Once there was an EP that was recorded and then it was unable to be finshed for reasons. Many years later, the siren whom created the EP, Justine Ó Gadhra-Sharp, was given the opportunity to complete it. This is very much our luck as well, as Sidhe is a wonderful eclectic mix of cabaret, sexiness and sprinklings of darkness. Justine has been a part of the New Zealand dark alternative scene since the 90s but this EP marks the lady being independent of a band, so we spoke to her about the EP, what she has been up to and find out a little about the Kiwi music scene!
Welcome/kia ora Justine, down in the Onyx burrow where we currently have an infestation of fairy folk… do be careful as they occasionally bite.
You have been involved with the New Zealand music scene since the 90s, with acts including The Gael, Flinch, Pulchritude, DiS and Artemisia. Most of these bands were involved in experimental, dark ambient styles. How did you get into this scene?
I socialised with many of these people in the 90s and we all had a similar desire for the darker and more experimental. We listened to much of the same kinda music. I have always been fairly confident socially, you could say, so I showed what I could do and it unfolded from there.
Justine Album Shoot
What was the gothic/industrial/darkwave scene in New Zealand in the 90s and 2000s? Is it similar today or have things changed?
Vastly different nowadays. Back then we were the stragglers of the 80s: the children of boomers, where we were not really acknowledged and kinda felt raised by radio and tv. So the music in the alternative scene (not limited to goth etc.) was a kinda purging of what was repressed in us. It made for some very interesting material; very raw in many ways. Nowadays I am not seeing much of this from the younger lot… I guess they have their own voice. Social media has changed things a lot. And the days of the old 4-track and analogue reel-to-reel that were always highly coveted now sit collecting dust in forgotten corners, holding memories and unfulfilled dreams. I quite liked the 90s “misfits” that wandered about looking for gigs to go to it felt quite supportive, and felt like we were kinda healing or medicating each other with music and booze: very much dysfunctional, but at the time was fun. There was however the shadow side that era came with, which was quite vampiric and deeply unhealthy. I needed to extract myself from that, so I left
The EP, Sidhe, was recorded in the early 2000s but then it was kind of forgotten about? How did Sidhe get resurrected and who was involved?
No, never forgotten about I assure you. Its state of incompletion haunted me. I would see that hard drive that was biffed in a box every time I would go looking for something and it would tug at my conscience – my obsession with tying up loose ends – I don’t like unfinished business. Then one day like an answered prayer, Josh Wood contacted me out of the blue, asking if I would be interested in doing some vocals on his EP. I was chuffed because I liked his work back in the day and was only too pleased to help. In return, he offered to help me with my EP when I was ready. He understood the bullshit that surrounded the temporary cessation of my project, and wanted to see it done. Very good guy: straight up and ridiculously talented. Another talented friend, Bryan Tabuteau in Wellington, also offered to assist. I gratefully accepted their help, and so here we are.
The style in Sidhe is different from what you were performing with other bands. Was this because you had more autonomy creating with long time friend Iva Treskon or were trying out something different?
Yea, so I was getting bored with the randomness of the other projects. Although I enjoyed these projects at the time, I suddenly started to feel like I was a bit of a puppet and wasn’t given much license to do what I wanted. I always wanted some structure and a degree of slickness – not too slick, mind you. Iva and I moved to Auckland in 2000 from Christchurch to carve out a new life together, and he is a very good drummer. I mean, the dude is crazy talented at a lot of things and drumming is just one of his natural abilities. He liked my singing and we would jam regularly in our tree house in Tītīrangi with the tūīs surrounded by native bush. His drum n bass break beat style with my drones, loops and vocal style created a lovely kind of landscape that had a nice balance of structure and experimentation. It was fun, and it happened very organically. We were highly motivated creative beings and we got a lot of creativity out back then collectively. We inspired each other. In fact his art still inspires me some 20 plus years later.
The single Red Room has been picked up by radio and streamers. You also had fellow New Zealanders, The Mercy Cage do a fantastic remix and in 2017, you recorded the single, Walking Ghost Phase with them. How did you make their acquaintance?
I met Josh Wood briefly in Auckland at some Goth gig in the early 2000s. I think he was based in Tauranga back then. I am not sure we even spoke to each other; just acknowledged each other in our introverted way. I was super impressed by The Mercy Cage and I guess my voice made a positive impression on him.
He did a huge amount of work on my EP and I asked him if he would like to do a remix of one of the songs with complete creative license. He chose Red Room and yes, he did a fantastic remix.
Justine Album Shoot
My favourite track is the wonderful Stanley’s Only Hope, a duet with Michel Rowland of Disjecta Membra. Your vocals complimented each other so well. Michel mentioned he had re-recorded the vocals after many years, so can you tell us about this song, your friendship with the delightful Rowland and is it inspired a little by Nick Cave?
I met Michel years ago, playing some shows together between 97 and 98. I was in Flinch then, and he was in Disjecta Membra, and we have been friends ever since. His voice blew me away when I first heard him sing, I was astonished. I love it. Deep and rich… I like how he seems to masticate words when he sings, and they come out kinda different, his own and yet otherworldly… hard to describe.
As for Nick – we both really enjoy Nick Cave and I think for me it’s almost impossible not to have Nick influence me creatively on some level. I wrote that song deliberately to be sung as a duet and for me there was only ever one person who could sing Stanley’s part and that was Michel. I am glad he agreed to it. Our voices do go well together. I think that’s a lot to do with getting where each other is coming from. Quite intuitive… instinctive.
You seemed to have a break from the music scene, so was this intentional?
Yes and no… Life and its twists took me down the path of motherhood, among many other distractions, both unwelcomed and welcomed.
In 2015 saw you starting to appear on recordings again. Was this the start of a return to singing for you?
Yes, dipping my toes back in, gently. Curious to see if I could still sing… seems I could.
What music or bands brought you into the fold in your youth?
As a child, early Simple Minds, early U2, Bowie, Clannad… then from 14-ish Nick Cave, The Church, Bauhaus, New Order… then latter teen years came Diamanda Galas, Swans, Skin, Jarboe, Dead Can Dance, PJ Harvey, The Breeders, Bongwater, The Specials… many more, but those are front of mind.
What or who do you listen to now that inspire you?
Still most of the above. I do like Weyes Blood, and Big Black Delta have a couple of decent songs that I return to.
Justine Album Shoot
Are there plans for more music in the pipeline due to the reception of Sidhe?
I hope so. There are some discussions about some collaborative work. For any solo stuff, not sure… I would like to, but perhaps not on my own completely.
We honestly hope to hear more from you and so do the fairies! Thank you/ char for your time!
You’re welcome. Yes, indeed the fae are never far from me… never far from us.
Pure Obsessions And Red Nights are a French band that have been around since 1999. They are soon to drop a new album but before that happens they have released on the 11th of March, 2022, their latest single, “A Vanishing Sight“.
From the start this has a really light feel to it. floating on an 80s electronic influenced wave. Full of these wonderful synth lines and lyrics that remind you of of times of being wanted, loved like no other. It is poppy and truly a track that reminds you that not all is doom and gloom in the world. Lead singer, PhilippeDeschemin did say that they had recorded on vintage synths and equipment and this all feeds into the ambiance.
Okay, wow. Their sound has changed a lot since the 2009 album, A Decade In Danger And Glitter, which is a far more metal industrial sound, when they were known as the murder rock band by the acronym PORN (I dare you to google that!). I don’t think it is a matter of mellowing but rather a growth in the style to incorporate more of the 80s electronica. It is a really enjoyable track and in times like these, sometimes we need the music that feeds and inflames our hearts.
Some people out there are just so talented musically. One of these is Gold Coast based musician Jed A Walters with his newest project, Chiffon Magnifique. We previously looked at his debut under that moniker and it seems a shame to not display the wonders of the second single, “Ice Witch” which was released the 3rd of March, 2022.
Just a few seconds in, you can tell this is going to be good with the cold electronics and the unfaltering drum machine. Walters has said he has started to enjoy playing more guitar and it used to spine tingling effect here. The versus are in German and almost spat out with near poisonous contempt about a woman whose heart was as cold as the tundra she came from. The synths are scintillating as he proclaims in English, you’ve done it now and in an extra twist there is a near manic saxophone towards the end. And for those that have not guessed yet, it is about a relationship gone sour and a bad breakup.
It is really worth watching the video because there is the translation of the German and also you get the pleasure of watching a well made shoe-string budget video of Walters being chased across the Robina parklands by the evil ice witch (which I will tell you is no mean feat in Queensland weather being an ice witch!). ChiffonMagnifique showcases the growing prowess in electronic/post-punk music that I can only see Jed A Walters growing stronger in. Hurry up with the damn album. We need it!
The Neuro Farm have been in existence since 2011 with founders Rebekah Feng (vocals, violin) and Brian S Wolff (vocals, guitar), later joined by DreamrD (drums, percussion) and Tim Phillips (keyboards, textures). This gothic quartet released the concept album Vampyre in 2021, with the tale starting in a grand ancient acclaim with the father of vampires, “Cain“. It follows a woman who is tricked into becoming a creature of the night eternal but struggles with the loss of her humanity and leaving behind the husband she loves. The bloodsucker that sired her, acts as a despot, so she gathers the others like herself to over throw this King of Vampires and then ascends to become Queen. Throughout, there is drama and dark beauty. Feng’s vocals are gorgeous and really give each track such profound grace. You can hear her classical training and “Vampyre” is a perfect track to showcase not only her violin playing but the vocals. Wolff is no slouch with his singing either while Phillips abilities on the synths has enriched their sound and DreamrD is the beating heart that holds it all together. A goth rock odyssey that could only happen when you have a group of talented musicians.
I think the moral of the story is in the end there is a little bit of Cain in each and every vampire that stalks the world from the shadows. So, we decided to have a chat with these ephemeral creatures that make up The NeuroFarm before the break of dawn and find out about this latest offering and what makes their synapses spark…..
Welcome to the psych ward where we conduct aptitude tests looking for Onyx’s new Renfield!
Brian: Thanks for inviting us in. 😉
The name of the band comes from Rebekah being a neuroscientist and Brian’s interest in neuropharmacology. How did the band come together?
Brian: Rebekah and I met in grad school at Georgetown University working on PhDs in neuroscience. We both had solo music projects going, and somehow didn’t know this about each other until a couple years after we first met. But we did eventually find out, and it turned out our projects were fairly similar, so we started a band. It wasn’t very serious at first, just kind of a fun spare time thing, but we got much more serious about it in 2017 when Colin joined and we started working on our Descent album.
Rebekah: I agree, the band was more like a fun side hobby at first, and was nothing like what it is now. In a way, The Neuro Farm only became a real band when we met Colin in 2017. Colin brought our rhythm section to a whole new level. The 3 of us played shows for a few years with quite a few bassists, but we had wanted a synth player for a very long time. Tim is one of the best synth players around. We had wanted to ask him to join our band for the longest time. To our surprise, he said yes! With Tim joining the band last year, we were able to create all these new sounds for Vampyre. We are now the Neuro Farm 2.0! 😀
Neuro Farm is based in Washington DC, so can you tell us what the goth/industrial scene is like in the nation’s capital?
Rebekah: Under the polished suit-wearing facade of Washington, DC, there’s an unexpectedly active underground goth/industrial scene! I bet everyone thinks they have the best goth scene, but I really do believe ours is special. Everyone is genuinely kind and supportive of each other. We have Vanguard and Dark & Stormy, which are both amazing dance parties. If you ever visit DC, you’ll have to come to one of these! Another super cool thing that happened in DC is the emergence of Procession Magazine. It was founded by our pal, Chris Canter, and has grown into a super popular print magazine in the US. So definitely check them out!
Your music is heavily based and influenced by vampire lore. What is it about this genre that inspires your music and creativity?
Rebekah: Vampires are misunderstood. They are often portrayed as monsters to be slayed. But they have memories of humanity and are tortured by eternity. They have loved and lost, and can be a bit jaded as a result. We wanted to tell the vampire’s story from their perspective, and that became the story of the album.
Brian: Vampires are also about power. Power is something they crave, something they covet, something that sustains them, but at the same time it’s quite literally a curse, and something that estranges them from those they care about. It’s great symbolism, and fun to explore from a songwriting perspective.
Congratulations on your latest album release, Vampyre, which comes with a story-line. Can you elucidate and give us a bite of what this epic tale is about?
Brian: The album begins with “Cain”, a song about the biblical figure who was cursed by God to wander the earth for eternity as a vampire. The main story is set in modern times, and the heroine of the story is made a vampire by an evil man, an egomaniacal cult leader who is the subject of the song, “Purity”. But as she grows to hate her maker, she lures vampires away from him and makes them loyal to her. Eventually, she slays her former master in the “Midnight Massacre” and declares herself queen. Mastermind ends the album saying the kings and queens aren’t really in charge, asking, who is the real mastermind? Then in a subtle touch I’m probably a little too proud of, you hear the theme from “Cain” start to play, answering the question.
Rebekah: Right before “Midnight Massacre” there’s a pair of songs, “Vampyre” and “Mortal”. Part of the tragedy of becoming a vampire is the inevitable farewell to their mortal loved ones. “Vampyre” portrays the difficult choice of breaking the bond. And of course, “Mortal” is the story told from the mortal lover’s perspective. You sense more of a trace of humanity in “Vampyre” before she abandons her humanity in “Midnight Massacre”.
BRIAN S WOLFF
How important was it for there to be a story-line for this album and who was the one to come up with theidea?
Brian: Rebekah came up with the vampire theme by writing the song, “Vampyre”. We had a few songs already written at that time, but we realized we could easily form a story about that vampire character, so we decided to turn the whole thing into a concept/story album. The song “Cain” was actually originally written about the Norse god Loki, but we adapted it into a song about the world’s first vampire.
Rebekah: It’s more fun when an album reads like a book rather than a collection of loosely-connected songs! We first came up with the song “Vampyre” and built a whole storyline around the vampire. There’s a cult, a love story, a rebellion, and the takeover in the story. We added the origin story of the biblical Cain, the first vampire, because we do everything from start to finish. That’s how we roll! 😀
DreamrD: Fortunately, during the pandemic, we had the time available to devote to the project. Making and releasing albums is a tremendous amount of work under any circumstances, much less a concept-based undertaking that communicates a compelling story. We’re familiar with what effort is involved though, because our 2019 release “The Descent” is also a concept/story based album.
REBEKAH FENG
I believe Vampyre is your fourth studio album. How do you feel your sound has changed since that first release in 2011?
Brian: In 2011 it was really just a side project with Rebekah and me, and pretty amateurish. You can definitely hear us develop with each album, with the songwriting and production improving considerably over time. And we added Colin for “The Descent” (2018), which improved our sound pretty dramatically, and then added Tim for “Vampyre” (2021) which once again gave our sound a huge boost. I feel like we’ve found a really great lineup for the band now where we all contribute a lot to the sound, and we really like working together to make music we’re all proud of.
Rob Early of 11 Grams/Retrogram did a great job mastering Vampyre, so how do you know the fabulous Rob?
Rebekah: Haha! You know Rob too? Isn’t Rob a great guy? A few years back, we played a show at Black Cat in DC with Red This Ever (another great band from our area) and Rob was the synth player at that show. We started chatting then and have been good friends ever since.
Brian: Rob was absolutely fantastic to work with, and just a great guy as well.
DreamrD: Rob also happens to live right down the street from me so we’re neighbors as well, though we only recently discovered this fact. Knowing this, I’ll be dropping by his place often for a spare cup of baking powder or sea salt. 🙂
Rebekah, you are a trained classical violin player. Does this make it easier or harder to integrate into a rock style for you?
Rebekah: Like everyone else, I grew up playing an acoustic violin and didn’t even know about electric violins until later in life. As you know, classical violin training focuses more on techniques rather than artistic expression. I get bored easily, so perfecting my technique or playing sheet music was not as fun. I’ve always been more interested in creating new sounds and coming up with my own music. Fast forward to 2010, I bought my first electric violin and the world of effect pedals opened up to me. The rest is history. 🙂 Now I have so many effects pedals and somehow keep acquiring more. So, to answer your question, integrating violin playing into a rock style actually felt quite natural. It was meant to be! 🙂
TIM PHILLIPS
The whole band comes from a lot of different musical backgrounds. What are the bands that influenced you all in your youth?
Brian: My biggest influence growing up was Pink Floyd, who gave me a deep love for the concept album. And Dave Gilmour was probably the main reason I decided to learn guitar. Otherwise, the way Radiohead writes and arranges their songs has definitely been a big inspiration for my own songwriting over the years. And I love how Portishead had a really cinematic vibe to their music, which is something I’ve always pursued in my own music.
Rebekah: I was actually really into classical music when I was a kid. My first cassette was a piece by Schumann. I got it when I was 6 and I remember being moved by the music. String harmonies still give me goosebumps. Then there’s Bach who made me fall in love with Baroque arpeggiation patterns. Nowadays, I notice that I incorporate these influences when I write music without realizing it. If you listen to the song, Vampyre, you’ll see what I’m talking about. 🙂
DreamrD: Having come up in the 80’s (think “Freaks and Geeks”) a lot of pop music and MTV in particular were inescapable. So all of that rubbed off on my musical interests at the time, and much of which I still enjoy. The Police, Devo, Missing Persons, Duran Duran, Ministry, The Cult, Prince, and The The were all bands that really captivated my youthful ears. I recall much later seeing Cirque du Soleil for the first time and being impacted by the music, but also just the overall performance and theatrics, the creation of distinct show characters, the acrobatic and physical prowess, and the fantasy of it all. It was impressive and stuck with me as an elevated piece of artistry. The Blue Man Group show also made a similar impact from a unique live performance perspective, as did U2’s Zoo TV tour in the 90’s. Amazing productions! Unrelated to musical influences, but with additional personal insight, DreamrD is a nickname that’s been with me in some form (DreamR, Dreamer, Dreamer-D, etc.) since my teens and just never went away. It works in a musical/band/performance setting, however my dearest Mum still calls me Colin. I also answer to “schlagzeuger” for our German followers since we seem to be making inroads there. But maybe Australia is next for The Neuro Farm to really infiltrate? 😉
Tim: I became a fan of Duran Duran in the early 80’s and when I saw a live performance on MTV, I saw Nick Rhodes behind a glorious stack of synths and computers and I knew instantly that I wanted to be him. My tastes expanded when I got into Pink Floyd and early Peter Gabriel solo albums, but hearing The Cure’s ‘The Head on the Door’ was the moment I wanted to compose songs. This also led me down the college and alternative radio path and fell in love with Depeche Mode, New Order, Echo and the Bunnymen, etc. Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead then enforced the fact that writing and performing music was the path I wanted to follow.
DreamrD
What do you find yourselves listening to now?
Brian: Honestly, a lot of the same stuff I was listening to in my youth. But I’ve definitely had a recent focus on post-punk and industrial stuff like Joy Division and NIN. I like listening to all kinds of different music, though I think pretty much every genre has good stuff in it.
Rebekah: I go through phases with music. There will be weeks when I listen to Chelsea Wolfe nonstop. Then there are other weeks when I listen to a lot of German bands, Rammstein, Eisbrecher, etc. Currently, I’m in a Sigur Rós phase. They are going on tour this year and we all bought tickets to see them, so I’m quite excited about it! The ONE band I always come back to is Radiohead. They are incredibly creative and the music is both beautiful and so interesting!
DreamrD: In the “smaller band” realm, I have been enjoying Ritual Howls who are based in Detroit. They have a dark, mechanical, and minimalist quality to their sound but that is also infused with a Western twang to it. “Turkish Leather” is a good full-album starting point for their music. In the “bigger artist” category, I typically stop whatever I am doing if I hear Johnny Marr’s solo work come on or also Interpol (Antics!). Those sounds just never get old to my ears.
Tim: Other than revisiting all of the music I grew up with, I find myself listening more and more to bands like Deftones, Mew, Sigur Ros, and 65daysofstatic. Even side projects of some of those bands are in my heavy rotation such as Crosses (Deftones) and Apparatjik (Mew).
Due to the pandemic hitting us from 2020 to 2021, how has it affected the band? Did it make some things harder/impossible or other things easier?
DreamrD: The pandemic initially impacted The Neuro Farm by shutting down a planned 2020 tour and obviously separating us physically from gigging and hanging out together, etc. But we made a point of staying active and productive. The time away from performing really cleared the way for the Vampyre album to be our sole focus and brought it to completion without any particular pressure of time or imposed deadlines. It felt good to embrace flexibility and to be able to adapt to the unexpected.
What are the future plans for Neuro Farm?
Rebekah: Venues are opening back up in DC, and we recently began to play local shows somewhat regularly. When we wrote our “Vampyre” album, we had envisioned an almost movie-like storyline which warrants music videos. We are in the process of making them and hope to finish those this year. In April 2020, we were about to go on our first east coast tour, which didn’t happen for obvious reasons. So touring domestically is definitely on our agenda. Also, we’ve been gaining popularity internationally, so touring in Europe and maybe Australia is something we’ve been talking about as well.
If you were a character out of the role playing game Vampire The Masquerade, what clan would you be from and why?
Brian: My real life might most resemble Nosferatu because I’m reclusive and I spend a lot of time in front of a computer. But screw that, I want to be a Toreador because they’re much more attractive, and I want to be attractive, dammit!
Rebekah: I think I am a Tremere because of my day job. I wish I knew magic. But hey, science is like magic, but based on empirical evidence! 😀 Supposedly, Tremeres are hated by many. I hope that’s not the case. 😦
DreamrD: I would probably be part of the Ravnos. I’m often a little restless but also prefer not to fight about things when a smoother, more charmed approach can achieve the same or better result in life. 😉
Tim: I was going to say I’d lean heavily towards Ravnos, but we can’t have TWO charmers in the same band, right? I’d go with Malkavian as I can be a bit of a joker and may be prone to hallucinations when I’m hungry 😛
Thank you for being my willing thralls and giving your time to this experiment.
Brian: We have been enthralled. Get it? Because “Enthralled” is a song on our album. 😀
Mwahaha congratulations Brian, you are the new Renfield.
Here on Onyx, we love our Australian underground music. To that end, we figured people needed to know about the latest video from post-punk provocateurs, Sounds Like Winter. “No Interest“, off their third album, FightThe Stairs, is a combination of footage from around the time of the original Wall Street Crash and the live online video of the band’s album launch.
We previously said…The tribal beats are unmissable here and maybe a harkening back to Southern Death Cult. “No Interest” is the cold reality that humanity isn’t so humane and will ignore you when you are at your lowest point. As their promoter, UTM Music Group said…..If you’ve been ignoring this band, you’re clearly a fucking idiot. Could not have really said it better myself.
Sequential Zero are back with a new single, released on the 28th of February on Mantravision label. “ThirdSequence” is not the name of the single but rather the third release in sequence for the three piece group. Australians, Ant Banister (Sounds Like Winter, Def FX) and Colin Gallagher (Burnt Souls) with American, Bruce Nullify (Orcus Nullify) are the nucleus of the band and each release so far has been a double “A” side.
The first track off this double single is “My Darker Side” and these guys are very open in the fact that they have a very early 80’s electronic sound with this gorgeous guitar glimmering through the synths. For a song that searches one’s self doubts, I find this track very heartwarming. The second track “Adjusting Expectations” is a truly interesting piece. Written during covid, when shows were being cancelled further and further into the future and restrictions were placed on where people could even go, keeping the live musicians wondering if they would ever return to what they love. Bannister does sound tired of it all with the glorious guitar work behind him, the piano as the disappointment and the synths the hope trying to break through.
There is a pure simplicity that evokes tremendous feelings of joy and sadness within Sequential Zero’s music. Both tracks are a little more bleaker in content then previous releases but there is no light without darkness. It really is a brilliant little darkwave project the lads have going and hopefully it will become a bigger project with the support it deserves.
The French have a very interesting history of coldwave/darkwave/gothic bands. Adding to that rich tapestry is the three piece band, JE T’AIME. If you were unaware of what the meaning of JE T’AIME, it is I love you. Yes, those smooth Parisian types have released an album on Valentine’s Day (14th February) called PASSIVE. This will be paired with the next album already named AGGRESSIVE to be released some time later this year by the guys, dBoy, Tall Bastard and Crazy Z.
The album starts off with “Another Day In Hell” and if this song is any indicator for the quality of the rest of the tracks, then I may have died and gone to a much better place. The synths bring in the percussion and the guitar lights up the track while we are treated to dBoy’s vocals. There is a certain amount of feeling of out of control in “Dirty Tricks“, as it speeds away without concern for the passengers, before we calm down a little with “Lonely Days“. and the chorus makes me conscious of this is how The Police would have sounded if they had been darker and makes me giggle a little. A great little track though with the classic line And she is dancing around my dead body.
“Unleashed” definitely is more foreboding in mood. A tale of a love that hurts yet unable to leave that power play because of the perception of losing that love. The vocals convey a certain desperation and longing. When you leave a relationship, certain songs will remind one of the other person, even if It reminds me of your shitty taste in music. This is “Stupid Songs” which features Saigon Blue Rain’s, Ophelia giving her sensual vocals in the maelstrom of conflicting emotions. The body of the relationship is “Cold” and dead. Really digging the synth lines versus the guitar as everything breaks apart. “Blood On Fire” has these really bright synths, I mean really upbeat which is nothing like the sentiments of the lyrics which tell of a man who has lost all interest in life and feels like the undead.
The music and vocals wrap around you with “Give Me More Kohl“. The joyous embrace of the night and everything that might be a bit vampiric in nature. The gothic anthem of the dark children. Talking of night children, “On The Phone” is about a rather awful gothic girl that is very cruel. The guitar is very beautiful and you can’t help but feel for the boy in the tale. Oooh yes, that bass wraps up the album full circle in “Marble Heroes“. The Cure influence is very strong, with rivulets of sound running down in an achingly gorgeous way.
There isn’t anything that I don’t like about PASSIVE and damn it, that bass alone is purely sexual post-punk candy. So much passion, unrequited love and the soul wrenching devastation of loss, all drenched in fabulous guitar and synth, with the agonised and honey dripping vocals. Now bring on AGGRESSION.
When US band Sunshine Blind came to prominence in the gothic scene in the early 90s, it also heralded a new resurgence in bands and music of this style, making it an extremely exciting time. Caroline Blind was the front woman for Sunshine Blind and after a hiatus, returned to the scene as a solo act and also a member of the experimental project Voidant. We spoke to the gracious and lovely Caroline about life, friends and of course the music.
Caroline Blind, a warm welcome from the Onyx rabbit hole.
You first started out in the band, Sunshine Blind. What drew you to that style of music and how did the band form?
Hi. I was well into the style of music before I started the band, of course. I was looking to submerge myself into it more, by going ahead and playing it, and not just listening to it. Probably what made me really go for it was seeing actual people where I lived doing it. Listening to bands from some far off place is one thing, but actually going to a show and seeing friends, or friends of friends, in my neighborhood having a go at forming their own bands and writing their own music, was the thing that made me realize that I could do it, too.
I put an ad in a local music paper, looking for a guitarist, and I met with those that responded. I found CWHK, it turned out he literally lived around the corner from me, but I didn’t know him then. We started working on songs, and the mix was right. We formed Sunshine Blind, and played together for 13 years. A million tour dates, and 3 albums later – it took us all over the country and beyond.
I first remember hearing you sing on the compilation Masked Beauty In A Sea Of Sadness (1994) with the song Crescent And The Stars. That whole CD was full of some great bands. Sunshine Blind broke up as many bands do when they hit a certain point. You must look back of that time with some whimsy but do you feel being a performer under your own name suits you better now?
That was a good compilation…. I don’t look back with whimsy, doing the band was my life, my purpose, and was wrapped up with the personal relationship- CWHK and I were married, and we had kids.
We divorced in early 2000’s. Realizing after ten years that doing our music was really only my dream, and not his, or at least, not anymore, was a serious break that totally shook me- The band had been my identity. Our identity, I thought, but things changed. I really didn’t know where to go without his half, I didn’t know who I was anymore without being “Caroline of Sunshine Blind”.
I had been very dependent on him for music production, as well, so I knew I would have to learn that part of it if I wanted to continue to make music, so in 2016 I took some music production courses. The first time I recorded a song in Protools by myself, rough as it was, I cried. I was able to express myself again through music, and I felt I had years of anguish to process/ express!
Music has always been a collaboration for me, with someone I cared deeply about. I feel personally that the music is boring if I do it all myself, it’s better as a collaboration, I need someone to bounce ideas off of, to compliment and blend with,- music needs a ying and a yang, it’s a conversation. Doing music “by myself” is not something I even want to do. Just doesn’t appeal to me. So of course when people offered to help, I jumped at the chance.
I don’t know why it didn’t dawn on me that I could work with new or different people, probably because “why would I want to?”. But in the end I was forced to. When people offered, and I took them up on it. I found It was EXACTLY like going from being married, to ‘dating again’. Can be exciting, full of promise, and then, maybe transitory, and you can get your heart broken. You can work very superficially, or you can get into a very strong connection with a collaborator. Very hit and miss. I’m learning to rely on myself to be the constant thread through it all, since I guess I’m the one with my own vision, and I don’t wish to give that away ever again. Does it suit me? No idea. I just have to express myself, and follow where it leads, as I always have done. I know that some great music can come from when you are going through things and have real emotions to express, and I’ve been having some real emotions about my new working form/ collaborations (!) , so I feel my music will have that intensity that I’m drawn to, in music I listen to, and probably people will be able to relate/ connect to my music because of that, too.
As you said, you have been creating music again. With several singles released, you then dropped the album, The Spell Between in 2020. The list of people you have on the credits is fairly impressive, so do you think you have found some of your tribe, so to speak, who mirror your own need to make music?
That’s a good question. I am really driven to do music, to live a life in the music industry. I do not feel like some the people I have worked with in the past 6 years are so driven, no. People have moved on. There are a few who are always working on something, or doing as many shows as they can, or out there creating things, but some people maybe ‘used to do it full time’, and maybe stopped, or just do it sometimes, or on the weekends or something… you know, they have lives (lol!), maybe kids, big jobs, who knows, not me. Doesn’t really matter to me. I’m here to work on music. That’s my fun, it’s my therapy, how I self actualize, work out my karma, whatever. It’s the lens I see the world through. It feels like the point of my life, I guess, -and the thing that was neglected for a bit there, so feels AMAZING to be back at it, and IN it. The people I’ve found to work with, are just friends, old a new. I’m happy to be hanging out with them whether we do music or not, because we share a history and/ or a scene. I’ll travel across oceans to see a show as happily as I will to play one, I just like being a part of the industry and scene, and expressing my art in it, when I get the chance. It feels like home to me. So yes, I’m back with my ‘Tribe’. (Which is coincidentally the title of a song I released recently, that I had some of the greatest guitarists in this scene help me with!)
I see you caught my drift. The song Tribe was re-recorded and as you said released as a single. How was it hearing this song refreshed and does it take on new meaning for you now?
Tribe was a song we wrote with Sunshine Blind, but never recorded in the studio. I always felt it was a quintessential Sunshine Blind track- a torrent of riffs and guitars, a soaring and powerful vocal, I wanted to get it done in the studio and put it out. I was able to get the full Sunshine Blind lineup; CWHK on guitars, William Faith ( Bellwether syndicate, Faith and the Muse) on Bass, and Geoff Bruce ( Sunshine Blind, Faith and the Muse) on Drums, to record their parts for it and send me the files. I had Gordon Young in Edinburgh mix it with my other solo album tracks, and we put it on my solo album “The Spell Between”.
But my solo album was mostly grooves and acoustic guitar, after I released the album, I wanted to showcase “Tribe” on its own, where it’s power would stand out. Just rock/ electric guitar music.
My solo album had been very limited by “what I can do on guitar” , which is “not much”! lol! Giving free license to someone whose language is guitar, was kind of what I had been looking for- making something that was more than the sum of it’s parts. I was so thrilled. I contacted Mark Gemini Thwaite directly, and he and Ashley Bad got busy on a remix which turned it into an extended club mix for the dancefloor, and that was epic!
I started looking in to getting remixes done. This was during the pandemic, and lots of people who play guitar live for touring acts were grounded with no work. Many of them turned to doing studio work for hire, and it was perfect timing for me. I got connected to Andee Blacksugar of KMFDM though my PR company, and he did a remix. To your question, yes, it’s very weird to hear someone change a song you agonized over and wrote and recorded to be “just so”. But it’s also fascinating. You can get some “why didn’t I do that?” or “that’s a really interesting spin!” The remixes can make you hear the song in a whole new way, for sure.
Finally, my friend Michael Clark had produced some work with Ben Christo (gutiarist of Sisters of Mercy), and since The Sisters were a big inspiration when we started Sunshine Blind, I thought who better to work a song that was pretty much made for the style? Ben knocked it waaaay out of the park- he added backing vocals and sped it up even more, it just rocks harder than anything I’ve done in a long time, and I am fully here for it, and ready to take that inspiration and run with it. Warm up is over, no more acoustics…next album will be some serious riffy guitars, which was where I started in the first place. Looking forward to getting back to it. Gotta thank those guys all, for reminding me what is possible. I’m very inspired.
I saw Ben Christo last play with Andrew Eldritch and Mark Gemini Twaite with Peter Murphy and David J (Bauhaus 40th Anniversary of In The Flat Field). Both are amazing guitarists. The pandemic has not been kind to the music industry over the last two years but it has also forged some dynamic and strong friendships borne of the desire to create and connect. How has covid affected the way you approach music and did this inspire you to go ahead with Voidant?
Covid hasn’t really affected my music too much. Since I did whole “restart as solo artist” a few years ago, it’s been a lot of “working from home “. I started my solo thing just by myself and a computer/ home studio, and then when I started working with my first collaborator, Rich W.- (guitarist from The Wake (US)), we were 2000 miles apart, and traded files back and forth. When I started working with other people, like Wolfie ( Guitarist from Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, who I also do that electronic music project called “Voidant” with), who is in Leeds, England, and Gordon Young, who mixed and mastered my album from Edinburgh, Scotland- it was the same, all online, trading files. I did eventually meet them all face to face at least once or twice, before the pandemic, but writing and recording is a bulk of the work I’ve done, so far, in my “comeback”, so no, covid hasn’t affected that part at all. Working with Rich, him introducing me to Wolfie and the relationships I have started and sustained through both of them, started and evolved just like they would have in real life, they just happened through talking and working online, thanks to the internet.
As for shows; I was just starting to play out live before the pandemic, just getting a live band together, I was lucky to have Dave (from) The Dramedy play bass, and George Earth ( from Switchblade Symphony) play guitar for me, for some live shows in 2019.
We only did a few shows, but we traveled , but we had some ADVENTURES!
Our working together was kind of a long distance thing, as well, -they were both in LA and I was in San Francisco ( 400 miles apart). I would drive down to rehearse with them once or twice a month.
Since the shut down, I’ve moved back to my original state, New Jersey, which is 3000 miles from LA, so it’ll be hard to keep working with them. My move wasn’t Covid related, I had been planning it since before the pandemic. I was sick of San Francisco, and I wanted to be home, and closer to the UK, too. When I thought of moving, I figured I would find people out here on the East Coast to play with, but THAT has definitely been hindered by the Pandemic. I can’t get out to go to the clubs and see people and who is still around New York and NJ that could play for me.
I hadn’t originally planned on finding people in LA before my move, and playing shows with them, but the need arose and it just happened! lol! Sometimes you just have to go with things that happen organically, even if they aren’t what you planned or how you planned it, if it’s working for you, why not follow it? And people loved meeting/ seeing George and Dave, it just worked, and we had lots of fun. My band Sunshine Blind did a tour with Switchblade Symphony back in 1997, so George and I have memories and history that go back a while, it was great to reminisce and work together again, this time in the same band!
I just booked my first post -pandemic show for this coming July- I’m headlining one of the nights of Goth City Leeds festival in the UK. I am worried about how Covid will affect it, but I went over to the UK this past Halloween for a music festival ( to attend, not play), so I’ve travelled in a pandemic time, I should be able to do it again. Fingers crossed.
You mention the Leeds goth festival and I know that Wolfie Wolfenden will be looking forward to catching up with you. Will he be getting on-stage with you and can you tell us about this friendship across the sea?
Yes, I met Wolfie though Rich (guitarist from The Wake (US)). Rich and I started working on music together, he was my first collaborator as a solo artist. I was recording some cover songs, Swans “God Damn the Sun”, and such, and I wanted to cover “Heaven” by Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. I didn’t know at the time that Rich knew Wolfie. Rich and I worked out a version where Rich played a Baritone acoustic guitar, and I sang, and we made a decent demo. Then one morning I woke to a message from Rich saying he had sent the demo over to Wolfie. I was horrified, because I’ve not had good experiences in meeting my idols up until then ( see: https://www.mtv.com/news/1434098/sisters-of-mercy-slag-bands-for-being-too-goth/ wherein Andrew Edlritch almost single handedly ruined our career back in 1997 by throwing us off an opening slot for The Sisters of Mercy show in Philadelphia, PA. The fallout made our record company fold, and left us stranded in California, on different coast from our usual recording studio.)
Fortunately Wolfie is a very personable guy, and he loved the demo, and was flattered by it. He said it almost made him cry. I asked him why later, if it was a bad memory for him, and he said no, that it was a super happy memory, so maybe it was just bittersweet. In any event, Rich asked Wolfie to play on our cover of the song, and he did. So there are two cover songs on my CD where I have the original songwriter of the song playing on the song with me singing. ( The other is the cover of The Wake’s “First”, because Rich played guitar on that for me.)
So Wolfie is great, we got to chatting through the internet, and after a while, he asked if I would sing on an electronic project he was working on. I said, “Of course”, and he sent it over. It became the song “Death to Sleep” which is on my solo album, “The Spell Between”.
Very different style and working style for me, but I love what we came up with. After this, he had more songs, so we started working on an EP/ Album. He would send me the files, I’d write and record my vocals and send them back. So we’re working partners now, as well as friends.
In 2019 I went to England to see James- (bass player from The Wake) – he had a new band, ‘October Burns Black’ , and they went over to play a show at the Tomorrows Ghosts Festival in Whitby, England.
While I was over there, I stopped in Leeds, and Wolfie let me stay at his place, and took me all around Leeds for the grand tour, which included stories of himself and all the bands that came out of Leeds, and where they played and lived back in the day, the Sisters, The Mission, The Lorries, March Violets, the Rose of Avalanche, etc. Great stories!
We worked on our electronic album, and it came out under the project name “Voidant” last year. It’s pretty experimental, but there are some great tunes in there! It was a good exercise in songwriting for me, trying different styles, etc, and I’m pretty excited about it.
I went back to England, to the Whitby Festival again in 2021. The Wake were supposed to be playing but the pandemic made it too hard to get Visas, so I was very sad not to see my friends playing there, but I had a hotel booked from the previous year, and decided to go anyway, because of pandemic fatigue! I went over, and I stayed with Wolfie again on my way there, we had a great time catching up and playing music then as well, before I headed over to Whitby.
I have asked Wolfie to join me for this show in July, we can do some Voidant songs and some Lorries Songs, people should get a kick out of that. The hometown of the Lorries and all…. I’m looking forward to it!
When I interviewed Wolfie, he had this to say about you. “She stayed with us and she’s a really big fan of Zakk Wylde and I can see he’s a terrific guitar player although his music isn’t something I would listen to but there is one Zakk Wylde song that we both agree on that we’d like to do a cover of in a 4AD kind of ideal and it’s this song called Spoke In The Wheel which I think is a fucking great song because you know it’s a really great song”. The burning question is, is this going ahead because I want to hear this?!
That is the plan, though we haven’t begun yet. When we were together in Leeds at Halloween, Wolfie and I started talking about what songs we’d do next, and that cover was one. When I got home, I was at a Black Label Society show about a month later, and I took a little video of Zakk playing ‘Spoke in the wheel’ live, and sent it to Wolfie to show him how Zakk changes up songs live, to show how we could change it up. So, we’ll see how it turns out. I am a huge Zakk fan, I’ve gone to tons of his shows, they are good fun, and he often has great bands on the road with him, that I also enjoy. I’ve been to so many shows, that Wylde’s road crew recognizes me, and they say hello when they see me!
Can’t wait to hear your version. Wolfie also mentioned that it might be on a new EP. EPs seem to be popular again. What music did you grow up on that would influence your getting into the industry?
I like music with actual emotional intensity, in pretty much any genre. I usually dislike pop songs, or music that is just for filling space or just for dancing. I’m attracted to darker themes and moods. My history of musical exposure goes like this: started with the Beatles, and music from the UK has always been a theme for me from there. Being from New Jersey I was exposed to a lot of Classic Rock, Heavy Metal and Southern rock, so I have all that, but even there, the classic rock from the UK stood out for me, like Pink Floyd, Judas Preist or Led Zeppelin, not US bands. As a kid in the 80’s, I loved New Wave, but really New Wave, like New Romantics (UK), not like Madonna (US). My other recurring theme is guitars, guitarists, and guitar based music. I liked a lot of music that had synths, but bands with guitars is what I like. Grunge, Hardcore, Metal, indie bands and ‘120 minutes’ Alternative music in the 90’s, I liked. That’s where I first saw bands like Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Swans, The Bolshoi and a bunch of the more trad goth bands, too: The Mission, Love and Rockets, Peter Murphy. I knew some people at university who were in Goth Bands, and by the time I started looking for a band, I knew that was the way I wanted to go.
Currently there is a post-punk/coldwave/darkwave revival, with a lot of interesting acts like Twin Tribes, TRAITRS She Past Away to name a few. Are there any particular bands in the current era that you hear and think, yep I can get into that?
No, not really. lol! The new bands I’ve been most excited about in the past few years are/ were: Sometime the Wolf, October Burns Black, Bootblacks and Auger. Like I said, it fit doesn’t have enough guitars, it probably won’t be on my list.
Sometime the Wolf broke up, but Drew (lead singer) has a new project called “All My Thorns”, and Drew is about to be the new Singer for Sweet Ermengarde, too, so looking forward to that. Also, October Burns Black is about to drop a new album, so that’s coming up… I think Auger are probably the youngest/ newest band on my list. Love ’em to bits. Saw the lead singer, Kyle, do a solo set last Halloween at the Marquis Masquerade party in Whitby, unbelievable, that guy.
Have to say I really like Tommy Olsen (ex-Theatre of Tragedy) from October Burns Black’s, other project, Long Night. He is such a polished guitar player. And Auger, we have reviewed before and they have so much talent going on there. In July, as you said, you have Goth City in Leeds, but what else does the future hold for Caroline Blind?
Oh yes, I love Long Night, and all the bands associated with October Burns Black. All the bands Simon Rippin ( Fields of the Nephilim) plays for : Grooving in Green, etc. I was sad Tommy didn’t come over with OBB when they played Whitby, so I could meet him. Gordon Young ( Dream Disciples, Pretentious Moi, Children on Stun) filled in for him.
As for the future, right now the only things in current works are getting ready for, and playing the shows this summer, I have a song due for a Compilation of covers next month, and Wolfie and I have a tentative plan to do more Voidant work. I have a couple songs that I need to cobble together for an EP for this year or next, but I’m brainstorming how to do them, who to do them with, etc. I like to have a rough idea to begin with, start putting things in place, and then something will happen and the last pieces will click, and I’ll know exactly what I need to do… it’s that “preparedness meets opportunity” thing… I’ll see it, and then I know exactly what I’ve prepared for, and it works really well, though not always on a timeline I think it will, but the ends are usually worth it.
Is there anything else you want to touch on or feel I have missed that we should cover? I have enjoyed reading everything immensely. Otherwise, I can say – Thank you ever so much for the talking to me and giving us some of your time. Can’t wait to hear what comes next!
Jean-Luc Courchet is the man behind the experimental post-punk act called Spiryt. February the 14th saw the single “V” drop with guest vocalist Kimberly from Bow Ever Down gracing the track. Courchet is from Toulon, France while Kimberly is based in Maine in the United States.
From the opening piano, you can tell this is going to be an introspective number, as the notes seem to hold their own woes. Kimberly’s vocals break through, clear and full of the weight of the sadness in the lyrics. A tale of judgement and being left behind for not being able to be what others deem acceptable. Often the tale of alternative types or those that do not conform.
There is a simplicity in the music that makes it charming and very heart-felt. I know that Kimberly almost always writes her own lyrics and that they come from a place deep inside. While she has sung and played piano, Courchet has wound his music around her, like the coils of a serpent. It is a bitter sweet and darkly touching track in “V“.
Not many musical acts can say they have continuously been creating and performing for 40 years. ATTRITION is one of those groups that have weathered the British music scene since their evolution in 1980, to become a force spoken in hushed tones, passing from an electro/industrial band to being something legendary within the scene. Martin Bowes had been at the helm consistently, throughout all the band changes. He was approached by Sleeper Records to release a special vinyl album to celebrate this milestone. They decided to pick music from the period 1986 to 2004, as this music has never been released on vinyl until now.
This compilation is named A Great Desire, containing ten tracks that can be found on a variety of albums which were all originally only released on Compact Disc, which was crushing the sales of vinyl by the end of the 80s. There are a selection that includes the wonderfully brass filled and brash “To The Devil“, the delicate and sinful “Acid Tongue“, the sexy “Sister Teresa” and the experimental and extraordinary title track, “A Great Desire“. To that end, Martin Bowes spoke to us about the new album and the past, present and future of ATTRITION.
Welcome to the rabbit hole that is Onyx, Martin Bowes.
Thank you for having me!
Did you ever foresee ATTRITION lasting more than 40 years and still making relevant music?
I don’t think I really thought that far ahead in 1980! And I still often get the feeling I have only just started in music… which propels me to make the next album or shows or videos or artwork…. I write music for myself… a cathartic thing… so the relevance I feel is only ultimately for me… but I know other people get something from my music and that makes me smile…
ATTRITION started in Coventry, your home city, which you have never really left and have your studio, The Cage there. Until the 90s, it has a been a city that bore the scars from the Second World War. Do you think in part this has been a catalyst for the sound and imagery of the band?
Well I arrived in Coventry as a 5 year old in the mid sixties, my parents moved here during the post war car manufacturing boom town era. I saw it falling apart in the eighties when the factories closed down (becoming a ghost town, as the song says) and after the first ATTRITION album in 1984 and first european tour (with the Legendary Pink Dots that same year) we all uprooted to London for a couple of years… after which I moved to Holland for another couple…. Coming back to Coventry in 1989. I think the industrial decay of my home town has definitely had an impact on the sound of ATTRITION, but it is also a very historic town…thankfully being restored these days… and that love of history has always been with me too.
Could you tell what influenced you into starting ATTRITION and how the band began?
I was blown away by punk rock in 1977…. It was there for me at just the right time…what an angry teenager needed… helped make sense of the nonsense I could see around me…. And it still does. I had absolutely no musical skill or knowledge but needed to get involved in this… so in 1979 I started my punk/post-punk fanzine “Alternative Sounds” , writing mostly about the scene in and around Coventry at the time, which was a wonderful scene… the Specials and Two Tone being a very famous part of it but there was so much more…. I did 18 issues and a special for the BBC TV Something Else program at the time. In 1980 I finally started to mess with recording sounds and instruments and a fledgling ATTRITION was born…. We played our first few shows in December 1980 as a kind of anarchist/post punk guitar, bass, drums and vocals line up…After those shows we soon started to trade in guitars and drums for synths and drum machines….
February see the release on vinyl of A Great Desire (1986 – 2004), which is a collection of songs from that time that that were released on CDs. It was around 1986 when the CD was coming into vogue and many said that vinyl was nigh. What inspired you to do this release and is it satifying to see these tracks going to the classic and dare might I say, beautiful vinyl?
We have started to have some new vinyl releases or reissues and we were asked by LA/Berlin based label Sleepers records to release this vinyl… they actually chose the track listing which I found interesting as I always do it myself and it was good to have a different opinion. Its wonderful to have music released in any format but of course vinyl is very special…. They have included 2 posters with this too which is something you can only do with vinyl!
You remastered all the tracks at The Cage Studio. Was it a good feeling to wander down those musical lanes of memory and was it a big task to do the remastering?
I have a large box full of all the old DAT tapes from that era and it didn’t take too long to track down the original mixes and master them specially for vinyl this time… I’m really pleased with how they turned out… well I master music here almost every day so I’ve had enough practice by now! Its always a strange but ultimately nice experience… like looking through old photographs or diaries…. I’m happy with the past….
Was there anything that you would have liked to change or did change?
It was more just getting the old recordings to sound as good as they can… and have recordings from different eras and studios sit together well…. I think it worked!
You also run the record company Two Gods which was originally created to release the ATTRITION albums. Since then you have opened up the label and put together some rather interesting compilations. What does running Two Gods mean to you personally?
Yes I started the Two Gods label (taken from the song of the same name) in 2006 when I was releasing music through a larger distributor … so it was all the old ATTRITION albums, and some live and compilations or remix albums at first…I then took it further and digitised/mastered a lot of old recordings from cassette etc for digital only release… it made sense for the recordings that didn’t warrant a physical release but I still wanted to get out there… I expanded this for side projects like ENGRAM and took on some other bands for digital only release… that part was an experiment and I didn’t have anywhere near enough time to market the other bands…I’d thought of it more as a collaboration using my networks… so after a few releases and label samplers I decided to take it back to ATTRITION only and give me more time for me…
Since you released Death House in 1982, how do you think the sound of ATTRITION has changed over the years?
The sound has always evolved and changed…and there has always been two sides to the sound… a more upbeat, rhythmic side to ATTRITION, and I have also been interested in sound tracks… as a visual artist origionally I still see music in terms of pcitures, of landscapes… so I relate to soundtracks… This Death House was the first soundtrack we ever did… in amongst all the “strange” experimental electronic songs we were mainly recording… It was reissued on vinyl too last year and we finally got to perform it live… I got the original line up together for that and we performed it as “Death House Variations” with a new take on it…
Just before ATTRITION came into being, there had been several waves. Glam rock, followed by punk which then morphed in the post-punk. Yet, under all that was this odd electric style being pioneered in Britain by the likes of Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, Clock DVA etc. What bands or music inspired you in your youth?
So many… I first got heavily into the glam of Roxy Music, Marc Bolan, Cockney Rebel, and Bowie of course…then I got into rock n roll in that boring period for new music of the mid seventies… then Punk totally captivated me… politically at the very least…post punk of bands like Kraftwerk, The Cabs, Magazine, PIL and Joy Division influenced the early ATTRITION sound…and then over the years I have taken in more and more influences… as much from life itself as from art….
Do you remember the first live band you ever saw?
I remember it well…it was The Stranglers here in Coventry in June 1977. A good time to be alive.
What acts or bands do you listen to now or find enlightenment in?
So many from the past still…I still listen to lots of old punk records… love The Fall… and over the years I got into classical and neo-classical… and bands like The Prodigy and drum n bass and rap from bands like Public Enemy …I get to hear so much new and “new to me” music in my studio all the time…. It’s all good.
I noticed on social media that ATTRITION has been featured as a exhibit, with flyers, posters and such things in Coventry. How does it feel knowing you are now woven into the fabric of that city?
Coventry is the UK City of Culture 2021/22 and I have been a part of that… my fanzine was featured heavily as part of the Two Tone exhibition here and as part of a Coventry music mural in the town centre… was great to see a photo of me up there… I offer to take anyone to see it when they visit… ATTRITION has featured as part of a Coventry music scene of the early eighties photo exhibition (we played a show as part of that too) and I had some music commissioned as part of a City compilation of bands… Despite living here in Coventry I never had to much to do with the place musically (I had so much of the world to get to) so its been nice to have the recognition now.
You did the mastering for the Thanatos album Covered Country. I am still trying to think of payback to inflict on a certain Kiwi that tricked me into review it (country and I don’t mix). How did you find listening and mastering this genre?
Haha! That’s my old friend Pat Ogl! He used to work for our old US label Projekt back in the nineties and we always stay in touch…. I love his songs! I’m also a Johnny Cash fan so give it a few more plays, it will grow on you!
I know you do a lot of mixing and mastering for others. Has covid affected how you go about playing and promoting with ATTRITION?
Well between Covid and Brexit we haven’t been able to play abroad since we went to Tokyo in December 2019… have been playing some more low key UK shows recently so I’m hoping things get better again soon…I am used to touring all over the place (we have played on 4 continents so far) so I’m missing all of it… I know its been the same for so many bands… promoting isn’t too bad, I can still do that in other ways… and for my studio, I’ve actually had more music sent to me to mix/master than ever, as more bands concentrated on recording.
What plans lay ahead for Martin Bowes in the future and what shall we hear next with ATTRITION?
My long delayed new album, The Black Maria… will be finished soon and out later this year (planning vinyl of course) and I am also planning to release a lot of the older CD only albums we did in special limited runs…. And then I’ll be onto the next album and hoping to get out to play near you sometime soon!
Thank you for so kindly for talking to us.
Thank you for the interview…. Martin Bowes, Coventry, England. February 2022
Onyx Music Reviews 