Eszter Balint Interview for Wicked Spins Radio

Eszter Balint Interview

by Phlis

Talent is something Eszter Balint has running through her veins. Originally hailing from Budapest she moved to the US at a young age, her parents were involved in theater so it was a natural thing for her to be involved in the arts. Wicked Spins Radio got chance to speak to Eszter about lots of things including her latest release Airless Midnight and here is how it went.

Eszter-Balint – Photo credit – Patricia L. Brown

WSR – Thank you for giving Wicked Spins Radio this interview, can you tell our readers a little bit about yourself?

Eszter – I was born in Budapest, Hungary. My parents were involved in an avant grade theater there – later named Squat Theater, when we settled in NY. From a fairly early age, I performed in many of the plays. I also studied classical violin as a kid – which later came in handy. We left Budapest when I was 10 —the company’s work was not a fave with the authorities – and lived in France for a year, traveling and performing all over Europe. In 1977 we settled in NY and it was at this point that things just got too interesting to put into a little self introductory paragraph blurb such as this.

Well actually things were pretty interesting before, as well. I was just less evolved. But essentially I’ve lived in NY ever since then, with the exception of one 7 year-long stint in L.A. As a teen, while living and performing with the theater group, Squat Theater, which garnered much acclaim in the avant grade theater circles, I was asked to appear in some films, including, eventually, the highly regarded indie classic, Stranger than Paradise. I was also surrounded by some fantastic music during this time of growing up in the theater: when we weren’t performing our plays, the theater, (located on W 23rd st.) would be transformed into a music venue and the most incredible No Wave, jazz, blues and funk bands of the period came through. It was a very exciting time, and with age all this becomes ever more legendary – although day to day life didn’t always feel very legendary then.

Later while working as an actress I ended up in Los Angles, mostly by happenstance, but ended up staying there because, well, because everyone eventually has to leave ‘home” for a while, right? And NY had by that point certainly earned that status for me, a home which I had outgrown, for a time at least. During my time living in Los Angeles I ended up not liking the film industry very much, and sort of officially divorced it. There wasn’t a ceremony or anything… but short of that a pretty clear break. That’s where I really fell in love with and made my commitment to being a musician/songwriter – which is more or less what I’ve been doing since. Although I suppose it can be said that Louis CK brought me out of acting retirement. And I did have a lot of fun doing that project and one or two things since.

WSR – Airless Midnight is a work of art, how did you bring together the wonderful musicians the accompany you on Airless Midnight?
Eszter – Thank you for saying so. I work very much all alone until the final stages, I worked this way on my last two albums as well, especially Mud. It was crucial to me at that point to have the fine touch of people whose aesthetic I respect, beyond just being skilled, crafty musicians. JD Foster, who produced, was of course an ally from previous albums, and he brought in Brian Wilson, the drummer, a real find for me, who I didn’t know before. Otherwise I think I had a hand in bringing most of the musicians in or suggesting them. I needed the connection with people whose artistry I relate to. I had actually recorded with Dave Schramm for something else – a show called Radio Free Song Club – and loved his playing, and immediately thought of him. And Ribot I’ve worked with quite a lot before. Guitarist Chris Cochrane and I have played together for a long long time.

WSR – There was quite a time between Mud and Airless Midnight, what occupied you in this time between the two albums?

Eszter – Mostly raising my child. There were also some trying times during those years, I was navigating quite a few challenges, such as an ailing father, some other health issues, some typical NY real estate nightmare situations, all the while raising a young child. So my hands were full, but by the time my son was four I did start performing again after a break. I may have been able to squeeze out an album earlier had I been living in a different time in the music industry. But with so little outside support right now, having to rely on one’s own efforts all the way , and build things alone from scratch, including fundraising, there was just no way to fit it in. Still, I’d say all those years, I was writing, and gestating, and the time felt right to do it just now with some things falling into place and my son needing a little less hands on attention as he’s grown older.

I should say that while I didn’t record my own album for all those years, I did partake in a number of other projects during this period, such as adding violin to a couple of Angels of Light records and a Swans album, and performing and recording with Ceramic Dog for over a year – among some other things.

WSR – There were a few songs that didn’t make it on to Airless Midnight, what was it about them that didn’t feel right for it?

Eszter – Actually there were just a few song lyrics, which I would probably consider done or very close, which I decided thematically didn’t quite fit in with this collection. But no finished tunes, per se, which got left off. Ten songs seemed right.

WSR – You are truly multi-talented, can you tell our readers the full extent of your talents please?

Eszter -Wow, thank you, talk about being on the spot! I am not all that proficient at anything to tell you the truth, tho if anything, I can rock the violin. I have a few years of solid training in my early years to thank for that. As a very young (and probably misguided) adult I took classical singing lessons but those were frankly more of a burden than a help when I started singing my songs – luckily I think it’s no longer an issue. I took one year of the most basic piano in my twenties, and I’m talking like nursery rhyme skill level – so I can hammer out some basic tunes on keyboard instruments, and since I generally have a decent pair of ears, I am fairly good at picking out a simple tune on some instruments, but really that’s about it. Oh and I still say I don’t play guitar tho I have now played it through my entire songwriting career, I wonder how long I can get away with that. I’m just refusing to own that I play it, because really there are ten million amazing guitarists and I just can’t…. I am a pedagogically challenged player. But I guess I do have my own weird style compensating for my lack of abilities, and I do write basically all my material on the guitar.

As for my non-musical skills, (if that is what they are) I grew up performing, so have a certain amount of experience being in front of people, and doing this thing which I guess is called acting. I never took an acting class in my life. Not that I’m taking a stance against them; I’m sure that my experience is one form of acting school, in its own way I have had early instruction in being natural and believable, that’s honestly it. And my one other passion which I cultivate, is my love of words and stories. I’ve written in some form or another, – not just songs – privately mostly, for a long time, and I take that piece of songwriting very much to heart.
WSR – Of all the actors and actresses you have worked with in your acting career, who has made the most impact on you?

Eszter – Well I’m not one for mosts. There is so much room for different ways that one can make an impression, which is wonderful. And I truly don’t have this incredibly extensive experience working with many of the greats, though it would be amazing to have that. But Ellen Burstyn is a recent experience, which is fresh in my mind and she is someone I’m so impressed with. I noticed that it was not what one would expect form such a respected, renown, vastly experienced and rewarded/awarded actor. When in scenes with her, she was delicate and fragile – I did not feel this overbearing confident vibe from her of a “master thespian” in the house, not at all. And I so loved this about working with her, it made me connect with her all the more, and her performance reads fantastic. I wished we had more scenes together. Her delicacy makes her all the more real. I had a lot of fun acting with Louis as well on that show.

WSR – You are Hungarian by birth, I’m English. One thing that always used to entertain and amaze me as a child was stories of local folklore, was there any Hungarian tales that ever enticed and amazed you as a child too?

Eszter – YES! I was totally obsessed with this tale but as I haven’t heard it in a million years I’ll get it dead wrong I’m sure. It’s about a group of masons, who have to build a house, their livelihood depends on it. But something is terribly wrong, it keeps falling down. And they are very stressed and call a meeting or congregation, and decide the only possible solution is for one of their wives to be burned and the ashes of her body used to fortify the masonry. There is some sort of suspense around how they choose whose wife it will be, it’s a draw or some such. They go through with it, even though the wife begs for her life, and mix her ashes with the masonry. If you stand in a certain spot in the house they built, you can still hear the ghostly echo of her wails.

That’s the jist. It terrified the hell out of me.

WSR – I regale people with tales of the one place I love more than any in the world and that is the beautiful city of Prague, would you mind telling us a little of Budapest?

Eszter – I had one version of it as a child which wasn’t very romantic, just this place where I had been a kid and which I took for granted. When I first returned as a young adult everything seemed so much smaller than I had remembered, like your old clothes that you try on after you had ougrown them, or a dollhouse almost. It was amusing. But I’d been back a number of times since, and find I’ve discovered a beautiful, gritty, soulful city, with great food, rich history, and many soulful sad, funny creative people. Also quite a lot of drinkers. It’s pretty deep in the culture.

WSR – You have collaborated with a few different artists musically, of everyone you have ever worked with which artist do you feel has made the biggest contribution to music and why?

Eszter – Again, I’d feel uncomfortable to put someone at the top, it’s just too burdened with expectation and I’m not an authority on that. There is room for so many different varieties of contributions, from all types of music and players – which is good news! I will say that I’m very honored to have lent my violin playing to some Angels of Light records and The Seer by Swans; Michael Gira is without doubt a real contributor. Same with Marc Ribot, I’m proud to have worked with him on a number of his projects. Why? You can just feel it, it’s difficult to justify exactly why. Those are two examples of many, but you can hear in their music and performance that they are truly authentically invested in their work, they’re not screwing around. They mean it, they’re people who are trying to be smart and passionate about what they are doing, looking for meaning.

WSR – In your break from music you concentrated on parenting, kids can be the most amazing things to influence you in music as well as provide so many joys in life. Bruce Dickinson on his solo album ‘Balls To Picasso’ wrote a song called ‘Laughing In The Hiding Bush’ which was from something his son said to him, have you been influenced in any way musically by your son?

Eszter – Interesting question, I actually tried to put something in my lyrics referring to my child at several points early on in his years. Because, well, it just seemed so huge, he loomed so huge in my life, and it seemed like this is what is what one should do, acknowledge this enormity – right? No. Surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, it turns out, this never worked for me. It sounded awful actually, whenever I tried. There is currently one half a line that barely alludes to the idea of my child (which happened very organically and which I’m happy with.) No other reference remained at all, I mean not directly.

And yet, I think my experience as a parent is absolutely there, all over, in some slightly more abstract way. I can get a little skittish talking about lyrics – unless a specific question is asked about a song, in which case I’ve no problem with it – so I’ll just leave it at that, rather than pick it apart: the impact of having a child on me is on the record, for sure, but in more elusive and abstract ways.

WSR – Your mother and father worked in avant-garde theater, can you tell us a little bit about your parents and their work please?

Eszter – Yes it was essentially more my father, who was originally a writer, a poet mostly, and then fell in love with theater and performance. My mother was in some of the performances he wrote and directed but this life of theater was more my father’s path, not so much her pursuit. The work was personal, direct, humorous, deconstructive, abstract, and very serious too, in that the people involved immersed themselves wholly. There was something incredibly intimate about it too- but not psychological. The work went through quite a bit of transformation from the early days, in Budapest, where the group mostly performed in a private apartment -hence the intimacy – and the later years on West 23rd street, where the work became quite a bit more theatrical and cinematic, involving a lot of visual gags, music, film, sometimes elaborate sets. Here in NY the backdrop to the plays was the street; the theater was in a storefront with the audience looking outside, and much of the action actually took place on the street. It was influenced by everything from gangster culture, film noir, pop art, classic literature, Buster Keaton, and probably the entire history of European avant-garde. At the same time, it was absolutely its own thing.

We traveled a lot around Europe and elsewhere, a little in the States as well, usually performing at theater festivals when not in our home on 23rd St. It was a unique kind of theater, difficult to describe in words, experiential for sure. Eventually some of the members disbanded and my father with some of the core group members performed in a proscenium setting, while still employing some unusual and surprising devices to take the experience out of a traditional proscenium theatrical proceedings. Though it wasn’t a very long running company, I would say it has earned a reputation as an influential player in the history of avant-garde theater.

WSR – If you had to choose between either playing the violin or lending your vocals to a track, which would you choose?

Eszter – Vocals hands down. Sorry violin,I feel guilty and don’t mean to diss you but I was asked to choose. My allegiance, at the end of the day, is to the human voice. Even though it’s more of a pain in the ass, in terms of bringing up more neurosis, to get things right – but it’s also infinitely more rewarding, richer. For me, now, anyway. Who knows, it may change.

WSR – If you had to choose a place to rest your heart, then where would it be?

Eszter – Oh I’ve long ceased to have a choice. They’ll have to build a cemetery in Manhattan just for me. I’ve been here so long, I’m pretty much guaranteed to be in a box way under Canal st. – not going anywhere. OK, maybe upstate, to the Hudson Valley, where I’ve also spent a lot of time, and which is dear to me and close enough so that my well-rested heart may come visit some familiar faces and places. No matter how stunning and spectacular the view, I wouldn’t want to rest some place that I’ve not built any bond with.