Greg Lisher’s fourth solo album, Underwater Detection Method, was released on Oct. 25 by Independent Project Records. The album presents Lisher’s deep dive into instrumental keyboard-based electronic music while drawing on his experience as guitarist in Camper Van Beethoven and Monks of Doom. These 12 cinematic songs have evocative titles like “Illusion of Depth,” “Travels Through Liguria” and “Finding the Future.” Another instrumental album is in the works and will probably be released in late 2025. Lisher has lived in Santa Cruz since 1976, and GT spoke with him at his home recording studio near downtown.
John Malkin: A lot of people know you as a guitarist in Camper Van Beethoven and Monks of Doom. Tell me about deciding to create electronic music with keyboards.
Greg Lisher: In 2007 I released Trains Change and it was my second solo record where I was singing and playing guitar. After that, I started thinking about putting aside the singer/songwriter thing and just focus on the music. That’s when I did Songs from the Imperial Garden (2020). I’ve always been into music based on keyboards, bass and synthesizers, even going back to the early ’80s before I joined Camper Van Beethoven. I especially loved Yellow Magic Orchestra.
For this new album I used Reason virtual instrument software and all of a sudden there was a door opening for me by spending less than $500 on software. I started scrolling through preset sounds and those inspired me to program my own unique sounds, which led me to play a certain way. I started creating sound collages and pretty soon I was getting sections and then putting those sections together into songs. Just about all of the songs on this record started out as exercises I was doing from a book on how to use Reason. I was feeling like I wasn’t really sure what I was doing, and it was a steep learning curve—but it led to these songs.
How was the transition from guitar to keyboards?
I didn’t really have any keyboard skills. I was applying everything I could from guitar to keyboards and I realized, “Maybe I need to get some piano lessons.” So, I found a piano teacher and he really helped. Playing piano is one of these things I thought I’d never be able to do but I figured, “It’s not going to hurt to try!” And the more wins I got, the more faith I had to continue. That’s how this album started. I’d never done this type of music before, so I felt like a total newbie. As it turned out, the learning process itself gave me this record.
How great! A lot of artists might not try new things and that’s exactly what propelled you forward in creating this album.
Part of this learning happened during the pandemic and lockdown. It was a great time to try playing keyboards and making new music. I actually had this record finished at the beginning of 2019 and then the pandemic started. But I started thinking, “I have a bunch of downtime. We’re not touring. Go for it and practice even more.” So, a lot of my time in the pandemic was spent on the piano, practicing.
Underwater Detection Method was just released on Independent Project Records. In the early ’80s they started putting out cutting-edge music by bands like Savage Republic and For Against with distinct handmade album covers. Tell me how IPR came to put this out.
They put out the first Camper Van Beethoven record 40 years ago next year [Telephone Free Landslide Victory]. Bruce Licher is one of the owners of the label and he’s an amazing graphic designer. Originally, he did some of the artwork for my solo album Songs from the Imperial Garden (2020). When I put this new record together, I reached out to Bruce to do the artwork and he said, “We just started the label back up again. I’m really busy and I don’t think I’m going to have time to do the artwork.” I said, “Can I just send you the music? And you listen to it and tell me what direction you would go if you were doing the artwork.” I sent him the songs and he was like, “I love this record and I’d like to put it out on our label. And I’ll do the artwork.” I was just over the moon! I was thrilled!
You originally recorded these songs by drawing digital notes but once your keyboard skills advanced, you re-recorded the whole album playing live keyboards. Tell me about that.
When I started this project, I didn’t have any skills as a keyboard player. Using a MIDI editor to write notes was a new way of putting music together. I could draw the music. But as the process went on, I started piano lessons and being able to play. This was right before we mixed the album and I went back and performed the parts live and re-recorded all of the keyboards. That was a great idea because I’d been drawing each of the digital MIDI notes right up to the next beat, you know what I mean? And when I went back to play it live, I noticed that my hand needs time to pick up to get to the next chord and that the movement itself creates a piece of space. When I went back to record with me playing it for real, all of a sudden there was all this air and space and the music just started breathing.
You also ended up having musicians add live drums and strings for this album, which sounds great. You added some guitar and bass, too.
I was talked into playing guitar! David Immerglück, the other guitar player in the Monks of Doom, who produced my last record, is my musical confidant. I was giving him songs and I got “yeas” and ”nays” from him. He said, “It’d be cool to have a real drummer playing on some of these tracks.” As soon as we added live drums, I started thinking, “I bet real bass will sound really good.” So, I decided to double all the bass synth lines with real bass. Then Bruce Kaphan, my mentor said, “Don’t sell yourself short. See if there’s spots where you can add guitar, because it’s going to make things more multidimensional.”
It was the same thing with Immerglück. When I went down to LA to do the drums, he was like, “These songs have string sections using software and samples. I’ve got this great string player down here who can record all this for real.” All of a sudden, my strings were real! In the end, the only primary thing that remained were the software synthesizers and everything else got replaced.
Is guitar playing now a thing of the past for you?
I love playing guitar and will continue to do it! I’m not looking to lose anything. I just want to gain more knowledge and skills. You know what I mean? I still enjoy playing guitar, and actually when I take some time away from things, the more it helps me grow in new directions. I’ve noticed that when I take extended breaks from guitar, I come back to it with new ideas and skills. It’s a good way to lose old habits or forget the things that you keep playing over and over. Time off can help you approach things differently and I enjoy that.
