spieglass to? Who are your influences?

Liken to? I don’t even know anymore. Originally I thought I was heading towards that sort of indie classical thing like Dustin O’Halloran projects, or Olafur Arnalds and film score sounds. Now I’m tuning to C standard and riffing trying to riff like Gossow-era Arch Enemy. I guess that also speaks to influences, which are all over the place. I grew up hearing Tears for Fears, for example. Do I sound like them? Absolutely not. But I also can’t say that something deep down doesn’t come out in some way, like taking NZT in Limitless. My current sound is probably most influenced by the heavier moments of the Every Time I Die catalog, all sorts of the aforementioned Toby Driver projects, and even Bernard Herrmann. Using tension filled strings, even in my heavy stuff, comes down from the master.

Do you have an aesthetic goal in mind while creating music, or do the songs take the shape of where you are emotionally in the songwriting process?

It shouldn’t come as a surprise with my output that I don’t have those kinds of goals in mind. It’s more along the lines of: once I have 3 or 4 new songs, I realize the shape they’ve taken and continue with it in mind. In fact, I usually name songs while uploading everything to Bandcamp. I’ll listen to songs that haven’t been titled and just think what it sounds like, what it feels like. Without lyrics, building a concept isn’t very important to me. The narrative, if you will, of the album is sort of manufactured in the last moments before publishing. But I try to still keep it cohesive during the process.

I’m sure many people reading this interview haven’t heard any of your songs before. Can you put together a 10-track “Spieglass Greatest Hits” as something of a representative collection/introduction?

I think this list would be a solid encapsulation of the variety of sounds I’ve put out.

The cover art for your upcoming LP Toward My Hand is, for lack of a better descriptor, badass. Who created the image, why did you choose that illustration, and is it indicative of the style of music we can expect to hear on the new record?

An artist (website https://www.mxmorgan.com/ ) I’ve commissioned before has a bunch of work in that style. And since Toward My Hand was shaping up to be my heaviest to date, I needed something fitting. A white-eyed black goat with sort of occultish imagery fit the bill. The title is from a Macbeth soliloquy, referring to a dagger he was seeing in front of him. So the sword is sealed it for me.

Where do you realistically see Spieglass in 5 years? Contrast that now with your wildest dreams – what would the ultimate incarnation of Spieglass look like? Would you be a worldwide sensation, or a dark and enigmatic figure with a cult following? Elaborate/explain.

Making a living off music isn’t easy, so my wildest dream has been to basically have the life I have now but solely off money made through music. I consider myself a realist, so that’s also why I stopped charging for music on Bandcamp. At least if more people are able to download it, who knows! And just the phrase “worldwide sensation” alone gives me anxiety. I do not like doing things.

Within the next couple months some of my music should be in a licensing library that was started by the former music director of Oprah, so even before they’re up I’m already the furthest I’ve been with anything. So at this point I’m staying patient and counting on all my pals at Sputnik to spread the gospel.

You’ve been around seemingly forever on Sputnik (even longer than me!). What insights can you give us about how the site looked back in 2005-2010 versus how it looks now? I mean this both in a literal/aesthetic sense as well as the community and what it once brought/now brings to the table.

Man, I don’t even remember aesthetics anymore. The site design at the moment seems like it has been around so long, there should be a lot of people that think it’s always been this way. Although there are plenty of features that haven’t always been around that took off, like lists and the staff blog. Look mom, I’m on the Sputnik blog!

The Sputnik community has always been what makes the site though. There have been eras, casts of characters, old timers like us, gimmick accounts, very active accounts that just sort of disappear one day. I think the early days were just a bunch of teenagers goofing off, like me making fun of Avenged Sevenfold as much as I could, to the dreaded MichaelJordan account, to the twice-used ShadowsFallen intro paragraph. Although I’ve been more active in past years than I am now, it seems to me the site has generally cooled off and settled in, in a good way.

Is there anything you’d like to say to the Sputnik community as a whole? Leave us with some parting words of knowledge.

Don’t let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner

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