Xtreme Music: Tell us about your high-school band Plow
Posture and the music on your first album “Plowing The Virgin
Soil”.

Dave Murray: It was a sexually explicit rock and roll band that tried
to capture as many high school girls as possible. Before them I was
a metal dork, that never changed but at least I had fun. They are
some of my best friends still. Paul McKee, who produces my music was
the guitarist.. Song titles included “Sex On Drugs”, “Disco
Sunburn”, “No Deposit No Return”. We used to play parties,
the best show I ever played was at an all girls catholic school that
we had to ditch class to pull off. Never has a show come close to
that one!

Xtreme Music: How did you first meet the Estradasphere
members and start collaborating together?

Dave Murray: I met Tim and Jason and we played jazz at university.
They were on the same plain musically as me and it was instant destiny
that we should play together. We played jazz, then included glam rock
and other things in our performances… then it became Estradasphere.

Xtreme Music: What were your musical contributions to
the Banana Slug String Band album “Goin’ Wild!”?

Dave Murray: I was naive back then. I did an all drum session for
very little pay and zero royalties. I don’t respect how it was handled.
They won an award for “Best Children’s Album”.

Xtreme Music: Please share some further information about the
album “Live Aeroplane Food” by Busdriver Meets Daedelus.

Dave Murray: I have a special place in my heart for this recording
and the tour that this represented of Europe. Daedelus is a popular
DJ, and Busdriver a great MC. It was a mix of them, a trap-set and
sax to create a very improvisational soup. We all played off each
other and created strange music. Not sure how else to explain it.
Daedelus is a mad man who loves to juice.

Xtreme Music: For those who enjoy music from Estradasphere,
what other bands can you recommend?

Dave Murray: Well, perhaps the Mimicry Records line up. Otherwise
not sure, I’m not necessarily the biggest fan of Estradasphere-type
music. It’s great to play though!

Xtreme Music: Who would you say are your main influences
that have helped shape your musical direction?

Dave Murray: Sean Rienert, Philip Glass, Morgan Agren, non-particular
classical composers, Meshuggah, Taosim, The X-Files, World Music.
I’m a fairly ‘general’ liker of ‘good’ music and am not so good at
remembering names.

Xtreme Music: What are your reflections from working together
in the studio with Trey Spruance?

Dave Murray: In the studio, Trey was very sweet, calm and cool. Supportive
but also firm when he needed to direct, but I haven’t worked with
him all that much to answer fully.

Xtreme Music: What innovative production techniques do
you incorporate into your recorded music?

Dave Murray: Nothing innovative, just the over-use of ProTools plug-ins.
I am just learning how to sequence right now and it will help me compose
richer music in the future.

Xtreme Music: Please tell us about the writing processes
involved in The Deserts Of Träun compositions.

Dave Murray: It started with a band in the 1990’s playing to a storyboard
of illustrations. I decided to reproduce the project, selecting scenes
from the old tapes we made. I added new parts and added some metal
from another friend’s tapes. Believe it or not, I wrote most
of the music on a tiny keyboard, and demoed it on a 4 track. I then
spent 6 months in a studio part time with my friend and producer Paul
McKee, composing more voices and parts and piecing it together properly.
It was crazy! Next time I plan to do most of these steps at home on
the computer.

Xtreme Music: What was the most challenging part of performing
The Deserts Of Träun music live?

Dave Murray: The current manifestation has never been performed live.
The older manifestation, featuring the original material, was performed
three times. It was hard to organize the slides, play the many parts,
and of course getting people there.

Xtreme Music: What were The Deserts Of Träun live
performances like and how was the crowd reaction?

Dave Murray: They were cool I thought, the crowd really liked it.
There were very small audiences though. The whole show was a score
to the slide show of storyboards done by Colby Bluth and Dave Bermann
who told the Träun story.

Xtreme Music: Tell us about the music that you’ve written
for The Deserts Of Träun Part I and Part II.

Dave Murray: The Deserts Of Träun Part II is darker. More swamp
and black metal bits. More intricate symphonic stuff, an opera bit
that I am eager to put together, and more telling, progressive music,
fusion funk, totally through composition except for some solos. I
can’t really say more, it will be much like the others in how it flows
like one long song. The Deserts Of Träun Part I is a lot like
Part III. There will be a lot of theme and variation, with familiar
parts from part III as well.

Xtreme Music: How did the band Tholus form and what can
we look forward to from the debut release “Constant”?

Dave Murray: It’s a technical jazzy death metal drumming band. Mike
Johnson is the main dude. We are old friends and his metal is top
class. Lewis Kijowski is also an old friend who can play amazing lead
guitar. The three of us are Tholus. The album and the band are supported
by our interest in Mars, and a possible terrestrial connection significant
in artifacts on earth and Mars, as well as sacred geometry. Richard
Hoagland, expert on the subject, has given us full permission to use
his work on our album.

Xtreme Music: What are the future plans for Naked Lotus Productions?