They barely look at us at all because they're staring at the projection!
We project the Atari 2600 video onto a big screen ... I hacked Combat... We will probably release a long EP CD-R...
Oscilator: Please tell me something about Tree Wave, how did you and Lauren started to work together?
Tree Wave: Lauren's my girlfriend. A little over a year ago I was working on some music and I asked her to try singing over it, and that's what became May Banners. We were both happy with the results so we've been working together ever since.
Oscilator: Your new EP is out now on observatory, where can we found earlier works?
Tree Wave: We only have two other songs recorded right now. I'm not publicly releasing them yet (saving them for the album).
Oscilator: Would you tell me something about your live shows, about audience reactions?
Tree Wave: We project the Atari 2600 video onto a big screen and we have the printer turned around so the audience can see it running. People often tell me they barely look at us at all because they're staring at the projection the whole time. Some of the projections are complex shifting patterns of colour that move with the song. Others have iconic images. In one of our latest compositions, I hacked Combat (the original Atari 2600 game) and put my music program in the background, then added hooks into the Combat program so that the game is controlled by the music driver.
Oscilator: You are using interesting hardware and custom software, how did you get the idea to modify hardware and to write your own software and when did you start programming?
Tree Wave: I started programming when I was really young, and I was even doing music on the Commodore 64 back then. Something like 8 years ago I started using a lot of video game and computer gear in another band I'm in. Then 2 years ago I started writing more complex music software for the Atari, then the printer, and recently the Commodore 64.
Oscilator: Are you planning any gigs in Europe and when can we expect a full length release?
Tree Wave: We would like to play Europe sometime soon. We're submitting an application to the Prix Ars digital art competition in the music category. If we win, we might be playing Austria in August. We will probably release a long EP CD-R with a video on it in March, maybe April. And I think we'll release a full-length sometime this year.
Oscilator: Would you name some of the artists that you liked or find interesting in the last few years?
Tree Wave: I like Deerhoof a lot. We do a cover of one of their songs. The last 3 Radiohead albums are great. Listen to a Iron & Wine quite a bit. There's an amazing electronic artist (Daniel Romero) from Spain that goes by .tape. I was really happy to hear a new Kevin Shields song on the Lost In Translation soundtrack!
http://www.treewave.com/
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