MUSICZEIT HAMPSHIRE JAM 9 Saturday 13th November 2010 13.30 Doors Open 14.30 Stephan Whitlan 16.00 Ron Boots & Friends 17.15 Break 19.30 The Ωmega Syndicate 21.00 Redshift (all timings approximate)

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Interviewed by Graham Getty, Sept 2010... How are things in Ireland? Well, hanging on by the fingernails really! Been out of work for nearly 3 years now, and with the economic slump still not bottomed-out, there seems little chance of there being a construction industry to re-enter for at least another 2-3 years. The benefits system here is fairly supportive but not, I think, at a sustainable level so it will all come crashing down soon. So I've been looking at moving back to the UK to work full-time as a pipe organ builder/designer etc for one of the “big four” English firms. This, if it comes off, would have me in Durham, Malvern or Northampton - so a bit more “connected” than I have been these last few years. I still love the peace & quiet of Ireland, but I have to survive somehow! What sort of feedback have you had with your latest album ‘Triangulation’? Frankly, almost none. The few reviews that have surfaced have merely echoed the press-release I wrote. I've said before that as an artist, this sort of thing is no help at all. Honest reviews are of much more value (so you know what NOT to do again!) but I can see that distributors need to say a CD is “the next big thing...” if 2 • Hampshire Jam 9

they are going to shift any units at all. I have only supplied stock to 2 outlets and, as yet, it is not available as a download. I will release it to MusicZeit asap in order to see if it “flies”. I worked hard on ‘Triangulation’ to not re-tread familiar musical paths, and tried to concentrate on musical development within tracks rather than the usual 'Tubular Bells' loop-repeatoverdub routine. I also gave a lot of thought to the overall shape of the whole CD, so that it is a (significant) journey from start to finish. I am aware however that much of this goes un-noticed when you can just download one track - and maybe the music loses something once you strip away the context. Any new albums on the horizon? No, since the last one hasn't gone anywhere! It sets me thinking that I should either go back to the beginning & just churn out the same old stuff, or just give it all up as a dead loss! I've never released music in order to make money, but it is much harder these days to make any sort of impact. I blame all that music software out there that turns any moron into Mike Oldfied with almost no effort - and then the ease of putting the (probably awful) product out there in the marketplace. There is a slim chance that I might finally release the “long-lost” second album - probably only as a download - as it sounds a lot more like ‘Map Reference’ than my current stuff.

What are your memories of the last Hampshire Jam performance? That would be HJ4 as Narcosis with Steve Jenkins. A huge pile of gear, as I remember - which completely filled his living room while we rehearsed - and all very “spur of the moment” music. It was also typically “wilful” as I inverted the usual musical structure of most EM improvs: start (after the intro) with everything running full-tilt, and then slowly break it down to an atmospheric middle section, then ramp back up to the end. I was surprised that the recording (that Tony Sawford did) stood up on it's own - often live recordings lose something in the re-telling - so much so that it appeared on our Narcosis CD. I remember looking up towards the end of the piece, as I reached up for the Prophet 5 and seeing AirSculpture in the audience egging me on - and John later commenting that when I'd described the Wurlitzer overture to him, he expected some nice quiet electric piano noodling, not the full “Reg Dixon” treatment it turned out to be! Because there was so much gear (and I can't believe I got it all in my little van - it wouldn't go back in afterwards!!) I was not properly doing my usual stage managing, and still feel guilty that I wasn't helping RMI who were having a serious “technical”. A lesson learnt, I hope!

happy artists & audience. The event always looks great (Bob Kiddie has lit ALL the HJ's so far & loves doing it) and the current PA is one of the best I've heard (in terms of clarity at volume) for many years. What's your favourite memory of the HJ's? Always how chilled every one is! How informal the event is, chatting with the audience and catching up with other musicians & old friends. Needless to say the music is always fantastic, so it's hard to pick out specific '”sets”, but Redshift's HJ2 performance (which became ‘Faultline’) is burned into my cortex forever. What are your plans for the HJ9 concert? Hopefully keeping the gear to a minimum, so I don't get absorbed by it. I'm doing a “greatest hits” sort of thing with a backing tape (OK, iPod!) as it's less stressful (and gear intensive) than a big improv. As John Dyson recently suggested: we're all becoming our own “tribute bands” - so this set will see some old favourites given a superficial make-over But still the same knackered old synths (and the same old presets too!). What's your current synth setup?

You are in some ways the unsung hero of the Hampshire Jams, the on-the-day organisational back-bone. Do you enjoy the day or find it stressful?

Should be: Korg DW8000, Roland D-50, Kurzweil K2000, SCI Prophet 5 (if it's still alive), Atruria Minimoog on a PC laptop and a Nord Electro 3 - which might just replace the Kurzweil....

Provided all the prior planning is done sensibly, the day is rarely stressful. By using the same PA & Lights every year it makes things fairly painless. Some things still trip me up. Last year Mike, the PA man, set the main mixer on top of the amp racks - which was fine as he's 6 foot 5 tall, but I spotted this too late, & spent the rest of the day having to climb onto a chair to see/operate the sound desk! It seems over the years that I also have taken on the role of PA operator, which is fine as most artists self-mix, but does place an extra duty on my shoulders. I always enjoy the day - the pay-off is

Any new purchases? Yup, after many years of not adding to the collection, the Nord just had to be had: Hammond, Rhodes, Wurlitzer (piano this time!), Clavinet, CP70, Mellotron/Chamberlain, Solina all in one box - a retro boy's dream!! It's not cheap, but “sounds per pounds” its top-notch. I've also “acquired” M-Tron Pro and Virtual String Machine (both by G-Force) recently and I'm having a lot of fun with them - which is what gear should do to you. Last, but by no means least, I've just Hampshire Jam 9 • 3

downloaded (for free!) a 30 stop 2 manual virtual pipe organ - which is huge fun. I'm working out if I can sneak it into the live set somewhere..... What's your favourite synth? Still a (real, working) MiniMoog. The Prophet 5 comes a close second, but the Moog is still top of the pile! As you may know, I have had to retire my 2 “hard copies” due to their old age & infirmity, but manage to make a close (enough) approximation with the Arturia virtual. I used a new Moog Voyager “old-school” at E-Live the other year, and it's very good, but still didn't quite do all my old model D's do. I thought the extra gizmos on the “straight” Voyager were a bit of a distraction - though the new XL looks a bit more to my liking. What's your favourite album? Supertramp - ‘Crime of the Century’ / ‘Crisis what Crisis’. Elton John - ‘Madman’ / ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’. Pat Moraz - ‘I’ Mike Oldfield - ‘Hergest Ridge’ Pink Floyd - ‘Dark Side / Wish / Animals’ TD - ‘Encore / Statosfear / Cyclone’ .... you get the idea! Do you still prefer a physical product or are you warming to the media-less era? Hm, I still don't like the idea of downloading music (as a consumer). I like to have the CD in my hands - look at the pictures, read the notes etc. I know it's an increasingly “fuddy-duddy” approach, but I'm still just a material boy... As an artist - apart from the initial cost (and housing the stock) I still favour producing hard-copy CDs. I still feel that the whole package is important - and lavish a lot of thought on it. Fine if someone just wants to rip one track, but I think they are missing part of the picture. I also can't cope with the idea that all my CD's could disappear overnight when some hardware crashes - I'd be completely lost! Any new technology that’s impressed you lately? The continuing trek into esoteric areas that the hardware modular synth developers are taking. I long ago lost any interest in the latest all singing, all dancing mega workstations - too many choices, no real character. The virtual emulations of classic instruments are still improving - my chance to enjoy a CS80 or an ARP 2600 without the wallet (or space) and the aforementioned Moog & Pipe Organ. I still don't/can't/won't accept the “do it all in the box” approach, though I admit that I now could, if I HAD to. ‘Triangulation’ saw the sequencing still in the hands of an Atari (Cubase 2.0!) playing a virtual Moog on the PC, recorded onto (Garageband on the) Mac - so I've still got a way to go... What music have you been listening to recently? Actually, a bit of everything in my collection - as I have the iPod on all day on “shuffle”. So I get (once every 3 months) everything I really like in my collection. I rarely sit down these days to listen to an album all the way through - and for a while I couldn't get used to not getting the correct “next track” - but it stops me getting stuck in musical ruts. I still have a fairly slim EM library - much more trad folk, world and an enormous amount of classical Organ music. I still follow the DiN releases with interest, but actually haven't bought any where near the amount of music I used to... Any closing comments to your fans out there? Buy my CD! If you don't, there won't be another....! 4 • Hampshire Jam 9

Ron Boots & Friends Interviewed by Ian Boddy, Sept 2010... When was your first ever release? Wow, that was in the end of the 70's but it had nothing to do with EM. :-) I played in a band where we released a tape and even an LP, we were a cover band at that time who also played our own material, very 70's and 80's music like "Echo and the Bunnymen" and "The Cure". If you talk about Electronic Music then it was 1987 that I released my first cassette. From that time on I released music very regularly, first CD was in 1990 (Dreamscape). How has the scene changed over those years? Quite a lot, from the early 90's to 2000 we had a great lively scene with the big help of a radio show in Germany (Schwingungen), Belgium and here in the Netherlands but in one year all of them disappeared and we were left with the problem that we could hardly reach the people that listen to it. It has changed the scene in The Netherlands and Germany profoundly. Festivals that first had over 1000 visitors declined and now have 250 to 300 visitors. Still a healthy number but I do miss those other days :-).

Music-wise things are also changing with it being all to easy with software to make music. To many these sound alike IMHO and with the download culture these days everybody can throw it into the world. And this means that there is now an abundance of EM around. But a lot of it is of poor quality I think. Especially the recording side is very underrated. I hate MP3!! I think it is crap to be honest if you compare it to a good format. So a bad recording on MP3 is my nightmare. I really think it is destroying a lot and not only in the EM scene!! Jazz, Classical - actually every music is hurt by it. My opinion is that a regular CD is still the nicest way to get music published and if you don't want to invest in this as a musician why should a listener do it for a MP3!!. But I understand the other forms. On the live scene side I am glad there are still guys like yourself, David Wright and the guys in Germany from the Electronic Circus putting on shows. We as Groove have 2 festivals a year, in the spring (E-Day) and fall (E-Live) that still are valuable. And with the new Internet radio shows (I have my own Dreamscape radio show) we are building up a new fan base again. Lets hope we can “poke up the fire”. Hampshire Jam 9 • 5

Talk about the Morpheusz project. Why that name and why this group style? Morpheusz is born from the concerts I did with Frank Dorritke aka FD Project, a great guitar player that I met on E-Day 2009. His way of playing is just what I thought at that time my music could benefit from so I asked him to play on a track for a special CD I made for a concert I did in Bochum in a planetarium. We had a great time there and really hit it off, and as I was asked by David Wright to play in Derby that September. I asked Frank to join me and Harold (my drummer) for that gig. And so it began. The live show and the follow up CD Derby was born with a powerful sound that a lot of people liked. BUT it was still my music with the adding of Franks guitar. And after a concert we did in The Netherlands where I also invited Eric vd Heijden among others there was a sort of chemistry between our 4 that clicked. Now Morpheus is in Greek mythology the god of dreams, Morpheus has the ability to take any human form and appear in dreams. His true semblance is that of a winged daemon, imagery shared with many of his siblings. And that is where we got the name from (with the extra edition of the Z at the end). With Morpheusz we want to explore the more edgy side of Electronic Music, faster, weirder. It is really a group effort, so not a Ron Boots or Frank Dorritke style but a blend of the 4 musicians making music. Having an equal share in the process. It is more raw, more rock and roll. We love it. 6 • Hampshire Jam 9

Talk a bit about the other 3 musicians. Well Frank has been making music his whole life as far as I know, he loves Mike Oldfield and Pink Floyd and you hear that back in his music. He is a wonderful guitar player and has released about 10 solo CDs to date. He lives about an hours drive away from me in Germany but with todays fast Internet and digital recordings it is easy to work together. But the best thing about him is he is laid back, cool so to say. A great guy to be around even for a German :-) Eric vd Heijden is a friend for over 20 years and a great romantic musician. We have been making music now for so long and even with the pause of over 8 years we had now together everything is fresh but also familiar again. His musical ideas are as I describe them a mixture of Vangelis and Yanni. He is also a good keyboard player and has released up to date 3 CDs. The great thing about Eric is that we enhance each other musically. Where I am more the Rhythmic Sequencer driven musician, more harmonic He has the melodies and romantic touches and tunes. In the studio it is like a musical symbioses with him. I feel what he is going to do and the feeling is visa versa. Harold vd Heijden is the nephew of Eric and we have been playing for over 18 years now together. I think he has contributed on every album I made from 1995 on, great thing about good drummers is they have a complete different feeling of rhythm then I have. And he

is Rock steady, right on the sequence. BUT!! most of all he is my best friend!! This man has even saved my life once :-). I think he is one of the best drummer in the EM scene. And now with Morpheusz he is really coming into his own music. Where before he held back in my music because I wanted it a certain way he can now do what he wants, and he loves it. What's the difference in playing live solo and in a group format? Well I never played really solo in the last 10 years, there was always at least Harold! But with Morpheusz there is a dynamic that you only get in a group, you fire each other up so to say. The way we work is that there is a minor backing from a sequencer that I can change in tempo and there is the Schrittmacher with its hardware synths that gives me total control over a song. As I don't have to play so many parts now I can really indulge myself in the sequencing stuff. I love that. And it gives us the freedom to sculpt a song live that can be different each time. That makes it exciting!! No gig is the same. Is the EM scene in the Netherlands the same or different to the UK? I think in general it is the same, we have a lot of customers from the UK with Groove and they buy basically the same music. Great thing you have in the UK is the amount of performing bands. ARC, Redshift, Air Sculpture, RMI, Code Indigo etc etc great names to have on stage and I know this first hand because at least 2 times a year we have a UK band play on E-Live and E-Day. You guys have a great amount of musicians that really go for quality!! I love that. What has always struck me as odd is that Tangerine Dream seems to draw a 3000+ crowed but the festivals you guys put on have trouble getting enough people in. If you could only tap into these resource you would have a lively scene. Mind you I still see the UK as one of the cornerstones of todays EM scene!!

Talk a bit about your favourite instruments - even if you don't own them. The thing is that I am not as big a Synth nerd as many think I am. I love the Moog sound and the playability of todays Moog Voyagers, I love Clavia Nords, and Access Viruses, but also The Roland D50 and the Wavestation by Korg. I think if I had to choose them at this stage the Korg Wavestation, Nord Wave or the new Korg M3 would come on the desert Island (although there would be no power). But to be honest I had many many synths over the years and there are still about 30 hardware pieces in the studio but I also like the software side of syntheses. VST's like Omnisphere, Stylus, Arturia etc are also great fun to use and they do sound awesome. I would say my most important tools in the studio is my mix setup. A digital Mixing board with over 100 inputs. Lots of FX processors and outboard like compressors and EQ's, that combined with the synths soft and hard make it a joy to work in my studio. I don't see myself first of all as a musician but as a sound sculpture. That is why I also like to get involved in all kinds of other projects. I produce other bands (not just EM but from classical to Hip hop) and make film music for a few small film companies in the Netherlands.The song "Music is my first love" has been written with me in mind. And I love the live gigs, they are essential to me for the energy they give me and the challenge I get from them. What I would love to do is transform with Morpheusz to a wider audience, dive into the rock world again. Get gigs on Gothic and Progrock festivals, I am sure we would fit there. That said I still love to switch on the sequencers and go for an hour long sequencer frenzy to. Or just take my Wavestation and my Nord Electro and go for the quite ambient road. I have a 7 year old son called Dylan who loves to join in an ambient piece with a synth. The other 2 kids I have don't have the music making gene but he has it!! Even having his first guitar lessons now so who knows, he could be a nice edition to Frank in 10 years Ha!! I hope you all will come and join us on the 13th, and believe me we will rock the house. And we hope you

Hampshire Jam 9 • 7

Interviewed by Ian Boddy, Oct 2010... How did The Omega Syndicate start? David Gurr & Xan Alexander started working together in 2002 but in an effort to expand the band further, they encouraged other musicians to join a “syndicate” in which members would pop in & out when they were available, such members have included such luminaries as 80’s Synth Veteran, Steve Frost, Javi Canovas & Paul Nagle as well as Michael Daniel & New Zealand recording artist Russell Storey. Tonight’s show will feature Dave & Xan alongside two of the syndicate’s most established members, Rob Clynes (who’s guitar was all over “Apocalypse”) & John Sherwood (who has played on over half of their live performances) Xan: I came back from work one night and my mum told me that Colin Jordan (of Kinetik) had phoned and asked me to do him a huge favour by taking Dave to London to video Kinetik's performance at Electrofest, to which I replied of course, no problem. Dave called me the same night and said he would be at Jodrell Bank for the FSP gig, so we could meet up and finalise details for

8 • Hampshire Jam 9

the trip. People talk of life changing moments, well, this was mine. Dave: As we chatted on the way to & from the show, I realised that we both had a lot of the same views on music & as a result I invited him to my house for a weekend to have a jam. It was only going to be a bit of fun, but the fun never seemed to stop, so eight years later, & with a good few extra members, we’re still here. Rob: Dave and Xan had been making music as The Syndicate for quite a while before I got involved, and in fairness they still do a considerable amount without me and in collaboration with other like minded musicians. However, my involvement with Dave goes back 25 years when we played in a band together during our college years. I bumped into Dave in the virtual world while looking at EM on various websites and just sort of fell into The Syndicate from there. John: The Syndicate was already in existence before I became involved with it. I had seen them live at the NSC Leicester and was impressed with their style. I've done several gigs with them, mostly in churches, it must mean something.

Is this the biggest audience you’ve played to?

How do you feel about going on before Redshift?

Dave: With this band? Yeah! Although it’s not the biggest crowd I’ve performed in front of personally, in 1977 I played at the Royal Albert Hall… that bit sounds great until I finish the sentence… in a brass band, on Tuba.

John: It drives me/us to raise the bar, make a special effort to impress the audience. We would do that anyway, but this just adds the spice to it. Hopefully they will be persuaded to buy some of our CD's, which will be available at the venue.

John: Yes and probably the most critical as well. I've not done more than 50 before, albeit in my solo project guise (4m33s). At Awakenings (in Burton-on-Trent) we usually get 30-40 in the audience, but of course that's 5-6 times a year, whereas HJ is just the once.

Rob: I have to admit that I have heard very little of Redshift’s music. I know, from what Dave and various others have told me, that they are extremely big in the EM scene but my own knowledge of them is somewhat limited to Mark Shreeve’s solo material. I've just about worn out my copy of Legion, it's one of my all time favourites. So how do I feel? Well honoured to be on before them and hoping that the crowd appreciate the difference in our styles of EM.

Xan: This will be the biggest audience I've played to. Up to this point the largest attendance was at our debut gig at the NSC in 2004, which incidentally will be six years to the day of our HJ performance. It’s a great opportunity to reach a new audience of people who may not of heard us before. Rob: Played for around 200 people in a pub beer garden a couple of years ago as part of a tribute for friend who had died. I guess the largest before that would be around 150 people as part of a very short lived stint with a Manchester based Indie band back in the 90's.

Dave: Very humble & honoured, I’ve loved Mark’s stuff since day one & we’ve known each other for many years (I get a Christmas card every year from him with a witty message inside) & he shocked the hell out of us when he turned up to watch our debut gig at the NSC in Leicester, I know they’re going to blow us away with that “monster” at the back on the hall, but that doesn’t mean we have to make it easy for them. Hampshire Jam 9 • 9

Xan: It's a surreal experience for me. I have been a big fan of Mark's music for many years and I never guessed we'd be supporting the mighty Redshift.

You don’t come across as typical ‘Berlin School’ - no modular synths. Is there a reason for this?

You’ve played in Liphook before haven’t you? Rob: No... but looking forward to it. Dave: Several times although it’s never been on a Saturday. The Hampshire Jam “Jam” came about as a way of relieving the boredom for those who travelled down the night before & found that Liphook has very little for non-drinking anoraks like myself, so Jez Creek started the “Jam” so that the minor-league players (which we still consider ourselves to be) could have a go at playing there as well, I think Jez has something up his sleeve for this year which we are also planning to take part in, so check the usual places for details & get yourselves there. John: Yes, I've played at all the Hampshire Jam “Jam's” - me, Dave, and Xan have been the opening segment each time. This is an event on the Friday before the HJ, I would recommend anyone in the area to come along. Xan: The Jam's were fun and great experience. Last year in the absence of a “jam” we put on our own event at the Village Hall which was fun.

Dave: Lack of funds, I had a Digisound in the 80’s but it was bulky & prone to wandering about pitchwise, I have a few Moog synths in the studio so I can get the fat sound if I require it, but as much as I love that “classic” Tangerine Dream sound, I haven’t really used it much for our stuff. That’s probably why I like Radio Massacre International so much, they never sounded like Tangerine Dream, they sounded like Radio Massacre International. Xan: We don't see ourselves as a BS band, if anything we prefer to be compared with early 80's TD (the Schmoelling period). But I’d like to think that we have our own identity, with a sound that people recognise as us. John: I haven't noticed Tangerine Dream using modulars for decades either, but then they aren't Berlin School any more either. The Syndicate do use sequencers and so on, so yes, it is a Berlin School genre, we're just not as upfront with it. We do own modulars, but choose not to risk them on the road, those things are really studio gear, taking them on the road is asking for trouble. Same with Mellotrons etc.

Dave: And Expensive!

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Rob: I play guitar, (well that's what I tell everyone & so far they keep falling for it), and although I like messing around with synths I always return to guitars. That said, if I win the lottery then I have a very comprehensive acquisitions list mapped out. Do you have any plans for future projects? Dave: I would like to play live with C.H.A.O.S again (since 1993, we’ve played live once) & perhaps get some of my solo work out there as well as work I did with other bands I’m still with & have been with. However, I would really love to have Mark (Shreeve) on an Omega track with a sequence on that massive Moog. (but I’d be too scared to ask him in person, so if you’re reading this Mark?) Xan: To work on some more solo stuff and a couple of collaborations.

Rob: I have some solo ideas that I keep working on that are far more Prog than EM I just haven't been brave enough to let anyone have a proper hear of them yet. I think summer 2011 will be the time for them to come out. Other than that I hope that we can find some time to do some studio work in the near future. John: I know that Dave is putting together an Omega live box set, which I would encourage people to snap up as soon as possible, since there won't be many of them, so a big rarity value. On a personal level, my solo project 4m33s will be releasing two more double albums in the near future, parts 3 and 4 of The Ritual 'Trilogy'. I'm working on these at the moment. The label Ambientlive has just released its 100th album, so still going strong, there's a whole depth of interesting material there, including compilations featuring exclusive Omega tracks. Take a visit to www.ambientlive.com

to: Phil Booth Hampshire Jam 9 • 11

Mark Shreeve interviewed by Graham Getty, October 2010... So, what have you been up to lately? Same old thing really , trying to create music, record it it etc... Either I do that or I go back to working in an architects office which is highly unlikely. I was rubbish at it the first time round. What are your memories of the last Hampshire Jam performance? I suppose the memory that really stands out is the mechanical failure with one of my sequencers during the sound-check. The other one still worked OK but losing one has a greater than 50% effect on the complexity of the patterns you can create. What is important is the way they interact with each other, and we lost that ability that night. To my ears the sequencer lines then sounded a little lacking in depth, but we survived. How did the recent trip to the US go with Ian as ARC? Very well. But very tiring, though age may have had a hand there. It was organised by Chuck van Zyl who is a true gentlemen, he even managed to stay cool and calm in the face of Boddy's incessant whinging. Everyone there was so helpful and friendly, we also had a wonderful place to stay and rehearse. 12 • Hampshire Jam 9

Photo: Phil Booth Also, I believe we were able to borrow every single instrument with the exception of Ian's Mac. Several people kindly entrusted us with their expensive equipment. It saved having to haul any big stuff over there. After the church gig we did one of Chuck's live radio concerts which meant finally getting to bed at about 5am after a truly surreal, but entertaining, drive through the back-streets of Philadelphia.

Do you still get as much of a kick switching on the Moog (and waiting 3 hours for it to warm up;)?

How did you find using the dotcom modular vs the Moog?

There are possibly more affordable modular systems available now than ever before. Is this good for EM?

Well, superficially they look very similar of course, but the basic operation is very different. The Moog has a totally unique way of routing master pitch and trigger signals. The Dot.Com is more like most other modulars in that respect. It just took a short while to get used to it.

In terms of encouraging people to experiment and craft sounds that cannot be achieved in any other way then of course, it's very good. What has to be avoided though is this "all analogue is good, all digital is bad" mantra that crops up. Throughout the relatively short history of synthesisers I would say that most of them are pretty awful, analogues included. Just because it is an analogue synthesiser it doesn't prevent it from sounding thin, cheap and nasty. I would rather use a quality sounding digital synthesiser than a bad analogue one.

Of course I was already familiar with the sound of the Dot.Com, Rob Jenkins used one with Redshift some years ago. Sound-wise it is obviously very different from the Moog, but I doubt if the intention was to create a clone anyway. It has it's own sound, and mercifully , it has extremely stable tuning. The one section that is identical of course, is the sequencer. Ergonomically it felt exactly like using the Moog sequencer, very reassuring.

There are certain instruments whose sound I will always adore, the Moog sound is one of them. The sheer quality and richness of the sound still inspires me in a way that no other synthesiser has ever got close to, despite some very stupid and ill-informed claims to the contrary.

I guess I'm lucky that I have the use of what, in my opinion, is the best sounding synthesiser ever. It is very difficult to get a bad sound from it, although I have managed to do just that from time to time (I feel the that bass sequencer sound I had on the track Bleed from the live album Siren was terrible, I never really got control of it, it just sounded so bland). Hampshire Jam 9 • 13

Redshift has, in my opinion, a harder and darker What would be better for the future of electronic music would be an influx of younger listeners, but how to achieve atmosphere. At least that is the intention. The arrangements tend to rise and fall more organically that? I have no idea, marketing not my thing really. compared to the more structured ARC tracks. Naturally Will you be releasing anything new at the concert? there are always areas where the two overlap, that's unavoidable. ARC music is generally easier to play live, as Not this year, though we hope that the material we play on long as I can learn it. the night (all new) will be suitable for future release. Any plans to produce any solo material again? Is James’s absence from the band temporary? I'm guessing that you are referring to the Legion/Crash Good question. The honest answer - I have no idea. He is Head/Nocturne style of music from a while back? At this still living in L.A. which obviously makes it pretty point in time the answer would have to be no, probably impossible to play live with us here, from a cost point-ofnot. I don't want to say never because things can change, view alone it's a non-starter. I still have contact with him, but at the moment I can't find any real desire to create that he still retains a love of Redshift music (he kept banging kind of music again. on about Halo the last time I spoke to him). Who knows? Maybe in the future it will be possible to include him in I think that one of the reasons is that I felt that Nocturne again, it depends on everyone's geographical location. reached to place I wanted that music to go, I didn't know where else to take it afterwards. Legion and Crash Head What do you think Ian brings to Redshift? were kind of way-points to get there, though I was never really happy with the mixes or arrangements of either of He's a reasonable van driver I suppose. Also (and it is them. But with Nocturne I felt I said all I wanted to say with hard to overstate the significance of this) it's so that style. Having said that, it was fun to play more basic entertaining to have a real-life Geordie to make fun of all "analogue" versions of some of those old tracks at our last the time during rehearsals. HJ performance. Ian has been at this music lark for almost as long as I have, it means he brings all that experience, his own unique way of creating sounds and notes. Basically, he brings himself. And, of course, he has a comedy accent. How would you describe the difference between the ARC and Redshift output? I think they are very different. ARC music tends to be lighter in feel, occasionally melodic even. We often have very distinct themes develop throughout a piece.

14 • Hampshire Jam 9

Any new technology that’s impressed you lately? Not much really. Most new stuff seems to be software based only, which lacks a certain inspiration for me. That's not to say that I dislike all software "instruments" (I think Omnisphere is really good), it's just that creating music is starting to look like people are just surfing the internet,or answering emails, rather than leaping off a Marshall stack screaming "Rock and Roll!!". I know which I would find more appealing. Sitting at and playing a real Fender Rhodes is so much more satisfying and complete that just mouse-clicking up yet another tiresome and weak plug-in version, never mind the vastly superior sound of the real

one. Ian recently gave me a link to a German company making various sequencer peripherals that would actually fit inside the Moog. They look really interesting, although from a listeners point of view they are missing a certain romance, however they take analogue sequencing onto a different level. In terms of delivering music to customers, are you warming to the media-less download era? Hmmm. You see, to me music is so important. When I listen to a piece of music I really listen, that means doing nothing else. It does not mean playing something back on my computer in the background while I doing emails. It means listening to it the best possible quality I can manage, it means the best possible media on the best possible audio system. I read an article in the Times a while back where they said that for the vast majority of people now, listening to music meant playing MP3s over fizzy, tinny sounding earpieces and that many of those younger people had no concept a what quality audio should sound like. The MP3 had now become the the standard quality medium. Sorry, but this is a massive step back in technical terms, NOT forward. It would be like saying all those years ago, "lets get rid of vinyl and just have the cassette". It constantly saddens me that the general public's quality control is limited mainly to whatever it thinks is most convenient, no other criteria are applied. At least companies like MusicZeit give people the option of the CD-quality FLAC files, I just wish iTunes and the like had a similar attitude. Personally I still prefer to have a CD, something physical, something that retains a sense of significance to actually own. Music appears to lost it's importance to people. As Ian once said "People don't really listen to music now so much as consume it". That's very sad. Like a lot of musicians I spend a lot of time trying to make the music sound as good as possible, these days I sometimes

wonder why I go through that agony. Why not just boot up an illegal copy of Reason and whack out another turgid example of gutless supermarket electronica? Who is going to notice the difference on an iPhone?. Isn't it incredible that, given the advances in technology, most people are now listening to music at lower quality level than 20 years ago? Madness. In answer to your original question, before this extended rant, we do release MP3s like everyone else, but only because we really don't have much choice. As a format I still maintain it's the spawn of the devil. And I haven't even mentioned all those low-lifes who steal our music too, those idiots are killing music. What music have you been listening to recently? Different styles. Can't stop playing Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto, the slow movement is so painfully beautiful it makes me unhappy even if I'm not. I saw a documentary on the Small Faces recently and really enjoyed the music they played. I was a little young for them at the time so it was nice to see why they had such a reputation. A couple of years ago we went to see Jarre play at Birmingham doing the live version of Oxygene, it ranks alongside Node's Emma ‘94 gig as one of the best electronic music concerts I've ever seen. No fireworks, no dumb film-shows or slide projectors and, above all, no miming. Just four very talented musicians playing all those wonderful old instruments (and some new ones) as a band. Fantastic. Any closing comments to all the Redshift fans out there? That's easy. Could I make a request that each one of them buys 10000 copies of each Redshift album... ....worth a try. ;)

Photo: Phil Booth Hampshire Jam 9 • 15

Pearl DiN36 A 30 year retrospective of the music of Ian Boddy They say a journey begins with a single step. Ian Boddy's journey began in 1979 when he walked into the studio at Newcastle's Spectro Arts Workshop. Intrigued by the sounds emanating from the banks of VCS3 synthesisers and Revox tape recorders, he started a 30 year odyssey of musical experimentation and adventure. Never following the mainstream or courting a band-centric musical path he has nevertheless forged a truly unique musical career. From the release of his first ever full album on the UK cassette label Mirage in 1980, he has gone on to issue 23 solo & 24 collaborative albums, performed over 100 concerts in the UK, The Netherlands, Germany & USA, composed 11 library music albums for DeWolfe Music and programmed several sample CD's & virtual instruments. In 1999 he founded the DiN electronica label which has since become synonymous with adventurous and eclectic music. There have been 35 titles to date, including albums by Chris Carter, Robert Rich, Tetsu Inoue, Mark Shreeve, Markus Reuter & Erik Wøllo. Boddy's influence also extends into sound design where numerous musicians and film makers have used his sounds in their own music and soundtracks. He has over 300 library music tracks released via DeWolfe Music which are used worldwide on a huge variety of TV shows, documentaries and films. These statistics are impressive enough however what impresses the most is Boddy's sheer determination and presence of mind to follow his own musical path and create music and sounds that offer a very personal reflection of his own personality. Pearl is the 36th release on DiN and offers a retrospective of Boddy's 30 year journey. Released in a limited edition of 1,000 (with the first 300 being signed & numbered by the artist) , beautifully designed digipak format the music is split across two discs. "Outer DiN" attempts to bring together all his work outside of DiN. It includes his solo work stretching all the way back to the early cassette releases, three DeWolfe library music tracks and an excerpt of his sound design work. "Inner DiN" showcases both his solo and collaborative work on the DiN ambient label. Boddy has mixed both CDs into a continuous mix of music that provides a fascinating and unique way to experience the music of a truly original musician. www.DiN.org.uk www.ianboddy.com [email protected]