The Samara Lubelski Interview
Are you originally from New York? When did you first begin to fall in love with music, more specifically the violin, bass and guitar? Was this something that was relevant around your household growing up? Do you have any siblings? Who were some of your earliest influences in your more formative years?
Yup, born and bred downtown NYC. My dad was an artist and we lived in a raw loft in an industrial zone, but moved in a week after the factory moved out. My folks had me taking violin lessons from an early age. Played various instruments in Jr. high including bass, took guitar lessons, etc. I played in loads of youth orchestras until I dropped out of the big arts high school and went to the drop out kids high school. Folk, classical and international stuff was what my parents were playing on the stereo. I watched my dad overdose on Dylan’s “Desire” when it was released. I was initially a Beatles head as a kid-o and then got my ear glued to the radio from the rock era then the pre-teen onslaught of new wave, punk, synth-pop, etc. I have a younger sister who is a visual artist named Nava Lubelski.
Photo: Lorseau Hinah
Where did you see your first show and what ultimately inspired you to pursue a life in music? You’ve played with numerous, incredible groups over the years such as Of A Mesh, The Sonora Pine and many others. Tell me about some of these outfits and some of your fondest memories while participating with them.
My folks went to a lot of concerts when I was small. I recall waiting in line with my mom for the bathroom at the age four, or something, while the climax of Beethoven’s 9th played in the background. I started dragging my dad uptown to the big rock shows at Madison Square Garden as a pre-teen and hit the various downtown music clubs hard as a teenager in the 80’s. Thats where I met the Of A Mesh crew. Of A Mesh recorded a couple of EPs at Martin Bisi’s studio. A local scene highlight was playing at Danceteria, which was a big deal since I hung hard there as a teeny bopper and well into my later teens. Pacer and MM were intense and short lived (those both went up in flames), as was the Sonora Pine - delicate interplay and extremely heightened awareness - ears cocked on full alert and emotional depth that sat on the surface. I was playing in Hall of Fame and Metabolismus before and after The Sonora Pine. Hall of Fame was a full on collaboration and constantly improvising which later morphed into writing - parallel to the improvising. Metabolismus was a very chaotic outfit, or maybe I just didn’t know what was going on due to the language barrier and drugs. I never knew how those shows would go down, but I recall most of them having that very strong air of electrified euphoria. All of that was enough to hook me for good.
Photo: P Squared
You’ve also worked with some other amazing folks such as JOM, MV and EE and Thurston Moore for the project Chelsea Light Moving. How did you initially meet Thurston, the amazing Keith Wood and prolific drummer extraordinaire John Moloney for this project that was initially inspired by the great Philip Glass?
With Jackie O’Mother Fucker it was just the sitting in on the one North East and Europe tour, so I was never officially a member. I was good friends with Tom Greenwood of JOMF during one of his NYC stints. MV & EE were a continuation of The Tower Recordings. TTR had broken up and I kept playing with Matt “MV” Valentine, but also PG Six who usually played on tracks for the SL song records. I don’t recall first meeting John Moloney, but it was somewhere within all the gigs and scene overlap. I first played with him on a weekend of MV & EE gigs in 2008. Thurston curated an ATP - The Nightmare Before Christmas in 2006. It was a stunner! The Stooges, Gang of Four, Double Leopards, Sun City Girls and loads of other greatness plus the destruction of the Comets on Fire bunkhouse. I was playing bass with MV & EE and probably met Thurston there. I had already met Keith Wood while playing in London (maybe on that same tour). We left him passed out on a pile of garbage behind the back of the venue. Back in NYC, we played an Ecstatic Peace! night. There was something extra heightened about that one. Tim Barnes was playing drums and I recall a heavy lock/one mind brain wave. After the gig I found Thurston sitting in my chair, playing my bass and giving me a cocky look. I got the call to work on his solo record “Trees Outside the Academy” shortly after and “Demolished Thoughts” followed, so Chelsea Light Moving was a somewhat extension of the “Demolished Thoughts” touring band.
The band released its lone masterpiece back in 2013 on Matador. Tell me about writing and recording this album as well as some of the tunes that are featured such as “Burroughs”, “Frank O’Hara Hit”, “Heavenmetal” and “Groovy + Linda”. What was the overall vision and approach for this album as well as your experience working with Pizzoferrato?
I played violin on “Trees Outside The Academy” and “Demolished Thoughts”. There were loads of touring around both. I switched to bass for Chelsea Light Moving. The tunes, as before, were written by Thurston (and possibly with John Moloney for some of them). We toured the tunes straight off the bat just as they were written. I don’t want to speak for Thurston here, but figured the lyrics were a reflection of his current and lifelong turn-ons such as outsiders, poets, underground visionaries, freaks, etc. It was recorded and mixed with Justin Pizzoferrato at his Sonelab studio in Western Mass. He was the assistant on “Trees Outside the Academy” and recorded the first duo record with Bill Nace. Justin’s spot is excellent as he kept things relatively chill and was on it, as always. We were comfortable with the tunes at that point and there was a slight bit of trying things out, along with a general looseness and an off the cuff feel.
I would also like to shed light on your incredible career as a solo artist. Tell me about some of the wonderful records you’ve made such as “Spectacular of Passages”, “Future Slip”, “Wavelength” and your most recent work with Thurston and Bill Nace. You’ve worked on some incredible labels such as Thurston’s, Feeding Tube and De Stijl and many others!
“Spectacular of Passages”, “Future Slip” and “Wavelength” were all recorded in Degenfeld, Germany with the Metabolismus crew at their Sumsilobatem studio. The rare exception was some pre-recording with Steve Shelley in NYC for “Wavelength”. I had been recording the solo records in Degenfeld since The Fleeting Skies. They would leave me alone in the studio and let me endlessly hang and track. I also heavily relied on them for overdubs, tech support, general turn on and deep listening. I usually brought the records back to NYC to be mixed by Nicolas Vernhes at the Rare Book Room studio in Brooklyn. Again, hugely supportive and very patient, Nicolas would also let me hunker down, record myself (and others) and cause general havoc. The trio record with Bill and Thurston was recorded live at The Stone in NYC. Super improvisers are they with no connection lost in between meetings. Yeah, extra cool folks behind all those labels. Feeding Tube and Ultra Eczema (I believe) are still kicking, but DeStijl, Ecstatic Peace! and The Social Registry have passed on. May they continue to kick from beyond.
Photo: Steve Thornton
Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
I’ve been working on a larger, many violins piece for a year (somethings you just gotta get out of your system). I was working on tunes prior, but that won’t be continued until the violin pieces become the reality of the vision. Bill Nace and I are working on a couple of recent recording sessions and are touring California with Marcia Bassett in March. There will be a live duo cd coming out around the same time on Relative Pitch and there were a couple of recent-ish cassette releases with Bentley Anderson and Augenmusik.
