English musician David Bowie’s unseen 1978 concert film is becoming “Stage,” an immersive arena experience premiering at Berlin’s Uber Arena on February 14, 2027, in association with the 77th Berlin International Film Festival. Wonderworld is producing the show in collaboration with the David Bowie Estate.

The production reworks 35mm footage that filmmaker David Hemmings shot during three Isolar II tour dates at Earls Court, London, on June 29, June 30 and July 1, 1978, while Bowie was touring behind “Low” and “Heroes”. Bowie was dissatisfied with the results – “I simply didn’t like the way it had been shot,” he said in 2000 – and the film went unreleased. The June 30 and July 1 shows later supplied the official live album “Welcome to the Blackout (Live London ’78),” released by Parlophone in 2018.

Filmmaker Brett Morgen, director of “Moonage Daydream” and “Montage of Heck,” found the Hemmings footage about 10 years ago while researching “Moonage Daydream” and has spent years restoring it for “Stage.” Discussions about an arena presentation began as early as 2018; Rob Hallett, a former AEG Live president of international, joined Wonderworld to lead the production in 2024.

“Stage” combines the restored concert footage with large-format LED screens and a 7.1 surround-sound mix delivered to every seat. Patrick Woodroffe, whose credits include the Rolling Stones and Elton John, designed the lighting; Paul Massey, an Academy Award winner for “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “No Time to Die” who also mixed “Moonage Daydream,” oversees the sound.

The footage shows Bowie’s 1978 touring band: Carlos Alomar on rhythm guitar as music director, Adrian Belew on lead guitar, George Murray on bass, Dennis Davis on drums, Roger Powell on keyboards, Sean Mayes on piano and Simon House on electric violin.

Tickets go on presale October 28, 2026, at 10 a.m. Central European Time, with general sale following October 30 at 10 a.m. CET through Eventim. Wonderworld has outlined further shows after Berlin, including European dates in May 2027 and UK dates – among them a return to Earls Court itself – in June and July 2027, ahead of a wider international run.

“David Bowie has bestowed upon us an extraordinary treasure – an unprecedented concert experience that has yet to be witnessed,” Hallett stated.

About David Bowie

David Bowie (1947-2016) was an English singer-songwriter whose five-decade career spanned glam rock, soul, electronic and art rock, including albums such as “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” (1972), “Station to Station” (1976) and “Low” and “Heroes” (both 1977). His 1978 Isolar II tour ran from March to December across North America, Europe, Oceania and Asia, drawing its set from “Low” and “Heroes” alongside revisited “Ziggy Stardust” and “Station to Station” material.

Hemmings’ unreleased film of the Earls Court dates sat in the Bowie archive for almost 50 years before Brett Morgen rediscovered it while researching “Moonage Daydream” (2022), the Grammy-winning documentary built from Bowie’s own archives. “Stage” gives the Earls Court shows their first full concert presentation, following the partial release of the same dates on “Welcome to the Blackout (Live London ’78)” in 2018, and arrives as part of the wider marking of what would have been Bowie’s 80th birthday in January 2027.

Karo Kratochwil

Based in Wrocław, I work as a music journalist and photographer covering electro, industrial, EBM, gothic, and darkwave. My work includes features and live coverage, as well as concert, portrait, promo, and theater photography. What interests me most is the connection between artistic intention, what the work communicates, and what unfolds live on stage, all in pursuit of the bigger picture behind the music.

(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange) After releasing his cover version of David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ in 2024, dubbed ‘Helter’ in Norwegian, kinGeorg adds more versions to this release today. More electronic remixes from Norwegian legends Apoptygma Berzerk and Beranek caught our attention, so we had to dig more into these tracks.

kinGeorg, alias Kim Lunde, is one of the most unique voices on the Norwegian music scene. With a raw mix of dark pop, rock and electric undertones, he creates music that not only hits, but also lingers for a long time. kinGeorg has received attention both nationally and internationally, with regular radio listings in both Norway and Sweden. On stage he delivers a captivating live experience, and with new songs on the way, including collaboratios with Apoptygma Berzerk and poet Trygve Skaug, kinGeorg is ready to take 2025 by storm.

Kim Lunde and Stephan Groth elaborate on their collaboration:

S-L:  What was your approach to doing a cover and remix of this Bowie classic, translated to Norwegian?

Kim: I think “Heroes” is one of the best songs ever written. I have fond memories of my grandmother playing this song for me over and over again when I was very young. I therefore have a special connection with this song and always wanted to make my own version of it… but since I prefer singing in my native language I had to get the lyrics translated.

3 years ago I recorded a Norwegian version of ‘Heroes’, but it would take 2 years for all the legal stuff to be sorted out with Brian Eno and David Bowies’s publishers… a quite long and tiresome process.

STP: I remember listening to Kim’s demo of ‘Helter’ at a party at a friends place. I was highly sceptical before listening since ‘Heroes’ is such a huge classic and because it has been covered so many times before, but I was pleasantly surprised! It had a very different twist and feel because of the Norwegian lyrics and because of Kim’s outstanding vocals.  

I thought the version was great and asked Kim if he would let me do a remix.

Kim: I of course said YES, and I am very excited about the final result. I am also very happy that we got a remix from Beranek for the single. 

S-L: What’s your relation to David Bowie’s music in general?

STP: I was first introduced to Bowie when watching the Christiane F. “Wir Kinder Vom Bahnhof Zoo” movie at a young age, but it would take many years before I could appreciate the genius of David Bowie.
He was an amazing artist in so many ways.

Great singer, performer and songwriter, but most important to me, He was extremely original and fearless when it came to changing styles, experimenting and reinventing himself. He was also an actor and even had a role in the David Lynch movie “Fire Walk With Me” (a prequel to Twin Peaks) … how cool is that? 

Musically I must admit that there is a lot of Bowie’s back catalogue that I do not really connect with, but The Berlin Trilogy on the other hand I find outstanding! As a fan of electronic music I owe a lot to Bowie for promoting bands like Neu!, DEVO and Kraftwerk to the masses. 

S-L: Any plans for doing any/more Bowie covers?

Kim: We could do “Dancing In The Street”!

STP: Not so sure about that… a cover version of “Dancing in the Street // Silent Music Video” would be awesome though. (Editor’s note: Didn’t get the joke? Check this!)

Espen Beranek Holm also contributed with a remix on this release, and as a seasoned interpreter of David Bowie his thoughts about this release was also interesting.

S-L: What was your approach to doing a remix of this Bowie classic, translated to Norwegian? 

Beranek: I would try to build a backing track that contained some kind of «catchiness» in it’s own right, but still making the vocals stand out. I also intended to pay tribute to the repeating nature of the original as well as a nod to the guitar works of Robert Fripp from the original.

S-L: In addition to releasing some covers on your own on the EP ‘Oscillator Orkester’, what’s your relation to David Bowie’s music? 

Beranek: In the early years of my career I was constantly compared to both Bowie’s voice and his music. I had not been listening that much to Bowie at the time, but of course I knew about him and his works, ‘Hunky Dory’ and ‘Scary Monsters’ being two (very different) favourites. So I listened up on the man, and I found more favourites. I think Bowie in the 80s was quite a bumpy ride, but he really got through it and I think he did some of his best works later on.

S-L: Any plans for doing more Bowie covers yourself?

Beranek: I don’t have any immediate plans, no. I play guitar and do vocals in the Bowie cover-band The Goon Squad, so I feel that the live performances I get to do in that project is satisfying enough when it comes to do Bowie covers.

The EP is available on Tidal, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube Music.

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

It all began in 1983 under the name Xymox, a musical project founded and spearheaded by Ronny Moorings. Shortly after, the project evolved into Clan Of Xymox, marking the birth of a band destined to leave an indelible mark on the Dark-Wave scene. Signed by the legendary British label 4AD, the band released two seminal albums that would become classics in the genre. While they briefly returned to the original name, since 1997, they have been known exclusively as Clan Of Xymox. What makes Clan Of Xymox truly special is not only their pioneering role in the New/Dark-Wave movement but their unwavering ability to create valuable and impactful music over the decades.

Unlike many of their contemporaries, who often rely on the nostalgia of 80s hits, Clan Of Xymox has consistently released strong, fresh material, proving that their creative spirit remains as vibrant as ever. With a career spanning over 40 years, Clan Of Xymox has firmly established themselves as one of the most influential forces in Dark-Wave. Ronny Moorings has remained true to the essence of his sound while allowing it to evolve, ensuring a timeless yet contemporary edge. Their latest and 18th studio album, “Exodus”, released via Trisol (Germany) and Metropolis (USA), is a testament to this balance. Featuring a collection of masterful tracks, the album combines melancholic, dark, atmospheres with Pop-infused arrangements that are both haunting and danceable.

I felt it was the perfect time to take a retrospective look at Clan Of Xymox’s incredible journey. In this interview, Ronny Moorings graciously shared his insights, reflecting on the band’s beginnings, their evolution, and their current work. I am deeply thankful for his enthusiastic cooperation and for taking the time to answer in such detail. His dedication to crafting inspired music over such a long period is remarkable, as is the man behind the artist. Respect! (Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

‘I Wanted To Be A Part Of Things Which Were Happening In Front Of My Eyes’

Q: Getting back to the early 1980s which marked the rise of New-Wave music and subgenres like Dark-Wave, Cold-Wave, and Post-Punk. How do you reflect on those formative years and what do you recall from the very beginning of your career? Specifically, what events or circumstances led to the formation of Xymox and, later, Clan Of Xymox and what was your original dream when you first started making music?

Ronny: I will make this a short story because there is so much to say about how it came to be. I was in bands from on my childhood in my birth town Roosendaal (NL) where I already played live at the age of 11 with older 15 year old friends. When it was time for me to study, I first moved to The Hague, deciding after a year of Social Academy that I’d rather do a Sociology study in Nijmegen.

In the early 80’s there was a lot going on. Musically we had the Deutsche Welle and from the U.K. came New-Wave. This appealed a lot to me and DJed (what I also already did in Roosendaal as a teenager) this type of music in the local venue Doornroosje. It was volunteers work, but I got to see all the cool bands coming in.
The alternative scene was thriving in the whole of The Netherlands. Naturally many British bands were on the fore front of innovation. The Goth / Wave movement came also to Doornroosje. I remember especially Bauhaus and The Virgin Prunes making a big impression on me because they sounded and looked visually stunning. The Virgin Prunes making a complete theatre out of their show; it looked like genuine madness with a lot of stuff flying about on stage. With Bauhaus, Peter Murphy just looked the ideal part, a new ‘thin white duke’ with white light shining under his chin and the rest of the band in fluorescent colours, exposed with a black light.

Every week there was a brilliant band to be seen in Paradiso (Amsterdam) or in Doornroosje, like Echo And The Bunnymen In an army outfit with camouflage nets hanging over the stage, The Sound, Dance Society, The Birthday Party with Nick Cave swinging like a monkey from left to right from the light supports, giving it a high energetic performance, Siouxie And The Banshees, The Cure ( they played in a circus tent) and later seeing Robert Smith playing guitar with Siouxie in Rotterdam , Theatre Of Hate, Eyeless In Gaza, Black Flag, The Comsat Angels, Sisters Of Mercy, in the Milkyway Amsterdam,  of course with Wayne Hussey,  Further The Slits, Liaison Dangereuses, U2 ( played in Arnhem for 400 people) who was pretty unknown still etc. Too many to mention!

All bands not jet known by the majority of people but making a big impact on everyone alternative seeing them live. New-Wave, Deutsche Welle, Punk, Synth-Pop and New-Romantics was now a major alternative movement perfectly fitting the times we were living in.

Also the Netherlands produced influential bands who made quite an impression on me, like I already mentioned Mecano & Minimal Compact from Amsterdam, Nasmak from Eindhoven, Coitus Interruptus from Utrecht, and ‘famous’ local bands from Nijmegen like Mechanic Commando and Vice.

By seeing all these brilliant international and national bands I knew there and then that I had to start something new and interesting too. I wanted to make music like these bands. I was totally inspired. I wanted to be a part of things which were happening in front of my eyes. I wanted a band instead of just making things late at night on my own on a 4 track for no one else to hear.I wasn’t the only one feeling this way. It seemed that nearly anyone in the local scene started a band. In every squat people started a band and rehearsing was no problem in these industrial buildings we all occupied. Music was becoming a way of life, a means to express your views. There were enough opportunities for bands to play. There were always some old factories freshly squatted. One of the first shows I did was on a festival in De Plu Fabriek, a desolate disused umbrella factory. The festival had a social awareness theme about ‘Acid Rain’ of which maybe a handful had heard about. It was not taken very serious yet by the general public. It was the first ever show of Xymox there.

Round the same time at the University we had to do a video project. We had to film something about a socially significant social subject, so I started filming and interviewing the squatters local bands I knew. I still have the V2000 video tape but because of its backdated discontinued format, I haven’t been able to see it since the presentation at the University of Nijmegen.

In the beginning of 1980 in Nijmegen I had no real serious relationship with anyone. I was fairly new in town and most people I found quite uninteresting. The typical jeans and long hair student types, freshly coming from their cosy parental homes, with only one aim in life and that is to study, graduate and getting a job. Also most people were just coming out of the seventies and their clothes reflected that, very colourful shirts, a lot of blue jeans and mostly having long hair. In Rotterdam long hair in the back and short in the front was accompanied by a little moustache was the local fashion there.

Anyway, just after my initiation weeks of the University back in Nijmegen, one night I went out, going to a bar where I would normally not come with my fellow student friends. I was standing there drinking beer with my mates until I spotted this girl in the distance. She had the same kind of image as me. Out of place I thought. I simply had to talk to her and soon we were engaged in conversation and ended up spending the night together in her basement flat.. She told me she came from Nuenen, a small village close to Eindhoven but very famous for the house of Vincent Van Gogh. Her name was Anke.

In this period I wanted to start a Live band with the name I already had:  Xymox.  One day I showed her my songs I had recorded and asked if she would want to be in my ‘band’ which was just me at the time 😉 I said it would not matter that it was only the two of us because a lot of bands played with a drum machine and it would be a cool thing to do; she agreed. The songs were most of the time two or three chords so it was not too difficult for her to learn the tracks. I released this tape at the time, sold it for cheap (some people still have it). She liked the songs and decided to learn and play the bass guitar so she could play live. We started rehearsing together in 1982. I started sending my old Xymox demos to various venues and to my surprise a dozen clubs or so liked it.

Soon we played live with the two of us in various alternative clubs. I was singing, playing guitar and the synth plus operating the rhythm box. She played the bass by now and did some backing vocals . The songs were all mine, if you could call them songs 😉 For transportation I had my old cheap orange Renault 4 with a shift stick. All the equipment fitted in beautifully. Because we were just with the two of us and the fuel was very cheap, the money earned was very reasonable for those days.

Later we got asked by the locally known band Vice to support them. We did so and managed to play quite a bit of shows in the South of the Netherlands again. We felt we were getting somewhere.

Later a few friends to join our ‘band’ live. They were hitting metal pieces or doing backing vocals etc. Inspired of course by Einstürtzenden Neubauten. We started rehearsing in the empty vaults of a squatted bank building. Soundproof and safe it luckily was 😉

Anke wanted to move to Amsterdam in 1983, when she changed her study. She wanted to study Psychology and since I finished my Sociology ‘Candidates’ phase holding an official diploma. I was looking for a relevant Masters study so I decided to go to Amsterdam as well, I chose for  ‘Media Studies’ at the ‘University of Amsterdam’. Apparently you would have a lot of freedom with this study as well.

In Amsterdam I was asked by a friend in 1983, if I wanted to DJ for a local pirate radio station WHS. The show; ‘De Lege Huls’, translated ‘The Empty Shell’, would be late at night which of course I gladly accepted. I did this for quite some time well into 1985 until I got too busy with Clan Of Xymox and its many obligations.

As I already said I saved for a while every penny in order to buy my much desired object, a Teac 4 track multi tape recorder. I bought it in Antwerp, Belgium, November 1982. After many recordings of songs and ideas in Nijmegen I started a new In April 1983, frantically starting to record some new songs; the old ones were already more than a year old and I wanted to have new ones. With the help of the Teac 4 track recorder I could be more creative with writing and recording, bouncing previous recordings and build on that.

The instruments I had access to were: a Yamaha synth, Korg Poly 6 Synthesiser, Korg MS10 and MS 20, a rhythm box K500 , an electric Framus guitar, Welson Keyboard, a standard Shure 58 mike of course, my fantastic vintage space echo, melodica, guitar pedal effects and a bass guitar. A later valuable asset was later a Solina Strings but this one was borrowed once and a while.

All instruments were played in real time on tape. No sequencer used. That was too expensive.
These were the days computers were only academic and hardly used by anyone at all. Computers were just those big main frames standing in a government building or only portrayed in science fiction. Today our ears are completely trained to sequenced patterns, then it was something new, the ear was untrained to these sounds and pattern uses.

Soon things were ready. I asked Anke if she wanted to sing one song on the track I already prepared for her. It ended up with the title “Call It Weird “, so now  all tracks were done and everything was set up to bring these recordings to a mastering plant near Amsterdam called  Dureco. This was a vinyl factory specialised in producing Dutch product, the type like ‘Dutch Schlager’ like Vader Abraham known internationally for his “Smurf” songs. He was prominent on the wall everywhere in the factory offices. The main earner. Newer versions of this first EP exist: “Muscoviet Musquito” ( deliberately spelled this way) and “Going Round”. Both have various versions over the years.

‘I Felt That The Xymox Days Were Not The Right Way To Go’

Q: Xymox became Clan Of Xymox when you signed to 4AD, but later you reverted to Xymox before ultimately returning to Clan Of Xymox in the late ’90s. How do you view these shifts in retrospect? What, in your opinion, distinguishes Xymox from Clan Of Xymox?

Ronny: I started with the name Xymox and released my first EP “Subsequent Pleasures“ under this name. When Xymox got signed by 4 AD and the first debut album was called “Clan Of Xymox” I decided it was a slightly better name also because I had found people to play the songs live, so hence the ‘Clan’. I considered Xymox as my Pseudonym.

When Clan Of Xymox got signed by Wing / PolyGram USA I felt this was a significant change and wanted to underline this with shortening the name and perhaps with the reasoning that it would be easier for people in general to remember our name when it was shorter.

After 4 albums under the name Xymox, with the album “Phoenix” it had gotten too commercial in my opinion. With the 2 UK releases “Metamorphosis“ and “Headclouds” which were too Experimental and nothing much to do with the early material on 4 AD I decided in 1997 it was time to reintroduce Clan Of Xymox again with the same approach and attitude as in the earl 80’s. I felt that the Xymox days were not the right way to go and that it was better to stick to my own opinion instead of letting people influence me in one way or the other.

The result was the album “Hidden Faces” released worldwide on Tess Records and Pandaimonium Records in Germany in 1997. This was the start of Clan Of Xymox again. Since Phoenix I didn’t tour anymore. Had actually no live band anymore. I started to find again people who could play live with me and soon I had a live band ready to start promoting “Hidden Faces” and the older works on 4AD. Mojca my partner was there already since 1991 with me learning to play an instrument, keys and bass. She already designed the artwork from on 1992. In 1995 I decided to play in The Netherlands and promote “Metamorphosis” and “Headclouds”. The old live members from the 80’s Frank Weyzig and Will Anvers joined me on stage together with Mojca on Keyboards. This tour made me realise I missed playing live and soon since 1997 Clan Of Xymox played live each and every year till now and will keep on playing live.

I have a steady crew for more than a decade now with Mojca from on 1991 (of course), Mario ( more than 20 years), Sean and Daniel. I stay with the labels Metropolis (USA ) and Trisol (Germany ) as well as I run my own label Xymox Control now for decades a steady course with Clan Of Xymox, only expanding with my band, slowly but gradually. It manifests in the vast amount of sold out shows we are having each year.

‘We Were In Our Extravaganza’

Q: You were closely associated with 4AD, one of the most groundbreaking labels of the early New-Wave era. How did an unknown band from the Netherlands find its way onto such an iconic label? And how did your time with 4AD influence your evolution as an artist?

Ronny: Back in 1983 I felt that my former town Nijmegen ‘deserved’ a few copies of “Subsequent Pleasures” too. I was doing all the distribution myself. I sold 150 through Rough Trade UK, 150 in New Waves France and 150 export to Essen in Germany. Anyway, so I went to Nijmegen the night of the ‘Day of the Dead’, 1st of November.
I decided to visit a friend but he was not at home so not knowing what was going on that evening  I soon found out The Cocteau Twins were playing in Doornroosje that night, so I had to see them. There was still plenty of time left so I decided to have something  to eat in my favourite eating cafe De Plak. Whilst having dinner I heard English was spoken on another table, so my interest was aroused. Maybe this couple were The Cocteau Twins? Had to be! An English male and female.  Without any hesitation I went to their table and asked them all sorts of questions about their band The Cocteau Twins. They informed me politely that they were not The Cocteau Twins but were their supporting act called Dead Can Dance and if I wanted they could put me on the guest list; which I naturally did not decline since I was no longer active in Doornroosje anymore. In return I gave them a copy of “Subsequent Pleasures” for them to listen to.

Having seen Dead Can Dance they blew me away, just like of course The Cocteau Twins. After the show I went boldly to the dressing room and drank some beer with both the bands as they were sharing the dressing room and already established that we were all like-minded, talking to each other, or trying to, because Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau’s had a very heavy Scottish accent. Difficult to understand for a  Dutchman who knew and spoke only ‘school’ English. That night I learned then that Brendan was Irish, lived in New-Zealand, moved to Australia, met Lisa in Melbourne and moved to London to work on their musical career. A similar story was true for The Cocteau Twins who moved from Scotland to London to work on their career. All was very interesting and at the end of the night we swore to keep in contact and said our goodbyes.

During that time I kept in contact with Brendan and Lisa who lived together on the Isle Of Dogs. They invited me to their London home and I stayed at their place quite a few times. In those days I had to travel by ferry to the UK, a long journey. They lived on the 11th floor with a fantastic view over London. The flats were those typical council flats, ashen grey and reeking of urine in the elevators. They had a staggering amount of locks installed on their front door. With all their equipment at home I could understand their mistrust of their surroundings. It was all very depressing but very exciting for me. Brendan worked the same way as I did. We ended up with almost the same equipment in 1986. Brendan and Lisa were then still living together and were really dedicated to music. Every day they recorded or rehearsed. Lisa mainly singing and playing the Yang Ching. I slept in the living room and later on some visits they had a closet, like the one of “Harry Potter”. I slept there and was pretty cosy;)

Xymox started playing live in 1984 again. One day Brendan Perry called me up and asked me if we wanted to support them on a tour in the UK.  Without any hesitation I agreed to do it and almost a week later we were in London. Unfortunately when we arrived nearly all the dates of Dead Can Dance got cancelled and there were only three dates left:  one in London, Huddersfield and one in Dudley. We stayed with Brendan and Lisa, sleeping all on the floor in the living room, which I knew already too well.

During our first concert In London I nearly disappeared through the hole in the stage, I had to walk very carefully  because they did not manage to cover all the holes under the stained carpet. The father of Brendan was I believe the tour manager and his mother made sandwiches for Dead Can Dance when we went on the road to Dudley. The town looked nothing much and the bar we had to play likewise.. our dressing room was between beer barrels and if we wanted to have a drink we had to buy it at the bar said the promoter resembling “Dell Boy” of “Only Fools And Horses”. Still we had a great time hanging out with Brendan and Lisa, who were very generous to give us some money for covering our ferry expenses, which I know for sure they were paying out of their own pockets. After that we did more shows all over The Netherlands till summer.

Brendan Perry was the first one who told me about 4AD.  Before that I only paid attention to bands and not too much to record labels strangely enough.  He said he gave “Subsequent Pleasures” to Ivo Watts Russell , the label boss of 4AD, and so I followed up with sending a demo to 4AD with some newer additional tracks in July 1984, recorded in the Amsterdam Octopus 8 track studio. The demo I had sent 4AD after our shows in Paris’ old theatre La Seballe Club, several Dutch and the 2 UK dates. I was getting impatient as always. I gave Ivo Watts Russell a phone call. I was complaining about how the Dutch music industry sucked and that his label was the only independent label appealing to me. A week before that,  I had a meeting with the Dutch division label EMI but this meeting reminded me of all the cliches I ever heard about Major labels. To my absolute delight and surprise Ivo told me he liked what he had heard from the demo so far and wanted to meet, to see us in person and talk about it.

Ivo wanted to meet the band, so arriving in London, me and Anke  were heading to the private home of Ivo Watts Russell and his girlfriend Debby who also worked for 4AD as their press agent. They lived together in a residential SW12 London area. We stayed in their house for a week.

Anke and I had placed these long extra hair extensions in our hair so we looked a bit like ‘Uber Goths’ with a lot of make-up and special clothing we had designed for us by a friend who was handy with the sewing machine and wanted to become a fashion designer. I saw the surprise on Ivo’s face when he saw us for the first time. We were obviously not looking the way he expected us to look. Most of his bands on the label looked actually quite normal with no real image to speak of; so here we were in our extravaganza.

Luckily Ivo and Debby liked us or the music enough to offer Xymox a record deal and with that great news we went back home. The news had spread that we were the first band 4AD signed since two years of their last signing of Dead Can Dance. After this published fact my phone started to ring frequently and offers for radio and new Dutch live shows offers came in by the plenty.

When the self-titled album “Clan Of Xymox”’ was released funny enough nearly all the journalist thought we were Scottish by origin judging by their reviews. An Englishman is always very sensitive to accents. I saw it as a compliment though. Of course ‘Clan Of’ was suggestive enough 😉 . Most reviews were ecstatic, full of praise with five star ratings, the highest you could get. I guess we got lucky with my intention not to advertise we were Dutch. Having no names on the artwork and let the album speak for itself.

The British can be real chauvinists regarding their music industry, they didn’t take foreigners making music too seriously in those days. Of course the weekly music magazines Sounds, Melody Maker, New Music Express etcetera made up their ‘mistake’ in the eye to eye interviews, clearly pointing out us being Dutch and using the usual stereotype references, with headlines like ‘Dutch Bake’, ‘Dutch Courage’, ‘Going Dutch’, ‘Hollandaise Sauce’ and any phrase relating to the war between the Dutch and the Brits a few centuries ago. Anyway it did not matter anymore because we got the attention;  had a proper selling debut album. We did a lot of photo shoots with an English photographer using drapes in the back ground giving us a more Gothic image. This was used as our promo picture.The Music Maker and Sounds were giving us regular features and interviews afterwards, which gave us finally an international standing. Soon 4AD set up a few shows in Croydon and the University of London plus a John Peel session, which was very important to establish up and coming bands.

‘We Had To Prove Ourselves Time And Time Again’

Q: You’ve already mentioned several legendary British bands that were prominent in the 1980s and shared strong connections and camaraderie. What was your experience of the Dutch music scene during that time? How do you reflect on it now?

Ronny: I only had French, British and Scottish bands as friends. I could not get along with any band in The Netherlands in the mid-eighties. In the Netherlands there was a very strong Rock culture with no space for bands like us. We had to prove ourselves time and time again. I didn’t understand the provincial attitude towards synths coming from the Dutch critics. In a very first review the national music magazine Oor reviewed synths as magic boxes which made them nervous listening to them. When our first album came out we finally got greeted by the more alternative media which just got a foot in the door and were played on radio and TV, MTV and the like. Suddenly we were part of a movement to be reckoned with. Sometimes we even played live twice on a day in The Netherlands.

‘The Only Disappointment For Me Was That I Actually Never Got To Meet John Peel’

Q: During that period, you worked with or crossed paths with notable figures like the aforementioned Brendan Perry. But what about John Fryer, David M. Allen and John Peel? What can you share about those interactions and their impact on your journey?

Ronny: Our first John Peel session was in the beginning of  November 1985. It was pretty stressful for me. We had to record 4 to 5 songs with the live band in one working ‘BBC’ day of 6 hours or so. It didn’t occur to me that I should have taken adaptors for English power plugs with me.  Because it is the BBC, no one is allowed to change a power plug without the assistance of a fully qualified engineer, so it took them already one hour to find such a person as labour union regulations dictated that the technician supposed to have his tea break of an hour. We were already losing valuable time! We didn’t have computers in those days. My first Commodore computer with TV monitor I got in 1988 when I wrote the “ Twist Of Shadows“ album.  The Macintosh 128K a normal mortal could not afford. Clan Of Xymox did however use an 8 track recorder for the backing tracks, like Depeche Mode or The Cocteau Twins used as well. It consisted of individual drum tracks, sequenced bass triggers and strings. This made life a bit easier.  We could thanks to the ‘eight track’ finish within the timeframe of the BBC.

The only disappointment for me was that I actually never got to meet John Peel. Even then he was a legend, especially to me, because it was the best program for discovering new exciting bands. I only got to call him from the 4AD office, thanking him for the opportunity he gave us. He declared in his program that we were the pioneers of Dark-Wave. That was a huge compliment and recognition for Clan Of Xymox. Soon Dutch radios started to follow suit. We got to record a live show for Radio Veronica in Hilversum. Several TV shows invited us for music programs like the VARA. MTV picked us up too. We felt we were on a roll!

John Fryer I instantly liked as a person and sound engineer. He was the in house sound engineer of 4AD and knew what he was doing. He was not afraid to experiment with sampling sounds and replacing them. The AMS delay was his secret weapon. I remember sitting evenings together with John mixing tracks by hand. So I had to pull and push knobs on my side and he on his side. It was a lot of fun and very educational. Later in live John made me a remix for “Big Brother“ from the album “Limbo” (2021).

I worked with David M. Allen on tracks like “Out Of The Rain” and “Sing A Song” together with Jools of Nitzer Ebb. It was in Leamington Spa in John Rivers’s studio. I worked with John Rivers already on the “Blind Hearts”-EP for 4AD and several B-sides for later PolyGram. Now I was working with John on the “Hidden Faces”-album (1997) and we thought it would be very cool to have Dave M. Allen involved. This certainly worked. I wished we had the budget to work on all the songs but I was already glad these two songs worked out fantastically. Dave is a very likeable person with an air of mystique around him. He gives suggestions for you to try and they always make sense. He taught me to delve deeper when needed.

‘Without Me There Is No Clan Of Xymox’

Q: Both Xymox and Clan Of Xymox included founding members Anke Wolbert and Pieter Nooten. What role did they play in shaping the band’s identity, and how do you reflect on the line-up changes over the years?

Ronny: They were both not founding members. They joined me in the beginning of the Xymox period. First Anke as I told you and later in 1985 Pieter. Because they were the first ones joining they are seen as founding members but I am sorry to say; it was always my thing. I was and still am the driving force behind the band and it’s musical direction. No one else. They concentrated mainly on their own songs like “Masquerade” or “Stumble” and “Fall” back in the days. The bulk I wrote. I participated also on their songs as well.

Regarding the songs it is true we worked more together like a band should. In the beginning we rehearsed the songs for live shows and many got changed during this process. This was only sustainable for a short while as nobody liked to rehearse together.

We ended up as 3 individuals writers with different taste and musical directions so it was inevitable it wouldn’t work out long because we were all to egocentric to begin with. When I officially broke up with Anke it was also the end of working together as a collective. We all went our own way.

Indeed we had many changes but maybe the irony is in the word ‘Clan’, a group of close knitted people. So in the end there were many LIVE musicians joining the band for a short or longer period. Joining ‘the Clan’. The red line was and is simple: without me there is no Clan Of Xymox.

All happened really fast in those days. It was a learning process for all involved. Books about the music industry and bands hardly existed. Everyone was left to do whatever with their experiences, positive or negative.
I never knew or expected that just making music could make me enemies but also gaining a lot of friends of course. Jalousie and spite can make people really vicious and vindictive and yet equally so many fans or friends treat you with the utmost respect or even adoration. To me it is just music but soon you realise it is something more than that. 

Former friends or partners turning into your personal enemy. It is the worst thing that can happen, because they know your weaknesses and irritation points and will not shy away from using this against you if they have no pride, dignity or integrity.

Thinking back on this short period between 1985 and 1989 stir more negative emotions then positive ones in me. It wasn’t all bad of course but I can’t remember real long good periods. I realise looking back that I am only happy with the band since the beginning of the  mid 90’s to now, at least 33 years so far:)

Q: How does the young Ronny Moorings compare to the musician you are today? What traits have endured, and which aspects of your younger self do you miss in your music or approach to life?

Ronny: I was definitely very naive in the beginning. When I wrote a song for example I just split the rights between the band members because I thought it would motivate my band to pull more their weight in the band and…. after all I was a socialist and not a capitalist 😉

Soon I discovered that when people sense they don’t have to do too much and can simply lay back whilst I do the heavy lifting because they get paid anyway.

I started to get annoyed with this uneven situation and learned from this that I should not give away my rights that easily just to please band members or partner. So I ended this naive approach and never looked back.
Equally I used to work with bigger crews, managers, tour managers, lawyers and all the professional people they told you would need to have in order to make it as a band.

After many annoyances about the enormous bills I decided I could do most jobs way better. I know I am a control freak. You have to be. You have to understand the way things work. Now I have a lean machine and I like it a lot. Later I also learned to delegate things and that is also very rewarding. I guess ‘live and learn’ is true in my opinion.

‘Dark-Wave Has A Strong Hold All Over The World Like In The 80’s’

Q: Many legendary New/Dark-Wave bands achieved their greatest success in the ’80s. Why do you think those years were so special and unique for the genre? How do you see the evolution of New/Dark-Wave music from its origins to today, particularly in terms of its spirit and cultural significance?

Ronny: Yes, it was a new style taking over with fashion unseen before, It was against the Hippy culture, the jeans wearing long haired pot smokers. It was a clean break from all of this, plus the ‘no future’ feeling with all the political turmoil and nuclear threats hanging over our heads. Remember Thatchers England. Ronald Reagan as president.

These bands made the sound track of our lives and guess what? It is happening again. Dark-Wave has a strong hold all over the world like in the 80’s. Yes, it’s not on the dying radio or TV stations as we know it but streaming like crazy, this time on internet radios, YouTube, Spotify It feels a bit like maybe the pirates in the 80’s.

It feels the same to me and also we have the same nuclear threats back again. In a way it feels coming ‘full circle’.

Q: Over the decades, the music industry has undergone tremendous changes -rising social media, streaming platforms, declining physical album sales, advances in technology, and shifts in performance venues from intimate gigs to massive festivals. How have you navigated these transformations, and what are your thoughts on the (r)evolution of the industry?

Ronny: I navigate these changes just fine I think. I always welcomed change and will ever do. We need to improve. We need to move forward and not backward. When for the very first time in the 80’s I could get my hands on a computer I embraced it as a big help with sequencing and programming. It made endless rehearsing patterns on keyboards so much easier. Later it became my entire virtual studio platform. Streaming is now the most important thing now in the music industry and some artists do not like it, but remember when music was pirated and artists would get nothing from it financially and no insight how many like to listen to your music etc. I love Spotify and as an artist you have access to all date regarding what your fans are listening to.
Most music I listen to these days is from platforms, on my phone with airpods. This gives me more time to listen to music when I am on the move or outside. Everything in one device is just brilliant I think. Of course I have at home all old media devices still in place. I do play vinyl as well when I am in the mood. I still love vinyl and the looks of it. The best format for the artwork to shine.

Q: While it’s difficult for any musician to choose a single album or song as their best, is there a particular piece in your discography that holds special significance for you? Or do you believe that your most recent work is always your finest?

Ronny: I have to agree with my fellow musicians. My recent is indeed the best so far as I can see and feel 😉 It is simply because new songs are for the one who wrote and recorded it the most exciting, the most fresh and recent to your current experiences. You have to play them live which you haven’t done before and in the end they will sound different then when it came out. If you don’t have that feeling the artist should not release the album in the first place 😉

‘I Let The Listener Feel What I Feel’

Q: Your lyrics often feel deeply expressive, sometimes addressing social and political themes, other times delving into introspection. Do you see your lyrics as a reflection of your true self? What value and purpose do they hold for you?

Ronny: Sometimes yes and sometimes no. It’s complicated 😉 I definitely sing about emotions I feel or felt. Say I sing about Evelyn, Louise or Michelle. That doesn’t mean I know a person with that name or sing about a real person. All these names are fictional but the feelings and thoughts what went into these songs are real. Sometimes more than one person I think about finds its place into a song lyric. It all depends. Political themes are the ones which affected me like in the Lockdown periods in the early 20’s. It comes home, becomes personal and I describe more the situation than anything else. I let the listener feel what I feel.
Sometimes I write a song to blow off steam and feel good afterwards. Most of the time it’s about a person who doesn’t want to leave me alone almost my entire life 😉 I can keep going on like that. I always delve the lyrics out of the depths of my mind where it lay buried until I get it out through some type of instrumentation deciding for me what the topic is going to be. A new to be written song has most of the time its own will and direction.

Q: Clan Of Xymox has consistently attracted new fans over the years. What do your fans mean to you, and how does it feel to have a lasting influence on the Dark-Wave scene?

Ronny: Fans are the most important to me. Without a doubt. We meet so many dedicated fans, traveling to all of our shows they can reach within reason. We always talk to anyone after the show who’s interested, have selfies taken, give autographs, give something a fan would like to experience, a closeness you can’t give onstage. A hand shake, a look in the eye.

I am honoured to contribute to the Dark-Wave scene as it is today. All bands who are now big I met when they were still beginning and were our support one time or the other. I know that we had an influence on them but now they are an influence on me the same. So it works in the end both ways. To me this scene is the best scene ever for me.

Q: Looking back on your career, what do you consider to be your biggest milestones? And what were the most significant disappointments?

Ronny: I am still working on my biggest milestone 🙂 My quest is to see how long I can still play live with the band. That is my ultimate quest in life. Disappointments enough, especially in people, but to me that is also an inspiration to write songs about so in the end all turns out for the best. I am lucky I have many good friends in my life to compensate for the negative. Unfortunately I am a person who has to be on the darker side of things in order to feel inspired. So I don’t mind 😉

Q: How have you managed to keep finding fresh ideas and challenges over the years? Were there periods where inspiration waned, and if so, how did you overcome those creative blocks?

Ronny: I think in the beginning it was harder to write as it is now. To me writing comes very natural I think. Maybe because I have more to say now than when I was in my twenties. In that time I read a lot of books in order to get lyrically inspired. For a long time now I just write from what comes up in my mind and put it into lyrics. Way easier I think and less time consuming 😉 The music was never a problem. Finding words to it is a harder nut to crack sometimes.

A creative block I handle very easy: I put the song away and start with something else. Sometimes its years later that I have a look at it again, if I can do something with it and often that’s the case. So for me I don’t like to force a song if it doesn’t present it by itself.

‘Joy Division, The Sisters Of Mercy And The Cure Were Very Important To Me’

Q: One of the most surprising entries in your discography is “Kindred Spirits” (2012), a cover album featuring renowned songs and artists. How did you choose the tracks, and what connection do you have to those songs? Would you consider them key sources of inspiration?

Ronny: When I was young, the only means of getting to know music was the radio or “Top of the Pops” later in the 70s. In the Netherlands we had bands like Shocking Blue, Brainbox, Earth And Fire, Focus, The Golden Earring and such, which appealed to me a lot. These were the bands I was interested in. On TV we grew up with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and of course The Monkees especially grouped for US TV. These bands made me want to play an instrument at a very young age. After that I always stayed on the alternative side of music. On my album “Kindred Spirits“ you can see and hear which artist influenced me in the direction I was going. Bands for example like Joy Division, The Sisters Of Mercy and The Cure were very important to me.

I gave or restricted myself to make a choice for ten songs of bands who had in one way or the other an impact on my musical taste. I wanted to give an ode to these bands and revive these songs in my memory to keep and make them as my own. In the end I did 11 tracks of my all-time favourite bands or songs.

Too many bands like to hide their influences or deny them. I decided to give them my own pedestal.

Q: This year marks the release of Clan Of Xymox’s 18th album, “Exodus”. What does this album represent within your extensive discography? Can you share insights into its creation?

Ronny: I finished and released the album “Limbo” in 2021 and I wrote the “Exodus” album after writing “Save Our Souls” in 2022 in 2023. The last song I wrote for this album was in January 2024 and here we are. In a way keeping the tradition of one album release in every two or three years.

We toured an awful lot so the little time I had, I spend in the studio taking my mind of things. The late general developments in the world I felt writing about. Instead of introspective lyrics I felt more like describing our current times we live in. After “Save Our Souls” I wrote “Fear For A World At War”, especially after all the rhetoric of Putin threatening Europe or the world with nuclear strikes. Because the world is massively gearing up for war.

When I was born there was the biggest world crisis between the Soviet Union and the USA about the missiles in Cuba.

It is ironic that now we are living with almost the exact conditions but this time closer to home, having a nuclear missile threat. History repeats itself . I certainly hope this is not getting out of hand but the signs are that we seem to step up our war talk more and more. SOS indeed. The world is at turmoil and nothing good will come out of this. Exodus for me as well when it gets out of hand. Anyway, this is the back ground for writing all these songs for “Exodus”.

Q: Talking about “Save Our Souls”, there clearly is a sense of commentary on the state of the world. Do you see music and this album as a unifying force in troubled times? How do you perceive its broader impact on society?

Ronny: “Save Our Souls” was specific about the invasion of the Russians into the Ukraine. It was a shocker for me. Especially after just having toured there in September 2021. I see music in troubled times more as a safety blanket you can wrap yourself in. It gives comfort and soothes your mind and well-being. An escape as it were from the daily sorrows we get bombarded with each and every minute. So far music can change or influence politics when masses cry out for social change. I don’t see that happen with this album or any of my albums;) Never intended for it either.

Q: Authenticity seems to be a hallmark of your music. Many fans describe a sense of genuine emotion and connection in your work. How do you experience this dynamic and interaction with your audience? How powerful or influential do you think music can be in bridging gaps and inspiring change?

Ronny: Wow, if you talk about the grand scale of things you might have a chance to do so but in the cult circuit we are maybe just the inspiring factor. That which might work on a small scale. I should certainly hope that our fans and other listeners get the music of Clan Of Xymox and feel the emotions I feel when I perform these songs with my band. Live you notice this the best. During the show I always look at people and there are so many various expressions on people faces, you feel that you are almost privileged to see an expression of someone when they sink into the song with mind and body. I love it!

‘Contrast Works Always The Best In A Way’

Q: Your music often combines dark, melancholic themes with an energy that makes people dance and feel alive. How do you reconcile these contrasting elements?

Ronny: Contrast works always the best in a way. I defines, it outlines. I have a lot of slow songs with equally dark lyrics but playing live I want to entertain people, want to make them move inside and out. I have luckily lots and lots of songs to choose from and during the years it taught me a lot about which songs people like to hear when they go to our concert. That means the classics are always included and never ignored.

Q: Finally, let’s end with a few rapid-fire questions:

• ‘Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘N’ Roll’: does this resonate with you?

Ronny: During my long career all certainly resonates at one time or the other. Experimenting with drugs I steered away long time ago. It was perhaps hip in the 80’s or attractive to experiment but the same goes for smoking or anything else unhealthy. I value a healthy life style with perhaps an alternativee: Sex, Wine and Wave 😉

• Is there a band or artist you would have loved to collaborate with?

Ronny: It’s a shame I never got to work with David Bowie. I met him once in LA when he came to see our concert in the Palace. I was too starstruck to even think of asking him. What a missed chance !

• Do you feel a spiritual connection with any particular artist or band?

Ronny: Yes, plenty! I have got so many great friends in the current scene who make great music. Backstage is always fun when we meet.

• In a world without music, what do you think you’d be doing?

Ronny: Not breathe.

• Which Clan Of Xymox song would you recommend to someone who has never heard your music before?

Ronny: “A Day”, “She” or “Loneliness” as a starter.

• How many albums has Clan Of Xymox sold, and which remains the most successful?

Ronny:  Wouldn’t you like to know 😉 “Twist Of Shadows” was still the most successful in terms of hard record-CD/Cassettes sales because it was at the time people could only buy that and did. There was no piracy then, apart from the classic copying on a blank cassette. In terms of streaming and overall impact I have to point to my later works.

• What is the ultimate dream for Clan Of Xymox?

Ronny: To carry on like the last two years.

• What would you want written on your epitaph and that of Clan Of Xymox?

Ronny:  

See you on the other side.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am not there, I didn’t go.

I didn’t die, so you know. 

See you on the other side.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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A decade after their self-released debut album, Astari Nite returns with their sixth full-length release. The band’s influences have remained largely consistent over the years, staying true to their signature Post-Punk sound. This sound blends dark, melancholic guitar riffs and deep bass lines with icy electronic textures and synth leads, creating a compelling contrast. This time, however, the vocals stand out more prominently than ever before, evoking an intriguing blend of David Bowie and Peter Murphy. While not every track hits the same high, the album contains real gems, particularly in its first half. It’s worth noting that, especially in Europe, this band still doesn’t receive the recognition they deserve. (Rating:7½).

The album was preceded by the singles “Necessity Meal” and “Tongue Tied Galore”.

Listen to “Tongue Tied Galore”:

About Astari Nite

Astari Nite formed in Miami in 2013 around vocalist Mychael Ghost and drummer Illia Tulloch. The current line-up consists of Mychael Ghost on vocals, Illia Tulloch on drums and electronics, Howard Melnick on guitar, and Danny Ae on synthesizer and bass. Musically they offer a mix of alternative rock and darkwave.

The group debuted with “Stereo Waltz” in 2014, followed by “Anonymous” in 2015 and “Until the End of the Moon” in 2016. The latter was released by Danse Macabre Records and was produced and recorded by Howard Melnick, mixed by Melnick and Illia Tulloch, and mastered by Thomas Penton. That album was followed by “Midnight Conversations“, which included material produced and mixed by Tom Shear of Assemblage 23, alongside earlier “Dreams Of Majesty” EP tracks mixed by Rees Bridges.

In 2019 the band released “Dearly Beloved” and signed to Negative Gain Productions; the album “Here Lies” followed.

In 2024 Astari Nite returned with the singles “Necessity Meal” and “Tongue Tied Galore”, leading into the album “Resolution Of Happiness” on Negative Gain Productions. The band was also included in “Resurgence“, a 7CD post-punk box set, and later issued the “Medications In Bloom” EP in 2026.

“Resolution Of Happiness”, the sixth full-length reviewed here, arrived a decade after the band’s self-released debut.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

The Chicago-based industrial metal band Derision Cult has released their new single and video, “Warning Signs”. The video premiered at Glitch Mode Recordings’ immersive cyberpunk showcase, Tech Noir, on July 20, 2024.

“Warning Signs” is a fast-paced industrial metal track featuring heavy, spoken-word vocals, thrash metal guitars, cyber beats, and guitar by former David Bowie guitarist, Reeves Gabrels.

Lyrically, “Warning Signs” explores the current turbulent cultural climate, highlighting the warnings that surround us. The chorus, “Is it getting real enough yet?” draws from a true story shared by frontman Dave McAnally’s brother, a Naval EOD officer. During a raid, a Hollywood director, witnessing the aftermath of a firefight, was shaken. As a Navy SEAL carried the body of a Taliban member past the director, he chillingly remarked, “Oh, is it getting real enough yet?”

The single features contributions from Glitch Mode stalwarts, including Jim Marcus, David Kultgen, Justin Broadrick, Chris Harris, and Pete Berwick. The video was created by Vancouver-based Empire Animae. Empire Animae previously collaborated with Derision Cult on their “Deaf Blood” video.

“We had so much fun with the ‘Deaf Blood’ video we couldn’t wait to work with Empire Animae again,” says Derision Cult founder, Dave McAnally. “This time around, we wanted to do a whole different setting and just go crazy with influences from ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,’ Martini Ranch and do things with animation that wouldn’t be possible in a live-action video.”

About Tech Noir

Tech Noir is Glitch Mode Media’s Cyberpunk Showcase, held in Chicago on July 20th. The event featured the premiere of the “Warning Signs” video and live performance, celebrating 40 years of cyberpunk culture. Tech Noir included performances from nine bands, cyberpunk films, and fashion, all housed in a building that once served as Al Capone’s private club. Tech Noir aims to redefine live music experiences by combining film and music in innovative ways.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Kevin Estrada) Beauty In Chaos has teamed up with The Mission’s Wayne Hussey and Cinthya Hussey on the “Diving For Pearls” single. Cinthya is Wayne’s wife and partner in Archeometre. This is the fourth song Wayne Hussey has fronted with Beauty In Chaos.

The new single goes accompanied by a video which you can view below. This is the first offering from the forthcoming record by Beauty In Chaos, formed in 2018 by guitarist Michael Ciravolo. Entitled “Dancing With Angels”, the full-length album is set for world-wide release on July 24.

The ‘single version’ was mixed by Tim Palmer, whose production and mixing credits include The Cure, U2, David Bowie, Robert Plant, HIM and The Mission, among many other artists.

“When Michael first sent me the music track, I was on tour with The Mission. I had a few listens and thought, yes, this is good, I can find something to sing to this easy enough. And then nothing. For months, I’d listen, and I would come up with melodies aplenty, but no words. More time passed and Michael would ask how I was getting on and each time I’d reply, “I’ve got vocal melodies but no lyrics, absolutely nothing is coming”. I must confess that I was getting worried that I’d never be able to write another song – ever,” recalls Wayne Hussey.

“I was raking over all my old lyric notebooks and various word documents on old hard drives and still nada. I was bemoaning my situation to Cinthya one evening and she suggested I write about a personal situation I’d found myself in a few years back. I got my mind focused in the right direction, and while in the studio singing along to the track, I soon got the first line, with the rest following fairly easily…and quickly. It was a huge relief to have the elusive muse visit me again. I played it to Cin and she suggested a couple of small changes and voila, here you have it! I won’t explain what or who the song is about, there’s no need for that, I’ll just leave the listener to make up their own mind, and take from it what they will”.

Cinthya Hussey adds “When I first heard the instrumental track for this song I immediately fell in love with Michael’s guitars. It’s the kind of song that embraces you… and I could listen to it all day long. Wayne was a bit stuck for ideas so I threw an idea at him that was relevant and would be good to get out of his system… And off he went… majestically so! This is probably one of my favourite Beauty In Chaos songs!”

As of June 4, “Diving For Pearls” will be available a limited edition CD single and also digitally everywhere, including Bandcamp, Apple Music and Spotify via 33.3 Music Collective.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Out via Cop International on March 14 is “The Plague”, the brand new album by The Cassandra Complex. The album is their first since 2013 and while the streaming version of this album came out in 2022, it’s only now that the album will see a CD version, albeit in a fully remastered version. It will be supported by a world tour across 12 countries throughout 2024.

The band took a hiatus for several years while Orpheus worked creating some of the most widely used music technology today, as well as production work with other bands such as The Sisters of Mercy, Kraftwerk, Within Temptation, Sinead O’Connor, Die Krupps, and many others. During the COVID lockdown the band got together using online collaboration tech to create 10 brand new songs.

The Cassandra Complex revisits ‘Sex & Death’

Out the same day is “Death & Sex” celebrating the 40th anniversary of the moment Rodney Orpheus, Paul Dillon, and Andy Booth got together in a basement in Leeds, England with a collection of cheap second-hand guitar pedals, synthesisers, and drum machines to start recording material. In 1993 they released the legendary album “Sex & Death” and now the band re-recorded 7 tracks of this classic record from scratch (note the inverted album title).

This new version features the original founders of the band Rodney Orpheus and Andy Booth, with long time additional members Chris Haskett (Henry Rollins Band, David Bowie) on guitar and Mera Roberts (Faith and the Muse, Black Tape for a Blue Girl) on cello, plus new member Brent Heinze (Probe 7) on keyboards.

The Cassandra Complex – First Tour dates 2024

• UK – 14/03 Todmorden, The Golden Lion
• UK – 16/03 Gateshead, The Black Bull
• UK – 17/03 London, The Lower Third
• B – 21/03 Charleroi, La Ruche Verriere
• NL – 22/03 Amsterdam, Q-Factory
• NL – 24/03 Heerlen, Nieuwe Nor
• DK – 30/03 Copenhagen, Lygten
• CZ – 21/05 Prague, Palac Akropolis

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Behind The Gallery has today announced that the photos taken by Jonathan Rach on Nine Inch Nails’ “Self Destruct Tour” will go on show for the first time in a world-exclusive gallery exhibition from 6 – 10 March 2024 at 524 Flinders Street, Melbourne. The event will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the iconic Nine Inch Nails album, “The Downward Spiral”.

“Nine Inch Nails by Jonathan Rach” will include several photos never seen before. 45 images will be on display showcasing an array of both personal and pivotal moments for the band taken during the tour which included Australia.

In a worldwide first, Jonathan’s celebrated collection will feature a selection of recently rediscovered images dating back to his time with Nine Inch Nails. The collection also features David Bowie, Lou Reed, and moments from the 6-night run at Hollywood Palladium in 2018. Limited edition numbered prints signed by Jonathan are available for purchase.

Jonathan Rach comments: “I was witnessing truly honest and iconic moments in music history. The result is what will be on display in Melbourne.”

Behind The Gallery’s Creative Director Stephen Dallimore adds, “We are extremely honoured to be trusted to showcase this collection of photographs for the Nine Inch Nails community. Jonathan’s images provide a rare insight into one of music’s most important artists and celebrated tours in music culture. We look forward to creating a special event for the fans and collectors, this is not to be missed!”

The official opening night will take place on Wednesday 6th March. Fans are also invited join the celebration of the album release anniversary on Friday 8th March at the gallery, followed by an Artist Talk with Jonathan Rach on Saturday 9th March. The exhibition will take place at 524
Flinders Street, Melbourne.

Jonathan first started collaborating with Nine Inch Nails on stage designs then followed up as a filmmaker writing and directing a documentary about the band entitled “Closure”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Update: Geir Jenssen has co-written two of the tracks on “Radiant Green”.

(Photo by Knut Åserud) Good news from Norway as the cult band Bel Canto will release an all new album on April 26th, called “Radiant Green“. “Radiant Green” comes after more than two decades of studio silence since their last album “Dorothy’s Victory” already dates from 2002.

“Radiant Green” will be out digitally and on CD and double vinyl. The material was mixed by Matias Tellez and Gilles Martin. For Martin it means his comeback after having produced the first 3 albums of the band, the last being “Shimmering, Warm & Bright” from 1992. Martin’s production helped establish Bel Canto’s distinctive sound in the early days.

Here’s a first teaser which the band released.

The band also released the cover artwork for the new album.

About Bel Canto

Bel Canto, originally a trio but now a duo, features Anneli Drecker as the lead vocalist and was initially under the Crammed Discs label.

The ensemble originated in Tromsø in 1985, established by Geir Jenssen (handling synthesizers and programming), Nils Johansen (playing synthesizer, violin, bass, and guitar), alongside vocalist Anneli Drecker. Their musical influences span a wide range, including Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), David Bowie, artists from 4AD, Clannad, Kate Bush, Laurie Anderson, David Sylvian, Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), Ryuichi Sakamoto, Depeche Mode, and the Blue Nile.

In 1986, the trio relocated to Brussels, releasing their debut album, “White-Out Conditions,” through Crammed Discs a year later. Following their second album, “Birds of Passage” (1990), Jenssen departed to pursue a successful solo career as Biosphere, leaving Drecker and Johansen to achieve a commercial breakthrough with “Shimmering, Warm and Bright” in 1992. By this time, their music had transitioned from ethereal dream electropop to a synth-based pop sound enriched with world music elements.

Anneli Drecker occasionally paused her involvement with Bel Canto to focus on solo projects and collaborations with other artists and bands, including Röyksopp and a-ha, in addition to her work in film and theater. Nils Johansen, meanwhile, composed music for film and television and continued his involvement with his other band, Vajas.

In 2010, following a reunion concert in Oslo, Side-Line interviewed the original members, who revealed they were working on a new album, although tensions were apparent. Ultimately, Geir Jenssen left the band once more, and the project was left unfinished.

A previously unreleased track from 1988, “Flowerbeds,” surfaced in 2009 on the Norwegian compilation “Maskindans: Norsk synth 1980–1988,” released by Hommage Records. In 2017, Bel Canto graced the stage at Øyafestivalen in Oslo, delivering a performance that spanned their hits in a set lasting nearly an hour. During an interview, Drecker expressed the band’s enthusiasm for more live performances and the potential for new music.

In June 2022, Anneli Drecker and Nils Johansen shared news of their ongoing work on a forthcoming Bel Canto album.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Out now via Bandcamp is “Echoes Of Time – A 39​-​Year Musical Anthology” by the belgian cult goth / coldwave act The Breath Of Life. The release comes as they prepare the release of their 11th album.

On this 40-track strong compilation the band delivers a nice overview of their career which started in 1985. The release features rare gems and unreleased material that unveils the band’s evolution—from the raw energy of early demo tapes to the slick sound of their most recent digital single. Also included is a cover of David Bowie’s “Ashes To Ashes”.

In 2023, the band joined forces with the newly minted Spleen+ division of the Belgian Alfa Matrix label. Their first label release is the recently released EP “Down We Go”. Anno 2024, The Breath Of Life are Isabelle Dekeyser (vocals), Philippe Mauroy (guitar, drums programming), Giovanni Bortolin (violin, keyboards) and Didier Czepczyk (bass).

The Bandcamp version comes with a 40-page booklet holding exclusive band photos and insights into the band’s career.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The English gothic rock act Sirens Of Light has just released their rendition of the Led Zeppelin track, “In The Evening”. The cover is now available across major digital platforms, including Bandcamp.

Andy J. Davies, the driving force behind Sirens Of Light, expressed his admiration for the song: “This is possibly Led Zeppelin’s finest work, yet it remains underrated. Our cover takes inspiration from the original studio recording and the iconic live performance at the 1979 Knebworth concert. I have a personal connection with this song, having listened to it live from my garden, too young to attend the concert itself.”

Originating from London, UK, Sirens Of Light emerged in the gothic rock scene in 2004. The band’s sound is a blend of early gothic rock influences and the London Goth and Glam scenes of the 80s and 90s. They draw inspiration from icons like Sisters Of Mercy, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Southern Death Cult, March Violets, Rose Of Avalanche, and Bauhaus.

Their debut album, “Nullus Magis Gothica,” was recorded in 2004 and saw a limited release in 2005. The lost original recordings were discovered in 2021, leading to a new, re-mixed version being released on November 8, 2022.

Below is the track for download on Bandcamp.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Élodie Duhoo) The Noise Who Runs is the brainchild of songwriter Ian Pickering (of Sneaker Pimps and Front Line Assembly), who also co-authored such hits as “Spin Spin Sugar”, “6 Underground” and “Tesko Suicide”. Upon relocating from northern England to France, Pickering launched this project with Brazilian-French guitarist Felipe Goes.

The UK-France duo The Noise Who Runs now presents “Tune Out, Turn Off, Drop In”, their second single from the forthcoming “Come and Join the Beautiful Army” EP. As with the first single “One Scratch Each”, “Tune Out, Turn Off, Drop In” continues the more stripped-down sound both musically and lyrically.

Felipe Goes says this about the new single: “With all these songs, it seemed better not to try and force it, and with ‘Tune Out’ it was quite complete but lacked something unnerving and off-centre, so the guitars needed to be almost imperceptible as guitars, but somehow add another layer of meaning or interpretation to the feel – something slightly jarring and disorientating. They’re coming from the exact opposite of a rock approach, more just able to change and confuse certain parts of the overall mood of the keyboards, rather than dictating and overpowering the sound.“

“Of course it failed on the most utopian level but it’s undeniable that without the upheaval and countercultures of the 60s, there wouldn’t be that liberation of behaviour and mentality that seemed stuck in the hypocrisy of the Victorian age. It strikes me as a total rejection of a tired establishment and that sense of respectability on the surface, keeping up appearances, toeing the line, doing as you’re told, obedience to the values of your elders and so-called betters,” says Ian Pickering. “But equally the overarching idea of the original phrase seems to be that introspection and dropping out of mainstream consumer culture would offer the solutions. And maybe they would have. But, as with any counterculture, once it’s been identified by the establishment, they take back the hard yards you’ve struggled to gain and they take back more than they ever relinquished and beef up the fortress around it so it can’t happen again. And then they get the marketing and advertising people on the case and sell it back to you with a cheap cover-all, shortcut to thinking logo and slogan.”

The full “Come and Join The Beautiful Army” EP was mixed and mastered by Colin C at The Cell Studio, whose clients include such artists as Front Line Assembly and Danny Saber (Black Grape, Alice Cooper, David Bowie, Madonna).

Here is the previous single as well.

As of today, November 9, “Tune Out, Turn Off, Drop In” is available across fine music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp, where this and the “Preteretrospective” album can be obtained directly from the artist.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Sheva Kafai) British new wave / post-punk act Modern English have announced the release of “Long in the Tooth”, the British new wave/post-punk band’s first single off their forthcoming album titled “1 2 3 4”.

The new album was produced by Mario J. McNulty (David Bowie, Lou Reed, Nine Inch Nails) with the first single “Long in the Tooth” being the band’s first new offering since 2016’s “Take Me To The Trees”.

“Modern English and its journey, both musical and personal, has spread over 40+ years, and ‘Long in the Tooth’ is a song about this part of that journey,” frontman Robbie Grey says. “As we have reached out into the world and all its changes over all those years, it’s a meditation of getting older in a world that still spins in a chaotic and always interesting way.”

Modern English will be making the following U.S. appearances during September.

• 15 — Hamden, CT — Space Ballroom
• 16 — Greenfield, MA — Hawks & Reed
• 17 — Boston, MA — Sonia
• 20 — Richmond, VA — Canal Room
• 22 — Greenville, SC — The Radio Room
• 23 — Atlanta, GA — The Earl
• 24 — Nashville, TN — 3rd and Lindsley
• 27 — Athens, GA — 40 Watt
• 29 — Smithfield, NC — Paul A Johnson
• 30 — Virginia Beach, VA — Neptune Festival

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The industrial label Glitchmode Recordings has announced the October 16th release of Derision Cult’s “The Mercenary Mixes”. “The Mercenary Mixes” is a sixteen-track remix series that follows the Derision Cult EP “Mercenary Notes Pt 1”. On remix duties we find Assemblage 23, Moris Blak, Stoneburner, SpankTheNun and Stabbing Westward among others.

The Mercenary Mixes will be available in its entirety on October 16th via Bandcamp while individual singles will be released in the coming weeks.

The previously released “Mercenary Notes Pt. 1” EP was the result of a collaboration between Dave McAnally and Sean Payne (Cyanotic), Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie, The Cure), Chris Connelly (Ministry, Pigface), plus Justin K Broadrick (Godflesh).

You can already check the Assemblage 23 remix below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The Breath of Life was formed in 1985 and the band immediately stood out thanks to a creative originality, as a result they are the best known cold wave gothic rock band from Belgium. The band has now signed to the brand new post-punk label Spleen+ (division of Alfa Matrix) where they will be releasing their 11th album.

A first excerpt in the format of a 3-track EP is out now via Bandcamp (and all other platforms): “Down We Go”. The EP evokes good old ethereal moments from the 4AD cult years merged with their classic darkwave roots. Also added to this 3-track release is the band’s take on The Cure’s “The Lovecats” which got turned into a much darker version. As 3rd track you get a more electronic song which is their very own reinterpretation of Implant’s “The Last Record” featuring Len Lemeire himself on backing vocals.

Anno 2023, The Breath Of Life are Isabelle Dekeyser (vocals), Philippe Mauroy (guitar, drums programming), Giovanni Bortolin (violin, keyboards), Didier Czepczyk (bass).

Below is the video for “The Lovecats”.

About The Breath Of Life

The group was formed in 1985 in Gembloux when Isabelle Dekeyser (vocals), Philippe Mauroy (guitar), and Benoît Sokay (bass) first met. In 1990, with the addition of Giovanni Bortolin (keyboards & violin – formerly of Jo Lemaire + Flouze) and the decision to incorporate a drum machine, the group independently produced a 10-track cassette. In 1991, the band embarked on a tour in Czechoslovakia, followed by another tour the following year, which is reflected in their debut CD “Live in Praha 92”.

That same year, they released their first studio album “Painful Insanity,” recorded by Gilles Martin, a renowned producer of Coldwave (Minimal Compact, Tuxedomoon, Anna Domino, Colin Newman, Malaria, The Names, Indochine). 1993 marked their breakthrough with the release of “Taste of Sorrow,” also produced by Martin, featuring the title track “Nasty Cloud,” which became a gothic classic.

In 1995, the band released “Lost Children,” showcasing a more ethereal wave style. They subsequently signed with Hall of Sermon for their next album, “Sweet Party,” which came out in 1997 and marked a shift towards a more pop and electronic sound. In 2000, they released “Silver Drops,” once again with Martin at the mixing desk. The album combined melancholic pop with elements of trip hop. Shortly after, Mauroy departed the band, and Didier Czepczyk took over on guitars.

With the albums “Everlasting Souls” (2005) and “Whispering Fields” (2012), the band returned to their gothic roots and introduced a real drummer, Marc Haerden. Benoît Sokay, the bassist since the band’s inception, left in 2014, and in January 2015, Philippe Mauroy rejoined the band, almost 15 years after his departure.

In May 2017, the album “Under The Falling Stars” was released, marking the return of Gilles Martin as the producer. In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and while Belgium was still under lockdown, the band decided to record their 10th album. Each member recorded their respective parts at home and shared the files using WeTransfer. However, when COVID-19 restrictions allowed, two band members traveled to France and met with Gilles Martin for the final mixing process. The resulting album, titled “Spark Around Us,” was released in November 2020.

During the lockdown in Belgium, the band recorded three cover songs: “Winning” by The Sound, “Ashes To Ashes” by David Bowie, and “Inner Station” by Minimal Compact. These covers were exclusively released on Bandcamp. In 2022, they were approached by the Belgian record label Alfa Matrix for various compilation projects. The band was asked to cover a song from the Belgian electro project Implant, a song from the electro-pop band Psy’Aviah, and a song from the Italian project Imjudas.

As one thing led to another, the band was soon approached to join Alfa Matrix’s post-punk sublabel, Spleen+.

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

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Genre/Influences: Dark-Wave, Post-Punk, Minimal-Wave.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Legendary French 80s formation Norma Loy are back on track. Seven years have passed since the previous album “Baphomet” which already was a come-back album. Core members ‘Usher’ and ‘Chelsea’ joined hands together with a few guests to bring us twelve cover versions.

Content: You’ll discover cover versions of very famous artists like the unavoidable Suicide but also Minimal Compact, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Nico, The Velvet Underground, Tuxedomoon, Throbbing Gristle, Factrix, David Lynch, Coil and… Norma Loy. The songs have been meticulously transposed into the dark, haunting, and sometimes minimal style of Norma Loy. You easily recognize most of the songs and their original sound but they’ve been recovered with a darker touch mixing guitar and electronics.

+ + + : I mostly have reservations about cover albums but the way this opus has been accomplished is absolutely great and magical. You easily recognize songs from artists like Suicide, Throbbing Gristle and even Leonard Cohen but Norma Loy adapted the songs in their own, obscure, interpretation. From pure Post-Punk and Dark-Wave to Minimal-Wave the work is versatile and yet compact. Most of the songs are fully accomplished featuring porcelain sound treatments on top but I especially recommend listening to the subdued “Saeta” (Nico), the rough and minimal driven “Touch Me” (Suicide), the harder, Dark-Wave sounding “Romance” (which is a 2022 version from an older Norma Loy song), the good-old Dark/Cold-Wave like “A Night To Forget” (Factrix) and the somewhat Ritual-orientated “Ritual Of The Mind” (Coil).

– – – : The single cut which couldn’t convince me is the Bowie-cover “Some Are”.

Conclusion: Cover albums always are a bit of a challenge but “Ouroboros” sounds as a refreshing Dark-Wave / Post-Punk piece of music.

Best songs: “A Night To Forget”, “Touch Me”, “Ritual Of The Mind”, “Saeta”, “Romance”, “Venus In Furs”.

Rate: 8½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/NormaLoyOfficiel

Label: www.manicdepressionrecords.com / www.facebook.com/manicdepressionrecords

About Norma Loy

Norma Loy is a French formation led by Usher and vocalist Chelsea, among the most prominent French bands of the 1980s. The group stopped activity in the early 1990s, reunited for live shows in 2006 and returned to the studio with “Un/Real” (Infrastition, 2009) and “Baphomet” (Unknown Pleasures Records, 2016). “Ouroboros” follows seven years later on Manic Depression Records, an all-covers album reinterpreting Suicide, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Nico, The Velvet Underground, Tuxedomoon, Throbbing Gristle, Factrix, David Lynch, Coil and Norma Loy’s own back catalogue.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Extremely sad news reaches us from Japan where renowned composer and producer Ryuichi Sakamoto, a pioneer in incorporating electronic production into popular music, has passed away at the age of 71. On March 28, Sakamoto succumbed to cancer after a years-long battle, as reported in a statement on his website on Sunday.

The statement shared one of Sakamoto’s favourite quotes: “Ars longa, vita brevis,” which translates to “Art is long, life is short.” The full statement was also published on Twitter as you can see below.

pic.twitter.com/Fq0hRyp5F4

— commmons (@commmons) April 2, 2023

Composer and actor

Born on January 17, 1952, Sakamoto enjoyed a culturally rich upbringing, with his father working as an editor for postwar Japanese novelists like Kenzaburo Oe and Yukio Mishima. He began taking piano lessons at the age of six and later started composing his own music. As a teenager, he became captivated by the work of Claude Debussy, a composer who drew inspiration from Asian musical aesthetics, including Japanese styles.

Sakamoto, who was based in Tokyo and New York, began his career as a member of the legendary Japanese electronic music trio Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). He made his film composer debut with “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” (1983), in which he also starred as an actor alongside David Bowie. The main theme was adapted into the international hit single “Forbidden Colours,” featuring vocals by David Sylvian. Sakamoto continued his successful film composing career with works such as “The Last Emperor” (1987), “The Sheltering Sky” (1990), “Little Buddha” (1993), and “The Revenant” (2015).

Last album released in January

In January Side-Line presented Sakamoto’s last album, “12”, out via Milan Records. The 12 compositions were recorded by Ryuichi Sakamoto in Tokyo during his 2-year long fight with cancer throughout 2021-2022. The album, his 15th, was the first of new solo material since 2017. The album’s twelve tracks are titled and sequenced by the dates each were written, culminating in a diary-like collection of music that provides an intimate snapshot into this period of Sakamoto’s life.

Prior to the release of his album, Sakamoto debuted a special solo piano concert that was streamed online to over 60,000 viewers worldwide. His first live performance in two years, the concert was recorded at Tokyo’s renowned 509 Studio over a week and featured an hour of the composer playing new arrangements from his extensive repertoire and new album.

Watch “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” from the live-streamed “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Playing the Piano 2022” on Sunday, December 11, 2022.

Ryuichi Sakamoto will be dearly missed.

「どこにいても、元気でいてね」

“Time is so short, and I’m sure that I don’t have much time left. So I’m doing my best to enjoy every day.”

– Ryuichi Sakamoto, as quoted in an interview with Asahi Shimbun in 2017 –

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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We are still getting quite a few questions regarding this, so here it is again. The “Celebrating David Bowie” tour has been postponed to the fall due to headliner Peter Murphy undergoing “an unexpected medical procedure that prevents his ability to travel as planned,” as announced by the his management. The Bauhaus frontman is recovering well and is expected to be fully fit to tour the U.S. in the fall.

The tour, which also features guitarist Adrian Belew and members of Spacehog and A Perfect Circle, was initially scheduled for April and May. The rescheduled dates now begin in October and continue through late November. The tour itinerary remains largely unchanged, albeit in a different order, and has expanded from 26 to 27 dates with the addition of a concert in Chicagoon November 21st. The planned San Antonio, Texas, stop has been moved to nearby Austin. More information can be found at celebratingdavidbowie.com.

The assembled musicians will highlight David Bowie’s greatest hits during the tour, with a strong emphasis on Ziggy Stardust, the Berlin trilogy (“Low”, “Heroes”, and “Lodger”), and his later Trent Reznor-inspired years. Murphy and Belew, who have both played with Bowie and Nine Inch Nails, will be joined on stage by guitarist Scrote, Spacehog frontman Royston Langdon, A Perfect Circle members Matt McJunkins (bass) and Jeff Friedl (drums), saxophonist Ron Dziubla, and guitarist Eric Schermerhorn, who played with Bowie’s Tin Machine.

Murphy had been touring with the reunited Bauhaus last year, but the journey fell apart when Murphy entered rehab in late August. The other members of Bauhaus have since agreed to reform as Love and Rockets.

Initial Rescheduled Appearances are:

• 10/10 Tacoma, WA Temple Theatre
• 10/11 Portland, OR Roseland Theater
• 10/14 San Francisco, CA The Regency Ballroom
• 10/16 Anaheim, CA City National Grove of Anaheim
• 10/17 San Diego, CA Music Box – San Diego
• 10/18 Phoenix, AZ Celebrity Theatre
• 10/20 Austin, TX ACL Live at The Moody Theater
• 10/21 Tulsa, OK Tulsa Theater
• 10/22 Grand Prairie, TX Texas Trust CU Theatre
• 10/24 Houston, TX House of Blues
• 10/25 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
• 10/26 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
• 10/29 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Broward Center – Parker Playhouse
• 10/31 St. Petersburg, FL Mahaffey Theater
• 11/03 Chattanooga, TN Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium
• 11/05 Virginia Beach, VA Sandler Center for the Performing Arts
• 11/06 Washington D.C. The Hamilton Live
• 11/10 Glenside, PA Keswick Theatre
• 11/11 Ridgefield, CT Ridgefield Playhouse
• 11/12 Westbury, NY NYCB Theatre at Westbury
• 11/14 Red Bank, NJ Count Basie Center for the Arts
• 11/15 Englewood, NJ Bergen Performing Arts Center
• 11/16 Lynn, MA Lynn Auditorium
• 11/17 Staten Island, NY St. George Theatre
• 11/20 Munhall, PA Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall
• 11/21 Chicago, IL Copernicus Center %
• 11/22 Cincinnati, OH Taft Theatre

% – New Confirmed Performance – On-Sale 4/14

About Peter Murphy

Born on July 11, 1957, Peter Murphy is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist for the post-punk goth rock band Bauhaus. When Bauhaus initially split up, Murphy collaborated with Japan’s bassist Mick Karn to form Dali’s Car, releasing one album titled “The Waking Hour” (1984). Subsequently, Murphy embarked on a solo career, releasing several albums, such as “Should the World Fail to Fall Apart” (1986) and “Love Hysteria” (1988).

In 1990, Murphy found mainstream success with his hit single “Cuts You Up”, which topped the American Modern Rock Tracks for seven weeks, and the album “Deep” also achieved commercial success. In 1992, he released “Holy Smoke” along with the lead single “The Sweetest Drop”.

In 2002, Murphy collaborated with Turkish-Canadian composer and producer Mercan Dede on the – excellent – album “Dust”, which showcased a departure from his previous pop and rock styles. The album incorporated traditional Turkish instrumentation and songwriting, blending elements from progressive rock, trance, classical music, and Middle Eastern music with Dede’s signature atmospheric electronics. In 2014, Murphy released “Lion”, produced by Killing Joke’s Youth.

With his thin frame, striking cheekbones, deep baritone voice, and affinity for dark poetry, Murphy is often referred to as the “Godfather of Goth”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Darkwave duo Black Nail Cabaret, consisting of Emèse Árvai-Illes and Krisztián Árvai, has released a lyric video for “Sister Sister,” the first single from their upcoming experimental album “Woodlands Memoirs,” which will be available through Dependent Records. Collaborating with three fellow musicians (Tamás Számvéber, Márton Barják, Péter Laskay) under the moniker Black Nail Cabaret And Friends, the Hungarian pair has crafted a unique, one-time project that diverges from their typical avant-garde synth-pop style by transforming their own songs into cover versions.

The lyric video for “Sister Sister” can be viewed below.

Regarding the single, vocalist Emèse Árvai-Illes commented that “Sister Sister” has long been a favorite from their “Dichromat” album. The original track, with its cold wave vibe, has been transformed into a sound reminiscent of a “Twin Peaks” score, representing the band’s goal of covering their own songs.

In total Black Nail Cabaret selected eleven tracks from their previous releases and reimagined them by incorporating guitars, drums, and saxophone through a semi-live recording process that allowed for improvisation. To emphasize the organic nature of their own ‘cover versions,’ the band included footage shot in the pine woods of the Agostyán Arboretum in Hungary.

About Black Nail Cabaret

Black Nail Cabaret is a darkwave and electronic duo hailing from Hungary. Formed in 2008, the group consists of Emese “Emke” Arvai-Illes as the vocalist and Krisztian “Sophia” Arvai as the keyboardist and composer. Their music is characterized by a fusion of dark electronic soundscapes, haunting vocals, and a strong emphasis on storytelling through lyrics, with influences ranging from Depeche Mode to David Bowie.

The band began gaining traction with their debut EP, “Emerald City,” released in 2012. It showcased their ability to craft atmospheric, synth-driven tracks with a dark edge. The duo continued to build their sound with the release of their first full-length album, “Dichromat,” in 2013. This album featured a more polished and cohesive sound, highlighting their growth as musicians.

Black Nail Cabaret’s subsequent releases, including “Harry Me, Marry Me, Bury Me, Bite Me” (2015) and “Dioskouroi” (2017), further established their reputation as a force within the darkwave and electronic scene. Read the review of ‘Woodland Memoirs’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The cult Japanese musician and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto is back with all new album, “12”, via Milan Records. The 12 compositions were recorded by Ryuichi Sakamoto in Tokyo during his 2-year long fight with cancer throughout 2021-2022. The album, his 15th so far, is the first of new solo material since 2017. The album’s twelve tracks are titled and sequenced by the dates each were written, culminating in a diary-like collection of music that provides an intimate snapshot into this period of Sakamoto’s life.

As a result you get this tracklist:

1. 20210310
2. 20211130
3. 20211201
4. 20220123
5. 20220202
6. 20220207
7. 20220214
8. 20220302 – sarabande
9. 20220302
10. 20220307
11. 20220404
12. 20220304

Of the album, Sakamoto says: “In early March 2021, I finally “came home” to my new temporary housing after a big operation and a long stay in the hospital. Around the end of March, just as my body was feeling a little lighter, I found myself reaching for the synthesizer. I had no intention of composing something, I just wanted to be showered in sound. I just had a feeling that it’ll have a small healing effect on my damaged body and soul. Up until then, I barely had the energy to listen to music, let alone play anything. But after that day, I began to occasionally touch the keys of the synthesizer and piano and I began to record little sketches of sounds as if to write a diary. I tried choosing 12 of my favorite sketches for this album. There are no adornments—I’m intentionally putting them out as is. From now on, until my body gives out, I’ll probably continue to keep this kind of “diary”.”

Based in Tokyo and New York he started out as a member of the legendary japanese electronic music trio YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra). As a film composer he debuted with the excellent “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” (1983) both as a musician and as an actor (vs David Bowie). The main theme was adapted into the single “Forbidden Colours” which became an international hit (with vocals by David Sylvian). His most successful work as a film composer was “The Last Emperor” (1987), after which he continued earning accolades composing for films such as “The Sheltering Sky” (1990), “Little Buddha” (1993), and “The Revenant” (2015).

In advance of the album’s release, Sakamoto recently debuted a special solo piano concert that was streamed online to an audience of over 60,000 viewers across the globe. His first live performance in two years, the concert was recorded over the course of a week at Tokyo’s legendary 509 Studio and features an hour of the composer playing new arrangements both spanning his repertoire and from his new album.

Check “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” from the live streaming “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Playing the Piano 2022” from Sunday, December 11, 2022. Welcome back Ryuichi Sakamoto!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Techno, New-Wave.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: French duo Nomenklatür is already busy for several years and has released an interesting list of EP’s. They strike back with a new EP featuring American vocalist Odge. Clivage Music is the label of Pascal Arbez aka Vitalic.

Content: This EP features 5 songs bringing good-old and dark New-Wave influences together with a more explicit Techno touch. It all sounds pretty minimal and danceable featuring irresistible female vocals on top. You’ll find two different edits of the title track.

+ + + : “When The Wind Blows” is  a song from David Bowie but I here discovered a Techno-Wave driven cut. The other tracks are pretty similar in style mixing dark bass lines and sexy vocals. I even prefer these songs and especially “After Life” is a brilliant piece of retro-futuristic Electro music. I also enjoy the minimalism of “My Something” and the great instrumental “Satori V1” carried by an irresistible bass line.

– – – : The title song is cool but I personally prefer the other cuts.

Conclusion: “When The Wind Blows” reveals a visionary project inspired by different retro influences.

Best songs: “After Life”, “Satori V1”, “My Something”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.facebook.com/nomenklaturmusic

Label: www.clivage-music.com / www.facebook.com/clivagemusic

About Nomenklatür

Nomenklatür is a French duo formed by Olivier Brucker and Olivier Rossi, two figures of the French underground techno scene who met at a party at Ostgut, the Berlin club later known as Berghain. Active since 2005, the pair build a fusion of deep techno and electro music using modular and analog synthesizers, software, and homemade modules. The EP “When The Wind Blows” was released on Clivage Music and features American vocalist Odge on a Techno-Wave rendition of David Bowie’s title track.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

(Photo by Gerrold Vincent) Out now is Aurelio Voltaire’s 13th studio album, “The Black Labyrinth”. “The Black Labyrinth” features 20 tracks inspired by the 1986 film “Labyrinth”, in which David Bowie played The Goblin King. Voltaire recorded the album with 15 members of Bowie’s band from nearly every era of the Starman’s career including pianist Mike Garson, bassist Gail Ann Dorsey, drummer Sterling Campbell and guitarist Earl Slick.

Mark Plati, the producer of Bowie albums “Earthling” and “Toy,” mixed and co-produced “The Black Labyrinth” alongside Voltaire and Tom Gardner.

Also on board are members of My Chemical Romance, Trans Siberian Orchestra, Vision Video and many more. An illustrated version of “The Black Labyrinth” is slated for release in 2023, illustrated by gothic fantasy artists Abigail Larson, Iren Horrors and DreaD Art.

Aurelio Voltaire, one of the leading figures in the dark cabaret and goth genres, is known by many for his songs for the Cartoon Network show “The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy” as well as for his popular “Gothic Homemaking” youtube show.

“The Black Labyrinth,” is available today via all streaming and digital platforms along with compact disc.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Set up in 1990 by Sean Brennan, Californian (USA) based London After Midnight never stopped to increase their success and popularity. After having conquered the West Coast they progressively started to play world wide becoming a true phenomenon at the wider fields of Dark-Wave and Gothic music. While Sean Brennan is working on a new opus for several years now he this year unleashed the album “Oddities Too” featuring rare songs, alternative edits, cover versions and demos. The album has been released on Sean’s own label Darkride Records and is a true, artistic, creation mixing heavy Goth-Rock passages together with a Cinematic style. I talked about it all with Sean Brennan.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: The odyssey of London After Midnight started more than thirty years ago now. Can you draw up the balance sheet of this amazing and successful story?

Sean: LAM has experienced a great deal, both good and bad. In the end when reflecting back I mostly think of the music I was able to create and the people who it mattered to, rather than the struggles.

Q: Over the past thirty years you for sure have seen things changing/evolving. I’m thinking to aspects such as internet, streaming platforms vs. physical sales, new technologies and equipment, more and more labels closing doors, the growing importance of image, etc… What’s your perception of this entire evolution? What are the pros and cons?

Sean: In some ways it’s a devolution. But yes, a lot has changed with our culture in a relatively short time span. The internet brought about many problems- from impacting peoples’ mental health with toxic social media, the spread of disinformation and conspiracies, to the collapse of the music industry, but it has presented opportunities, too, like for people who are normally without a voice -some social media has provided a platform to challenge the powerful or raise awareness.

But it’s hard to gauge the pros versus cons because things have changed so radically and tumultuously in that time span -maybe now we’re so accustomed to tragedy and disaster and corruption and conspiracy that our standards have been lowered, so we accept the small benefits that come from the internet without questioning the costs. But I think generally, with a few exceptions, there are greater costs than benefits.

Q: How much of the ‘young’ musician you were early 90s do you still recognize in your approach today? And are there specific aspects you would have done differently?

Sean: Things have changed from that time, obviously, how I feel about it and how I view it now from external influences- forced upon me by the world. There’s still a passion and drive to create that’s always been there. How that might manifest itself in the future is unknown to me, but I will always love music.

Q: I think to remember you were working on a completely new album, right? How are things evolving and can you already reveal some details?

Sean: The all new album is about half recorded. It would have been much further along if not for the pandemic. I recorded some drum tracks before I moved out of Los Angeles to the east coast of the USA, where I planned to finish the albums. But then the pandemic hit (lucky timing for me, because being in over-crowded LA during the pandemic was reportedly a nightmare). So the pandemic delayed everything by at least 2 years.

I feel the all new album has my best work on it so I am very eager to get it released. I just have to finish up some lyrics and then do some final recording. There will be one cover song on it, the rest are all original, new songs. But the cover song is pretty special as it turned out quite nicely. It will probably be another unexpected cover-song like Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff”-cover from “Oddities Too”, but quite emotional.

Q: In a previous question I was mentioning the streaming platforms. (Younger) people are no longer listening to an entire album but are making their own playlists featuring separate songs. So do you think  releasing an album still makes sense today?

Sean: In one sense you have to release a full album to earn enough to make it worth recording, to make the process pay for itself. Just a drum session in a real studio, for example, can cost a few thousand dollars. And then mixing and mastering will cost several more thousand dollars. If you release a 4 song EP then you sell it for far less than a full album and aren’t really able to earn those costs back to make the practice sustainable. And there are a lot of people who also still buy physical product, CDs or records, which my new record label I started in 2019 is releasing -Darkride Records.

And pressing CDs and LPs is another huge cost. So making physical products with fewer songs means lower pricing and a harder time earning back what you’ve invested. You can lose money releasing music, which is clearly not sustainable. But yes, it’s sad that people’s attention spans are so short now. Too often the music is just a playlist, background music, and people don’t even know who the artists are, despite all the effort and work the artists put into their creations.

Q: In the meantime you released “Oddities Too” which became a mix of rare songs and alternative edits, surprising cover versions, demos and new material as well. How did this album saw the daylight and how was it working on it? And tell us a bit more about this amazing new song “October”?

Sean: “Oddities Too” started out as a 10 song sequel to the 1998 “Oddities”-album, featuring unreleased, re-imagined, and new material. But it has transformed into a double album including everything from “Oddities”. With my label, Darkride Records, I want to reissue all my past albums that are out of print, but make them better than they were by remixing them from the original multi-track master tapes. Doing this I am able to included missing audio elements cut from the original mixes due to limitations at the time, and even forgotten recordings. I always planned for another album like “Oddities”, and the time was right.

The song “October” is probably the first LAM song. I wrote it when I played keyboard for another band when I was a kid, just months before starting LAM. It was someone else’s band, but it fell apart after its first concert. So I started LAM and used the song as a starting point. A really rough recording appeared on LAM’s first 4 song self-titled demo cassette tape in about 1990 or 91. Then it was removed off the tape as I had just recorded “Selected Scenes From The End Of The World” in 1991 and I replaced “October” with the new song “Revenge”. Some people never understood “October”, so I just buried it. It was meant to be like a Goth-Punk version of “Timewarp” from Rocky Horror Picture Show, not literally but just a thing that wasn’t in any way serious. But people looking for a reason to attack me used the song to try and say I was claiming to be a vampire, or that I thought I was God’s gift to women or something. They wanted to pretend it was serious just so they could talk shit. I was shocked at how utterly stupid these people were, that they couldn’t understand a silly song. The humor and fantasy of the song was lost on them. But it’s always been popular with fans, I would still get requests for it even now, so I decided to include it on “Oddities Too” and see what happens. Hopefully the naysayers won’t resort to more insane accusations of me being a vampire this time around.

Q: There’s an important ‘Cinematic’ side featured at the album. Do you have concrete plans to release a Soundtrack and do you’ve favorite soundtrack composers?

Sean: I’d love to score film, but I’m actually getting more interested in making films rather than music for them. But we’ll see what happens. My first love was film Soundtracks and Classical music. I have records and CDs from childhood of film scores from Max Steiner, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann, Ron Grainer, John Barry, John Williams and tons more. That’s the music I listen to most frequently.

Q: I really have to mention two cover versions featured at “Oddities Too”. I wasn’t surprised by the David Bowie cover but you took me by surprise covering Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff”. I guess you covered “Hot Stuff” because of the lyrics? Does the BOWIE song have special meaning to you?

Sean: I covered “Hot Stuff” because I’ve always liked some of the music from that era, and I thought that song had a very cool guitar riff melody (which I play on keyboard in my version). I thought it could make for a sort of creepy, weird, dark song that might contrast in a funny way with the lyrics. “Scary Monsters” is a song that LAM used to perform live starting in maybe 2006, or so. So that’s just a little history of LAM. I was quite shocked after I released “Hot Stuff” that the guy who wrote the song for Donna Summer, Pete Bellotte, sent me an email saying how much he loved my cover. He said of all the covers he’s heard mine stood out as original, hypnotic, dark, and ‘great’. I was utterly floored, as he’s a sort of legend in the song writing world, having written songs for big artists.

Q: The ongoing pandemic seriously affected all artistic activities. How did you experience this situation and how does it feel to be back on stage again?

Sean: It was very difficult- LAM had some tour plans for 2020 to promote the re-release of “Selected Scenes From The End Of The World: 9119”, but those obviously had to be cancelled. Touring now is even harder than before because this readjustment period, when shows are starting to come back, is exposing the weaknesses of the music industry. Even major, top 40 bands, are posting to their social media about how they cannot sustain touring any longer due to costs or harsh schedules required or problems with cancellations, etc. So it’s kind of difficult at the moment.

Q: Any concrete plans for the coming months/year?

Sean: In regard to concerts LAM will perform at the Sick New World festival in Las Vegas in 2023 with Sisters Of Mercy, System Of A Down, Korn and many other bands. Then there should be a festival scheduled in Germany later in summer and maybe a few other shows. We’ll see. And I will continue with recording the all new album, as well.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

The new single from the Brooklyn-based synthpop outfit The Mystic Underground called “Digital is out now on Re:Mission Entertainment together with a brand new video which premieres today on Side-Line.

The band consists of singer/songwriter Vladimir Valette and keyboardist/producer Benedetto Socci and over the years they have often been featured on Side-Line.

Vladimir Valette explains the new single: “’Digital’ is a tune that was imagined as a bit of a groovy number that channeled some of our influences in Detroit House and stuff like Lisa Stansfield, Cathy Dennis or the Pet Shop Boys etc.. I don’t think we’d ever gone down this road previously but it’s always been our aim to try to keep people guessing and more importantly to keep ourselves of the mind of pushing things forward. The best way to describe Digital from a lyrical standpoint would be the sound of feeling lovestruck and lovelorn and how that translates into the lengths we go to in order to fill the void in the new Roaring Twenties as it were.”

Musically The Mystic Underground is taking hints from a lot of classic alternative bands such as the Smiths, David Bowie and New Order fused with a love of Britpop, dance and industrial. The Mystic Underground released their last album, “Wrapped In Riddles”, in 2020.

Here’s the video for “Digital”.

You can download the new single right below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Out now is the all new EP by industrial metal band Derision Cult. The “Mercenary Notes Pt. 1” EP features members of Ministry, The Cure & Godflesh and continues on Derision Cult’s themes of over-stimulation that humanity is faced with in the 21st century.

Derision Cult leader, Dave McAnally says: “On the last album, we pointed out ways the media prays on people’s emotions. On this one, we’re talking about solutions and how to move forward in the 21st century.”

Mercenary Notes Pt 1 features several guests that include Chris Connelly (Ministry, Pigface), Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie, The Cure) and Justin Broadrick (Godflesh). The 8-track EP is available on CD as well via Bandcamp.

Derision Cult is a project by Chicago solo artist Dave McAnally. He was involved in a number of projects across a range of genres and has been featured on releases by Metropolis Records as well as his own imprint, South Street Dungeon.

Here’s the video for “Year Hope Failed” from the EP.

Side-Line also covered The Cure’s ‘One hundred years’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Gothic, Gothic-Rock, Post-Punk.

Format: Digital, 2CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Legendary formation London After Midnight strike back with a ‘new’ album. Sean Brennan assisted by David Lawrie (mixing), Michael Areklett and Pete Pace bring us the second chapter of “Oddities”. The work features the original edits of “Oddities” released in 1998 plus cover versions, alternative versions and a previously unreleased song.

Content: The work takes off with the new cut “October” which sounds like LAM at its best. Pure, powerful, Post-Punk and glamorous Goth-Rock music with elevating guitar playing and charismatic vocals. That’s the essence of the band which you’ll also find back at other cuts. But they’re also moody, slower, passages next to acoustic versions, demo Neo-Classic interpretations and cover versions of “Hot Stuff”, “Scary Monsters” (David Bowie) and “Sally’s Song”.

+ + + : Listening to “October” it sounds like LAF never really stopped. This track reminds us of the genius of this formation; Goth-Rock with a great solo guitar at the final part. Charismatic vocals and elevating guitar play with speed rhythms remain the absolute trademark of the band; danceable and dark! But there’s also something to say about the more Cinematic part of the work which sounds as pure Neo-Classic interpretations. A double disc which will enchant the numerous fans of this legendary formation.

– – – : There’s a serious discrepancy between both discs. You sometimes don’t get the sensation of listening to the same band. It also reveals the band’s diversity.

Conclusion: It would be cool getting a totally new album by this formation but “Oddities Too” is a great gift. London After Midnight rocks and I’m not surprised the work already got massive, enthusiastic, reactions. Respect!

Best songs: “October”, “I’m No Angel”, “Better Off Dead (Be My Guest)”, “Your Best Nightmare – O2 Mix” + “October – Radio Edit”, “Sally’s Song – O2 Mix”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.londonaftermidnight.com / www.facebook.com/LAMofficial

Label: www.darkriderecords.com / www.facebook.com/DarkrideRecords

About London After Midnight

London After Midnight is an American Gothic-Rock and Post-Punk band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1990 by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sean Brennan. The band released its debut album “Selected Scenes from the End of the World” in 1991, followed by “Psycho Magnet” in 1996 and the rarities compilation “Oddities” in 1998, the year Metropolis Records signed the band for US release of its catalog. A fourth studio album, “Violent Acts of Beauty”, followed in 2007. In 2019, Brennan started his own label, Darkride Records, releasing a remixed edition of the debut album before returning in 2022 with “Oddities Too”, a companion compilation to the 1998 release built around the new track “October” alongside cover versions and alternative mixes.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

The Chicago based industrial/metal project, Derision Cult has just unleashed their new single and video, “Bastards Of The World”. The track is off the forthcoming EP, “Mercenary Notes Pt. 1” set to be released on December 2 via Glitch Mode Recordings.

For the song, Derision Cult ringleader, Dave McAnally tapped into years of experience helping brands create narratives. Dave: “It deals with my experiences running campaigns that provoked enragement for a certain audience so another audience pays more attention. This has become an effective strategy. The messages we receive are attempts to illicit emotional responses.”

“Bastards Of The World” was inspired by a specific instance where Dave was approached to help a gun manufacturer infuriate gun control advocates to create a run on guns and ammunition: “On paper, the concept was very logical because when there are calls to ban weapons, we do see an uptick in sales for guns and ammunition. On principle, I didn’t take the project, but it inspired me to talk about this type of a campaign in a track because these things go on all the time.”

Here’s the video for “Bastards Of The World” in the Glitch Mode Breaks Mix version. The video was produced by Sean Payne (Cyanotic, Robohop, Conformco).

“Mercenary Notes Pt 1” will contain a set of tracks which serve as survival guide for maintaining mental health in a media-entrenched world “determined to generate hysteria and sensationalism among the masses”. Dave adds: “On the last album, we pointed out ways the media prays on people’s emotions. On this one, we’re talking about solutions and how to move forward in the 21st century.”

In addition to Dave and Sean, Mercenary Notes Pt 1 features several guests including Chris Connelly (Ministry, Pigface), Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie, The Cure) and Justin Broadrick (Godflesh). Part 2 of the Mercenary Notes series is due for the following year.

Here’s the download for the track.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Out via Nexilis on October 7th is the new 3CD set “Film, Funk & Fernsehen” by the German electropop act Welle:Erdball.

Coming as 3 seperate digipaks it is included in an inside an outer cardboards-slider holding over 2 hours of music and more than 30 tracks. The band explains the album title as follows: “The power of the media. And it is almost all-encompassing; with a theme that no longer stops at pandemics, gender and global thermonuclear war and is reflected in German lyrics, but also in songs in English, Russian and even Swedish.”

Also included are some cover versions such as David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” with female voices accompanied by Commodore C64 sounds. Also included is a complete radio play CD (in German) with several guest musicians such as Alexx Wesselsky (Eisbrecher), Ronan Harris (VNV Nation) and Steve Naghavi (And One).

Since it has been 40 years since the C64 was presented to the world (in January 1982), Welle:Erdball has also dedicated another complete CD recorded only with a C64. For those who wonder what a C64 actually is, the Commodore 64, also known as the C64 or the CBM 64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International. It is still being actively used in the demoscene, especially for music (its SID sound chip even being used in special sound cards for PCs, and the Elektron SidStation synthesizer).

Check out the video for “Das Atomboot (C64)”. A new video for “Drogenexzess im Musikexpress” will be released on September 9th.

The band has also announced a tour, the dates are available below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Cleveland based alternative electronic duo She 1 · Him 2 have released their second single of 2022, “Stuck Inside”. The video for the track features graphics by Steven Archer of Stoneburner and Ego Likeness.

The band explains the song: “The theme of the track involves getting stuck in thought patterns of negativity which drag us down and become habits. Then we need to figure out how to let go and break free.”

The band features darkwave rocker and former Lestat frontman Evan Nave and Cassie Bishop of Shy Moon. The duo has once again teamed up with producer Michael Seifert (Tori Amos, Paul Simon and many other Grammy award winners) for the project. “Stuck Inside” can be found at all electronic merchants and streaming services, and the video can be seen below.

The band is releasing tracks over time to fill out their first full EP and all music and videos have been filmed without either of them seeing each other in person. Over the past few years, they have released “Split the Line”, “Spoken Words to Light” and earlier this year they released a cover of David Bowie’s “Fame” featuring Steven Seibold (Hate Dept./Pigface). They are currently working on a full 4 song EP slated for 2023.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Independent Cleveland based alternative electronic duo She 1 · Him 2 have released their new cover of David Bowie’s “Fame”, featuring Steven Siebold (Hate Dept./Pigface) on guitar. The band features darkwave rocker and former Lestat front-man Evan Nave and Cassie Bishop of Shy Moon. For the occasion the duo has once again teamed up with producer Michael Seifert (Tori Amos, Paul Simon and many other Grammy award winners).

“Fame” can be found at all electronic merchants and streaming services, and the video can be seen on YouTube wherever possible.

The band is releasing tracks over time to fill out their first full EP in the age of the pandemic, and all music and videos have been filmed without either of them seeing each other in person. Over the past few years, they have released “Split the Line” and “Spoken Words to Light”. The duo are currently working on two more tracks to be released in the coming year.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(By Jasen T. Davis) While the roots of rock & roll can be traced to American musicians in the 1950’s, mainstream electronic music began in the 1960’s when musicicians incorporated synthesizers, theremin and sound effects into their songs for audiences that appreciated the psychedelic. By the 80’s there was hardly a radio station that didn’t play synthetic rock or feature a pop band that made frequent use of drum machines, electric synthesizers and other mechanical elements. The 90’s were dominated by popularized industrial bands that included a dark aggression to mechanized music, adding punk and goth ingredients to the electronic rock recipe.

Now artists like Josie Pace are pushing boundaries even further, creating music that fuses many different elements like punk, industrical, rock & roll, synth pop and even folk music to bring a sound to audiences they haven’t heard before. Still celebrating the release of her debut album, “IV0X10V5” Pace took time off from making music, entertaining the sultry night scene at Bar Sinister in Los Angeles, California or rocking the venues amidst the cold, dark streets of Detroit, Michigan to talk about her life, passion for music, and career with Side-Line Magazine.

SL: How and why did you start studying music?

I grew up in a family of musicians and people who were into music. My dad was a singer and played the bass guitar. He also toured in a southern gospel quartet. I grew up with all that music around me. My mom loved listening to Prince all the time. I grew up listening to that, too. I started singing and taking guitar lessons when I was really young. Everyone knew I was going to grow up to do that.

SL: How would you describe your music to a person who has never heard it before?

Electronic rock. It’s more of an artistic expression than just music. I grew up writing about experiences I’ve had. As a diary to get it out of my mind. I create an art piece instead of a song. My producer and I spent a lot of time working on these songs and putting myself into each piece of art. It’s therapeutic.

SL: What kind of music do you listen to? Do you have any favorite bands?

I like classic rock a lot. I love The Eagles. I grew up on Styx. My dad was a huge Eagles fan.

SL: Your parents seem to enjoy bands that really wear their heart on their sleeve.

Anything that was real to them. A lot of artists put on a front. I don’t listen to a lot of bands like that. There’s a band called Royal Blood from Europe that I’m listening to. They’re very good. You’ve got to listen to a lot of different genres. I’ve also listened to a lot of 80’s artists like Joan Jett, Duran Duran and Pat Benetar.

SL: What’s the hardest part about the music industry?

Dealing with social media. It’s such a big part of getting yourself out there. Hours upon hours every single day going though ads and messages, posting and posting. Even before signing onto a label I had to do this. I never thought I’d have to manage so much social media.

SL: It’s difficult to stand out with an entire Internet to compete with, even when you are so unique.

It’s hard to find people that “get it.” Everyone has access to everything.

SL: Do you feel like you’ve finally made it as a musician?

I feel like there is traction. When my producer and I worked together six years ago I had no idea that this would happen. It felt like the train kept going, it was getting better every year. Then Covid happened. That was a setback, no matter what. After signing with Negative Gain last summer it picked up where it used to be. Now I’m like…how did all of this happen? Oh, because I worked a lot.

SL: What else did you want to be growing up, aside from an electronic rock musician?

Number one was rock star. Number two was comedian. Number three is the snake lady in the circus.

SL: That’s quite a list! I’ve interviewed many stand up comedians. What was it about stand up comedy that you like?

I don’t think it was so much stand up comedy. It’s being up there in the spotlight. My dad told a lot of jokes. There’s something so great about making somebody laugh. I was kind of a funny looking kid, too.

SL: What’s the best advice you’ve ever heard for being a successful musician?

The first best advice is practice, practice, practice. Hone your craft and do the best you can. Second is, say “thank you” and show gratititude. My producer and I send out gifts. Thank you cards, sending cards for everyone’s birthday. It’s really important to show gratitude and be a human being.

SL: Advice isn’t always a good thing in the entertainment industry.

If everyone is jumping off a cliff should you?

SL: What’s the worst advice you’ve ever received?

There are so many. I was on a TV show that has not yet been released. We filmed it in LA. One of the judges was Alice Cooper. He took my performance as a persona. So he called me Josie Space instead of Josie Pace.

SL: Why did he do that? That’s terrible!

He also told me while we were filming, “You need to smile more! You need to smile more!” So I immediately don’t smile. They wanted me to be someone else. Another time I was asked to get into my pajamas and eat ice cream to be more personal. They want me to be more personable!

These people are all crazy. I don’t understand it. I never cared about what beverages artists like David Bowie drank or anything like that.

Growing up I didn’t know where the artists lived or what they ate. There was something more exciting about the mystery.

SL: Your debut album is out. Is there a theme or story within the album?

I think there is a theme that I didn’t realize until later. The theme is internal conflict. I had been feeling that for many years before I decided to write this album. If this album’s theme is internal conflict the next album is about other people in my life.

SL: As a professional musician, what is your definition of success?

I guess it would be being happy and secure in what you are doing. Not fame or money. Doing something for the rest of your life. You’re not going to stop doing that because it’s what you love to do.

SL: For some entertainers fame is success. Some people aren’t happy being so famous, so there seems to be a limit.

I don’t even know. You obviously don’t want to go through life without having people know you. I don’t consider myself famous. There are different types of fame. I’ve had it before. It was exciting for me. I’ve been stopped a few times at Target.

They’ll walk up to me and say, “Hey, you’re Josie Pace I follow you!” The Princess Diana level of fame is a little scary. I read about her and what she went through. I feel like that fame is not something worth striving for. No matter what stage of fame I’d keep putting out music and doing what I like to do. I would not stop if I got too famous. I just wouldn’t stop making music. I wouldn’t try to be less famous. People do use music as a vehicle to get more fame.

SL: What’s your next goal as a professional musician?

My next goal is to tour. I want to go on a tour so bad it’s insane. I’ve never gone on a full string of dates to play. A European tour would be incredible. Just playing live is a part of the musical process. The most important part is being with the audience.

SL: Where would you go?

Detroit. Start and end in Detroit. Obviously LA where we just played Bar Sinister. Portland. It has a big industrial goth scene. Texas. Mexico City. Florida. There’s a big industrial scene there and a club called The Castle. I’ve been told about it. Most definitely England.

SL: Why does the clothing in your music videos feature a lot of black and white stripes? Your style certainly stands out using combinations like that.

It represents personal conflict. It’s also a reference to a punk Australian film called “Dogs in Space”. My music video for “Underestimated” is based on that look. I try to step up my fashion. It’s how I dress every day.

SL: Your blonde mohawk is also a signature look. It makes the rock in your music look more punk.

I love my mohawk. I’ve had it for years. I’m planning to shave my head. Just shaving it off. We’ve had close calls. Maybe by my next video we’ll shave my head. I look weird with long hair. I look too young and sweet!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Out now is the brand new single by Lakeside X, “Rising”. The single release goes hand in hand with a brand new video shot in Berlin. Included in the single release is also a remix of the title track by Mesh’ Mark Hockings as Blackcarburning.

The single is a new teaser for the band’s forthcoming album “Love Disappears”. The new album will be produced by Daniel Myer (Haujobb , Liebknecht , Covenant , Architect). The Prague based synthpop act made a comeback last December with the release of “Fire in the Sky”, the first single after 11 years since their last studio album.

The single is available via all digital platforms.

Video out as well

The trio Janne Marvannen, Robert Broj and Igor Dvorsky have taken to the streets of Berlin to shoot a completely self-produced music video with a few very special cameo appearances.

“This was the first track that Janne demoed to us and also the first track we started our collaboration with Daniel on. I knew right from the start, that this was going to be a single”, says Robert Broj, the keyboard player.

Jane adds: “I wandered through the streets of Berlin, headphones on my ears and listening to Nick Cave, David Bowie, U2, Depeche Mode – all those giants, who recorded their fundamental albums in Berlin – and I wrote glimpses of thoughts that would later become song lyrics. Somewhere there, in the middle of cold nights of November 2019, shortly before the circumstances were about to lock us at home for a long time, I have decided to work on new things for Lakeside X, on new songs about a journey, about disappearing from this world, about falling down and rising up from the ashes and about new hopes. I wanted to shoot the video just in Berlin, and by doing that we could, in a symbolic way, pay a tribute to all those, who went this path before us and to whom we owe a lot.”

Crowdfunding campaign

To help with funding the whole project a crowdfunding campaign was launched with tons of exclusives, unreleased material, artwork or even a lifetime access to any and all of their upcoming live appearances.

“This time we are going full electronic-synth way. “Rising” is a “flagship” track for us. This is Lakeside X in 2022. It’s a story that can be purely personal but also it’s a story of a band, that has risen from the ashes and it’s stronger than ever before. The video to the single contains apart from many pop-cultural references on our famous colleagues, also remarkable amount of mixing present and past. We are a band coming from the country that once was part of the Eastern block, we all do remember the Wall, cold war, state police agents and the atmosphere of fear that ruled our homelands. The divided Berlin was a symbol of this time and of it all. At the same time it was a place where at that time, Bowie, Cave or DM created something that inspired not just us, but a whole generation of artists. We tried to concentrate this all into the video, and for us, Berlin is and always will be a city, that has risen from the ashes and is a never-ending inspiration for everyone”, says Janne Marvannen.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Genre/Influences: Indie-Wave, Shoegaze, Dark-Wave.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: The Funeral Warehouse is a French trio which already released a few productions. “Hours & Days” was written and recorded over several years resulting in ten songs.

Content: The first half of the work is a powerful mix between Dark-Wave and Indie. The songs are well-crafted and moving crescendo till an apotheosis. The second part of the album is more evasive and inspired by Shoegaze. The powerful guitar play has been mixed with electronic arrangements.

+ + + : The first part of “Hours & Days” sounds astonishing. This is a powerful production, which has been progressively built up and reaching a total climax. The impressive guitar playing injects a true spirit in the album. “It’s a Black-Black Miracle” is an overwhelming opener, but I also recommend listening to “Miles Away” which sounds like a furious, Rock driven version of Depeche Mode. “Put It (For Indecisions)” coming next is another masterpiece. And I also have to say a word about “Long Way Out”, which sounds like the offspring between David Bowie and IAMX.

– – – : The last part of the work is more into Shoegaze and even if the songs are easy listening pieces they never emulate the power and passion of the debut tracks.

Conclusion: The Funeral warehouse took me by surprise by this very accessible dark Indie work.

Best songs: “Miles Away”, “It’s a Black-Black Miracle”, “Put It (For Indecisions)”, “Long Way Out”, “Absinthe”.

Rate: 8.

Listen to “Hours & Days”:

Artist: www.facebook.com/thefuneralwarehouse

Label: www.facebook.com/icycoldrecords

About The Funeral Warehouse

The Funeral Warehouse was founded in France in 2010 by Sébastyén D. on vocals, guitars and keys, Aurélien Jobard on bass and Rodolphe Goujet on drums. The trio plays indie post-punk and released its first records through Seventh Crow Records: “Hourglass & Waterlilies” in 2010, “Behind The Wall” in 2011 and “Along With The Madcap” in 2012. The band also took part in the Joy Division tribute “Touching From A Distance” in 2015.

Icy Cold Records released “Hours & Days” on 12 November 2021 in digital form, with CD and vinyl editions following. The ten tracks are “It’s A Black-Black Miracle”, “Stop”, “Miles Away”, “Put In (For Indecisions)”, “Absinthe”, “Long Way Out”, “Can’t See Why”, “Almost There”, “The Wretched” and “In Love”.

The band talked about that album with Side-Line a few weeks after this review, in the Click Interview with The Funeral Warehouse published in April 2022.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Industrial, Electro, Cinematographic.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: “Simulacra” is the second album by the American duo Tim Skold (Marilyn Manson, KMFDM, Motionless In White) and Nero Bellum (Psyclon Nine). They last year released their self-titled debut-album on Cleopatra and now joined hands together with Metropolis to unleash ten new songs.

Content: It’s not an easy thing defining the sound of this formation. It has less in common with the sound of the protagonists’ respective projects. The tracks are however driven by Industrial sound treatments, the tracks remaining driven by slow tempo. The impact of the overwhelming atmospheres is definitely more important than the power of the production. We’re entering an icy universe, which sounds as a darker and icier version of Haujobb. The charismatic vocal parts are sometimes reminding me of David Bowie.

+ + + : It’s fascinating to see how both artists revealed a hidden side of their sonic brain. “Simulacra” is a great piece of music, which is characterized by overwhelming, icy atmospheres. It has something ghost-like and tormented while there’s a lot of emotion emerging from the vocals. Moving in between spooky- and enraged passages, the vocals have a prominent place in this production. Most of the songs have something Cinematographic, but there are a few exceptions. I especially recommend listening to “21 Grams”, which is the hardest piece of the album, but still a true masterpiece.

– – – : The Cinematographic approach of the work makes it maybe a bit less accessible to a wider audience.

Conclusion: Not My god took me by surprise, releasing a real masterpiece. This project has something different in its global approach revealing it’s still possible to compose original music.

Best songs: “21 Grams”, “Mirage Mirage”, “The Underneath”, “Ashes”, “Crisis”.

Rate: 9.

Artist: www.facebook.com/notmygodofficial

Label: www.metropolis-records.com / www.facebook.com/MetropolisRecords Read the news on ‘Simulacra’.

About Not My God

Not My God is an American industrial duo formed by Swedish musician Tim Skold and Nero Bellum of Psyclon Nine. Skold had earlier worked with Shotgun Messiah, KMFDM, Marilyn Manson and Motionless In White; Bellum founded Psyclon Nine in 2003.

The duo issued the self-titled album “Not My God” in 2020 through Cleopatra Records. “Simulacra”, the second album, followed in 2021 on Metropolis Records and was preceded by the single “Ashes”. Side-Line published a ‘Click Interview’ with Not My God in November 2021.

A third album, “Obverses”, was announced for 12 May 2023 in a collaboration between Tim Skold and Nero Bellum. In July 2023 Not My God announced a farewell tour.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Out now is Duran Duran’s newest single “More Joy” taken from their upcoming 15th studio album “Future Past” to be released on October 22 via Tape Modern for BMG. You can expect that band’s signature pop blended with a flavor of J-pop-disco-punk with collaborators Chai.

Keyboardist Nick Rhodes explains: “The song was born out of a crazy jam with Duran Duran, Graham Coxon and Erol Alkan. It was such an unusual piece we weren’t quite sure if it would fit in at first. It reminded me of one of those retro Japanese video games, which I always found quite uplifting. We came up with the chant “more joy” early on, and that became the key to the rest of the track. We all agreed that it would sound really great with Japanese female voices on it, and that’s when Simon had the inspired idea to ask Chai if they would possibly collaborate with us. To our joy they agreed, and the result most certainly brought an incredible new energy to the song.”

For the new material the band has been working with British DJ / producer Erol Alkan and Italian composer / producer Giorgio Moroder. The band has also enlisted the help of Swedish qrtist Tove Lo, Ivorian Doll, and of course Japan’s Chqi< In addition, Blur’s Graham Coxon co-wrote and lends his guitar to several tracks on the record, and David Bowie’s former pianist Mike Garson plqyed on the album closer “Falling”. The record, which was recorded across studios in London and LA over lockdown, also features long-time collaborator Mark Ronson who co-wrote and played on “Wing”, and was mixed by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent.

Here’s the new track.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Trance Wax is an alias of Belfast-born producer Garry McCartney, also known as Ejeca. His Trance Wax project began as an anonymous series of vinyl-only bootlegs back in 2015 on which he reworked classics from Yves Deyurter, BT, and Mauro Picotto. Two Trance Wax edits of Above & Beyond’s OceanLab project were released on Anjunabeats in 2019, with the debut Trance Wax album following in November 2020.

Remixers of the album have included the likes of Dusky, Kevin De Vries, Shanti Celeste, and now 808 State. In a reaction v says that “Eve was pretty Balearic in its original form, but we’ve given it a spray tan using some vintage analog synths and guitars. One for the sunset crew!”

Trance Wax’ “Eve (808 State Remix)” is out July 16 on Anjunabeats.

About 808 State

808 State are an English electronic music group which formed in 1987 in Manchester, taking their name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine. They were formed by Graham Massey, Martin Price and Gerald Simpson, and they released their debut album, “Newbuild”, in September 1988. The band secured commercial success in 1989, when their song “Pacific State” was picked up by BBC Radio 1 DJ Gary Davies.

Simpson left the group in 1989 to form his own solo project, A Guy Called Gerald. At this point, the remaining personnel enlisted DJs Andrew Barker and Darren Partington, known as the Spinmasters, and recorded the EP, “Quadrastate” in July 1989. “Ninety” was released in December 1989.

MC Tunes worked with the band on the 1990 album, “The North at Its Heights”, which became a moderate success. MC Tunes returned in 1996 to work on a new track, “Pump”, taken from 808 State’s album “Thermo Kings”. 808 State’s next album was released in 1991, “Ex:el”, which featured the vocals of Bernard Sumner and Björk.

In October 1991, it was Price’s turn to leave the group to perform solo production work, eventually forming his own label, Sun Text. The remaining members released a fourth album called “Gorgeous”, and after that, did some remix work for David Bowie, Soundgarden, and other performers, before returning with the album entitled “Don Solaris” in 1996. They released a greatest hits compilation album, “808:88:98” in 1998. In 2000, “Newbuild” was re-released.

The albums “Ex:el” and “Gorgeous” show the band’s new wave influences by sampling or featuring new wave icons such as Bernard Sumner on the song “Spanish Heart” and Ian McCulloch on “Moses”. The song “Contrique” samples the bassline to Joy Division’s “She’s Lost Control” and “10 X 10” is a gospel-house track built on the foundation of The Jam’s “Start!”.

In 2003, they released “Outpost Transmission” which featured guest collaborations from the Alabama 3 and Guy Garvey from Elbow. In May 2008, the re-issue of the album “Quadrastate” completed a trilogy of pre-ZTT releases on CD for the first time.

Partington left the band after being jailed for 18 months in January 2015 for dealing heroin and crack cocaine. He continues to DJ regularly and is lead singer with new Manchester band Big Unit, a rock band with acid house underpinnings.

In April 2018 the remaining members announced a brand new live show for a 30th Anniversary Tour to take place in November/December. The show will feature new versions of tracks from their 30-year history and totally new material from their forthcoming sixth studio album.

The band’s last studio album was 2019’s “Transmission Suite”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: The American duo Brian Belknap – Adam Collier last year released the debut album “Music In A Time Of Uncertainty”. This production by the American BlakLight was one of my favorite Electro-Pop releases from 2020. “Unknown Love” is a song taken from this album. The CD format features ten remixes plus one extra untitled song.

Content: “Unknown Love” was not exactly my favorite song from the album although it’s a great Electro-Pop track with a carrying chorus. The song has been remixed by Nite, Matthias, Sea Of Sin, Darwinmcd, Obsession Of Time and Hallowlove –who made 4 remixes. There’s a great diversity between the different remixes, but all edits remain pretty Electro-Pop driven. The untitled song is a cover version of David Bowie’s “Ashes To Ashes”, which has been transposed into a pure Electro-Pop dimension.

+ + + : The opening remix by Nite is a first attention grabber for its overwhelming and blasting sound production. Another cool cut is the dreamy remix by Darwinmcd. But my favorite cut is without a shadow of a doubt the remix of Obsession Of Time, which is more club-orientated and mixed with retro-Pop influences. There’s also something to say about the Bowie-cover; it’s not an easy job to cover such a legendary track, but BlakLight did it with style.

– – – : I’m still convinced “Unknown Love” is not the best song taken from “Music In A Time Of Uncertainty” and I also expected a bit more from the remixes. I’m still not a huge fan of EP’s with an endless list of remixes from one and the same song. 

Conclusion: BlakLight remains to me a hot newcomer, but I should recommend discovering the band by their great album instead of this EP.

Best songs: “Unknown Love – Obsession Of Time Remix”, “Unknown Love – Nite Remix”, “Unknown Love – Darwinmcd Remix”, “Unknown Love – Matthias Remix”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/BlakLightband

About BlakLight

BlakLight is an American Electro-Pop duo of Brian Belknap and Adam Collier. The pair debuted with the album “Music In A Time Of Uncertainty” (2020), from which “Unknown Love” is taken; this EP collects ten remixes of that track plus an untitled cover of David Bowie’s “Ashes To Ashes”. BlakLight went on to release the instrumental album “tHE pADDED rOOM” (2023) and discussed their approach in a 2026 Side-Line interview, in which the band described their process as “a fairly conscious decision to remain DIY”.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Back in 1991 I started writing my first reviews for Side-Line magazine. I would have never thought to go on writing reviews and making interviews non-stop for 30 years. So 2021 is a special year to me, a kind of ‘celebration year’. I got the idea to celebrate this special event by interviewing people from the scene who all have a special meaning to me. ‘Journalists’ have to remain neutral, but it doesn’t take a way we all have our own favorite artists. Juno Reactor is one of my all-time favorites. Instigator Ben Watkins is an artist who each time again takes me by surprise. His work is mixing influences like Psy-Trance, Tribal and Cinematographic music. The Juno Reactor sound has something special featuring elements you directly recognize; a true sound-DNA. I already got the opportunity to interview Ben Watkins before, but I’ve been deeply touched he accepted to answer questions for this special interview. Great artists aren’t only composing great music; they’re still accessible and humble persons. I’d an endless number of questions to ask. Ben took his time to answer and it finally resulted in one of the most informative and complete Juno Reactor interviews ever. Thanks Ben and respect!

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

‘I Was Smitten By Girls And Rock’

Q: What have been your first experiments as a musician? What have been the triggers and, which were your favorite bands as a teenager? 

Ben: I was born into a family of five kids, I was the second, my parents had both been actor’s. When I was between 5 and 6 years old I would wait for my brother in my classroom to finish his school -I would have about an hour, so about 10 of us kids and a teacher would do drawing, games etc. One day I suggested we do a “Top Of The Pops” (a popular TV show); I formed a band with air-minus-everything, sat my mate Jason down on drums as he had the biggest nose like Ringo Star, can’t remember the others; we would make what surely was a cacophony of made-up words and stamping to the beat. “She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah” must have rung out beyond the classroom as the headmaster, a demonstrative man, with a liking for beating kids with his sports shoe would appear at the window looking very irritated. As it was not the first time I had had the unwarranted shoe across my backside, a shiver would go down my back as his eyes and Hitler moustache bobbed above the door partition. 

These pleasant heady afternoons were soon banned due to the repetition of “She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah”. I noticed the rather large female teacher was pretty good at the piano, So I asked if I could have lessons, even her non-stop smoking didn’t not put me off. 

The headmaster had too much of a liking for giving me a sore ass, so I asked my parents if I could move school. I had joined the parish choir, the choirmaster was a man named Roy Massey. Roy Massey was cool and pushed me as he liked my voice. He suggested I go to a Cathedral Choir school and apply for a scholarship. 

First I went to audition at St Pauls Cathedral in London. It was a bleak audition, I didn’t prepare enough, and glad I escaped what reminded me of a Charles Dickens movie. Next was Chichester. I could breathe in this atmosphere, I passed the audition of 200 kids for one place and felt very puffed up with myself, knowing my parents didn’t have to pay for my education. 

Violin followed, along with daily practise -7 am wake up, 30 minutes piano or violin practise. 8 am breakfast, 8:30 practise piano violin, 9 am going to the classroom, 12:00 choir practise, lunch then school, sports, choir practise, choir service, dinner, do homework, play free games, practise then bed. This went on for 4 years along with a new disciplinary teacher who equally enjoyed punishment -this time a cane, up the wide massive stairs of the bishops palace, down a long dark corridor, knock, explain my crime, ‘Ben-d over Watkins’, a leather chair which when bent over lifted my behind into the perfect position. 6 whacks later, my hands firmly on my butt, dark bruises would appear later in the night. I had been born again to the boy I should have been in the first place. 

Music school and punishment always seemed interlinked. Even now it annoys me that the first headmaster refused to put my name on the scholarship board, what a cunt. His name was Mr. Sandford.

 I survived Chichester, I became the head of House, by this time I was no longer beaten, and had a champion in Mr. Ross, the disciplinary teacher, sports freak alto in the choir with a certain eye for pubescent males. I was good at winning in Rugby, as we had the biggest 13-year-old god or whoever made him, like a superhero he would destroy other schools and me riding on his coattails basked in his glory. Mr. Ross showed me how to take down a man, so we did with as much aggression as possible when he joined in. 

I left Chichester, a remnant from the stone age of how not to teach a dyslexic kid like me through corporal punishment on how to learn -I didn’t. My choirmaster at Chichester I must say was equally odd, looking like Eric Malcombe (a British comedian). He again had a draconian delight in making sure the boys of the choir feared him, his eyes would hover over you like the follow spots of a prison camp from high above us in the organ loft. He had two mirrors focused on us, and if you looked up, the Vampire of Bela Lugosi would be there. I can’t say I cried when he died a few years ago, as I still hold a dagger that was thrown too many times my way. 

So Wells Cathedral school was next, my introduction to the female sex… well, bye bye learning, OK practise the violin, do all the rest, then focus on bands, Led Zep, David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Alice Cooper, Queen, glam rock. I was smitten by girls and rock. My mate Simon Baggs was older and had a car, we would venture out of the school across to Glastonbury plateaus, a labyrinthian set of roads through old mash lands, country pubs to drink cider, smoke John Players Special fags, and listen to his 8 tracks (?) as the beams of his car entered the mists of the backcountry lanes. Alice Cooper’s “Love It To Death” album never sounded so sweet. I continued exploring musical possibilities by experimenting with my first band Spiritual Sky, influenced by David Bowie, whose concerts was the first I went to, the Aladdin Sane tour at the Earls Court Stadium.

‘I Was Listening To D.A.F. And I Realised This Is The Future’

Q: Hailing from London (UK) I can imagine the late 70s and 80s have been fascinating years when it comes to music and the (r)evolution of Electronic music. What did these years mean to you and do you still feel an impact today? 

Ben: I left school when I was 16/17 with the intent of going to a music college. At that time I played classical guitar, and would practise 8 hours a day, and got quite OK on it. I flunked the first audition as I didn’t present a second instrument. This depressing point changed the course of my life, I was so annoyed by myself, I stopped playing classical guitar and got more into songs of Dylan and people like John Martin. Smoked a ton of dope, started busking, went off to Paris with a semi pyscho guy called Lynn, a man with an addiction to Valium and a crushing right hand as a rhythm guitarist, and spent the summer playing on the streets of Saint Michelle and the Champs Elysée. After months of being arrested (and sometimes put into prison -the police were quite nice and would give me beers to play) I had had enough. I wanted to form a band! Due to my parents lengthily separation and all the conflicts attached to it, starting since I was 9, and final divorce shortly after my return home from Paris, life diverted and I ended up establishing a rehearsal room in the now deserted parental house, where I and my older brother would continue living alone, experiencing the newly found peace and evolving musical projects while rehearsing with my first band Panther. I started gigging, Punk-Rock was kicking off! I was playing, now with my band Rainstorm, the same pubs as the Sex Pistols, Japan, The Stranglers amongst others, we did a tour withThe Frankie Miller Band. A Glasgow singer that should have been born in Memphis -a great singer, wild and very much a Glaswegian. Back then I was booking shows from a red phone box -coins every 30 seconds. Rainstorm turning into I.O.U., we played pretty much every music pub in the country. I really wish I’d kept my bass player from I.O.U. for my next musical project, a guy named Ian Taylor, who I had a natural affinity with.

I was bored of being skint and driving up and down the country for 2 years in our Box Transit with 6 aircraft seats, a PA we had on HP (higher purchase/credit) and going nowhere, fun but nowhere. One time we had to be rescued by the police near Shropshire in Winter, heavy snow blocked the roads at midnight, and the Transit was stranded and being snowed in, the guitarist, also called Ben, had icicles forming on his moustache. I remember crossing fields alone to find a house, first one wouldn’t help us, onto another who did ring the rescue, six of us stuff into a police car -never felt so good.

I partnered up with some musicians an A&R man from CBS suggested. The A&R man was a guy called Chas de Whalley, the brother of a friend of mine from back in the days of the headmaster with a penchant for corporal punishment. We, The Hitmen, went on to be signed to CBS after a year of rehearsals and songs that sounded like a primitive AI had made for a pop audience. Much to the chagrin of CBS, the management and the band, we were incredibly unsuccessful despite all the money and machinery CBS provide. I hated it, the mentality of playing the same notes, in-jokes and seriously underwhelming emotions. I had to leave as I couldn’t stomach The Hitmen any more, the characters in the band were the antithesis of my mental state or desire. Luckily the second album decided to shoot itself in the head, due to too much fighting, no focus and CBS’s realisation The Hitmen were doomed.  

Phil Manzanero’s studio (the guitarist of Roxy Music) was a white circular house -I had never seen anything like it! The engineer was a guy called Ian Little. We had made the last Hitmen record there, and I got on with him well. We talked nearly the same language, as opposed to the disconnect with the band. He wanted to make an avant-garde album, free of doctrine -just do what you want. So for a few tracks I threw away all concern and I was to be David Bowie, imagining myself on an alternative “Lodger”-album. Nothing was written, all just improvised. The band was called New Asia… This set my brain off into new ways of writing, like Brian Eno, as studios were expensive and this gave me a chance to experiment. 

So in the ’70s and ’80s it felt like I was always playing catch up with what other people were doing. I had had the band signed to CBS – it sounded like another band (Elvis Costello mix), or my previous bands -we didn’t sound particularly individual. It was only when I was sick enough of all the ego’s, bullshit or the hatred that you got from possibly jealous band members, that when I got introduced to a drum machine and a sequencer I realised I could get rid of half the band. I was listening to D.A.F. -it was a two-piece and I realised this is the future.

I met Youth (the bass player of Killing Joke) in ’82, around the time when he had just left Killing Joke and was looking to start a new band, which became Brilliant. I was the only guy he knew with a sequencer so for a short time I joined. Toured UK and Spain. We went on to record under the Name The Youth & Ben Watkins on the “The Empty Quarter”-album and “The Empty Quarter” on the “Delirium” album. Both albums were extremely quick in making;  first album -the official soundtrack to Jonathan Moore’s stage play “Street Captives” -2 days. Written, recorded and mixed with predominantly pulsating bass lines, drums, early Greengate samplers and synthesizers. Second album -5 days. We recorded “Delirium”, focusing more on rhythms and Electronic elements with still some instrumental aspect, ranging from Tribal to Industrial to Gothic-Funk. So many funny stories with Youth -the time in Spain on the evacuation of the tour, as it all fell apart after Barcelona; we took all our equipment back on the train, decided to eat all of our dope before the French border. By the time we arrived at midnight, the French border police wanted to play games with this group of English stoners. ‘Who is this woman’ they said, referring to a passport. We all looked and couldn’t identify her? ‘Go find her…’ so we all went looking on the train platform, bewildered and laughing, about an hour later we returned to their pigeon hole and asked to look again, as no way was she still on the platform. Upon second look we realised it was me they were referring to… Ha. Ha.

I heard DAF and Suicide around this time, I was saved! This music spoke to me. My grandmother died and left me 200£ which I immediately spent on a Roland MC 202, a sequencer with one monophonic synth. On HP I bought a cheap drum machine and a Moog Rogue. I formed The Flowerpot Men with Adam Peters, a classical cellist, who later became Echo And The Bunnymen’s orchestrator. 

 Our first single sold well for an underground track. We toured with Dead Or Alive and Siouxsie And The Banshees. Steven Severin of the Banshee’s produced the first “Single Joe’s So Mean to Josephine”, a dark murderous story I had read in the papers. The police knew who had killed the woman in bed, but couldn’t work out how Joe had managed to tie himself up. For the track I expanded on the story a bit. The 202 was driving this with the added influences of T.Rex, sort of a suicide inspired track. It charted in the indie charts and you could hear it being played by John Peel on BBC Radio 1 and loads of underground Gothic Dj’s. “Jo’s So Mean (to Josephine)” was also on our own independent record label, Compost Records.

In 1985 we recorded a cover of Dr Johns “Walk On Gilded Splinters” with Dr John on guest vocals, at Run DMC’s Studio In Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn NY. The B side featured a track called “Melting Down On Motor Angel” which was an elongation of the new drug MDMA, which we sampled on a roof garden on 8th Street watching a shoot-out down below. “Melting Down On Motor Angel” was also the album title to Sunsonic’s only album.

Around this time also, Sigue Sigue Sputnik started turning up to our gigs in full dress, noting down all we were doing, later to make their own version of our madness. A single a year, then along came Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in 1986 completely out of the blue.

Another EP “Alligator Bait”, four songs inspired again by the time in New York… what wasn’t great about New York at that time? So much vibe, parties, gigs, the Danceteria, hanging out with artists, musicians, actors, painters, just walking down the street was like being in a Kojak episode, I loved it!

We were building a nice audience when Adam decided to go produce a Punk band in Denmark instead of headlining the Temple of Gothic achievement -the Camden Palace. The Flowerpot Men were no more.

 Yello had come into my life with the “80 – 85”-remix album, it never left the record player, Sonic Youth, Front 242, most of the Mute Records catalogue, Beggars Banquet label, ZTT were making records I could only dream of creating…

So rethink time, 9 months of thinking, writing; rave music came in 86/87, early parties hanging out with KLF in their squat. Sometimes engineering their remixes, or going on the highland adventures with the KLF, making a copy of “The Wicker Man” for all KLF’s licencees, flown onto a small island on the Western Isles (the same place they burnt a million pounds in the name of art and cocaine), so like a twat, as again I was skint I did the opposite of good, and tried and succeed in going and signing with another major label, this time Polydor Records and with my Flowerpot partner, I started Sunsonic. Part of the deal was they build us a studio to save on costs, so what seemed a cool idea -and was in some ways -was us investing into learning how (and not) to become an engineer, an album that should have taken a few months turned into two years and sounded like it: over thought under inspired.

I worked with Alex Paterson (The Orb) again and formed a short-lived band called Peace In The Middle East, same name as the track we created, a sort of goodwill floppy dance sounding workout, nothing special.

 When there was so much great quick music being made we were in creative limbo. So the impact changed. Find a new way to present a band, no longer did I want the ego of one partner, I wanted a collective or collaborators and keep the vibe and atmosphere good and exciting. 

Adam left for the USA, I stayed and started Juno Reactor.

‘Juno Reactor Was Set Up As An Art Collective’

Q: I think Juno Reactor was originally set up as an art collective/gallery, right? Who was involved? What was it all about and how did it finally become a music collective centred around you? 

Ben:  Juno Reactor was set up as an art collective, with writers, installation artists, filmmakers, etc. Norma Fetcher, my girlfriend, took a surface to air missile and we drove it around London down past Parliament Square, Big Ben, Whitehall on a flatbed truck, with armoured personal carriers front and back whilst dressed as Arabs -an anti Gulf War protest, and installed it into an art Gallery, the Diorama, that was owned by the Queen and had a perfect silo shape in the middle where the rocket was newly erected. For this, I wrote “Luciana” -really Juno Reactor’s first album, which was also a suggestion of Jimmy Cauty (KLF) that I should do an hour mix as he had just done, as an experiment. The trouble with art was funding and much easier for me to get musical backing so it folded as soon as it began. Although R&S Records did sponsor that show as I had released a track called “I Love You” under the name of Electrotete with future JR musician Stephan Holweck (who later became Total Eclipse), a crazy French guy and brilliant bass player who also lived in the Benio squat with Jimmy.

The main people in the first two Juno Reactor albums were: Mike Maquire, a great guy I met at the distribution company Greyhound, when releasing a self-released title “Pycho SlapHead”, a brutal rave track with a sense of murderous humour. Mike was great, he had been in India many times and loved the early scene where DJ’s were already playing my tracks. I had to find out more, so we went into my studio in Bowl Court and Mike turned me on to the current sound of India. As it was so close to my Electronic sound it was an easy hop onto a train – Sci-Fi Landscapes, my 202 still purring like a train, we made the track “High Energy Protons”. Mike took it to India and immediately it became a big track there and abroad: Japan, Greece, France, Germany and UK. Tracks kept on hoping out in two or three days, with Stephan Holweck and Mike and soon we had about nine or ten tracks, so I took them up to Mute Records, intending to only perhaps sell one track. They loved it and wanted the album!

No one knew what this music was, so they called it intelligent Techno, albums were selling, gigs were happening, I was feeling more comfortable about the debts of Sunsonic being paid off. 

‘For Me It Was A Sci-Fi Scene For Acid Party People’

Q: The singles “Laughing Gas” and “High Energy Protons” plus the debut album “Transmissions” (1993) were into Goa-Trance. Back in time this genre was something totally new and often introduced as ‘Electronics for hippies’. What did you keep in mind from this album and how did you see the Goa-Trance movement evolving? 

Ben: Well, I never saw it as music for hippies -for me it was a Sci-fi scene for acid party people, hippies were still listening to Dylan in my mind. I had come from the Industrial-Rock routes, with heavy sense or brutal Electronica, which was also being played out in India, so for me, it was not much of a diversion, more like an extension of what I had already been doing. So I hooked up with Mike and Johann Bley, a great writer and drummer, who lived in Goa for 6 months of the year whilst I stayed in the UK and carried on writing tracks. Youth by this time was also indulging in holidays out there. It was a great way to write with no commercial interest, and just get what was great feedback from India and the parties. Essentially it was a very positive way of producing after what was a rather grim time whilst with Sunsonic. 

“Transmissions” was the first real beginning of something special, Mike Maguire – Stephan Holweck – Johann Bley even Turnip the Swede Jens Walderbeck, had an important part to play in the new playground. Mike and Johann would go to Goa and live there for 6 months of the year, send feedback on tracks, that even in these days of fire hilltop communication, managed to pass on the vibe of the parties, as I worked on new tracks to send out, or wait for their return. I had no idea of the lazy days on the beaches, rented houses year round, with cleaners and cooks, small or large jungle parties where monkeys would be interactive with the monkeys our tracks (“Jungle High”) -I have sampled a lot of monkey sounds.

These new Cyber-Punks would network in the blessed out Goa sun, to return to their homelands, far away from paradise and the free love of this un-celebrated underground unknown music, their generation accepting of all ages, colours race. Would telegraph their passion, create parties in on hidden mountains in Japan, sex clubs in L.A, warehouse London, gymnasiums in Paris, disused airports in Germany, Outback volcanos in Australia. We were invisible to the industry of wannabe stars and bankrupt music.

This kinetic energy of knowing you were onto something new was the drug, like a secret society that anyone could join, if you had digested the shared psychedelic values.

Our new world was fresh, driven, invited around the world, “Transmissions” was transmitting on a global level, that music magazines and house DJs couldn’t fathom.

 The studio building was from the time of Jack the Ripper, a 3 story warehouse used for  god knows what, the atmosphere had not left it, along with some of the rather back street people you might expect in that area of London. Prostitutes would use the car park at the back, working their trade. Sometime city guys in suits would be aggressive and attack the women, so we kept a baseball bat by the door and if we heard their screams we would run out in the name of protection.

Q: Your next album “Luciana” (1994) was something totally different and not exactly the most familiar album from your discography. But I think there’re a few interesting things to say about this work; it revealed your interest in Soundtracks while it got released on Alex Paterson’s (The Orb) own label Inter-Modo. What brought you to write this album and how did you get in touch with Alex Paterson? 

Ben: This goes back to the Missile Project and the involvement in installation art. Alex (THE ORB) heard the album and loved it, he said ‘Can I release it?’, why not I thought, so I spent an afternoon with Alex in the studio, he added some elements over the stereo track and that became the album. I met Alex in 1986, as he is Youth oldest and best friend, an ex roadie of Killing Joke with an amazing record collection, a massive ability to smoke more than London can produce and speak in a way you need a hearing aid to listen. 

Q: I’ve always linked Juno Reactor with solid bass lines and transcendental drums. “Beyond The Infinite” (1995) perfectly symbolizes these elements, but also your interest to explore new ideas like Tribal drums. What did this work say about your perception of ‘sound’ and eventually your passion for drums? 

Ben: “Beyond The Infinite”, by this time Mute and cool London were not fans of Goa or Trance anymore, and decided to call it ‘Tarquin Techno’ in the media, because of the image that rich kids were behind the scene, which -looking at myself, was obviously bollocks, but in Goa there certainly were a few, and maybe the other scenes sensing danger, ridiculed it. They were about to steal the name of trance. Paul Oakenfold(like ‘Sique Sique Sputnick’) was hanging out at parties, listening, collecting ideas and tracks, the house was moving to Trance. Clever, to take this and add all the crap vocals and sell it off to the sheep… Their power and media savvy then became ‘Trance’. Not sure what our scene was, Psychedelic-Trance? Along come all these pigeon holes. Name it, sell it. We didn’t give a shit and stayed as far away from the cliché as possible. Mike was so great at this time, he had the best tunes of anyone, and was in great demand as an international DJ, from the USA to Japan and sometimes we would join him as a live three-piece. Brilliant days, we were a family. 

Q: I think you’re an artist with a very unique sound DNA! What I’m trying to say is that I instantly can recognize your work by the bass lines, the orchestral arrangements, the hypnotic drum sections… What makes this DNA and where does it come from? 

Ben: I have no idea. Like all musicians, I have collected and been inspired by what I needed and wanted. I love all types of music, still do, these DNA strands are unique, the hard part is how to lay them out for others to share and enjoy. I wanted to be a photographer when very young, my dad said it was too expensive, so film, TV, pictures, music all collided and formed whatever I am in my tastes for music.

‘I Decided To Become More Grounded In Earthly Sounds From The Percussion’

Q: It’s impossible not evoking “Bible Of Dreams” (1997), which revealed new ideas and collaborations. I consider this work as your magnum opus, which even today hasn’t lost its original magic. How do you look back at this work 24 years later and are there some aspects of the production you would do differently? 

Ben:  So the time of “Bible Of Dreams” came along. Robert Trunz, CEO of MELT2000 -the umbrella company which ran Blue Room, and Simon Ghahary, the managing director of Blue Room -a sub-label based in the UK specialising in Electronic music, had signed Juno Reactor to Blue Room/Melt 2000 for “Beyond The Infinite”, as Mute didn’t want it. Robert was a jazz freak, and he got me involved in his great love for African music. Robert and Simon were different, business was easy, as Robert was pretty loaded and loved to invest in his artists. He took over my shabby warehouse studio, put in a massive Raindurk Symphony Desk, massive monitors that would be anyone’s wet dream, 9 bass drivers aside, they blew the roof off. He took over landlord costs, God I was free of all these costs, and could make music without the fear of losing it all.  

I had been introduced to the African musicians on Melt 2000. All the scene was doing was still making chemical noises, and stick in an alien landscape for the acid heads. Although this is enjoyable, it became very repetitive. So I decided to become more grounded in earthly sounds from the percussion. The only percussionists I had been introduced to before Amampondo were generally white guys, flipping away on drums in a sloppy-sloppy fashion, or German-style timpani military way which I had found pretty useless and saw no advantage in it on a track. So my mind was blown away by Mabi -power, rhythmic complexity, fun, tradition, amazing rhythms that propelled the track! My eyes were opened and I felt stupid I had not seen what so many others had -say for example my favourite drummer Ginger Baker -why hadn’t I noticed African drumming that years before? Anyway, I was now awake to its potential in my world of cross over, not interested in world music in its pure form and wanted to create a fusion with electronic music and see what comes out. 

Working with Mabi was so instinctive, we both saw tracks in the same way as pictures and thoughts, I literally fell over him in a music studio corridor where he was asleep on the floor when I was producing a Zulu Band for Melt 2000 in South Africa. We got talking and I invited him and Amampondo to play all the percussion, so in a way, our future was laid out there.

I felt I knew what I was doing, none of my UK band wanted to tour the USA with Moby for just 30 minutes a night, so I called Mabi and Amampondo , did a few rehearsals and off on tour! This moment diverted the future of the project for the next 12 years where I would tour with Amampondo.

 “God Is God” could finally be added to a Juno Reactor album, as now JUNO RREACTOR was more interested in the earth sounds, leaving sci-fi behind. “God Is God” was written around the end of “Transmissions”, needed a better mix, but was ready. The album fell into place so easily. 

I wouldn’t touch “Bible Of Dreams” as it is a record of where I was musically at the time. I firmly believe people walk on our path for a reason, be it for a short or long period. How we interact with them is up to us. Some people unexpectedly turn out to be far more important than you could ever have imagined. Some you will love until you die, while other return to the mist of being.

Q: I read somewhere that after “Bible Of Dreams” you got the feeling to be done with Electronic music. What was it all about? Was it a kind of exhaustion or blank page syndrome?

Ben: It happens a lot to me, especially with Electronic music. Far too many people seem to be happy to create a platform. Be it Trance, Techno, Ambient, Drum’n’Bass, Bass music, whatever. It gets like an L.A motorway full of polluting gases all sounding the same. So I go left, maybe my mistake there, but as I am totally useless at being commercial, I prefer my way. And hope others enjoy it.

‘The Track Was Built Around My Love For Tarantino And Westerns, Clint Eastwood And “Once Upon A Time In The West”’

Q: The opening song “Pistolero” from the “Shango”-album (2000) probably became your biggest hit ever. It sounds differently because of this guitar play and yet it remains 100% Juno Reactor! I remember my reaction when I heard it for the very first time: ‘this guy is crazy’! Was this song a kind of antithesis to all what you’ve done before? And how did you imagine the future of the project right at the new millennium? 

Ben: On tour I met up with Steve Stevens. After speaking with him on the phone about the recent Traci Lords album that I produced, I invited him to play on a show in L.A, a great venue, like an old-fashioned sports hall with a running track above. Now, I think how freaked out he must have been, as I patched him into my desk, he would play, and I would cut him off at random, he kept on looking over as if to say ‘WHAT THE FUCK?!’, he must have thought I was crazy, he didn’t complain but you don’t do this to a Rock Legend. Anyway, we got on, he asked me to produce a track for his album – yep, “Pistolero”.

Steve wasn’t used to my regime of endless hours in the studio and I think after six days his eyes were somewhere down near his guitar swaying hips, exhausted he returned to the USA. He wasn’t that impressed, so I agreed to pay his costs, and I would release it. I worked on it a ton more, and out popped the track we know.

The track was built around my love for Tarantino and Westerns, Clint Eastwood and “Once Upon A Time In The West”. When it was released I named it the “Tarantino Radio Edit”. Quentin loved it and Robert Rodriguez and Tarantino then wrote “Once Upon A Time In Mexico” after being inspired by my “Pistolero” track, which they credited in the CD booklet.

Currently, I’m working on the new album, Steve Stevens, Sugizo and Amir Haddad will hopefully all on the same track.

Working with Amampondo was a dream, we never argued, just laughed a lot, after having lived in each other’s pockets on tour we got on well. I learnt more from them than they did of me. Their sense of rhythm, spontaneity, improvisation, the humour of dance, the humour of anything. We would do shows, stop the machines and go into full-on Tribal rhythms, songs of the Pondo’s. Every night was different. Mandla and Simpewe would perform acrobatics when we played “Feel The Universe”, crowds loved this, even though injuries happened, the next night they would do it again. I carried on working with them for 12 years until it became impossible to bring them from South Africa due to rising costs and falling promoters budgets. 

I should add that Traci Lords was also very cool to work with, and had several enjoyable sessions with her, which led to a top 5 USA billboard track titled “Control” and a number of movie syncs from these sessions.

‘“Matrix” Was Like Being Shot And Landing In Heaven With A Ticket Back To Earth’

Q: Your songs got more and more featured in movies and you wrote different songs for Soundtracks. I can imagine the “Matrix”-experiences must have been a kind of ultimate dream and accomplishment? But what has been the impact of all these experiences –and more especially “The Matrix”, on your career?

Ben: I love films, first of all, so for it to combine with my music is a dream job no matter what the film is. I will score a bug on a wall, and still enjoy it. “Matrix” was like being shot and landing in heaven with a ticket back to earth. After the initial meeting with the Wachowski’s I had to smash nails into my boots to keep me from flying off to the stars. Reality hit in a good way and was the toughest discipline mixed with the excitement of being able to please the directors and myself. What do I take away from it? A sense of achievement that I did something very special. I still get composers coming up to me and saying it is a landmark film for integration of Electronics and orchestra which is what the Wachowski’s wanted. It helped me believe in my writing al lot more, although confidence is like the wind, some days you have it others not.

The daily routine of waking up in heaven is not always as easy as it sounds, as even in my camp I would experience jealousy, I had brought with me a programmer (Stephan Holweck) an engineer (Greg Hunter) Singer (Taz) Stephan more turned into a cook and this frustrated his, as he wanted to be more involved, but the way out worked out there was no real room for him. Greg brought in his friend, which added to the annoyance of Greg; Greg would come in and say as I was working on “The Burly Brawl”, ‘that is a load of crap’ in-front of his friend as a light heated joke, which they all found very funny, I took Greg outside and suggested he return back to London as he wasn’t on my team, either buck up or go home. I should have sacked Greg as he would do things like after a mix was finished, he wanted to polish it more, so first time I agreed and I went back to the Paramore to sleep. I got a call from the dub stage early in the morning saying ‘what is this mix, it is horrible!!!’ I asked what time it was made they said 8 am, I replied please listen to mix from 1:00 am . They did and said thank you this is great.

Greg Hunter had in the hours between, added noises, effects I knew would be unwanted, and a rebalance uncalled for. He had become a liability to me, as now Warner were clocking his over times. I could not get rid of him as I didn’t know another great engineer in L.A. I would never use him again. These unexpected invasions add a colour I would have preferred had not happened, as these were not the only times he tried to unravel the job.

 Zig Gron (my Music Editor)  on the other hand, a man I did not know previously was my guardian angel. He walked me through all of the landmines, I asked him to teach me all he could, and I was in a 100 milesper hour world on information upload. Zig was funny, informative and such a bloody relief to have near me. God save Zig Gron and all who sail around him.

Q: The Soundtrack you composed for the “Brave Story”-animation film (2006) must have been something really special. For the very first time you composed the entire Soundtrack and here again I discovered some new aspects like the song “Juno Waltz”. How did you prepare and finally composed this work? 

Ben: This was composed under my name Ben Watkins rather than Juno Reactor. I had done another one, like “Beowulf”. I asked them why they wanted me to write for mainly orchestra, and they said we would like to hear how it sounds. So I sort of did my impression of ‘a man who knew what he was doing and what they were talking about’. There were a few production problems re-budget, as it wasn’t cheap for an Anime film. Once that was over, it was surprisingly easy, maybe a lot easier than writing for pure Electronics as the orchestra tone is defined by what you want, and once set, you have your pallet of sounds more or less. “Juno Waltz”, funny you mention that one, as it was the one I most feared to write, as again it has been so defined by other writers. I wrote it last, and it just popped out, it was also the one I felt the orchestra liked the most as they would tap their music stands like clapping. 

We recorded the Orchestra and choir in Bratislava, The Bratislavian Symphony Orchestra and a Vienna choir. I remember on the way to the massive radio sound stage all the older ladies at the bus stops had bright blue/purple hair. A hangover from communist times maybe, thought it looked great and definitely a way I wouldn’t mind my hair, like Quintan Crisp on acid.

Q: You also composed music for animation games. Does it need a different approach than for soundtracks? Any preference and/or favorite? 

Ben: “The Mark Of Kri” was a sort of nightmare, in as far as I had to create on each level two hours of non repeating music, on 0.5 MB, which now sounds insane huh. So you have an excitement engine, 0 – 100, fight mode is 50 plus. I had to build the macros to enable this. So deep learning curve, endless nights on the phone to Scott in San Francisco. This is a bit like the early beginning maybe of programs like WWise.com -which is a sampler on Crack, and hold so many possibilities for AI and VR, which makes me really excited for the future of music and sonic displacement for composers. My preference for games is really to write and hand over in stereo or 5.1. 

“PS4 Gran Turismo” -I made special mixes of tracks from the not so soon to be released album “The Mutant Theatre”, I didn’t have much involvement on this as they loved the tracks I presented and it was done.

Thanks of the Galaxy was a scored mobile game. Despite it being for mobile-only, I really enjoyed working with the team in Finland, in which I presented a Sci-fi industrial orchestral score made from orchestra libraries by George Strezov well worth checking out.

www.strezov.net  www.strezov-sampling.com

‘“Navras” Is The Biggest Track I Have Written’

Q: “Labyrinth” (2004), “Gods & Monsters” (2008), “Inside The Reactor” (2011), “The Golden Sun Of The Great East” (2013) and “The Mutant Theatre” (2018) are the studio-albums released after 2000. How would you analyze the evolution of these productions considering items like influences, technology vs. production and new collaborations? 

Ben: “Labyrinth” is “The Matrix”-album, and after the experience of the last track for “The Matrix Revolutions”, “Navras”, I couldn’t write a thing. “Navras” is the biggest track I have written, or been involved in with 120-piece orchestra, 80-piece choir, soloists, percussionists… So for three months after that I was bashing my head against a wall back in the UK. I think mainly as I was still missing the vibe of L.A, the people always around, the buzz. Until “Conquistador” Parts 1 & 2 came to save me along with guitarist Eduardo Niebla. I was mainly working very analogue, real drums, humans playing, and I still do, but now I am 75% out of the box and 25% in the box. Loads of new software have enabled me to make it more expansive. 

“Gods & Monsters”-I wanted it less epic than “Labyrinth”, write some songs that spoke to me at the time, and try a sort of Jazzy feel to some of it. Not very popular with the Juno Reactor dance crowd at the time, I still love certain tracks. A lot of artists musicians feel constrained by the genre they are in, main thing to me is to stand by what you write, and try it, it ain’t going to kill you. 

One track for example, “Tanta Pena” from “Gods & Monsters” -I was driving to the studio at Ridge Farm when a voice came on the BBC world music show, I had to stop and listen. A cross between a butterfly and a thunderstorm, it took the wind out of my lungs. As soon as the song was over I rang the station and asked who it was. Yasmin Levy! I contacted her husband who was also her agent/manager and asked if she would be interested in recording with me. 

Yasmin and the manager arrived on a beautiful Summer’s day. Ridge Farm is in the Surrey countryside, an Elizabethan Estate with grounds, a swimming pool, beautifully landscaped gardens, all made possible by Frank Andrews never-ending building work on his estate. 

I had moved into Ridge Farm after “The Matrix” films when I heard the studio on the estate was laying bare. I was able to bring my equipment and use one of Englands classic studio’s. Muse, Queen, Ozzie Osbourne and so many more had recorded here… 

Yasmin was shy, and maybe only 20yrs old when she visited the farm. I played her my idea’s, talked a little, not much really and went into record! With one take it was done on both tracks, no need to do any more, she had nailed it! It is quite amazing when this happens, like Lakshmi Shankar on “Navras”. 

I carried on working the track to bring it to her level, with an amazing Zook player from Arminia, Tigran Aleksanyan with the merciless drumming of Greg Ellis, who, when I started working with him in the studio, sounded a bit like a session player. His appearance was that of a typical tattoed L.A drummer, calm, spiritually balanced in appearance -and a very amiable personality.

I asked Greg to let his rage out for this track, really hit those fuckers! I unleashed a beast, a monster, his whole countenance changed, Fire and brimstone drumming, an apocalypse of anger and frustration came out! Drum skins didn’t last long, an inverted blister would appear on the snare within one take! Greg loved this approach, which you can also hear on “The Immaculate Crucifixion”. After this, “Tanta Pena” was complete. 

The original song dates back to the time when the Spanish ejected the Jewish population or made them convert to Christianity around 1492. It is sung in Ladino by Yasmin Levy whose father was a famous archivist of Ladino music, “No More Blood” –“Tanta Pena”.

 “Golden Sun Of The Great East” -I went to India to record a lot of the soloists, and this opened up my world to new horizons, as I found Bombay very “Blade Runner”-ish, ancient and modern all running parallel, crazy, mad, tragic and beautiful. 

Magical things happen, even when you are not looking, I was on a day trip around the studio’s of Mumbai with a potential agent for me in India. We entered a black and gold studio, very camp, I would expect Freddie Mercury of Queen to pop out and say ‘Hello darlings, welcome to my fuck fest!’ instead it was a wonderful Panjabi singer being recorded for a film. Our next appointment was with the Mozart of Indian film music, A R Rahmen. Excited I jumped in the taxi, horns blaring, rain falling, a bright night journey. Next to me in the taxi was the Panjabi singer, ‘Hey can you sing me a song into my zoom recorder, as we wait for my agent to say his goodbyes’. 4 minutes later, a song that never varied off its pitch, was in my data control. Leaving out the A R Rahmen meeting as it was nice, but nothing special, I returned to the hotel where eagles would fly high above in the morning light, I listened back, to the Mumbai traffic and the voice of a celestial being. I started writing “Invisible”, the second track on the album.

“The Mutant Theatre” was written for the show -a Sci-Fi extravaganza where choreographed performance really took over the direction. 

For me, the last two albums speak to me how I want to hear them, and possibly my favourite albums.

“The Mutant Theatre” was designed as a show album. In 2015 I was asked by the Ozora Festival to come back the next year with a new show, I had thought of a show to be called “The Mutant Theatre” 5 years before when in Russia and working with two amazing Performance groups, Agnivo, from Moscow, and Stigma Show from St.Petersburg. I presented this idea in pictures to Ozora, which they loved. It was expensive as it involved around 18 people.

Eyal Yankovich had been my agent for 5 years or so, also the head of Hommega Records. He was an OK agent, getting me the occasional gig or tour, what he was really good at was igniting my imagination with tunes, and suggest I listen to many great tracks, ‘How about a new “Pistolero” Ben?’

Eyal Hung himself before he could listen to the final “Return Of The Pistolero”-version or the album, which still a saddens me.

 Sanja Music, our tour manager, started to really help me, not only from a business perspective, but also from a listening view point. Despite being unable to discuss in a musical language, she would always hit it on the head, find a way to describe the best versions, enthusiasm, insights, referenced insights how fans can view it, how it might work on stage. Spend hours discussing and evolving ideas. I met Sanja many years before in Slovenia when we were playing with Laibach. A tall shiny girl in Japanese fashion appeared solo waiting for the doors to open, a Sugizo fan I believed. We stayed in contact through Myspace and later meeting up in Japan when I was having tours there. She came to the 2015 Ozora Festival and I’ve asked her to photograph Juno Reactor. After we went to Budapest to sight see the city, when I realised what a great addition she would me to Juno Reactor, little did I know how central to my thinking and the project she would become.

‘I Want To Give Something To The Audience That They Might Not Have Seen Before’

Q: You’ve always worked and composed your albums with guest musicians and –singers while going on tour with dance companies, drummers ao. It all feels a bit like the initial goal of creating a ‘collective’ has never changed. What did you learn from all these meetings, collaborations and exchanges? 

Ben: I want to give something to the audience that they might not have seen before. Maybe this goes back to my days of loving David Bowie, and his great performances, always looking for a new way. I feel a sense of family when we are on the road, not always possible with some people, but when it is good it is great. I am still learning how best to be, and how to navigate the waters of human interaction. I feel most comfortable in my studio along with all the other me’s talking.

Q: Your brother Simon Watkins has been often involved in the artwork of Juno Reactor. It all looks like arts is a family thing. Where does it come from and is there a next Watkins generation to hold on this artistic fire? 

Ben: Simon, my brother, helped me focus on art and how to look at it. He always had an unusual taste, a black comedy in his work that I loved. My parents were actors, and despite we were a family of 5 kids, and totally squint, I have no clue why our blood directs us to the arts, as it would be much simpler if we had just wanted a normal life. My parents gave up on their careers too early I always felt, and so I have to live with the musical sword in my hand.

Django, my younger son, is at film university learning the art of script writing and direction, Tim, my older son, is a great musician and records tracks I love. Scarlet and her friend wrote a track for a Japanese singer that was pretty successful. Scarlet at one time wanted to take over Juno Reactor, maybe she still does who knows, but she has chose marine photography for now.

‘AI, VR & AR Have So Much Potential For Young Musicians To Escape The Old Models Of Creation And Start A New Chapter In Music’

Q: A lot of things have changed/evolved since the early Juno Reactor years; think about technology, new equipment & music programs, streaming, social media etc… What have been the pros and cons? 

Ben: I started out on an MC 202 and now I have a museum, a laboratory, loads of instruments that I play. I miss the hangouts in the studio, as everyone has a studio, so we became moles. I love the independence of starting a Juno Reactor label, which I and Sanja Karin Music, who is my manager and for a number of years has also collaborated on artwork, future NFTs on knownorigin.io and other platforms, and a variety of creative projects and activities, which we will be rolling out in the coming year.

The new possibilities of NFT’s and blockchain, which might well help the independent musician into a new economic model. AI, VR & AR have so much potential for young musicians to escape the old models of creation and start a new chapter in music, independent from middlemen and greedy manipulators from the dark alleys of the old music industry. A new world awaits in the decade to come, and I am excited by it, and what it will become. This doesn’t in any way exclude the old ways, or purity of the orchestra, classical musicians, just a new voice in the galaxy.

Q: Covid-19 has seriously affected artistic activities all over the world. How did you keep yourself busy and what are you actually working on? 

Ben: I am learning the Viola, this has kept me in focus at times, writing new tracks with this has been very enjoyable, as well as testing, as I am still learning, and it will take me a long time to play the way I would like. I swim in the sea, this I love when I can afford the time -a sea swim now takes me about 2:30 hours compared to the pool of 1 hour. It blows all the cobwebs and bad thoughts away -of which there have been many through the past year, no question. I think a lot of artists had a very hard time, a lot of artists might have been forced to stop doing what they love, which is very sad. Like many others as well, I have been forced to look into the paperwork side of the project and face all the different misdemeanours and manipulations from a number of people I preferred not to face while gigs were still bringing in enough money to keep going.

‘Sooner Or Later An Autobiography Could Certainly Happen’

Q: I read in a post you got the idea to write an autobiography, which I think is a real interesting idea. Is it something concrete and are there some next ‘big’ dreams you want to accomplish?  

Ben: Well, it is odd, as I have lived long enough to tell stories other people find interesting, or so they say. Sometimes I get caught up in them, and it reminds me of talking to family members before they died. As you can ask them a historic question of how life was, and you can see their eyes glaze over as they reminisce as if they are walking the streets and cafes they used to. It is beautiful to see and hear. I don’t want to become a broken record and recite story after story, so maybe one time if I can write it OK, it might be interesting. My manager Sanja has been pushing me to write down or talk about times in my life and slowly collect all these to be turned into an entity at some point, so sooner or later an autobiography could certainly happen. It might have been silly of me to suggest I’m writing it on a simple social media travel picture that looked to me like a book cover, but perhaps having the public know and expect it will give me an extra boost to keep working on it, with my managers help, as an dyslexic person I was surprised to find that I’m really enjoying this process.

‘The Older I Get The More I Want To Do Music, Scuba, Swim, And Exploring New Horizons’

Q: An interesting item for the autobiography could be to know what you would have done in life without music? And do you have specific hobbies/passions next to music? 

Ben: I remember one day my father said ‘If you pass this exam, I will buy you a pony’. I tried my best, but still failed, and thus had to grow up pony-less. I wonder what would have happened had I passed the exam. Would I really have gotten a pony? Would I perhaps be in a completely different profession today? I should ring up my dad and ask if he actually planned to get that pony …

A lot of people through-out my life have mistook my dreamy exterior to think I am lazy, when in fact my brain has never stopped talking, the conversations I have in my mind seem to me to be more interesting than the ones outside, so I can be non responsive, come over as aloof. The reality is I have drifted off into my own world again. Where I might think I have answered a question asked by someone, just to realise it was only answered in my head. Dyslexia has strange traits, and for me it is this, I am word blinded sometimes that also raises my pulse to a train, panic. I envy people who can be logical, and competent in social exchanges. Stage is my way out, a sort of nether world between reality and dreams where I feel confident of its power.

Without music, I would be a shadow, maybe worked in a stable or farm all my life, something that didn’t need a searching brain. The older I get the more I want to do music, scuba, swim, and exploring new horizons.

Q: “Pistolero” is the Juno Reactor-song I make people listen to, who aren’t familiar with your work. Which one would you choose? 

Ben: At the moment, Ummm my latest one: “Coyote You Me And The Stars”. As it was written for a very special moment and one I will forever remember. I bought an amazing keyboard at the beginning of the crisis, which has been my main frame and primary sound source, the Quantum keyboard by Waldorf, it is such an unusual instrument. It is possible to create sonic textures I haven’t heard before, a 3D motion I have been looking for, this along with the viola.

I am more interested in how I can hold the sound in the stereo field to give depth and spatial pleasures. Political events don’t usually invade my thoughts yet this has been unavoidable.

Witten by: Ben Watkins

Co-editor: Sanja Karin Music (management & shrink services)

Side-Line also covered Juno Reactor’s ‘Let The Flowers Grow’.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange)
For those missing the dark voice of Andrew Eldritch (The Sisters of Mercy), the mysterious singer of the Norwegian EBM/darkwave act Strict Machine offers a great alternative, probably the best since Eldritch stopped releasing new music. Some might have heard Strict Machine participate on the latest Face The Beat: Session 6 compilation with the track ‘Nature of Divinity’, and now their new single ‘Chrome’ is out on various platforms. It’s a hard-hitting, dark and moody track, full of haunting synth beats, well worth investigating more!

All we know about the band at present is that they consists of two member who wants to remain anonymous for the time being, but when sent a message they replied with this about this track, future releases, band members and life in general.

Strict Machine:
‘Chrome’ is a tribute to JG Ballard’s book ‘Crash’. We wanted to capture that haunting passion for fetish that he describes in the book. It’s about undying topics like death, sex, infatuation and classic American cars.

I mean, death is after all a big thing for all of us, and how fast we’re going there, pardon the pun, is up to the vehicles we choose.

Strict machine is all about reinventing the individual, like for example David Bowie often did – keeping the focus off the people behind and rather seeing the concept for what it is.

We are both rather private people, and so it makes the choice even more obvious to keep us anonymous.

This release is the first song from the upcoming debut EP, where we are trying to re-approach the classic themes and topics like the occult, ritual magic, existential questions and love.

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

Brooklyn synthpop outfit The Mystic Underground returns with a brand new album: “Wrapped In Riddles”. Influenced by classic alternative bands such as the Smiths, David Bowie and New Order and spiced with of Britpop, dance and Industrial, The Mystic Underground are quite the eclectic duo. Comprised of singer/songwriter Vladimir Valette and keyboardist/producer Benedetto Socci over the years they have often been featured on Side-Line.

They surfaced in the early days of the last decade in the synth pop scene and have since then remained active. The pair’s last album, 2016’s “Protagonist” was well received inside the synth pop community, and now there’s the forthcoming release, the new record entitled “Wrapped in Riddles”, which is set for a 13th of November release via their Stereosonic Recordings label.

A glimpse of the new material could already be heard on the record’s lead single, “The Fixer”, a song that touches on decisions and the risk of taking action and the perils of inaction.

But here’s an exclusive preview of the full album! The album can now be purchased via the band’s Bandcamp page.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

(Photo by Brigi Major) Veteran Hungarian artist István Gazdag joined the Alfa Matrix label in 2019 for the release of the dark EBM album “Keep This World Empty” (get it here on Bandcamp) which was recorded with his partner in crime Mortum on vocals. Gazdag has been very active in the avant-garde electronic / industrial scene since the late 80’s with numerous and quite diversified releases on various labels under his belt and some great remix work for such cult acts like Coil, Soft Cell, Test. Dept., Cabaret Voltaire or Einstürzende Neubauten.

On the new “Fire” album (available now from Bandcamp) you get a collaboration effort with several key-protagonists from the electro industrial scene in Hungary. As a result the release is released under the ‘First Aid 4 Souls feat. LD50’ named after the famous cult sub-culture community site LD50.hu where all the fans and artists in the country gathered. A bit like our legendary Side-Line forum (where trolling became kind of a sports we must admit).

But back to Hungary, the legacy of the LD50.hu forum van be found back on this 12-track album via studio collaborations with other Hungarian artists like Black Nail Cabaret’s dark pop diva Emke, Ultranoire’s singer Josef Stapel, provocative artist Vic Willow (and his voice evoking David Bowie and Gary Numan) or yet the writer/futurist Damage of Planetdamage.

The result is a mix of 80’s tainted moody electro wave with a dance floor edge and noir melancholic vocals. It also shows that the Hungarian dark wave scene is far from being dead, on the contrary. A daring yet very accessible release.

Check out this excellent release below, you can download it right now from Bandcamp!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Electro-pop, trip-hop.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info:  This project has been set up by Francesco Virgilio. After having worked with a singer and having released a few EP’s, Mokroïé became a solo-project. For this album, Francesco Virgilio however invited singer ‘Allonymous’. The album was released late 2019 and features eight songs.

Content: Mokroïé’s sound has been described as trip-hop minded. I think it’s true, but it mainly reveals a personal approach to electronic-pop music. The songs are driven by down tempo structures. Sound-wise this album doesn’t sound catchy and melodic like most of the ‘classic’ electro-pop releases. There’s a dense atmospheric curtain supporting most of the songs. Some of the vocals, but especially “Glistening Like Obsidian” reminds me a bit of David Bowie. The last song “Put Your Hands In The Dirt (Soft Minimal Vocal Mix)” is featuring female vocals with male backings.

+ + + : Mokroïé reveals a great sound production, but still remarkable sound treatments. The songs have something danceable, but I especially like the global mood hanging over this work. The instrumental cut “Disoriented” is one of the attention grabbers and has something vaguely future-pop minded. But the best cut is the last one. “Put Your Hands In The Dirt (Soft Minimal Vocal Mix)” has been slowly built up.  It moves to a crescendo and creates a great match with the female vocals and male backings. 

– – – : I regret this album only features 8 songs.

Conclusion: Mokroïé has something atypical; the sound is not easy to describe, but it’s a fully entertaining listening.

Best songs: “Put Your Hands In The Dirt (Soft Minimal Vocal Mix)”, “Disoriented”, “With these Thoughts”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.mokroie.com / www.facebook.com/mokroie

About Mokroïé

Mokroïé is the solo-project of Francesco Virgilio, who initially worked with a singer before continuing alone and inviting guest vocalist Allonymous for “Machines & Soul”. The project followed up with the “Moving Forward” EP in 2023, which included a cover of The Sisters Of Mercy track “More”.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

(Picture by Mehdi Benkler / Analog Photography) In 2007 The Young Gods released the album “Super Ready/Fragmenté”. “Super Ready/Fragmenté” was the sixth album by the Swiss industrial rock band The Young Gods and after it was released on April 16, 2007 via the Ipecac label, it spent 4 weeks on the official Swiss charts. Quite unusual for an industrial act.

Now, 13 years later, it is finally released via Two Gentlemen on double vinyl with artwork by Ich&Kar. The vinyl will hold the 12 original tracks from the album. You can check out the album below and buy the vinyl right here.

The Young Gods

The Young Gods are a Swiss industrial rock band from Fribourg. The band’s original lineup consisted of a trio composed by a vocalist, a keyboardist/sampler operator, and a drummer. Over the years the only constant member has been the frontman Franz Treichler. In 2007, a fourth member joined the band. Their instrumentation often includes sampled electric guitars, drums, keyboards, and other samples.

Their name is taken from an early EP by the no wave/noise rock band Swans. Coincidence or not, Roli Mosimann of Swans has worked with the group as a producer.

Artists influenced by the Young Gods include Pitchshifter, Mike Patton, Sepultura, The Edge (as stated in U2 by U2), Devin Townsend, Ithak, Econoline Crush and David Bowie. Asked in 1995 if his album “Outside” was influenced by Nine Inch Nails, Bowie answered: “The band that I was actually quite taken with was three guys from Switzerland called the Young Gods… I’d been aware of them previous to knowing about Nine Inch Nails.”

Interesting detail, the group supplied the original music for the 2012 animated short film, “Kali the Little Vampire”, which went on to win over 20 international awards.

Their eight album, “Data Mirage Tangram”, was also their last one for the moment being and was released a year ago. You can read an interview with the band right here talking of this album.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

The Ritualists is a New-York (USA) based combo and one of the latest signings on Out Of Line. “Painted People” is the band’s debut full length, which in a way sounds a bit atypical when you know the taste of the German label. The Ritualists claim to be inspired by various artists such as David Bowie, T. Rex, Velvet Underground, Suede, The Kinks, The Stooges, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Duran Duran ao. Their debut album became a kind of indie like pop-rock exposure revealing the talented singer and front man Christian Dryden. I got in touch with him to know a bit more about this new formation.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: How did you come to set up The Ritualists? What inspired you to find the band name and the sound? 

Christian:I’ve been doing music my whole life. I wanted to find band members that shared my vision & concepts. I am lucky enough to have done so. I came up with the band name, partly inspired by a friend who commented to me after seeing a particularly good concert that ‘great rock shows were like a different type of church ceremony. Where like-minded people come together and celebrate something they believe in, love and take inspiration from.’ So, after thinking about this, it dawned on me that music for me was so sacred, the practicing of it, became a type of ritual, hence, The Ritualists!

Q: The sound is something interesting as it sounds as the offspring between different genres and diversified influences. Can you give us more details about the writing process, sound treatments and production? 

Christian: You are correct about the different genres. I like to believe that we have created something somewhat unique in blending my love of glam, post punk & British music in general. I usually write the songs and present them to the band in various forms of completeness. They add the cherries & toppings to make it a fine cake for consumption. With the production, Jeff Binder & I co-produced with Kris Sampson on most tracks and David Sisko on two others, and we wanted something that didn’t conform to a lot of modern Rock standards.  With the mix we tried to break away from the drum-heavy, dry stuff we were hearing and we opted for a variety of effects and dynamic bass/treble relationships in the mix that we believe enhanced the vibe of the songs.

Q: Tell us a bit more about your background as singer and the importance of the vocals, which definitely is one of the album’s main strengths and characteristics? 

Christian: Thank you! I’ve been singing my whole life and with the vocals for these songs we definitely embraced some vocal gymnastics and pyrotechnics.  However, the true focus for me has always been on the melody. The melody is my first priority. In my opinion, a song can have wonderful singing and incredible musicianship, but if there is no melody that grabs you, it is an exercise in futility.  

Q: What kind of album did you want to accomplish with “Painted People”? were the other main focuses, eventually challenges and are there some aspects you aren’t totally satisfied with? 

Christian: With the album, I wanted something with a defined focus, a recurrent vibe, but songs that also displayed some interesting diversity. For me, the challenge with recording anything is always getting the recorded versions of the song to sound like the ‘version’ I’m hearing inside my own head! This is often-times a near-impossible task!  LOL.  I would say the first song on the record that nearly accomplishes this Herculean feat is “Rattles.”  So, if you want an idea of what is inside my head, reference “Rattles.”

Q: What do you try to express by the lyrical content and what’s the link with the title of the album and the artwork? 

Christian: I love writing lyrics. In these particular songs, I contemplate love, war, death, mythology, Romance Poetry and the idea of belonging to something bigger than myself. 

Q: You’re based in New York, which is often considered as a very inspiring and ‘arty’ town when it comes to music. How does that feel from the inside and what’s your perception about the European scene considering you’ve been singed to Out Of Line?

Christian: It certainly can be ‘arty.’ NYC has its moments and has been instrumental in shaping our musical growth/development. The freedom it allows and the struggling artists are such an inspiration. 

As you can probably guess from listening to the record, I have  quite a fondness for European music, particularly UK bands. I really can’t comment on the scene, per se, as I have had no experience of it. I do know that these rather tiny countries (in comparison to the USA), have produced a ridiculous number of genius musicians of which I am in awe! 

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Chicago-based electronic/darkwave act Black Plastic premieres its newest videoclip ‘Halcyon’ today. Black Plastic is the musical project of visual artist Kevin Grady, with the material mixed and produced by Casey Desmond.

Grady is perhaps best known as the founder of Lemon, an award-winning pop art magazine with a broad cult following. Lavishly produced and designed, the magazine has hosted a range of impressive contributors, including David Bowie, Daft Punk, Jeff Koons, Sonic Youth and many others.

‘Halcyon’ was written by Kevin Grady, mixed and produced by Casey Desmond. Dark, moody and mostly electronic, Black Plastic gives a modern, danceable twist to the dark wave genre. “It’s club music for vampires!” says Grady. Well, that’s something for you to find out!

The video was directed and edited by Łukasz Pytlik.

More info about Black Plastic (signed on Cleopatra Records) can be found here

(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange. Foto: Jarle Nyttingnes)
The multi talented Norwegian musician (also actor, comedian ++) Espen Beranek Holm ended our interview after his concert in Oslo last year by saying his next project would be “even more electronic, but still with beats” – and here it is! The surprisingly varied EP “Oscillator Orkester” was released last week, accompanied by several videos (see end of article), making me curious about this. A couple of e-mails later:

Side-Line: How was this release born/what’s the main idea behind?

Beranek: In March 2017 I hosted a concert to celebrate the 45 year anniversary of the brassband Torshovkorpset. The other guest on stage was The Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK). A lot of collaboration was planned for the night, and the Radio Orchestra asked me if I would do a musical number with them. From the top of my head I replied: ‘Life On Mars?’. They also thought it to be a good idea, but there was no orchestral arrangement available. I suggested Jacob Beranek Hvattum for the job and ‘Mars’ was on. After performing ‘Life On Mars?’ live with The Norwegian Radio Orchestra in Oslo Konserthus, I really wanted to get this version recorded, so I started planning for that.

At the same time I was fiddling around with another Bowie favourite; ‘Loving The Alien’ from ‘Tonight’. I’ve always loved that song, and during the summer of 2017 I started to work with a synth-based arrangement for it. As the ‘Alien’-arrangement developed, I came to think that it would pair well with an original idea named ‘Pardon’ that I wrote back in 2016. (“Pardon” was the only word of lyrics at the time.)

We found time to record with The Norwegian Radio Orchestra in March 2018, and arranger Jacob Beranek Hvattum pointed out that we should put them to work for more than just ‘Life On Mars?’. I went into my archives looking for a suitable piece of music to be arranged for the orchestra and found a theme that I wrote for a radio adaptation of Anna Dale’s book ‘Whispering To Witches’. Jacob wrote a beautiful arrangement of the music, and we recorded both tracks with the orchestra.

S-L: And the reason for the name of the EP!?

B: Well, there are two tracks arranged for oscillators, and two tracks arranged for an orchestra (“orkester” in Norwegian). Wouldn’t that make ‘Oscillator Orkester’?

S-L: Of course! Tell us about the cooperation with KORK?

B: The Norwegian Radio Orchestra is a bunch of highly professional musicians. I have worked with them on different occasions earlier, but I must say it was very special to have them perform on my demand, so to speak. I did not arrange the music – Jacob Beranek Hvattum did – or conduct the orchestra – Helge Sunde did, but still I felt in a very close collaboration with them performing the vocals and having penned the instrumental piece. I think they sounded really great and I am very pleased with what we achieved.

S-L: More releases like this, or an album?

B: There are no immediate plans for more releases like this, but I would sure like to make more of them. It was great fun! I’m constantly working on new musical ideas, and I would not be surprised if some of these ideas will materialize on a new album in the future.

Listen to or buy “Oscillator Orkester” digitally here: orcd.co/oscork, or buy the CD EP here: Skvis.no
Do also check out the videos @ his YouTube channel.

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

Genre/Influences: Pop-rock

Background/Info: The Ritualists is a New-York (USA) based combo and one of the latest signings on Out Of Line. “Painted People” is the band’s debut full length. They claim to be inspired by various artists such as David Bowie, T. Rex, Velvet Underground, Suede, The Kinks, The Stooges, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Duran Duran ao. You might have discovered the band at the label compilation “Awake The Machines Vol.8” with their single “Ice Flower”. 

Content: The Ritualists is definitely an atypical formation on the label roster. Out Of Line is no longer the ‘classical’ electro label, but became open minded for different kinds of music. The Ritualists experiments with different styles, sometimes reminding me to the imaginary offspring between Echo & The Bunnymen and Suede. The guitar play is dominant in their music and literally injects a truly spirit in the songs while the vocals reflect a professionalism and maturity.

+ + + : The Ritualists is already enlarging Out Of Line’s sonic horizon. This is pure pop-rock mixed with some good-old 80s influences. Some call it post-punk, but whatever the label, it’s a rather eclectic composition carried by an impressive guitar playing, which can be psychedelic and especially elevating during the choruses. I also have to make a special mention for singer Christian Dryden who’s a real nature talent! This guy can switch from high- towards lower keys in the same song and brings a real charisma to the music.

– – – : The Ritualists is an interesting discovery, but I can imagine for numerous Out Of Line fans from the early electronic period it’s the kind of record, which is ‘undone’!

Conclusion: I didn’t know what to expect when listening to this work, but it’s a successful debut revealing a band with a huge potential.

Best songs: “Ice Flower”, “Sunset”, “Darling”, “She’s The Sun”, “Starry Night”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.theritualists.com / www.facebook.com/theritualists

Label: www.outofline.de  / www.facebook.com/outoflinelabel

About The Ritualists

The Ritualists is a band from New York fronted by singer and guitarist Christian Dryden. Following an appearance on the Out Of Line compilation “Awake The Machines Vol.8” with the single “Ice Flower”, “Painted People” became the band’s debut full length, and Dryden discussed its writing in a Side-Line interview later in 2019.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

(Photo credit: Gabriel Edvy) After a sold out residency in San Francisco this past March, Peter Murphy has announced a very special and intimate residency this August at New York City’s (LE) Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10012).

Mirroring his West Coast shows, these performances will kick off on August 2nd, running through his solo albums in their entirety beginning with 1986’s “Should The World Fail to Fall Apart” and ending with a greatest hits show of solo material and tributes to Bauhaus and David Bowie.

The live lineup includes Mark Gemini Thwaite (Guitar), Marc Slutsky (Drums), and Emilio Zef China (Bass/Violin).

These are the dates

• Aug 2: Should The World Fail To Fall Apart
• Aug 3: Love Hysteria
• Aug 5: Deep
• Aug 8: Holy Smoke
• Aug 9: Cascade
• Aug 10: Dust
• Aug 12: Ninth
• Aug 13: Lion
• Aug 15: Greatest Hits
• Aug 16: Bauhaus’ Mr Moonlight
• Aug 18: Tribute to David Bowie

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

(Interview © Janos Janurik) 2019 is a year full of anniversaries and anniversary releases and tours, just think of bands and records or special concerts such as Alphaville (“Forever Young” (Super-Deluxe-Box)), the anniversary tour to A-ha`s debut album “Hunting High And Low”, special live performances of The Cure to their legendary “Disintegration” album – just to name a few…

This series is complemented by the re-release of Erasure’s “Wild!” LP. The album was originally released in October 1989 and put the duo of Vince Clarke and Andy Bell on the top of the charts. According to Erasure’s fan base this record is still one of their best and contains timeless classics like “Drama!”, “You Surround Me”, or “Blue Savannah”, which are still part of their concerts.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Wild!”, our contributor, Janos Janurik, invited three people involved in that project for an interview: the unique and unrepeatable Vince Clarke and his right hands, who also have a good reputation among Depeche Mode fans: the two producers, Gareth Jones and Mark Saunders.

They were all ready for a discussion and answered the questions of our colleague as follows.

Vince Clarke

SL: In the series of the Mute album re-releases the last Erasure LP of the eighties, “Wild! ” will be published on the occasion of its thirtieth anniversary. Which (not only musical) memories of the autumn of 1989 are still awake in you?

VC: – I remember the music was recorded in my very first home studio in London. Mark Saunders worked with me whilst Andy recorded with Gareth Jones at the ‘Church’ studio.

SL: The producer of this album was Gareth Jones, a long-time studio employee of Mute Records artists like Depeche Mode, Wire, and Nick Cave. His partner in the production team was the legendary mix master Mark Saunders. You worked together with Gareth on other Erasure albums. Which cooperation do you remember best? Do you have a favourite remix of Mark’s Erasure catalogue?

VC: – Mark did a fantastic remix of ‘You Surround Me’. He was/is very easy going and we got on well. At that point I didn’t really know Gareth.

SL: The single releases “Drama!” and “Blue Savannah” are still fix parts of your live setlists. On the Violet Flame Tour you performed remixes of the rarely played “Wild! ” singles “Star” and “You Surround Me”. Except “2000 Miles” you actually played all album songs at your previous concerts. Are you still satisfied with this material? How do you rate this album after 30 years of time?

VC: – Not bad. 🙂

SL: The “Wild! Tour” has perhaps been the biggest of your tours so far. You toured the world with a gigantic stage set. For the first time you had dancers on stage besides the background singers and there were also several costume changes and two different setlists. During this tour you also played live behind the iron curtain in Prague and then in exotic places like South America, Japan and Australia for the first time. Not to mention the legendary finale at the Milton Keynes Bowl. Do you have any special souvenirs from this tour that will bring back good memories?

VC: – I don’t have any souvenirs, but I remember that the tour was very exciting, especially play to such big crowds.

SL: The second disc of the forthcoming re-release will feature 14 bonus B-sides, remixes, rarities and live recordings, five of which are previously unreleased, including a brand-new remix of “Drama!” by Richard Norris and a recently discovered unreleased mix of “How Many Times?”. This song is my favourite song from the album and which one is yours?

VC: – “Blue Savannah”.

SL: But Erasure is not a nostalgia band of the 80s, because in the meantime you have released more than a dozen albums that have all been received positively – by fans as well as critics. What does the band-future of Erasure look like? Are there any plans for new material yet?

VC: – We hope to be writing for a new album in 2019.

SL: What would your message be for your fan base?

VC: – THANK YOU!

Gareth Jones

SL: Gareth, you’re supposed to be the in-house producer for Mute Records. Before working with Erasure, you’ve worked with renowned Mute artists such as Depeche Mode, Wire and Nick Cave. How do you remember the first meeting with label boss Daniel Miller and the studio work in Berlin with Depeche Mode on their „Construction Time Again” album?

GJ: – I have told this story many times, so I will keep it brief.

I was introduced to Daniel Miller and Depeche Mode by my friend and mentor John Foxx. He owned a studio called “The Garden” in Shoreditch in East London, and Daniel and Depeche Mode were interested in recording there. I was working for John at the time and he sent me over to the MUTE Records office, which at that time was in Kensington Gardens Square in West London, to meet the whole team. I was a bit nervous, but they were all super nice and normal people, and agreeably weird. Luckily for me they felt good about me too, and offered me the job.

SL: How did the request to produce Erasure’s „Wild!” album come about? Have you had contact with Vince Clarke and Andy Bell before?

GJ: – Before we started working on the “Wild” album I didn’t know Vince or Andy very well at all. For this record they had decided to make sure that there was plenty of time for Andy to work on his vocals. They were looking for someone to engineer and produce the vocals.  I had already been working in Berlin with the incredibly talented Diamanda Galas.  She had met Andy a couple of times I believe (I don’t know where) and she was kind enough to recommend my vocal production skills to him. So that is how I join the team.

SL: How was it working with them compared to Depeche Mode?

GJ: – This was a very different process from working with Depeche Mode. Initially I was hired to record and produce Andy’s vocals. Vince was in another studio with the other co-producer of the record, Mark Saunders. We were in the church studio and I think Mark and Vince were in Swing Studios. 

The studios were both in North London so we were able to have meetings often, and we were continually exchanging musical and vocal ideas.

When it came to mixing it was decided that Mark and I would both mix the album. I was mixing in the Church and Mark was mixing in Konk.  We were all determined to get the best out of the songs, so we all pushed each other to do our best like a Sound System contest.

I remember the first single “Drama!” went back and forth between our two studios a few times! Eventually we were all happy.

SL: Are there any favourites from this album that you are still proud of today?

GJ: – The whole record was an amazing experience. Vince and Andy are such strong song writers, talented musicians and all around wonderful people that it was a real pleasure and privilege to be a part of this great record.

I loved the whole process and I have a special affection for “Drama!” and” Blue Savannah”.

SL: You were not only involved in the „Wild!” project as a producer, but also as a remixer, for example the „Syrinx Mix” from „You Surround Me”, which is one of my favourites. Do you have a favourite remix from Erasure`s discography that you particularly enjoyed working on?

GJ: – I did 2 remixes of “Blue Savannah” (“Der Deutsche Mix 1 & 2”) in Berlin with my friends Sun Electric – Stephan Fisher, Max Loderbauer and Tom Thiel. I really enjoyed this – they are all so musical, creative and professional. It was truly a fantastic experience.

SL: After the „Wild!” album you had numerous co-productions with Erasure – among them you worked on one of my favourite albums from them, on the self-titled „Erasure”. And how about you? Do you have a favourite album from Erasure?

GJ: – The first album, “Wild!”, is dear to my heart. I also love the “Erasure” album. It was such a pleasure to work with my friend Thomas Fehlmann as a co-producer on the album and he bought so much to the table. I was so happy that Diamanda agreed to do a guest vocal on the record. We also had the pleasure of an amazing LP mix by Francois Kevorkian.

– The „Wild!” album also included an extensive world tour. Did you see Erasure live back then? If so, where? What did you think of them as a live act?

GJ: – I saw the Wild tour in Hamburg I think. I invited my parents to come along. The show was incredible. I am always impressed by Erasure live shows. The love between the band and the audience is so tangible and touching. Andy is an outrageously talented frontperson, and Vince is always Mr Cool. What a great combination!

SL: What are you currently working on and what are your plans for the future?

GJ: – I am currently writing and recording a solo electronic music project and a new collaboration that I am very excited about.

This year I will also be writing and releasing a new LP for the “Spiritual Friendship” project – an ongoing collaboration with the amazing Nick Hook.

I am also producing an exciting and enjoyably weird electronic pop album with American and European musicians for a new project called “Of Love And Lust”.

I will be back in Yann Tiersen’s fantastic new studio on the island of Ushant (Ouessant) later in the year, helping out with a new recording.

Mark Saunders

SL: Among your early outstanding works is the engineering of some of David Bowie’s songs from 1985 and 1986, who was the idol of several generations of musicians, including Erasure’s Vince Clarke. How do you remember this studio work?

MS: – I feel incredibly lucky to have been in a studio to witness the true legend, David Bowie at work. It was just under a year from starting at West Side Studios in London when Bowie first came in to work on songs for the movie that he was also acting in – „Absolute Beginners”. Before that, I’d been making demos on a Tascam 8-Track tape machine in a dilapidated cow shed on my dad’s farm. Working with Bowie was an unfathomable step up! When the Bowie sessions started, I was transitioning from assistant engineer to house engineer. My bosses, producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley (Madness, China Crisis, Elvis Costello, Bush, Bowie & Jagger), were constantly throwing me in the deep end on sessions. There were quite a lot of jazz songs that we recorded for the Absolute Beginners soundtrack were and there would often be drums, bass, piano, guitar, and sometimes up to 9 brass players all playing together in the studio. It was intense as a newbie engineer to get thrown in on those sessions. I remember one session feeling somewhat overwhelmed and turning around to my boss Alan to get some confirmation that I was doing ok and he was asleep on the sofa behind me! For Bowie’s songs for the soundtrack, when the band were laying down the backing track for Bowie to sing on, Bowie would always sing along a ‘rough’ vocal to keep the band inspired. His vocals were always brilliant and as far as I was concerned, nearly every one could have been the master vocal take. But surprisingly, when Bowie was happy with the backing track, he would approach singing lead vocals in quite a clinical way. He would often sing one line, stop, and listen back to it before moving on to the next line. He would also quite regularly check his vocal on the demo version of the song to during this process. His vocals always sounded fantastic though. The pinnacle of those Bowie sessions was when on one day, we recorded the epic title track „Absolute Beginners” and then late in the afternoon, Mick Jagger came in to record „Dancing In The Street” for Live Aid! This was incredible for me – this was a year and one day from starting in a professional studio – and I was working with Bowie & Jagger! This being before cellphones and frustratingly, I had no way to text friends and say – „You’ll never guess who I’m working with today!”. „Dancing In The Street” was one of the first records I ever got an engineering credit on.

SL:Erasure are part of the success story of Mute Records. Your first commissions with the record company included remixes of Depeche Mode`s „Strangelove” and „Everything Counts”. These tracks are – after 30 years – still firm parts of the Depeche Mode club evenings. Did you like making them (with Tim Simenon)?

MS: – I think that these remixes occurred just after or around the time that I worked with Tim on Neneh Cherry’s brilliant debut album „Raw Like Sushi”. Tim was great to work with, he was young and came from the DJ-ing aspect of music rather than being a studio musician or an engineer and he had a naive (in a good way) approach to making records that kept things moving along and fresh sounding – particularly noticeable on „Buffalo Stance” by Neneh Cherry – her first hit. The „Everything Counts” Depeche remix was a pretty simple affair. I seemed to remember hiring in a Roland SH-01 for that session which was definitely used for the bass. Personally I would have preferred to have made the remix more musical – but Tim was happy to keep it more of a hardcore club track. Our Strangelove remix was much more complicated and fraught with technical difficulties.

In those days I was syncing my Atari 1040st computer, running Cubase, to a timecode track (SMPTE) which was recorded on one track of the multitrack tape that contained the song.

This quite often lead to difficulties because after hours or playing and rewinding the tape, the tape would start to wear out. Usually the code track was on the edge of the tape and the edges wore out faster.

So as it go late into the night, we had real problems syncing the computer to the tape machine. And the computer was running all the new parts and samples that Tim and I were adding for the remix. I think this one turned out pretty well though!

SL: Before the release of “Wild!” you also made remixes for Erasure songs like „A Little Respect”, „Stop!” and „Knocking On Your Door”. Did you follow the band`s history from the very beginning?

MS: – I’d been a fan of Vince since the early Depeche days and the Yazoo era but I missed the early Erasure days. My first Erasure work was a remix of „A Little Respect”. I’m sure this came about because of my work for Tim Simenon who was signed to Rhythm King records which was based out of Mute’s offices. I didn’t meet the band though until I mixed the „Crackers International EP” which included the songs „Stop!”, „Knocking On Your Door”, „God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman” and – my favourite – „The Hardest Part”. I mixed „The Hardest Part” first and that was the first time I met Vince – when he came in to check the mix. I was nervous and nobody had warned me about his very dry, deadpan sense of humour. For one thing, when he listened to the mix, he barely moved. He barely even seemed to blink! He didn’t tap his feet, smile or turn around to me to give me an assuring look – nothing! He sat like a robot with his head between the speakers. I took this as a sign that he must absolutely hate the mix – I was literally pacing back and forth behind him wondering how I’d got the mix so horribly wrong! Eventually the song finished, Vince stopped the tape and then paused for what felt like an eternity before turning around and saying „I love it!” And then with a dead straight face he said – „Just one thing… Did you not like like the kick drum?” My heart nearly stopped! Had I really missed out the entire kick drum track on an Erasure record! But before I had a chance to respond, he said „Just kidding… there’s no kick drum on this song!”

SL: In 1989, Erasure`s „Wild!” album was released that still belongs to the fans’ favourites and includes such classics as „Drama!” and „Blue Savannah”. What memories can you recall of these studio works with Erasure?

MS: – As Erasure had time constraints for the making of „Wild!”, I was hired to co-produce the tracks with Vince Clark and Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Wire, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Interpol) was hired to work on vocals with Andy. When Vince and I finished a track in his basement studio in his house in Notting Hill, London, the multitrack would be whisked off to The Church studios in Crouch End in the north end of London for Andy to sing on. On the first day of the recording, Vince sat me down and said – in his deadpan way, „Do you want to know how much money you’re going to make from this album?” Before I could utter much more than „Oh… well… err”, he’d tapped away on a calculator for a few seconds and was holding up the resulting calculation to show me and said „How’s that?” To which I gulped and said „Err… that looks just fine… thanks.” Vince’s basement studio contained nearly every great synth known to man and it was beautifully laid out, with a mixing board against one wall facing the window, and the other three walls had floor to ceiling racks laden with all the synths. One thing completely stunned me on day one though. We decided on what song to start with and Vince then proceeded to expertly get a kick drum sound from one of his synths – an ARP 2500 I think. When he was happy with it, he said, „OK let’s print that to tape (an Otari 24 track 2in Tape machine)”. I said „Are you sure you want to record it now?” He frowned and said „Why not?”.

I said, „Well, wouldn’t you prefer to hear the kick drum in context with a bass and maybe a couple of synths before you commit it to tape?” He still looked completely baffled – like I was asking him to pilot a space craft to the moon or something else outside of his comfort zone.

He replied „But this is the way I’ve always done it.” – which is a fair response from someone whose already produced a shed load of mega hits! „OK”, I said, „but surely, you have more than enough excellent gear here to have all the parts running live from your sequencer and refine all the sounds in context with each other before we need to commit to tape – right?” Long pause and more deep frowning – followed by „I’ve never thought about doing it like that”. This blew me away! This was Vince Clarke, the guy that I watched on Tomorrow’s World many years before I got into the music biz explaining how the Fairlight could sample sounds and play them musically on a keyboard and then sequence them to create a song – all inside a massive computer. Ground breaking stuff! And yet here was the same guy who hadn’t thought of running multiple parts on his sequencer before! Anyway, luckily, rather than kick me out of his studio, Vince gave my suggestion a go and after a couple of hours he said „I like this way of doing it…” and so that’s how we worked from then on. Vince is a musical genius and I loved working with him. He was all about keeping stuff dead simple and keeping songs short… He would quite often say „That’ll do”, like a builder who’s just skimped on the bolts holding some majorly important steel beams together. An example of the Vince Clark genius was the rising and descending piano riffs in „Blue Savannah”. Vince, during the programming/recording said „This needs a piano riff”. Then he just seemed to sit there and stare into space. After a while, I said „Why don’t you just try and play something?” He said… „Sshh… I’m thinking!” After what seemed like an eternity, he started furiously typing numbers into his ancient BBC UMi computer. Minutes later, he sat back and said „Right, let’s have a listen then.”… and my jaw dropped when the brilliant piano riffs popped out of the speakers. He had worked it all out in his head and then had typed in – numerically – each note, the position of the note, the note length and the velocity. Bloody brilliant! At the beginning of the record, Daniel Miller, the Mute Records boss, said to me „I want you to try and get Vince to try some new sounds on this record – experiment a bit more. He’s been using the same sounds for years.” So I tried, but I didn’t push the idea with Vince because I loved all his tried and trust analog synth sounds. We did use some samples from my Akai S1000 sampler a few times, like the acoustic guitar sample on „Star” – although Vince had no interest in using a sampler, as far as I remember. When the recording was finished, both Gareth and I started mixing the songs. I can’t remember if we both mixed all of the songs or not – and I can’t remember exactly who’s mixes ended up on the record – but I think it was a fairly even split between Gareth’s and mine. I mixed in Konk Studios, just up the road from The Church where Gareth was mixing. Konk, owned by The Kinks, had a great big room with a full size snooker table in it which was fab. Vince drove up from Notting Hill one day during the mixing and said „Come on, take a break… Let’s have a game of snooker!” So that’s what we did – we played at least two games and then I said, „OK, let me play you some mixes then”, to which he replied ‘nah, I only came up here for a game of snooker’. I assumed he was joking because, for one thing, the drive from his house to Konk was a fairly arduous journey across a big chunk of London. He told me he was deadly serious though and it took a great deal of effort to persuade him to stay and listen to a mix. I decided to play him „Blue Savannah”. Now, if you’ve ever heard the acoustic slide guitar samples in my 12” remix of this song… well, I had originally put them in the album version. I found the samples in my library while I was working on the song and when I loaded them into the Akai S1000, I loved them! They fit the key of the song perfectly. But somehow I had a feeling that I might be on shaky ground when Vince heard them. My instinct was right. When I played him my album mix, he assumed his normal position… stone faced, and dead still in front of the speakers. But when the first slide guitar riff came in, he positively flinched… like someone had slapped him around the face! But amazingly he kept listening without moving again until the end of the song.

Then he turned to me and said „Yeah, it’s good… but… I would never, ever, have a slide guitar in any of my songs… ever!” So that was the end to the slide guitar in the album mix. And now I think about it… how did I ever get away with putting them in the 12” version?!

Vince had an unerring confidence in what he was doing. If Daniel Miller, the Mute Records boss, had any doubts about anything to do with the record, Vince would say „Don’t worry Daniel, it’s going to go to number 1” – which of course it did, in it’s first week of release!

SL: A remix of „You Surround Me” also bears your name. You made a danceable club hit out of that original ballad. Erasure even played this version live on their Violet Flame Tour 2014. Please tell us a little about it! Which song, by the way, is your favourite from the „Wild!” album?

MS: – I was in Mayfair studios in London for this remix. I remember getting depressed because for quite a long time I couldn’t get anything going that I liked – mainly because of the tempo of the track I think. Then I tried playing double tempo drums along with the song and all of a sudden I was up and running and excited about the mix! I’m pretty sure I was thinking Billy Idol when I did this version. I was pretty happy with the result and was very flattered to learn that the band played my version live. My favourite song from „Wild!” is definitely „Blue Savannah”. My next favourite song that I worked on with Erasure was „All This Time Still Falling Out Of Love” from the album „Nightbird”.

SL: Not only for Erasure, but also for Yazoo you made a remix for their hit „Situation”. Did you see the duo live during their reunion 10 years ago?

MS: – Working on the remix of „Situation” with Daniel Miller was a great honour. What an absolutely perfect pop song… and less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds long! On my website is an extended edit of the song that never got released… actually, I don’t think I ever played it to the band or Mute. I was lucky enough to see them in New York during their reunion tour. They sounded great. Alison Moyet is awesome… I got to work with her too a couple of times and she, like Vince, has a very dry sense of humour and is very down to earth.

SL: What future plans and current works in progress do you have?

MS: – I moved back from the States in 2017 which was a big deal after 21 years of living there. I feel much more inspired musically in the UK. I’m in love with the BBC 6 Music radio station… best radio station I’ve ever heard. They play the most eclectic range of music that you could possibly imagine but they somehow nearly always play stuff that appeals to me! I have two young boys and for a few years now life has been more about family life than pursuing my career but I feel that as they are getting older there is going to be room for both – hopefully soon!

P.S.: A short info for all those who have missed a conversation on the topic with Andy Bell, he is currently very busy with his new solo project “Torsten in Queereteria” (release date: 12 April 2019) and therefore unfortunately could not be at our disposal.

“Erasure – Wild! – 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition”, is out Friday, 29th March 2019 via BMG / Mute Records.

CD1 Track Listing:

• Piano Song – Instrumental
• Blue Savannah
• Drama!
• How Many Times?
• Star
• La Gloria
• You Surround Me
• Brother and Sister
• 2000 Miles
• Crown Of Thorns
• Piano Song

CD2 Track Listing:

• Sweet, Sweet Baby – The Moo Moo Mix
• Drama! – Richard Norris Mix (unreleased)
• Blue Savannah – Mark Saunders 12″ Mix
• Piano Song – Live at the London Arena (unreleased)
• Runaround On The Underground – Remix
• How Many Times? – Alternative Mix (unreleased)
• Supernature – Daniel Miller & Phil Legg Remix
• Star – Soul Mix
• No GDM. – Unfinished Mix
• Drama! – Act 2
• Brother and Sister – Live at the London Arena (unreleased)
• Dreamlike State – 7″ A Cappella Mix (unreleased)
• You Surround Me – Gareth Jones Mix
• 91 Steps – 6 Pianos Mix

János Janurik

I began my career in online music journalism in 2001, writing about artists I had followed since the late ’80s and early ’90s, including Depeche Mode, Erasure and The Cure. I later edited the Hungarian Mute microsite for EMI Music Hungary. This led to interviews with Erasure, Nitzer Ebb and Alan Wilder, and some of those collaborations developed into lasting friendships. Since 2014, I have been part of the editorial team of depechemode.de. I also contribute interviews to Reflections of Darkness, Peek-A-Boo Magazine and Kaput Mag. I maintain a close connection to Mute Records artists and have also supported releases on Very Records. I am proud to collaborate with Side-Line Magazine, where I regularly publish interviews and features.

Genre/Influences: Indie-pop, pop-rock.

Background/Info: Plas hails from the North-West of England.  Influences are wide ranging, including Gary Numan, David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Suede, Beck and Liam Lynch. They so far released the album “Here In This Room”, and the “Voyeur” and “Witchcraft”.

Content: “Messenger” has something pretty indie-pop like. Electronics and guitar parts create a perfect match, which has been on a few tracks empowered by breakbeat-like patterns. I also noticed a short and sphere-like instrumental song.

+ + + : I have a preference for the most dynamic cuts driven by breakbeat influences. I’m referring to the excellent title song and “This Is The World”. Globally speaking the songs are well-crafted revealing cool electro sound treatments and noticeable effects.

– – – : I sometimes get the impression Plas is still in search of a real sound identity. It feels like a sonic version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; quite indie-pop like at first sight, but also carried by breakbeats at other moments. There’s nothing wrong with diversity, but I think there’s more inside this band than what came out on “Messenger”.

Conclusion: “Messenger” reveals good ideas, but it’s not enough to speak about a fully convincing work. I’m however convinced this band can do much better as there’s really have something.

Best songs: “Messenger”, “This Is The World”, “Uniform”.

Rate: (6½).

Artist: www.plasmusic.com / www.facebook.com/plasmusic

About Plas

Plas is a project from the North-West of England, citing Gary Numan, David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Suede, Beck and Liam Lynch among its influences. Prior releases include the album “Here In This Room” and the singles “Voyeur” and “Witchcraft”, preceding “Messenger”.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com