Macrofocus The Band
“One thing about being a musician that I've really come to appreciate and own is that it really is an adventure and no two days are the same. Like bouncing from place to place or having these little epiphany moments here and there,” says musician Chris Rorrer of the band Macrofocus.
“I've just learned to really enjoy the process,” he adds. “There was an inkling that I might be moving back to Oregon, after really cutting my teeth down in LA.”
To which the band’s drummer, Kevin Van Walk, responds with the classic quote: “We’re gettin’ the band back together” to describe the Macrofocus reunion.
“One of my absolute favorite musicians to work with,” Rorrer smiles at his bandmate’s exuberance.
The duo have varied musical resumes. Rorrer, along with being the singer, songwriter and guitarist of Macrofocus, has played cello at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Symphony. A favorite performance involved an EDM orchestra – a DJ along with live strings.
Van Walk also does sound design and Rorrer soundtracking.
It all began in the third grade when Van Walk started making mixtapes.
“Herbie Hancock's ‘Headhunters’ was the first album that I remember listening to very explicitly,” he recalls.
“There was this weird little 45-minute time period that I had with the house to myself and I just gathered records up. I remember getting chopsticks out of the kitchen drawers and using those as drumsticks, just to air drum.”
As a teen Van Walk was supposed to be studying snare for class but found himself distracted by the pianos in the practice room.
“I remember plinking on the keys. I remember stomping on the sustain pedals and listening to that resonance. I remember popping the top. I was janking around with the strings and getting all these interesting sounds.”
Later, he says, “I stopped playing for a spell and was able to re-analyze where I was at as a player. I've always been interested in abstract and peripheral approaches to music and art. I'm looking at it from more of an outsider viewpoint.
“Actually, what influences me more on a creative level are the films of Stanley Kubrick. Or looking at the great color field painters, Ad Reinhardt or Mark Rothko, those beautiful works of texture – that's more influential in many ways than music is.”
Van Walk describes his bandmate’s own unique and extensive musical range: “Chris is able to, when he needs to, put on the nice clothes and kick it within the classical environments and then to think that this cat is going to dispense with that, put on a guitar and get a little crazy, that's a great sign of musical artistry.”
Van Walk has long admired great session players able to play with a wide variety of sounds. He was proud that “one week it's a weird experimental jazz thing. The next, it's a singer-songwriter. The next week I’m playing percussion in a funk band.
“But I left not feeling fulfilled. The music was incredible, but it felt like there was a next level that just wasn't achieved.
“Yeah, you need to know what you're doing, but sometimes it's not about the score on the page or the chords on your guitar, the cold hard A plus B equals C of music. Sometimes music is not about the notes. You micro-analyze it down to its pure, analytical, scientific level and it's just sound, ordered sound. But what are you doing with it? What needs to come out in the expression of the moment?”
Rorrer agrees the two have a unique bond.
“I've collaborated with hundreds of people that are wonderful musicians, but don't share that same verve and spiritual honoring of music that Kevin and I share.
“It's not like Kevin and I ever really took a break, we've always been collaborating, experimenting with sound as a malleable source, with interesting textures, elements of classical and jazz adjacent stuff.
“But with Macrofocus – it's got melody, it's got hooks, some comfort food things, like sometimes you come home from a long day and what you want is macaroni and cheese, we get that, or chicken soup.
“We wanna give people something they can really get into and be able to connect with, no matter the mood that they're in.”
At a glance:
Macrofocus
Members:
Chris Rorrer- Vocals, guitar, cello
Keven Van Walk- Drums, percussion
Where to find them online:
www.instagram.com/macrofocusband
Photo from macrofocusband.com
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