Out of California, Moccretro is pushing the boundaries of music with a style all of its own. Creating unconventional creative music is what song writer Greg Downing of Moccretro likes to do most. From experimental to psychedelic, Moccretro will open your ears to the sounds of plastic cup, various boxes, butter knives hitting skateboards, feedback, and hand claps, all mixed with various sound manipulations to create a song. Fizzkicks.com got a chance to learn about Greg Downing's song writing and home recording process. If you are looking for something different check out Moccretro!

FIZZKICKS: You have mentioned most of your music is based on improvisation. How does writing in that type of mode help to bring out the essences of your music?

GREG: Moccretro is primarily based around experimentation, and I see improvisation as a large portion of the experiment. When you are improvising you're taking the chance that it might not turn out the way you wanted it to, and if you mess up you might not be able to recreate the same thing again. Many times the song seems to go in its own direction and the players are just along for the ride, which is a very interesting thing. I really appreciate unstructured music, such as jazz, because it is unpredictable. This unpredictability is also what draws me towards improvisation; the song can go anywhere when you are feeling it out.

FIZZKICKS: When writing music, do you ever utilize other objects that aren't necessarily instruments, but try to find sounds that come out of them to incorporate in your songs?

GREG: When I first started mixing and messing around with songs I was struggling to find some way to put drums onto the songs. I found it difficult to use sample drums since some the songs strayed in and out of tempos. I always thought I could possibly use boxes and other various sounds to make drums, but I was very skeptical of how it would sound. I tried it out and I liked it, so I continued to search for more sounds to add to my music. I am constantly looking for percussion instruments all around me. So far it's been a plastic cup, various boxes, butter knives hitting skateboards, feedback, and hand claps, all mixed with various sound manipulations. Along with incorporating various sounds into the music, I very rarely leave a track without some form of effect on it. I try to stray from the ordinary sounds that people are used to hearing when they listen to music.

FIZZKICKS: What type of new sounds are you searching for in your next recordings?

GREG: I don't have any particular sounds in mind, usually after laying down the initial music tracks I get ideas of sounds that might go well with it. On a song I am mixing right now I have incorporated game boy, washing machine, and water sounds. I am pushing myself to find more and more sounds to incorporate into the music, and am always willing to test new sounds out.

FIZZKICKS: What is your recording process like? Do you prefer analog or digital recording?

GREG: The recording process varies from time to time, but for the most part it starts in my living room. A lot of the songs start off when I am just playing guitar and think of something that could possibly turn into a cool song. I mainly record digitally with adobe audition, so I plug my guitar or bass into the computer and record the bass line or whatever. After the first track is recorded I keep layering, usually with a mixture of vocals, sound drums, other ambient sounds, guitar, and bass. The longest part of the process is finding the right effects and arrangement for each song, which can take several hours sometimes. Many times I can finish a song within a sitting, but it is a very long sitting. Other times, mostly when playing with multiple people, I will record the group at once with a microphone. This way the flow of the jam is uninterrupted. After the jam I will search through recorded material and pick out the sections that are most appealing. Improv is very hit or miss sometimes and a lot has to be cut away to get to the good parts. Other times it flows fluently and other people may not even know the music was improvised.

FIZZKICKS: How Would You Categorize Your Sound?

GREG: The goal of Moccretro is to push the boundaries of music, in a sense to stray from being categorized. The direction of the music is the direction of the moment, and it is constantly changing. The one constant goal of the music is to seek new sounds and instrumentation to broaden the musical spectrum.

FIZZKICKS: Who are some of your musical influences?

GREG: My musical influences as well as the other member's influences are extremely varied. For me I am primarily influenced by '60's psychedelic, jazz, late '70's early '80's punk, electronica, noise, and experimental. I prefer to jam with people who have different tastes than me. Each player's influences come through and intertwine when they play together; creating a new sound. I think multiple influences gives a more dynamic sound to the music, giving it depth and variety.

FIZZKICKS: What type of gear to you use?

GREG: The musical instruments we use are a fender telecaster, fender bass, Spanish acoustic guitar, various boxes, other stuff, and various electronics. For the most part I record on my computer using a computer mic and adobe audition.

FIZZKICKS: You mention most of your band-mates are rotating members, if you could record with any musician today, who would they be and why?

GREG: This is a very difficult question, I am influenced by so many different styles and artists that it would be very hard to narrow it down to one. The one thing I have noticed is that the musical spectrum is changing from traditional instruments (guitar, horns, drums) to synthetic instruments (synthesizers, drum machines). I am pursuing electronic sounds because I think electronic music has broader capabilities due to a broader range of sounds. I would like to record with djs such as DJ Rupture, Feadz, and Mr. Oizo, because in my eyes the future of music is electronic and djs are masters of the electronic aspect of music. Plus a lot of their music is free form which is a large portion of moccretro's music; I think it would be interesting to see what comes out.

To hear Moccretro go to: www.fizzkicks.com/moccretro www.myspace.com/moccretro

Band Members: Greg Downing - Vox, Guitar, Bass, Drums, Sounds, Andrew - Producer, Guitar, Vox (Smooth Talking Mofo) Roger - Guitar