INTERVIEW with Kevin Hufnagel [KH] and Clayton Ingerson [CI] for Stargazer webzine conducted by Lorenzo Capellini

1) First of all, how did Dysrhythmia come together? I understand you've
been active for a little more than an year. How did the members catch up?
KH: Clayton and I have known each other since high school and used to have a project called grey
division blue back in the mid 90's. After that project ended, we stopped playing music together for
a few years. I became interested in starting up another instrumental project that would be heavier
and more "progressive" and diverse. One evening I showed Clayton a piece of music I was working
on and it just kind of went from there. It took us about 6 months to find our drummer Jeff, who we
met through a mutual friend.

2) "Contradiction" is your first release; when were the songs written and
recorded?
KH: Five of the eight songs were written before Jeff was in the band. He had a lot of material to
learn and work with when he joined. The other three songs: "Side Walk", "Yes, it's kind of an
oxymoron", and "Earthquake" were written after he joined, and were more of a band effort.
"Contradiction" was recorded and mixed in four days in January of 2000 at a friend's basement
studio.

3) The CD is a completely independent release: was it a deliberate choice,
or you just couldn't find any label willing to back your work? What
response did you have from the record?
KH: We didn't submit our material to any labels prior to recording "Contradiction", so it was a
deliberate choice. The response to the record has been mixed. It has received some very
supportive/positive reviews and some very critical ones as well. People either love it or hate it,
which is fine with me. Being that we are a band that doesn't care to try and fit into any particular
mold, people can have a problem with that. The production is very live and raw; that turns some
people off too. But I think it works for us.

4) Judging from the music of Dysrythimia, you seem to take inspiration from
quite a lot of influences. What kind of musical background do Dysrhythmia's
members have?
CI:  I'm really into all the early SST and Alternative Tentacles bands and other music from that time
period.  More favorites:  Blind Idiot God.  Magma.  The Stooges, the original Black Sabbath.  D.C.
bands like Hoover, Bad Brains, Regulatorwatts, Minor Threat, Fugazi.  Voivod.  Sonic Youth.  The
Swans/Neurosis axis.  Newer bands like Cave-In, Turing Machine,  lowercase, Okara,  the
Fucking Champs.  I like modern composers, especially those from eastern Europe, and
avant-garde/free improvisation/experimental music.  John Coltrane.  Some ambient/meditative
music.  Lots of different things.
KH: I think I've always had an open mind about music, even from a young age. I've studied
classical and jazz guitar, as well as played in metal bands to folk bands. My musical tastes just keep
expanding. Lately, I've been developing an interest in surf rock, dub music and early 90's death
metal. I'm a total music geek, the only thing I buy are CD's and food.

5) Why choosing to do an all-instrumental project? Do you think that
getting a vocalist in a band would limit your music to the typical "song"
format?
CI:  I don't see having a vocalist in a band as being a limiting thing any more than any other
instrument would be.  What matters more is what you choose to do with that element and how it
works within the whole band.  Vocals can be a very intense and powerful part of music.  But they
are not an essential element to making good music.  We decided not long before our drummer Jeff
joined the band that we would challenge ourselves to focus on the possibilities of working as an
instrumental trio.  And because we have worked only in that format, we are getting closer to
discovering our own sound.  I think we've gradually improved a lot as a band--the material we've
written since 'Contradiction' was recorded is more focused and intense.  Our live performances are
stronger and more consistent than they used to be.

6) What part of your musical interests are you trying to channel through
Dysrhythmia's music?
CI:  I want the music to be both visceral and cerebral.  I want the music to be interesting but I also
want it to convey some kind of feeling to an audience.  Dysrhythmia is a live band--the music has to
have real live energy and intensity for it to be a meaningful experience for me.

7) The songs have quite a lot of variation; I'd like to know a bit about
the band's songwriting process: do you compose music focusing on one
particular concept or idea, or do you just work with spontaneous jams and
so on?
CI:  All three of us have distinctly different (even conflicting) personalities and tastes in music.  I
think this has a lot to do with where our inspiration comes from.  We clash, but we mesh, and that's
how we get results.  It's very hard sometimes.  We might work on a song for months before feeling
that it's completed, that it's ready to play live.  And it will continue to change and get better as we
continue to play it and experiment with it.  Some of the best moments, though, are the moments of
sudden inspiration; the spontaneous accidents that happen just by playing together without too much
forethought.  On a good day, you can write a song in just a few minutes.  If it's really good, it'll
almost write itself.

8) The problem with instrumental music is that it often turns into mindless
soloing and blatant exhibitionism. I think that Dysrhythmia luckily avoids
that trap: it's challenging music, but it always keeps the listener's
attention. Are you consciously trying to achive this goal?
KH: Thanks for the compliment. I have no desire to use our music as vehicle to show off my soloing
chops. That's not what it's about for us and it's not how we write.
CI:  Yes.  I have no desire to pander to music elitists and armchair intellectuals.

9) What about all those strange song titles?
CI:  I always like thinking about the song titles of instrumental bands while I'm listening.  Without
any lyrical reference, you have to imagine how the title connects with the music and how the band
thought of the title.  I'm a nerd, so I like that.  With our own titles, we usually find the title after the
music is completed.  Sometimes there's strong imagery in mind when we're writing the music, and
the title comes from that imagery.  Sometimes, if we can't agree on a title, we might combine two
different ones into another.  Then, as we continue to play the song, over time the music seems to
grow into the meaning of the title and they kind of reinforce each other.  I really like titles.

10) From what I read on your website, you seem to be gigging quite a lot.
Is there a good music scene in Philadelphia?
CI:  One of the most frustrating things for me is that the biggest all-ages d.i.y. independent space in
town (booking up to three shows a week with national acts) is in the habit of refusing to include a lot
of local bands, especially the more adventurous/unusual bands, on their shows.  The good local
bands have to be content with setting up basement shows and finagling their way into the 21+ rock
clubs.  Those rock clubs can be pretty cool, but sometimes it almost seems easier to book good
shows anywhere outside of Philadelphia rather than right here.  It's a strange town that way, I think.

11) What about Dysrhythmia's future plans?
CI:  We are planning to record another full-length cd this fall/winter.  I am really excited about it
because, if all goes well, it will be a much stronger album than 'Contradiction' and a better
representation of Dysrhythmia for all you mad music lovers.  We may have a couple friends playing
trumpet and reeds on a song or two--that's a project we are going to start on in the next week or
two.  We are also probably going to go on one or two short tours early next year.  The nine-day
tour we just completed was very successful and we had a great time.

12) Finally, close the interview as you wish.
CI:  Thanks very much for the interview.
KH: Cheers Lorenzo