My second record “Next” was made to explore chance rhythms. Whereas “Introducing” was almost a collage of various percussion recordings that I had made to explore coincidental rhythms, I wanted to record “Next” live, on a drum set. It is an all improvised recording made in one afternoon at Semaphore studio, in Chicago, and recorded (as was “Introducing”) by Jeremy Lemos. Semaphore is also the venue 6Odum, where Lampo has put on many incredible improvised shows by a variety of artists from all over the world. I was hoping to capture some of the inspiration that I got from those shows for this recording. I did a few things to ensure that this record would be truly improvised – true chance. I built or customized several pairs of mallets or implements that were designed to react differently than ordinary sticks. Some of these had springs as part of the mallet so I would have no idea how it would react when I tried to play something. I was basically trying to avoid playing anything that I already knew how to play – take any training out of the equation. In addition, I prepared the drum kit by placing various small cymbals, bells, chains and chunks of metal on the drumheads and cymbals. I used elements to throw myself off -- I wasn't sure what kind of sound or rhythm I was going to produce when I hit it something. I was divorcing my limbs from my head, in a way. It’s a short record, less than 30 minutes. I like short records and many of the European free improv records that I’m a fan of are also concise. “Next” successfully recorded the type of playing I was immersed in for a brief period of time.