Author: electricityclub (Page 150 of 435)

“I don’t like country & western, I don’t like rock music… I don’t like rockabilly! I don’t like much really do I? But what I do like, I love passionately!!”: CHRIS LOWE

“Good taste is exclusive”: NICK RHODES

KRAKÓW LOVES ADANA Interview

2 July 2020 /


Deniz Çiçek and Robert Heitmann formed KRAKÓW LOVES ADANA after months of eyeing each other up at the same nightclubs in Germany.

Their bond led them to make melancholic dream pop together and their debut album ‘Beautywhich’ was released in 2010 with a second ‘Interview’ following in 2012. Their third offering ‘Call Yourself New’ in 2017 saw the pair form their own record label Better Call Rob, but while its 2018 follow-up ‘Songs After The Blue’ was issued via this independent platform, they came to the attention of Italians Do It Better, home to CHROMATICS and DESIRE.

Their first fruit of labours for the prestigious label was ‘Follow The Voice’, a rhythm heavy tune swathed in synths, followed swiftly by the more anxious ‘Young Again’, a song made all the more resonant by Çiçek’s contralto expressionism.

Recorded over two years at their home studio in Hamburg, KRAKÓW LOVES ADANA present ‘Darkest Dreams’. Produced and mixed by Çiçek herself, but sounding completely at home within the stark red colours of Italians Do It Better family, it is a thirteen song compendium comprising of synths and electronic drums walking hand-in-hand with gothic guitars.

The album is trailed by the enjoyably poetic pop of ‘‘The Ocean Between Us’, with the lyrical couplet “You say it is a phase, wild summer in your gaze” recalling the bittersweet memories of a holiday romance. Deniz Çiçek spoke about an album that explores the human condition’s deepest fantasies and desires.


You have been releasing music since 2010 and already have four albums to your name, how do you feel you have developed musically over the past decade?

I think that every record we made actually got us to the point where we are now. It was good to try different things out and now I feel happy with where we stand musically.

How did Italians Do It Better become interested in KRAKÓW LOVES ADANA?

We just sent them our demo and they liked it. It’s good to reach out to people whose music you like and give it a shot.

What is the German alternative music scene like? Do you feel like a part of it?

There isn’t one specific alternative scene over here, it’s more like a mish-mash of bands that are friends with and/or work with certain kind of people. We don’t belong to a certain scene, not because there aren’t any other musicians around but because besides having a band and having a day-job, we rarely find the time to socialize with other bands.

But truth be told, there really aren’t many people in Hamburg whose music I find interesting. Releasing music for the last decade and watching bands come and go, I feel like most of them are a copy of a copy and neither daring nor innovative.


So how is ‘Darkest Dreams’, your first album for Italians Do It Better different from your most recent album ‘Songs After The Blue’, what approach did you take?

I always have the same goal and that is to not repeat myself. Without certain songs I wrote in the past, some newer songs wouldn’t exist. All my songs exist in specific universes, some exist in darker places than others, some are there to make you look inside yourself and others to make you understand your role in the world.

The difference on this record is that the process of producing it was definitely more challenging because I put more time and work in every detail of this album.

How would you describe the creative dynamic within KRAKÓW LOVES ADANA?

We’ve got a strict division of work in the band – I write and produce the music, we play live together, do all the visuals together and Rob handles the business side of it. This form of working together has developed over the years and we feel like it is the best way for us to move forward as a band.

Lyrically, KRAKÓW LOVES ADANA are very bittersweet and pained which adds to the dense atmosphere of your music, where do you draw inspiration?

I think it is just the way I am built as a person. We all have these different personality traits that sometimes stand in contrast to another. Writing song lyrics helps me to understand what I think and feel. Also, with everything going on in the world, I want to make people dream and at least for a moment escape the dread of reality.

‘The Ocean Between Us’ is a fabulous balance between art and pop as a tale about a holiday romance, is the song a conscious move to be more accessible?

With ‘The Ocean Between Us’, I wanted to write a song that captures the contrast between the lightness most people associate with summer and the burden I feel to enjoy myself during this season. The music feels light but the lyrics are heavy.

I never had the privilege to travel a lot, neither as a kid nor as an adult, I always had to work my ass off growing up and haven’t had a vacation since I was 16. During summer I always feel much more isolated from the world than usual because I feel this pressure to enjoy myself and live my best life but I love to work and I love to work on my art so just imagining myself sitting in a sunny park with a guitar in my hand makes me wanna die. So in a way this song is about me displaying my hate for summer.

Does Johnny Jewel being involved help bring in this new perspective to your work?

Johnny produced ‘Follow The Voice’ but otherwise he hasn’t directly been involved in the songwriting process. But I have to say that his work undeniably had a huge impact on mine and I am very proud that he and IDIB have our back and believe in us.

Is there a reason your previous Italians Do It Better singles ‘Follow The Voice’ and ‘Young Again’ are not on ‘Darkest Dreams’?

Those two songs are way older than the songs on ‘Darkest Dreams’ and I didn’t feel that they matched the mood of the record.


Which are your own personal favourite tracks on ‘Darkest Dreams’ and why?

I don’t have any favourite tracks but I can’t wait to share the cover version of ARCHERS OF LOAF‘s ‘White Trash Heroes’ with the world. It is a track that has accompanied me and Rob since the day we met and in a way I recorded this song for him.

KRAKÓW LOVES ADANA opened for CHROMATICS and DESIRE on selected dates of the 2019 ‘Double Exposure’ tour; the show was so well designed from the bottom upwards as a well-designed ITIB event. How did it feel to be a part of it. What were the audience reactions like?

It was a unique experience to open for two bands whose music has been part of my life for quite some time. The reactions were great in general but I definitely felt that in Germany, people had their difficulties to believe that a band from Hamburg could be part of the IDIB universe.

What are your hopes and fears as you prepare to release you first long playing record on Italians Do It Better?

I had some doubts when we first released on IDIB, fearing how people would receive our music but we’ve been welcomed with open arms by a lot of people and I can’t wait to share the new record with them this fall.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to KRAKÓW LOVES ADANA

Special thanks to Frankie Davison at Stereo Sanctity

‘Darkest Dreams’ will be released by Italians Do it Better on 25th Septmber 2020, but the single ‘The Ocean Between Us’ is available on digital platforms now

https://www.facebook.com/krakowlovesadana

https://twitter.com/krakwlovesadana

https://www.instagram.com/krakowlovesadana/

https://krakowlovesadana.bandcamp.com/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2LgLvxq44FkRvstBiPFjsN

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
2nd July 2020

NEW RO i o u

30 June 2020 /


NEW RO is a Helsinki-based singer, songwriter and producer with a cheeky sense of humour that she often vivaciously expresses via her social media.

Known by her mother as Ronja, she released her first music in 2018, beginning with the saucily titled R’n’B pop of ‘I Cum’.

With an approach that is melodic, rhythmic and vulnerable, NEW RO released the appropriately spacey ‘Kosmos’ EP at the start of 2020, with the title song having a delightful GRIMES approach circa ‘Visions’.

Signing to Solina Records, home of VILLA NAH, SIN COS TAN, VON KONOW, THE HEARING and JUNO FRANCIS, NEW RO’s new body of work ‘i o u’ encapsulates a more dance-oriented direction, celebrating friendship and hedonism.

The opening title song is a fabulously dreamy trance tune with an alluring vocal performance from NEW RO over a throbbing electronic soundscape that engages the mind and the feet. An equivalent artist for reference would be Sweden’s LIZETTE LIZETTE who also places techno backbones into an avant pop setting; “I forget myself” she happily declares.

Initially sparser, ‘Trickle’ enters ROBYN mode and passionately builds into something quite percussive and most of the remaining tracks on this EP follow a similar vibe. With an airy warbling flavour laced with gated voices, ‘3’ explores more Balearic territory.

Meanwhile ‘Don’t Talk To Me On The Dancefloor It’s Really Annoying’ visits Detroit via its hypnotic club drive, although it is all given an icy Finnish twist with the surprising addition of kantele! However, ‘Everything’ closes proceedings with something more abstract and reprises the esoteric side to NEW RO that appeared on ‘Kosmos’.

A vintage string machine is thrown into ‘Everything’ amongst the prominent textural swoops and layers of treated vocals which are aesthetically not far off YELLO collaborator FIFI RONG.

“I wanted to emulate the feeling of hazy and euphoric nights in a great company” said NEW RO, “My friends have inspired this EP and I want to see them dancing to it.”

While the title track is the definite stand-out from ‘i o u’, as was the case on her previous release ‘Kosmos’, NEW RO has shown promise with her two most recent EPs and ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK awaits with interest as to how she progresses creatively in the future.

‘i o u’ is released by Solina Records via the usual digital outlets

https://www.facebook.com/longlivenewro

https://www.instagram.com/longlivenewro/

https://www.facebook.com/SolinaRecords

https://open.spotify.com/album/2LDMRexBa1huWFUUh2FgQt

Text by Chi Ming Lai
30th June 2020

ELECTRONIC MUSIC Versus ORCHESTRAL

28 June 2020 /

So what would a piece of electronic music sound like played by an orchestra? And what would a piece of orchestral music sound like performed electronically?

Two musicians did an experiment to swap genres, to highlight not just the differences but also the similarities in their respected artistic forms.

Composer David Bruce studied dance producer Jeremy Blake’s electronic track ‘Aquamarine’ to create an orchestral version performed by the Orchestra of the Swan conducted by Jason Lai. This was an interesting project for the Singapore-based conductor as he had endured his sister Sarah’s DURAN DURAN tapes as a youngster.

Jason Lai is a second cousin of ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s founder Chi Ming Lai and became the Assistant Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic after winning the BBC Young Conductors Workshop in 2002. In 2006, he was a panel expert on the BBC’s ‘Young Musician of the Year’ and then a judge for the BBC classical music talent show ‘Classical Star’ in the following year.

But one of his most high profile moments came in 2008 when he was the professional mentor in the BBC celebrity conductor reality TV show ‘Maestro’ to the eventual winner Sue Perkins. He recently presented ‘Heart Of Thailand’, a series of short documentaries about the country’s culture for BBC World News.

Swapping roles and returning the complement, Jeremy Blake then reworked David Bruce’s orchestral piece ‘Fanfarrón’ into an electronic version using a variety of software instruments and samples. The two videos make interesting viewing…

With Gary Numan having worked with the Skalaris Orchestra and OMD with the Liverpool Philharmonic in a live concert context, while producer William Orbit has brought classical music to an electronic dance audience via his two ‘Pieces In A Modern Style’ reinterpretations albums, genre swaps are very much part of the 21st Century music landscape.

This idea for the Electronic Music versus Orchestral genre swap first came about following a YouTube challenge thrown up by producer Andrew Huang to see how different producers would use a sample from a single song ‘Foreign Bodies’ by Lucy Swann. Jeremy Blake was among those taking part in the eventual ‘4 Producers Flip The Same Sample’ films.

http://www.davidbruce.net/

https://twitter.com/davidbruce

https://rmr.media/

https://twitter.com/jjbbllkk

https://www.jason-lai.net/

https://www.facebook.com/jasoncwlai/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
28th June 2020

Die Roboter: The Legacy of KRAFTWERK

26 June 2020 /

“Meine Damen und Herren – Ladies and Gentlemen – Heute abend aus Deutschland – Die Mensch Maschine KRAFTWERK”.

Many electronic music fans know KRAFTWERK, but how many know their work in their native language? In days gone by, German editions of KRAFTWERK albums were sought after but expensive in the UK.

School exchange trips often left little pocket money spare to make a purchase after buying the obligatory gifts for family and friends. But the ‘Computerwelt’ that KRAFTWERK predicted in 1981 has led to ‘Trans Europa Express’, ‘Die Mensch-Maschine’, ‘Computerwelt’, ‘Techno Pop’ née ‘Electric Café’ and ‘The Mix’ (in Deutsch) being made available openly outside of Germany, Austria and Switzerland for the first time. With the recent passing of founder member Florian Schneider, this wider international digital release of KRAFTWERK’s albums in German is particularly poignant.

Desiring a new Germanic cultural identity ignoring Trans-Atlantic rock traditions, KRAFTWERK fused sound and technology, graphic design and performance, modernist Bauhaus aesthetics and Rhineland industrialisation to conceive a Gesamtkunstwerk or “synthesis of the arts” that was to change the course of modern music.

Of course, KRAFTWERK’s breakthrough record ‘Autobahn’ in 1974 was unique in being very German but the willingness to gain a wider acceptance, particularly in the US, led to the bilingual format of its follow-up ‘Radio-Aktivität’ in 1975.

However, the ‘Radio-Aktivität’ title song was notoriously ambiguous in both English and German. The stance infuriated the increasingly strong Green political lobby in the Bundesrepublik. Meanwhile, KRAFTWERK did not help their cause by controversially having promotional photographs taken at a Dutch nuclear installation. But in 1991, KRAFTWERK stopped sitting on the fence and notably reworked the track for ‘The Mix’ to contain an explicit anti-nuclear message to “STOP RADIO-AKTIVITÄT” while also highlighting the tragedies and disasters in Chernobyl, Harrisburg, Sellafield and Hiroshima.

Developing from the alles Deutsch ‘Autobahn’, ‘Trans Europa Express’ was the first KRAFTWERK album that was released in distinct standalone English and German versions. Perhaps the most lyrical of all their imperial phase long players, it manifested an accessible spirit of cultural adventure In KRAFTWERK, thanks to their central European location in Düsseldorf.

Deep inside their psyche, ‘Europa Endlos’ was a forward thinking piece that, despite its nostalgic romanticism, was aspiring to a continent without borders that supported a vision of peace and unity. The syllable count on the title hook was more of a mouthful compared with the English version but the 10 minute journey was still glorious in whatever language.

Effectively a spoken word piece with a subtle footstep backbone, ‘Spiegelsaal’ worked like an original Brothers Grimm tale set to music. But with ‘Schaufensterpuppen’, the tight punchy rhythms complimented KRAFTWERK’s Teutonic lyrical sentiment in response to criticism that when performing live, they did not move and acted like showroom dummies. But of course, relishing the opportunity to turn a negative statement into their own positive, they revolted while “Wir gehen in den Club und wir fangen an zu Tanzen”.

By 1978, the classic KRAFTWERK line-up of Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos were at the height of their powers with ‘Trans Europa Express’ becoming an unexpected favourite on the New York dancefloors. ‘Die Mensch-Maschine’ possessed a sense of humour which was very apparent in ‘Das Modell’, already made third person gender thanks to the German quirk of the neuter designation for girls. KRAFTWERK were enjoying their local VIP status and stalking the Mora discotheque in Düsseldorf for attractive models and hoping to impress them.

Regularly taking their orders for expensive champagne, the club’s resident eccentric waiter was invited to Kling Klang to butt in and shout “SEKT! KORREKT!”, satisfied that he was earning even more commission. ‘Neonlicht’ though remains fabulous in Englisch oder Deutsch while on the title track, “Halb Wesen und halb Ding” translated directly as “Half being and half thing”.

The Giorgio Moroder-inspired ‘Spacelab’ and ‘Metropolis’ though displayed Hütter’s minimalist interest in lyrics by preferring vocal expression using just singular words. However, ‘Die Roboter’ made use of the Russian phrase “Я твой слуга – “Я твой работник” to reinforce KRAFTWERK’s view that they were Musikarbeiter or “musical workers”.

But 1981’s ‘Computerwelt’ was the one album though that lost some of its Germanic impact by being worked into English, with simple nursery rhyme lyrics being coupled to probably KRAFTWERK’s most accessible work in their history. On the title track in particular, the darker more sinister implications of surveillance were highlighted in German. While “Interpol und Deutsche Bank, FBI und Scotland Yard” paralleled the English version, there was the addition of “Flensburg und das BKA” who are respectively Germany’s DVLA and Federal Crime Agency. The phrase “Haben unsere Daten da” highlighted how those security and financial institutions held personal data.

’Computerwelt’ may have been written nearly 40 years ago but the consequences of its prophecy are very relevant discussion points today. But there was more in die Kristallkugel; substituting one of the bridging “Computer World” phrases with “Denn Zeit ist Geld”, die Musikarbeiter concluded that “time is money…”; this was before “Automat und Telespiel – Leiten heute die Zukunft ein – Computer für den Kleinbetrieb – Computer für das Eigenheim” anticipated that “Arcade games and video consoles introduce the future today, with computers for small businesses and computers for the home…”

Launched using their own KRAFTWERK branded Casio VL-80 musical calculator, ‘Taschenrechner’ had its own charm but would go on to be surpassed in affection by ‘Dentaku’ and ‘Mini Calcolatore’, respectively versions in Japanese and Italian. Meanwhile, the wonderful masterpiece ‘Computer Liebe’ mirrored the English translation, although the harsher intonation made the sentiment less forlorn and sympathetic. However, ‘It’s More Fun To Compute’ remained Anglophile in its statement, while ‘Nummern’ and ‘Computerwelt 2’ were identical to the ‘English’ versions thanks to their international counting calls, although eagle-eared enthusiasts will have noted an extra “eins – zwei – drei – vier” dropped into the fade.

In the interim, there was what became a standalone single in ‘Tour De France’ released in 1983. The original was in French and was rendered rather pointless in German as all the place names mentioned as part of the race route were in France anyway! Remixed by François Kevorkian in 1984, the New York-based Frenchman was recruited to help mix their next album which ‘Tour De France’ had originally been intended to be part of.

On the much delayed ‘Techno Pop’ née ‘Electric Café’ for 1986, ‘Der Telefon Anruf’ was distinctly more impactful in German with Karl Bartos making an impressive turn in his only vocal performance for KRAFTWERK. But the assertive automated phone messages became an even more sharpened metaphor for female empowerment.

Touching on a similar theme, ‘Sex Objekt’ was an ironic response that originated from one of the band making unwanted advances on a lady in a club. Now while it is amusing to hear Herr Hütter’s disdain at being treated as an object of lust, it’s the overlong passage of KRAFTWERK hacking through various slap bass, guitar and percussive presets like an online Yamaha DX7 tutorial that is now funnier!

However, tracks like ‘Boing Boom Tschak’ and ‘Musique Non Stop’ were phonetic and multi-lingual so language was no longer a barrier as the world got smaller and smaller. But with the lack of a sufficiently intriguing theme on ‘Electric Café’ proving underwhelming, KRAFTWERK lost crucial momentum creatively.

And so it was that the classic RFWK line-up had split by the time of 1991’s ‘The Mix’, a largely disappointing digital rework collection of Die Klassik Werks that dated within a year. However, it would be fair to say by this time KRAFTWERK had transcended their nationality and were no longer just a German band, but actually the most influential act on the planet. KRAFTWERK could now present their work in any language and it no longer mattered.

Indeed, when ‘Tour De France Soundtracks’ came out in 2003, there was no German or English edition. There was just one release for all markets and the voices on it just happened to be in French; KRAFTWERK’s dream of ‘Europa Endlos’ was now reality. In 1977, KRAFTWERK sang “Das Leben ist Zeitlos” or “Life is timeless” and now after five decades since releasing their self-titled debut album, so is their music.

‘Trans Europa Express’, ‘Die Mensch-Maschine’, ‘Computerwelt’, ‘Techno Pop’ and ‘The Mix’ are released by EMI Music and available worldwide on 3rd July 2020 via the usual digital platforms

http://www.kraftwerk.com/

https://www.facebook.com/KraftwerkOfficial

https://twitter.com/kraftwerk

https://www.instagram.com/kraftwerkofficial/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
26th June 2020

Lost Albums: MESH Who Watches Over Me?

24 June 2020 /


After three albums on the Swedish independent label Memento Materia, Bristol trio MESH were on the cusp of a wider breakthrough.

Formed in 1991, Mark Hockings, Richard Silverthorn and Neil Taylor had attained cult success in Europe, first with their debut ‘Fragile’ released in 1994 which was then followed up with ‘In This Place Forever’ and ‘The Point At Which It Falls Apart’.

Then as is now, Germany embraced the sound of MESH and it was Sony Music via their Home Records subsidiary in Hamburg who offered the band their major label opportunity.

Released in 2002, ‘Who Watches Over Me?’ strengthened MESH’s position within European alternative music circles although it fell short of the mainstream profile that was perhaps anticipated, with a German album chart high of No63 proving to be a disappointment at the time.

But it proved to be an important record and MESH were later picked up by Königskinder Schallplatten who put out ‘We Collide’ in 2006. This kickstarted an imperial phase for what was to become the now-familiar duo line-up of Hockings and Silverthorn with the Dependent Records released long players ‘A Perfect Solution’, ‘Automation Baby’ and ‘Looking Skyward’ which reached No12 in Germany, their best international album chart position yet.

While songs from ‘Who Watches Over Me?’ such as ‘Leave You Nothing’, ‘Friends Like These’, ‘Firefly’ and ‘Little Missile’ continue to take turns for inclusion in the more recent MESH live sets, unlike other releases in their back catalogue, ‘Who Watches Over Me?’ has not been readily available for several years. This has largely been due to the collapse of Home Records, thus elevating the album to lost and rare status, with the CD now being offered for quite high prices on eBay and Amazon.

Richard Silverthorn kindly took time out to reflect on MESH’s brief sojourn with a major record label and his memories of making ‘Who Watches Over Me?’.

At this point in MESH’s career, had there been a conscious decision to move on after three albums with Memento Materia?

I think we reached a level where we were getting more and more gig offers and the media were starting to take an interest in what we were doing. The demand on our time was becoming difficult and trying to fulfil our commitments became increasingly harder for us.

I remember we talked to our manager/label guy at the time and said “If we are going to take this to the next level we will have to give up our jobs, we need a major deal”. Our relationship was always a good one with Memento Materia but we needed to make that change and try and move forward.


How did Home Record, a German subsidiary of Sony Music, become interested in signing MESH?

Around the same time DJ Mark ‘Oh (a well-known DJ / pop act in Europe) approached us as he was quite a fan of our music and asked if Mark would do vocals on a collaboration idea he had. The idea was a cover of the BLANCMANGE track ‘Waves’ but done with a full orchestra and electronic elements.

We liked the idea but wanted it to be “Mark ‘Oh and MESH” not just featuring Mark Hockings as guest vocalist. He managed to get the London Session Orchestra to record the track and Mark added his vocal. I also did a remix of the track for the single CD.

This all caught the attention of his record label Orbit Records. They were quite well established in the dance / electronic scene with a few major hits under their belts. They were really excited about the collaboration and wanted us to co-write an album with Mark ‘Oh and on the back of this they wanted to offer us a record deal.

They had just became partners with Sony Music and wanted to branch out into more alternative music so started Home Records to run alongside their dance label Orbit Records. Unfortunately the album idea with Mark ‘Oh never happened, although a few tracks were written with that in mind. They subsequently ended up becoming part of our next album.


What did Home Records offer that perhaps hadn’t been available to you before?

Well certainly the money played a big part in the change. We were given enough money to give up our day jobs which gave us enough time to fully concentrate on music full time.

The backing of a major label was also a huge change for us. It all felt very real after this signing. We actually went to Sony’s HQ in Berlin to sign the contract.

The rooms were filled with gold discs and pictures of their artists, at that time Michael Jackson, Shakira etc. We suddenly found ourselves talking about TV appearances, radio plays and pluggers etc something we’d never really experienced.

Did you have to accept more A&R feedback on works-in-progress than maybe you would have done in the past?

No, luckily for us we still kept creative control over everything as they trusted us and the direction we wanted to take it. They knew we had a strong following and they wanted to expand on that.

The only real stipulation they had was they wanted it mixed by someone else to achieve that polished professional sound. This was something very new for us as up until that point, we’d done everything ourselves.

They suggested Peter Schmidt or BlackPete as he was sometimes known as. He was a known German engineer who worked at Berlin’s Hansa Studio and had worked on U2 ‘Achtung Baby’ and DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Black Celebration’ along with Gareth Jones.

With major label support, did you, Mark and Neil change your approaches in any way? What was your creative dynamic at the time?

Not really in the way we write, but we certainly felt a need to up our game especially with single choices. Maybe a little pressure for something a little more immediate and radio friendly. The track we had in mind was ‘Crash’ as it was kind of danceable and quite mainstream, but that soon changed after the 9/11 terrorist attack which happened around this time. Although the lyrics had nothing to do with that, we thought people could misunderstand and possibly interpret them that way. The track everyone seemed to lean towards was ‘Leave You Nothing’ so this became the first single.


Was your gear set-up still quite reliant on hardware?

Yes, it was pretty much all hardware synths, we had just spent a big chunk of our advance on new equipment to get inspiration.

A Roland XP-30 (fully expanded with dance cards) played a big role on this album. A lot of the drum loops and sounds came from this keyboard, although we painstakingly chopped them up to make them less recognisable to the presets.

A NordLead 2 and an Access Virus B along with all our previous analogue gear was the palette of sounds we used. Sampling was taken care of by two Emax II’s and an Emu Esi32. Sampling was a major part of how we wrote and programmed at the time. Many hours of drum sampling and looping to create the rhythm sections / tracks.

‘Who Watches Over Me?’ was recorded in Bristol, but then it was mixed in Hamburg, did that environment help you to focus more on the final product?

The original plan was to write and record in our studio and take it somewhere locally to mix it. Initially, we tried at The Channel House studio in Bristol (owned by Toni Size) who had an SSL desk but the chemistry just wasn’t there with us and the guys we were working there.

The label suggested Home Studios in the centre of Hamburg. This had a Protools setup and a 96 channel SSL console.

It was previously known as Chateau Du Pape, DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Songs Of Faith & Devotion’ was mixed there along with ‘Herzeleid’ by RAMMSTEIN and many other artists like NENA used it too. We spent 3 weeks locked in there with Peter Schmidt and it was a breath of fresh air for us.

It was the first time we could sit back and actually listen, rather than be engrossed in the programming side of things. All-in-all, it was a fantastic experience and our fussball (table football) skills improved enormously. The album was mastered within days of finishing the mixing. We flew straight from Hamburg to Belgium to master it with Ronald Prent at Galaxy an outstanding purpose built studio.

‘Firefly’ was a fine opener that can be seen as classic MESH, how did it come together?

Initially it was just an instrumental track but Mark came up with a lyric idea for it. Mark and I lived very close to a supermarket in Bristol where an act of arson had taken place. Firefighter Fleur Lombard lost her life that day. She was the first ever female firefighter to lose her life in the line of duty in the UK. The lyrics are a twisted perspective through the eyes of the guy who caused the atrocity.

Would it be fair to say ‘Leave You Nothing’ was a bit reminiscent of DEPECHE MODE’s ‘It’s No Good’?

I’m not sure I’ve heard anyone refer to that track as sounding similar before but now you come to mention it… haha I don’t know, does it?

What was ‘Little Missile’ referring to? That brought a slight drum ‘n’ bass influence in?

‘Little Missile’ for me was more about that piano line, but we added this erratic “drum n bass” type loop which fitted really well so we just went with it. The structure of that song is all over the place but somehow seems to work and became a fan favourite.

The original title for the album was going to be ‘Stop Breathe’, a line taken from that song but the label had their concerns because the German people have problems pronouncing “th” in Breathe so we changed it last minute to ‘Who Watches Over Me?’.

The titles were quite pained from ‘Razorwire’ and ‘I Can’t Imagine How It Hurts’ to ‘Retaliation’ and ‘The Trouble We’re In’, how were things personally within the MESH camp at the time?

Weirdly, it was probably the most relaxed period in our history. We had signed “the major deal” and were in a very focused mindset. Mark’s lyrics have always had a very dark side to them which I’ve always thought was the appeal.

‘Who Watches Over Me?’ included ‘Friends Like These’ which has now taken on a life of its own and has become something of a MESH signature tune and fan favourite?

Yes. we released it as a single and we done a bizarre video for it on a farm in Berlin with a load of scantily clad girls an old Opel Kadett and a load of garden Gnomes… don’t ask…

Live, it became an anthem for us, probably helped by the fact we used to secretly take pictures of people entering the gig and their pictures would appear on the huge screens behind us during that track.

It was almost like us saying “thank you” to those who followed us and came to the shows. From then on it’s become the fans’ song, they own it now.

Which are your own personal favourite songs and memories from ‘Who Watches Over Me?’?

So many songs for different reasons. The making of this album was an exciting period for us. Personally I like ‘The Trouble We’re In’ although I seem to remember we were all really ill at the time of recording that song. We were all together in the studio for weeks on end so we’d all managed to catch this hideous flu like virus and you can really hear it in Mark’s vocal when you know that, but it just conjures up those long days for me listening to it now.

We were doing loads of odd sampling in my parents’ garage, dropping tools and bashing different things to create the percussion on that track. Layered up multiple takes of us clapping at the end to create a gospel type feel as it fades out. It just brings back up all those memories. Also, the time we spent at Home Studios was an amazing adventure. We stayed in three different hotels over a three week period and got to know Hamburg like a second home.

Looking back, how was ‘Who Watches Over Me?’ received in Europe when it was released? 

From our existing fanbase, it was received with open arms and the reviews in all the dark scene magazines were excellent. I think our only gripe was with Sony. We had what we thought was a great album, everyone knew it was something special but we were such a small fish at Sony and I think their focus was on their bigger artists.

They got it into all the mainstream music outlets and had it featured on a lot of the listening posts but the publicity wasn’t great. We did get a review and interview in Rolling Stone magazine which was quite an achievement. The album did actually chart in the top 100 which was something for us, but with more of a push from them I think it could have broken down more barriers for us than it did but…

But things were not all well at Home Records and apart from MESH, one of the other casualties was Karl Bartos of KRAFTWERK, so what happened from your point of view?

Maybe it was the fact it was a new market for them as they were essentially a dance label with Sony Columbia’s backing, so I think they may have struggled with a strategy in this genre and trying to break into the mainstream. We were covered in all the usual magazines and media (which we had before) and limited amounts of radio play, but breaking new ground and establishing yourself was difficult to maintain.

We actually did a show case gig at the launch of the label in Hamburg and Karl Bartos was our support. Unbelievable the godfather of electronic music supporting us???! I think he may have suffered the same fate as us. I think their hearts were in it, but maybe that last piece of the puzzle for opening new doors was missing. Our time with them was amazing and a real eye opener to the real world of the music business that not many people get to experience. As a label they were really cool guys and great people to work with.

While ‘Who Watches Over Me?’ did not achieve a British breakthrough, the overall momentum got Gareth Jones interested enough to work with you?

Yes, Gareth was originally earmarked to do ‘Who Watches Over Me?’, but we felt the DEPECHE MODE connection which he was synonymous with wasn’t good for us so we initially turned it down. When we started on ‘We Collide’, his name came up again and we thought “yeah what the hell” and that was another exciting chapter…

Having had the major label experience and been with Dependent since 2009 for ‘A Perfect Solution’, what would you say to artists now about whether to sign on the dotted line?

That’s a tricky one really. In all honesty, I think being on a small enthusiastic label is better than signing with a major label that has big artists to deal with. The money and experience was fantastic but I’m not so sure it’s like that these days. There certainly isn’t the money anymore and I think maybe a more internet based label with streaming and social media experience is a better option nowadays.

How do you think ‘Who Watches Over Me?’ sits within the MESH portfolio now as four albums have come since?

I personally think it sits there just right. It was a huge step forward for us and it’s all documented in that album. It still sounds like us as we had creative control but maybe it’s more professionally polished.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Richard Silverthorn

‘Who Watches Over Me?’ was released by Home Records / Sony Music

http://www.mesh.co.uk/

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https://www.instagram.com/meshwecollide/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
24th June 2020

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