In Polychoral Professors, a newly rejuvenated SCAD Radio series, students have conversations with their professors about music, listening habits, and more. Radio’s Content Director, Vinay Ranganathan, sat down with ITGM (Interactive Design and Game Development) Professor and 3D Character artist, Parrish Baker for this interview. Interview highlights are below, listen to the full interview on Soundcloud here.
SCAD Radio: One of the reasons I thought you’d be a good fit (for the series) is back in your class when I was taking it during spring I think you had mentioned Hüsker Dü. I wanted to talk to you more about them is there something that brought you to liking them specifically?
Parrish Baker: Well Hüsker Dü was part of the Minneapolis scene- which was a pretty varied scene–well I say that—-there was a lot of post punk going on that I was interested in…more than Husker Du I was really into The Replacements, and still am and you know what, what was really hard about picking the top 5 [favorite songs] that you asked me to do was that The Replacements belong in there and I didn’t put them. They were definitely a band I was into going back all the way to high school…
“I think part of what makes a song an all time great is, I think it’s a very personal thing, something you can connect to”
SCAD Radio: You had mentioned a lot of music now is placed on tracks individually and not albums can you expand upon that?
Let me preface this by saying it’s an age thing….back when I was in my 20’s an album was a work of art and so there were certain songs that stood out that one might call a single today or maybe that got radio play, but you would listen to the full album….you cranked it up on your stereo and you listened to the entire album from beginning to end…You read all the liner notes and saw the cover art….There was a context, there was a reason one song followed another because it was following a concept or telling a story
I don’t keep up with music the same way, but from what I can see it’s not the same
If you were into a certain type of music, like alternative music you got one hour on Sunday night! [on MTV]
SCAD Radio: I notice a pattern [haha], you seem to like a lot of Grunge and Punk, is there a reason for that?
Parrish Baker: I’m definitely not limited to those genres…The second question on the questionnaire, what songs are you listening to now- was hard, these days, I don’t know any names of songs, I know artists and I spend so much of my free time at my computer sculpting so I’ll go to my computer and type in a genre or artist and hit play
I leaned into a certain type of music when I was younger, I liked the edge of it, artists were saying things that you just couldn’t say on regular radio….As I got older my horizons were definitely expanded….Most of my adult life, I don’t get hooked into too many genres
If it sounds good, it is good, if it feels good, I don’t care what genre it is I try to keep my mind as open as possible
SCAD Radio: I feel like I have to ask as an ITGM professor, do you have favorite soundtracks or themes from games?
Parrish Baker: Earlier this year, I played, Ghosts of Tsushima, which I assume had Japanese music in the background which was beautiful and I really enjoyed
SCAD Radio: Can you talk to me more about hip hop, since you mentioned concept albums
and Kendrick Lamar was mentioned on your questionnaire?
It’s funny on my all time greats, I didn’t put any hip hop, and I was certainly listening to hip hop way back from Run DMC and Beastie Boys….I like where hip hop has evolved….I have a hard time with what is generally accepted as pop music because I find it boring, but Kendrick Lamar tells stories that I really get into….I put lil baby on my list too. I listen to radio a total of 15 minutes a day, 15 minutes on the drive to wok, 15 minutes on the way back and I just have it on the local Savannah Hip Hop Station. Lil Baby has like every third song and I’ve been listening to him for months….I didn’t care who it was, just for the music…a couple weeks ago, I had an amazon documentary in the background
and I realized I’d been listening to them for months…..
It needs an edge, and needs to not be afraid to share with people the underbelly of thing, which I think any good artist of any genre aren’t afraid of any genre and of things they aren’t able to see.
SCAD Radio: Would you say – on a bit of a tangent- relating to that you like exploring other types of art too?
Parrish Baker: Definitely….I think there’s no limitation to the creative mind, and anyone who is creative
there’s no stopping them. They’ll work with whatever they have in front of them…
You want a tactile experience that connects you to the artist in a unique way
There are some records you think you can put on the background, but at some point you realize you have to stop what you’re doing and just listen.
