Forests of Azure

... A chat about the band's foundational imagery and the importance of Eastern philosophy to the songwriting and the band's cohesion.

Westword: Obviously, the name of your band is a reference to the Doors song "The Wasp (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)," but what is its significance for you beyond that?

Katie Marshall: Music takes you to another place when you listen to it. I also like the idea of community that music creates. But it can be a way of escaping from reality. So Forests of Azure, to me, is a reference to the sky in your mind.

Ed Marshall: I liked it not just because it's from the Doors; A forest of azure. It feels like you're speaking of the sky. I like what Katie said about a "sky in your mind." But I don't literalize it too much in my head. I think it's a beautiful metaphor for going into your mind and going into thoughts and dreams.

Westword: Why are mantras and yoga principles important to the music you make?

KM: Studying mantras is a form of studying sound and music. So often, mantras enter into the songwriting process because I study mantras with yoga.

EM: One of the things I think about yoga that makes sense with this music is that there's clearly a meditation component. With repetitive grooves, there's a hypnotic, meditative quality to it. For me, it always just associatively overlapped and made sense. That's the psychedelic component more than dropping acid or something. We're all past that kind of thing. Back in the '60s, when psychedelia was coming into vogue, Eastern practices and meditation were a big piece of that. For me, yoga goes hand in hand with psychedelia and with the hypnotic thrum of a lot of our music.

Scott Seeber: Whether we consciously practice it or not, we're all trying to be enlightened here and treat our fellow people with respect and honor. It's not exclusive to yoga practice, but it's sort of embodied in that whole idea of "The god that is within me respects the god that is within you."
- Tom Murphy - Westword, Denver, Colorado