


1) As it is very fitting, you are a part of the Kranky family, sharing the stage with phenomenal groups such as Cloudland Canyon, Stars Of The Lid/The Dead Texan, Labradford, Deerhunter, Keith Fullerton Whitman, and many others. What draws me to this label is that it is inundated with so much talent that all seems so related to each other, yet each and every artist creates music and projects itself in an entirely different way. How is it being a part of this label.
I mean i've always loved kranky, since the hey-day of 90's space music or whatever you want to call it. as a younger man i loved and was deeply influenced by jessamine, magnog, tomorrowland, windy & carl, stars of the lid, and labradford. That music like that could exist within or in relation to my DIY/independent/punk understanding of the world of music was a huge inspiration to me. so it's like a dream come true, really, for me to be releasing music with them. i appreciate their careful curation.they actually listen and give sound advice and appreciate and care deeply for every thing they put into the world. its a deep honor to be working with them.
Also, what label mates are you really into?
ALL OF THEM. i'd say maybe look out for the one of the newest projects coming out on kranky JONAS REINHARDT.2) Upon meeting you this year at SXSW, I found out that you are originally from Monterey, CA, a place that I'm very fond of and familiar with. Though the area's beauty, scenery, and climate are unparalleled, there doesn't seem to be much of a music "Scene" there. Did this have anything to do with your move to Portland?
Oh hell yes. it was 1994. i was 18. the grunge explosion from the northwest had just happened. i think i read in, like, maximum rock and roll about an all ages club in portland called The X-ray. people were talking about Reed College as this totally coool place to go to school. all i wanted to do was be in a place where there was a cool DIY/punk/underground music culture. i came up here to go to college at Lewis and Clark, which is sort of removed, out near the edge of town.Portland was a lot different back then. It was more run down, gruff, industrial, dirtier, sloppier, smelled different. it was cheaper. there was way more of a punk/drunk/freaker culture than the sort of internet and indie rock thing we call 'indie culture' these days. it wasn't trying so hard to be so 'inviting' like it might be now. i quite enjoyed it. It has definitely changed in the last 14 years, but i still enjoy it. i have a lot of friends here and together i guess we make our own little world.
but portland is kinda cleaned up now, there are more fancy people here now that have in turn made the place more comfortable for themselves with fancy places that didn't exist 10 or even 5 years ago. i think im a bit sensitive to that sort of thing coming from such a fancy place like Monterey, where pretty much everything past 10 yards from the shore is incredibly fancy and only geared towards dull affluent luxury. it was a turn-off then and it is a turn-off now. its what i moved here to get away from.
but portland is still pretty rad. and as the city has grown so has the music scene, which, ultimately is interesting, even if it means lots more middle of the road indie rock.
3) What do you think of Portland as a whole? How does its surroundings and its music scene influence you?
i guess you could say im pretty deeply ingrained here. i have a lot of friends that make music, art, poetry, run little labels, do cool stuff on a regular basis both locally and beyond and we all sort of support eachother in our various efforts, like a big extended family or something.portland labels:
marriage records
states rights records
jyrk/freedom to spend
supertapes
gnar tapes
cherried out merch
u-sound archive
imp
road cone
etc
music:
valet
rob walmart
adrian orange
white fang
yacht
dirty projectors
jackie o motherfucker
tunnels
acre
brave priest
eternal tapestry
savages
etc etc
poet:
tom blood
streets:
stark
oak
morrison
belmont
MLK
grand
washington
division
se ankeny
businesses:
the shell/jacksons one block south of stark on mlk/grand
my fathers place
the acorn cafe
sheridan fruit co.
exiled records
roadside attraction
burrito cart on 34th and division
red bike cafe up in st johns
venues:
artistery
valentines
holocene
sk8 and rhone
4) You seem to to be given opportunities to play many interesting and non-traditional spaces like the Henry Miller library in Big Sur for instance. Do you prefer to present White Rainow at these places or does it just so happen to work itself out that way?
i really like the idea of music happening outside of that circuit, so i actively seek it out. my music doesn't work so well at regular rock and roll venues.
5) On Prism Of Eternal Now, there is a song entitled "For Terry." Assuming that this is a homage to the minimal composer Terry Riley, What are some other artists and possibly even specific works out there that you'd urge listeners to hear to better understand and appreciate your music.
as far as the history of minimal/space/experimental/
la monte young terry riley steve reich brian eno robert fripp john hassell, ravi shankar, miles davis, alice coltrane, cluster, can, ash ra temple popul vuh, javanese gamelan, various african musics, dub reggae
but also james brown, sly and the family stone, jimi hendrix, pink floyd, the grateful dead, joni mitchell, neil young, keak da sneak, r kelly, lil wayne, stuff on sublime frequencies documenting cool current folk musics of the world and how some things stay raw and really singular and some things mix with western pop music influences and create awesome things....
i dont know, i listen to a lot of different things. i guess i just feel like there is a time and place for all musics in the world. listening to only one type of music seems kinda sad and lonely to me. i think no matter what you listen to the key is knowing that there are all sorts of different styles of music that are all awesome all over the world and there is more stuff to dig into and learn about and listen to all the time, from a variety of sources. i like to let it all wash over me.
6) "Mystic Prism," to me, is a song that completely encompasses all the elements that make White Rainbow a unique entity. Organic and tribal-like percussion, dreamy ambience, psychedelic/progressive influenced guitar, and the use of vocals as more of an instrumental tool. Can you tell us what this song means to you and if you recollect any memories of its creation process?
explorations of groove, funk, spiritual modal jazz and fuzz guitar, and 70s german electronic music. i've always had the idea in my head of the mixture of like, the world's tightest funk group, maybe fela kuti's band or king sunny ade's band, with totally deep ambient float fuzz clouds of sound drifting on top of it. and maybe a few weird fuzz solos. i dunno, could be good, right?
7) "Sky Drips Drifts," your second full-length, seems to have much more of an improvised feeling than Prism. It seems to be much closer to what you do in the live environment. How much differently did you approach and execute the recording of Sky than Prism?
well i guess its just as you say, as it is just a recording of one live improvisation. so like i said above, its a recording of the continuation of the ideas behind compositions like "mystic prism" or "pulses", but shows how that sort of approach had changed and developed up to the point when i recorded it (mid 2007)... and how i do what i do live, which is a newer development. i still make all sorts of different styles of music at home with the aid of the computer and multi tracking and weird proccessing that can't be done live, but for the last year or so i have been delving more into what i can do at one sitting with the various devices i have in my chain of non-computer proccessors (fx pedals, etc)i have about a year and a half's worth of recordings which document my development since SKY DRIPS DRIFTS, but none has been released yet. i have a lot to sift through. i would say the new stuff is a continuation of Sky Drips Drifts, but with a bit of multi-tracking and computer created music as well....
8) You seem to keep yourself busy by delving into a lot of various musical as well as non-musical endeavors outside of White Rainbow. Can you elaborate a bit on the life of Adam Forkner outside of this project?
i live in a nice warehouse space with my 2 cats and Honey Owens who makes music and art as Valet. i hang out a lot with my homies within the Marriage Records/States Rights records extended family and beyond that into all the other cool trippers in town and we get involved in all sorts of crazy projects together, from playing organized sports and/or rock band video game to making weird music to building stuff to going to pizza. sometimes i help my friends with their records, either help record or mix or play an instrument or whatnot.
i feel lucky to have so many amazingly creative friends, and we all emotionally support each other's projects. it seems like many times a month friends from out of town come through, and i enjoy showing new people around portland. so i have a lot of fun here.
sometimes, too, i go on little tours around the country and beyond, but not that often. that is fun too.
9) Yourself, as well as Honey Owens from Valet helped Bradford Cox play some shows as Atlas Sound during the Spring of 2008. How did this friendship come about and what did you think of the whole experience?
10) White Rainbow seems to be a very loop-based project. Do you prefer to have complete control of all the elements of sound or have you considered bringing in others for live performances?
scratch. maybe even a new 'band name'... its a lot of time, effort and commitment to play with others. so ultimately the ease and
freedom of doing things by myself wins out for now. so that's what white rainbow is, i guess: me.
11) Lastly, tell us all a little bit about the Billboard Top 100 White Rainbow Remix Project.
- White Rainbow - "MYSTIC PRISM" From The Album Prism Of Eternal Now
- White Rainbow - "SUN SHADOW DRIFTER" From The Album Sky Drips Drifts
- White Rainbow LIFE LOG



