In Support of Living

Performing is the ambient quintet In Support Of Living. Formed in the fall of 2002, the five-person collective is fronted by Brad Ketchen (Hollowphonic) who plays keyboards, guitar and bass.

Music like This Song Won't Save You, Soundscore To Film Painting #5 and Run With The Hunted are beautifully written, strictly instrumental tracks. The band delicately blends non-traditional instruments such as the flute or bell with the computer to make some haunting music.

The band, who hail from the Junction area of Toronto, is rounded out by flutist Rozalind MacPhail, guitarist Alphonso Fragilo, percussionist Niamh Nishe as well as bassist and guitarist Calvin Hager.

Visit www.pharmasound.com/insupportofliving.html for more information.

CHRIS CLAY
Jul 15, 2005



- THE MISSISSAUGA NEWS

In Support of Living, three words: The New Hotness. If these guys don’t blow up, like Arcade Fire, within a year I’ll personally make them cupcakes with their names in frosting. Not that my cupcakes are better than a million dollars, but still, it’s the thought that counts. Despite the bass over powering the vocals at one point I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by their sound. Dreamy landscapes, Moog distortion, and sweet not sickly sweet, just Splenda sweet vocals.

- Toronto Indie.com

Saturday is a night for rocking and rolling; In Support of Living wasn’t so much for the rocking, but perhaps the sensation of getting lost in the K hole rolling. Lead vocalist Ursula added a dreamy quality above the layered guitars and keyboard. ISOL sounded like the now defunct Winter Equinox, with easy ambient sounds and haunting soft vocals.

If the group looked a bit grumpy I attributed it to the hideous sound production. The sound guy should have been taken out back and given a firm shake. Though the band pushed to over come the technical difficulties of low monitors, Ursula’s mike not being turned high enough and the keyboard barely being heard, they gave a true troopers performance and the crowd rewarded them with loud applause.

Kudos went to new addition Ben Deschampes who had only rehearsed with the band five days prior who played: flute, saxophone and violin effortlessly. ISOL has great potential to grow out of the “poor man’s Broken Social Scene” according to member Alphonse Lanza.

Set list: “Life Sex Death”, “Bipolar Bear”, “CM5”, “High String”, “Death of a Friend”, “Hope is a Four Letter Word”, “Raining Satellite”, and “This Song Won’t Save Your Life”.

- Toronto Indie.com

In Support of Living is a collective headed by Toronto space-rocker Brad Ketchen of Hollowphonic. ISOL will be performing live scores to Portland, Oregon experimental filmmaker Rob Tyler, who has previously done videos for The Microphones and Wendy and Carl. Wesley J Ramos electronically discussed the melding of music and film with Brad and Rob.

How did you guys meet and what was the genesis of the melding of the film painting project and the band participating? BRAD KETCHEN: Joachim Toelke (formerly of Southpacific) told me about Rob and his work. ROB TYLER: I was/am working on a series of short films about inanimate objects called Novice Robots (i.e. blenders, electric can openers, washing machines, etc.) and I originally contacted Joachim to see if he would be interested in recording a song for an oscillating fan movie. He was busy or out of the country at the time and he referred me to Brad. We swapped each other’s videos and CDs through the mail. I took a liking to the In Support Of Living recordings he had sent. I asked him to compose some music for my film paintings and he has since recorded two songs for the film painting. BK: It was perfect timing because Hollowphonic’s was on a down low and this project is a perfect fit with my interest in sound design and score work. With the industry in a slump, I could satisfy my interest in working with sound for film and combine it with my musical interests and it keeps James and I generally inspired and motivated to create.

Can you briefly describe your work and how the art and the music inspire each other? BK: In Support of Living was formed with idea of a collective of musicians and artists to combine a mixed media format as well as an arrangement where James and I could do mixes on our separate workstations and not always be dependent on a live band format. At it’s most stripped down, it’s me and James Gray in a more electronic set. In a full band scenario we are joined with live drums, percussion, flute, stringed instruments and so forth. RT: I have been painting colour and drawing shapes and scratches on Super-8 and 16mm film for – off and on – five years now. When projected, the film creates swirling images of colours and shapes, very soothing and mellow. This is very tedious work, very time consuming and often very frustrating. When I got the ISOL demos in the mail, I would lay on my floor for hours and just paint and draw on film while listening to them on repeat. Many of the paintings that I am proud of were created this way. I guess it’s just natural for the two – ISOL and the film paintings – to go together. Like peanut butter and jelly I guess. BK: The colours and the movement of Rob’s film’s definitely inspire the musical piece from the first time I sit down to view the films, so inspiring in fact that normally a musical idea comes to me instantly and the track is created in a night.

Tell us about the pending music video for the band and perhaps your upcoming projects we should know about. BK: Basically, Rob shipped me some rolls of Super-8 and we went up north to an open field and shot ourselves doing different things, including playing table hockey. I believe Rob plans to cut out our likenesses and glue them to 16mm film. RT: When the film is developed, I am going to cut out each frame individually and glue and tape the small Super-8 frames onto to clear 16mm film leader (leader is the stuff people put on the beginning of films so that a film can be loaded into a projector). It should create a soothing shutter effect that should work well with ISOL’s music. As far as new projects in the works, my short film Blender: Rotation Test 1-3 is screening in a few film festivals this spring and summer, and my short movie A Closer Look At Parking Lots is touring around to architecture schools in the U.S., part of an abstract show called “Up In Smoke” put on by Microcinema International. BK: My next assignment, I believe is to create a track around the oscillating fans. I promise


BY WESLEY J RAMOS - Wavelength Toronto May 2004

Brad Ketchen, we’ve never met. I’m sitting here at my terminal listening to “Porta Mento” and wondering what’s going on. I’m sure most people aren’t as ignorant as I am, but supposing they are, what would would you tell the people about yourself and your projects? Who is In Support of Living?

In Support of Living is a new project featuring myself (I also have a band called Hollowphonic), Nathan Athay (a Hollowphonic alumnus) and our friend James (James and Nathan both played together off and on in a band called Watercolour). Nathan and I played briefly with Joachim Toelke (Southpacific) in a band called Summerside and we just met and jammed with a flute player from Ottawa named Rozalind. We plan to expand the group to as many hands as possible.

The song “Porta Mento” makes me think both of floating and scraping at the same time. This sonic battle works very well with the strong melodic elements. Is this a conciously constructed contradiction or a more innocent sublimation?

It’s basically one of the first songs I put together with the computer and a Casio keyboard. It kinda grew from there. I think personally when I put together a song it always has that positive-vs.-negative, melodic-vs.-brooding kind of feel. I don’t like music when it is too one-dimensional. However, I don’t really think when I’m creating music, it just flows-- usually the first thing I do is the last. So I think it is unconsciously created, but always seems to make sense when it’s done.

What does your label Pharmasound recommend for its audience before an In Support of Living show? I mean, is the Pharma a cause or a cure?

I think it is up to the individual to decide how they want to feel the music we create, which tends to have a moody, widescreen type of feel. But we weren’t born in the 60’s so I’ve never felt the need to create “psychedelic” or drug influenced music to prove a point musically, it’s just reflective of intense emotions, I guess, and the kind of music we listen to.

Can you let us in on your creative process? (i.e. how is your music constructed/deconstructed? improvisation, composition, random computer generation?)

There really isn’t a set rule or standard of how we do things. It first started with James and I creating tracks separately and creating sounds live on top of them. Soon Nathan came along and we were bringing the drum kit out of storage and more live instruments were being added to the mix. For us, it’s “anything goes” within the parameters of the mood we are going for. If someone brings a bassoon and makes it work within the context of the music, then all the better.

What makes you make music? Are you compelled or contracted?

Ha, both. What’s the saying, one man’s passion is another man’s curse. I really enjoy creating music, but I think anyone in the creative field can feel busted up by their own art. That’s why I’ve learned to let it be when it gets to that point and do something else — or jam with someone else. I think that’s why we started doing In Support of Living.
— interview by Brad Crowe - Wavelength Toronto March 2003

Cleverly titled "Eyes To the Ground", the fundraiser for the Ear To The Ground Festival that took place at the Gibsone Jessop Gallery in the Distillery District promised "shoegazer pop, performance and art" - which to me is like promising crack to a crack whore. Music being the crack and me being the crack whore, if that wasn't clear. Top-billed As The Poets Affirm were the only act I'd heard and were the main draw for me. But as it turns out, the organizers knew what they were doing - bot In Support Of Living and The Ghost Is Dancing were excellent compliments to the bill.

In Support Of Living covered the shoegaze component of the bill quite capably, cloaked in darkness and hardly moving. They used complete programmed backing tracks which they augmented with live instrumentation - extra drums, guitar, bass, keys, flute. From a live performance angle, it was a bit of a cheat but musically, it worked quite well. I was in eyes-closed, head-nodding mode for most of it. That usually means I was enjoying it or falling asleep, and while it was the former I'm sure that the band would have considered the latter to be mission accomplished as well.

- Chromewaves.net