Meet: Commuted

Writing and editing by Kian Gannon, Photograph above by Austin Mendonca Garcia (@post.macabre)

I wanted to jump right in and start at the beginning. When/how did music come into your life in such a prominent way? When did you first start making your own music?

Commuted: I think the biggest thing for me was finding Iron Maiden when I was a little kid. It was like the only thing that was playing in my house for years and years. I used to wear their shirts every single day for years, but I think a turning point for me was that I had a bass guitar teacher who gave me a mixed CD of really obscure, avant-garde jazz stuff. That helped me find more diverse stuff than I would've listened to otherwise, and then from there it just became a process of wanting to find more and more music. In terms of playing music, I started playing the bass when I was 10.

When did you start to fall into the vocal stuff and that whole process?

Commuted: So with Commuted in terms of writing music, it was early 2014. I had just got an audio interface in Ableton and just started writing songs, so it's been a long process of finding my voice and my “language” so to speak. Starting to use Ableton was really the beginning of this project.

At that point were you just messing around in your bedroom making music or did you already have an idea of what the project was going to be?

Commuted: It was more just trying to figure something out. When I was first starting, I was really into shoegaze so it definitely started as a shoegaze project more than anything. It was also kind of like post-punk because at the time I was really into Dead Can Dance, The Chameleons, and stuff like that. It was really me just poking around for a while, and in some ways only until recently, I still feel like I've just been poking around. I’ve been trying something new and getting outside of my comfort zone a lot, but that really started with writing songs and learning to mix more than playing bass or anything.

I don't know what I would label your sound as, and I don't know if it necessarily needs a label. But it's interesting because I could sort of tell there are a lot of influences there and a lot of different sounds coming together. Is that something you think about a lot?

Commuted: Yeah, I definitely struggle when people ask me what kind of music I make for a few reasons. One of them being that of my three full-lengths, they're all completely different. If you wanted to throw a genre on them, the first one is fully like techno dance music, the second one is some weird circus music or something, and the third one is more taking from the foundations of emo music and slowcore. So I think I do try to pull from a particular palette of sounds with each project, but having things different and keeping it fresh for myself is really important. I'm hoping that years and years from now when I have a shit ton of albums, it'll be the type of thing where you can go back and listen to them and it feels like they're all their own very distinct environments and worlds.

I'm sure there are tendencies as well that you find yourself doing and that you enjoy in each record.

Commuted: Yeah, there are definitely some mixing tendencies and tricks that are consistent in terms of the sound. I've kind of just developed them over time, and those aren't things that can be learned in a YouTube video or anything. I think that also kind of serves to make a sound stylistically. That's why I would encourage anyone to mix and produce their own music, especially when they're starting out because understanding that process really changes how you think about songwriting and how you think about communicating through music.

I wanted to jump into the performance art side of stuff. That's something that I’m really curious about and had never seen until Gallery Danse. How did that all come into play? For example, the process of mixing the performance art with your music.

Commuted: So, taking it back to before the performance I did at Gallery Danse, I did that same performance at Insomniac Film Festival a few months before. I think it's kind of always been a part of my live shows, during some of my first shows in 2019 I would dress up as Paddington Bear or as an astronaut and all these other stupid costumes. I think part of starting to do that is related to something I think about a lot where as a performer in this kind of hipster environment there’s a want to be seen as “hot” or “cool”. So sometimes I like doing things that will elicit the opposite reaction of that, so for example dressing up like Paddington Bear and people being like “this guy looks like a total fucking idiot”. “This is not hot, this is not cool”. I kind of take that further and further by doing dances that make me look like a total idiot or offering people a plate of burnt hot dogs, and when they fall on the ground, eating them. I imagine people watching that and being like “that’s fuckin disgusting, that’s not hot, that’s not cool”. That’s one thing that I like doing as an artist because it kind of challenges this standard that I think is a big problem in any art form.

So from my understanding that’s sort of the whole point where you’re challenging those people and their reactions, because if you just went up and did something that’s expected from people it wouldn’t have that long-lasting effect.

Commuted: Yeah, and I also think too often people want to do something extreme but they remain in the back of their head like “I hope everyone thinks I’m cool or really interesting or whatever”. For instance, something I thought a lot about was the ketchup and mustard thing that I did in the original performance at Insomniac Film Fest. The idea of being in a theater, covering yourself in a substance is like very “performance arty”. It’s like very basic, but choosing ketchup and mustard makes it become this thing that almost has like an Adam Sandler comedy vibe to it. So it’s basically creating this performance that is already really pretentious in a way, but doing it in a way that’s also the lowest common denominator. Like anyone could see it and be like “well this guy covered himself in ketchup and mustard, and ate burnt hotdogs off of the floor”, but within the context of wearing this creepy mask and a suit it acts as these two avenues playing with each other. In terms of the audio, I just really enjoy creating big soundscapes so the audio is more just supportive of the performance element.

That’s really interesting, because I enjoyed the performance a lot but I was really confused and lost a lot of the time. With that being said though, I sort of walked away from that thinking about what it all meant. I guess that’s sort of part of the point and the mystery behind it.

Commuted: Yeah and to talk a bit more into the theme of that performance, it’s the exact same theme as the song I just released “The Faker”. Anyways, I would get messages from people, for instance after the Canada tour where they’d be like “I checked out your recorded music and I was disappointed it wasn’t as crazy as your live show”. I remember one time after a show as well, someone asked me if I had bipolar or something, and it kind of started to feel like through these performances that people were starting to get their own idea of who I was as a person. That’s when it gets weird because you’re doing this thing artistically and it’s your own genuine expression, but all of a sudden people use it to create a narrative about you that you have no control over. So thematically that was what the song and performance were about too.

People sort of expect the crazy shit from me now, and that’s what they want. So I like to do it in a way where it’s like, this is what you wanted, but I’m going to do it in a way where it makes you really uncomfortable and you almost wish that you didn’t want it. It’s one of those things where I should just be thankful that people want anything from me, but it’s weird because I’m a pretty chill person. All things considered, Commuted is kind of a character that I play.

That sort of goes for everything though, when you start to get a bit of notoriety people start to think that’s who you really are and it creates this weird disassociated feeling. I think social media really promotes that and sometimes it feels like you have to do certain things on the internet in order to progress your career because of how imperative social media is to it.

That's interesting man. I mean it’s also sort of upsetting in a sense that people can see something and they just decide who you are and they’ve already made up their mind. I feel like you’ve taken it a different way though where you’re incorporating it and fighting it by embracing it.

Commuted: I think for me, I find it more fascinating than upsetting. It’s interesting to see how you’ll behave a certain way and then people have their own idea of you and it changes based on a performance. I also don’t want it to seem as if this is a huge thing I struggle with, but it's something I find really interesting and I want to poke at it and explore that idea.

Definitely. With all that we've talked about, would you say that those things are a part of why performance art is so special? What draws you into it? Was there an original thing that sort of pushed you into this space?

Commuted: One thing that I think is funny is when people ask me after a performance who has inspired me performance-wise, and I can never really come up with names. I hadn't really thought about it before. I just started making music and had to figure out a way to make it interesting. In terms of performance art, I like a lot of different mediums and I was big into theater when I was younger. Overall, I just like exploring different ways that I can communicate as an individual. I think that there are positives and negatives to it, but it feels more direct because there’s not a band or another group, it’s just me making all the decisions. For performance art though, I just kind of started doing it. There was never really one person I looked at and decided to emulate. I do that all the time in my music though, I’m constantly emulating people or ripping them off because I think that’s a big part of writing music.

A lot of the time I get an inclination to do something and so I do it. So far nothing really bad has happened to me from doing that but who knows? Maybe one day someone will deck me in the face because they don’t like how close I am to them or something.

I definitely relate to some of that, more times than not I think jumping into something and not really letting it sit there is a good idea. I wanted to ask you what your plans for the future were, is the performance aspect of it going forward going to continue to be such a major part of your identity?

Commuted: I think it could change in some ways. I'm really interested in making some softer music that's more situated on storytelling and lyricism, something a bit more stripped back. That obviously means that my performance would have to be stripped back too. On the same token though, I would also love to do the Gallery Danse/Insomniac performance but as a whole hour and a half long production. That being said, when I get on stage I enjoy doing weird shit so I imagine it will continue to be a big part of it, but I’m definitely interested in exploring a more toned-down idea. I feel like that probably stems from the fact that since I’ve been performing as Commuted, it’s always been that higher energy stuff. I know that’s not necessarily what people want to see from me, but I’d like to write stories and have that be the focal point for a little while, as opposed to it being “oh my god, what’s he gonna do next?!”.

I've been thinking of doing some acoustic shows or just some different kinds of performances. At the same time though, I’ve been thinking that in the future it’d be cool to book a tour where I only play at art galleries. It would just be like a 45-minute set of the performance art stuff, and I’d have other performance artists for each city. Maybe there are people already doing that, but I haven’t heard of anyone so far so I thought it would be a cool thing to do.

The fun part of all of this is that I can do what I want and I can change my mind, and play around with ideas until something sticks. I’m lucky that I have some kind of small audience too so I know there will be people there to receive it.

It’s exciting to hear all the ideas you have man. I wanted to switch gears a bit and talk about some of the things you’ve been doing super recently. You’re currently touring with Crywank, how has it been so far? I’m sure it’s quite the experience!

Commuted: It’s been going great, it’s a lot of fun but it’s also super weird for me. The biggest goal of mine was to be able to travel and play my music for people, so now that it’s happening it feels crazy. The shows have been really good, the audiences have been great. We were in Wales a few days ago and Jay (Crywank) was sitting by the door, and this guy was walking out and he said to his partner “I bet that guy’s a real dickhead” about me. So it’s funny that there have been some mixed reactions, but generally, people have been really great and really supportive, so it’s been awesome to play for a huge new group of people. We’re going to Ireland shortly and I’m really stoked for that, Dublin is sold out.

What venue? I’ve been there a few times so I’m just curious.

Commuted: It's called the Grand Social, and it looks like a circus tent on the inside, so I’m really excited to play there.

That’s awesome to hear! As we start to wrap up, I wanted to talk a bit about your new song “The Faker”. I’ve been listening to it a lot since it came out and I picked up on a few lyrics and themes that I thought you could speak a little bit about. Only if you’re comfortable with that of course.

The lyric that jumped out to me the most was “I’m just playing a character that depicts my mental health / so when I’m getting drunk and flustered / when I’m covered in ketchup and mustard / you can laugh like it’s a comedy but it’s a fucking cry for help”

Commuted: Yeah for sure. Lyrically it’s about a lot of what we had spoken about earlier. When I started performing the way I’ve been performing, I had a conversation with a friend of mine where I felt like everybody saw me as this very soft and silly person, but I felt like there were more sides to me that people didn’t see. I’ve sometimes struggled with anger and stuff, so when I started performing something that I found exciting was that I was able to throw that part of myself at people and behave in ways they wouldn’t have expected. As I was saying before, that became people’s first impression of me so they had a different idea of who I was, and that also didn’t depict me quite accurately. It became this thing where I didn’t really know what I was even looking for.

In terms of those lyrics and depicting my mental health, one thing is that I have ADHD so a lot of the jumping around in my performances and stuff was a big part of that. Everybody has anger in some shape or form as well, but I think it’s been really healthy for me to have this outlet for it where I can scream and throw stuff. There are definitely some times though when a show has been really intense and the next day I’ll just think about what I just did in front of a group of people, and what they must think of me.

I guess with “The Faker” it’s really just a way to depict this version of myself that I thought was more authentic, but then realizing that’s just a small part of me that has branched out into this other story. It means it’s inauthentic but what does it even mean to be authentic? And am I really just chasing this image of whatever? I think in all walks of life we’re really encouraged to behave as different characters and I find it weird. It’s something I think about a lot and I think social media heightened it to a really crazy extent.

Yeah, definitely. I think it’s really cool that we sort of just did a full loop with the first question being about The Faker in a different way, and now pulling it together with the song. I’m really glad we were able to do this and I appreciate you for giving me some of your time to sit down and chat about your ideas.

Commuted: I’m glad this worked out the way it did. It’s been really cool talking to you and I’m stoked that you want to even ask me this shit. I felt very invisible for a long-time making stuff, so now that I’m in the position to do something like this I’m very open to sharing.

Thanks again bro! Enjoy the rest of the tour.

Commuted: Nice chatting with you! Bye.

Photograph (left) by Andrei Ermolaev-Krottov (@mood.webm)