In a scene where every last person is trying to force their way through a niche by claiming to be the most "anything" (the word "brutal" gets a lot of attention here), the idea of someone aiming to make the most boring music ever seems novel at first. Metaphysical ideas certainly aren't beyond the scope of marketing, nevermind for an underground band ("my music is so existentialist that it's on a format you can't hear"), so why not give the most boring music ever a shot, just to say you've heard it? Maybe it's not that the music is boring, but that it's humbled to the point of being bare from a marketing standpoint. It didn't take long for me to find out that Joan Hacker's work under the name Factoria isn't about being dull to the point of anomaly, rather it's an examination of pretense in music. I can't sit here and describe an irresistible conceptual hook that will compell you to consume and proselytize everything that is Factoria other than that the music is intriguing and beautiful in a seemingly simple way. Joan's voice hovers over a lurching backdrop of clean guitar, unobtrusive percussion and unidentifiable murk, speaking to figures from her past about things we, as listeners, are not privy to. This isn't pop music trying to force you into identifying with it, nor is it obtuse ideas made obtuse for the sake of identity. It's just music.
What was it that made you aspire to go in a creative direction instead of something that’s viewed upon as a more “industrious” career, going back as far as you can remember?
Regarding creative aspirations, I suppose it was, and remains, inherent: the crayon sets and musical instruments I received as a child never went unused. The role of such tools as vehicles of emotional communication became more apparent as I grew older.
As far as choosing a career goes, I only decided to dedicate myself to the arts earlier this year, 2010. It was a cold night in late February, around midnight, clear except for a ring around the nearly full moon when something compelled me to recall my priorities and find that, for now, pursuing the arts is the most enjoyable and expedient way to align my spiritual and material paths.
If you could pick a few people, bands or ideas that made you pursue music, what would they be? What about them inspired you so?
Naturally, coming up in the early 90s, I idolized Axl Rose and Slash and was completely turned on by the idea of being in a position where I got an unlimited supply of drugs and sex, and was worshipped as a god. Who wouldn’t want to be Jim (“Fuckin’!”) Morrison going to weird parties and getting blowjobs in elevators, able to justify erratic behavior simply by writing some drug-induced poetry now and then? Problem was, I was, and still am to an extent, very, very quiet and shy, so it’s taken me some time to find my voice.
My earliest musical memories include listening to “Walking in L.A.” by the Missing Persons and The Police’s Synchronicity album in my Dad’s car, possibly his El Camino. That one could create a sound environment to further characterize lyrics intrigued me. I also loved the strange synthesizer music of television opening sequences, like that of CHiPs. My mom encouraged my participation in school music programs and I played cello, viola, flute and tenor sax. My dad bought me my acoustic guitar (I hadn’t specified electric...!) when I was about 14 and senior year, having been exposed to bands like Einstürzende Neubauten and Kraftwerk through friends, I took an electronic music course and experimented with soundscapes.
I’d say the first band I played in as a teenager, Food, embraced hippie ideals of mind exploration and the desire to heal society through beauty and/or truth. We followed Seattle bands like Sky Cries Mary and Tchkung! who, in their own ways, addressed ideas of beauty, destruction, and community. When I moved to New York for college, I tried to play with some quite talented friends but my self-consciousness got in the way and I decided that I had to do things on my own.
Over the next few years, given my lack of songwriting knowledge and recording resources, I think it was natural to draw inspiration from the like of Hank Williams and Beck’s first album, One Foot in the Grave, which is very low-fi; also, GG Allin’s acoustic prison recordings. Stories of Frank Tovey (Fad Gadget) making sound collages under Daniel Miller’s stairs, or however it went, opened my eyes up to how sequencing and multi-tracking enabled a single person to do many things at once. Living in my own crappy corner of Washington Heights, I started making homemade loops and songs on my newly, and very proudly, acquired 4-track.
In Australia, living with someone who gave me some insight on recording techniques and receiving a multi-tracking program for my computer, I integrated acoustic and synthesized sounds and the first songs for what would become “The Longest Summer” emerged.
How much of your work comes from an external influence and how much is internal? Do you have trouble balancing the two?
It’s both. I speculate that I respond to artists who more or less convey the sublime using the tools and language specific to them. I would like to continue that tradition, using my own language. I think that is the goal and only possibility for an artist: to refine his or her inherently authentic language, which is necessarily shaped by external influences, to communicate the internal experience of the sublime. I wouldn't say trouble, it's just part of the process.
How entwined is your artwork or visual approach with your music?
I approach everything related to Factoria with a lo-fi/lo-tech, homemade mindset. It is in direct response to my non-professional circumstances, but I also happen to like evidence of the human hand in the arts; I find imperfection interesting.
In your live performances, how well do you think your work came across in the setting?
Not very well! I get nervous; and over the course of the handful of Factoria performances, I haven’t yet worked out a good method for mixing and timing the backing tracks and my performance. I think I’ve gotten over some of my stage fright by now, and I’d like to find people to play with, so maybe there’s a future for live Factoria!
You’ve claimed that Factoria was an attempt to make the most boring music ever, and while I don’t find that your music is boring, I am curious as to why you aimed to occupy that particular mantle.
Ahaha well, to be honest, by boring I actually mean... without pretense. Not dramatic. Not seeking attention. It seems that some people want to assert themselves over everything, form a particular identity and iterate it over and over, brand themselves. I just want to let things be themselves.
Maybe also it’s the idea of like a quiet stream, the gentle sound of which might lull you into a thoughtful state.
Whenever I complained of boredom as a teenager, my Dad would reply, “You must be a boring person!” Hahaha I now have the gift of being endlessly occupied by the most seemingly boring things.
Are you moved more by natural settings or by the urban landscape?
My fishbowl is adorned with many nice lights and colors, and sounds echo throughout!
Do you think it’s a coincidence that you cannot spell the word “knowledge” without including an owl?
Aaahahaha well, etymologically, it appears to be a coincidence! It’s hard to say how much owls know. I wonder what sort of conscious or unconscious knowledge is passed down through generations of wild animals. I think animals know suffering so I hope people will avoid harming them and their habitats.
What do you fear the most?
I’m not fond of flying.
Did you have any aspirations when you started making music that have been met at this point?
Well, I was very happy to finally put out my EP, despite its and my flaws and shortcomings.
Of your current body of work, what makes you the most proud?
I will be very happy when the 7” single of my next CD is pressed and out the door because I like the songs a lot and the sound is cleaner.
Factoria "Mind to Wander"
Explore. Listen to more of Joan's work and see some of her photography here: Factoria Muzak.
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