It's taken time, it's bothered me and it hasn't bothered me. Obviously we're doing it for ourselves, it's nice for people to take an interest and, for some strange reason, they're taking a lot of interest in this record. I guess that it's the warmest-feeling record that we've recorded so far, saying that, it's probably more experimental than anything we've done before. It's still Scorn, I just looked at both records, decided what I liked and what I didn't like and just put it together, it really happened quickly this time, two weeks. It's an in and out process - it's the only way we can work in a studio - get it while it's there because the more time that you waste, you're just taking away the mood and the atmosphere, as far as I'm concerned, just becoming picky. It's still dirty it's still got a raw edge, which is important for us, there's no way we want a polished product - I think that it's polished as much as it needs to be polished. Where I say polished, I mean I've just learned a lot in the studio - I've learned how to apply and where to apply. We've just used everything in the right way. It all came together perfectly.
Well, we had to get a programmer in to help us get started with some of the new machinery, but it's generally a good thing, I can't play guitar but I can plug it into loads of effects and know that I'm going to get a good sound. Technology does play a big part for us, not with samples, they're not used in a big way - they're more there to create mood. We take it further with effects that we create in the studio. Machinery is becoming more obtainable, which is good. At the same time, there is a lot of crap coming out, it seems to have gone full circle - electronics have been around for a long time. Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Can, Faust, Harmonia - they were all a big influence on what Eno did, today's technology is that much more advanced - people are taking it further.
We finally have a guitarist - Jimmy Plotkin, from Old on Earache, a guy that I trust. Jimmy was one of the first Americans to write to me when Scum came out, the first Napalm record, so I visited him and his family in summer of 1988 and we'd been penpals a year prior to that. So we go back a long time, and he filled that space that I've always been looking for within Scorn. I'd always been happy with what had been done previously with the guitar work, but there was always a certain gap. You need to experiment with guitar as much as with electronics or any instrument. We needed a guitarist that could work with us and work with what he's hearing, and he filled that space. I think that, a lot of the time, you can't hear that it is a guitar, not that it's heavily treated, it is treated - but in the right way. Jimmy knows what to apply and we just let him improvise, he hadn't heard anything, before he came to the country. I just said "Look Jim, here are your recording dates, two days for you to do what you want in the studio, to do all your guitar tracks" I didn't say anything about what the record was, I just said there is a bit more of a groove happening this time, but there's plenty of space for what you can do and he just turned up, he plugged in and we let the tapes run. We're certainly happy with what he did. We've finally got a guitarist that we can work with and he can work with us. He's not going to be writing the material with us, but all the guitar parts are Jimmy Plotkin. The backbone is me and Nick and the guitar is a hundred percent Jimmy. Nick agreed with it this time round as well, Nick was initially going to be playing guitar, but I just said "Well look Nick, I like what you do on guitar, but you've got a feeling for the bass and that's what you need to stick to and concentrate on. It's okay for you to do some guitar tracks but let's get somebody that we can use on stage.
I don't think that Scorn are going to be the sort of band that's gigging constantly, there's no need for that, but we shall tour. Jimmy's living in New York but it's not a problem - he'll come over when we need him, there's a big possibility of us doing a Peel session. We can do without guitar, it's not a problem - we can fill that space with some extra samples. That guitar on Evanesnce fills the space, but I think it's been done in a creative way. He's definitely a full-time member of the band, he has as much say but just in the guitar department -that's all he wants to be involved with. That's what he's always looked for - a band that he can play guitar in and he feels comfortable in which is what he's done with Scorn.
We've got the vocals down now, we've always been minimal - using vocals as an instrument. I know that the some of the press had problems with the vocals but really liked the music. I like to use Nick's voice, I like the way that he sings and there's plenty that I can do with it.
Jimmy really got into the more hard-core dance-oriented side, he approached Earache and rather than just having the remixes done by giving people the tapes - let them come up with their own ideas - whether they're taking samples from the record or providing them, Jimmy didn't provide them with anything, he just let them go and do their own thing. It doesn't represent Old in any way but why should it? That's what Jimmy wanted it to be, something different, but it does represent Old in a way because Old just do what they want anyway. It broke some boundaries, introduced some people to Old that would never of heard it. I did two mixes, both of them were done at home - it was a different approach. People actually liked it! It did really well in techno charts. 99.9% of people who were into that would absolutely hate an Old full-length record - it just wouldn't appeal to them, it'd go over their heads.
I've got a project studio which is for me, doing my own stuff, my Lull project. It's very experimental , I don't like to call it ambient, it fits into that term but it's a lot moodier, a lot darker, the pieces are a lot longer. It's playing with sounds and tones, rather than beats. The project studio's at my home and we use it for the backbone of Scorn's material, then take it into a studio and further it there. I'd like to do it all at home but we do need a 24 track, we still like to use analogue, we still like to use tape because of the warm sound it still has to offer. Even though we are using machines and midi, it's still a half and half -we're working with machines, we're working with live instruments.
No one's going to change us into anything, we're going to keep doing what we're comfortable with. Continuing to experiment with sound and music - we're influenced by so much stuff, we've only just started. Scorn can, I hope, be around for a long time. I've got no intentions of quitting it, like I've had to before with the last band. I have full involvement and Nick has full involvement, it's two people. We don't hang out together so we don't see each much of other but when we do, there's a lot of positive stuff there and it works, that's the beauty of it. With Jimmy, as well, when he needs to be involved, he'll be there - so that's not a problem. We're not really tied down to anything, but we're ready to do what ever has to be done. We could do ambient-dub rooms, working around improvising, at the same time, we could do tours. We can go any way - whatever we feel happy with. If we think that we can fit in with it, we will do it.
Weatherall and Jack Dangers are starting on some remixes and we're approaching other people, just giving them the material to work around, it's going to be what they want to do -their interpretation. I kind of wish it was me doing it because I think they're going to have fun doing it. I'm just waiting to hear what they do and I trust them. Meat Beat is an influence for Scorn, the breakbeats, the hip hop beats are in the same vein, but slightly different, darker, moodier. We'd like a remix by Mark Clifford from Seefeel and the two guys from Autechre. We may release a compilation, limited edition - some people might just by to hear Jack Dangers but we'd like to give them more than that, with remixes we've done ourselves. Jack Dangers has asked us to do some remixes for him and that's fantastic,he really likes what Scorn are doing - using sound in our own way. He's gonna sort that out as soon as he's finished with the Scorn mix. We don't want to do mixes for their own sake, but if the we feel we can do something with it, then okay.
I don't think that we've actually had a bad review. People have noticed a difference - it is more acceptable, I can't deny that. But we didn't set out to do that, it just happened so quickly and we're glad that it's turned out that way. We knew that we wanted more of a groove and we were working with machines that could produce that. It got a very positive reaction from people who hadn't heard Scorn before and people who were interested in the difference and that's good, it's good to talk to them - to see what they think.
PAINKILLER
Painkiller is still going, I enjoy working with Bill and Jon. We're working on a new record at the beginning of June, which should be fun, like any other Painkiller record. I like the project, it's serious, it's 100% improvised - I can get behind the drums and it's freedom. I think that it really works. Jon and Bill are a lot busier than I am, but we all just find time for it. We get on well, Painkiller is continuing and there will be a new record.
I had to ask Nick myself . . . Evanescence is . . . the end. I remember talking to my girlfriend saying: Nick's onto a plan here, y'know, maybe this is the last recording he's gonna do! The original title for this record was Anadonia, which means the inability to be happy. A real Nick Bull title, not that he's a miserable person, well he is and he isn't, he's no more miserable or happy than you or I. He's a classic character, he's a moody person, definitely very melancholic. Another band from Birmingham already had the title Anadonia, Earache told us and I told Nick that I really liked names like Colossus, he came up with a list and at the top of the list was Evanescence. Straight away, it caught me, I asked - what does it mean? I think that it sums Nick up, in some way.
We've got two festivals coming up, one in Norway and one in Austria -a jazz festival with an electronic side to it. We've played Austria before, we like Vienna - it's very open-minded, like most of Europe. This'll be the first time the three of us have played live together. Just Nick and Jimmy on stage, me controlling the sound. Nick wants to show some Super8 loops, Earache are providing some projectors, Nick wants to get a carousel as well and let that run slides. It should add an extra bonus, Nick's into that side. Some of the stuff is going to be rollercoaster rides, I think it's gonna be really good - people in the audience watching this really fast ride and Scorn sounding really down, slowly pumping it out! We're staring work on a video, with the same guy that worked on White Iris Blind, we had no involvement, we just gave him a rough idea, but we were very pleased with what he came up with. We 're going to be in the next video, in a pretty fucked way, but it'll be the first time. We want to experiment, we'll probably do two videos off this record, it's just a matter of picking the tracks. We're interested in Multi-Media, Nick's very into Super8, 16mm, scratching and colorising film, but we'll have to wait for the money to do it properly.
Oh, It's good news. I think all that Thrash/Grind has gone as far as it can, I don't think it can break any new ground. It's good that Earache are signing bands that are approaching from different angles. This is the way it needs to go. Napalm had gone as far as I thought was possible, what I'm doing now is a natural progression.