Exclusive Interview with AIR-IK

Air-iK (born Erik Dee Fullmer on September 12, 1968) is the Co-Founder and former lead vocalist/guitarist of the Eccentric, Experimental, Gothic Metal band Willow Wisp, which achieved fame on the Los Angeles underground Gothic/Metal scene in the 1990s and early 2000s. As a result of his drink and drug addiction, he quit Willow Wisp in 2006 and descended farther into the abyss of oblivion. In late March of 2011, he awoke in the parking lot of an AM/PM gas station in Van Nuys, California, hungover and wishing he were dead. To that end, he decided to contact his brother in Portland, Oregon, and request assistance. It was a bitter pill to swallow when he asked his younger brother, who used to look up to him while they were growing up, to help his older brother out of a significant predicament. He was in a life-or-death situation. He realized that if he stayed in Los Angeles, he would be dead in less than a week. With the assistance of his brother and family, he entered an outpatient treatment program in Portland, Oregon. Almost nine years later, he is still sober and has resumed composing music.

He was inspired to perform the Blondie classic ‘Call Me’ after hearing it used as the title music for the new Showtime series American Gigolo. He envisioned it being slowed down and a bit darker and opted to record it in that manner. Check out the song and the exclusive interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?

AIR-IK: I was born in Rapid City, South Dakota on an Air Force Base but I grew up in a small town called Atwater, California. In 1984 I co-formed a band in high school with my friends and in 1990 we moved to Hollywood, California to get a record deal and play the club circuit in the famous Sunset Strip! It was wild, fun, dangerous and sometimes surreal times then. We did get signed to an independent label and released our album Delusions of Grandeur (A Gathering OF Heretics) in 1999. We obtained a pretty nice size underground fan base that still has some steam today. We were called Willow Wisp and were a Gothic/Black Metal/ Eccentric Experimental band. There is discussion of making a documentary as well.

2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?

AIR-IK: I never took formal guitar lessons but I did learn from watching people who were more advanced than I was and I’ve had a few show me some licks on the guitar. It’s funny because early on while still a beginner I couldn’t afford guitar lessons at the local music store but my bass player at the time could. So he would take the lessons and then we got together he would teach me what he was taught. So I like to joke that I had second hand guitar lessons ha ha!

3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘AIR-IK’?

AIR-IK: Well as a kid I was really into bands like Kiss, AC/DC, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. But it was seeing my first concert in 1984, Ozzy Osbourne and it was his guitar player Jake E Lee and watching him play and the way he moved on stage that made me want to play guitar! Imagine a 16 year old kid going to a concert and getting so inspired by what he saw he begged his grandma to guy him a guitar. My grandma bought me a guitar but I had to do a lot of chores! Ha ha! You don’t hear about stuff like that happening these days. Later on I picked up many influences that weren’t just ‘metal’ and they are bands that inspired my way of songwriting. The Cure and The London Suede are two of those bands. I’m also a major Iron Maiden fan!

4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?

AIR-IK: My sound varies from Metal to Alternative from time to time. Though I like some Country and Jazz or hip hop and rap, you may not hear me release any music in that style for myself but I can write that way and would use that skill to produce other artists should that opportunity arise. The one thing I hope resonates with the listener is the heart I put into what I do. I have a method to my madness and that is that the melody has to be strong. The arrangement has to flow in a way that it feels good. I’m not interested in writing ‘math’ music. I have knowledge in music theory and I do apply it when needed but for the most part I toss that aside and allow the heart to write the song and the mind to determine if I want to go further with it as far as producing and releasing it. I’m a perfectionist and the curse that comes with that is I can’t just churn out new songs on a daily or weekly basis, yet every time I pick up the guitar a new riff or melody comes out. I even write and hear songs to be written while I’m a sleep. I have a guitar in every room. Even in the bathroom ha ha!

5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as FOLK?

AIR-IK:

Not sure my style is known as Folk but I have been writing a lot of ‘folk’ like music lately but I’ve yet to record it because I’m trying to figure out a way to brand it so that it is different from my Air-Ik and my Deathcryptopia projects. There was a time where I was so engulfed in The Cure and the way Robert Smith approached songwriting that I started to sound too much like him. I had to divorce myself from The Cure for a while ha ha. But I think over all when I write I hear all of my influences come out and I’m not trying to hide it when I hear something that sounds like Iron Maiden, The Cure or London Suede in my music. When I was arranging the ‘Call me’ cover I was full on picturing how The Cure would do it. Or how would The London Suede do it. But a lot of times I just let whatever happen, happen. Even though I use a lot of familiar chord progressions and melodies I’m still being original. My stance has always been “I want to write the kind of music I would buy as a fan”

6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?

AIR-IK:

First and foremost music as an expression. I’m an illustrator as well. I was never good at writing lyrics or storylines. Musically I try to work with outside lyricists but will write my own when it feels right. I have interest in politics and spirituality as well as different cultural and social vehicles but how those things end up in a song of mine, it’s more than likely it’s through the music I write. The melodies. The feel of the song over all. BUT you will never catch me writing a song or using lyrics about “Parting and having a good time rockin’ and rollin’ ha ha. That’s just too shallow!

7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?

AIR-IK:

Well the icing on the cake would be to be able to make enough money in music to live off of. But for me just being 54 years old, surviving addiction to alcohol and drugs and being 11 years sober and still having the passion and excitement to create is all I need really. And if I can share it with people using the tools I didn’t have 20 or 30 years ago then that’s even better. I put what I put out and if people dig it then that is really cool! If they don’t dig it, then that’s ok too. I can handle negative feedback. I’m not afraid to hear the truth. When I seek music reviews I’m not looking for great reviews. I’m for honest ones. When it comes to haters, I love them as well. A hater’s job is to hate you for being good at what you’re doing. So the more haters you have the better you’re doing in life!

8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?

AIR-IK:

A lot of it comes from just picking up my guitar and I fish for small nuggets of frequencies that sound and feel good. Then I build from there. Once I have a good melody or chord progression, I’ll put the guitar down and let it swim around in my head. When I’m arranging a song I try to do it in my head and I try to get it to a point in my head that it’s complete and as if I’m hearing it on the radio or just finished. I can hear music in my head just as loud as if I’m hearing it in headphones or external speakers. I’m sure I’m not alone with this. Working out a vocal melody I hum a bunch of gibberish into a melody over the chords I’m playing and then try to find lyrics to fit. But even with this process it’s never the same routine. A song comes in so many ways. Some take years to complete and others could take less than an hour.

9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?

AIR-IK: My addiction to alcohol and meth from age 17 til age 43. As successful as I was in Los Angeles with Willow Wisp I was also very successful at allowing myself to have way too much fun when it came to partying. Drinking at parties tuned into drinking alone. Then doing speed and cocaine at parties led to smoking meth and getting myself into very dicey situations that should have landed me in prison or dead. I did end up broke and homeless in 2011 and it was that year I decided to get out of L.A. and move here to Portland Oregon and with support from my brother and his family, I was able to turn my life around. I now work as a certified alcohol and drug counselor and do my music on my off time. Life is grand at 11 years sober! I do have a song in the works called Ten Years Sober. It should have been done and released last year but my perfectionist ass has delayed the completion of it ha ha!

10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?

AIR-IK: Overcoming addiction, adopting my cat Tamarind who is my rock, having a great career helping others who struggle with the same thing I struggled with years ago and the fact that I can write and produce music.