How would you describe synesthesia and how fundamental do you think it has been to the direction your music has taken?
It’s not a “one size fits all” condition. There are varying degrees of synesthesia infliction. Some people have very mild cases, like color associations to specific numbers or digits. For example - whenever they hear the number 8, they see the color red. My case is definitely on the extreme side of the spectrum, in fact I haven’t read about or met anyone with my level of Synesthesia yet (although I assume they do exist). It’s pretty wild and all-encompassing! I like to call it a separate or second vision that is completely triggered by sound, instead of sight. It’s as if my mind is painting full-color, three-dimensional, moving pictures as I input sound through my ears. If you could see what I hear, you would probably be amazed!
It has been more than fundamental in the direction of my music; it has been the driving force! I don’t read music, I’m not big on music theory, and I don’t really think of music in math terms either. I mentally paint sonically triggered moving pictures and weave them together into musical movies or films. I naturally gravitated to industrial, electronic, or darkwave (or whatever you want to call it) music because of the virtually limitless possibilities of sounds that are available to me. Also, there are no traditional song structure rules in those genres, so I can paint outside of the lines as much as I want to! I feel like electronic music was my destiny from day one and synesthesia led me to it.
What are the themes of your music and why do you feel the need to explore these themes?
The themes that I write about have changed somewhat over the years, but these days I seem to gravitate to the observance of “the humans” and the human condition or dysfunction. I used to be a pretty dysfunctional/don’t give a fuck/self-destructive kind of person on the inside (even if I seemed fine on the outside), so I’m your textbook example of “before and after”. I’ve come a long way in my lifetime and have made so many changes for the better. If I can change and improve myself, then anyone can change, and I truly believe that. My recurring themes are as follows:
1. Facing and embracing the darkness in life and finding the beauty within it.
2. Time is limited, so make the most out of the time that you are given.
3. Own your own bullshit and lies.
4. Humans are the cause of all problems on the planet.
I know those are heavy subjects, but my mind is filled with those thoughts every day. It’s important for me to write about what I feel, or there’s no point in writing at all! Plus, the subjects that I write about need to be discussed and addressed, whether it’s personal or global. I know music is just a form of art and expression, but to me it’s more than that - I feel that it’s my responsibility to create art that’s as deep and pure as the ocean.
What literature or films have inspired your music?
As far as literature goes - I’m also dyslexic, so I’ve never been a “big reader”! I can read well, but it takes me a long time to get through a book and I’m not very patient. However, I am a huge fan of films and shows; I’ll list some of my inspirational ones here: Hardware, Rocky, Twin Peaks, Come True, Risky Business, Jaws, Collateral, Lost Highway, Miami Vice, Coherence, Blade Runner, Vanilla Sky, Eddie and the Cruisers, The Vast of Night, The Thirteenth Floor, Interview with The Vampire, and Natural Born killers. There are many more, but too many to list!
Your music has been used in several movies, so how does that influence the creation of a song, and if it wasn’t directly written for the movie - how did it change in the way you thought the song would originally be perceived?
When I wrote “DARKNESS NEVER LIES”, I had a basic concept that was already taking form in my mind before I was asked to write a song for “AMITYVILLE CULT”. It was about all the lies we tell ourselves and the lies we tell each other. People lie so much, that it’s become an accepted societal commonplace norm (like politics and religion, oh my)! At the end of life there’s nothing but darkness, and in that final darkness we must face all of our lies! There’s nowhere to run or hide from yourself. In the end, “Darkness never lies”! Your lies become your legacy. In the movie, the main character is Stan Defeo, and his life and family story are a complete lie. When he finds out about the lies, he goes into denial and starts lying to himself. In the end, the truth of his life is what does him in. So, it was a good fit, and the song naturally took shape.
When I wrote “CLOSER THAN EVER BEFORE” I had another basic concept that has plagued me for my entire life, and I’ve continued to touch on this subject in many songs. It’s the reality that we are only on this planet for a short time, and every day we are closer to death (than the day before). So, the moral of the story is: Live every day to the fullest because it might be your last! “You’re closer, closer than ever before. Closer, closer to the final closing door”!
In the movie “MALIBU HORROR STORY”, these kids are partying like rockstars and thinking that they will always be young and nothing they do has consequences. This is the basic definition of youth and where the famous saying comes from: “Youth is wasted on the young”. I won’t go into any more details about MHS because it hasn’t been released yet, but let’s just say my song is definitely a great fit for the film!
As a side note - MALIBU HORROR STORY is a great film and I think it will be a hit when it officially releases. The film is currently making its festival circuit run and has already won 47 awards, and it’s not done yet!
How involved are you in the aesthetic and style of the cover art for your music?
I’m heavily involved in every aspect of all my projects, I’m definitely an OCD type when it comes to details. I do have an amazing partner in crime when it comes to my cover art - my lovely wife Tammy! She’s a big part of all my visual media: cover art, website, photography, video effects, and more. We make a great team, and I’m lucky to have her by my side.
What is your creative process when you write new music?
My creative process has always been about harnessing the amazing/insane visuals that my synesthesiaconjures up. This is no small task, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun! I don’t have a set formula or structure on how I write songs, however there are some reoccurring themes. Often, I will start with a particular color of a pad, soundscape, or noise to set the mood and layer in sounds from there. Those songs are usually downtempo. Sometimes I start with a bassline and drum groove color-combo, usually those are more upbeat songs. Sometimes I start with lyrics first and those songs often end up as dark ballads. Those are just some examples, but I will tell you this - my best song writing moments are usually born from “happy accidents” (just as David Lynch said)! When something is unplanned, it’s usually the most natural or genuine - so don’t automatically erase your mistakes, because you never know… They might be paydirt!
With the new challenge of Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss, in what ways did your creative process change?
I think I can sum that up in one word - COMPLETELY! When I went deaf in my right ear, my ability to create music through synesthesia spontaneously combusted and I thought my music writing days were over! Those amazing color-drenched moving musical pictures that were induced by synesthesia, turned into distorted visions that didn’t make sense anymore. It’s like my brain turned into a pinball machine on tilt! I was devastated. It felt like the creative part of my soul died that day! It’s the kind of loss that you never recover from! It’s like Tom Keifer said - “Don't know what you got 'til it's gone”. That song became the literal reality of my life going forward.
With all that being said, you must go through the phases of “grief” and “acceptance”. Those were the phases that proved to be most difficult. I went through a few years without even thinking about creating music or any type of art and those were some of the emptiest years of my life. Then one day I decided to pick myself up and fight my way back to the music. It took me a few years of one failure after another, before I found my current process of music writing. I was forced to learn how to write music again, almost from scratch.
There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t wake up and initially feel depressed about being half deaf. But these are the cards I was dealt, and life goes on either way (with or without me). So, I make a daily choice to get up and fight!
How important has modern technology been in the creation of your music given your hearing challenges and what technologies have really helped with the direction of your new music?
I now have to depend on several visual tools like- visual eq, spectrum analysis, visual mastering, and several other visual tools. I have gone from relying 100% on my ears to relying 50% on my eyes, 30% on my one remaining ear, and 20% on instinct (something like that anyway). I have to trust my previous song writing knowledge and apply it to this strange/new reality. I also have to depend on my producer for mixing and mastering. We sit in the same room to do the mixing and mastering together, so I don’t lose my musical fingerprint on the songs. It’s hard to explain, so I hope that sheds some light on things.
The fact that I was already an electronic musician was the one saving grace of this shitstorm! I was already familiar with making music using modern technology, so it wasn’t such a big leap to learn and use these new tools (new to me at least).
Do you enjoy live performances and if so, what makes them so enjoyable ?
I truly do love live performances; I feel like I was born to perform! I really get off on connecting with a crowd, there’s just something about being the conductor of a unified/connected group of emotions. It’s so powerful and exhilarating in those moments, it’s like a drug I can’t get enough of (powerful stuff)! I always try to approach a live performance as if it were going to be my last; I give it everything I’ve got and leave it all up there on the stage!
But there is also another aspect of live performance that is specifically unique to performing with a group. This drug of choice is all about when performers come together and lock into that groove or vibe together in a performance. It’s as if you all collectively become one perfectly tuned and functioning machine. There are multiple parts to this machine, but they all seem to be effortlessly grooving together. It’s truly an amazing “unconscious-competent” high’. I’ts like everyone is on auto pilot in those moments!
It’s an honor and privilege to perform on stage as an individual, or as a group. I feel lucky to have had several opportunities to get high on both! Hopefully I will be performing again in the near future.
In what direction do you see your music heading and what are some of your hopes for the future?
I’m never satisfied with keeping the “status quo”, each song that I write is a brand-new sonic adventure. I can confidently say that each of my songs can stand on its own, but my music does have its own brand. Often, I’ve been told that you can always tell that it’s an “Eric Oberto” song, but at the same time - each song sounds different or original.
I’m really enjoying my current “Darkwave” direction, and I want to continue to head further down that road. I have a bunch of songs that are about 90% done and each one continues to push in new directions. I really want to push my vocals into directions I haven’t gone before. I also want to go even deeper into using vocoder as my harmonizing vocal tracks. I’ve really been enjoying using vocoder and feel like it’s becoming part of my sonic DNA signature. Finally, I want to work with some outside musicians to see what direction that takes my music, especially with my new hearing-impaired process (that should be interesting). I’ve been doing everything alone (besides recording) and I think it would be fun to have a creative exchange here and there.
What would you say about your music to inspire a novice to listen to it?
My music is a sonic deep dive into the places that most music will never explore. It’s not meant to be listened to in the background. It’s designed to be all encompassing and thought provoking. It’s also meant to challenge the listener to go “all in” and just be in that moment to see where the sonic journey leads them. It’s not required that you completely understand my inspiration for creating these songs, but more important that you find out what they mean to you. Most importantly, turn it up to 11 or wear headphones! One thing is for sure, it will be a mind trip on the dark side…
Links
Webpage : https://ericoberto.com/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/ericoberto.official/
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/eric.oberto/
YouTube : https://youtube.com/c/EricOberto
