Category: Interviews (Page 40 of 113)

SARAH P. on Plotting Revolutions

22 June 2020 /


On her 2017 debut album, Greek songstress and mental health advocate SARAH P. asked ‘Who Am I’.

But three years on during one of the strangest periods in modern history, SARAH P. is ‘Plotting Revolutions’ on her second long player. Attempting to intelligently address challenging topics without losing her humour and positivity, this body of work is also a paean to well-being during the most uncertain of times.

Combining electronic elements with more acoustic instruments, ‘Plotting Revolutions’ explores new sonic territory for SARAH P. while she herself experiments with different modes of vocal expression. Holding a mirror to society in a spirited mission to wake up those who might be sleeping, with an afflicted passion and concern for the future, ‘Plotting Revolutions’ is a call to action from the heart and the head.

SARAH P. spoke from her home in Athens about human nature and how her evolving quest for shelter, health, and happiness in life.

Even before the current crisis, we were living in strange times. Had there been a particular moment which triggered your train of thought?

For years, I’ve been talking about the historic times we live in. We’re thrown challenges the one after the other and are often caught feeling numb in the light of (yet) another crisis we’re faced with. I’ve always been inspired by current events. Even when I’m writing about a personal experience, I’m trying to reflect on my surroundings. I’m hypersensitive – there has never been a point in my life where I chose to live in a bubble and ignore what’s happening in the world.

Naturally, that’s become a drive – motivation to write music that speaks about problems we’re facing within our societies, but also calls out to every human on this planet to lead more conscious lives and generally, do better.

I want my songs to be part of an open conversation – if that happens, I’m pleased.


What sort of revolution are you hoping for?

A revolution for positive change. I hope for better days. I long for them. In the year 2020, we shouldn’t have to discuss how the eradication of racism is long overdue and mandatory for the general good of our societies.

There shouldn’t be people arguing that systemic racism is “not a thing”, or that fast-capitalism and economy-driven administrations and institutions offer a viable solution to our deep-rooted problems. The socio-economic gaps within our societies are vast, thus marginalizing more and more people, leaving only a few with power in their hands.

If you asked me the same question when I started writing the record, I’d talk to you about our need for balance and peace. While this is still relevant (obviously!), inequality has been deeply ingrained in our societies, that, in a perverted way, it’s even celebrated. What we observe every single day through TV and social media – the rise of shameless violence, the inhuman reaction to it by key political figures, and the general public being torn between sentiments of apathy and anger are signs of our times.

We can’t go forward without an actual revolution. Let’s channel our anger towards getting informed, supporting incredible activists, and causes for positive change.

Let’s vote for politicians who stand for and defend the democratic values and are capable of handling all those challenges that come with the incredibly unstable times we live in. In the following years, we’ll probably have to focus on what went wrong in the past decade and try to fix it.

Moving forward we need visionaries to lead us towards change and meaningful progress. That’s the type of revolution I’m hoping for – the one that brings capable leaders to the foreground and lifts them, to help them carry out their difficult job.


‘Plotting Revolutions’ is more organic that your previous work, how has the creative process been for you by using different colours? Did you have any particular artist references?

The starting point will always be minimal synths and loops for me.

However, going to the studio and working together with my long-time collaborator and friend George Priniotakis, there’s a tendency of wanting to “warm-up” the atmosphere and add organic flourishes and riffs to my songs – make them more accessible, less obscure and introverted.

That’s mainly achieved by surrounding the vocals with organic instruments and often using vintage rack effects. We double up my beats with a drum kit and percussions. For this record, I even used a baglamas – a tiny lute-like instrument that’s been used very often in Greek music, specifically in rebetiko…

The key is listening to the lyrics – they’re always centered and meant to be heard. As I’m maturing as an artist, I tend to look back to the first pieces of music that moved me, resonated with me and my life at the time. There are some prolific Greek artists and composers – like Manos Hadjidakis and particularly his record ‘Reflections’, recorded by the NEW YORK ROCK & ROLL ENSEMBLE, that have influenced the way I write.

Lyrics are a focal point in Greek music – that’s how I’m handling my writing too, now more proudly than ever. It’s all about vulnerability. That’s plentiful, with the use of organic instruments – without disregarding the power of a good synth, of course.


Did it take longer to record using a less technological approach? What challenges did you face?

Recording the album didn’t take as long – I’ve adopted this style since my debut ‘Who Am I’, so work’s flowing while at the studio. What happened was that by the end of the recordings, I realized that I needed to take my distance from the material.

While at the studio, finishing up the record, I wrote my ‘Maenads’ EP, recorded it, filmed music videos, and released it. There were some internal changes at the time within the team I’m working with, which I guess affected me more than I expected. It was important for me to find the right partners who would understand and appreciate my music for what it is and not for what it could be.

Many people in the industry have tried to change me, based on how I look and sound. Sometimes, I tried to fit in the boxes some put out for me, but in the end, I was unhappy. And what’s the point of making and releasing music, if it makes you unhappy?

That’s why ‘Plotting Revolutions’ is being released three years later. It’s the first time I’m taking so long – I’m usually very impulsive with my releases. There’s something about this record that’s making me feel uncomfortable but in a good way. It’s rawer than previous work I’ve released – it’s more out there. It doesn’t beat around the bush. It represents who I strive to be in my everyday life, too.

Had your return to Athens after living for several years in Berlin been influential in the making of this album?

I wrote and finished the majority of this record while still living in Berlin, so not really – but I can see how moving back will affect my writing in the future.

So what would ‘Athena’ be referring to?

‘Athena’ is about my love and hate relationship with Athens. I left Athens when it started feeling unsafe for me. The year before leaving for Berlin was extremely traumatizing. Ever since, whenever I visited, I felt strained. I didn’t go out as much – I didn’t meet up with a lot of people. You’ll probably hear similar stories by many Athenians – feeling trapped, wanting to break away. It’s a tough city.

The video we filmed with The Méta Project serves as reclaiming my city, in a way. Which is something I anyway did during my pregnancy – walking around the city and running errands, going to work, following the most mundane routine helped me come out of my shell and see Athens for what it is – a vibrant city full of paradoxes and character, with its good and bad sides. There’s no heaven on earth; nowhere’s perfect. Humans are not perfect. Weirdly, this very thought has a calming effect.

‘Laying Low’ starts by saying we are “fighting with the past”?

Aren’t we? Aren’t we stuck? We’re too busy trying to make things as they were, instead of turning our focus towards the future. That said, ‘Laying Low’ is about accepting that sometimes we need to take our time to move forward. ’Laying Low’ is this one song that’s coming on the screen when a movie hero’s doubting themselves and they need a confidence boost – usually offered by their best friend.

There’s nothing wrong with having a low. I’ve been advocating for mental health for so many years, preaching we must accept that “it’s ok to not be ok”. Which is absolutely true, but, if I’m honest, truly hard to practice… Life doesn’t stop and it often gets too much, which makes it hard to take a day off.

Yet, it’s essential to try to make time for ourselves. I sing “there’re monsters in the cave, yourself you need to save”; often the “monsters” come out when we isolate ourselves. I know it’s hard to seek out for help – also because of unapproachable resources. Another point for the revolution – create and endorse accessible support systems within our societies. Helplines – while important, are not enough. We have to write it down on the agenda.

Is ‘She’ autobiographical or observational?

It’s both. A good thing about the internet and speaking about mental health on there is that I got to connect with people who shared with me their journey, as I shared mine. When darkness is approaching, there’s very little one can do. But also because it’s happened too often throughout your life, we’ve managed to come up with coping mechanisms that can save us from entering the vicious circle of despair. That’s who “she” is.

‘The Poem Of A Clear Consciousness’ mixes acoustic and synthesizer textures as well as you adopting a more playful demeanour than on some of your other work? Was there anything you had overcome?

Maybe my demureness. I started writing this song after having an endearing encounter on my way back home in Berlin. I saw this baby fox and we made eye contact. The cub seemed scared – probably looking for his / her mother, but it was also exceptionally calm, given the situation it had found itself. Something in the cub’s look made me think of the human vanity – all those things we’re going after, irrespective of the harm we may cause to other people, animals, and ultimately the planet.

How I also sing on ‘The Truth’: “there’s a faith, there’s one belief – that the human is master of them all, that the people can conquer them all”. This incredible superiority complex and greed have led us to a dead-end. But we don’t even dare to take responsibility for all those things we’ve done wrong; it’s always someone else’s fault. I know I’m painting a bleak image, but to be fair, there’s nothing great about the world right now. Positive change can happen if we take matters to our hands and work towards it.


You let yourself go vocally on ‘Bits & Bytes’, is that about society’s over-reliance on technology?

Absolutely. I let myself go, protesting the picture-perfect lives the majority of humanity (us) lives online! How do we unwind, when our phones have become our extension? We have forgotten how to be on our own, by ourselves. When do we pause?

We can’t even sign in and out without announcing it to our “followers”. There’s pressure for everyone to comment on everything – give statements. Everything has become about quantity, metrics. That’s another sign of our times – claiming those five minutes of fame, trying to make them six, seven, eight…

We’re consumed by our digital encounters, notifications, and our online likability. These antics have a horrific effect on our mental health – a topic I’m invested in and exploring on ‘Bits & Bytes’.

‘An End Or The End’, that is quite a profound statement which can be taken on many levels?

“Opportunist allies can’t always win the bet” – I’ll leave it there. Food for thought for every person who’s exercising their voting rights. Especially in Europe (and I’m looking at the UK, as well), we’ve experienced first-hand the strain and unrest that comes with conservatism and austerity. My main concern is what kind of world will the future generations inherit from us – the reality my daughter and her peers are going to face. I’ll never get tired saying that it’s on us to make a U-turn and drive forward instead of taking backward steps.


‘The Truth’ mentions “there are soldiers passing” and “a half salute”…

“There are soldiers passing [away] – there are kids that make emotions fold” – this part of the song refers to senseless violence caused by war.

Throughout the song, I’m touching on war crimes, violence, greed.

‘The Truth’ is about calling things as they are, laying out facts, and inviting those who stand at the opposite side to join “us” in trying to make things better. Then they can give “us” a “half salute”– a signal for recognizing the cause and joining the fight, “as long as [they] admit it – [they] tell us where [they] keep it” – where they keep their heart.

To be honest, under different circumstances, I’d never break down my lyrics. However, I understand that at this point, these parts having been singled out can be misleading to what I’m standing for. I wrote this song three years ago – things have escalated since then; even more harm is done. Having witnessed what’s happened over the past three years, I may say I don’t have any unrealistic expectations anymore. But hope’s not lost and at some point, things have to get better; for that to happen, we’ll eventually have to come together.

‘Beauty Queen’ is almost psychedelic and will surprise people…

I hope pleasantly 🙂

It’s my most organic track to date. I’d like to experiment more with this vintage sound in the future. It comes very naturally to me, having been raised by parents who appreciate the 60s and 70s, musically.

‘We Won’ is a gentle solemn closer that brings in a string section, how did that come together? Is this a song you would have been able to make 5 years ago?

From the moment I wrote ‘We Won’, I knew I wanted / needed strings to complete and “lift” the production. In a way, ‘We Won’ is the older sibling of ‘Berlin During Winter’ from my debut ‘Who Am I’. The two songs share a similar mood and atmosphere. Which was intended.

You see, from the ‘Free’ EP to ‘Plotting Revolutions’, there’s linear evolution meant to depict different moments in one’s life – from childhood and teenage years to adulthood. ‘Plotting Revolutions’ is adulthood – adult worries, routine and different kind of expectations and hopes. In that sense, as an intuitive writer, I’m unsure if I was able to write this song five years ago.

‘We Won’ is not only the closer of the record but also of a bigger music project that started with my debut EP. Now that I shared the story I wished to tell, for once, I don’t know what will follow musically – I’m yet to discover my music future.

You have described ‘Plotting Revolutions’ as your most mature work yet, do you have any particular favourite moments on this record?

Definitely experimenting with new instruments and sounds, as well as taking my time with releasing this material.


Has your perspective on your art changed since becoming a parent? What are your hopes and fears for the future?

To be honest, I haven’t created art as much as I thought I would during my pregnancy and these few months since my baby was born. I wrote some poetry, recorded a couple of songs in collaboration with other artists, but that’s it.

If anything, my perspective on life and the world has changed. Some fears I already had about where we’re headed have been magnified – thinking of the world my daughter and other people’s children will walk. There’s a momentum to demand justice and change right now, due to current tragic circumstances – “circumstances” nowhere to be new.

It was about time to (broadly) start calling out racial inequality, discrimination, and violence – it was about time to (broadly) start fighting for the most vulnerable within our societies. I hope it’s not a relevant trend that’s going to pass. It’s Pride month – look how the trans community has been continuously taunted and killed. Look at the killings of young BLM activist and artist Oluwatoyin Salau and 75-year-old AARP volunteer Victoria Sims in what looks a whole lot like a case of sex/gender-based violence.

Yes, media are mostly US-driven, but violence and bigotry are omnipresent, everywhere. There’s so much brutality in the world – a certain “I’ve got nothing to lose” mentality that’s turning human into a monster. Our children deserve better. We deserve better. I want to believe we’re better than that. Change won’t come without a fight. And we should realize that this is everyone’s fight to fight – every single person’s battle.

No matter if one chooses the activism route, protesting, petitioning, creating art – or keeps having conversations with the people in their lives and educating themselves on how to be and do better, we all have to exercise our voting rights and opt for the general good that is stabilizing the world. Move forward; no more going backward. No more.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to SARAH P.

Special thanks also to Robert Helbig at Hellbig Music

‘Plotting Revolutions’ is released by EraseRestart Records via the usual digital outlets

http://sarahpofficial.com/

https://www.facebook.com/sarahpofficial/

https://twitter.com/sarahpofficial

https://www.instagram.com/sarahpofficial/

https://sarahpofficial.bandcamp.com/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Georgina Staikou
22nd June 2020

VANDAL MOON Interview

17 June 2020 /

With a sound seeded from post-punk, goth and new wave, VANDAL MOON are shaped as much by their use of drum machines and synthesizers as much as guitars and the inevitable deep baritone vocals.

Comprising of Blake Voss and Jeremy Einsiedler, the Santa Cruz duo opened their account with the self-released ‘Dreamless’ in 2013.

Their most recent long player ‘Black Kiss’ is their most electronic work yet, although the sound of THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS and THE SISTERS OF MERCY permeates throughout, perhaps not unsurprisingly as the two are linked by John Ashton who was the guitarist for the classic line-up of the former and an early producer of the latter.

In 2018 for the release of the ‘Wild Insane’ album, VANDAL MOON signed to Starfield Music, the record label of Shawn Ward, best known for his work as FM ATTACK. It is perhaps Ward who can be credited for championing VANDAL MOON to the wider synth community. Meanwhile notable collaborations with BETAMAXX and MECHA MAIKO have cemented that association further.

But despite their influences like THE CURE and DEPECHE MODE, Blake Voss and Jeremy Einsiedler have presented their own take on a classic approach with the potential to connect with wider tribes and enclaves. Front man Blake Voss talked about the rise of VANDAL MOON.

Who were the bands that inspired VANDAL MOON?

I was born right around the time THE SEX PISTOLS broke in the UK. So, by the time I was cognisant of what was going on around me, new wave was all over the radio. EURYTHMICS, TEARS FOR FEARS, BLONDIE… those were the bands of my early childhood. At the same time, my Dad’s record collection was filled with everything from Lou Reed to PINK FLOYD. Oddly enough, VANDAL MOON was initially envisioned as a sort of electronic-psychedelic project, and I think my childhood experiences, and imagination turned it into what it is now.

Had the use of synthesizers and drum machines in VANDAL MOON been more out of necessity to keep the creative process as a duo, or had you been like a conventional rock band previously?

Jeremy is my best friend. He and I have been playing music together since the late 90s, in all kinds of different bands. Noise bands, punk bands, acid folk… everything. We both loved the sh*t out of math rock, and all those post-rock bands of the early 2000s that nobody talks about anymore.

Typically, he played the drums and I played guitar and sang. But the synths and drum machines came into play because of our mutual love of the soundtrack to the movie ‘Drive’. That movie really affected us both in a profound way. It did that for many people.

Of course, the original European definition of goth which was doomy but melodic has mutated over the years into this American take which is more like dark metal, any thoughts?

I don’t know much about dark metal, but I love goth music and goth culture. I’m not a goth and I don’t pretend to make strictly goth music, but we have a lot of fans from the subculture. I’ve never met nicer, more thoughtful people. I’m just happy to have been accepted by some of them. And I love them back.

How do you look back on the first three VANDAL MOON albums and how you’ve developed?

We’ve moved in a lot of different directions as a band. THE BEATLES sort of set that precedent for pop music; never doing the same thing for too long. Eventually they became a corporation more than anything, but we all learned the same lessons from them.

Art isn’t about being born fully formed from the head of Zeus or something. It’s a journey and a process. It’s about leaving a beautiful mess behind you and letting the kids sort it all out.

Oh yeah, and being a celebrity sucks. THE BEATLES taught us that as well.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK first heard of VANDAL MOON though collaborations with FM ATTACK and then MECHA MAIKO and BETAMAXX, so how did this synthwave association begin and has it expanded your audience?

I didn’t even know the synthwave community existed until a gentleman by the name of Axel from Neon Vice Magazine reached out to me around 2013. From there it just snowballed. The synthwave kids embraced me as an artist, and that was so heart-warming.

Because of that, I’ve been fortunate enough work with some artists who have forged a place for themselves in the history books. Shawn, Haley and Nick are all legends in their own right. These are people who have created something from nothing. Back when MTV mattered, they would have been featured on ‘120 Minutes’ or something. They deserve to be celebrated. History will not forget them, and neither will I.

You have described ‘Black Kiss’ as your most electronic record yet, had you been looking to evolve in this direction or did the acceptance by the synthwave community accelerate this and give you the confidence to make more of an artistic jump?

When I make a record, I imagine it in very abstract terms. To my imagination, this record wanted to be more angular and dark. A primarily electronic pallet was the best way for me to elaborate on that vision. I’ve written literally hundreds of songs on guitars, so it felt good to write this album on synthesizers. It gives it a different vibe. But who knows, maybe I’ll do something weird like a ‘VANDAL MOON: Unplugged’ album next. Or maybe a synthesizer style punk record. Who knows!

How would describe the creative dynamic within VANDAL MOON?

Much of the time, I’m alone in my studio, just f*cking around until something decent emerges. For every album, I write maybe 50 or 60 songs, and pick the best 10 or whatever. When I die, you can rummage through all my hard drives and release bullsh*t demos to your heart’s content. Jeremy and I get together a lot at his place, and drink vodka until we’re screaming at 2am and creeping the neighbours out. It’s a good way to let off some steam. A lot of songs come out of that process as well.

‘Wicked World’ does that epic gothic thing like FIELDS OF THE NEPHILM, did you know ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK was in the same class at school as The Neph’s drummer Nod but he was into jazz funk then!?! Were there any genres of music you explored before settling where you are now?

I’ve listened to and made all kinds of music. I listen to hip-hop, math rock, Turkish psych music… you name it. I’ve done soundtracks for documentaries where I’m playing a dumbek drum and a melodica and just chanting. I’ll play any instrument. I might play it sh*ttily, but I’ll play it nonetheless. I just love making music. F*ck everything else. I’m determined to succeed at creation. The rest is just happenstance.

‘Hurt’ really plays on making THE SISTERS OF MERCY’s template more synthy, had that been intentional?

I don’t intentionally model any of my songs after particular artists. The bands I liken us to, for PR purposes, are just based upon what people tell me we sound like. The thing I love about this project is that people struggle to pigeonhole us. VANDAL MOON sounds like a lot of different things, but we don’t fit neatly into any one genre. That means we’re doing something unique. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.

The moody gothwave of ‘We Are Electric’ sees you collaborate with FM ATTACK again, Shawn Ward really loves his dark musical side doesn’t he?

Shawn is the warmest, most enthusiastic and supportive person I know. He invited me out to this home in Mazatlan and we made a bunch of songs together for this last album ‘New World’. He’s my friend first and foremost. And yes, he loves dark music.

He understands how to create something dark that touches people’s hearts in a way that is multi-faceted, and not just like “oh me, I’m angry, boo hoo”. That’s because he is a special soul, and talented as hell. We’ll probably make a full-length FM ATTACK // VANDAL MOON album together at some point. It’ll be like THE GLOVE or something.

You’re not afraid to play with post-punk disco templates as ‘Suicidal City Girl’ shows? What had this been influenced by?

I think I was listening to a lot of Sally Dige when I made that song. You can hear it in there. Sally is so talented. I hope I get to work with her one day. She’s a real artist in the lifestyle sense.

Her life is art and art is her life. At least from what I can see. She draws, paints, makes music and film. She’s what we all aspire to. I was supposed to get my ass out to Berlin to do a music video with her, but it never happened.

‘Robot Lover’ is like DEPECHE MODE meeting THE MISSION, how did this track come together?

That’s a lovely compliment, thank you. This is one of those songs that Jeremy and I wrote together at his house. I think I wrote the bass line and Jeremy came up with the chords. Jeremy came up with the idea for me to sing higher during the verse line “we are enslaved for life, our pain is real”. And I think that’s what really pushed the song forward. It’s a very futurist song.

The apocalyptic gothic trance of ‘No Future’ no doubt surprised your fans, but how has the reception been on the whole to ‘Black Kiss’, has anyone said you are “betraying your goth roots”?

To hell with anyone who tells me I’m betraying my roots. The first CD I ever purchased with my own money was LL Cool J’s ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’, just based upon the power of the album art, so what the fuck do they know about my roots? I put ‘No Future’ last on the album because I felt like it was just a really nice closer. It’s aggressive, but in a more EDM kind of way. Of course, it’s not EDM. Nobody knows what it is, and that’s the beauty of it. It’s a really fun song to perform, and it’s very powerful at loud volumes. It’s a song dedicated to dystopia, and also to John Lydon. Thank you for everything, John. We love you.

How have European audiences taken to VANDAL MOON, will some of the directions taken on ‘Black Kiss’ make that more palatable for the future?

We live in interesting times. We have followers from all over the world. We get an extreme amount of support from Brazil and the rest of South America. But in the end, we’re all humans who hurt and laugh and love.

I don’t give too much credence to where our audience is from, but rather I try to embrace their love and acceptance and express gratitude back towards them as individuals. I don’t know if ‘Black Kiss’ will connect more with European audiences, but I believe it will connect with those who listen with open hearts.

The ‘Black Kiss’ album title does rather capture the zeitgeist, any thoughts?

I don’t groom my music to pump people up or bring them down, like Coca-Cola or something. I just follow my instincts and make songs based upon how I’m feeling at that moment. As a result, I think it sort of follows the emotional ups and downs of my human experience, which people can innately relate to.

I don’t want to make any commentary on what this album is or isn’t in terms of emotional content, because I want listeners to create their own experience and connections. The world is f*cked up, but it’s also filled with beauty.

The worldwide lockdown has made it difficult for everyone to make plans, but are there anymore collaborations planned for the future, or live appearances?

I’m working on a remix album with a bunch of insane artists that I won’t name here. But rest assured, it’s packed with talent. All 10 songs from ‘Black Kiss’ will be remixed by 10 different artists. I can’t wait. I also have like 3 different, full on collaborations that are in the works, which I think will surprise people.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Blake Voss

‘Black Kiss’ is released by Starfield Music as a white vinyl LP, cassette or download, available along with the rest of the VANDAL MOON back catalogue direct from https://vandalmoon.bandcamp.com/

https://www.vandalmoon.com/

https://www.facebook.com/vandalm00n/

https://twitter.com/VandalMoon

https://www.instagram.com/vandalm00n/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
17th June 2020

STEPHEN MALLINDER Interview

10 June 2020 /

In a career that started in 1978 with the first releases by CABARET VOLTAIRE, Stephen Mallinder has worn many hats with other outfits such as ACID HORSE, SASSI & LOCO, WRANGLER and CREEP SHOW featuring John Grant.

Widely acknowledged as an experimental electronic music pioneer, despite fronting CABARET VOLTAIRE through their imperial phase and a number of iconic tracks such as ‘Nag Nag Nag’, ‘Yashar’, ‘Sensoria’ and ‘Just Fascination’, his releases as a solo artist have been scarce.

Indeed, Stephen Mallinder’s surrealist second album ‘Um Dada’ was only released in 2019. But it rekindled interest in his first solo record ‘Pow Wow’ from 1982. Ice Machine, a new sub-label of the Canadian electro imprint Suction Records is reissuing an expanded deluxe edition of that debut.

This new version of ‘Pow Wow’ now includes the trippy dub excursion of ‘Temperature Drop’ and the more motorik ‘Cool Down’ from the 12 inch single that came out on Fetish Records in 1981 prior to the album, as well as a recreation of the original iconic Neville Brody designed artwork, painstakingly recreated using scans of the original.

Reflecting on more than four decades in the music business, Stephen Mallinder spoke about his solo work, his CABARET VOLTAIRE years and much more.

‘Pow Wow’ was recorded simultaneously as doing CABARET VOLTAIRE, what was motivating you do work on solo material. Had it been intended that maybe some of these tracks would morph into Cabs tracks?

I tend to be quite reactive, and I like a challenge, so it was driven initially by being asked to do a release with Fetish rather than a burning desire to have a solo career. We were really busy with lots of Cabs things but I was running around doing other stuff, and had friends all over. There was a direct connection with Rod who set up Fetish, and Neville (Brody) who was a good friend, as were 23 SKIDOO, who came up to Western Works to record ‘Last Words’. Fetish had become synonymous with Neville, the label’s identity was in part shaped by his designs and detailed ‘look’. So there was collective component, people who I was associated with it so it seemed natural that I’d be happy to record for them.

Musically it was a chance to do things on my own, it was an experiment to play everything myself. We had a studio, Western Works, I had the opportunity and so used the downtime during the night to try things out. They were never intended to be embryonic Cabs tracks because we had a different way of working. We were very collaborative and the tracks were made with us all together – it was never a case of individuals writing a piece and the others adding their names – we worked as a group from initiation to completion.

What would have been your equipment set up at this time at Western Works? 

It was still centred on tape recording as the key process. Although we had synths and a sequencer, these were still cobbled together, with bits of homemade gear and cheap instruments; it still had a futuristic junk shop vibe. We had built up to using 8 track but didn’t move to 16 track until later when Richard and I did the Some Bizarre / Virgin deal.

We ended to put what money we had into outboard gear so we built up the rack of effects: compressors, noise gates, reverb, delays and processors. I think the MXR Harmoniser and Lexicon delay/multi effects get used a bit on the album. We also invested in drum machines and pedals. Multitracking, overdubbing and processing were the main means of working.

‘Pow Wow’ had a very rhythmic template and coincided with CABARET VOLTAIRE’s growing interest in the dancefloor?

To be honest it was always there, Richard and myself were old soul boys and were originally friends from the hanging out in record shops and blagging into nightclubs, illegally, when were 14-15 years old. But it’s fair to say that there was a growing interest in what was emerging from clubs, and importantly that through dance music, the 12inch single was becoming more accepted as a format which meant we could mess with that extended medium.

If you then throw in our interest in dub, a nod to the repetition of disco, and looser forms of funk and African music, there was a pattern emerging. We were starting to corral all these different elements before electro had even popped its head up so we were well placed. ‘Pow Wow’ was the early part of this curve – ‘Cool Down’ was done as a 12inch single, prior to, and independently from, the album.

How do you think ‘Pow Wow’ helped you in your future musical endeavours?

I’m not sure, perhaps it demonstrated I was capable of playing all the parts and taking on every role whenever I felt I needed to. It did contrast with the Cabs where there was a happy interaction between everyone and we knew it was a consequence of 2 or 3 individuals combining, complimenting and contrasting with each other to achieve a result. I guess it made me aware of different ways of working creatively.

On ‘The Crackdown’, you were working with a young producer by the name Flood, what did you see in him that would fit into the CABARET VOLTAIRE aesthetic?

Ha, it’s kind of funny because I think Flood refers to those as his dark days so maybe you should ask him what he thought of working with us. I don’t think it was us personally as we had some great times making music with Flood. He was great for us because until we went to record ‘The Crackdown’ in Trident, where Flood was the in-house engineer, we had never really spent time in a proper outside studio.

Flood was open, inquisitive, up for anything so great for us and we had a good chemistry. And he came back to co-produce ‘Micro-Phonies’ with us – he even came to Western Works to contribute to the recording process before we went to Sarm and mixed that album. I think his subsequent history shows how great he was, I hope he has some good memories of it all.

The ‘Crackdown’ title track is often highlighted, but ‘Just Fascination’ was an excellent if underrated single in its John Luongo remix?

Yes, John was our first foray into the specialist club remix. He was great, very amiable and my lasting memory is him working relentlessly to get the perfect kick drum sound – it took pretty much a whole day. But we should also acknowledge Peter Care’s video for that track, the first vid we did together.

How do you look back now on that Some Bizzare / Virgin Records trilogy of ‘The Crackdown’, ‘Micro-phonies’ and ‘The Covenant, The Sword & The Arm Of The Lord’?

With a sense of satisfaction. It was an interesting, and challenging time. We were trying to mould our sound, and whole approach, to a changing situation – technology, formats, media, audiences were all moving rapidly and we were in the middle of all that. We wanted to move forward but not to lose what we had achieved until then – being on the outside creating noise and disruption – but knowing we should embrace the changes. Those albums capture that tension both for us, and the times.

What opportunities did the move to Australia present that weren’t open to you in the UK at the time?

It was a bit of a shock because I had to survive, bring up my daughters, and continue with my creative work. I didn’t know a single person there. I learnt how to adapt but retain the core of yourself.

Although it felt like starting again, it was an opportunity to try things without feeling the weight of expectation on top of me all the time. I could try whatever I wanted without as much attention so I was able to write, start a record label, set up a production company, promote gigs and festivals, become a radio producer running arts and current affairs, DJ, have radio shows, complete my PhD. I did them all in a relatively short space of time which I think was only possible being away from the UK bubble.

How different was Australia to the UK when you moved there? Especially Western Australia which is in itself even more ‘remote’?

It was quite disconcerting at first as you become very aware of how small and distant you can feel when detached from your past, and that very familiar world. But I was lucky in that I developed strong connections in Sydney and Melbourne so travelled a lot doing music and the label. I was also very lucky in that the radio show was a way of getting people in. That plus the gigs through the production company, meant every week I had someone from overseas coming in or staying with me.

So one week it might be COLDCUT, the next MR SCRUFF, KRUSH, GRANDMASTER FLASH, JURASSIC 5 or mates like MOLOKO, Jarvis Cocker or whoever passing through. I became like Our Man in Havana in Graham Green’s novel.

Also the Off World Sounds label was run by me and Pete Carroll, brother of Central Station’s Matt and Pat, and Shaun Ryder’s cousin, so barely a month would go by without half of Manchester coming to stay.

Was there any particular reason the ACID HORSE project with MINISTRY only produced one single? Was the plan for it to be an ongoing act in the vein of REVOLTING COCKS?

No it could only be a one off. In fact to this day we’ve never owned up to it really. We were in the studio in Chicago with Marshall Jefferson recording tracks for ‘Groovy, Laidback & Nasty’ and did some moonlighting with Al (Jorgensen) and Chris (Connelly) to do ACID HORSE. EMI had paid for the trip to record with Marshall so would have taken a dim view of us doing a bit on the side, hence we were credited under pseudonyms on the release.


You finally followed-up ‘Pow Wow’ after 37 years with ‘Um Dada’, while you had been recording and releasing albums as part of WRANGLER, what was the impetus to do another solo record after so long?

I just felt like taking control for a bit, and because we’d been so busy with WRANGLER, there was suddenly a bit of time to do it. There was no particular plan, in fact I can’t really remember how it happened. I think I started making tracks at home because I had a bit of time, it followed from there.

I was never conscious of not making solo stuff until it was pointed out it’d been years since I did something under my actual name. I feel ownership of all music that I’ve worked on from CABARET VOLTAIRE, SASSI & LOCO, WRANGLER etc, there’s but tons of releases so really it was just the name for me. I’ve always preferred hiding behind a branded name, but it was nice to think there could be a direct connection by using my own.

How would ‘Working (As You Are)’ have come together and would it have been something you could have done while doing ‘Pow Wow’?

No, technology changes things, and context too. Each are a result of their own specific time and place. Although the common elements of rhythm and simplicity are consistent. I’m the link and what feathers my duster remains pretty stable.

How have the continual changes in music technology influenced the way you work? How would a young Master Mallinder have reacted to the vast libraries of sounds available at the click of a mouse?

Like everyone it gives choices. I can work from home on my laptop, and I can also choose to go into a studio. I do enjoy that flexibility, and I like that each can have their own approach and sound, or grain. And at this moment working remotely but collaborating is a good thing to be able to do.

I think the bigger changes are in transmission – how we share that music and how we choose to present ourselves. As the tangible content – the product itself – has been transformed, almost lost, so has the exchange value and our relationship to creative work. It’s certainly not all good, but we have to work with it. For every annoyance that Spotify and YouTube have made music seem like a free product, Bandcamp, coupled with social media, have given us the opportunity to quickly upload and sell.

Music, like much creative output, has become a utility. A consumable, available at the end of a click.

How did you find the reception for ‘A Situation’, your third album with WRANGLER? Did you enjoy working in Benge’s new Cornwall studio complex and seeing what he had brought into that already vast synth armoury?

Well we’ve been working all along in the Cornwall space – we did the previous album ‘White Glue’ there, recording in the upstairs space before the studio was built, plus CREEP SHOW and I finished ‘Um Dada’ there. You won’t be surprised to know Phil and I were the first ones in there… we pretty much followed the removal truck down.

But yes, Benge has done a great job – it has taken a few years but it’s brilliant, perfection I’d say. I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to work there but really it’s about the people and I love working with Benge and the guys. We can work anywhere though… Benge and I finished a Laura Marling mix in an Air B&B in Glasgow.

Yes, we released the WRANGLER album as lockdown happened. We were fortunate to do a couple of gigs before the shutters came down but not great timing… particularly for the videos Aki did, they are too amazing to be missed so I hope they get seen.

The current lockdown is highlighting something you have written about in the past, namely the place of live music in a digital world. With many artists at this time performing set on platforms like Zoom, do you see audiences perceptions of what is ”live” being changed forever?

Zoom is the work of the Devil… a mate just messaged me and said that! We have to adapt so I see this as a response to a situation, but music was never meant to be experienced live though laptop speakers. I find the funniest thing is how celebrity culture functions in lockdown – the need for attention seems to drive much of it, not a burning creative desire.

Much music is rooted in the experience, and importantly a sense of shared experience. We need a feeling of connection. Live gigs on Zoom seem a bit shit, but everyone is trying to make things work so I don’t want to be moaning on the sidelines, it’ll be interesting to see what we choose to take from all this.

What’s next for you in terms of future projects whether musical or academic, lockdown depending?

Oh I seem to have lots of things on: mixes, collaborations, film projects under way. I’ve shot bits for two promo clips in my bedroom in last three weeks. I’ve written the follow-up to ‘Um Dada’ but need to get to studio to finish.

Sadly all the gigs been cancelled or postponed. I think much seems in preparation for the big return… although that may be a series of small returns right now. One footnote being “try running a Sound Arts course online!”; big respect to everyone out there doing their best to make things work in this different world.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Stephen Mallinder

Additional thanks to Steve Malins at Random Management

‘Pow Wow’ is reissued by Ice Machine on 19th June 2020 in double baby blue vinyl LP, CD and digital formats, pre-order via https://pow-wow.bandcamp.com/album/pow-wow

‘Um Dada’ is available via Dais Records as a vinyl LP in three colours plus the standard black as well as CD and download from https://www.daisrecords.com/products/stephen-mallinder-um-dada

‘A Situation’ is released by Bella Union as a CD, vinyl LP and download

https://www.facebook.com/stephenmallinderofficial/

https://twitter.com/stephenmal

https://www.instagram.com/malmallinder/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Interview by Chi Ming Lai and Ian Ferguson
10th June 2020

LIGHT OF DAY Interview

3 June 2020 /


LIGHT OF DAY is the new musical vehicle of one-time JAPAN member Rob Dean in partnership with Costa Rican singer / songwriter Isaac Moraga.

With his skilled fretwork, Rob Dean featured prominently on JAPAN’s first four albums ‘Adolescent Sex’, ‘Obscure Alternatives’, ‘Quiet Life’ and ‘Gentlemen Take Polaroids’ as well as the standalone Giorgio Moroder produced single ‘Life In Tokyo’.

After stints working with Gary Numan, Sinéad O’Connor and ABC while moving between the US, the UK, and Australia, he eventually settled for a more idyllic life in Costa Rica, becoming a respected ornithologist and illustrator.

The debut LIGHT OF DAY album is the eclectic ‘Dimensions’ and marks Rob Dean’s return to music after more than 20 years. The self-produced record was conceived over a two year period and features ambient guitar-based soundscapes, deep expansive song structures, melodic rock and perhaps not surprisingly, the rhythmic flavours of the Central American surroundings it was made in.

Having given one of the site’s most popular interviews in its history reminiscing about his time in JAPAN, Rob Dean kindly chatted about LIGHT OF DAY and the making of ‘Dimensions’…


What was the catalyst for LIGHT OF DAY and how did its style emerge?

Originally Isaac came to me, (I knew him through a friend), and asked me to produce an album for him.

I agreed, without really knowing what I was letting myself in for and from the start, I approached it with a good deal of trepidation as it had been so long since I had done any work of any degree of intensity in a recording studio. But the idea nonetheless intrigued me enough to stick with it and after a couple of false starts, we entered the studio.

As preparation, Isaac played some vague themes on guitar for me one afternoon at my house. It wasn’t very developed at all, little more than a series of musical themes but I liked his ideas and it made me more animated about the project. I also didn’t want to have very much planned before starting the recordings. I always did work best with more or less a clean slate.

Anyway, once in the studio it soon became clear that it was going to be a project for the both of us and ideas came flooding out. Straight away concepts were formed and the old comfort I gained from being in the recording studio environment came flooding back. We wanted a series of tracks that evolved, some circular, others arriving at an entirely different end. We wouldn’t concentrate on standard song structures either. Ultimately, we wanted it to be a positive journey for the listener.

How would you describe the creative dynamic with Isaac Moraga and how it compares with the other combos that you have been part of?

Working alongside Isaac is probably the easiest partnership I’ve ever had. Our ideas, although ostensibly coming from different places really had the same aims and whichever ideas we came up with, the other understood and went along with. It was quite uncanny, considering we really didn’t know each other that well. The majority of my past experiences in the studio, with a few exceptions, were either working with strong-minded people who had their own agenda (which I was required to comply with, of course), or equally strong egos that lacked direction (yes, you know who you are!). I’m happy to say that this in comparison was a walk in the park.


The album seems infused with the feel of bands like TOY MATINEE and JELLYFISH with an almost pop/prog approach to the arrangements. Were there any particular influences that you brought to the project? And how did these differ from Isaac’s?

I’m not familiar with the first band you mention, but I loved the first JELLYFISH album. There are certainly pop elements and prog elements. Personally there’s 50-odd years of influences swimming about in my brain and some inevitably surfaced at some point during these recordings.

THE BEATLES have been and always will be a strong influence for me as they are I know for Isaac too. Fripp and Eno soundscapes are a clear influence for me personally and the fact that TALK TALK are constantly on my home playlist, I would have to mention them too.

Over time I have ‘educated’ Isaac to a fair selection of stuff he wasn’t too aware of before. His own influences range from THE CURE and BJÖRK to 90s punk bands, the Argentinian band SODA STEREO and their leader Gustavo Cerati and Frank Zappa, which is where we meet some more common ground. So either way, you have two adventurous souls, both with strong pop sensibilities.

‘Dimensions’ is recorded using a band with live drums and percussion on most tracks, how did you find the process in the studio? Was the production quite straightforward?

As I said before, we really started with not much more than the bare bones of an idea for each track. The album was recorded in two blocks, over 6 months apart. There was an ‘organic’ feel to the entire project. Keyboards for instance, although we knew they would be quite an integral part of the album were the last to be added without a clear idea as to what they would be.

Most of the electric guitar parts were made up on the spot. So it was pretty much the same with the drums and bass, but everything came together remarkably quickly. I would say bass parts took longest mostly because we both had a pretty clear idea what we wanted and sometimes that was harder to explain.

The track ‘Find the Light’ started with live drums and bass guitar but later we opted to eschew these for a drum loop and synth bass.

Conversely ‘The Vastness’ revolves around a recorded drum loop which fades in and out which Isaac felt really strongly about from the beginning and I understood his vision.

There is, as to be expected, a Latin feel to a number of the grooves. How does playing with that rhythmic feel differ to the Asian and African drumming of Steve Jansen?

The only track that we consciously saw as having a Latin feel was ‘Still Time’ which we knew we wanted to evolve from a simple Peruvian Charrango motif into a full blown rock epic. The basic rhythm is a cumbia, a very popular Costa Rican dance rhythm. We really just wanted to turn that tradition upside down and on its head!

The track ‘Harlequin’s Carnival’ had been lying around since the 80s-something I’d recorded on 4-track with Roger Mason of MODELS and Numan fame (we were both in the short-lived ILLUSTRATED MAN). We decided to rework that, and the carnival aspect seemed to work with a somewhat Latin rhythm. It wasn’t really a conscious effort to make it this way.

As for difference in drumming styles, you just adapt to what the drummer and / or percussionist has to offer, I think. I would say invariably you find they deliver something you hadn’t really thought about. Whichever drummer I have worked with in the past or the present has brought something of themselves to the track and we were always open to try any of the musicians’ ideas.


Was there improvisation, especially the interlude pieces? 

Apart from the aforementioned ‘Harlequin’s Carnival’, everything was for the most part improvised from the germ of an original idea or two, arrangement-wise. We liked the idea of having fairly short instrumental ‘breathing spaces’ within the context of the album.

These would basically start with a simple guitar motif which we would improvise around. They would be pieces that really didn’t require vocal embellishments but would be strong on atmosphere and in their own way would be just as integral a part of the whole.

How did you come to work with Ed Buller on the remix of ‘Suddenly’?

I first met Ed when I was based in LA and he played keyboards for THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS. We became friends and later, in London we lived in the same Hackney neighbourhood and so we hung out socially a lot. I always liked his productions with SUEDE, so I asked him to mix for us. Originally we’d hoped he could mix several tracks but he was just too busy working with Hans Zimmer at the time. We’re just glad we got him to do the one. Perhaps on later projects we can find the time for him to do more – I certainly hope so.

‘Doll’ appears to have elements of THE BLUE NILE despite its quite lively percussive backdrop?

Yes, it does, somehow. Purely coincidental. I think it comes from respect. Again, all made up on the spot. Of all the tracks, this came together the quickest. The bass again, took the longest. In hindsight I would love to have recorded live strings on it but it was beyond our budget. It was incredible how Marco, the keyboard player and Pachi, the drummer instinctively knew what to play on this track. Even the mix just fell into place….

Much of the guitar work is textural, using E-Bow and loops?

Yes on most of the tracks there is an element of atmospheric guitar somewhere or the occasional loop. This, I think is one of the key factors which holds the album together and it’s also a strong part of me as a guitarist and arranger, I realise now. But, I think I should state that in no way do I see this as a ‘guitar album’. Yes, there are plenty of guitars, (since both Isaac and I play), but mostly as you say it’s textures rather than guitar solos and riffing. I want to make that clear!


How have you found attempts to develop the trusty six string technologically over the years from guitar synths, the SynthAxe and the keytar? What had been your experience of these?

In the early JAPAN days, I tried using a SynthAxe on one or two tracks of the debut album ’Adolescent Sex’. I also tried to work with the Roland G303 at a later point. In those days, the triggering was less than great and I was not that happy with the results of either. I used a remote keyboard with Gary Numan in the US too – but under duress and as minimally as possible, I managed to limit it to just one performance of ‘Cars’ on the Merv Griffin show – don’t bother trying to find it, it’s not available, honest!

Over time, the concept of a guitar triggering synth sounds never really appealed. Now, with the advancement of effects technology, I honestly don’t see the need to use one. I think above all, it’s important for the guitar to retain its own voice, however heavily treated, which can thankfully be more varied than ever now.

What happened to the cover of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ that had been previewed? Why did you choose this one out of all of THE BEATLES catalogue?

Originally we were happy enough with our version of the song to include it on the album but with time restrictions, we couldn’t allow 13 tracks on the vinyl disc so we decided to take it off. It is available as a digital download at the moment, though. It’s possible we may release it in some other format in the future.

As a lifetime fan of THE BEATLES, it always seems natural for me to revisit their catalogue. I saw this as one of theirs that is most open to reinterpretation and I could envision it working within our album’s structure. I had a fair idea in my head what I wanted it to sound like. Above all, I have always maintained that with any recording of a cover version, you must do something else with it. I don’t see the point of doing a cover that sounds like the original and I think ours is different enough to meet that criteria. At least I hope so!


What are your own personal highlights from ‘Dimensions’?

The most successful tracks for me are ‘Dimensions, ’Doll’, ’Harlequin’s Carnival’, ’Naive’ and ‘Escape’ but I am genuinely proud of all of it. I figured after being away from ‘the scene’ for so long, I had something to prove. Hopefully the music bears this out.

‘Dimensions’ is being stocked by Burning Shed, the retail platform of Tim Bowness from NO-MAN, do you see him as a kindred spirit?

I don’t know Tim personally, but I’m very happy that he and Burning Shed agreed to handle our album. Yes I suppose in a way, he could be regarded as a kindred spirit. To a certain extent I do see similarities between our approach and his various projects, musically. I just see it as an ideal platform for us.

Does your day job influence your music in any ways?

Well, there are no tropical bird song recordings on it if that’s what you mean….! I don’t think it does other than a heightened consciousness about our environment due to where we both live, the air we breathe and how we interpret that through our music. ’Dimensions’, without getting deeply into it, is really about searching for answers and exploring possibilities. It’s definitely a journey, above all else. The natural world does play its part in some way, I suppose.


What are the long term plans for the project? Any live work, current situation depending?

It all depends how the album is received, certainly as far as the possibilities of live work are concerned. But right now, live work is a big question mark for all of us anyway, isn’t it?

All going well, I would only consider it in some form if the demand warrants it. Someone suggested we video a live show and post it online – that’s a reasonable option I suppose.

We did play one gig at an open air festival here in my home town last year which was an eye-opener in many ways. Like the album itself, it was something of an experiment. Other than that, we will consider more recording when the time seems right.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Rob Dean

‘Dimensions’ is released by LOD Recordings / Last Word Music, available as a translucent amber vinyl LP from https://burningshed.com/light-of-day_dimensions_amber-vinyl

The album is also available as a CD from https://burningshed.com/light-of-day_dimensions_cd

‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ can be obtained as a standalone download from LIGHT OF DAY’s Bandcamp at https://lightofdaycr.bandcamp.com/track/tomorrow-never-knows

https://www.facebook.com/groups/teamlightofday/

https://www.facebook.com/lastwordmusiclabel/

https://open.spotify.com/album/7xtFNlj9vApAmlMWuitAk7

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Interview by Chi Ming Lai and Ian Ferguson
3rd June 2020

Lost Albums: KID MOXIE Selector

30 May 2020 /

As KID MOXIE, Elena Charbila has been on a most interesting musical journey, one which has included collaborating with Angelo Badalamenti on an updated version of ‘The Mysteries Of Love’, the ‘Blue Velvet’ song best known in its original form voiced by Julee Cruise.

Her most recent release was the soundtrack to Greek film ‘Not To Be Unpleasant, But We Need to Have a Serious Talk’ which was released on the Grammy-nominated label Lakeshore Records, home to the physical editions of ‘Drive’ and ‘Stranger Things’.

While KID MOXIE achieved a breakthrough with the ‘1888’ album in 2014, it all started slightly less conspiciously. Having released a debut EP entitled ‘Human Stereo’ in 2007, a long playing statement was made in 2009 with ‘Selector’. At the time of its making, KID MOXIE was a duo comprising of Elena Charbila and Erica Zabowski.

Elena Charbila kindly chatted about how her journey began on ‘Selector’ and may have led her down the artistic paths she follows today…

Despite ‘Selector’ being the debut KID MOXIE album, it sounds quite transitional now?

11 years have passed and I am a different person and that is reflected musically on this album. It’s like growing up and seeing your development through your music, like a public diary. Any song you write, any album you make, there’s a public diary of where you’re at during each stage of your life.

So like reading your diary from high school, you cringe! But it also rings true to you because you remember how you feel and what you wanted to sound like. Looking back at ‘Selector’, I wasn’t as honest and free with myself as I feel now. I was not as mature or savvy, instrumentation or production-wise *laughs*

When I was in my 20s, I was mostly going out for style rather than substance. I was thinking “I’m going to make an electropop record, it’s supposed to sound like this and I’m supposed to sing it like Madonna in her early years etc!”… it was like Paris Hilton in the nid-2000s or whatever! *laughs*

So it was very nubile and adolescent, it was very immature, the way I sounded, the way I wrote! But there was something endearing because it’s like looking at an old picture of yourself when you’re a kid, so this album was more “Baby Moxie”!

Creatively, what would have been the dynamic within KID MOXIE at this point?

I had just moved to my first apartment in LA and my roommate Erica who was a violinist and I found in the LA Times, we started KID MOXIE together, she was a big fan of electropop. We were composing and rehearsing in our living room but then, we were later evicted for making too much noise!

We had a garage space so we were practicing there. It was so hot in LA that summer that we even had naked practice days on Tuesdays, wearing bikinis! It was like a sauna in there, 110 degrees in that garage.

We had a producer walk by while he was getting coffee and he heard what we were doing. He thought we were interesting and fresh so invited us to record in his studio on the same block. So that’s how the ‘Selector’ album started! We were practicing pretty much naked and doing this kind of obnoxious electropop and this producer saw something in that! *laughs*

At that point, I was writing most of the music and Erica was co-writing the lyrics with me. But even then, although I enjoyed being in the band set-up, I still knew that I was a bit of a Billy Corgan, I liked to do things my way and wanted full control. I was never comfortable sharing the creative experience of making music, minus having a producer to make things sound better sonically. So the process back then was very different because there were more people involved and you can hear it. We were very young and trying to get into the new scene in LA at the time, which was very bleepy and poppy and fun.

What sort of music would you have been listening to as inspiration?

I was always listening to a lot of GOLDFRAPP but by no means did I sound like that, but I loved that style. I also listened to BELLE & SEBASTIAN, French pop and a big fan of DAFT PUNK and AIR. Plus just though my contacts in Greece, I loved MARSHEAUX and close to them as we were friends and I felt sonically that I belonged in this group. Inevitably, if you feel you belong somewhere, you emulate it. So the Undo Records crowd of the late 2000s was very much shaping my sound.

Around this time, you recorded a cover of Madonna’ ‘Burning Up’ which is not on the album and has never been released, is this an indicator of your mindset during this stage of KID MOXIE?

For sure, I was listening to a lot of early Madonna… as she got older, her music got better I felt and her voice… she never had an excellent voice but the songs were great. But in the early 80s, stuff like ‘Burning Up’ and ‘Borderline’ was a massive influence, probably more than anybody. I was like “Hey! I think I can sound like that!”, the spoilt girly type of thing, I thought I could do that…

One thing that has been a continuing artistic thread is vocalising en Francais which you did on ‘French Disco In Space’, had done before on ‘Ma Romance D’Hiver’ on your first EP and did later on ‘Lacuna’ from ‘1888’?

I studied French at school and got quite fluent; being Greek, you have to learn more than your own language. English is a given when you are in first grade, and most Greek kids take another language and it’s either French or German.

I think it’s the most beautiful language, I like the sound of it and it sounds great in a song format. It’s so crisp and has such a beautiful ring to it. ‘Ma Romance D’Hiver’ and ‘French Disco In Space’ which actually has a French rap, both got on major TV shows.

‘Ma Romance D’Hiver’ was used in ‘The L-Word’ and ‘French Disco In Space’ got in the film ‘Yoga Hosers’ which was directed by Kevin Smith and produced by Johnny Depp, it stars their daughters. So these early songs, they got on big media productions.

‘What Kind Of Girl’ is an interesting track and has a gothic resonance, like a girly IAMX in retrospect?

I was very happy with that song because even then, without really knowing it, there was composition… it had violins and things that go beyond a pop format, it intrigued me. I was feeling really good that I could write something that included real instruments and bring it into a pop format. I would explore this more years later, bringing me to this point where I’m doing a lot more scores and stuff for film and TV. So that was kind of like the seed in an odd way.

I love classical stuff, I come from a classical background having been trained on piano as a kid, so it was refreshing to have done this little something among all the bleepy girly attitude, it felt more redeeming.

The title song and ‘Medium Pleasure’ were quite poppy, but they ended up much better when remixed by FOTONOVELA and MARSHEAUX respectively, have you any thoughts on that?

They were… the original production was way better than I could have achieved but FOTONOVELA and MARSHEAUX put them both in a new light and better than the originals. In my next album ‘1888’, you can hear the different sonically because I introduced different producers for different tracks that made them sound so much more solid and crisp than on ‘Selector’, so I definitely learnt that lesson from these two remixes. Also ‘Tsunami’ was remixed by Serafim Tsotsonis and got a ton of airplay, and still gets played on the biggest Greek radio station as their “signal”.

‘Tsunami’ was an attempt at the more atmospheric music with that ‘Twin Peaks’ feel that came later with KID MOXIE and the backing sounds like OMD. It’s quite naïve but do you now see it as an indicator of where you were heading?

I think yes, you’re spot on. Again as with ‘What Kind Of Girl’, ‘Tsunami’ is a favourite from this record as it create atmosphere with very few words. All the other songs were verse-chorus-verse-chorus, this one was ethereal vocals maybe for the first time and more sparse; it became my signature later on. It much more what I’m about now. I wrote it on my MicroKorg in my bedroom and it felt like an accomplishment at the time. It came out of a dream and I basically reiterated the dream. But that remix was much better and that’s why it became a radio hit in Greece.

‘Neon Tears’ and ‘Dream In Pale Blue’ are moody tracks that also perhaps signal ‘1888’… it would appear that the rhythmic side needed work, it this as a result of limited equipment and experience?

I don’t feel that was the case for ‘Dream In Pale Blue’. Serafim Tsotsonis who remixed ‘Tsunami’ only worked on that one track and did the rhythm section, that still hits a chord with me, I am still feeling that one. But ‘Neon Tears’? Absolutely, that’s a very loose song, it could have been done way better like a lot of stuff on this album, I do cringe at a lot of aspects of ‘Neon Tears’.

‘Polytechnic’ sees you sounding like THE B-52s, was this conscious?

Oh God! It might have been! It was just two chicks being arsey and wordy, giving attitude! It had that 60s pop vibe going on and to me, it sounds so hollow right now, it’s like my diary at 15! *laughs*

Were you’re still figuring out how best to use your voice?

Yes, I was still working out what to do with my voice; I was working with a male producer and perhaps looking back subconsciously, there was some kind of male-pleasing aspect to my singing at the time although I wasn’t about that. The dudes I was hanging around with liked that so I kind of went with it. The producer though the girly thing was very appealing. But honestly, I was trying to figure out my voice, but I don’t I think I did during that album! I died trying! *laughs*

That airy continental vocal style you’re known for now is nowhere on this album, so how did that eventually emerge?

There a tiny bit of it on ‘Tsunami’ as a precursor… I worked on a lot of different projects for various Greek producers; I tested myself on their tracks. That liberated me from fabricating this persona that I had in mind that I should be following or doing. So I decided I would follow their music and see how my voice translated onto other people’s stuff. And eventually, I brought it into my own sound and crystallised it because it has sounded so good then. That other work shaped my new voice on ‘1888’.

So was ‘The Bailor’, which came a few years after ‘Selector’, the breakthrough song where you found your sound?

Yes, I love that tune, it still speaks to me. I’m proud of it and feel ‘that’s’ my voice.

And here we are today, do you see ‘Selector’ as an important album to your development as an artist or would you have preferred it not to have been released in hindsight?

I’m going to reply to this in a very personal way! I look on this like any relationship I’ve had that I’m not happy with. I’ve made mistakes in my life and I’m not one of those people who is proud of everything I’ve done and wouldn’t change a thing, like why? If I had the power to go back in time, I would have changed a few things. But it did feel right at the time…

I wish it was sonically better, I wish I had found my voice earlier and done a different job with it. At the same time, I look on it endearingly (like at my teen diary) even though I cringe. It’s like my first crush, my first time. It was my first attack in a record and a production, I messed so many things up. I wish I could have changed them but I can’t so I look as it now as an endearing time of my life.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Elena Charbila

‘Selector’ is available as a name your price download direct from https://kidmoxie.bandcamp.com/album/selector-2

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Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
30th May 2020

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