EarthBall is a psychedelic improvisational rock band from Nanaimo, British Columbia. Their latest record, Outside Over There, is out now on Upset The Rhythm.
(Photo Credit: Isabel Ford)
EarthBall is a psychedelic improvisational rock band from Nanaimo, British Columbia, featuring Isabel Ford, John Brennan, Jeremy Van Wyck, Liam Murphy, and Kellan Maclaughlin; John “Inzane Johnny” Olson is a musician and visual artist who plays in the Michigan-based noise rock band Wolf Eyes. The new EarthBall record, Outside Over There, is out now on Upset The Rhythm, with liner notes written by John, so to celebrate, he and the band got on a Zoom call over the holidays to chat about it, and much more.
— Annie Fell, Editor-in-chief, Talkhouse Music
John Olson: I guess we can start by confirming a rumor: You guys were gonna be called EarthSquare, but then you got in a fight and it was gonna be EarthTriangle. And then it evolved into EarthBall, but there was a demo of EarthOval…
John Brennan: And Circle, too, was in there.
Isabel Ford: [Laughs.] It’s always been EarthBall.
John Olson: So no EarthSquare?
Jeremy Van Wyck: We didn’t want a limited amount of angles in there. We want unlimited.
John Olson: I mean, EarthTriangle is a pretty cool name.
Isabel: It would make sense if it was just the three of us.
John Olson: Now, EarthTrio is horrible. That sounds like a NPR-style jazz thing… How was tour?
Isabel: It was the shit. It was amazing. Also, can I just say: thank you so much.
John Olson: Thanks for all the weed in Montreal! This is a little embarrassing, but we couldn’t even make a dent in it. We had to leave it at the breakfast buffet outside of Toronto. It was like 18 joints. Someone was stoked.
Jeremy: That’s good. Spread the love. You see that a lot if you’re staying in Amsterdam for a gig. You’ll be like, Oh, I didn’t smoke all this hash, we’re going to the airport, where do I put it that’s a good spot and not rude? And you open the drawer and there’s, like, 15 other little baggies in there. [Laughs.] Like, Oh, I should have looked there first…
John Olson: [Laughs.] We were gonna bury it at a rest stop, but that was kind of weird.
Jeremy: I’ve done it.
John Olson: So did [Christopher] Tipton [who runs EarthBall’s label Upset The Rhythm] do a new record? You did two now.
Jeremy: Three! Two studio and the one live.
John Olson: Which one do you like the best?
Jeremy: Oh, I don’t know. The last one usually. [Laughs.] It’s hard to say… The live one’s pretty good though.
John Olson: Aren’t they technically all live?
Jeremy: Well, yes. They’re calling it a live jazz record versus the non-jazz…
John Olson: So do you guys want to be known as a jazz band?
Jeremy: No. We say rock & roll every time.
John Olson: Does anybody want to be known as a jazz band?
Liam Murphy: Not usually. [Laughs.]
John Brennan: Would you call Wolf Eyes a jazz band?
John Olson: Oh, absolutely not. Whenever I see the word “improvisational,” I split. Which is a little tricky when you’re dealing with EarthBall, because it’s the third word mentioned is always “improvisational.”
Jeremy: Yeah, it comes up all the time now.
John Olson: Do you like that word?
John Brennan: I don’t know.
Liam: I mean, we are improvising.
Jeremy: Yeah, I kind of like the look on people’s faces, because a lot of people assume it’s not. Maybe they didn’t read anything before the gig, or they come and they request a song.
Liam: Or when they’re buying records, they say that we’re bullshitting them when we tell them that it was improvised. They say, “Fuck off. Which songs were you playing? Which record were they on?” That happened a few times over the tour.
John Olson: Do you think if it was made one time, it should be listened to one time?
Jeremy: Ooh…
John Brennan: It self-destructs after you’ve listened to it once.
John Olson: It just spontaneously improvises a way into the atmosphere.
Jeremy: No, but I think that’s why some releases, when you make a tape or CD-R and you do 11 copies and hand paint them, there doesn’t really need to be 300 of it out there.
John Olson: Do you think the fact that you have singing and vocals separates it from the improv warriors?
Jeremy: I mean, there’s lots of people that use their voice as an instrument and improvise.
John Olson: We can’t talk about Can because that’s too obvious… The problem with improv is, it’s like a code for people just wanting to show off. You know?
Jeremy: Yeah, sometimes.
John Olson: Versus, like, a Saturday night rock & roll EarthBall experience, full of blistering sexual energy and confusion and chaos. Ain’t nothing improvised about that. That’s just spontaneous chaos, son.
Isabel: It’s like rave music…
John Olson: You guys started in Victoria, right?
Isabel: No, Nanaimo.
John Olson: Where’s that?
Jeremy: It’s across the water from Vancouver.
John Olson: OK, nowhere near Victoria.
Isabel: Victoria is where you go to have tea… It’s where you go to knit.
John Olson: So it’s like cozyville.
Isabel: Yeah, it’s cozyville. With no venues. Or maybe one or two.
John Olson: So where you guys started was hours from there?
Isabel: Yes.
John Olson: Just the trio?
Jeremy: Yeah. John and I had a thing with another guitar player, and he couldn’t make the gig, so we got Isabel to to jump in, and changed the name.
John Olson: And John was always on drums, right?
Isabel: Yeah. And can I tell you something about John?
John Olson: Yes. And you know he’s listening…
Isabel: John, when he was in high school, was very good at guitar — classical guitar — and he was so good that he won a contest to go to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and play in front of Jimi Hendrix’s dad.
John Brennan: Al Hendrix. And his sister! [Laughs.]
John Olson: Wow. Oh, my god, that’s crazy.
John Brennan: Yeah, there was 10 of us out of 600.
John Olson: No way. Was your guitar all modded out or did you just play it straight?
John Brennan: It was a Charvel. Just like a fucking bright orange Charvel guitar from the ‘90s.
John Olson: That’s crazy. Do you ever drop the sticks mid-jam and be like, “Bro, let’s augment that eighth chord a little better.”
John Brennan: Yeah, I do. I’m always like, “The sharp 9 doesn’t work, guys. Get rid of it.” [Laughs.]
John Olson: I’ve seen many bands argue over a sharp 9…Why are you obsessed with Earth? Do any flat earthers wanna fight y’all?
Jeremy: Not yet.
Isabel: I keep thinking of changing it to EarthFall.
John Olson: That’s like a modern hardcore band or something.
Isabel: But why do we like Earth…?
John Olson: You can’t leave it now.
Jeremy: Do enough drugs, you can take off.
John Olson: But you always come back. That’s the bummer. But why not, like, SaturnBall?
Jeremy: Don’t bring up Saturn.
John Olson: What’s the matter with Saturn?
Isabel: Oh, death and fear and paranoia… We don’t like Saturn.
John Olson: Huh. What about Mercury?
Isabel: We love Mercury!
Jeremy: You gotta chill with Mercury.
Isabel: But the king of our world is Uranus.
John Olson: Besides John, did you all start on what you’re playing right now?
Isabel: Yeah. And John was the first drummer I ever drummed with. And Jeremy too. My first band ever was with these two guys, actually, and it was a Sonic Youth cover band.
Jeremy: For one gig. This wasn’t like something we did — we got asked to do a Halloween thing, and we needed a bass player, so we asked Izzy. She’d never performed before, and, yeah, it went well. Then we got asked to do a second gig. And it was where we played with you, that Fox place in Vancouver.
John Olson: Oh, wow!
John Brennan: So it was like full circle coming back to that gig with you guys… I’m going to say it before I have to go, but something we should consider is, we should do some sort of residency with you guys. It’s kind of a gateway for EarthBall to get into the United States without needing a visa.
John Olson: A residency would be sick.
Isabel: That would be great. We could turn into EarthOctagon.
John Olson: EarthWolf. EarthEyes.
Jeremy: EarthEyes is better.
Isabel: WolfBall.
