"I’d describe Humans Etcetera as a growing patchwork of rock and other genres. Under its umbrella, I walk with my earbuds blasting whatever I’m feeling at the time." —Christopher Henry
That top quote was taken from a recent conversation I had with Christopher Henry about his Humans Etcetera project. The music he creates for the solo endeavor isn't easy to classify, hence the whole topic of genre tags came up while discussing his forthcoming Gift That Came Here EP. "When I was working on this EP, I was constantly listening to Explosions in the Sky's Take Care, Take Care, Take Care album. It left an impression laced with inspiration," said the singer-songwriter.
With Gift That Came Here coming out this Friday, Christopher wanted to share "Always Aging Away," a track from the EP with a unique title. "I came up with this title (as I often do) while blankly staring at the title field on the bounce to disc window in ProTools. Some wild AM hour, cursor blinking in a mixed meter with my eyes, gears in the noggin rotating like a schizophrenic power generator, I take my time searching for a perfect name and eventually settle on what feels like the best I can come up with. And all the while, time is ticking."
Christopher hails from West Virginia but he's currently living in China. I asked him to describe the difference between the music fans he's become friends there from the ones he has back at home in the States. "It’s a little hard to say, because each person I’ve become good friends with out here; They all have pretty wildly different tastes. For example, I have another band here called, Polyphozia, and our drummer is into jazz/funk/classic rock while our bassist is into classical, metalcore, and pop-punk. They’re definitely open minded dudes, and I think a lot people in the age of endless-music-at-your-fingertips are pretty open minded about what to listen to. But I guess, there are more folks here that know who Jay Chou is," laughed Christopher.
The money raised from sales of Gift That Came Here will go towards Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, a non-profit that delivers gifts to children whose parents cannot afford to buy them gifts for Christmas "My hope is that by playing the ukulele, a gift that immigrants brought to Hawaii, it will in-turn help bring more gifts to some less fortunate children this winter. I hope Gift That Came Here might help you on a long and lonely day too. Perhaps you can even vicariously experience what it was like to compose it. I mean, you could do a lot worse with your time.”
Gift That Came Here will hit stores this Friday, Nov. 30. Additionally, Christopher is raffling off the ukulele used on the record; every purchase will count as an entry into the contest, and the winner will be announced on the EP’s release date. You can order your copy directly from Nefarious Industries and Bandcamp.
Tagged: humans etcetera
