We’re pleased to share with you our interview with Aaron Clift, vocalist and keyboardist of American Progressive Rock band, The Aaron Clift Experiment. In the last 10 years, the band has released 3 acclaimed albums and are releasing their 4th album, “The Age of Misinformation,” on 6 January, 2023.
In this interview, we talk to Aaron about the new album and his musical journey.
Welcome, Aaron! How are you?
Aaron: I’m great. Thanks for having me!
You play Rock with references to Prog and Classical Music, where does your passion for these sounds come from?
Aaron: I’ve been interested in music ever since I can remember. My mom says that one of my first words was “side,” which is the word I used for music when I was a baby. This is because my parents used to play a lot of vinyl records for me and they would have to flip them over to the other side to continue the listening. Some of my earliest memories of music came from this time – stuff from my parents’ collection like The Beatles, The Police, and lots of kid music. My dad also came from a musical background (he played piano, voice, and French horn), so I think that rubbed off on me. When I was 11, I took up viola as my first instrument and joined my school orchestra, so that was my introduction to classical music. In college, I switched to voice and joined the choir and also learned classical art song and opera. At Tufts University, I studied music and learned classical composition. I got into progressive rock when I was a teenager. Back then, I was mostly listening to a lot of the grunge and alternative rock bands that were popular in the mid-90’s like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. I was aware of a few progressive rock bands like Emerson, Lake, and Palmer and Jethro Tull thanks to my dad’s record collection, but I didn’t know that these groups were called progressive rock – I only knew of them as “weird rock bands.” A friend of mine at school who was a huge Pink Floyd fan knew that I liked classical music and rock and recommended that I check out “Dark Side of the Moon.” I listened to the album and was blown away by it. I wanted to hear more music like this, but didn’t know what it was called. I ended up going on All Music Guide’s website to learn more about the music, which back in 1995 was a highly unusual way to learn more about music. I discovered that Pink Floyd was part of progressive rock, a genre that mixes classical and rock music together. Following that discovery, I went out to the music store and got a copy of “Every Boy Deserves Favour” by The Moody Blues, “Images and Words” by Dream Theater, and “Selling England by the Pound” by Genesis. Those albums were my gateway to progressive rock, and I’ve been a huge fan ever since.
Your fourth album “The Age of Misinformation” is due out on 6 January, 2023, how would you describe this work?
Aaron: “The Age of Misinformation” is a conceptual work about the destructive power of lies and the search for truth in the face of overwhelming odds. During the COVID lockdown of 2020 – 2021, my friends, colleagues, and country went through an incredibly challenging time, and I knew that I had to say something about it. “The Age of Misinformation’ is The Aaron Clift Experiment’s document of that era.”
Your album mixes several different genres – how would you describe the music of this new work?
Aaron: The Aaron Clift Experiment has always been a band that likes to mix elements of Classic Rock, Modern Rock, Jazz, and Classical, with a focus on songwriting and musicianship. We’ve kept up a diverse sound with the new album while intensifying and filling out our sound. We have some hard rocking songs, quiet ballads, and multi-layered vocal writing that would make Queen blush! Two songs explore symphonic music with a guest string quartet, and the album’s lead single, “Bet on Zero,” is an epic big band Jazz/Blues Fusion collaboration with 7-piece Austin horn ensemble, Big Wy’s Brass Band.
The songs on “The Age of Misinformation” are elaborate and have very intense lyrics. What themes do the songs on this new album deal with?
Aaron: I was going for a theme of lies vs. truth with the album, so the songs in some way tie into this theme. Some of the songs, such as “The Age of Misinformation” and “L.I.A.R.” deal socio-political issues – how lies tear apart society. “Bet on Zero” and “Dark Secrets” show the problem on a more personal level. The songs on the second half of the album strike a more hopeful tone and seek to answer the question: “how can we move beyond lies to find truth and peace of mind?”
Your music mixes many different genres and styles – how does the creative process of the tracks take place?
Aaron: Inspiration takes a lot of different forms for me, so the process of writing songs varies. Sometimes I’ll have the idea for a song lyric or title first. That happened for me with the title track of the album – I felt like I was living in the age of misinformation, and I thought: “that would be a great concept for a new song.” The music and song lyrics evolved from there. Other times, a particular riff or sonic texture might inspire a new song. “Bet on Zero” began with a bass riff that I had in my head that I was humming along to during a walk I went on. When I went to transcribe the riff, I realized that it was in a very strange time signature and that it sounded kind of “jazzy.” I had always wanted to write a jazz-inspired song, so the song grew organically from there. For songs like “Málaga” and “The Color of Flight,” I was heavily inspired by some new synthesizer sounds that I found in Komplete (the software program on my computer that I used for all my keyboard sounds). “Málaga” began its life from several string patches, while “The Color of Flight” took its direction thanks to an eerie choir effect that I found.
Each track has its own distinctive character, is there a track on this new album to which you are particularly attached?
Aaron: I like different songs on the album for different reasons. Some of them I enjoy a lot for the technical challenge they presented me and the growth that result from that challenge (“Rise”), while others are a lot of fun to perform from a musical standpoint (“Bet on Zero”). I gravitate a lot toward the album’s title track because that was the moment where everything came together for me. I wrote the song in the summer of 2020, against the backdrop of civil unrest going on worldwide. I had written a couple songs for the album prior to them, but the “The Age of Misinformation” helped give me context to how I was feeling and what I wanted to say with The Aaron Clift Experiment’s new music.
You have released several albums, how has your sound evolved over the years?
Aaron: The biggest progression for me as an artist over the years has been gaining a better understanding of my voice – both literally the instrument I use to perform and the statement I want to make as an artist. I think that evolution is reflected in The Aaron Clift Experiment’s albums. When I started the band in 2012, the songwriting and production was good, but over the years, I learned how to expand and refine the style. For example, I used to approach writing keyboard parts with the notion that whatever I played on the album had to be something that I could play live. But, I found that approach limiting because that’s not how I hear music ideas in my head. I come at music from a symphonic perspective (probably from my years of playing classical music), so I’ll often hear a bunch of different parts that could all be played on the keyboard and I want all of them in the song. Why limit myself to what I can play with 2 hands? When I look at how The Aaron Clift Experiment’s sound has evolved over the years, a lot of that evolution came from find creative answers to problems that we had created in our music.
In an ever-changing music market, how do you see the future of your genre?
Aaron: It’s hard to make any solid predictions of the future of progressive rock, but I can say that the main thing I’d like to see is for the genre to continue to be inclusive and open to change. Progressive rock started off with musicians who brought fresh, innovative ideas of combining rock and classical music, and as long as the spirit of pushing boundaries remains, I think the genre will have plenty to say for years to come.
Yours is a very interesting album full of ideas, do you already have plans for future releases?
Aaron: I like for albums to grow organically, so I try to approach songwriting with an open mind and see where things go from there. I have lots of musical ideas that I’m working on at the moment, but nothing specific planned yet for a future release.
The music market has changed a lot in recent years, how difficult is it to establish yourself with a more sophisticated music genre like yours?
Aaron: From a marketing perspective, I’d say that every genre of music poses the same question and same challenge to solve it. As far as progressive rock goes specifically, I think what fans really want is authenticity in the sound, and that may be the hardest part to nail down as an artist in the genre.
What advice would you give to a young band approaching the modern music scene with Progressive Rock sounds?
Aaron: Find someone in your career who has achieved the kind of success that you’re looking to achieve
and talk to them about how they got to where they are. I think this is import for 2 reasons: 1) you’ll learn a lot about what it takes to become successful and 2) you’ll hopefully find some inspiration and ideas that you can take for your own journey.
I would like to thank Aaron Clift Experiment for the pleasant interview and wish them all the best for the continuation of their musical career.
