Let’s start at the very beginning. Can you tell us how you got involved in composing, and what was your very first piece of gear?
In the (19)80s, there was a toy that allowed you to burn designs into the wood with what can only be described as a tool that had a metal tip on one end and a power cable on the other that you plugged into the wall. Some dumbass probably came up with the idea while dicking around with their soldering iron because they couldn’t handle the electrical math required to do proper electronics; that reminds me that I, too, wasn’t able to complete my Computer Science degree in Uni because I failed Crapculus 3 times.
Anyway, I burned myself with this toy, as I’m sure 95% of kids did, and to this day, I remember crying like the child I was while holding my finger under the faucet to try and get some relief. As everyone who has burned themselves knows, water just delays the inevitable. The only balm is to face the sting pain and ride it out until your body gets over it; your willpower is the first step, and your body will do the rest like it always does when you get out of the way.
So, in a roundabout way, this recontextualized soldering iron… hold on, let’s pause and consider the absurdity of what passed for a toy back in the day. I may as well have grown up in the 19th century when people pulled teeth out with string and doorknobs, and you would think we had rational-thinking people in charge, not a room full of idiots displaying on a mass scale how little they knew about kids, to the extent that they thought giving kids a soldering iron capable of generating dangerously high temperatures to use as a toy was a fine idea.
Where was I… oh yeah, so this potentially lethal metal hardware tool masquerading as a crucible of commitment taught me that if you really want to achieve something you will do your damnedest to try. It may never stop hurting, but sometimes the pain is worth it.
To this day, I hate performing, but I love the practice, so I bear with it. Sorry fans, it’s not you, it’s me. No, actually, it is you; if you could all just look the other way and lie down or sit, and all the lights were off, it’d be a hell of a lot easier. But I guess then it might not have the same umph without the anxiety? Who knows…
And while we’re here, let’s talk about the rare earth devices. If you’re going to be cosplaying reality as virtual reality, experiencing my gift to you through the eye of a digital lens, then the least you can do is post every photo and video online and tag me in it. I’m worth it, damn it.
How many different studio iterations have you gone through, and what does your final setup look like right now?
The concept of a studio, to my brain and mental capabilities at least, is like the transience and temperature of soup, or love, if you prefer. The temperature is never truly exactly the same from second to second, the consistency appears stable but if you put it under a microscope it’s impossibly impermanent.
Anyway, that’s an obtuse way to say that I’ve never had a monolith of a studio so much as occupying corners in a room or floor with characteristics that change on a daily if not hourly basis; the presence of objects such as fruit snacks playing as important of a role in my addled mind as song structure and tuning and my feeble attempts at intersecting attention-getting with catchy hooks and block-rocking beats.
Right now I sit in the kitchen on my 12 year old laptop resurrecting 20 year old tracks with a 10 year old program via a pair of 8 euro headphones I bought out of panic in Austria a couple of years ago because my set was unfinished and, well, I had to finish it.
There’s always tea, though. It used to be honey and lemon a decade ago, but since giving up sugar idk how many years ago, I just drink boiled water or sometimes recycle the same bag of chamomile all day with new boiled water; my parents seem to have passed on some sense of that traumatic experience of a childhood without much food. Not me, them, I was a big little fucker; wide smile though, can’t take that away from me, though I did eventually grow out of them, the weight and the smile.
Sometimes it just is what it fucking is.
Tell us about your favourite piece of hardware.
This is going to sound so stupidly premeditated… no, that’s not the p-word; pretentious! That’s the one I was looking for.
Right, so this is going to sound really pretentious, and I promise you, it is. My favourite piece of hardware atm is the Tasciugo AriaDry dehumidifier by DeLonghi. Hear me out.
A stock model won’t cut it. What I’m talking about is the sound this thing makes after a few years of hard work. When the unit has become a bit weathered, it generates this sound that immediately reminded me of Tuvan throat singing when I first heard it, a kind of discordant, multi-tonal, undulating hum slash whir slash vvvvvv.
It’s probably fucking annoying, but in the way that certain types of repetitive noise work wonders for neurodivergents, this piece of hardware settles me.
I’m looking into the logistics of touring with it.
And what about the software that you use for production?
I use whatever the fuck I can get my hands on legally or through bartering, which is becoming more challenging as word spreads that I talk a lot of shit, am highly erratic on social media, am not a team player, am not consistent(ly interesting), and may otherwise be a liability. But I reckon in today’s world if you’re not pushing back, then you’re being pushed.
Is there a particular piece of gear that you’re just dying to get your hands on, and do you think one day you’ll have it?
No.
Can you please share some aspects of sound design in your work?
I don’t even know what this means. Wtf is sound design? Did anyone ask Murakami what his favourite chip flavour is? I design dick all; I click buttons and move sliders and otherwise fumble around like a dimass, yes, dimass, use it, you’re welcome, until it resonates in a way that something falls off the middle-aged china shelf that is my heart and it all comes crashing down at which point my body releases in unbelievable relief like when you’ve been tearing your house apart in a panic for hours because you can’t find your wallet and then see it lying where you could swear you already looked.
Any particular new techniques that you tried out for your new album?
I am the technique. I am the instrument. It’s always the same miswiring and corrupted brain config. The sound machines change but who cares about the sound machines, we don’t need them, they need us.
What does your live setup look like, and what do you bring with you when you travel for an extensive tour?
Buddy, our friend America has just waltzed into town and dropped a King Kong-sized shit that’s going to take a min of 4 years to clean up, but you want to know what brand of toothbrush I use, and you want to know what mask and serum and moisturizer and botanicals I recommend for anti-ageing and how I stay fit as a stick while on the road and you want to know if I have any travel hacks?
I bought myself a backpack a couple of years ago so that I could bring a small modular along with my clothes for one show; it was the first thing I’d bought for a show in at least a decade, except for those 9 euro earbuds.
What is the most important environmental aspect of your current workspace, and what would be a particular element that you would improve on?
I wish I had an electric kettle, and lots of nice tea, and a desk, and dust covers on everything, and a proper air filter, and a personal trainer, and floor to ceiling windows, and a language instructor; I’ve always wanted to become fluent in another language.
What can you tell us about your overall process of composition? How are the ideas born, where do they mature, and when do they finally see the light?
I try to think as little as possible.
After the piece is complete, how do you audition the results? What are your reactions to hearing your music in a different context, setting, or a sound system?
You know when you’re with other people, and you’re doing your best to keep up with the convo and think you have a great response, but someone else is really powerful about inserting their voice, so you never actually get to talk and then the convo moves on to another topic, and it’d just be weird to bring it back so you could make your point cuz you’re that fucking guy (it’s always a guy) who thinks they have that earth-shattering take so at a certain point you just give up but then you realize you probably look like either a fucking dick because you’re not saying anything or, well, a fucking dick. But if Mr Mememe could slow the fuck down and make some conversational space, you’d possibly be able to contribute something somewhat meaningful.
That’s why I do music.
So when I play out it is the second place where I sincerely and honestly and genuinely do not care at all what anyone thinks because it’s space that I’ve made for myself and have been quite literally paid to express myself in, so shut up and listen because I have something to say.
Do you ever procrastinate? If so, what do you usually find yourself doing during those times?
I make lists. These lists get added to other pre-existing lists. Those lists then get prioritized. These lists break out items into smaller, potentially more actionable items, which can be broken down into other, distinct lists of lists. I keep going until I reach that quantum state where I am the list and the author at the same damn time.
What gets you inspired?
Let me get back to you on that.
And finally, what are your thoughts on the state of “electronic music” today?
I’m not sure what you mean, but whatever you do mean, you’re probably asking the wrong person.
