How many times have you been in Europe until this time? How are your deepest impressions from the continent - both from the artistic and social points of view?
Christina and I have been to Europe once before, in 1998. Over the course of about two months, we visited many countries, including France, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, and Greece. Our favourite cities were Barcelona and Prague, and we particularly enjoyed our trip through Italy and Greece. We are both lovers of art and we spent a great deal of our time in galleries, concert halls and churches. I was very impressed by the differences between European and North American culture. In Europe, there seems to be so much more appreciation and support for the arts. I'm particularly interested in European history and culture because so many of my favourite writers, artists and musicians were Europeans: Rimbaud, Nietzsche, Hesse, Camus, Stockhausen, as well as groups like Can, Faust, and Einsturzende Neubauten, just to name a few.
As I was told you are part of a new artistic movement in Canada... can you drop some details?
A strange rumour... No, we are not part of any real movement. There are many other artists in Canada who are experimenting with electronic music but there is nothing cohesive enough to be called a "movement".
How could you describe the evolution of your sound? What kind of changes have you been going through from time of your beginning via Fragmentation CD until your recent era which is underlined by many awaited releases. What has led to including more techno - experimental - dub elements into your music which was previously oriented more on industrial or power-electronics? Isn´t it ecstasy and maximal pleasure which is possible to obtain from music / sound?
Since the release of "Fragmentation" I have been incorporating different elements into my work because I am always searching for the most honest and direct way to express myself. I have been listening to all forms of electronic music, including power electronics and techno, for many, many years and it makes sense to me to use what I know and love. I don't want to simply copy another style or fit into a clearly defined musical category, be it "noise", "techno" or "power electronics". When music is easily categorised like this, then you know exactly what to expect. The element of surprise and the spirit of experimentation is gone, no matter how dark or abrasive it might be. I'm more interested in things that slip between the cracks and combine old elements in new ways. This, for me, is the way to the "ecstasy" of sound and music. Having said that, I think that I have only just begun to understand how I can do this within my own work.
As I see you are very open to many musical directions and influences - is there something you really don't like and would never use as part of your music?
No, I don't think so. I like almost every form of non-commercial music. However, I feel most comfortable using elements that are more familiar to me; elements that have some important meaning for me.
What do you think is special / typical for your music / sound?
Well, I am very fond of repetitious rhythms and drones that change gradually over time. I like to use a small selection of sounds, arranged in layered patterns that slowly evolve and interact with one another. I have always liked this sort of structure, which I think is common to all of my favourite music: early electronic artists like Kraftwerk, minimalists like Reich and Riley, contemporary techno and house, as well as the drone of Indian ragas and old Delta blues.
Besides Orphx, there was also another project called Antiform - what do you consider was the biggest difference between Antiform and Orphx? Does this project exist anymore?
Christina and I started Antiform in 1995, with the intention of focusing explicitly on drone-based music. We have performed a number of times under this name, and we have released one Antiform cassette, along with a handful of compilation tracks. Over the last few years, I have been concentrating mainly on Orphx and I think that some of the quieter, droning aspects of Antiform have slowly filtered into the Orphx project. Antiform is now in limbo but I intend to resurrect this project in the future.
In the beginning of Orphx in 1993 there were three persons behind the band: R. Oddie, C. Sealey, and A. West. What happened with Mr. West - does he make music anymore?
Aron West was indeed one of the original members of Orphx. At the time, all of us were students at the local university who shared an interest in marginalized art forms and cultural detritus. Aron left the group in 1995 to record music under the name "Tropism". At this point in time, I don't think he is recording music.
So, what are the Orphx roles / contribution of Mr. Oddie and Mrs. Sealey?
In general, I am more familiar with sound synthesis and sampling while Christina prefers to work with more tactile media like acoustic instruments, tapes and microphones. In the beginning, Christie worked with reel-to-reel tape recorders and an old sampler, while Aron and I used an assortment of scavenged electronics, amplifiers, tape players, microphones and other junk. Most of our early recordings and performances were improvised with this equipment. Around the time of "Fragmentation" we began to make more complex rhythmic structures and worked on developing our live presentations. While I worked on most of the basic programming, using MIDI and more primitive methods, Christie was creating montages to accompany the music, using a library of slides and 16mm films that we had acquired. She continued to add loops and samples to the compositions as well and also created a number of original instruments out of scrap materials. In 1997, Christina left Canada to study in Scotland for two years, and Orphx became a solo project. In 1998, we performed together again for three live concerts in Europe. Right now, Orphx remains a solo project in the studio, but Christina will be performing with me at our concerts in Europe this summer. We are planning future recordings together but the next CD will likely by a solo effort.
What particular interests do you have besides music?
Well, we have both been studying at university for quite a while. I've just finished a Master's degree in environmental and political philosophy, and Christie completed her Master's degree in fine art last year. I spend some of my time writing essays and articles for various publications, and I am continuing my studies in ecology, political theory, and environmental philosophy. Christie is a very successful visual artist and spends many hours in her studio with paintbrush in hand. We are both very interested in issues of social justice and environmental abuse, and we belong to a number of organisations that take action on such problems.
Can you tell us something about the scene in Canada? What are the projects you perform with?
There isn't really much of a scene here in Canada. Of course, in each area there is a handful of artists working on electronic and experimental music, but it seems that many of these people are content to work in isolation. Although there is some support for electronic music in the larger cities, it is difficult to generate a lot of interest in more experimental work in this country. As is probably the case in Europe as well, many people only listen to what is presented to them through the commercial media and reject whatever doesn't conform to the latest musical trends. This is one of the reasons why I haven't performed in Canada for over two years. However, I think we will try to play some shows in North America this autumn. Despite the fact that there is not much of an audience for this sort of music in Canada, we have met many excellent people who are working in similar areas, such as Jim deJong (the Infant Cycle), Hugo Girard (Vromb), Paul Verma (Plasmalamp), and W.A. Davison.
As you told some reactions on your latest releases were not very satisfactory. Won´t it lead finally to completely different orientation on different audience than was the industrial one?
Actually, the response to the latest releases on Hands has been very positive. We've received a lot of positive feedback and support from fans of both industrial music and techno. Indeed, there are a few dogmatic "noise" and "power electronics" purists who do not like our recent work but, as I mentioned before, I'm really not interested in fitting into a predefined category. I don't think that the recent recordings are appealing to a completely different audience, but perhaps a more diverse one. I think many people appreciate music that combines different traditions and does not conform to a particular style.
Can you tell us more about the whole Orphx conception and philosophy?
I have always been fascinated by psychological, social, and environmental dis-ease and I have spent quite a few years now studying these contemporary problems through the arts, sciences, and various religious traditions. For me, Orphx began as an expression of anger and frustration, both towards myself and towards the society in which I was raised. Now, I am concerned with both problems and solutions, and I am trying to express much more than nihilism through my music. I see music, writing, and art in general as different means to the same end - learning to live fully, without being crippled by self-deception, self-doubt, hatred, or despair. For me, this means making music, reading, writing, and otherwise speaking out against injustice and hypocrisy. I think that art and activism are two of the best ways of resisting the obsession with personal wealth and immediate gratification that is celebrated as a virtue by consumer culture. I strongly oppose the "survival of the wealthiest" ideology that permeates modern life in America, and I'm trying to find a way of life that embodies stronger values of creativity, responsibility, community, and sustainability. Of course, this is a continual learning process. At this point, I'm trying to find the best way to integrate all of my interests and be able to survive in the process. I don't want the music to be simply a vehicle for my ideas and beliefs, but I think it is one of the best ways to express concepts and experiences to others. It was always this spirit of resistance and subversion that attracted me to industrial music, and I think that this is more fundamental than the sounds and fashions that have become associated with the musical genre called "industrial".
What kinds of media do you use for your work? What kind of advantages do you appreciate and use?
I have a computer and a rather old MIDI sequencing program, as well as some more advanced software for recording and manipulating sounds. I use a couple of synthesizers, samplers, and an effects processor, along with an assortment of equipment collected over the last ten years: cheap mixers, tape recorders, guitars, amplifiers, reel-to-reels, film projectors, effects units, a turntable, and various homemade instruments. I use anything that makes a noise, but I really enjoy working with found sounds recorded on walks and trips. The next Orphx CD will really focus on these environmental recordings, using common urban sounds like traffic, wind and radio as the primary sources. I like working with older equipment because it often has quirks that modern digital equipment lacks. As the electronics break down, interesting things begin to happen and I like to exploit these "problems' and "accidents", making the equipment do what it wasn't intended to do.
What was and actually is your biggest inspiration in the creative process?
It is everyday experiences that are most inspiring for me, but particularly the more extreme and ecstatic experiences that clear the mind of useless thoughts and allow one to focus on essential concerns, goals and values. It is in those moments that one is most fully alive and aware, and this experience of continuous confrontation and renewal is what I would most like to convey and to promote. In many cases, my work is inspired by problems, including both personal problems and larger social issues. It seems to me that the problems that we are facing as a species, and the unbelievable damage that we are causing to other species, provides limitless inspiration for both art and more practical problem solving.
What does live performance mean for you? What do you consider the best and most impressive live show you ever did? What was the strangest one?
We have been developing our live performances for about six years now, trying to determine what works and what doesn't. With live performances, we want to present our music in a way that is different than our recordings. We always present images with our performances, using a combination of slides, 16mm film clips and original video recordings. For our upcoming shows in Europe, we have created new compositions that are based upon studio material, but we have left plenty of room for spontaneous changes and improvisation during the performance. We've also put together a new video that better reflects the ideas behind the music.
The best performance we have had was probably the show on the MS Stubnitz in Stockholm, during the 1998 Nursery Injection festival. The audience was large and very supportive and we were pleased with the whole event. Our strangest performance was a late-night concert held in an abandoned factory in our hometown. In a large concrete room, we gathered together an assortment of scrap machinery that we then used for a percussion improvisation, accompanied by a damaged tape player. The room acted as a natural echo chamber and, although the concert was attended by only five people, it was a memorable night.
Since you work on the multi-media level and you do use video projection as the part of your performance - who is the filmmaker, the author of your video projections and what ideas are behind?
For our first shows we used an assortment of slides that I had acquired from the university. These images were mostly of medical pathology, developing a wound and disease metaphor for social and psychological sickness that was directly inspired by the work of SPK, Throbbing Gristle, and Skinny Puppy. We soon acquired a massive library of 16mm films, as well as a number of old projectors and we have been using these for the last few years, creating new film montages out of this stock footage and combining the results with original video recordings and our old slide collection. Most recently, I have been working exclusively with video, although the 16mm films are still an important source for images. We try to use images that express the ideas behind the music: social disorder and environmental issues, as well as more abstract, psychological imagery, and purely formalistic patterns of light and shade that compliment the sounds.
You are working on six different new releases on four different labels at the time. Can you describe the recordings and the differences among them?
Well, there are three new Orphx releases coming out in the near future, along with a few compilation tracks on State Art, Hands, and Plate Lunch. The new 12" on Hands is a companion to our next CD, just as the "Nullity" 10" was for the previous CD. It includes a number of tracks based around one of the tracks from the new CD. As I mentioned, the next CD will use environmental recordings as the primary source material, and this particular track uses only the sounds of earth or soil that have been built up into rhythmic structures. The 10" on Auf Abwegen is based around elements of Jamaican dub, combined with more abstract sounds and structures. These two records should be out before the end of the summer and the CD should be finished well before the end of the year.
Seems you are in the manic phase... aren´t you afraid of kind of "Orphx overproduction"?
The manic phase! Yes, that's the best phase to be in. Considering that I haven't released anything in almost two years, I don't think that I am now in danger of saturating the market with material! I hope to keep up the pace...
Is there anything you are afraid of?
Yes, I am very frightened by disposable "fast food" culture, global corporate capitalism, and the analogous animal product known as "head cheese".
Thanx for your interview and see you soon in Praha.
Thank you, Tom! Christina and I are looking forward to meeting you in person.
Orhpx - TS 01/05/00