Genre/Influences: Dark-rock, cold-wave.

Background/Info: This Canadian trio previously released an album (cf. “Polarizer”) in 2013 and a single (cf. “Fear”) in 2016. “Elegy” features three new songs featuring additional production by their compatriot Chris Peterson (OHMelectronic, FLA, Decree ao). The EP has been introduced as ‘written as a reactive, cathartic response to political discord, social ennui, love, addiction and death’.

Content: The opening song reveals a perfect mix between dark-rock and cold-wave music, which both the main influences running through the songs. The next track is a bit more cold-wave like while the last song reveals a harder approach achieved with some synth parts.

+ + + : The mix between dark-rock and cold-wave is an easy noticeable element and in a way the trademark of this band. Deep bass guitar play and carrying guitar riffs have been achieved with some electronic arrangements. I like the fast to get an EP featuring 3 different songs. My personal favorite one is “Distortion” for being the heaviest piece. The vocals feel passionate and I especially like the deep bass play.

– – – : Three songs, but not really hit here!

Conclusion: “Elegy” sounds okay, but not groundbreaking!

Best songs: “Distortion”, “Netlove”.

Rate: (6).

Artist: www.joeychaos.com / www.facebook.com/joeychaosmusic

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

Craig Huxtable (Landscape Body Machine) and Chris Peterson (Decree, Left Spine Down, Damage Control, FLA…) started a common project Öhm and released a self-titled debut album in 2013. They renamed their project into OHMelectronic and are now back on track with this new and again self-titled album released by Artoffact Records. The songs are moving from sophisticated and intelligent EBM pieces to heavy, industrial power tracks. This is what Chris and Craig have to reveal about their work.  (Picture credits @heybadgood)

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: From Öhm to OHMelectronic six years have passed, the name has changed, but the taste for electronic music seems to be intact. How do you perceive the evolution from your first album towards the new one and why did you have to change the name?

Chris: We went from a more exploratory approach on the first record, to a more focused vision on the new one. We both have wide and varied tastes in music, but with this project it is indeed very electronics focused and we’re both very passionate about that type of approach and sound. We wanted some more bite on this album, and to have less clutter so to speak, so it came together the way it did with that in mind. We also learned a fair bit from our live performances, and wrote new material that would help round out our live set and put some more energy into it. 

Craig: Chris and I will always try to do something different every record and it comes from a place of wanting to please ourselves as much as the listening audience. I don’t want to put out music that I feel has already been done, there’s not much of a point to that. We discussed a heavier album and then it evolved from there.

The name change felt natural and was something we felt necessary from a branding perspective. The more unique the name, the easier to find… and the name OHM was getting harder to distinguish from other entities using the name.

Q: You both are into music for numerous years now and have been involved with different projects. What brings OHMelectronic you maybe didn’t find into other projects and tell us a bit more about the sound you’d in mind for this project?

Chris: We compliment each other’s skill sets and have a working relationship based on mutual respect. Further to that, as with many other collaborations I take part in, we make each other better artists by learning from each other. When that stops happening you need to move on, but with Craig there is a long road ahead of us with much growth and music to be done. My time in FLA really helped me sharpen my skill-set as an electronic composer, but I stopped growing in that environment, however I really wanted to keep working on synth based music. Working with Craig, we both agreed this is very much a synth obsessed project for us and it fills a void that we see both in our music collections and our collaborations. 

Craig: I’ve spent most of my career as a solo artist with periodic collaborations, which is funny, because working alone is not my preference. It’s very hard to find people that you get on with and can work well with and that is OHMelectronic’s greatest strength. At the core is our bond and when you care about people and respect them your working relationship benefits. We both know what it’s like to work with difficult people and so it’s a relief that we meet in the middle on everything really.

Q: How did the writing of the new album happened, what has been the focal point and what makes the chemistry between both of you?

Chris: We don’t get to be in the same room as much as we’d like thanks to Craig living in Victoria and me being in Vancouver still.  When we are, we’ve become very efficient at writing and recording with very limited time. On one day we had a few hours to record vocals for 4 songs I think it was, at our friend Tom Slug’s studio space before Craig had to run off to catch the ferry back to Victoria. It was a crazy session considering we had to discuss what we wanted to capture and in one case even transplanting lyrics from one track onto another song… there was no rehearsing for him in that case, just us sorting out the timing and tone right there and then, hitting record, and that’s that. Other times like this featured me setting up some patches and such for him to bash out some keys for me, and again more than one song idea and in quick time. Besides those fun moments, the rest is sending files back and forth and lots of discussions about the direction things are going as I develop and produce the finished track. I suppose the simple way to see it is that Craig is a very good songwriter and musician, and I’m the guy that obsesses with the production and sounds, but as I’ve mentioned before we learn from each other and those distinctions get blurred as occasionally I add some melodic elements, or Craig’s ever improving production values make using what he sends me easier and I can spend less time cleaning things up or swapping things out. 

Craig: The chemistry is born out of wanting to make good music with no bullshit attached (laughs). Don’t get me wrong, Chris and I will disagree on parts and sometimes even whole songs, but we respect each other and put the music first. The best idea wins, no whining, and then we move on. I’ve been in creative situations where people refuse to back down because ‘it’s their guitar part’ or whatever and that’s when a good song can turn to shit because you’re not doing what’s best for the art itself. As soon as you start serving your own ego, it’s done. We truly enjoy working face to face in the studio and I believe that’s when the real magic happens between us creatively.

Q: There clearly is a duality running through this album; some songs are driven by sophisticated EBM influences while other songs are more into a kind of hardcore industrial style. How do you explain this sonic schizophrenia?

Chris: We are the sum of our influences added on to our original stories and perspectives. What category you find it in is of little concern to me. I guess some people would find my music collection very confusing, it’s all over the place.  With OHMelelctronic we love a good dance track, but also enjoy a blistering heavy as fuck ass kicker or an atmospheric piece, etc. Considering how far technology has come along, electronic music can be so many things, just don’t expect us to bust out the guitars 😉 We’ve both been doing this for a while now and have so many different influences, that I’m sure we will continue to confuse anyone wanting to say it’s one specific thing. I like that. 

Craig: At no point during the record were we consciously trying to go this way or that way other than going for a heavier sound and simpler song writing ideas. Is it a good song? Did I make you sad? Mad? Introspective?

I think your perception of this record and how it sounds depends on where you come from. You may hear variety where others may say the songs are too similar in their approach. We are trying to carve out a new niche in a sound we’ve both been a part of for a long time and I like the challenge of finding a new twist on something you’ve done before. I would rather make people upset by trying something new rather than make a cookie cutter EBM record.

Q: The clip of “Uppercut” is quite interesting; it has something retro-like, reminding me a bit of the 80s. Is it more a kind of message or a critical perception of the world we’re living in? And what have been the other sources of inspiration for the lyrical content?

Craig: The thing with “Uppercut” is the lyrical themes are timeless really. Religion where it intersects with power and money has been going on for thousands of years. My lyrics may appear topical, but I’m inspired as much by history as I am the present. I think things are pretty bad in world politics today but then again I thought they were pretty bad in the 80’s too… the more things change the more they stay the same I suppose.

Behind all of the topical lyrics is my own personal themes that I am working through. My first marriage was long, manipulative and abusive so I find when I listen back to songs like “With” or “Disarmed” I’m still working some of those things out.

Q: I noticed you’ll play the next Infest-festival (UK), which is an opportunity to see you on stage in Europe. How does OHMelectronic on stage looks like and how do you transpose the original song edits into live versions?  

Chris: For now we’re not really getting into changing the arrangements in any significant way as we are doing limited time slots that don’t allow for adding extra verses/choruses and such. We both have keyboard setups, and hope to have a live drummer down the road as well, but as it is right now, we have to keep things very streamlined to be able to travel for these shows. I like to keep busy up there and always engaged, as does Craig. Both of us really enjoy performing and our setups let us add a lot of feel to the tracks and add new elements. The keyboards get a good workout, and much like my home studio, it’s a small setup but I get a lot out of it. If you want to see the traveling fetish circus with all the bells whips and whistles, featuring a bunch of people doing shit in costumes or on stilts, that’s not us 😉  If you want to see two guys that love what they’re doing, playing their asses off, come see us and be sure to say hi. 

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: EBM, industrial.

Background/Info: Craig Huxtable (Landscape Body Machine) and Chris Peterson (Decree, Left Spine Down, Damage Control, FLA…) started a common project Öhm and released a self-titled debut album in 2013. They renamed their project into OHMelectronic and are now back on track with this new and again self-titled album featuring nine songs.  

Content: Both debut songs were previously released as digital singles. They also show the sound and influences from the duo. “Uppercut” is a well-crafted and sophisticated piece of EBM, which might remind you of Frontline Assembly while “Everything Is Gone” is pure industrial-rock power, which might appeal to Ministry fans. The other tracks are switching from EBM to industrial. Craig Huxtable’s vocals are perfectly matching with the sound; now spookier, EBM driven and then shouting like an enraged animal.

+ + + : I already like the album by Öhm and even if OHMelectronic is a little bit different, you easily recognize the intelligent sound treatments. There’s a kind of duality running through the work, but it creates an exciting diversity. I’m more into the EBM-driven cuts and songs like “Uppercut”, “With” and “Decline” which are  sensational. But the hardcore industrial power emerging from “Everything Is Gone” and “Undone” is quite cool as well. The production is fully accomplished with efficient sound treatments and a great vocals production.

– – – : I don’t have anything against the diversity or duality running through the work, but it’s somewhat surprising; a bit like a band exorcising different influences. It has something schizophrenic… but it’s a great sonic madness! My single regret is that there are no more songs featured here.

Conclusion: OHMelectronic is mixing intelligent EBM and merciless hardcore industrial; it’s a mind-blowing experience!

Best songs: “Uppercut”, “Decline”, “With”, “Everything Is Gone”.

Rate: (8½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/OHMelectronic

Label: www.artoffact.com / www.facebook.com/artoffact

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

Vancouver electronic music pioneers Craig Joseph Huxtable (Landscape Body Machine, Noise Unit) and Chris Peterson (Front Line Assembly, Decree, Delerium) return with a brand new album and a brand new incarnation on Artoffact Records: OHMelectronic. The album is the follow-up of their debut album “Ohm” and follows the release the single “Everything is Gone” featuring Galen Waling (Lords of Acid, PIG) on drums.

Note that the artwork for their new features the work of legendary Canadian album artist Simon Paul (Universal, SUBcon).

The album is out tomorrow, but you can now listen to an exclusive preview of the full album on Side-Line! You can order the release as a download and CD straight from Bandcamp!

OHMelectronic will be playing at this year’s Infest festival in Bradford, UK August 23-25. This show is currently slated to be OHMelectronic’s only UK show for 2019.

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.

side-line.com

The fine Toronto based label Artoffact Record has launched a massive merch sale on Bandcamp. Most CDs available are priced only $5 while you are able to get a ton of vinyl for just $10. The merch sale also includes reduced prices on 2LPs, test pressings, and more.

Here’s the link to the merch sale itself. Have a great hunt!

Included in the offer you’ll find releases by Legend, Cyberaktif, Front Line Assembly, Decree, Actors, Brave New Waves, Images in Vogue and many many more.

Each physical sale comes with a digital download as well, so you are in for a double treat!

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.

side-line.com

Excellent news for the Decree fans worldwide. The fine Canadian label Artoffact Records is reissuing all 3 Decree album on vinyl (and CD in the case of “Wake of devastation” with an extra bonus track). Decree is a Canadian industrial band from Vancouver that was founded by Chris Peterson and John McRae in 1991.

Here’s the list of re-releases.

Decree – “Fateless”

“Fateless” was the 3rd and latest album from the Canadian industrial outfit Decree, released in 2011 by Artofact Records. On this record the band put the electric guitars more prominently in their sound and also added live drums for a sound more rooted in rock or metal. You can order this album on red vinyl directly from the labels mailorder service.

Decree – “Moment of silence”

The band’s second album is the 2004 released “Moment of silence” which sees a re-release now on blue vinyl. The album surfaced after nearly a decade of total studio silence while Chris Peterson contributed to Front Line Assembly and Delerium albums and live duties. You can order this album on blue vinyl directly from the labels mailorder service.

Decree – “Wake of Devastation”

The debut album “Wake of Devastation”, which gets re-released on CD and clear vinyl, was originally released in 1997 on the now-defunct Decibel and Off Beat labels. The debut album from Decree was masterminded by Front Line Assembly and Delerium contributor Chris Peterson, along with Jeff Stoddard and John McRae. The Decree debut has been out of print for well over a decade but is being reissued now, remastered and with a previously unreleased bonus track. You can order this album on frosted clear vinyl directly from the labels mailorder service or on CD of course.

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.

side-line.com

I last year discovered Damage Control by the successful debut full length “Ultranoia”, which is a real masterpiece revealing intelligent and sophisticated electronics. Set up by Australian core members Bill Barsby and Damian Davis they got joined by Markus App (Germany) and Jason Podmore (UK). “Ultranoia” became one of my personal favorite albums of 2017 so I get in touch with Bill and Damian to ask them a few questions. And they had a lot to say…

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: I get the impression Damage Control is a project driven by a few core members joined by extra musicians who can join in and go whenever they want. Is that right and can you tell us a bit more about the background of Damage Control, the concept and the coordination?

Bill: At the project’s core at all times you will find Damian Davis and myself. Markus App has also been a part of the inner core of the band, he’s still involved, but more on a casual basis these days. I’m glad we did some music with Jason Podmore, an old friend of mine in the UK. New members are Richard Thacker and Craig Saunders. Richard has been involved with synth jams we had over the years and is a talented guitarist and sound designer. Craig joins us from Sydney industrial band Novakill. Craig is a great programmer and percussionist and is driven by similar influences to us with his approach to music production.

The core line up for the new album “Oblivion Grid” is now Bill, Damian, Richard and Craig. We also owe a lot to Craig Huxtable and Chris Peterson from Ohm along with Claus Larsen from Leather Strip. This collective effort and push to get things done helped get our debut release “Ultranoia” off the ground.

I’m always looking to forge new musical relationships with people on the same or a similar page to us. I can’t imagine any other people in the world I’d trust our mix and masters with than Chris and Greg Reely. It feels to me like Craig Huxtable and Chris are in the band too. We will always try to collaborate with them creatively on tracks as and when schedules allow. We collaborated with Ohm on a few tracks on “Ultranoia” and they have performed “City Of Ruins” in Germany and Canada in their live sets. I’m happy to have such a great team of talented and nice people around me (albeit dotted around the world).

I can reveal exclusively to Side Line a new Remix-EP of tracks from “Ultranoia” is well underway called “Hypernoia – The Remixes”. We are currently collaborating with Brian Bothwell of old-school industrial legends Manufacture on this project we are excited to confirm. This will be released later in the year.

An album of new material called “Oblivion Grid” which is half written and sounding epic to us so far is well underway, featuring the solid new line up. We expect to release that album in 2019. We have began collaborating with other artists in Germany, Slovakia and the US who are new to Damage Control. These guys have excellent track records for industrial music. Watch this space for more details on that. I’m excited that Chris Peterson and Greg Reely are on board for mixing and mastering on both “Hypernoia” and “Oblivion Grid”.

Please keep an eye on our website www.damagecontrolofficial.com and Facebook page www.facebook.com/damagecontrol for updates.

We are so very appreciative and thankful to all the cool folk around the world who have supported us with purchases of “Ultranoia” and the positive reviews we have received. Your support means a lot to us. It makes a huge difference to help kick start the next writing and recording project for Damage Control. We cannot thank Side-Line/inferno Sound Diaries enough for their excellent review of “Ultranoia” and it polling at number 13 in the top 25 reviewed releases of 2017 by Side Line Reviews! Thanks for your 9/10 review!!!

In regards to the concept and the co-ordination of the project, being a music technology, gear head, and huge music fan along with my fellow artists in this project, over the years we have always been determined to create something we like ourselves. We have tried various real-time recording technologies, but have found the perfect workflow for us is to simply use dropbox and exchange audio multi tracks (stems) and use a google calendar to help keep organized with who is working on what and when, and what the deadline is. This also of course addresses the time difference issue. I very much push this agenda from the ground up and start mini projects with each member, and collaborator and that can take on a life of its own and go in any direction without creative boundaries other than making sure we have a central vibe and sound people can identify with Damage Control’s music.

With a lot of material we can pick and choose what works together to make a cohesive sounding release. It’s very important to me that everyone is enjoying themselves when working on a record and that it does not feel like a chore or for anyone to feel trapped creatively at any point. We are pretty free form with how we work. This allows for great creative accidents and collaborations to mutate naturally. A collective pool of individual creative strengths working together to achieve something great is the goal. It’s also good to have disagreements in creative direction at times so the compromise can make for interesting results. This to me gives a certain kind of tension and unpredictability to the music in how it flows together and hopefully makes for an interesting and varied listen.

Knowing Chris Peterson will be producing us requires everyone to bring their A game so we are all of course motivated by that too. Chris helps us make important decisions in the writing process and we have a good laugh along the way with analogies of a track and its mix at times. It’s certainly not a project for the easily butt hurt! You have to have a good sense of humour with all this. I would like to mention how two talented friends of mine here in Melbourne have had an impact on the image of Damage Control’s “Ultranoia”. Adam Verspaget (Photography) and Roberto Massaglia (CD Design and artwork).

Q: I can imagine it’s not that easy to accomplish a full length album featuring multiple members. How did the writing and recording of “Ultranoia” happen and what has been the input of each member?

Bill: Well that was an interesting rollercoaster ride to get the thing off the ground! It was a struggle at times although it had its moments of excitement, fun skype conferences, and brainstorming. My challenge was to work with everyone individually to focus on their strengths and come up with solutions for the recording process and workflow, something Mitrefinch TMS helped us with. Dealing with different opinions on how things should be done, and finding a common ground and plan of action. The brief was to make something cool and then bring it all together through trial and error and finding the right creative path to tread and people to work with. What I love about working with a few like minded people is when you hit a brick wall with an idea, someone else picks up the ball and runs with it and then comes back to the with a fresh and new inspiring perspective on a track which reignites the creative process. This keeps things moving forward.

The standard has to be high or why bother is my motto. I think collectively we made something really cool that achieved its sound by our individual differences. That was an interesting point you picked up on in your review last year. The song lyrics themselves are often derived from Damian’s interpretation of my stories, fact or fiction and his. It’s always a fun part of it to brain storm the lyrical ideas and set the scene for the track. Damian is very talented in this area we feel. He usually hits the spot for what we had in mind for the vibe and the delivery. We focus on painful world affairs and the unpleasant realities of what’s going on in the world. I often come up with the concept and the idea and then we flesh it out until the song unfolds. Damian just goes for it with the lyrics and vocal delivery and I will edit the results until I’m happy and then go back to him with suggested fine tuning. Other times he just nails it straight away. It was awesome working with Craig Huxtable and Markus App on the tracks they sung on.

With us coming from different countries and cultures, it mixes things up nicely and keeps it interesting for us. In the spirit of keeping the international collaborative approach to how we make music, we are now working with other artists in other countries including Slovakia.

As far as the input of each member on “Ultranoia” goes, to highlight individual strengths and our approach with that project. I like to drum program and experiment with a lot of synths including the rare vintage collection at the Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio and to bring interesting rhythms, sounds and vibes to an idea, ambient drones and pads are also my thing. I’m fussy about the signal flow and sonic flavours different equipment brings. I often re-record other people in the band’s midi through high-end hardware synths like Moog, Doepfer and Oberheim, DSI etc.

Markus was always good at arranging and some of the melody along with great programming and sound design in the software world such as Omnisphere but I think it’s safe to say Damian is our melody man, vocal meister and bass are also strengths and atmospheric pads. He also collects hardware synths and vintage samplers like myself. Jason and I used to like messing around with weird samples and Damian too to try and have something sublime in there that might mess with your head when you’re listening in the dark by candle light.

Craig Huxtable I believe recorded his vocals for “City Of Ruins” in a van if my memory serves me correctly as not to upset his neighbours in Victoria, BC, Canada where he lives. I think he was able to record “Trauma” at home as that one’s a little less angry! Having Markus sing in German on the track “Angst” was also a highlight and with Ohm taking care of a lot of the music on that one. This was intended to be a remix so that was a happy accident how that one turned out.

Damian: Yes, I agree that accomplishing this album had challenges, having multiple members. It was a blessing as well as a trial. There was so much to gain from having a few extra sets of ears, which were willing to put their money where their mouth was. This is crucial this fact, because there is only so much external opinion and advice a musical outfit can tolerate and absorb. I often drew parallels to the trials and tribulations of The Beatles, where too many cooks could spoil the home-brew. But in the linear fashion of Exporting Stem tracks to each other, cyclically, the music could do round-robin and end up sounding soul-less, or it could build a serious shit-load of power. It was hit-and-miss really. But we could always revert to the original stem package at any stage of the way. Bill’s mastery at co-ordinating this, at certain times, ’world-circus’, was nothing to be envied, and yet totally astonished with.

Q: Right now you’re in between 2 albums so how do you look back at “Ultranoia” and what can you already reveal about “Oblivion Grid”? What will be the main differences and sound evolution?

Bill: It’s nice to reflect on “Ultranoia” being well received so far, the effort to create our debut and find our sound has been very rewarding on all fronts.

For “Oblivion Grid” Markus, Craig, Damian and myself have had a good push to write new material and it’s going well. Richard has started adding to our demos and we are reworking some older stuff we did not finish from years ago with the Oberheim Xpander classic old synth from the 80’s. You will also soon have a sneak preview of the new remixed version of “Ultranoia” we are calling “Hypernoia  The Remixes” which debut’s Craig Saunders and Richard Thacker to Damage Control. It’s great to have Craig and Richard on board who bring diverse skills with a common ground to what we are doing. I would say that so far, the new material for “Oblivion Grid” is sounding very much like a fine-tuned evolved version of us. There might be more guitars on this one and some new vocalist talent. We have some awesome new songs shaping up. The collaborations we currently have lined up with VIP remixers for this album, we are pretty excited about. We look forward to revealing more about that as it happens with the future releases.

Damian: Well, interestingly, I think that “Hypernoia”, our remix collection, is one way of us to reflect on our efforts with “Ultranoia” in a very hands-on way. We can see where things could easily travel in a direction that could lose the momentum and impact, that a brand new album would have. So “Hypernoia” is a release for us, that deals with this possible issue very elegantly. In the early days of Depeche Mode, sonic variation was critical from album to album, and a deep obsession with technical and musical change was vital for the band to move forward on. I feel that this may be a path we could travel, and it would be remiss of us to settle on a ‘winning formula’ if we refused to experiment with sound. “Oblivion Grid” shows such promise, and I’m sure the final sound will impress us, and all who hear it.

Q: On “Ultranoia” I felt a real strong concern about sound creation. Damage Control sounds not like a band using ‘cheap’ preset sounds, but musicians with a real quest to find unique sounds! What is the sound creation and -approach of Damage Control all about?

Bill: It’s great people have noticed this aspect of what we do. The band is made up of engineers as well as musicians, we believe in experimenting with many combinations of analogue and digital hardware vintage and current. I like nice pre amps and high-end effects. I am part of the team who represent MOOG, Novation, Teenage Engineering and Elektron in Australia.  I am lucky to have access to all of these wonderful synthesizers. We also dabble in a small amount of software we believe to be the best after a lot of trial and error. We generally find ourselves preferring to work with hardware synths again. The machines have a soul of their own. We are using a Kemper profiler on guitars for “Oblivion Grid” so going back to hardware again there too. An extremely cool and unique technology for guitar amp and effect solutions with all the realism you want from actual guitar amps as apposed to regular amp modelling in software. Software is however, awesome in context to certain things. I heard the excellent recent Gary Numan album “Savage” only uses software and I know Gary is a big fan of Omnisphere. It’s just a question of preference and what inspires you. The more sonic colours in the mixing pallet, the better as far as I’m concerned.

Between us we have a pretty large collection of gear and with access to the vintage rare collection of synths at The Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio, this gives us a point of difference. We make the effort to do something interesting rather than just reaching for a plug-in. We do that too, but usually to replay field recordings or sound libraries we have resampled into the computer from older samplers. Damian and I have both been enjoying the Emu Emulator V Sampler with the Z Plane filters from the 90’s in recent times. I grabbed a Proteus 2000 and Morpheus from eBay too for ‘Oblivion Grid’ sessions. I used the EMS VCS3 Putney on “Ultranoia” and a lot of my recordings of that old beast from 1969 are being used on “Oblivion Grid”. That synth is an important part of our sound. We have an interesting and very cool synth community in Australia with access to the M.E.S.S. as I mentioned. https://mess.foundation/

Damian: Yes, I’m amazed at how finely tuned ears, which are used to hearing a lot of this style of music, can aptly spot any differences in sound design (be it digital/analogue/found-sound/acoustic/preset/original). Whether this be true, or whether reviewers can sense that musicians are also in it for the sonic discovery, is a true talent. The one thing I can’t do without, is instant access to a device that samples your voice, and can do immediate manipulations, all without booting a computer. There is no creative killer worse than feeling compelled to check your emails, just as you get a musical idea in your head. Some bands who use laptops seem to be doing this onstage, and seriously, who could tell otherwise? Original sound creation is VITAL in this preset-soaked era. I would shudder and wince if I heard a preset on a recording, that I would possibly ever regret using. If the project called for that type of sound, yeah then great, but for this project, there is no compromise.

One great thing about some types of hardware, and outboard gear, is that they are either too rare to clone virtually or mass produce Behringer-style, or they can have presets made on them, that can’t be replicated easily any other way. I personally feel that the approach of Damage Control is a mix of discrete sonic-design, and blatant outright gear endorsements and plugging. You can’t maintain a mystique for too long, whereby people aren’t inquisitive about what you use to write your music. It’s electronic. We aren’t pioneers. There’s no hocus-pocus voodoo to that…lol. It’s about finding a combined spirit of adventure and a social, emotional, mental release of personal takes on world problems and issues.

Q: The mixing and mastering of an album is such an important aspect, which I think is sometimes neglected by bands. I can imagine that’s the reason why you worked with Chris Peterson and Greg Reely? Tell us a bit more about this aspect?

Bill: The huge difference it made to us having Chris Peterson on board as a producer. I thank Craig Huxtable for helping to make that happen and that also led to having Greg Reely involved with final sonic details. I have been a fan of Chris’s work as an artist and mixing engineer with Decree, Frontline Assembly, Noise Unit, Delerium, Equinox, Intermix, Ohm etc for decades so to be able to just say to him ‘please do your thing’ rather than to a different producer where we would be saying ‘please do it like this Chris Peterson guy does on these records’ that makes a massive difference to me. Chris doesn’t just mix and master Damage Control tracks, he pours his heart and soul into the project. As I’ve mentioned before, we consider him a member. I have a good rapport with Chris and we get along as friends, which makes it a fun project to work on for him as well as us. He takes our music where we need it to go.

It was also fantastic to collaborate with Claus Larsen from Leather Strip on the mixing of “Hate Crime” in which he added the samples to and nailed a fine remix of that track also. We have had success in clubs with “Hate Crime”. It’s been an awesome learning process for Damage Control and gotten the project off the ground. The album is a mixed bag of styles we like. To anyone reading this, please check us out if you have not already.

Damian: A big part of pursuing this project, was to encapsulate a particular sound that all of us pretty much grew up with. As Bill states, our relationship with Greg and Chris, extends to utilizing these guys as members of the band, as their fingerprint on the final sound is vital to our cause. Otherwise, we would have floundered along with leagues of other acts, who shun, or are ignorant to the power of experience provided by these geniuses, and other such super talents we collaborate with along our journey.

Q: You guys are experienced musicians who’re into music for years now so what does Damage Control mean to you and how do you see this project evolving during the next few years?

Bill: Well we know what we like and how we like it done. We also need to make sure everyone working on the project is having fun. To me Damage Control represents therapy using Cubase and creating an outlet for creativity and collaboration. To be releasing musical outcomes of sonic experiments and compositions that turn out good enough that we like it ourselves while keeping standards high. I know I can speak for all of us; we are long time fans of electronic music, industrial, goth and post punk kind of stuff and a bit eclectic across the board too. We hope to play some one off shows from time to time when possible. It would be nice to play WGT but for now we are a studio project. We will see what happens. Making good records and enjoying the process of making them is the number one priority for us.

Thank you for the interview and your support. It’s very much appreciated and we love Side-Line!

Damian: I want to get to the difficult third album stage, and destroy that cliché once and for all… Haha, but seriously, I believe that no matter what fate may bring to the Damage Control viking table, music will still exist in our hearts. I would love to perform live again, but we shall see what the future brings for us. Thank you for your amazing level of support for us, and I fully appreciate the time you have spent with us on this interview. Cheers.

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: EBM.

Background/Info: “Ultranoia” is the debut album of Damage Control. Set up by Australian artists Bill Barsby and Damian Davis plus Markus App (Germany) and Jason Podmore (UK), we might speak about an international collective. The album got mixed and mastered by Chris Peterson (FLA, Will, Noise Unit, Öhm, Decree ao).

Content: Damage Control sounds inspired by EBM. It’s not the hard-core EBM approach, but an intelligent and sophisticated composition, which might remind you of bands such as In Strict Confidence, Skinny Puppy and Portion Control. There’s a real fascinating mix, which is maybe due to the different origins of the band members.

“Ultranoia” is mixing danceable- and powerful cuts together with more evasive and somewhat soundtrack-orientated songs. The vocals are passionate and in total harmony with the dark sound creation.

The final song is a remix by Leather Strip.

+ + + : Damage Control didn’t spare any effort to accomplish a real masterpiece. The songs are intelligent and well-crafted, but still revealing a mature and outstanding production. The mixing of Chris Peterson is for an important aspect here. The songs mix power and a great sound creation plus appropriated vocals. But “Ultranoia” is not only a technically outstanding album, but also feature many terrific songs. The sound of Damage Control also inspired Claus Larsen who made a great remix of “Hate Crime”.

– – – : I don’t see any negative point! “Ultranoia” is maybe not the most accessible EBM format, but EBM is much more than simple 4×4 structures!

Conclusion: Damage Control took me by surprise. This band has accomplished a         real masterpiece, which will be for sure become one of my favorite EBM albums of 2017. Respect guys!

Best songs: “Reasons”, “Hate Crime”, “Ruined”, “World In Decline”, “Trauma”, “Hate Crime – Leather Strip Remix”.

Rate: (9).

Band: www.damagecontrolofficial.com / www.facebook.com/damagecontrol

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