9:30am | An exotic blend of North African, Middle Eastern, and Western influences intertwine, weaving tribal and rock sensibilities into a propulsive, minimalist, almost meditative cacophany. With Denise Owens on guitar, and percussionist Kirk Pickler, guitarist Jeremy Morelock leads the headlong charge into the mysterious musical terrain inhabited by the Deglet Noor Fakirs who, along with Swords of Fatima and Rocket Blast Bath, will be performing at the Puka Bar this Friday night.

One of the founding members of the Hop-Frog Kollektiv (of which this writer is a non-voting member), Jeremy has had a personal journey that's taken him across continents, both literally and musically.

Jeremy: I started out listening to movie soundtracks that my dad played all the time, like The Godfather, then the John Williams stuff, and Jerry Goldsmith. I was obsessed with the song Windmills of Your Mind as a little kid. I got exposed to the New Wave stuff while watching Top of the Pops as a kid in Germany in the early 80s.

Sander: You lived in Germany for a while?

Jeremy: Yeah, for 6 years total. Great times.

Sander: How old were you then?

Jeremy: I moved there at 9 years old, and got my ass kicked in soccer by the British and German kids. I'm very thankful, especially since I got unplugged from the American media experience, suddenly. It was a totally different world in Europe back then: No fast food restaurants and all that, which is everywhere now.

Sander: So, you were watching Top of the Pops? That's fairly safe. When did you start getting corrupted?

Jeremy: When I got back to the States you had to listen to whatever hard rock all the other kids were into or you weren't cool. [laughs] I went through a brief period of listening to metal, then went on to punk and post-punk, then to the Industrial thing where I felt very comfortable for a long time.

Sander: When did you decide to start playing?

Jeremy: I started playing guitar in high school, I used sit in my room and play for hours every day. Then, when I discovered effects pedals, it was all over. I discovered that my guitar can sound like anything!! Wow!

Sander: What were you playing? Songs off the radio, or making stuff up, or...?

Jeremy: Oh, I was a parrot in the beginning, learning all the Classic Rock stuff, all the standard stuff. Then, when I discovered The Cure and all that stuff, I still continued mimicking other guitar styles until I finally stopped copying others so much. It wasn't until my mid-twenties that I realized I could come up with my own style.

Sander: By the way, by 'corrupted,' I meant getting exposed to progressive and/or Avant Garde stuff. Were you influenced by any of that stuff?

Jeremy: Well, up until the end of High School here in the US, I only had exposure to the album oriented rock stations, but they played lots of Yes and Zeppelin, and bands like that. It wasn't until way later that I got exposure to King Crimson, and the German Cosmic stuff that I love so much nowadays. I owe Eric and Carl Off [the other two founding members of the Hop-Frog Kollectiv - srw] for getting me into so much more interesting avant garde music.

Through the movie soundtrack stuff I discovered [Mike] Oldfield because of The Exorcist of course, and Philip Glass, which led to the other minimalists like Terry Riley. What I listen to more than anything else, though, in the last 10 years is the Indian Classical and Middle Eastern music.

Sander: Have you studied either seriously?

Jeremy: I've had a small amount of training on the Bağlama saz, a Turkish instrument. I chose that instrument because it had frets, so it wasn't as frightening as the Oud, which has no frets of course, and more strings. If I had the ability one day to learn to play an authentic Eastern instrument besides the saz it would be a toss between the South Indian Carnatic violin or the Rudra veena. The veena, at first listen, sounds very similar to what you hear in old acoustic blues recordings or something more similar to Western music.

What gets me about Indian music the most are the infinite possibilities that they get from bending the notes, but in a very simple set of notes! I don't try to pretend to understand the rhythms completely, but I try!

Sander: And there are hundreds of modal scales, as well.

Jeremy: Right. There is a whole world of mystery there, a Mystical Mystery Tour.

Sander: So, lets talk about this new band. In many ways it is remarkably similar to the previous one, including some of the material. Why a new band now?

Jeremy: [laughs] Well, I felt that once Kirk came into the group, the whole energy changed, and the guitar style is a bit different since I've changed tunings and added a heavier sound. Maybe it sounds similar to the outside listener, fair enough, but for us it's a new experience, especially since we've moved away from electronics a bit, except for the addition of more electronic sounds controlled by the guitar.

The drumming that Kirk brings to the band is very intense. [He uses] odd rhythms, heavy, yet played with brushes, with his snare tuned to sound more like the 4 toms he uses. Just a bit different, but still very rocking!

Sander: Previously, you were often seen hunched over a lap top, right?

Jeremy: Yes, that is correct. I have gone pretty deep into the world of electronic sampling and programming. I'm very comfortable in that world, but now that I'm playing the guitar more I can't control all the computer and mixing board dub stuff as much.

With times being harder for all of us in the group, the heavier guitar sound just kept creeping in and taking over.

Sander: Have you thought about switching to acoustic 12 string, in the hope of rechanneling the energy into a more positive direction?

Jeremy: It will inevitably go in that direction, I'm sure. I've found that I'm not too fond of going to too many extremes. It's like the Swans: They were the heaviest band on earth, and had nowhere to go but toward acoustic guitars. A real balance of dark and light is ideal. That's what I hear in the ragas when I listen to them: Joy and sorrow at the same time.

Sander: One of the things I like about this new configuration is that the musical interplay between you and Denise seems more pronounced.

Jeremy: Thanks. She adds an extremely important element of the female energy, as well as the psychedelic. Almost too many effects. She adds the important drone with the bowed guitar, the fender amp as opposed to my Mesa. We're yin and yang with Kirk in the middle.

Sander: Is there a musical category that you're comfortable with?

Jeremy: That's tough! Raga Rock, maybe. Raga Rock to the Rescue! I want to sound like an army of horsemen riding across the desert to protect everyone from the dark forces within and without, like a scene from Lawrence of Arabia, but with some Philip K. Dick elements.

The show starts at 9 PM, and there is a $5 cover charge. This is a bar, so you must have ID, and nobody under 21 will be admitted. If you value your hearing, bring ear plugs or be prepared to improvise some with tissue.

The Puka Bar is located at 710 West Willow Street, on the South West corner of Maine.

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