Known for releasing tunes that touch heavily on metaphysical themes, Homemade Spaceship is the go-to figure for bass music that makes you think and feel deeply. He is a DJ/producer/multi-instrumentalist who deftly combines the heaviness of metal with the grooviness of electro-soul.
The creator has meticulously crafted both a sonic atmosphere and a persona that embodies a realm beyond our earthly existence. Through his introspective and deeply expressive musical style, the Chicago-bred, Denver-based artist has encouraged deep contemplation about the very essence of the Universe. Shifting the focus to a more grounded perspective, his innovative take on bass music resembles a cosmic journey for the auditory senses.
We got to talk to him about his new EP “Ghost Ride The Spaceship,” an adventure that he decided to embark on alone and that shouts “keep it simple”, as a way of reversing the complexity of life.
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Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the title “Ghost Ride The Spaceship” and how it relates to the themes explored in your album?
So the idea for the album was to conceptualize a story of a wannabe spaceman leaving Earth with no intention of coming home. I played with a few title ideas but none of them seemed catchy or attention-grabbing – one night I believe I was doom scrolling on the Internet and came across one of those videos of people ghost riding their cars (ghost riding is when you leave your car on while its moving and step outside of it, and usually do a lil’ dance or something), and I was like, yeah, holy crap, that’s the reckless vibe I want to put in my album.
Just the idea of heading off into the infinite abyss, and I thought how funny would it be to ghost ride a spaceship? I said the name out loud to myself and I was like yes, that’s the perfect name, it encapsulates adventure, and rowdiness, and is catchy and funny. Enough to get people in the door on this adventure.
Your music often blurs the lines between different electronic music genres. How would you describe the sonic journey you’ve created in this album?
So the idea was to create a fun rowdy time in the beginning and then after the “Interlude” (which in the story represents the moment when the space travelers accidentally slip into a wormhole), it gets pretty and beautiful and more heartfelt, as the travelers no longer have any way home and are marooned in space. I’ve played with so many genres in the past and I do have the urge to keep it simple and direct, but I felt confident in my ability to add my own style to each genre to keep it centric to “Homemade Spaceship”.
I’ve been playing guitar and loads of other instruments my whole life and have had a deep passion for hip-hop production from people like RZA, DJ Premier, Lord Finesse, Pretty Lights, etc, so I felt like I could incorporate anything as long as I stuck true to my artistry and stayed away from being too trendy.
I feel like the sonic journey on this album is one that changes settings a lot, but due to my consistent production methods and musical background, it always feels like it came from me. It’s a fun, funky, and exciting adventure at first, but then becomes a lot prettier.
Artists often use albums to convey a message or tell a story. Is there a particular concept or message that you aimed to communicate through the tracks on this album?
YES, there is a big message behind the album – to put it simply, it’s about encouraging adventure and just seeing where you end up, which is very analogous to my life and a lot of others’ as well. You can make your home anywhere, and you never know what kind of wonderful things you’ll see when you take yourself beyond your own life.
Could you walk us through your creative process for this album? How did you go about selecting sounds, arranging tracks, and creating an overall narrative?
So a big part of my production process is to create a “break,” or piece of music which I can sample and chop up. Using guitars and organs and whatever else I could put together was super important for this project.
I’ve also recently picked up the flute, and incorporating that into the background gave each break a really spacey cool hip-hop feel. I also spent a lot of time outside the songwriting process, creating sounds and basses and textures and stuff to use in songs. So I leaned heavily on my own homemade production library for these songs.
The overall narrative (with each song representing a different piece of the story) was something I used as a creative restriction, to help guide my creativity – the thought process went something like, oh, this song is about meeting a fun debaucherous alien (“Astro Jones”), this song is gonna be about when the travelers exit the wormhole and are experiencing a whole new world (“Elevation”). Using restrictions on my creative process really helps me focus.
Checking on your IG account we saw an interview in which you tell the story of one of your most famous songs ‘Pockets’, and how you build the song just with the sound of objects you had in your pockets at that moment. So, the question is how to keep it simple in terms of music, how to put aside so much musical bombardment and stay aligned with one’s own identity and simplicity.
The answer here for me is to really dive deep into your passions, identify what you love about certain pieces of music you like, and bring those elements to the table. “Pockets” to me is a combination of my love for big heavy riffs, especially from hardcore and metal, and dirty funk.
I used the tools I had at my disposal to create something that came from my heart. I think something I’ve struggled with and other creators struggle with is trying to be trendy and cool. I fight that at all costs – I want to bring something that is unique and from my surroundings, and incorporate the influences that make me feel something. If it makes me feel it will make others feel too.
However, technology is there and it is good to use it. So, were there any specific production techniques or tools that were essential in bringing “Ghost Ride The Spaceship” to life?
Honestly, I can’t think of anything in particular – learning to play the flute was definitely a big one, but that’s not quite a production technique. I do like doing “Mudpies,” which is a production technique where you create 3 minutes or whatever of randomness and chop out the good parts. But this album to me is really a product of my matured songwriting abilities, and my focus on staying simple, direct, and having a message. Production techniques were not a focus – I was just focusing on making good music that makes you feel something by whatever means necessary.
Collaboration can be a powerful tool in music creation. Did you collaborate with any other artists or musicians on this album? If so, how did those collaborations enhance the final product?
No collabs! I really wanted to make an entire album that is 100% from my heart to yours, and I didn’t have the time or energy to get someone else on my vision for the concept behind it. I felt to keep it a 100% true original Homemade Spaceship experience, it had to be 100% from my own soul.
As a seasoned artist, how do you feel your style and approach to music production have evolved since your earlier works? How does “Ghost Ride The Spaceship” fit into this progression?
This is by far the simplest and most direct music I’ve ever made. Being a lifelong musician, I’ve found myself making things too complicated by being too “shreddy” or “complex.”
I wanted this album to be accessible, because everyone wants to go on a space ride, ya know? Nothing too crazy or all over the place. And I found as someone who has been making music since the age of 11, keeping things simple was by far the most difficult challenge I’ve had as a musician in a long time.
If you had to choose a favorite song on this album what would it be?
“Electric Indigo.” I was going through some really difficult times in my life when this song was written (it’s like 3 years old), and I felt like I could never feel good again.
I had a wonderful partner at the time who really showed me it is possible to feel again after going through a bunch of traumatic events, and that there is always a new horizon of light if you travel far enough. She always made the lights in the living room indigo and we discovered this shade called electric indigo that was her favorite. The song makes me feel like I’m seeing light for the first time after a long stint of deep black space, feeling lost forever.
Live performances can add an entirely new dimension to an album’s experience. Do you have any plans to incorporate tracks from “Ghost Ride The Spaceship” into your live sets, and if so, how do you envision those performances?
Oh ya, each set is as much of a journey as the album. I try to execute the same things I accomplished on the album in each live performance, so these songs will definitely play their part in the live shows.
Each show I try to set up a narrative of a traveler going from one planet to another – we leave one area, generally go through some turbulence, and arrive in a whole new world. The narratives behind these shows are highly inspired by a lot of video games I play. I am a huge Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts/Zelda type nerd and I think everyone, no matter who you are, can appreciate the storylines from epic sagas like these.
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