Mike Silverman has been dazzling crowds across the world for years as the award-winning one-man-band That 1 Guy. Combining a classic jazz-bass background with relentless touring and innovative craftsmanship (his primary instrument now is “the magic pipe,” a seven-foot-tall homemade monstrosity of steel pipes, old school samplers, and bass strings), he has made a name for himself in musical communities across the globe. Silverman brings his pipe, his magic boot, a musical saw, and a whole lot of goofy tunes to Buffalo’s Ninth Ward on March 10.
Over the last decade, has the affordability and accessibility of better electronics enabled you more control over your homemade instruments?
Yeah, it’s funny, though. When I built [the magic pipe] I kind of was lucky. It was during a time when the hardware sampling was at its peak, and the SP-808 and some of the gear that I was using was right off the shelf, and I really didn’t even know too much about. It was just tailor-made for the kind of use I was using it for. The funny thing is now, no one makes anything like that, and most of it has been kind of discontinued because software sampling and computer-based sampling has gotten so powerful.
So, you use a lot of vintage stuff now?
Vintage as in 90s, but yeah. It is all hardware. There is no software or computer stuff on there. It’s not because I’m anti-computer or anything, it’s just none of the software does the specific things that I sort of demand with the work that I do, which is primarily hands-off. I try not to really touch my gear and just play my music all night, and the hardware is really well for all of that—it is meant for performance.
You’ve applied innovations to commonplace objects ranging from pipes and tubes to boots and saws. Have any of your adaptations gone not as well as you’ve hoped?
It’s weird that it hasn’t happened. It’s not because I’m that smart of a guy, but the funny thing is, when I built the pipe, it was built on a very specific idea that I had for a long time, and I sort of knew how it would work even though I had no idea how I was going to do it. But the end result was a very specific plan, it was going to be this string instrument with these triggers, and the functionality really dictated the form, and that’s why I kind of looked out with it. In terms of the electric cowboy boot, that was also this very specific thing where the technique dictates the form. I wanted some sort of electric hand drum, and the boot just seemed like it was going to work. I could almost picture exactly what it was going to do before it did, and even if you don’t hit it right on the mark, you come kind of close. The electric saw is something I’ve been tweaking for a while—that took a while to kind of get it to the point where it sounded good, but other than that, I haven’t really attempted anything until I’ve really sort of attempted it in my mind.
Do you have any background in electrical engineering?
It’s quite the opposite. When I was a double-bass player, I was a real purist about the music, and I thought that drum machines and samplers were ruining music, and I didn’t understand it. It was funny when I started experimenting as a solo act. At first I got into the effects and got really into delays and processing and looping, and then I started experimenting with sampling and triggering, and I used it all as a tool, and once I realized you could use it like that I saw that there was so much room for experimentation with that stuff. It sort of just fell on my lap and everything since has been just trial and error.
Doing all the instrumentation solo for your live shows, does the pressure of having all the focus diverted solely on you ever become stressful?
It’s not a stressful thing—I really enjoy the challenge, and I find it really rewarding to try to make all the music myself. It is way harder, it’s definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I feel like it works well because I’m pushed to do it. Something is very liberating about the challenge, and when you can actually make it all work, it just feels really rewarding.
Collaborations have allowed you to cut tracks alongside Tom Waits. How has this experience guided your musical career?
I was just called in to play some saw on one song, and I ended up playing bass on a couple of tracks, which is kind of funny because I practiced my saw eight hours a day for a month trying to prepare for this gig because I was so nervous, being a big Tom Waits fan. And the gig before the session, he calls me and says he changed his mind and wants me to bring my bass, which I think is a big part of how he works. He likes to just switch it up and keep people on their toes and kind of bring the best out of the music and it was just a really fun experience. It was really neat to just be in the room with him and watch him track the vocals. [One song] we did was something we tracked together so he actually sat there in the hallway with his acoustic guitar and actually taught me that. It threw me off! I’m a huge fan. I had waited in line ten hours for him to play ten years before his, and it was the greatest concert that I remember thinking that I’d never have to see it again because he played like every single song that everyone wanted him to play—he did like ten encores. It was one of those things where I walked out saying “well, I did it, I got to see him, and it’s never gonna get any better than that,” and then I’m sitting there with him, trying to relearn how to play the bass because I haven’t touched it in five years, and trying to follow along with these songs he’s teaching me, and then trying not to sit there and go “Oh my god, he’s playing me a song in the hallway!’ I was going in circles with that and it was just really freaking me out.
Who haven’t you worked with that you would like to?
It’s funny because I’ve been a fan of Buckethead and a fan of Tom Waits, and those are pretty high up on the list, and I didn’t do anything to makes those happen, they just sort of happened on their own very organically, and I felt very lucky for those things to work out the way they did. I’m like the biggest Rush fan in the history of the world, and I think if I even just met those guys I would probably just lose my mind. I don’t know how that would ever work, but those guys, to me, are still everything.
