Every starving artist needs to possess certain qualities: a passion for their work, a unique approach to art and disdain for at least one parent.
Ariel Pink, L.A.-based musician and mixmaster extraordinaire, has all three.
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, coming to Buffalo with Animal Collective on Thursday, is an underground one-man band that devotes itself to creating synthesized beats, rough vocals and layered instrumentation, most of which Pink manages himself.
"I'll be jostling melodies around in my head, some come almost totally formed, some come in tiny pieces," the 26-year-old musician said. "I usually learn them right before I sit down to record them."
Pink has spent the last decade of his life crafting his melodies under the heavy influence of life in Los Angeles. With songs like "Life in L.A." and "Creepshow," his work on 2003's release "Worn Copy" sounds like garbled '80s pop-synth suited for strip malls and shady brothels.
"I've been recording for over ten years and on various formats," he said. "Cassettes, 4-tracks, then 8-tracks, and then handheld recorders. I ever-so-slowly got into higher fidelity over time."
Pink's approach to recording is also a bit eclectic. While tinkering with guitar, bass, keyboard and drums, he says melodies are formed out of unpredictable processes.
"I just exercise different muscles," he said. "Sometimes I'll be on the guitar playing random notes, and I have to consolidate it on other instruments as I layer them and make it not random. Other times, I'm trying to chase a totally specific vision in my head, then I'll make it acoustic all of a sudden, and there are no rules again."
While running around onstage trying to accommodate multiple instruments, which Pink describes as "damn near impossible," he also employs other band members so he can become fully involved with the audience.
"For recording purposes, I get with different people, and it's like this unholy marriage," he said. "For touring purposes, I try not to just replicate the sounds on the records, and it's not just done by me alone. I try to make a solid interaction with the audience."
The musician works under the label Paw-Tracks, which until now only worked with Animal Collective and smaller bands that were spawned from AC's members. Pink didn't know the band personally, but they both had mutual friends.
"I gave them two of my CD's when I met them," he said. "When they got back in touch with me, they expressed interest about putting something out on their label. I was surprised and honored. I was literally just passing out my work at random. I guess it dispels the myth that (demos) just go into a big fire heap."
Once Paw-Tracks took Pink under their wing, they also bought the rights to Pink's former albums. They remastered and re-released his former works like "Doldrums," "House Arrest" - his self-proclaimed best album to date - and "Worn Copy," which Pink has been promoting this season while touring through Europe and Mid-West America.
Most of Ariel Pink's achievements come out of hard work and self-motivation. Unfortunately, he didn't get much support from his family while trying to pursue his dream of being a musician. He features them eating dinner and ignoring his antics in his homemade "Beverly Kills" video, viewable on paw-tracks.com.
"My dad didn't even know I was doing music until about a year ago," he said. "I'd been telling him for years, he'd thought I'd lost it. No Dad, I'm not lying when I say I can play various instruments and not just play a keyboard pad. I'm a hard worker. I don't just sit around and do drugs all day."
Instead, Pink relies on other forms of inspiration.
"Hairy Mary, R. Stevie Moore, Bush, Mothers of Inventions, goth bands, industrial bands, black metal, you name it," he said of his influences. "Good old rock and roll, The Shags, and of course Robert Smith from The Cure. I'm putting out an S.O.S. for him in every interview."
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti also has a spot on myspace.com that the artist uses to interact with the fans.
"I'm getting a kick-off going on Myspace and meeting the fans. I never met this one girl and we're going to get married and stuff," he said. "I like to milk up the pity angle with fans on it."
The artist is also ready to start recording again after the tour in the eastern part of the United States has ended.
"There's always stuff that's baking in the oven," he said. "As soon as this little stint with 'Worn Copy' is done, I'm ready to hunker down and join up with the L.A. Philharmonic or something."
