As last year’s Oscar-nominee “Atonement” best exemplified, the typewriter can be used as a musical instrument, but how many have actually taken a crack at it?
Mike Einziger, guitarist of the alternative rock band Incubus, not only taught himself to make music on a typewriter, but will perform it, as well as countless other self-taught instruments, alongside an orchestra at Royce Hall this Saturday.
The 32-year-old Angeleno has spent most of the last year away from the band as he single-handedly composed the 45-minute, nine-movement show entitled “End.>vacuum.” The piece served as just one way for Einziger to give to the world through better understanding it.
It all started during Incubus’ most recent world tour, when Einziger battled a guitarist’s worst enemy: carpal tunnel syndrome. It was halfway through a show in Frankfurt when he was physically no longer able to play the guitar and had to walk off stage, but first he threw his guitar in front of a very confused and angry crowd.
“People probably thought I was having some sort of temper tantrum, which I guess technically I was,” Einziger said. “It was one of the worst feelings I’ve ever experienced in my life; I just felt really powerless.”
Two canceled tours and one surgery later, Einziger has more than just a few killer guitar solos and a partly rehabilitated wrist to offer his fans. The time off gave him the opportunity to compose “End.>vacuum,” which was at least partly inspired by Einziger’s fascination with a particle accelerator built and based in Geneva named the Large Hadron Collider.
“It’s basically the most complex, powerful, expensive, massive machine ever built by humans,” Einziger said. “It’s really how we observe what we’re made out of.”
He got the chance to visit the site of the LHC while touring in Europe and has incorporated this interest into Saturday’s performance, which will commence with a lecture by friend and British physicist Dr. Brian Cox on the capabilities and significance of this device.
“(People) think it’s just a bunch of nerdy tech guys figuring out how they can spend people’s money. They don’t realize how much more bizarre and strange and profound it really is than anything you’ve read about in fiction and I just really want to share it with people,” Einziger said.
Though he acknowledged he isn’t the first musician to transition from one genre of music to another, Einziger also said that his upcoming show will still be a personal first and he wants to take from it everything he can.
Following the lecture, Einziger will join an orchestra onstage; that orchestra will be led by conductor and “musical mentor” Suzie Katayama, who Einziger credits with inspiring his deepening musical comprehension.
“I want to be able to understand music and the orchestra as well as Suzie. It’s just a personal goal of mine,” Einziger said.
Though he’ll be on stage showcasing his multiple musical talents ““ he’ll play both piano and percussion ““ fans of his guitar riffs shouldn’t look forward to hearing any solos from him. They can, however, expect to see the rest of Incubus in the audience supporting their bandmate.
“I’ve purposely not played them any of the music that I’ve been working on, “˜cause I want it to be kind of like a present for them. I want them to hear it for the first time the same way that I’m going to be hearing it for the first time played by the orchestra,” Einziger said.
For those who can’t make the show, the possibility of additional gigs or a broadcast isn’t out of the question, but it is currently out of the budget. However, it sounds almost certain that Einziger will have more projects aside from Incubus in the future when he talks about his personal philosophies on life.
“A part of the progression of life is renewal,” Einziger said. “What I mean by renewal is bringing together elements of those things that are new.”
And throughout both his musical career and his personal life, Einziger has proven his love for renewal. Now, after the performance of “End.>vacuum,” Einziger will start something else that’s new to him: college.
Having formed Incubus with lead singer Brandon Boyd and drummer Jose Pasillas in 10th grade, Einziger has been giving music to the world for half of his life. Now he’s taking time for himself. This fall, Einziger will begin his journey to achieve a degree in music and also to take courses in physics and evolutionary biology at Harvard University.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to make music and travel around the world with my best friends. Having lived the life of a pirate the last 12 years, I definitely will appreciate studying much more than I ever have at any other point in my life,” Einziger said.
It’s academic ambitions like this that showcase Einziger’s curiosity, both musical and intellectual. In “End.>vacuum,” the two passions combine to produce an intriguing pairing. But although the piece’s title references the end of life and existence, Einziger doesn’t think of it in a dark sense. Nor does he see an end to his musical career.
“Music is something I feel like I have to do all the time, and I guess it’s just more a series of emotional landscapes than anything,” Einziger said.
As far as his future ambitions are concerned, this is just the beginning.