My name is Clancy Stuller, I’m a journalist for a couple magazines in L.A, I finally got my chance to talk with a member from this new, VERY unique band, that seems to hide from any journalist or any media what so ever. So this is a very exclusive interview with a member from It Is. I had to scramble and beg just to talk with lead man Ben Tillman.
Ben told me to meet him at this dirty old biker bar out in the middle of nowhere somewhere outside of Boise Idaho. The place smelled of cow manure and cigarette smoke. I walk in the front door and through the smoky haze I see a figure in the back corner wave me over. As I pass by the bar two old bikers look me up and down like I was some trespasser here to mess with their old habits. I just kept my head down and continued to the corner. When I reached the table where Ben was sitting, he stood up and greeted me with a huge smile and a firm hand shake. Ben looked a little rugged, wearing torn up jeans and a old dark side of the moon t-shirt, I could barely see his mouth through is big black beard. But I could tell he was happy to see me.
We introduced our selves and sat down, Ben asked if wanted anything to drink. I said sure, I'll take a glass of red wine. Ben looked at me as if I swore in front his grandmother. "This isn't the Napa Valley dude, Ill order you a P.B.R." Ben waved over the old bartender and asked for a Papbst. Bartender looked at me and asked if I would like to try their special homemade Shot called Lube. I looked at Ben then looked back at the bartender and said sure why not. The bartender turned around and started doing his business.
“Well Ben, what is this place, I didn’t picture someone like you coming to a place like this.” I said in a half whisper. “I don’t go to places like this very often anymore. But I knew there wouldn’t be anybody out here that would recognize me. Besides, I kind of wanted to test your street smarts.” He replied with half smile on his face. “I wanted to make sure you could get a taste of little towns in Idaho.” As he’s saying this the bartender brings over a frosty mug of beer and a shot glass filled with what looks like 10w-30 oil in it. I said thanks, but the bartender just stood there and waited for me down the disgusting looking shot. So I went for it and sucked it down. And sure as hell it went down like lube. It tasted like a sugary drop of soap. But what the hell got to try anything once right.
Ben laughed and told me to drink up the beer to wash it down. "You live in L.A all your life?" Ben asked, "Most of it," I replied, "I have traveled quite a bit that past 15 years. I just haven't been to a place with such a small amount of people." I said, looking around the smoke filled bar with a sense of disgust and bewilderment. " By the way, what the fuck was in that shot? " I asked. " I wouldn't know, I've never had the guts to try it." he replied with small smirk. "Well that was fun.” as I chuckle.“Now let's get to business” I stated. “Yeah I'm ready when you are.”Ben replied.

Stuller: We haven’t heard your single yet, you guys haven’t released a album, what are you guys waiting for?

Tillman: Well we work for perfection, we don’t want to release a single or album until we are satisfied with the music and the quality of the recordings. It is disappointing when other musicians just forget about the quality of their music and shit a album out just for the sake of having a album.

Stuller: You guys have many influences in your music, with a very unique style, what made you compile all these different genres of music into one big music sandwich?

Tillman: It’s just who we are. We love rock, we love funk, we love trance, we love to get a little tribal, I guess we just love music. Growing up listening to all our favorite bands on planted a seed in who we are. Now that seed is blossoming into a huge flower spreading it’s pollen over who ever listens to us. Music is what makes us. Everything revolves around the music when it comes to It Is. Music is about listening, the more you play, the more the magic spreads. For me, life is writing and I can do it anywhere. It doesn't matter where I am. I listen. I write. I live. And if you don't live, you have nothing to write about.

Stuller: From what I have heard from your live show’s hear in Boise, you guys have a lot of experimental parts in your music. Where does that come from?

Tillman: Music breathes, it’s a living organism, I like to call it the Universal Language. And when were playing, the different energies that come and go influence everything. It influences our music, the crowd, the type of songs were going to play. That’s why we don’t even write a set list. We just feel the set list as the show goes on. There is some structure to our madness of course, we know when to play our more trancier songs and when to play our more straight rock songs. But we don’t constrict the influences that come and go. Our jams our what make us. Experimentation is essential to our music. It’s what brings our atmosphere. Without it, our creativity would become stale and stagnant. Creativity is like a river it's going to keep flowing whether you like it or not, so it's best to let it be as "It Is".

Stuller: Is that where the band's name derives from?

Tillman: Well yes and no. "It Is" applies to all things. Everything "is", we can't get around it. I try to live my life excepting things as they are, without being attached to a manifestation that isn't. There for when I begin asking " why this" and "why that", I try to say" It just is" ,or "IT IS."

Stuller: You guys are known for disliking interviews why?

Tillman: Sometimes interviewees are almost insulting. Especially when it comes down to video or TV interviews. Pretty often they’ve got such an ego that we sometimes wonder how we fit on the same screen. They’re clowns, goofballs, and they think they’re so funny - full of energy and personality. Do you know what I mean? They’re just full of themselves and they don’t have a clue and they’re not interested in anything else but themselves. They don’t even listen. They got a bunch of questions and you don’t even get the chance to have something that remotely resembles a conversation. I really can’t respect them and if they’d take a minute and realize what they’re doing and how ridiculous they are, they wouldn’t be able to respect themselves,

Edited by user 06 October 2011 08:20:57(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified