Seven questions... with Bilian

I was really grateful to John LaSalle for facilitating the series of 'seven questions' interviews with his Foreshadows / Very Us gang. While I was away he managed to score an interview with one of my fave musicians from the soundtrack... Bilian. I was delighted when John pointed it out and am pleased to present this interview.

Enjoy.

Tx

1. Who are you and what do you do? My name is William Ian LaFauci, and the moniker of my creative endeavors is Bilian. I do a lot of things, but mainly I am a musician, singer/songwriter and music producer. For Foreshadows: The Ghosts of Zero, I shared the production duties of putting together the soundtrack with fellow Very Us Artists creative director John LaSala. I also wrote, performed and recorded several tracks on the album, and helped copy-edit all of the stories as well.
2. What are you working on at the moment?
   At this moment I am answering nine interview questions cleverly disguised as seven, while intermittently converting analog video of various past live musical performances of mine to the digital realm for public release. In the moments surrounding this one I have been promoting Foreshadows on a fairly regular basis. I am also in the process of writing and arranging the music for a composition to be released in three parts as a free Webshadows installment at www.foreshadows.net, which will accompany and share the name with a new story and new artwork.
3. Who inspires you?

1. Name an artist who has inspired you.
   There are so many artists from all different mediums that have inspired me. It's difficult to choose just one from the lot. When I was a teenager, early Skinny Puppy had a big influence on the way I perceived sounds used within song-structured music. It was so different from anything I had been listening to at the time—synths and electronic drums sounding so hard and edgy, with such angry, processed vocals. Of course, that kind of thing is a lot more common now, but I had certainly identified with and been inspired by the feel and mood those records created.  
2. Name a place that has inspired you.
   There is plenty of inspiration to be found where I am living here in New York, and in its people. There is a nice dynamic in that the external stimuli is there when you want it, and there are places you can go to escape it without needing to travel too far.
3. Name some "thing" that has inspired you.
   I keep the severed head of one of my old enemies in the freezer in a black plastic bag. Sometimes I'll take it out and kick it down the stairs before I start to work on a track. There was a serious answer to this question, but it wasn't nearly as interesting.

4. What drives you to do what you do?
   The need to discover, challenge, define and express myself and the world as I see it.
5. What values do you wish your creativity to express?That we are the same at a core, living-entity level. That creativity and beauty can bloom from even the darkest chapters of our lives. That music can bring us together, overcoming the obstacles that separate us.
6. What role does community play in what you do?I think community is important. It's good to be connected with like-minded individuals that seek similar goals. For example, I've found that our Very Us Artists community to be a forum through which to meet a lot of friendly and creative folks I otherwise might not have met, and the energies and creative ideas that form from a group will usually shape up to be bigger and better than any from a single individual ever could.
7. What is next for what you do?Besides the Webshadows piece I mentioned, I've got a four-album concept piece which has been in the works for a long time. I'll also be supporting and promoting Foreshadows: The Ghosts of Zero, of course. We'll have a big, snazzy booth (#1749) at GenCon Indy 2012, August 16-19, so check it out…in person, if you can!

For more on Foreshadows... go here.