d e a d c e o

I had the chance to have tea back in 2002 with Kyle Bruckmann (accordian, Moog) and Kurt Johnson (bass) of the fine rock band Lozenge. Both Kyle and Kurt have played in numerous ensembles in a wide variety of genres but they always come back to the rock that is Lozenge.
-Woody Sullender

Woody:What projects have you been in either together or separately?

Kyle: Well, thereís Lozenge. Thatís first and foremost. I play with Ensemble Noamnesia a lot, occasionally with Olivia Block, and this thing with Ernst Karel called EKG. Its just two analog synths with occasional drones thrown in. We did a trio version with Kurt once. I also did a solo thing over the summer that I am trying to get released that is just multi-tracked oboe and Kurt played a very exquisite note on it. Iím excited about it and really want to get it out.

Kurt: I played in the Flying Luttenbachers for a couple of years and improvised with many different people. I play a lot by myself these days. I stopped improvising for the most part. Kyle and I played a concert that we both liked (laughs) the other night with Tatsu Yakatani whose from New York and I hope we can continue that.

So, why stop improvising? Iím hearing a lot more people saying that these days.

Kurt: I donít exactly know why. It seemed to happen inside of me. It wasnít like a decision that I made. Its just that I got to this point where I was playing like maybe twice a week with all sorts of different people. Gradually, I stopped saying yes and then I got into the Luttenbachers and that was two bands. I was just tired of it. And just getting together with people for one night.and maybe some nice stuff happening, maybe not. It was usually a little mixture of the two but it never seemed very satisfying. But the times I have done it recently with Kyle and Ernst [Karel] and Tatsu [Yakatani] have been really good for me.

Are Lozenge songs composed with sections of improvisation?

Kurt: Its getting hairier.

Kyle: For a long time, it was mostly my fault. Iíd write things and then Lozenge would kind of learn them. The longer we went on, they would do unlearning and mislearning and forgetting and it started getting a hell of a lot more interesting. Lately, weíve ha everybody contributing more but within that, there is always a combination of improvised solos as well as sections where things are programmed to fall apart. And a lot of it is things that are not necessarily improvised but designed in such a way that it is inevitable that we are going to fuck them up. Deliberate self-sabotage has made it a lot more interesting.

Kurt: In the past, we were concentrating too much on getting the songs right and then something happened when we became more experienced playing where we realized that when someone messed up in a performance, it wasnít a bad thing. Everybody would just start going with it. There are times when we are just going through the music and playing really well, the way its supposed to be. And then times, somebody will consciously mess up so it throws the whole band out. Itís nice because we kinda programmed that in.

Kyle: I donít how the audience perceives it but it is absolutely fascinating to us.

Kurt: Itís really fascinating but playing the same songs every night becomes enough.

You played some acoustic shows at the Brick House. Tell me about those.

Kyle: Those were completely improvised. It was a bizarre stage in our development where we were trying to get more and more into these two strains. We figured we could do our rock shows and we could do our improv shows. I canít tell if weíre interested in that anymore.

Kurt: We used to do acoustic improv shows and then electric improv shows and then during some of our rock concerts, between songs, we would have times to improvise but nobody really liked how that turned out so we tried to keep it separate.

Kyle: It worked occasionally.

Kurt: And now weíre not really improvising at all any more.

Kyle: Its kinda sad.

Kurt: because thatís really fun too.

It seems like Lozenge is your main focus. Is this because itís the most interesting music that you make or is it because of the economic advantages (everyone laughs) as well as venue and distribution advantages to doing more rock based music?

Kyle: I actually find it infinitely easier to find improv gigs than it is to get Lozenge gigs. No, Lozenge for me is the bottom line. Weíve got too much history, personally and musically, and it remains interesting. So if I have conflicts playing with orchestras and stuff, Iíll cancel gigs for a Lozenge show that comes up. But, there has never proved to be any economic advantage at all.

There seems to be a lot of musicians around Chicago playing within numerous genres. Like (to Kyle) one night you might play with Ensemble Noamnesia then Ernst [Karel] another night and then Lozenge. What similiarities do you all see between playing something like an orchestra gig versus playing in Lozenge versusÖ

Kurt: At first, I didnít think there was much difference between playing in Lozenge and playing an improv show or even playing in the orchestras. Then, I started playing musicals downtown or doing dance band gigs or playing soul music on the bass guitar. Iím really pretty happy playing it all. Then when Iím here, I pretty much just listen to country music.

What era of country?

Kurt: Well, modern stuff that isnít radio country like Texas musicians and everything before that. I like a lot of seventies pop country and going back to the twenties early recordingsÖ KyleÖ

Kyle: To me, the difference is what Iím wearing and how much I hurt the next morning. Other than that, it all makes perfect sense. Its been a factor since I was in high school, trying to play in hardcore bands while I was a band geek playing with the orchestra. Up through college, I had this very strange separation and protected myself by not acknowledging that there are these two completely separate streams of my musical life going on that really didnít interpenetrate at all. It was like I was being a good boy and practicing for orchestra and yet playing in these punk bands. It really wasnít until I got to grad school in Michigan that I "discovered" improvisation. I had kind of listened to some Evan Parker and Anthony Braxton but it had never crossed my mind that I could play this stuff. Since then, when I got that "genre" if you will, it tied everything together for me.

Another Lozenge interview exists on the FuBarm website where they are asked a bunch of different questions.