The end of the world might be nigh the way the human race is going, between the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the Seven Deadly Sins. Pennsylvanian based Malice Machine recently released the album “Act of Self Destruction,” showcasing the pent up fury of members Syn and Julie-X about the state of current world events, exploding out in what can be best described as a torrent of electronic rage. We asked the hive mind that is Malice Machine about the album and all the stuff….what stuff? Read on.
Welcome to the crypt of our sorrows that is Onyx, Syn and Julie-X of Malice Machine.
How did Malice Machine come into being and more to the point why?
We’ve always been a drum and bass team and spent a lot of time in various goth and industrial bands in NY before we decided to put our own project together. We went through our share of musicians looking for he right fit until we discovered we were best as a duo. Syn took over on vocals and after some thought we decided the music would have a more aggressive vibe. We decided on calling our project Malice Machine because it was an appropriate name.
Apparently Syn spits the venom and Julie-X is the eye of chaos, but could you explain your roles in the band please?
Syn became the vocalist because we just couldn’t find anyone suitable. He also took over all song writing, lyrics, guitar and studio production. Julie-X plays and writes the drums and also does the art and tech work so we have a mutually beneficial and productive relationship.
You originally started the band in New York City, but since then moved to Pennsylvania. How has this impacted on your music do you think?
NY was once a thriving scene but we left because the scene was dying and the cost of living is pretty high. We rented a small apartment with rats and roaches as room mates but worst of all, with the paper thin walls we couldn’t rehearse and rehearsal studio rates were expensive. So we wisely packed up and bought a house in Pennsylvania and now we can make all the noise we want. Writing and rehearsing is a pleasure plus the location allows us to travel easily to several states for gigs.
What is the industrial scene like in Pennsylvania compared to the Big Apple?
Where we live in Pennsylvania the goth/industrial scene does not exist. But in the cities like Philly and Pittsburgh, there’s some suitable clubs for our music. Overall the east coast isn’t the best location. We do better towards the west coast.
Your latest album is delightfully called “Act of Self Destruction,” and it is chock full of aggro tech goodness. Why did you choose that title as the all encompassing, so to speak, description?
We designed our songs to represent how we feel about our society and world are becoming dysfunctional and spiralling out of control. We’re on a path of self destruction, hence the title.
You have described your music writing technique as organic whilst also being industrial, which is very electronic. How does all this happen and what was it like writing this album?
In an era of music where people write entire songs using loops or premade elements that were written by other people, we create all our own lines, sounds and beats. Aside from this we purposely remained minimal with the vocals, giving Syn a more organic sound by using only delay and some reverb. As far as what it was like to write this album, we had an entire album written before this one but we threw it away because it felt like a continuation of our previous release. The songs just weren’t connecting well with each other and we wanted a more consistent style.
Tracks like “Delete Me,” “Damaged,” and “Desolation” are prime examples of the themes of bleak loss of hope and unyielding anger. What inspired you to write the album in the first place?
It’s hard to find peace of mind and happiness sometimes. A lot of people express their demons in different ways, Syn expresses his through music and that’s not such a bad way to exercise demons.
You guys are really DIY, and do everything yourselves including producing and mastering. Is it a challenge arranging it yourself and can you tell people what is The Morgue?
To be honest, we’ve tried working with other people for production, mastering, even collaboration, we’ve even hired professional mastering houses and spent a good amount of money only to be disappointed in the end results. In the end we realize we work best alone so the only thing left to do was to learn how to do it all ourselves. We’re still learning and that’s a continuing process. Of course all this implies that we needed to buy a lot of equipment to achieve our desired results so we built our own studio. Syn spends most of his time entombed in there, like a crypt, but “the Morgue” sounded better. Incidentally, we both once worked and lived above a funeral home on Long Island NY.
Do you guys have any particular tracks off the album that you are more drawn to, or particularly proud of?
Syn is sometimes content with a couple of them but sometimes he hates them all. Julie-X favors Hyena and Damaged but to her, they’re all good.
I cannot go past asking you about the Trans X track “Living On Video,” which you have covered and really given it a great makeover. It is an absolutely classic, so why cover this track and what was it about this song that made you think ‘hell yes, we need to do this!’?
First of all, it’s hard to find a good song to remake. All the best stuff has already been covered a million times. We did consider this song once before but didn’t feel it was going to work for us as a remake. But then Syn started evolving the concept of the song towards social media. Let’s face it we’ve all had cringe moments when looking at memes. Who knows what the hell some people are thinking when they post. That pretty much was the inspiration to actually attempt the Trans X remake. It just felt like the right vehicle to call out toxic media.
On that note, who are the acts and bands that have musically influenced you over the years?
Early industrial i.e. Front 242, Front Line Assembly, NIN, classic punk bands, some Black Sabbath, a few Nu Metal bands. To be honest we’re musically open minded and like a vast range of music from far too many artists to name.
Malice Machine is very much a live group, so what drives you to put yourselves out there in front of an audience?
We used to think live shows was the most important way to build up a fan base but in today’s musical climate, it’s more important to approach our music as a multi-faceted business and concentrate on building an online presence. We still enjoy playing shows because of the energy that feeds and flows between us and an audience. It also keeps the music feeling fresh. We also have some people discover us that wouldn’t normally be exposed to our music and that’s exciting.
This is the obligatory weird question…. if you were allowed to be little vandals, release the inner demons, and destroy something, what would you destroy and how would you do it?
Syn would say if there was a shiny red history eraser button, he might just press it. Julie-X will plead the 5th.
What is up next for Malice Machine?
We intend to be more prevalent online, building our Spotify presence, releases new songs and remixes and definitely more videos. We have some live shows coming up as well and besides working on Malice Machine, we have a few other projects we plan on doing. Lastly, Syn has been working on a stop-motion animation film for two years three quarters complete so we’re busy little creatures.
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