This is from an "ARTIST OF THE DAY" Interview on the front page of Myspace
Jan 07, 2015
By Lilledeshan Bose
MIRS is Amir Motlagh: an actor, director, producer and multi-instrumentalist. It’s likely that there aren’t enough hyphens we can use to explain everything he can do.
MIRS’ ambient, experimental rock—layered atmospheric waves of guitars, barely-there vocals, programmed beats—is the product of singer/songwriter/producer/actor/director/writer Amir Motlagh. Growing up in Irvine, Motlagh knew early in his life that he wanted to create. After college in UCLA, he studied at The Stella Adler Academy of Acting and received a master’s of fine art from Chapman University in directing. And all the while Motlagh was making a name for himself as an DIY indie filmmaker (he’s screened his work at more than 100 festivals, theaters, microcinemas and galleries throughout the world), he was also making music as MIRS.
Q: How did you get started playing music?
I saved up a few bucks and bought the cheapest, reddest damn guitar in all of Guitar Center. The dude threw in a free practice amp.
Q: Is MIRS the musical project of director Amir Motlagh, or is Amir Motlagh the vehicle for Mirs' visuals?
MIRS is an alter ego, a way to express in music what I can't do the same way with visuals. Two media with different protocols. Music is a more direct way to communicate, and certainly faster and cheaper to produce. The ephemeral quality is not something you can get with directing movies. And the way music communicates is more direct, so I enjoy the process. Ultimately though, both these forms provide an opportunity to do what I enjoy most, and that's the process of the creative act. To get from point A to point B, without ever knowing how these points came about in the first place.
Q: Who or what are your biggest influences?
[Filmmakers] John Cassavetes, Chris Marker, Terrence Malick, Andrei Tarkovsky, Jean-Luc Goddard, Abbas Kioarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf … shit, the list goes on. Musically? Or does it matter? Prince, Michael Jackson, Lou Reed, Radiohead, Daft Punk, Tribe Called Quest, Aphex Twin … This is impossible, I have to stop!
Q: What was your eureka moment where you realized you wanted to direct, and what was the big moment when you realized you wanted to write music as well?
It happened gradually on both. Mostly, it was a quest to figure out how these things were done. One day, you look at something and say to yourself, I want to figure that out. I'd like to understand the architecture, I want to build. And then, you go about figuring out the tools you need. That was my way. Life is like Legos.
Q: Do you have a New Year's resolution?
To give much more than I get, indefinitely…