KM: Hello Philos60, thank you very much for partaking in this interview.
P6: I’m ready for openness! Thanks for your interest.

KM: I’m going to take the safe approach and start by asking you to give us a little background. What can you tell us about your upbringing?
P6: My music is based on spontaneous inspiration and expressed immediately by a musical improvisation. Vocals, melody and rhythm are improvised at the same time and recorded live. I call this TVI-Music: Total Vocalistic Improvisation.

KM: This one is optional; how did you arrive at the name Philos60?
P6: During my period of education I was called “Philosopher” by my friends and schoolfellows, because of my intention to challenge the key questions of human’s life and derivation. When I tried to use “Philos” as my artist nick name, it was rejected by the first site VITAMINIC, because the nick was already in use. So I added “60” according to my age.

KM: You are self-taught on several instruments. How do you think teaching yourself to play has affected the outcome of your music?
P6: Teaching oneself is only possible, if one get the urge again and again to do something of high interest. My strong desire to play and sing guitar songs gave me the necessary power and patience to find out the sounds I feel at the time by trial and error…
I was forced by my musical feeling to select the combination of tones according to my mood. The same happens when singing without any meaningful lyrics. I started in the 50th with singing meaningless syllables (like “lalala”…”Yeah…Yeah…Yeah”) which fit to the guitar rhythm and melody.
After many years of playing and singing guitar songs spontaneously at home, I’ve developed my own guitar style and fantasy language. The outcome of my self-teaching ensures original authentic musical expression of my feeling and mood at each time of playing spontaneously the whole song and vocals at once.
My intention is to be always authentic.

KM: I know this might be a tough question, but do you have a favorite instrument? If so, why?
P6: It’s my guitar, because it was my first instrument in the 50th and right to sing along with, and I’ve the same desire for singing as for playing an instrument from the very beginning of my musical life.

KM: For most people vocal improvisation means making up the words as they go. You take this a step further and improvise vocal sounds that flow beautifully while seeming to create your own language. When you do it are you either consciously or sub-consciously trying to convey a thought or emotion?
P6: My fantasy language is created sub-consciously during playing the instrument. I really don’t know in advance any made-up words or syllables. All is invented spontaneously and simultaneously while playing the guitar or keyboard. Even the melody comes up sub-consciously. The only prerequisite for that is to have a strong desire to play now… I cannot play on command at each time, and I cannot repeat any recorded song.
I even didn’t try to play the same song again. I believe, if I try to learn by heart my live recorded fantasy songs, I’ll lose my hardly developed capability to improvise a whole song at once.

KM: I know you pave your own way through music but are there any artists that you would consider to be an influence?
P6: There is no given artist of influence, but when I listened to Jazz with solo parts of vocal and instrumental improvisation, I was inspired to do it in the same way, but not in the same style and genre. During Jazz improvisations I’ve always the impression that this is authentic. Authenticity is my imperative!

KM: You get your music out to a lot of people on the internet. Has it been a rewarding experience?
P6: My music does not fit to the commercial requirement, therefore I don’t get and expect any rewarding. There are some independent open-minded artists interested in improvisations. I think, it need some time to get familiar with my TVI-Music to feel intuitively what’s the mood and feeling behind the musical expression.

KM: If you could pass on one word of advice to every musician on the planet, what would it be?
P6: My TVI-Music should demonstrate acoustically honest and original musically expressed feeling without tampering. I’m sure, that this is finally convincing.

KM: I’ve got to sneak a graphic art question in. The banners you unselfishly create for the musicians that you admire are outstanding. How are you capable of creating such a diverse collection?
P6: The creation of a banner for an appreciated artist happens like my musical improvisations. I listen to my spontaneous intuition derived from the artist’s given displays, behavior and music of course. Used to improvise music I’ve a potential of creativity active not only for music but for writing and designing too.

KM: So what do we have in store from Philos60? How do you plan on spending the next 10 years or so?
P6: Maybe you are disappointed to read, that I’ve no specific plan, but I’m sure to improvise further on and improve my skills and musical capability. Due to the fact that I’m not dependent on any commercial success, I rely on my musical creativity to reach the hearts of more people someday.

KM: Philos60, it’s been an honor. Do you have any final comments for our readers?
P6: I’m pleased to reveal the hidden motivation and intention of my musical improvisations. Music should be done only based on honest and original feeling in order to reach the heart of the listener.