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You've been busy curating the annual No Fun Fest for a while now. What have been your own personal highlights of the event so far? Are there any performers that you would like to get for the event that you haven't managed so far? I guess I'm asking you about your dream line-up for a festival.
Every year is really my dream line-up for a festival when is all put together and confirmed I can't complain at all. Other people I would like to have that I haven't managed so far for a reason or another include Incapacitants (my favourite live band!),Merzbow, Hijokaidan, Corrupted, Oren Ambarchi, Masonna and Kevin Drumm, just to name a few; there are really lots of bands/people that I would love to see live so every year is a struggle to fit everything within a few days and to not totally loose my ass financially. At least two of those I mentioned will be performing on the next one though, so I am very excited already, as I think will be many others that enjoy the type of music the fest presents when they see the final line-up.
It seems as though recently noise music has been getting a much higher profile. Are there any reasons why you think this is? Do you feel that the No Fun Fest has been a helping hand in this?
I definitely think No Fun has helped a little as a central event were a tremendous amount of good and challenging music is presented and a place where a good amount of us meet once a year, interchange ideas and plan other things, but what has really pushed forward noise music is the new blood, all the young people that are now really active and pushing forward as musicians, organizers, labels, etc it has really been a big group effort world wide, there is still a lot of room for improvement and a lot more things that I think could happen, but I am also confident things are still changing for the better, and that we will continue to push forward.
It seems in a way noise music is a democratizing from of art, like when punk originally started – it seems to be a scene that encourages participation, rather than traditional rock scenes in which the audience play a very passive roll. What are your personal opinions about noise music – what is it that excites you about it etc?
It’s something I just enjoy doing myself: promoting and helping out people that are into it too, probably what I like is the freedom to structure sound without specific rules, to have infinite possibilities and options and to make good choices to create a sound piece that ultimately is moving, makes sense and has a place in our time is what excites me and what I am after every day, whether is me or someone else creating it.
What's happening with Monotract at the moment?
We recently released a full length on Ecstatic Peace titled 'Xprmntl Lvrs' it took a while for it to come out so in the meantime we were working on new material and recently finished a new studio album for Load Records which we are in the process of mixing and I think will probably be out early next year or even before, is the most challenging and exciting rock record we've done yet, totally dark and totally rocking songs. We are also playing ATP in December and will be doing a one week tour of the UK with prurient + Aaron Dilloway and Sudden Infant on a lot of the dates. So lots of exciting stuff.
With the Magik File application you created and put on the internet, you've started experimenting with audio-visual work as opposed to just music. How long have these experiments been going on? What other areas of art are you involved in?
I've been working on that kind of stuff for about 3 or 4 years now parallel to the music only output. I did a really noisy motion tracking installation for a show at the new school a few years ago, and also did an audiovisual performance that involved visualization and reactive audio manipulated by brain waves. I also occasionally teach people that want to get into that kind of stuff at Parsons School of Design. It’s slowed down recently but I hope to have time in the next couple of years to work on other ideas I have in the audiovisual medium.
Finally – what records have caught your ear recently? Any recommendations?
Stuff Ive been listening to a lot recently (new and not so new):Incapacitants Pariah Tapes 5xcd set from freak animal Hijokaidan 'Romance'Corrupted 'Mundo Frio'Fushishutsa live double cdPekka Streng 'kesamaa' (nice relaxing old psych music from Finland)Wolf Eyes 'Human Animal'Bilskinir (sick black metal from Germany) Jazkmer 'Metal Music Machine'
Merzbow 'Sea of Blood'Masonna 'Ejaculator Generator'Smegma Plays MerzbowRunzelstirn & Gurgelstock 23 Brutal Humoroid Dramas by Rudolf Eb.erZaimph 'Sexual Infinity'
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