Tracking Telepath

© Tracy Block

Telepath brings the funk to Bear Creek.

After a near-three-month tour run, the dub/downtempo/breakbeat trio known as Telepath delivered a delicious dance party to Bear Creek’s curious crowd on night two. I caught up with Curt Heiny (bass) and Michael Christie (keys) about band appreciation, philanthropy and their love for their work: music. 

How did tonight’s set compare to Bear Creek ‘08?

Michael: There were different energies last year; we played indoors on Thursday night. Tonight, Friday, we got to play in the tent. It was amazing, definitely the first time we’ve played in a full-blown circus tent – actually pretty crazy. We really enjoyed it. 

How does a collective like Telepath find so many worldly influences?

Michael: It took several years of exploring things outside the mainstream, different textures and different instruments that produced big sound. We like to explore and pass the sounds onto other people, and our expressive playing style stems from that. Hopefully, our music is fascinating and something that can catch on and get more exposure. We’re just trying to bring something new sound-wise. A lot of people in the US are anti-Middle Eastern, anti anything non-American. We’re trying to cross some boundaries and open some minds – bring some respect from American ears to other cultures. 

How have other bands impacted your tour model?

Curt: Sound Tribe, The Disco Biscuits and Umphrey’s McGee, they have a lot of respect for us, and they put us in front of their fan base. They’ve played for 10 or 12 or 13 years and that’s huge. We’re at a point now when we’re starting to bring support on the road with us and allow other bands to feel the same thing. And as we get bigger, we’re going to continue to bring other bands on as support and continue to give that back the way other bands gave that to us. They introduced us to markets we’ve never played before and we can now turn around and do the same thing for other bands.  

How has technology recently impacted Telepath and the music-making process?

Curt: It’s been easy to send tracks back and forth since we moved; now we’re in two different locations. I think it affects us in a positive way, we used to be all about rehearsing but now we only get to rehearse the songs like twice before we perform, and then bust ‘em out live. It gets us more excited to play since the audience is hearing it for the first time, and we’re almost hearing it for the first time. It’s been great, because sometimes we go a month without seeing each other and then the chemistry is like ‘Wow, it’s good to have you back again!’

What’s up next for you guys?

Curt: This is the end of two-and-a-half months on tour. We’re off until the NYE run in Charlotte, Savannah and Atlanta. Then, we’re gonna take a little break and then head back out to the West Coast in late January. 

Do you have any new music in the works?

Curt: We’re always working on new material, whether it’s remixes or new tracks, always something in the works. We introduced three new songs on this fall tour and we’re working on two albums right now. One is a remix album and a lot of the songs we are playing live are going to be on the next Telepath album, and its really nice to play them live and gauge the crowd reaction first. 

I’ve heard a lot about your community involvement. Tell me about Telepath’s recent philanthropic work. 

Michael: This summer we worked with Make It Right Foundation along with STS9 at Red Rocks, to help rebuild New Orleans. We also collaborated with Planetwize.com to help raise funds for Foundation Rwanda, where thousands of children have been left behind with no help and no government support whatsoever. We’re also about to release another compilation album; it’s one of those things a bunch of artists do together to try to make a difference. The bigger we grow, the more people we can reach and once you have the power to reach so many people, you can make that much more of a difference across the globe. 

How can you sum up what it’s like to be a musician in 2009?

Curt: All I’ve gotta say is I’m damn glad I’m doing what I love for a living. All of us are playing music and we’re all able to support our families, and ourselves and that’s the bottom line. You can’t be without the fans and you can’t be without the people who come out and support you every night. At the same time, we’re all getting the same amount of joy playing those songs in front of those people. We’re not up there just punching the clock. Once in a while, you will have a bad night and do what u can to get through it, but we all have those days, but today was not one of those days. We’re having as much fun on stage as the people are in the crowd. I’m playing bass and I look out and I see people getting down, I’m feeding off the energy off the audience. They’re gonna get more if they give more. We do have songs where the openness of the song is solely dependent upon the amount of energy we are getting back. If people are getting down, it’ll go longer. A lot of our songs definitely depend on these energies; certain songs have these openings, a place to rock the jam.