Author: electricityclub (Page 235 of 419)

“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

MIDGE URE Orchestrated

1 December 2017 /


Giving your back catalogue an orchestral rework has become the thing to do of late, be it using classical musicians as a bolster for a full band performance such as the farewell live A-HA shows at the Royal Albert Hall, or the recent performances by the likes of COVENANT, VNV NATION or OOMPH as part of the Gothic Meets Classics concerts where synths are replaced by wood, brass and strings.

Another band that performed on the GMC stage were MESH whose recently released ‘Live at Neues Gewandhaus Leipzig’ shows how well electronically realised songs can transfer over to an Orchestral setting.

The melding of pop/rock and classical performers is nothing new of course. From DEEP PURPLE and the Royal Philharmonic at the Royal Albert Hall (a performance that was famously conducted by Malcolm Arnold who on hearing that the classical musicians were being ‘sniffy’ towards their rock brethren told them they weren’t fit to tie Purple’s “f*cking bootlaces…”) to the ill advised ELP US orchestral tour of the USA, many have made the foray into placing their songs under the baton.

One musician who has worked with large orchestral groups over the years is Midge Ure. In the past, he has performed with the likes of SCHILLER to spectacular effect live on ‘Let it Rise’ and with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at the Ryder Cup concert where ‘Vienna’ brought the house down. He has also played a number of the Night Of The Proms shows over the years, so is no stranger to working and reworking material in this setting.

So to his latest release, ‘Orchestrated’, a collection of ULTRAVOX and solo career songs arranged by the composer Ty Unwin, who’s work will be familiar to anyone that has watched a BBC documentary over the last 10 years. A graduate of Huddersfield University, which fittingly is in Billy Currie’s hometown, Unwin has assisted Ure in bringing out the drama and at times hidden depths in a group of familiar songs.

Opening with a sweeping ‘Hymn’, the album quickly sets out its stall. The arrangements on all the pieces are pretty much as on the original recordings which is sensible, as an album like this can become a hard sell if presented more esoterically.

Few could argue that the music of ULTRAVOX and to an extent Ure as a solo artist doesn’t drip with drama and this is shown to immediate effect on ‘Hymn’ with the tension of the original maintained throughout.

Next is one of my standouts on the album, ‘Dancing With Tears in My Eyes’. I will admit this track is one of my least favourite ULTRAVOX releases, I always thought that at least one other track on ‘Lament’ would have made a better single (more of which later…) but here, it is quite frankly spectacular. Slowed down and driven by a plaintive piano, Ure’s voice is dripping in sadness and regret that the original rockier setting didn’t allow.

On the subject of Midge’s vocal… he has frankly never sounded better. Always ‘some chanter’ as we say in Glasgow, his vocal now has a depth and richness that many of his peers would kill to have. As a front man, Ure always favoured letting his talent do the talking without resorting ‘rockstar’ histrionics and few can hold a candle to the voice he now has, irrespective of age or stadium filling ability.

The arrangement on ‘Breathe’ with be familiar to anyone that has seen the acoustic tours undertaken of late. ‘Man of Two Worlds’, the track I alluded to as being a more suitable UK single release from ‘Lament’, goes for the full cinematic treatment with sweeping strings and romantic underpinning to the female vocal coda.

‘If I Was’ and ‘Vienna’ are here because they are expected to be and these versions add little to the originals and I’m still not sure about the guitar soloing on the later as opposed to Billy’s viola, but the original is so iconic nothing is going to replace its power and beauty.

‘The Voice’ gallops along wonderfully and highlights clearly those classical influences Billy Currie brought to ULTRAVOX with the familiar themes in this song still recognisable performed by a different set of instrumentation. ‘Ordinary Man’ is the only new song on the album and wouldn’t be out of place in a West End musical.

Like the 2014 ‘Fragile’ album show that Ure still has songwriting chops a plenty in an age where a six minute plod can be hailed as an epic/classic from other artists, he grabs the opportunity presented by the setting. It will be interesting to see if in the future he flips this into an electronic band arrangement.

Next my favourite track on the album, a spectacular reworking of ‘(I Remember) Death in the Afternoon’ from ‘Rage In Eden’. Building from a swirling string part the driving synthesised throb of the original is replicated easily by cellos and basses. The rock drums are retained which means this version needs to be played loud!

‘Lament’ actually adds a bass synth and follows the original’s template as does ‘Reap The Wild Wind’, before closer ‘Fragile’ brings the album to marvellous close with a signature Ure guitar solo reminding us of his and the song’s rock roots.

‘Orchestrated’ as noted earlier sensibly both keeps it familiar and allows Unwin free rein to work the songs into at times memorable versions. This is clearly not the sound of an artist who is either releasing a career end quick buck maker or who has run out of ideas. A recommended release and I didn’t even miss those ARP solos, well not that much…

‘Orchestrated’ is released by BMG in CD and digital formats

MIDGE URE’s Band Electronica’ will be the special guest of THE HUMAN LEAGUE on the following 2018 dates:

Southend Cliffs Pavilion (21st November), Brighton Centre (23rd November), Manchester Arena (24th November), Glasgow SEC Armadillo (25th November), New Castle City Hall (27th November), Cambridge Corn Exchange (28th November), Bournemouth BIC Winter Hall (30th November), Birmingham Arena (1st December), Cardiff Motorpoint Arena (2nd December), Leicester De Montfort Hall ( 4th December), Nottingham Royal Concert Hall (5th December), Sheffield Fly DSA Arena (7th December), London Hammersmith Apollo (8th December)

http://www.midgeure.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/midge.ure/

https://twitter.com/midgeure1

Text by Ian Ferguson
1st December 2017

MICHAEL OAKLEY Interview

30 November 2017 /

Whether he’s categorised as synthwave or synthpop, Glaswegian singer / songwriter Michael Oakley is one of the best new talents of have emerged within electronic pop in 2017.

Oakley’s EP ‘California’ is one of the strongest debut releases of the year, featuring a sextet of “Melancholic postcards from my heart wrapped up in synthesisers and drum machines”.

Michael Oakley kindly chatted about his new life in Canada, growing up in Scotland where he was a pupil at Williamwood High School in East Renfrewshire and how the emergence of synthwave as an entity of its own has allowed Oakley to find an outlet for his love of music…

So, how are you settling in Canada?

It’s good, I’ve probably settled in better now that the weather’s shifted and it’s colder! Yesterday when I was out I felt “Oh this is comfortable” and it was like 2 degrees! We had a heatwave recently where it was hotter than any of the days I’ve been in California recently and I had to stay indoors…

So to start a bit of history… tell us about how you got to where you are today…

I loved music from when I was a wee boy. The first band I really got obsessed with was NEW ORDER. As far as becoming a musician I loved picking out melodies on a keyboard, the likes of Michael Jackson, I loved his melodies, really catchy.

My father pushed me towards doing lessons which I hated, at the time you don’t see the benefit of them and did that for a couple of years, then moved more towards teaching myself as I was far more interested in synthesizers and how to make sounds and stuff.

So were you a musical family? Did you have a piano at home or was it that you were interested and like most of us started with a Casio at Christmas?

Exactly a Casio, a CT-310 that was my mother’s which was passed to me. My dad is musical and is still playing in his 70s. As I said, he pushed me towards doing lessons but I felt I would have become one of those guys stuck on a piece of paper reading music not playing and for me, I would play by ear and do my own thing with what I heard.

I started buying cheap synths, learnt how to use them and sell them on and buy something else. So one month I’d have a Yamaha DX7, sell that and get a Korg M1 or a Poly 800…

So you were getting these secondhand?

That’s right yeah, and they were really cheap, I got my Poly800 for 80 quid. The guy I got my M1 from, you could tell was selling it cos he needed the money…

We’ve all done it…

Yeah I had a full setup before I bought a laptop; I had Juno 106, Akai Samplers, a Roland XP-80 and I sold all of it in order to buy a laptop for 1500 quid that could barely run 5 instruments. In hindsight though, I’m more productive now I have everything in a computer rather than having a hardware set-up.

On a laptop, you can press ‘save’ when you are working on an idea and load up the next file immediately, whereas with hardware you have to repatch things, find sounds etc and it take 10 minutes as opposed to 10 seconds and then you’re like “Sh*t, what was it I wanted to do again…?”

It’s way easier, for me it’s finding stuff that works… initially you want to get an idea off the ground, even a 16 bar loop to get things going. It’s what DEADMAU5 does, takes a 32 bar loop and work that, extending it, dropping bits out, changing sounds

I like his stuff a lot…

Yeah he’s one of the better ones. I find a lot of modern EDM sounds the same, homogenised, generic, and formulaic. There’s not a lot of new stuff coming out of that area that catches my attention and he is one of the ones that is always interesting.

I prefer folk like ULRICH SCHNAUSS, those guys make synthesizers talk. It’s funny as this morning, I bought a software recreation of the Emulator 2 and it’s amazing that so many of my favourite artists have used that keyboard: DEPECHE MODE, TANGERINE DREAM, DAVID BOWIE, PET SHOP BOYS. I’m not really interested in new synthesizers. it’s the ones from yesteryear that I like

That moves us on to my next question nicely. You’re a bit younger than me, so your influences wouldn’t have been current bands for you…?

Absolutely, when I was getting into music it was the early 90s and I had this whole back catalogue of stuff to shift through. The first bands I got into were NEW ORDER, I was obsessed with them and PET SHOP BOYS, blown away by them. DURAN DURAN, TEARS FOR FEARS AND DEPECHE MODE. Depeche are one of the bands I listen to now and still feel the same way when I hear their music, just wow…

So was it an older sibling that had those records that got you listening to them…?

Yeah my sister had a large record collection and she had all the ‘Now’ compilations and I’d be like ‘oh right, who’s STARSHIP? Who are FOREIGNER? ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’? That’s great.’

I’d discover all these sounds… I found 80s music far more colourful and interesting than 90s music, I’ve come to appreciate a lot of that now, but at the time, I found 90s music so dull and boring and depressing.

A lot of the bands from that synth period at that time either split, went into hiatus or were less prolific because of the ‘Britpop’ backlash against technology etc?

The only band that survived during that period were Depeche and I guess bizarrely PET SHOP BOYS who have this weird ‘Art School’ vibe about them. I’m not a fan of the newer stuff but they rode it out.

Then you’ve got folk like the guy from OMD. It’s hard to believe he wrote all that ATOMIC KITTEN stuff, but that’s how he survived that period.

And OMD are back some would say now better than ever…

Exactly!

So was it always you intention to be a musician? You went to University in Glasgow?

Yeah I went to Strathclyde and did a BA in Applied Music. I did that which was my formal training, but nothing I learned on that course has benefitted me in what I’m doing now.

Was that because of the way the curriculum was put together or that the course itself wasn’t able to keep up with the technology…?

Funny you should say that, as the course wasn’t particularly catered to individuals, it was very structured and formal. The first course I went to was showing off the Yamaha digital mixer we were going to use and everyone was “Wow!!!” and 2 years later it was superseded.

I was already working as a musician and the course was geared more towards how to read notation, working on your instrument which for me was singing, I did find a benefit there as I had a great vocal coach, but apart from that I don’t remember much from it so…

So your business model is based around an online presence?

Yeah, it’s something I’ve worked on in the last year. I’ve been really surprised as when I started, I wasn’t intending to do anything with the songs, I was just making the music I loved when I was growing up.

I used to write in bands before and it’s funny as the retro thing was taboo and you could do a little bit, but had to keep what you were doing mainstream and that bored me.

The last thing I did in a band didn’t work out, so I hadn’t written for the best part of 5 years. I did a few demos which didn’t really go anywhere. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, then I discovered this wonderful scene, synthwave music, a homage to the decade and it was the perfect opportunity to have a place the music would be accepted.

I wasn’t particularly planning to release the material, it was more I could make the music I grew up with making the sounds I love. It was just for to enjoy and that’s where all the stuff on ‘California’ came from…

…that brings us nicely to the EP. It seems to come from quite a personal place?

I came out of a long term relationship which ended quite badly and had to move back to my father’s place for a while which was quite humbling. Getting used to being on my own again, waking up daily and doing things for one person, not two. I started writing as in the previous years, I didn’t feel as though I had much to talk about. I didn’t know what I was going to say, the words came as I was making the music. The songs came from a lot of heartache but also new love, meeting someone else, all types of different love songs.

The mainstream Adult Oriented Rock sound comes from my background, when I was writing in a band… I love pop music, old school pop music, when pop was about great songwriting and musicianship. People like Elton John and Billy Joel are my songwriting heroes. If I’m looking for inspiration for songwriting, the guys I listen to are Elton john, Don McLean, Bruce Springsteen… the classic 70s song writers.

The song writing was better in the 70s but the sonic palette reached its peak in the 80s.

I agree up to a point in the 80s, it all went a bit wrong for me after about ‘87…

Absolutely! But it was all brand new. Synthesizers were out of reach for most people. Only people like Trevor Horn or Peter Gabriel could buy things like the Yamaha CS-80 or the Fairlight. Then things became affordable, couple of 1000 quid and then folk could afford it. Then you had the likes of Gary Numan getting hold of a Polymoog, DURAN DURAN etc… Numan suffered though at the hands of the press and his career never really recovered though he is out here on tour at the moment.

That happened to a lot of those acts. It’s interesting you mention that as one of the things I wanted to ask was if you have noticed a difference between the ‘scene’ in the UK in comparison to North America in terms of support etc

There’s a huge difference. One of the things I’m relieved about leaving the UK is that there is way more support, more grassroots encouragement. Back home, there’s a negative, glass half empty mentality, a “don’t put all your eggs in one basket mindset”…

That’s a very West Coast of Scotland / UK thing though?

Totally!

There are a lot of Scots making this style of music like Col Bennett and FM-84, THE VAN DAMMAGE and even CHVRCHES to an extent. What is it about this style of music that attracts Scots, is it because you can see the glass is capable of being full…?

I think it’s not so much the style, it’s really more like we are writing a love letter to the 80s. We all wish this music was still being made and now with the technology available to us, we can do it and do it ‘better’ as a lot of people couldn’t afford studio time whereas now… you can buy a Windows laptop for 400 quid and instantly start recording, there’s no limitations so a lot of guys that wouldn’t have had the opportunity to express themselves can now, which is great.

I’m not long away from Glasgow but I can already start to see the differences. There’s not really any sort of a scene in Scotland or Glasgow. I don’t know if that’s symptomatic of negativity or whatever… the last big band to come out of Glasgow were FRANZ FERDINAND, yeah CHVRCHES too… FF get played regularly in clubs here and are very popular. I didn’t come into the world to do the 9 to 5 and go home and watch Netflix, the potential for something to maybe happen keeps me going. I see a lot of people back home that have had their spirits crushed.

It’s the same across all genres in the UK sadly, be it Prog, Punk, Metal…

Yeah, venues are closing etc. Funny you mention that though. I was in a band and one of the things that started my enthusiasm to wane was the whole pay to play thing.

It was ridiculous, I’d play a wedding on a Friday night and get paid £250 and the following night, pay that away to play my own music. It’s one of the things that is killing music. Albeit you may not get paid but when you bring folk along who will be putting money across the bar too… it’s like what the f*ck…??

It’s interesting you say it’s a lot more supportive in North America…

Most of my support comes from North America, California most ironically. Then it’s Germany, Brazil and France. I’ve been very fortunate to have the support of New Retro Wave… I’m not even an artist on their label, but every track I’ve released has been put on their station. That’s done wonders for me, without that support I wouldn’t have continued. I sent them ‘Rabbit In The Headlights’ and since then, it’s had 160K plus plays on the site which is gratifying but saddening too as that sort of exposure you would think would lead to an act breaking out.

Music has changed, in some ways for the better as the playing field is much more level for independent artists, but you can’t make a living from it. It’s madness. I know we spoke about the fact some of the big bands that you assume are doing great business their members have day jobs.

I remember one of the guys that was in a 90s boy band ended up working in Footlocker… all right I suppose boy bands aren’t real musicians but they aren’t making any money, they are expendable, part of the product, It’s all about how many units you can sell, bums on seats!

Talking of bums on seats, do you sit at the piano to write, strum on a guitar… what’s your approach?

I have a couple of ways I do it… I may sit at the piano and get a chord progression and melody down most of the time. However, it comes from when I’ve set the mood, layering various synthesizer sounds and creating I guess a world. Usually at that point I know I’m onto something especially when I get that emotional connection and the words come to me.

Usually those revolve around how I feel at the time. I will as I say sit at the piano but it’s most often the sonic landscape, the atmosphere, the mood. I approach each song almost as a standalone and each of the songs on the EP sounds different because of that. One of my biggest influences are power ballads, it’s the only genre you can get away with the cheesier lyrics as the music reflects and supports that sort of approach

So is everything done on a computer now?

It is, I have a fast MacBook, a soundcard and a couple of controller keyboards. Strangely, I have a little Korg controller which I find I work better using, as when you’re confined to just 2 octaves, it forces you to find melodies, that’s what it’s all about, finding a melody.

I’m unusual as I use Propellerhead’s Reason as my DAW, I do use Ableton too but very seldomly, that’s mostly for collaborations out here as it’s the software of choice of a lot of guys so we can bounce things back and forth.

Reason for me sounds fantastic, the in-box synths are great. I have a large sound library and the latest version supports VST so I can use standalone softsynths… so I have Sylenth, the TAL-Juno softsynth and Darklight which is a Fairlight emulation… I’m obsessed with the Fairlight. So few folk could afford a Fairlight, it was guys like Gabriel, Trevor Horn, Kate Bush now I have one!

That is interesting as your stuff doesn’t sound as though it’s all done ‘in box’. All power to your programming skills, I imagined you had a load of hardware sitting on an A-Frame in your studio…

That probably my Ulrich Schnauss influence, he makes synths sound really organic. The sounds evolve and have more movement. I will try and make the sound less static. I have a really good sound library. You need to make your own library, they can be presets but having instant access to sounds means ideas can happen right away with sounds that support them, you can change the sound later…

I layer a lot of stuff. It’s better to have melodies that compliment and counter one another. A lot of folk stuff things together, they sound alright but arrangements get cluttered. It’s better to have layers and let the track breath in and out. I get obsessed, it’s easy to buy a softsynth and never use it. I fell out of love with for example the Arturia stuff, I gave the license away as I wasn’t using it…

Are you going out to do any live work?

I’m currently working on a live show but I don’t want to just turn up and hit play on a sequencer, I want to build something different. You can buy the record if you want to hear that. It will be with a couple of other guys. I just want to build the fan base, get more people to hear the music and get as many folk to share it which is more important to me.

A lot of the shows are getting excellent crowds. I was at THE MIDNIGHT show on Saturday at the Globe, a really prestigious venue in Los Angeles, and it was a sell-out, 1500 paying customers… sold all the merchandise which has inspired me for my own live shows.

What’s next…?

I’m working of new material but that musician insecurity of how will I do that again is kicking in… hopefully ready by summer 2018. I’m releasing an instrumental version of ‘California’ and there are a remixes in the pipeline too in time for my birthday on the 3rd January. Just keeping pushing the EP, find ways of getting folk to listen to my music

Meant to ask, what’s the day job…?

Believe it or not, I actually do sound design for companies like the Patchbay and Samplemagic, I create patches for synths and I do the occasional cover set here in bars etc at the weekend.

So do you ever when you’re doing sound design hit a patch and think, I’m keeping that one for myself?

I think of it in terms of nobody will use that sound the way I use it. I released a soundbank for Spire with a load of my own patches on there and there was a time in my life when I would have been quite egotistical and said “Hell no, they aren’t getting my sounds!” but I won’t use that sound again, so if they are willing to pay for that sound why not. You can’t be too precious!

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Michael Oakley

‘California’ is available as a download EP in song and instrumental variants from https://michaeloakleysynthwave.bandcamp.com

A limited edition purple vinyl and cassette edition is released by Timeslave Recordings, available at https://timeslaves.bandcamp.com/album/california

https://www.michael-oakley.com/

https://www.facebook.com/MichaelOakleyOfficial

https://twitter.com/MichaelOakleySW

https://www.instagram.com/michaeloakleyofficial/

Text and Interview by Ian Ferguson
30th November 2017, updated 20th January 2018

JORI HULKKONEN Don’t Believe In Happiness

27 November 2017 /

In the frozen depths of the Synthy Nordic basin hides one of the greatest European music producers, turning out accomplished pieces of capable electronica, both for himself and as the part of various collaborations with JOHN FOXX, PROCESSORY and SIN COS TAN.

Finland’s finest Jori Hulkkonen released his first album ‘Selkäsaari Tracks’ in 1996.

However he first came to the world’s wider audience as ZYNTHERIUS with TIGA on their 2001 electro cover of ‘Sunglasses At Night’

The love of Detroit techno has always added a certain dose of magical rhythmic edge to his productions, although bred on the likes of JOHN FOXX, PET SHOP BOYS and NEW ORDER’s synthesis, the man from Turku on the southwest coast of Finland, creates his very own discernible sound.

Keen to explore unusual possibilities of synthesis, the Finn assembled a group of nine like-minded buddies, where each of them operated a little acid box of crafts, otherwise known as the Roland TB-303, conducted and mixed by the man himself. The project called THE ACID SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA famously supported KRAFTWERK during their Finnish date in 2009.

To add to his interesting outings, Hulkkonen joined forces with his fellow Finn Jimi Tenor to showcase their silent movie ‘Nuntius’, which improvised soundtrack was presented to live audiences for a unique audio visual experience. But presently, the Finnish master returns with a brand new album, ‘Don’t Believe In Happiness’, marking the release of his long player number twenty!

And indeed from the opening ‘Tintån Terdel’, with its pleasantly satisfying star gazing textures à la early PSB, offers floaty qualities of capable musicality, until the gratifyingly uncomplicated ‘New Ideologies’, Hulkkonen takes one onto a journey of the familiar unknown. The title track glides masterfully over the sedate instrumentation; soothingly enticing and teasing, while ‘I’m Just A Phase I’m Going Through’ introduces more powerful synth beats and the faster tempo.

‘We Will Tear Love Apart Again’ steadies the beat into a mantra, which hypnotises and mystifies, while ‘Lowlife Crises’ generates the nostalgia for the easy listening tracks from the best synth years. The arty, GAZELLE TWIN-like elements are introduced in ‘Reach Out To China’. The excellently synthesized noises capitulate to the simplistic melody, to be reintroduced towards the end of the track, creating an open-closed masterpiece of electronic pleasure.

‘I Think About Your Car When I Drive Mine’ shines with the use of assorted synth noises, only to progress into the inconspicuous ‘Sometimes You Win, But Not Very Often’.

The rhythms reminiscent of MOLOKO dazzle on ‘I Am The Night’ and ‘Moon Is Real’. With a more defined beat and creative use of instrumentation, Hulkkonen creates his very own take on bossa nova, Suomi style. They’re the two perfect dance tracks.

‘Water Wars 2021-2027’ brings the futuristic vision of sci-fi inspired things to come. Almost tribal, the ringing rhythms manage to anaesthetise and stupefy, meandering through the computerised textures and vivacious elements. ‘Don’t Believe In Happiness’ is like being taken onto a journey into the depths of yourself, discovering the familiar unfamiliarities and being soothed by the powerful self, all at the same moment.

Opus number twenty marks the number of the gratifying achievements, all coming out from within. It’s sedate yet uplifting, grandiose yet simplistic, raw yet polished to perfection.

Jori Hulkkonen has reached the status of god and he deserves every inch of the success that comes his way. With the ergonomic musical design to suit all users, this record is simply superb.

‘Don’t Believe In Happiness’ is released by My Favorite Robot Records

http://www.jorihulkkonen.com

https://www.facebook.com/JoriHulkkonen/

https://twitter.com/jorihulkkonen

Text by Monika Izabela Trigwell
27th November 2017

GIRL ONE & THE GREASE GUNS The Strange Little Lies That Humans Draw In The Dust

26 November 2017 /

Of GIRL ONE & THE GREASE GUNS, Undo Records say “Imagine a place where THE HUMAN LEAGUE meet LUSH, but on the way they stumble on Sarah Records’ Heavenly and all together, they finally meet Alan Vega and SUICIDE!!! Confused, that’s the point!!”

GIRL ONE & THE GREASE GUNS are shrouded in mystery… their names Sissy Space Echo, Warren Betamax, Charles Bronson Burner and Bruce LeeFax confirm their intentions “to thrive on causing confusion with a mixture of pure synthpop and more experimental electronic sounds”.

They came to the attention of small UK indie label Squirrel Records by placing a cassette under the windscreen wiper of a car outside the label’s HQ! Since 2013, they have released a series of vinyl singles. But now, all their recordings have been compiled on a singular CD by Undo Records, snappily titled ‘The Strange Little Lies That Humans Draw In The Dust’.

Containing the dysfunctional indie synthpop of ‘Driving Without Headlights (Once Again)’ and the noise fest of ‘(I’m A) Willing Receiver’, this pair of paranoid dystopian ditties served as the opening gambit of GIRL ONE & THE GREASE GUNS.

But it was their accessible second single ‘Jessica 6’ that got the mysterious combo some wider attention. A tribute to the cult Sci-Fi favourite ‘Logan’s Run’, the eerie post-punk cacophony of sound laced with icy Yamaha string machine and a frantic reverbed backbeat was a frantic salvo that came over like THE PIPETTES fronting an OMD assisted JOY DIVISION.

The brilliantly titled ‘Bring On The Dancing Horse Meat’ on the flip showcased some sexily nonchalant vocals from Sissy alongside a barrage of low-fi guitars and a battered Casio. Despite being capable of melody, GIRL ONE & THE GREASE GUNS couldn’t help their progressive mechanical desolation, as proven by their third single ‘(Here Come) The Catastrophe Machines’, basically ‘Nag Nag Nag’ but more violent!

Indeed, ultra-violence was a recurring theme as titles like ‘Hitting The Brick Wall’, ‘The Nightmare Room’ and ‘Bashed, Beaten & Broken (Trip The Switch)’ proved. But despite this, a song like ‘The Shatterproof Man’ sparkled with pretty melodies like early OMD meets THE RONETTES despite the detuned synth backing.

GIRL ONE & THE GREASE GUNS actually revealed a much softer side with their marvellous fourth single ‘No Longer Spellbound’. With its beautiful atmospheric quality smothered in icy synth strings and grainy vox samples, if ‘Twins Peaks’ had been set in The Lake District, then the theme tune might have sounded like this.

All bases were covered with a version of ‘Veronica’ originally by punksters THE MANHATTAN LOVE SUICIDES treated with some frantic pulsing electronics, while the feisty ‘Suburban Robot’ recalled the magic of early LADYTRON. An unsettling dysfunctional waltz shaped ‘The Creep Circus’ which only added to the oddball but tuneful fun and this was without THE NORMAL inspired ‘Jesus On The Grille’.

With their DIY noise and motorik backbone, this compilation of GIRL ONE & THE GREASE GUNS is like the winter of discontent set to music and an ideal soundtrack for the current frosty climate. Yes, it’s time to fuel that paraffin heater until the combo release their first album proper…

With thanks to Undo Records

‘The Strange Little Lies That Humans Draw In The Dust’ is released on CD by Undo Records

http://www.squirrelrecords.co.uk/girl-one-and-the-grease-guns/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Girl-One-And-The-Grease-Guns/440754999339179

http://www.undorecords.com

Text by Chi Ming Lai
26th November 2017

SOFTWAVE Interview

25 November 2017 /

Danish duo SOFTWAVE impressed on their debut London live performance in 2017.

Featuring engaging lead singer Catrine Christensen and technical wizard Jerry Olsen, their first EP ‘Together Alone’ was a six track collection of appealing Nordic synthpop.

A remixed version of the EP, naturally titled ‘Together Alone – The Remixes’ actually managed to improve several of the numbers, particularly with Jerry’s Alternate Version of the catchy ‘On & On & On’. Catrine and Jerry took time out for a lengthy chat.

Which artists have inspired SOFTWAVE, whether synthy or not?

Catrine: Before knowing about ERASURE and the existence of electronic music at all, the female vocalists who inspired me the most was Celine Dion, Tina Turner, Madonna, Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavigne. You might think that’s quit an unusual mix, and it is. I have always liked listening to different kind of music to discover new artists and new sounds. I got to know about Celine Dion, after seeing the world premiere of ‘Titanic’ in 1997. ‘My Heart Will Go On’ is therefore my favourite of hers, and yes, I have been singing it A LOT since 😉

Tina Turner inspired me because I saw the movie ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’, an authentic movie about her tough life experiences. I was amazed about her strong attitude and not to forget her deep and extremely powerful vocal.

Madonna’s catchy melodies, vocal, simple sing able lyrics and music videos inspired me and Gwen Stefani, because of her beautiful innocent look and nice female vocal. Avril Lavigne was a skategirl and at that time I was one too, so the song that inspired me the most when I was 14, was ‘Sk8boy’! But after meeting Jerry in 2007 at Culture Box, a famous Danish electronic club, I discovered electronic music. I was overwhelmed by Jerry’s huge interest in it and the unique sounds he produced himself and never heard by no one else but him and his closest friends.

Jerry: For me, my inspiration is all synthy. DEPECHE MODE, SOFT CELL, YAZOO and various artists from the 80s and especially ERASURE as they are my favourite band. It’s not like we try to sound like any of them, we are very focused on not getting too cheesy. We want to sound like us, but with elements from mentioned acts.

Catrine: Jerry was the one who told me about ERASURE for the first time in my life. I remember seeing a live video where Andy Bell was jumping around on stage in silly clothes, fearless and expressing the songs to the audience in a fascinating lovely way. I loved him right away, his performances made me happy. I had never seen anything like it before. At that particular moment, I got motivated to sing on stage immediately. To give away positive energy, that’s the purpose of my life. And being a singer is the best way to do it.

Today I’m pretty much inspired by the 80s sound and think it’s important to produce songs with great music, lyrics and vocals, so not just having vocals up front and the music just left in background with a sound of a simple beat.

No, I love the music from the 80s because it reminds me of my lovely childhood when my big brother still lived home, he was born in 1978 and always listened to 80s music. Besides ERASURE, I’m also inspired by EURYTHMICS, YAZOO, KAVINSKY, CODE 64, EMPATHY TEST, NINA (and her amazing drummer Laura) and Danish artists like MATHILDE FALCH, SØS FENGER and NEPHEW.

What is the usual creative dynamic with SOFTWAVE?

Catrine: New ideas and deadlines with exciting goals make us creative. Jerry usually produces a demo, consisting of a beat or chords, for me to listen to. If Jerry’s idea inspires me, I will automatically come up with great vocal melodies. If Jerry likes my idea, we stick to the track and continue working on it until it’s finished.

Jerry: When we started out, it was basically me creating an almost finished track but now we start with just chords, a simple beat and Catrine’s final vocal melody before we move on and make it an actual track. That seems to work a lot better.

Catrine: Usually it takes a long time for us to finish, but we don’t want to hurry up finishing the tracks we produce and then end up with a lot tracks, but crap. NO, we want to develop our skills during the progress and learn from our mistakes so that we can improve the productions. Also feedback from the audience encourages our creativity, so no one should ever hesitate telling us their real opinion.

How do you look back on the ‘Together Alone’ EP?

Jerry: I’m both proud and embarrassed at the same time. Proud, because it was our first ever musical project and because neither of us have any education or anything regarding music composition or production. Embarrassed, because when you compare our music to so many others, I can hear that there is room for improvement all across the board. And as me being my own worst critic, it’s easy to feel that it’s not good enough at all.

Catrine: It was tough completing it since the EP was our first release ever. It took us about two years. We established SOFTWAVE back in 2014 and at that particular moment, we decided to build a soundproof studio (Blue Orange Studio) to be able to produce good quality music and great clean vocal recordings. The debut EP was kind of a test. Actually, we didn’t think people would like it, we just had to follow our common dream to see what happened or else we might not ever get the opportunity again.

What was the thinking behind the remix version of ‘Together Alone’? Was it about improvement or reinterpretation?

Jerry: The initial thought was reinterpretation, we thought it would be fun to hear other artists’ versions of our tracks. We hoped for just one or two remixes but got contacted by several artists who wanted to work with us and that was really a pleasant surprise for us. It ended up being an improvement for our tracks as well as an interpretation.

Catrine: The remix compilation is the result of the popularity of the ‘Together Alone’ EP outside of Denmark. Support from around the world helped us to reach our audience in a way we could never have done by ourselves. The thinking behind the remixes was to give other great producers the opportunity to ad their sound and creativity to our tracks, help them to be spotted and hopefully inspire us and others.

It felt naturally to do a remix version after the EP since we don’t have a huge repertoire and are new to how things worked in the music industry. To hear other producers’ versions of our music was very exciting because they came from Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Israel, USA and Mexico. They added a lot of different sounds and we pretty much got inspired by them, they did a great job.

But actually the originally plan was only to produce about 3 remixes in total which turned out to be 9, we were surprised how many who showed their interest. Patrik Kambo was the first one to produce a remix for ‘On & On & On’ – we were asked by Ingo Möller from Conzoom Records to make an extended version of our own songs and sent it to him to be part of the ‘Electropop’ compilation series. It never happened, so we decided to do a remix compilation. Also, don’t forget Jerry’s alternate version of ‘On & On & On’ which we think is better than the original.

Things appear to have gone up a level for SOFTWAVE since the ‘On & On & On’ remix video and your London debut?

Catrine: Yes it did, I guess everything was perfect timing even though the release of the music video and remix EP was delayed.

Jerry: It has and it’s funny because lately we haven’t released any new music, it’s just people who still seem to discover our EP and Remix EP. It’s kind of like a freight train, slow start but when it’s up to speed, it’s difficult to stop again and just rolls on by itself. So apart from a couple of live gigs in Denmark, it’s mostly due to Catrine’s excellent PR skills that we are getting the attention we get.

The new found attention has exposed you to the good and bad sides of the music business; what do you think you have learnt over the last 12 months?

Catrine: That it’s very important to be a good team and get in contact with the right people. A good team meaning, be able to work creatively and constructive together, no matter ups and downs in the process of building up a band. I could never had done this alone, or Jerry either.

It has been a very tough adventure for me so far as Jerry controls the music part and I, everything else to make our dream come true. It’s not a secret that I’m a fighter and if I meet a conflict such as people that don’t find our music or story interesting enough for their projects, I just find another way around. The truth is, that there always is another way as long as you don’t quit fighting and believe in yourself and your dreams to come true. The moment you don’t believe it will happen it won’t.

So I do my best not to get to much influenced by what other people think of our band and just keep trying to be even better. The last 12 months I have learnt that deadlines are hard to comply, that’s why I love to write down schedules all the time. I have plenty of to-do and who to contact lists. Thank God, or else I couldn’t manage all this traffic that is going on when I administer the band.

I have also learnt that it is very expensive to have a band, especially if you want to move forward and reach a bigger audience. In the beginning I didn’t care because we needed this so badly and had to move fast. When I look back, I see that a lot that was spent was never returned to us as a huge amount on our bank accounts as we wished for. BUT I also see that every day, our band gets more attention worldwide, more views, followers, listeners, promoters etc. and everything happens because of our great network and supporters who seems to like our music pretty much. I believe in SOFTWAVE and I feel a bright future is near!

Jerry: So far, we have almost only been exposed to the good part of the music business, we are very fortunate to have met so many great people. Everybody around us has been very kind to us, and that’s both here at home and in London. So I would say that I have learned how things are supposed to be like when it’s “right”. If something deviates totally from how things are now, there’s probably something wrong. People who enter the music business and start off by knowing the bad guys think “Oh so that’s just how it’s supposed to be like”.

I can’t imagine we will ever find ourselves in that place as we are not dependant on some sh*tty mainstream label to exploit us as we make our own money through our jobs. We do this first and foremost because we love music, not for the money. It’s very hard this way but we are our own masters, so to speak.

Is there any advice you would give to acts starting out?

Catrine: Everything is possible if you believe in yourself and what you stand for, so please show it to the world and the world will give you back – Be patient, success takes time!

Don’t work on a project all alone. Be kind to the people you meet and they might be kind to you as well. There will also be a good chance of being remembered. Why be bad when you can be good?!

Jerry: Be aware that the DIY method and having a full-time job at the same time while making progress in the music business can have a really big impact on your private life. It gets frustrating at times when you don’t have enough spare time…

Remember in these times where getting a record label deal is rare and you have to do it all yourselves, it’s not only making music but also PR, keeping in touch with other artists and business contacts, it’s merchandise and live performances, so I suggest outsourcing as much work as possible to either friends, family or even hired hands. When we started out, I thought I would just be sitting making music and even though Catrine does the most work regarding PR etc, I can’t just sit in my studio chair and only do that.

Whereas in the Nordic region, Sweden, Norway and Finland have had their electronic acts make an impact around the world, Denmark appears to not have as much of a tradition, why do you think that might be?

Catrine: Sadly you’re right about that. Denmark is not into electronic music. For many years, it has been underground music, and not welcome anywhere else. Also the artists didn’t have the need to be mainstream and it felt great not to be famous. BUT in 2016 something happened… a lot of small independent companies run by volunteers wanted electronic music, plus all its sub-genres, to be known by the Danes and to make seriously changes.

I started as a volunteer this summer at STRØM, which supports everything within the electronic music scene in Denmark. They just published a “Study of electronic music in Denmark 2017” in collaboration with the famous Danish Festival, Roskilde. The study had an article in the famous Danish music magazine, ‘Musikeren’ in September by Dansk Musiker Forbund (DMF). I believe in their course and am working on something with STRØM right now…

Jerry: That’s a tough question. Maybe it’s the famous Danish Jantelov (Law of Jante) that says “You are not to think you’re anyone special or that you’re better than us” – sadly it’s very embedded in the Danish society and way of thinking. It could be the influence of hip hop music, which for some reason is extremely popular in Denmark. And if you do something that’s not popular or what others do, then the law of Jante kicks you in the face. Anyway, the scene for alternative electronic music is really small in Denmark and I don’t think it’s going to change any time soon.

Do you feel any connection with your Swedish neighbours TRAIN TO SPAIN who explore some similar synthpop terrain to SOFTWAVE?

Jerry: No actually we don’t. In fact I think there is a big difference between Danes and Swedes, tragically enough we don’t even understand each other when we speak our native languages, even though they are pretty similar and we are neighbours. I feel a stronger connection with the English people and music. We had such a great time in London and made a lot of new friends there.

Catrine: Not before you told me that you thought we had. I always thought they seemed interesting, and listened to their music. In my opinion TRAIN TO SPAIN is TRAIN TO SPAIN and SOFTWAVE is SOFTWAVE, we are two different bands with different history. But I don’t know them in person. Hopefully I will get the chance to meet them one day.

How is the new material coming along and what type of release are you planning? Does the album format still have any relevance anymore in today’s market?

Catrine: Our upcoming music productions are something special. Since the EP, we can truly hear improvements in that our skills actually have developed.

Jerry’s sound and my vocal, melody ideas and live performance have all been improved since the beginning. This is our first time to try comparing an old release with a new one and it is very exciting, especially because we both feel the improvements. The new sound can be described as Danish synthpop influenced by the 80s, but with a touch of the sound from the modern trance genre to make our music more danceable.

Jerry: It’s coming along, slow but it’s shaping up. As I’ve mentioned, it’s hard with both of us having fulltime jobs and other stuff besides the music and so we are a bit slow… personally I want an album release because I’m old school I guess. People are telling us that we should release single tracks only, because that’s just how it’s done in today’s world of music, but I feel that something is missing when doing so.

An album is like a story with smaller parts that connects and become that greater story. It’s small parts and emotions from your life that fits together, some being uptempo and energetic, some being slow and some sad etc. As an artist, you put them together in the right order for the listener to enjoy in its full glory. Hopefully it’ll be something people can connect to and remember.

I’m not a fan of single tracks being spewed out all over YouTube and then forgotten the next week, I view that as musical junk food.

What have you planned for your return to London?

Jerry: Apart from new tracks I can’t say anything about that 🙂

Catrine: First of all, meeting all the great people we have got to know from this synth family from the UK.. people are always so friendly and as I said, I feel they are like a new family. This community really is something special for both of us. We hope to meet a lot of new people and maybe make some musical activities during our stay. Last time, we only stayed in London for 3 days. This time we are planning to stay for a little longer. Let’s see what happens…

Friends, new music from the upcoming album AND our first cover, which will be a song by ERASURE; it is actually possible for people to choose which one if they pledge on the ERASURE cover reward. For more details, you will have to wait a little bit longer. God I’m excited about everything. So many great things are coming up thanks to all the people who believe in us. We are so thankful and look forward to show the audience how much we have developed since April 2017.

What are your hopes and fears for SOFTWAVE?

Jerry: My hope is that we will at some point be able to ditch our jobs and make music full-time, I’m not desiring luxury and stardom I just want live by making the music I so much like. I think my fear is that we don’t evolve in to something greater and better.

Catrine: Hopes – That we will raise enough money from the Kickstarter Project to afford the things that are needed to produce new music. That will give even more hope for our future and indeed motivate us to work even harder. Also I hope to be signed by a label, so we can concentrate to produce more music and don’t have to do everything by ourselves. Still I like to be in charge and to have the overview and main contacts. Until now it worked just fine, but there is more work now than ever for me alone to administer… simply I don’t have got the time to manage, days are too short, so a manager could be nice.

Fears – That the Kickstarter Project is unsuccessful, that we can’t continue to afford SOFTWAVE’s future, and run out of creativity and energy to manage the band over time. There are so many tasks to be done every single day when you’re working with DIY-methods and trying hard to reach higher goals like we do – SOFTWAVE has become a very important part of my life and I don’t think I can live without it.

It’s like a child to me, my precious child whom I’m raising and look after since I love to follow its progress. SOFTWAVE keeps me creative, happy and sometimes exhausted, but I love everything that comes with it, especially the enormous music network and fantastic fans we have been given. All these things is something we have achieved by fighting for the thing we love, for that I’m so thankful and wish for others to follow their dreams as well.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to SOFTWAVE

‘Together Alone’ and ‘Together Alone – The Remixes’ are available from https://softwave.bandcamp.com/

2018 live dates include: Odense Musikbibliotek (2nd February), Copenhagen Lygten (3rd February), W-Festival Opening Party (15th August)

http://www.softwavemusic.com/

https://www.facebook.com/SoftWaveMusic/

https://twitter.com/SoftWaveMusic

https://www.instagram.com/softwave_music/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
25th November 2017, updated 20th April 2018

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