In Conversation With

I had a conversation with multi-instrumentalist Aaron D.C. Edge of THE LUMBAR ENDEAVOR and a number of other musical projects. We talked about his life with with music, the future of the above mentioned band and living with a chronic disease.

Who is Aaron D.C. Edge? Tell me a little about you, in as many words as you’re comfortable with.
I play different roles, in different life scenarios, to different people.

To one: a brother, to two others: a son, to more: a writer, print designer, musician, vocalist, bicycle rider, trail runner, patient, coworker, lover, friend, foe.

Was music a big part of your life growing up? What is your earliest memory of music?
It always was. My father was in the Navy and on cruise a lot, so my sister and I were raised by our mother. Mom listened to oldies on the radio, and I have fond memories of singing along to upbeat pop hits of the 50s and 60s. When my father was home, classical and bluegrass spun on the turntable. I also remember dancing to swing with my grandmother when she spun wax. My sister was the one who changed my perspective and direction a bit, opening my ears to TALKING HEADS, THE CURE and other waves of sound that came from her bedroom. In my early teens, while visiting my uncle on the Oregon coast, he sat me down for important historic lessons on heavy forefathers like JIMI HENDRIX, BLACK SABBATH and CREAM.

When did you become interested in playing instruments and what did you learn first?
It was in the late 70s that I started picking up my fathers banjo and uncle’s acoustic guitar. By the mid 80s, I had been introduced to punk bands by friends who all needed drummers.

And you decided to be the drummer?
Yes. My parents foolishly promised to match whatever amount of dough I could save from my paper route towards a drum kit. They wanted to instill a strong work ethic, which I can now appreciate. They didn’t know that they would, instead, instill an incredibly unstoppable creative ethic and drive unparalleled by most of my peers. I worked hard that summer, saved money and they kept their promise to donate money towards my CB 700 kit. They regret it, for sure. So much noise over the years and it’s partially their fault, haha.

On your Metal Archives profile there’s a long list of bands and projects, so you’ve obviously been active for a while with bands like BROTHERS OF THE SONIC CLOTH, BIBLE BLACK TYRANT, HAULER, HIMSA, IAMTHETHORN and RAMPRASAD to name a few. When did you realize you wanted to create and release music and what was your first project?
My bedroom was in an A frame attic above our garage, and it became a rehearsal space for my first actual band in the late 80s, SET OF STANDARDS. I had been in other musical endeavors before that, but didn’t have a full drum kit, just bits and pieces of percussive poundables. As I became better as a musician—or, at least very focused—I was a drummer in several groups at a time. Drummers often have the full band gear left at their spot, so I picked up my friend’s bass or guitars to explore and write my own riffs on my own. In my life, from the mid-80s on, I would learn, own and play whatever instrument needed to puzzle piece myself into over 50 bands and projects. While in art school in Richmond, Virginia in 1990, my first band to tour and have vinyl pressed was GRIP, on New Age Records. That was my introduction to the road, louder gear and making long-lasting friendships around the country.

Let’s talk about the band that is the reason why I know about you, THE LUMBAR ENDEAVOR. How did the project start?
I needed a new creative outlet and, since folks had learned about me and my story from LUMBAR with Mike Scheidt and Tad Doyle on Southern Lord Records, I picked up on that project with a new and furiously productive focus.

On August 31st, 2022 you released Revisiting The Darkest Of Days and then you released an EP or full length every last day of the month for 21 months, including a few covers. That’s a quite impressive pace, how did you manage to do that? Was that the goal for the project?
I wouldn’t have released so many songs had I not forced myself to learn the basics of home recording in my makeshift studio. My long-running job as a floor manager at a bike shop came to an end when we closed our location. I had some money saved up, bought some decent monitors, mic and audio interface. Then Covid hit. Because I have had chemotherapy for my multiple sclerosis, my white blood cells have been decimated, making me much more susceptible to common colds and beyond. It became more important to self-isolate, then and still. When my last live band, RAMPRASAD, came to an end, I focussed on writing and recording by myself. I got into a wondrous groove. I couldn’t stop. It got me through some incredibly tough times and still does, with current projects: GENUINE, THE LUMBAR ENDEAVOR, MAN OF MULTNOMAH, LIGHTHAUS etc.

I didn’t know about your MS. Is it under control?
Enough to keep going, yes. This winter yielded new and unexpected symptoms. My anxiety, nerve pain and depression are at an all-time high, if I'm honest here... but, with additional suffering comes angst and art, right? So, as long as I can do it – rather, as long as André and I can do this—we will.

When were you diagnosed? Has music been helping to cope with the disease?
2013. Music, photography, art, cardio and my fiancée Gosia have all played incredible roles in my sanity while fighting the disease. It’s been less about combating my multiple sclerosis, and more about acceptance.

I guess it’s different depending on who you ask, but how is it to live with MS?
I’ll explain it this way:
Imagine that you are setting out on a walk, with no destination in mind. You have only a house key, wallet and cell phone in your pockets. Traveling light. The first mile traversed is carefree. Around the bend, you come apon a brand new, large backpack. With no one around in sight, you assume it has been left with its owner gone. You put it on and continue walking. Along the way, and without knowing why, you pick up each stone in your path and start to fill up the pack. Each stone is larger and heavier than the last. The pack becomes incredibly heavy, you hadn’t noticed until now because each stone wasn’t too heavy on its own. The pack, its weight, has become cumbersome and very uncomfortable. Without knowing why, you keep collecting stones, now 20 pounds each. You had the space in the pack, so you kept filling it with more. It’s a struggle, completely wearing you down, how had you not stopped to consider this?

This has been my life with MS. With each new symptom, disrupted nerve, brain or spine lesion and change in physical/mental function changes me, wears me down. For instance, it took my neurologist to tell me that I walk with a different, off balance and altered gate over the years. I also play guitar differently, adapting to my hand pain. My right shoulder is tucked up higher towards my neck and I squint to view things, as the optic nerve in my left eye has been altered by the disease. Each symptom has caused me to morph over the years. Most of these changes happen without me realizing them, at their onset. I’ve grown used to a lot of my chronic pain, not unlike a dog who loses a leg… they just move on and accept their new life.

Some focus on their pain and it brings them to a complete halt. Some collect pain and change, stuffing them into a backpack, and keep climbing.
For now, I continue as a torchbearer, onward.

It seems like you’re a very creative person. What inspires you and how does your creative processes work, do you have focused sessions or do you just start creating as soon as an idea hit you?
Life is short, time’s running out! Memento Mori and all that.

You mentioned a few other projects, are they active too or is THE LUMBAR ENDEAVOR your main focus?
GENUINE, WOLVES AGAIN, LIGHTHAUS and MAN OF MULTNOMAH are all active.

One of the 22 releases was actually a reimagined SLEEP recording, and it put THE LUMBAR ENDEAVOR on the map in a different way than your original material?
For sure, it was received better than all of the stuff I've done. And that would make sense: I invited longtime friends and heavy-hitting singer George Chamberlin of RITUAL EARTH and musician Aaron Walters of AKIMBO to be part of that project. You bring those guys into the room and the temperature rises quickly! That huge stab at the reimagining of SLEEP's iconic Dopesmoker, separated into separate tracks as it's known, Jerusalem, on Electric Talon Records was a longtime dream of mine.

And, it was released on 4/20.
Haha. How could it not? That project opened my eyes to adding friends into the mix, with their talents greater than my own. And, in all honesty, actually placing THE LUMBAR ENDEAVOR onto airwaves not yet surfed before.

Talking about band line-up, THE LUMBAR ENDEAVOR has mostly been a solo project but you hinted that it’s going to change? Will George Chamberlin and Aaron Walters join the project?
Not as official band members, well, at least I don’t think so. Haha, I guess you never know?! At least as continuing collaborating comrades, yes! We have a few other projects started and we're super excited to share two of those, now in the recording phases, soon. Perhaps, though, a more crucial additional incredibly talented human to add as much visual to counterpart my audio, is the selfless and humble artwork of André Trindade, known as the moniker CVSPE.

Has he done all the cover art?
Indeed. The only art under THE LUMBAR ENDEAVOR's umbrella to not include his visions, are the cover recordings I've done. I saved André's awesome illustrations for the more important of my output. Though, for Dopesmoker/Jerusalem, he did and was so open to delivering it as a faithful rendition to the original. THE QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, CHELSEA WOLFE and A PERFECT CIRCLE (out soon) covers have my simple art designed by me. And, that stuff is kept purposefully simple so that André's illustrations really stand out with the glow they bring. His work gives the project an overall vibe and connectivity and it absolutely needs for overall continuity, since my music therein is so wide in spectrum. There's sludge, rock, d-beat, and quite a bit of more orchestrated pieces too. André’s CVSPE style brings it all together so wonderfully.

That sounds like a perfect collaborative effort.
I can't stress that point enough. Since day one of this huge project, he has poured his heart and talent into each cover. I’m soo very blessed to have him onboard.

How do you and him work with the art? Do you discuss every cover?
Not really, and, curiously, with very little art directing on my part. He has full artistic freedom, choices and style per each release as he sees fit, while using THE LUMBAR ENDEAVOR's consistent color palette: white, gray, black and orange. He will also start contributing to the project in other ways.

How so?
It dawned on me recently that André is as much a part of this project as I am, from day one. So, he will not only continue the impressive illustrations that you've come to know, but also contribute some field recordings, samples, sonic direction, style choices and who knows what else! I am excited to welcome him officially. He needs to be brought out of the shadows, though it's in his nature to hide there, haha. He is more of a brother and family than a collaborator.

Cool. Does that mean there will be even more releases coming down the pipe?
Yes, indeed! But, as far as the release schedule goes, that's going to slow down from a release every month to every three or so months. This gives us a bit more time to create our batch of songs and the art to accompany them with each project we share with the world. I feel like my multiple sclerosis disease has me living on borrowed time, which makes me so overly eager to produce and release my craft. But, André and some other close friends remind me that my writing, recording, and release schedule doesn't need to be so rushed. Perhaps I’ve been removing oxygen from the room for friends and fans by releasing too much, too often?

Doomed And Gloomed hosted a pre-stream of your latest release, Mahātattva. Tell me a little about it.
André and I came up with this description for it:
We are shadows of pure consciousness, the junction of matter and spirit wherefrom the false ego of the living entity is generated. All living entities are differentiated as part and parcel of—and to—nature and matter, broken down into five elements: Earth, Fire, Air, Water, Aether. Together, they are a true collection of qualities that form the building blocks of life.

We'll let folks listen and read the lyrics for their own interpretation of this collection of songs. As a side note, this happens to be André's favorite collection of THE LUMBAR ENDEAVOR tracks and so his new label, Dio Cane, will release it. The physical release isn't on deck yet, just digital for now.

As with all your releases I’ve heard I liked it. Thanks for letting me host the pre-stream.
Just one last question. Do you have a couple of bands, other than your own, that you think deserves more attention?
Right on, here’s a few André and I blasted last week:
ARROGANZ, ETERNAL STORM, FATALIST, NECRØ, SUN OF NOTHING, HEIRESS, OBSCENE, SPECTRAL VOICE, CLAUSTRUM, RANĂ and FERAL FORMS.

Great. Keep up the good work and thank you for this conversation. I look forward to hear your future work with THE LUMBAR ENDEAVOR.
Thanks for the interest, early stream and continued support!

THE LUMBAR ENDEAVOR pages:
https://thelumbarendeavor.bandcamp.com/music
https://www.facebook.com/thelumbarendeavor
https://www.instagram.com/lifeinthetornado/
https://www.instagram.com/cvspe/