Orba Squara: Mitch Davis
by Auren Suicide for SuicideGirls (http://suicidegirls.com/)

It’s been a strange trip for Mitch Davis. One day he’s making aggressive noise rock, the next he’s experimenting with kid’s toys and vintage stringed instruments, as a rebellious nod to the over-technologization of modern music. Davis, who released said low-fi tunes under the moniker Orba Squara then found his most palatable success through a television commercial promoting, what else, one of the most arguably wide reaching pieces of technology in recent years – the Apple iPhone.

The Trouble with Flying, is Mitch’s second helping of Orba Squara, and this time he’s returned with a little help from his childhood hero, Billy Squier, best known for his arena rocking skills and 1981 smash and (and all around karaoke favorite) The Stroke.

Auren Suicide: Hi Mitch! This is Lauren from SuicideGirls.

Mitch Davis: I’ve had only good experiences in my interactions with SuicideGirls, so let’s do this!

AS: I just went and read your previous SuicideGirls interview and it’s been less than a year since that one.

MD: Has it? Already?

AS: Usually it takes artists a good three years or so between records. You’re a busy guy.

MD: I never stop working.

AS: I can tell.

MD: It’s what I do for fun. I basically just sit here and I record.

AS: Sure you do it for fun, but you’re one of the lucky ones who can actually do it for a living.

MD: Not a second goes by that I don’t think about how fortunate I am.

AS: So you’re someone that writes every single day.

MD: Pretty much. Sometimes I have to take a little break but essentially, like you said, it’s my hobby and also what I do as a job. There are not many days that go by where I’m not writing or playing. I haven’t burnt myself out yet. I’m still enjoying it.

AS: And producing?

MD: For me it comes down to the fact that the production processes and the recording processes are one big mush that go together. The production part is as much a part of the music itself as is the actual guitar playing or the singing. The production is an instrument that you play, its part of the sound. I know exactly what I want [my songs] sound like, so I do it myself. I’m not saying that I’m the best producer or engineer in the world, but I know what’s right for my music.

AS: Of course, it’s yours.

MD: Yeah! Any deficiencies that I might have in my skills just go towards my sound and that’s part of what gives it its character. The sound includes the mistakes. Mistakes are what give things personality. When everything is perfect there’s nothing interesting about it.

AS: I love that view of mistakes. I wish real life was that way.

MD: There’s no right or wrong way to do anything in any kind of art. It’s all completely subjective. And that is true in whatever art, whether its music or painting or furniture building. What you, as the artist, present as the final product is the perfect version of that final product. You decided to make it, it’s yours. It’s your choice to do something that people say is completely wrong. If I’m recording a song and I hit some horribly wrong note I can decide to say “I like that, I’m leaving it in there.” And that is now the perfect, right version of that song. And anyone who covers that song, they have to play that damn note. And if I’m playing it live I have to recreate that wrong note. I’m the one who gets to define how that song should be. There’s no right or wrong. You do what you like and you hope that other people like it too.

AS: The new album [The Trouble with Flying] definitely sounds a bit different than your first one [sunshyness]. It’s a bit louder, a bit more rock. Bolder, maybe?

MD: The first album came out as a reaction to some of the other things I was doing. The other music was more aggressive and noisier. Not acoustic at all. Not even really vocally oriented. And I was reacting to that stuff. It was at the point where it wasn’t really interesting to me anymore. And I thought, “I can’t get noisier than this. I can’t get louder than this.” So I was like, “let’s just push this in the opposite direction.” Small, light, delicate. I picked up instruments that were lying around and one song turned into two songs which turned into an album. Essentially, an experiment and something very reactionary just really became part of my personality. I lived with that album for a year or so and then I started writing this next album which was not so much of that reactionary thing and the music evolved itself a little bit. I’ve always been of the mindset that I don’t really try to do anything I just sort of do it and it is what it is. I just do what inspires me.

AS: So what inspired you to do a cover of Lady Gaga’s Poker Face?

MD: [Laughs] I was just on the front page of iTunes and I just thought it would be a fun song to do a version of.

AS: Are you a pop music fan?

MD: I’m kind of a fan of everything. I like songs that I like. I don’t really discriminate against genres of music. There are songs I appreciate, like I appreciate that Lady Gaga song but at the same time I’ll listen to, well, the last thing I played on my iPod was [the song] Discipline [by performance artists/industrial musicians] Throbbing Gristle. I like a wide variety of things. Good songs are songs that are good to me. They might be pop songs. Or they might be the opposite of pop songs.

AS: It’s a great song to cover.

MD: If you do a cover it should be different from the original, something unexpected. If I want do a cover in the first place, it’s probably ‘because I liked the original one so why would I want to improve on that? I’m not trying to improve it I’m just trying to do my own take on it.

AS: What does Orba Squara mean?

MD: It doesn’t have an exact meaning. And I didn’t want the name of the project to just be my name. And I also didn’t want a name that could tell you what you were about to hear, you know? For example, Throbbing Gristle. If I called myself Throbbing Gristle, you’d likely know what to expect from my music. And maybe someone would have liked that music but would never give it a chance because of what they think the name might imply. Orba Squara doesn’t tell you what it is. It allows and gives anyone the opportunity to listen to it and decide whether it’s something they like or they don’t like. You get to put the music into whatever pigeonhole you want to put it into, instead of it being pigeonholed already.

AS: Tell me the Billy Squier story. How did you end up working with him?

MD: Billy Squier is my all time favorite artist.

AS: For real for real? You’re not just saying that?

MD: Always! Since I was little. First concert I ever went to was Billy Squier. Even before we met I have interviews where I’m quoted as saying he’s my favorite artist. I have proof!

AS: So, what happened?

MD: As I previously mentioned, a lot of people knew he was my favorite artist. And I’d had the opportunity to meet him, but I never wanted to be “that guy.” Anyway, [I went to a show] and friend of mine said, “I told Billy about you,” and I was super embarrassed. But I met him and told him I was a big fan. And I gave him my album, and that was that. And then a week or so later he sent me an email and told me how much he liked it and said maybe we could do some recording.

AS: You must have been so excited.

MD: Yeah, Tell Me, one of the songs that we worked on, I wrote after I met him that day.

AS: What do they call that? Positive thinking?

MD: I do everything on my albums myself, so it says a lot to have someone else play on my records. I wouldn’t just let anyone be on my record. I kept saying to myself, “if nothing ever happens again…”

AS: [laughs] “…I could die happy”

MD: And that was it. A very high point.

AS: Thanks for talking to SuicideGirls, Mitch. Congrats on the record.

MD: Always a pleasure to talk to SuicideGirls and I’m always happy to contribute anything I can. You’ve been great to me and thank you very much.

AS: Aww!

Orba Squara’s The Trouble with Flying is out now on RES FREq. For more details visit Orba Squara’s MySpace or his official website.

A few months ago Mitch took his very first cross country road trip where he learned why it’s so much more fun driving than flying. Watch his adventures here.

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Orba+Squara%3A+Mitch+Davis/