If a Halloween party were a person it might be Ariel Pink. The haunted stuff, the theatricality, the risk of something offensive happening. Ariel Pink is the whole party, but here he is the guy who stands in the hallway with his mask on, eluding any “Who is that?” line of questioning. I do love Halloween, and I would like to know the answer. Who is he?
There is a haunted feeling to your music. Your last album was a dedication to Bobby Jameson. Is it haunted?
It’s called Dedicated to Bobby Jameson. I suppose he did haunt the record. Then again, it’s probably not him but an imposter. Dunno!
Is inspiration a form of possession? Who are you possessed by?
Mystics and Romantics.
How does nostalgia for the past play into your songwriting?
The past is invoked by what is written down, recorded, set in stone. For whosoever the written word, poem, song, film, object, or painting provides a temporary escape from the immediate real world, the nostalgia of the past grows powerful.
Have you ever seen a ghost?
Nope. Just an unidentified flying person.
Does your music have a sense of humour about death?
A sense of death seeps into all I do, including humour.
Do you believe in a higher power?
I believe there are many out there.
If you could have dinner with any person dead or living who would it be?
Augustus Owsley Stanley.
If you could choose to live someone else’s life, whose life would you choose?
[Emanuel] Swedenborg.
What do you think you’d be reincarnated as?
A doorknob.
What do you think happens when we die?
Not sure. I hope it’s closer to dreaming than waking life.
Chatting with Ariel Pink
If a Halloween party were a person it might be Ariel Pink. The haunted stuff, the theatricality, the risk of something offensive happening. Ariel Pink is the whole party, but here he is the guy who stands in the hallway with his mask on, eluding any “Who is that?” line of questioning. I do love Halloween, and I would like to know the answer. Who is he?
There is a haunted feeling to your music. Your last album was a dedication to Bobby Jameson. Is it haunted?
It’s called Dedicated to Bobby Jameson. I suppose he did haunt the record. Then again, it’s probably not him but an imposter. Dunno!
Is inspiration a form of possession? Who are you possessed by?
Mystics and Romantics.
How does nostalgia for the past play into your songwriting?
The past is invoked by what is written down, recorded, set in stone. For whosoever the written word, poem, song, film, object, or painting provides a temporary escape from the immediate real world, the nostalgia of the past grows powerful.
Have you ever seen a ghost?
Nope. Just an unidentified flying person.
Does your music have a sense of humour about death?
A sense of death seeps into all I do, including humour.
Do you believe in a higher power?
I believe there are many out there.
If you could have dinner with any person dead or living who would it be?
Augustus Owsley Stanley.
If you could choose to live someone else’s life, whose life would you choose?
[Emanuel] Swedenborg.
What do you think you’d be reincarnated as?
A doorknob.
What do you think happens when we die?
Not sure. I hope it’s closer to dreaming than waking life.
Special thanks to Matthew Samways