Hello. I’m Benjamin Spizuco. I’m a musician. I make music under the name Hello Whirled, a project that has yielded over 90 albums, EPs, and over stuff. That being said, making an album would not be a challenge to me, nor would take over half a year. My idea was to take myself out of part of the creative process in an attempt to branch out. Hello Whirled is a project about, and made by, me. I write the songs. I play the instruments. I mix the songs. Cool.
The Damp Socks Ensemble is different in that other people would help put the songs together. Whether this is through writing, performing, or mixing would be up to a 1-on-1 discussion between me and the willing participant. Preferably, the writing would be collaborative on all songs, as to differentiate this music from that of Hello Whirled.
In a sense, I’ve already started preparing for this. In January, I started a side project called D.B. Mini Cooper with my twin, Dan, where we make irreverent and bad music that serves no purpose. It’s pure chaos…but it’s something. I’ve also been working on a special Hello Whirled album called Hole Of Infinity, which I’m making with the people I would have performed with live in the spring (Luis from Paper Native and Ornamental, Mistee from Frequency Forge and Honeywild, Danny from Sun Tunnel). I’m still writing all of the songs, but they’re playing bass, drums, and extra guitar respectively.
Anyway, I’m convinced this is a great idea. The only roadblock is that the project wouldn’t follow a traditional R&D cycle, which to me is great but might not be for others. I would likely have to start working on the project outright in October, potentially even September, because different people work at different speeds and while banging out a couple of songs in an afternoon may work for me, others may spend months on one song, and since the aim of the project is to be collaborative, I’m not going to force anyone to work any certain way…besides with me, I suppose.
