Happy New Year from Metal Southern Belles Media! Let’s get down to business and hop right into the first interview of 2023. This week, we are joined by Justin Mirarck, drummer of Progressive Metal band, Source. During this conversation, Justin discusses his longtime love of music, joining Source, the inspiration behind the band and their deep lyrics, the concert experience, and more…

MSBM: Hey, Justin! Before we get into our conversation about Source, can you tell us a little about yourself as a musician? How did you get into playing music and decide that it was something you wanted to seriously pursue?

JM: I’ve always had a deep passion for music as far back as I can remember. I started taking private clarinet lessons when I was eight. A few years later, drums took over my life once I saw my older brother’s friends marching in the high school band. Drumline-drums looked like so much fun! At the age of 16, I started playing in clubs with a group of guys about 10 years older than me, and had a handful of other bands up through college and beyond. After about a decade as an electrical engineer, I found and joined Source right before recording ‘Totality’ and eventually ran out of time off options from work for touring. So, I made the leap and left the day job. Now, when I’m not spending time with Source, I freelance as an audio engineer for live events as well as record bands and session drums out of my studio.

MSBM: I think it’s great that you’re able to do what you love full-time now. Whether it’s recoding or touring, you get to dedicate your time to your passion: music. So, I don’t have the largest amount of knowledge when it comes to “gear”, but I know that many people are very interested in that stuff. Which leads me to ask, what is your preferred equipment?

JM: I have a couple of amazing Tama drum kits, a 2001 Starclassic Maple and a 2017 Starclassic Performer Bubinga/Birch, both 5-piece (4 toms and a kick). Tama SLP Black Brass snare drum and a Pearl free-floating snare drum with a wood hoop and custom Padauk shell. Paiste cymbals, Evans drumheads, Gibraltar hardware, Vic Firth sticks, Tama Speed Cobra kick pedals, a Nord Drum 3p, and Alclair in-ear monitors.

MSBM: Very nice! Now, let’s talk about Source directly. How did the band come to be? How did you guys as individuals and as a group decide on what musical direction to take? Who/what influenced you?

JM: The band started with guitarist/vocalist, Benjamin Gleason back in 2014. He had a different drummer and bassist at the time and they recorded the album ‘Return to Nothing’ under the Pavement Music label. After a few tours, they parted ways with the original drummer. I caught wind of the vacancy and auditioned for the band. After joining, we then recorded the follow up album ‘Totality’, and then shortly afterward had to find a new bassist. A few fill-ins later, and we’ve found our current and hopefully last bassist to complete the lineup, Pascal Faurie. The music has evolved with the various different members of the band with Ben being the only common thread. The earlier music was largely written by Ben, where he’d bring songs about 50-70% complete and we’d collaborate to finish them. But with the more recent stuff, we often write as a group or in pairs starting with simple ideas and building from there. We just write the music that we wanna hear and is fun for us to play. We all have quite different influences with some overlap. But some of my favorites are Frank Zappa, Led Zeppelin, Tool, Between the Buried and Me, Protest the Hero, Snarky Puppy, Dave Weckl, Mark Giuliana, Animals as Leaders, Plini, and so many more.

MSBM: Now that we’ve established everyone’s influences and how the music is created, let’s go in a little deeper. Your band’s music is described as “conscious-based”. How does the band name and lyrical content tie into that?

JM: The band name comes from the question of: what’s the source of our experiences? And as we always say, “we are Source and so are you.” The lyrics are derived from the human experience, always questioning reality and breaking free of embedded control structures to be as true to oneself as possible.

MSBM: That’s interesting and very profound! What kind of impact has it had on your listeners?

JM: The best feeling is to inspire people and it’s always wonderful to hear and see what people can do. For example, the artwork for our new single “Emergence” was painted by our friend, Mike Gamble, and he did so while listening to our rough demo recording of the song on repeat. After he finished the piece, he told us that it was the easiest time he had working on a painting and that everything just flowed for him. We really love the concept he came up with and his work is just incredible. Then we took his art even further and our friend, Misha George, animated Mike’s painting so that with an augmented reality app, you can see the artwork move and a hidden audio track plays, all inspired by the music. Most of the ‘Ethereal Self’ art also has augmented reality capable artwork.

MSBM: The augmented reality and concepts with your band’s artwork is quite fascinating! Now, since you’ve mentioned Source’s albums by name, it’s the perfect time for my next question. At this moment, Source has three albums out. They are entitled, ‘Return to Nothing’, ‘Totality’, and ‘Ethereal Self’. How has the band progressed since that first release, in your opinion?

JM: Aside from the lineup changes, there’s been lots of ups and some downs. The first two albums were done under Pavement Music, and we’ve since gone independent, not feeling like the record label was adding any value. The first album, ‘Return to Nothing’, was recorded before I joined, and like most other modern Metal, the drums were quantized and sample replaced, and the vocals were auto-tuned. For ‘Totality’, we had the fortune to work with producer, Ulrich Wild, where we took a more organic approach to recording, focusing on getting great performances so we didn’t have to use the editing tricks allowed by modern tech. Without a label and a strong desire to have control over the full process, we wrote, recorded, and mixed ‘Ethereal Self’ ourselves during covid. Since then, we’ve continued to refine our writing and recording process.

MSBM: In 2022, Source released a new single called “Emergence”. What can you tell us about this song? And what does it mean for the future of the band?

JM: “Emergence” and its opening movement, “Crack in the Shell”, are really just the continuation of “Pupa,” the last track off ‘Ethereal Self’. This is the first song that we wrote and recorded with Pascal Faurie, and we’re super thrilled with how it turned out. The band lineup finally has the right chemistry and we’re happily working on new music with plans to record early next year. We’re also in the process of booking a tour across the Midwest and Northeast in April 2023.

MSBM: It sounds like you guys are on the right track and have some great plans coming into fruition! Since tour dates are to be expected, what are Source’s shows like? How’s the energy and crowd response?

JM: Our goal is to make each of our shows a unique experience. We choose a different set list for every show, which keeps us on our toes. Both Ben and I have a love for jazz and improvisation, so we’ve added a jam section to the song “Totality” where we loop a section so we each get an opportunity to improvise a solo. The music is really proggy and psychedelic, with heavy breakdowns interspersed so crowds usually oscillate between rocking out and being mesmerized. The fans we have are amazing and always bring a great, positive energy.

MSBM: Fantastic! If you could put together the “ultimate” show/tour lineup right now, who would you choose? Why?

JM: Tool, Between The Buried and Me, Source, Crater. This would be an incredible, and very long night of music and I would pay top dollar to see it.

MSBM: I agree, that would be incredible! Lastly, where can all Source’s information and music be found?

JM: You can find links to our website, Spotify, YouTube, and everything else at: https://solo.to/listentosource. Thank you! ~ We are Source and so are you. ~

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