Tag: Wall Of Sound

EUGENE Interview

8 May 2019 /

Inevitably influenced by KRAFTWERK and David Bowie, one of Eugenio Valente’s mission statements is “pop is a not crime”.

EUGENE has been making synthwaves in the past 18 months, particularly with the dreamily propulsive collaboration with LISBON KID’s Danny De Matos called ‘Waiting For You’. The most recent EUGENE offering ‘Radiowave’ played with the propulsive neon-lit sax-tinged aesthetics of the synthwave sub-genre, but added authentic Italo elements and distorted feral vocal toplines.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK chatted to the Italian singer, songwriter, arranger, producer and remixer about his ethos and upcoming appearance in London…

What first got you into electronic music and who became your main influences?

I used to watch lots of mecha anime and sci-fi series on TV in my childhood. I was totally blown away by the robots and spaceships sound effects, so powerful and mysterious. I was (and still am) extremely curious. Although I didn’t want to go to any music school, I loved playing the piano, and to explore the Casio VL-1 my father bought me.

I got my first electronic music record when I was nine or ten, a late 80s album of JS Bach re-arrangements made with digital synthesizers and samplers. A few years later, thanks to my uncle and some schoolmates, I discovered PINK FLOYD and then came (in random order) KRAFTWERK, DAVID BOWIE, THE BEATLES, QUEEN, DURAN DURAN, ULTRAVOX, DEPECHE MODE, VANGELIS, THE POLICE, STEELY DAN. I can’t actually tell who my main influences are, but Floyd and Bowie had a very strong impact on me in the very beginning, of this I’m sure.

You once said “pop is a not crime”, please explain? ?

I often live on the border between experimentalism and pop music. I guess it’s a consequence when you explore sounds and try to write songs with them. I once recorded a track using some old camera noises as rhythmic elements, and it came so natural to me adding a classical piano and a good vocal line, turning it into a pop song. It’s good to express creativity and personality and I haven’t got a programmatic approach to composition. On the other hand, it’s no secret that pop music brings your sounds within the reach of a wider audience.

Did the domestic Italian artists appeal to you?

Yes, there are many Italian artists that I like, but FRANCO BATTIATO is my all-time favourite. I love every period of his forty year-long career, spanning from experimentalism to clever pop songwriting to even soundtracks, and he virtually taught me how these three musical paths are so incredibly related with each other.

What did you think when British artists like NEW ORDER and PET SHOP BOYS made Italo Disco influenced records?

It’s interesting, especially because many times in history, Italy has been influenced by British culture, fashion and music. I imagine that Italo Disco sounded really catchy and futuristic at the time and I’m convinced that some of its elements still rock today.

What inspired you to dig out a Casio for ‘Promenade’ in 2014?

I was jamming with my Juno 2 while running the Casio VL-1 ‘rock 1’ rhythm preset and the song was born almost all at once. As I’ve told you before, the VL-1 was my first electronic keyboard and parts of the ‘Promenade’ lyrics were about my childhood memories, so I decided to keep the Casio beat in the final mix. I also suggested we highlighted these electronic and sentimental connections when director Alessandro Bavari and his team came to work on the music video.

So which were your other early synth purchases and what tools do you prefer use now?

Yamaha SY85 was my first pro synthesizer / workstation: I did a thousand concerts and recorded tons of stuff with that incredible machine! Then I bought a Novation K-Station and a second-hand Roland Alpha Juno 2. Now I use both analog and digital gear, following my expression needs.

How did your most recent single ‘Radiowave’ come together?

‘Radiowave’ is the first result of my collaboration with ‘Italian new-wave’ master Garbo and avant-garde multi-instrumentalist Andy (formerly in the MTV award winning band BLUVERTIGO). Once the work on music and lyrics was finished, I thought it would be a good idea to involve my friends in it. Garbo’s unique vocal timbre and Andy’s dreamy saxophone added a touch of class to the track. Anyway I changed arrangement a couple of times before the release… it was an indietronic rock thing, in the beginning.

The accompanying video directed by Gary Hill, the American videoart pioneer was interesting…

Yes, we were at Gary’s studio in Seattle in October 2017, and he showed to me his early 70s Rutt-Etra analog video-synthesizer. I was so stunned I soon asked him if he was up for working together on the ‘Radiowave’ music video. It turned out to be a very quick process, as you can see it’s all about me singing in front of the videocam: my image was analog processed by the video-synthesizer and impulses from music and my voice triggered modulation parameters and values.

All processing (automatic and manual) was made in real time, no computer graphics, no post-production effects! We were all aware that we were doing something futuristic though we were using a 40 year old machine. Gary is such an amazing person and a very sensitive artist. He knows how to work with concepts and to make them tangible through his works.

You did ‘Waiting For You’ with LISBON KID’s Danny De Matos who you have since remixed?

‘Waiting For You’ was born from some remix ideas I put around Danny’s haunting vocal tracks, but later it revealed itself as something brand new, so we talked with Wall Of Sound’s head Mark Jones and decided to release it as a single.

In the last two years, I happened to remix a lot of tracks from Wall Of Sound artists as LISBON KID and DENIS THE NIGHT & THE PANIC PARTY alongside with cool underground projects like MAJOR DERANGES (featuring Louis Gordon), SHIRLEY SAID, AZZURRO 80 and OTTODIX.

So to Synthwave or not to Synthwave, that is the question…

Synthwave is just a nuance of my style, I wouldn’t consider myself a 100% synthwave artist, it would be untrue. Though I love 80s pop sounds and imagery, I’d be not happy to be trapped in a nostalgic time warp, it doesn’t belong to my nature.

So, Viva Synthwave when it’s spontaneous and sincere (not a mere fad of the moment) and meant as a starting point to create new musical and aesthetic paths.

Synthwave acts are known for being static behind laptops, how you do ensure you have a more engaging live presentation?

I’ve grown up playing with bands and I still do it in many projects. I want to be honest to the people who come to see me live. I’m alone with my machines and I often use programmed drum machine-and-bass sequences, but I leave to myself many parts to play live, besides singing of course! I like to get busy on stage and I just can’t stand still when I perform.

Synthwave often makes you close your eyes and dream… well I’d be happy if people kept their eyes wide open, watching an artist that every night offers something true and unique: I consider it a form of respect towards my audience.

How was it like opening for THE KVB in Rome?

Sometimes being an opening act is not easy for many reasons, but that night it felt like being in the right place at the right time, with a perfect audience… I did a 30 minute set, alternating very energetic moments with darker and ethereal ones. Even Kat and Nick from THE KVB showed their appreciation, they were very kind to me. Then I got off the stage, joined my wife Claire (who actually arranged my opening with THE KVB management) and enjoyed their concert.

What happened to your ELECTRO EXPERIENCE tribute side project with which you did a cover of DURAN DURAN’s ‘Secret Oktober’?

ELECTRO EXPERIENCE is a way for me and gifted artist Daniele Nonne to explore the music of our personal masters and it started as a game from ‘Secret Oktober’, which had the shape of a demo in its original release. So we treated it very respectfully, as a rough diamond to be refined according to our tastes. We actually have some tracks ready, but we’re always in the whirlwind of our own projects. Despite of this we hope to release something new before we can imagine!

What’s next for you?

On 4th May, I’ll be at the Synth Day & Night event in Rome, to participate in a panel on innovation in electronic music and then to do a short live set. This means a lot for me because last year’s special guest was Wolfang Flür, I can hardly believe it!

On 18th June, I’ll release via Kronos Records the soundtrack to Magdalena Hill’s ‘Lavender Braid’ film, preceded by the new single ‘Queen Bee’. And finally on 22nd June, I’ll perform at prestigious Synth Wave Live 3 festival at Electrowerkz in London. Danny De Matos will be my guest on stage too. This will be one of the most important events of the year for me, I’m truly excited and I just can’t wait to come back to the UK!

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to EUGENE

Additional thanks to Claire Lyndon at Stargazers Inc

‘Radiowave’ and ‘Waiting For You’ are released by Wall Of Sound Records and Discipline via the usual digital platforms

http://www.eugeneofficial.com/

https://www.facebook.com/eugenemusic

https://twitter.com/eugene_music

https://www.instagram.com/eugenemusic.official/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Claire Lyndon at Stargazers Inc
8th May 2019

Introducing EUGENE

8 November 2018 /

From Wall Of Sound Records, the stable that brought the world the stable that brought the world RÖYKSOPP, LES RHYTHMES DIGITALES and PROPELLERHEADS, comes Italian singer, songwriter, arranger, producer and remixer EUGENE.

Inevitably influenced by KRAFTWERK and DAVID BOWIE, one of Eugenio Valente’s mission statements is “pop is a not crime”. This point was made via his 2014 cover version of DURAN DURAN’s ‘Secret Oktober’ with Daniele Nonne as part of the Roman’s ELECTRO EXPERIENCE tribute side project.

Although his first single ‘Dior DNA’ was released in 2006 by UdU Records and the Casio-laced ‘Promenade’ came out in 2014, EUGENE has been making synthwaves in the past 12 months, particularly with the dreamy ‘Waiting For You’, a collaboration with LISBON KID’s Danny De Matos.

EUGENE’s new single ‘Radiowave’ featuring Garbo + Andy plays with the propulsive neon-lit sax-tinged aesthetics of the synthwave sub-genre, but adds authentic Italo elements and distorted feral vocal toplines.

The accompanying video directed by Gary Hill (the American videoart pioneer (who is a frequent collaborator through the pair’s multimedia installations) makes use of real analogue processing that makes a refreshing change from the tiresome VHS grids which are all the rage among artists who take their retro obsession too far.

One of the ‘Radiowave’ EP B-sides ‘Insistence Is Futile’ is something of a surprise being acoustic and folk flavoured but ‘Intermission’ does what it says on the tin, while there are numerous reworks including a Plaster remix which comes over in parts like TUBEWAY ARMY in the 21st Century!

An energetic live performer, EUGENE’s next show will be supporting the brooding British duo THE KVB in Rome.

‘Radiowave’ is released by Wall Of Sound Records and Discipline via the usual digital platforms

EUGENE opens for THE KVB on 27th November 2018 at the Rome Largo Venue

http://www.eugeneofficial.com/

https://www.facebook.com/eugenemusic

https://twitter.com/eugene_music

https://www.instagram.com/eugenemusic.official/

https://www.youtube.com/user/eugenemuzik/videos

Text by Chi Ming Lai
8th November 2018

BACK TO THE PHUTURE: QUESTION MARK at The Union Club

29 June 2017 /

The Union Club in Soho was the location of ‘Question Mark’, a panel discussion hosted by Wall Of Sound and Back To the Phuture’s Mark Jones.

The four guests gathered for the fascinating and extremely good humoured chat about their experiences in the music business were OMD’s Paul Humphreys, HEAVEN 17’s Glenn Gregory, Steve Norman from SPANDAU BALLET and T’PAU vocalist Carol Decker.

A series that has been going for several years, Mark Jones announced this was to be the last free session to which Carol Decker amusingly quipped “Will I have to pay to talk about myself?”

To begin proceedings, Jones asked the quartet about their first record purchases; Carol Decker remembered it was Michael Jackson’s first solo album while for Paul Humphreys, it was ‘Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me)’ by Steve Harley and Glenn Gregory had ‘Can The Can’ by Suzi Quatro. However, both Humphreys and Gregory agreed that the turning point for them was hearing ‘Autobahn’ by KRAFTWERK in 1975.

When asked about their first instruments, Humphreys confessed that as an “electronics geek”, he built his own sound making device because he initially could not afford to buy a synth. Gregory had an acoustic guitar which he promptly broke while Decker admitted that although she knew her chords and notes, she couldn’t really play the piano very well.

But it was Norman that had the most impressive CV; starting as a drummer before moving to guitar having been influenced listening to Hank Marvin, he then recorded the sax solo on ‘True’ just six months after first taking lessons. All four guests and the host also discussed their adventures in the murky world of synthesizers. When Jones told of how his mother bought him a Yamaha CS01 from the Grattans catalogue, Norman recalled how SPANDAU BALLET used a Yamaha CS10 on ‘To Cut A Long Story Short’ during the Islington quintet’s initial dalliances in synthpop.

Perhaps surprisingly, the more AOR inclined T’PAU did their demos using a synth and its built-in sequencer with Decker telling how she and writing partner Ron Rogers had written their breakthrough hit ‘Heart & Soul’ entirely around a bass synth sequence which ended up in the final mix.

Of course, Humphreys’ and Gregory’s histories with OMD and HEAVEN 17 respectively are well documented. But both found they had to constantly defend their art against those who didn’t consider the use of synthesizers as “real music”.

When questions were opened out to the audience, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK took the opportunity to remind the pair that the Musicians Union tabled a motion in May 1982 to ban synthesizers from recording and live performance. Having already shared how in the pursuit of a more electronic dominated sound, his first serious band THE ID shrunk from eight members to two in order become OMD, Humphreys gleefully told the story of how the MU kept giving him and Andy McCluskey a hard time over using a tape recorder so mischievously, the Wirral duo “put ‘Keep Music Live’ stickers on the tape reels!”.

Meanwhile when HEAVEN 17 performed on ‘Top Of the Pops’ for the first time in 1981 with ‘Play To Win’, Gregory told of how the heavily unionised show, where MU membership was compulsory, refused to let Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh perform behind synths, insisting that they used a guitar and glockenspiel instead!!

But remembering how T’PAU had used a Fairlight for their orchestral arrangements, Decker expressed that “it did prick my conscience” that she might be putting musicians out of work, with the technology having advanced to such a degree that for the untrained ear, it was difficult to tell the difference. Steve Norman also had a vivid technology nightmare when while using Yamaha WX7 MIDI wind controller connected to a DX7 live, it suddenly changed settings in the middle of a moody solo under the heat of stage lights!

When asked about new music, Gregory admitted he listened to very little. However, recollecting his own experience of how GARY NUMAN looked after OMD when the young duo opened for the electronic pioneer in 1979, Humphreys said OMD tried to help young bands where possible with no buy-on fee for support slots, citing the much-missed pop noir combo MIRRORS as one of the best acts in recent years.

This drew the discussion onto how safe and unadventurous the major record labels had become in recent years with their lack of vision towards artist development, in their quest to protect their dwindling revenue streams.

On the subject of music formats, Humphreys said he still very much believed in the artistic statement of the album and how you could not skip tracks on vinyl, so the less immediate tracks had to be absorbed and accepted in order for the work to grow. Meanwhile, Norman felt the EP was the platform of the future, as a new artist could offer less but more frequently, in order to engage an audience.

While Humphreys still embraced vinyl and CD, he confirmed he was very much against using Spotify, not just due of the poor royalty rates paid to artists but as he also revealed, the major record companies hold shares in the Swedish based concern… so no conflicts of interest there!

Meanwhile Decker loved the convenience of listening to music digitally while expressing a slight, and not unshared, bemusement at the vinyl revival.

To end the evening, Mark Jones amusingly challenged his guests to sing a song without accompaniment. Carol Decker was first up, belting out ‘Little China Girl In Your Hand’, an improvised mash-up of her own hit tune and the Iggy / Bowie classic.

Not known as a vocalist, Steve Norman gamely launched into a rendition of ‘Gold’ to enthusiastic cheers while initially reluctant, Paul Humphreys sang ‘Enola Gay’ after being goaded by Jones, with some audience assistance. Finishing the impromptu sing-song, Glenn Gregory gave a timely and relevant acapella version of ‘(We Don’t Need) This Fascist Groove Thang’.

It was a fabulously entertaining two hours with Carol Decker perhaps stealing the show from the boys with a salt of the earth persona that was akin to your favourite auntie who enjoys a tipple or two at Christmas, like a cross between Julie Waters and Tracey Ullman.

Providing amusing and engaging group conversation that was also educational, the fact that all four guests continue to have successful careers today is testament to their longevity and cultural impact during a more open and therefore competitive musical era.

People are still interested in this music not because of “nostalgia” as one member of the audience suggested, but because of its quality, inventiveness and authenticity.

Now, that really doesn’t happen that much these days… and that’s why people go Back To The Phuture 😉

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Mark Jones

http://www.backtothephuture.net/

https://www.facebook.com/Question-Mark-514817845328373/

http://www.omd.uk.com/

https://www.heaven17.com/

http://www.spandauballet.com/

http://www.tpau.co.uk/

Text and Photos by Chi Ming Lai
29th June 2017

An Interview with WALL OF SOUND’s Mark Jones

17 April 2015 /

Walls Have Ears…

Big corporations may have a stranglehold on the modern music industry, but it’s the genuine music enthusiasts with their independent labels and knowledge of their respected genres who feed it by their intuition to recognise talent. One of the most successful has been Daniel Miller with Mute Records; his ambition brought DEPECHE MODE, YAZOO, ERASURE, MOBY and GOLDFRAPP to the world.

And in the current climate, there are others too; in Europe, there’s George Geranios whose Undo Records has given us electro delights such as MARSHEAUX, MIKRO, NIKONN and KID MOXIE. And here in the UK, there has been Mark Jones, impresario of Wall Of Sound Records.

The label began as a collaboration between Jones and Marc Lessner, when Lessner employed Jones at his music distributor Soul Trader. Compilations and club nights followed. Wall Of Sound turned first PROPELLERHEADS and then RÖYKSOPP into Top 10 album acts while the label also launched the career of Stuart Price aka LES RYTHMES DIGITALES.

Belatedly getting a hit single in 2004 with ‘Jacques Your Body (Make Me Sweat)’ following its use in the ‘Transformer’ Citroën C4 TV ad, Stuart Price’s influence on the shape of 21st century popular music cannot be under estimated… read the production credits of albums by MADONNA, THE KILLERS, TAKE THAT and PET SHOP BOYS if you’re unsure!

Comparatively more recently, Wall Of Sound have released albums by GRACE JONES, THE HUMAN LEAGUE and BEF.

As a long-time fan of electronic music, Mark Jones’ success also led him to becoming involved with BBC6 Music under his Back To The Phuture banner, with programmes that have recognised the history of electronic pop. BTTP also hosted the ambitious ‘Tomorrow Is Today’ event featuring GARY NUMAN, JOHN FOXX, MIRRORS and MOTOR in Spring 2011.

With Wall Of Sound now celebrating their 21st Anniversary with a compilation entitled ‘Walls Have Ears – 21 Years of Wall Of Sound’ featuring the label’s highlights and previously unreleased BBC sessions, Mark Jones chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK…

What was the music that inspired you when you were growing up as a teenager, and how did this shape Wall Of Sound as a record label?

OK, well I reacted against what my brother and sister were into, as you do, which was rock and reggae at the time. I was transfixed by electronic music and got my Mum and Dad to get me a Yamaha CS01 from the Grattans catalogue. I painted my bedroom black and sat up there making noises. The sounds and scapes made it all work. I’ve always loved melody too and been hooked on hooks. Some of the music that made me do it…

THE HUMAN LEAGUE – Every single track / album they created from the beginning 🙂

BLONDIE ‘Parallel Lines’ – I was obsessed with the band and Debbie Harry as a teen.

THE NORMAL ‘TVOD’- Electroid post-punk that inspired me to make the first ever Wall Of Sound single, as Daniel Miller did with this and Mute Records.

DEPECHE MODE ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ – The first synth riff I learnt and still is with me every minute of every day, I followed them around Germany in 1983 🙂

STEELY DAN ‘Do It Again’ – The band that brought all the Wall Of Sound artists together bizarrely.

The label’s first Top 20 single was ‘History Repeating’ in 1997 with PROPELLERHEADS and SHIRLEY BASSEY. It was quite an eccentric idea although in many ways, it was an obvious one given the duo’s interest in Bond themes. Whose idea was it to bring in her in?

Well, we had talked about getting vocalists and the idea was rinsed out in the very early hours in some dodgy Belgian hotel. Alex Gifford and myself were both a bit obsessed with getting her on the track. Alex had recorded a basic vocal through a pitch shifter and it sounded more like BILLIE HOLIDAY than SHIRLEY BASSEY. We then pitched it to Shirley’s management and she was digging it in very first listen… the rest is history… repeating.

What was the reaction like during the climax of Britpop and chart dominance by tedious bores like TRAVIS and STEREOPHONICS to Wall Of Sound’s release of an electropop album like LES RYTHMES DIGITALES ‘Darkdancer’ in 1999?

Oooooooooh! Well, I’ve said this before, but I did get hate mail and death threats when we got ‘Darkdancer’ out there. Some peeps really didn’t get it at that time as they saw the 80s as an enemy. Literally!

How did you discover Stuart Price aka Jacques Lu Cont aka LES RYTHMES DIGITALES? And what’s it been like watching him rise to working with MADONNA and literally becoming the top record producer in the world?

He bunked off school and came to see me at Soul Trader with Adam Blake as they had the band ZOOT WOMAN who I listened to and loved. I signed them up and released them, it was the fifth ever single on the label. He then informed me he had some ‘other music’ which was his school music exam and played it to me; that was ‘Liberator’. We then created LES RYTHMES DIGITALES and Jacques Lu Cont, as I said he couldn’t be the same person and the French thing was buzzing. ‘Darkdancer’ really stands the tests of time.

He is one of, if not, my proudest signing ever to the label. Seeing him elevate to being one of the world’s leading producers, and working with the world’s leading artists is something that I am very proud of.

Is it true that you first approached Phil Oakey about singing on LES RYTHMES DIGITALES’ song ‘Sometimes’ which was eventually sung by NIK KERSHAW?

I don’t remember that, but I probably did 🙂

‘Dare’ was the album that changed Stuart’s life as he was pretty much listening to classical music before that apparently!

The sublime ‘Melody AM’ by RÖYKSOPP was a really important album for Wall Of Sound. How did you find them and what makes them so magically consistent?

RÖYKSOPP have never compromised their artistic integrity, and they never will. ‘Melody AM’ is the biggest selling album in the label’s history. They are who they are, and not someone else. They featured on a Norwegian compilation and we found them there. I flew over to see them and we made things happen.

How do you look back on signing THE HUMAN LEAGUE and the resultant album ‘Credo’?

Well, they say “Never work with your heroes!” but I thought “F*** that!”; so when the opportunity arose to give them the bounceboard and platform that they needed, I couldn’t say no! The band made me do what I do. ‘Credo’ is a great album and was loved by everyone that actually heard it. The band were / are great to work with.

Of course, you released BEF’s ‘Music Of Quality & Distinction Volume 3 – Dark’, continuing the association with HUMAN LEAGUE co-founder Martyn Ware. Would you be interested in releasing the new HEAVEN 17 album?

Yes! BEF ‘Music Of Quality & Distinction 3: Dark’ had some amazing guest vocalists. Martyn Ware is another inspiring artist who creates magical moments in music. A new HEAVEN 17 album would be great to hear.

You were a big fan of synth band MIRRORS, although they were on Skint Records and sadly didn’t breakthrough. What would you have done different with them if they had been signed to Wall Of Sound?

Yep, I loved MIRRORS. I’m not clear on what exactly happened though, I assumed the band split up so there was nothing the label could do. You have to understand exactly who a band are and what they want to achieve to make things happen.

You’ve been very critical of the ‘X Factor’ dominance on the music industry. But what are your thoughts on the more generic EDM that’s sweeping the US?

*adopts American accent* EDM?? It’s brand new, right ? 🙂

With EDM, the penny has dropped and the pills have dropped. Hopefully, they will be asking “where did this music come from?” sometime soon…

They need music in a ‘box / brand’ over there but hey, it’s finally happened and broken through. It is crazy. I’ve said this a few times too… when I first took music from the label over to the USA, most peeps I played it to said (*readopts American accent *) “This is not music! This is not ‘real’ music” because it didn’t have a ‘real’ instruments on it.

Then when we did PROPELLERHEADS and more, they were like (*American accent*) “Wait… is that a guitar?? Is that drums?? This is real music now!”; they had a bump there. Never played on daytime radio but it did well and connected to people.

What’s been your highlight with Wall Of Sound after 21 years?

Still being here… but it was apparently always my goal to get to this point. In every interview I did back in the crazy days when journalists asked “Why are you doing this?”, I answered “Cos I’m going to get to 20 years… and stick it up your ar*e!”

I am proud of all of the music that I have released on the label, and giving artists the platform to do what they do and be themselves.

What new electronic acts do you rate at the moment?

All the acts on the label obviously… but there are a few others 🙂

CHVRCHES
DENIS THE NIGHT & THE PANIC PARTY
MARSHEAUX

What’s next for Wall Of Sound?

A new RÖYKSOPP single…

EKKOES – like HURTS meets THE HUMAN LEAGUE

KILLSFLAW – THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS vs LED ZEPPELIN… rock ‘n’ rave or as I am calling it in the USA… RDM! (Rocktronic Dance Music) 🙂

KIDS ON BRIDGES – the album ‘Kidology’ is out there. They combine electronics and guitars
in a cool way too

PERFECT DAY – pop vs rock (prock), they are amazing 😉

There are some very new artists that I cannot announce at momento, as contracts not signed and someone will probably steal them!

Will Back To The Phuture ever return and would you be interested putting on another event like ‘Tomorrow Is Today’ featuring GARY NUMAN, JOHN FOXX, MIRRORS and MOTOR? If so, who would be the fantasy line-up?

Well, I’ve been focussing on the Wall of Sound fanniversary, the ‘Walls Have Ears’ compilation release and more.

But yes, Back To The Phuture will be returning, so many peeps have been asking me about it too. It looks like there will be some residencies around the world and more. There are too many phantasy line ups for me 🙂

Where do I start? BTTP places classic artists with new artists rather than being too retro-minded to. I have some cool ideas, but don’t want to mention them as they will deffo get borrowed. Phantasy line-ups… here are some that explore different electronic genres…

Line-up 1

THE HUMAN LEAGUE
HEAVEN 17
EKKOES

Line-up 2

KRAFTWERK
BBC RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING

Line-up 3

DEPECHE MODE
CABARET VOLTAIRE
THE NORMAL

Line-up 4

GIORGIO MORODER
JEAN MICHEL JARRE
CERRONE
YELLO

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Mark Jones

‘Walls Have Ears – 21 Years of Wall of Sound’ is released as a double CD and digital download by Wall Of Sound through PIAS

http://www.wallofsound.net

https://twitter.com/WallofSoundUK

http://www.backtothephuture.net/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos courtesy of Mark Jones except where credited
17th April 2015

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