Alexei Monroe interviews Uwe Schmidt on the re-release of Matter by Lassigue Bendthaus

This article first appeared in Trebuchet magazine

Last autumn saw the re-release of Matter by Lassigue Bendthaus, a strikingly innovative album that was the first release by Uwe Schmidt a.k.a. Atom™ and a thousand other aliases.

Alexei Monroe spoke to Schmidt about the album, its sources and its relation to the development of electronic music….



Alexei Monroe: You’ve said that Lassigue Bendthaus was already anticipating acid and techno, and this is certainly clear with hindsight and it soon became clear for listeners who followed you from LB into your techno/acid/ambient productions.

What was the reaction to the “newness” of the sound back then? Although there were similarities with Front Line Assembly and other contemporary industrial groups, there was already much that was audibly new and different, not least in the futuristic sheen of the sounds….

Uwe Schmidt: Back then, to me, I have to admit, I didn’t perceive said difference really, but I was pretty convinced that Matter was a kind of classic “EBM” production. In other words, those differences were invisible to me by the time. Also, when i started writing the songs for Matter, “techno” (or whatever you want to call it) hadn’t arrived on the event horizon just yet.

I wrote the first tracks around 1987, and worked on the album all the way up until 1989, then recorded and mixed it in 1990. In the course of that process, “techno” appeared and so it only had a minor impact on that particular record, while on the other hand it had a big enough impact on me to make me stray away from “industrial” and “EBM” altogether, once Matter was completed.

Sequences and tight percussive programming

What I expressed on Matter therefore, I think, had more to do with what I liked most about electronic music, which are sequences and tight percussive programming, something that became more popular via “techno” later on. So, in way, looking back at it, I coincided with the flow of things, rather than I consciously took part in it. From a distance, certain features of my early work stand out clearer today than they did at the time.

AM: Were you already aware of/involved in dance music as you were recording this album?

US: When I got into that type of music, and even more so, began to make music myself, there wasn’t really any dance music scene to start with that I would have found inspiring. “Techno”, “acid” and all that didn’t yet exist, on one hand, while on the other hand, I was way too absorbed in making music myself to bother with “social” activities.
Like I said, half way through the production of Matter, “acid”/”house” appeared and defined what we know as “dance music” today. Back then I was a lot into post-modern philosophy though, which was kind of more futuristic than the 80s were. Finally, when “techno” arrived, it was the perfect soundtrack to the futuristc philosophy I was into. Everything then started to resonate – music, philosophy/sociology, etc. and “EBM” or “industrial” turned into an 1980s sensation, while “acid”/”techno” reflected the future.

AM: As an EBM/industrial listener, I slowly began to switch over to techno from late 1991 and within a couple of years those styles seemed very old-fashioned compared to the newly emerging sounds. Did you slowly switch away from industrial/EBM elements because you felt there were greater creative possibilities in the new forms of electronic music?

"the ultimate sci-fi attitude of a society that was heading into the postmodern apocalypse"
US: I felt that “techno” was simply much more resonant with the 1990s and my vision of things. “Techno”, in fact, was a revelation when I first heard it or experienced it around 1990. So, my moving away from industrial/EBM actually happened pretty quickly. However, there were productions of mine which fell into the moment of transition,  and hence reflect both sides of the spectrum I was interested in back then.

Much more than “possibilities”, to me “techno” simply was a cultural revolution in the sense that it had a totally different attitude and feeling to it, compared to everything that happened in the 1980s. It was apolitical, for example, while on an emotional level it was “colder”, less passionate than the 1980s ever were, without being “grim” or negative. To me, that was the ultimate sci-fi attitude of a society that was heading into the postmodern apocalypse.



AM: What were your primary influences at the time you recorded Matter? At times there seems to be a trace of Cabaret Voltaire‘s more electro tracks….

US: Yes, there was a lot of Cabaret Voltaire on it, most certainly. Still, I think that Matter, as much as any other production of mine digested all sort of things, not only music. My contact with so-called “industrial” and “EBM” was rather brief, since, due to my age, I discovered it relatively late. Basically “industrial” as such had ceased to exist and transformed into “EBM” some time during the mid 1980s. Therefore it seemed almost like “history” to me.

Perhaps “EBM” can be seen as the transformative link that brought “industrial” to “techno”… however that analysis may be concluded, my contact with both genres was short, yet intense.

AM: The production was very advanced for its time – what were you doing that was different? Can you tell us more about how you produced the album?

Technique and technology

US: I think the difference was that I had no idea whatsoever how to “do things”… that is, mainly out of a lack of interest or possibilities, paired with ignorance, I was on my own when it came to the technique and technology I was able to use to concretize my ideas. There wasn’t really a blueprint to electronic music production, you see… there weren’t online blogs or manuals.

One received very little to no information at all about how other musicians would do things, technologically or artistically. In a way that was very liberating, because I had to come up with methods. My economic means were very limited, since I basically had no income and worked out of my bedroom, where I had accumulated a handful of very basic machines.

Fortunately right around that time “analogue” gear had gotten really out of fashion (1985 onwards), since sampling and “fm synthesis” (Yamaha DX-7) were the hottest thing. Many, many musicians sold their analogue gear cheaply and so I could buy synths for a bargain price.

Layering sequences

Still, I only had a cheap digital drum machine and one synth (Moog Prodigy) and a four track cassette tape recorder to compose and outline Matter. Later for the production I managed to get a friend’s sampler too, but basically that was it! With such a small amount of technology, and almost no compositonal experience, I could only compose music by layering sequences on top of each other, without being able to really structure the tracks. I built each song by tape splicing hundreds of individually mixed segments into one final composition, I had to structure the songs in my head, planning to do the final arrangement and structure in the professional recording studio in which the album then was recorded. The Moog sequences were conceived on and played by the drum machine, and were then recorded onto 16 track 1/2 inch tape, together with all the other elements, such as vocals, sampled drums, and so on.

Basically, the sound of Matter is the sound of the Moog Prodigy, since it was the main synth used for the production. Once all the material was recorded, I decided that the method of arranging the songs had to be done by building (mixing) all the different sections of a song, one by one, (basically muting/unmuting elements) and then splicing them together on 1/4 in tape (studer).

In the course of the production I not only had to deal with and learn the basics of analogue recording and mixing, but I also learned the technique of tape splicing in order to be able to build the structure of a song myself, instead of depending on a studio engineer. So, instead of programming each section of a song, record it and mix it like that, I built each song by tape splicing hundreds of individually mixed segments into one final composition, which up until that point had only existed in my head.

Back then I had already been very interested in and fascinated by sequencing, hence it became my main focus on that album. I hadn’t been interested at all in keyboard playing for example, but rather enjoyed the use of abstract “input interfaces” such as the Yamaha drum machine, on which is programmed everything. In other words, I did not input the sequences or melodies using a normal keyboard, but used the 2x12x3 “pad” matrix of the drum machine instead.

It was a very abstract way to compose music, since I never touched the topic of “harmonies” or “musical notes”… everything was just “rhythmical sound”, that either “worked” or “did not work”. It was that very same idea which then fascinated me so much, the moment “techno” or “acid” came along: it just worked with sequences and rhythm, and in a very linear manner.

The whole idea of “tracks” hadn’t been put in words at that time, nor had it been conceptualized really (with a few exceptions) and “layering tracks” instead of “composing songs” was the ultimate thing to me. Looking back at it, even though I was not conscious about it at all at the time, Matter had much more in common with “techno” than I had thought.



AM: Was there a specific ‘philosophy’ behind Lassigue Bendthaus? There’s an interesting split between the more recognisably ‘industrial’ tracks and the ethereal, ambient textures (for instance on the first part of ‘Transitory’ or ‘Laternslide’) that would find their way into later LB releases and Atom Heart works.

US: I guess there must have been some sort of grid behind “Lassigue Bendthaus”, yet I feel unable to piece everything back together from today’s perspective. Back then I had been studying physics, philosophy and sociology, yet was very into art as well. I think it was a blend of all that, plus the music I listened to, that I brewed into my first musical idea.

I was very young, and absorbed and digested everything eagerly with a certain blend of impatience, ignorance and euphoria. I was interested in post modern philosophy/sociology on one hand (such as the writings of Jean Baudrillard) to a very big extent, while I was into physics as well.

The cherry on the cake may have been the fact that I had played drums, before I got hooked on drum machines, so the entire rhythmical approach to music and the new technology that enabled incredible possibilities, kind of interlocked with the abstract ideas behind it. I wouldn’t necessarily use the word “philosophy” though, to describe the grid in which I was operating back then.

Like I said before, everything I did was very intuitive and on a practical level, very often not reflected at all. Almost more important than any philosopher’s theory was, for example, the impact a “linn drum” had on me when I first heard it on the radio. The fact that one could program rhythms, instead of playing them, basically got me hooked on electronic music. These obsessions drove me much more than any theory ever did.
Naturally, the musical style in which said obsession surfaced may just be seen as a minor detail in the overall picture, and hence later releases show similar, if not identical themes and mutations thereof. For somebody thinking in genres and styles, that may seems strange, yet for a human being trapped within himself, it is the most normal thing.

AM: There is a vague air of techno-pantheism sometimes, was this obvious to you?

US: Not at all!

AM: Given that industrial is now seen as aesthetically and sometimes also politically compromised or tainted, it’s interesting to see you place such emphasis on Matter as the first release in the Atom™ series. Could you comment on the influence of industrial in your later works and on how you view industrial now? Is it something you’ve left behind or do you still find value in it? Do you think some who discovered you later are going to be surprised by your industrial past?

US: Those are a couple of questions in one. I will try to separate them. As for my being influenced by industrial in the early days, let’s say that I got in touch with it relatively late in its development, when the pure industrial had already transformed in something else (EBM). I would say that I wasn’t that much influenced by industrial as such, but rather by an atmosphere, which is partly shared… the atmosphere of the late 1980s.

When “techno”/”acid” appeared – that breaking away from the 1980s was a much bigger influence on me, than the 1980s, “EBM” or “industrial” ever were. What I really thought should have been left aside, was exactly that political/social attitude industrial had. The 1990s, in my opinion, where unpolitical in the traditional sense, yet, by that absence of political attitude, highly political in its core.

Postmodern philosophy

This you may understand a bit better when understanding postmodern philosophy, which defined the absence of political interest as the ultimate political act. In all that, “acid” and “techno” reflected that new era of hyper-politics. The dancefloor, the lack of lyrics, the reduction of everything to an individual (not “social”) event, it all made much more sense to me than the old, 1980s attitude of “social criticism” through lyrics and words.

Now, talking about today, I think the 1990s and early 2000s are long gone, and I have a strong feeling that what the world needs today is in fact a re-definition of that edginess that industrial provided. What I think is lacking today are truly radical artists, in the sense of people who are not sucked up by the environment they are perceived in.

I miss art that does not care about the market, the media, the critics, the value, and so on, but truly just cares about itself. “Industrial” in that sense was radical, because it was willing to create something outside any known market… which was its ultimate power and achievement.

In that sense, I would like to bring uncorrupted art back into today’s world and “industrial” is an inspiration for that. You may see such development as a movement of “thesis, antithesis, synthesis”: it was necessary to push away from industrial, go through its anti-pole, and now , on the next level, create the synthesis of the first two steps.

I think “techno” and “industrial” can learn a lot from each other, always given that both are not seen as “styles” but as methods.

To the last part of your questions, well, given the fact that my overall catalogue/archive contains a huge variety of musical styles, I think that “surprise” is a continuous experience when exploring it.

AM: What are the next releases in the series? Have you selected based on what you see as your most important works or also based on listeners’ opinions?

US: There are two releases in the pipeline right now. The 1992 release I-repetitive digital noise, probably the first “techno” work of mine, and the 1994 Orange (Monochrome Stills), an ambient album which sort of announced my releases on Rather Interesting : the label I founded shortly after. I still don’t know which releases will then be next in the sequence, yet would like to re-release an album or two around February 2014.

Re-post: Keef Baker and commenters on contemporary industrial

Keef Baker offers a feline Metaphor for the decline of industrial music. 

"The majority of industrial these days is basically pop music for people who want to dress a bit weird. And you know what? If it was called “electrogoth” I’d have no problem with that. But it isn’t, it shares a name with something which to me was the polar opposite of that and there are people still pushing forward but they tend to get lost in the sea of mediocrity."

Archive interview: Stephen Mallinder of Cabaret Voltaire

An interview conducted by Andy Black Forest in 2010, thanks for the permission to reprint.

Stephen Mallinder Interview 2010

You (Cabaret Voltaire) are often cited as pioneers of electronica/industrial, how do you feel about being referenced as such a major influence on modern electronic music?..

It’s very flattering and good to know that what we created had impact and longevity. I think you have to put it into the context of the time and the place as well and acknowledge how a lot of things were coming together at the time - in the mid to late 1970s and beyond into the 1980s. This was the last time that we could really identify the scenes and cultures that were emerging, the volume of music created now and the way it is heard work against the way we evolved – basically it was easier to see and hear us.

Although CV's influence is acknowleged, do you ever feel that theres a whole period thats been overlooked? Nag nag nag seems to be the 'trendy' Cabs song people reference, but theres so many good tracks on say, Covenant and Microphonies, aside from the singles.. You had a really unique sound and take on the electro/pop/industrial crossover.Do you think sometimes there's too much focus on the obvious singles? ....

I think it's inevitable that certain tracks and periods are picked up on ... In large part due to the media. Current media has reduced a very rich and complex period of music to a series of ‘must have’ tracks and iconic acts. Much as I love New Order, and similar bands, the way its is portrayed in the media is that was all there was. That same reduction goes on with bands like us where only one or two tracks ever get mentioned. But that’s the way it is always is ... A lot of history gets squeezed out.

Whats your personal favourite Cabs record and why?

Oh blimey, that’s a tough one. We seemed to cover so many phases of music so I’d have to give a few: From the very early period Sunday Night in Biot; from the independent days This Is Entertainment and Sluggin Fer Jesus; I liked Crackdown and Digital Rasta from the Some Bizarre period and then later clubby stuff Easy Life and from our own Plastex period the Colours EP.

Reason? Oh, I think all of them seem to distill the ideas and the vibe of the periods in which we made them more than other tracks. Having said that I loved the mashup of us with Public Enemy and Air which came out recently called ‘Sensorair’. That’s a good representation of where things are at like it or not – we live in a creative interactive culture, it’s other people’s jobs to recontextualise the music.



The audio visual element in the evolution of cabaret voltaire was a key and unique element … you helped pioneer the industrial aesthetic and 'look' … What was a big influence on you musicially or filmwise? … Obviously you started making music in a very political time ...

Film was always important, we always considered ourselves visual, as in the music had that cinematic quality – textures, moods, ambience etc. We were always a mirror reflecting back what was happening and visually the political images were thrown back in a new setting with sound as the manipulative force ... I’m just about to do a talk on some of this and I singled out the Coppola film The Conversation. Obviously it was the name of our last real album but also it encapsulated the idea of ‘sound’ as an almost forensic application – sound as alchemy - I love the idea of how sound worked in this context. But there was much more as well with film – loved things like Popol Vuh soundtracks for Werner Herzog, Henry Mancini’s music for Touch of Evil and the way Bernard Herman soundtrack worked with Taxi Driver ... Having said that I loved the music in
 American Graffiti and in Vanishing Point.



When and how did you meet Genesis P Orridge and become involved with industrial records?

Kinda goes back to the answer in the first question - There weren’t that many people making this sort of music and these statements back then so we all found each other like heat-seeking missiles. We wanted to do something with Gen and TG for Industrial and the early attic tapes seemed the most likely thing as it was at a slight tangent to the Rough Trade/Factory releases and seemed to fit with the label’s vibe.

Are you still in touch with Chris Watson?

Sadly no and our paths seem to just miss – at talks or festivals, but very pleased to see the work he’s done and proud of the work we did early on.

The house music explosion that happened in the late 1980s was embraced by yourselves and psychic tv..Tell us about your projects post Cabaret Voltaire - .Sassi and loco etc …



I wanted to run the label – Off World Sounds – and my albums were part of that. I have always had a very cooperative approach to music and wanted to give other people an avenue to release music and do gigs .. I hated the idea of it just being about me. Doing the label and the promotions side (Off World Productions) was the best way for me to achieve this. I was doing lots of other things – a producer of a number of radio programmes, writing for magazines, Djing. Doing the label with Pete Carroll let me diversify. Mind you, we never made any money.

Any particular stories you wish to share, amusing or otherwise from this period?

Probably lots but I’d be here all day ... And that would just be talking about the Shaun Ryder album.

Any future plans post this release to release anything under the Cabaret Voltaire monicker?

I think the worst thing that could happen would be to tarnish, or devalue, the name by using it as a brand. Everything has a time and a place we should respect that. BUT you never say never.

Any projects you are currently involved in you want to tell readers about?

I did some stuff with Billie Ray Martin out of Berlin and I’m in the studio finishing off the Light Programme release which is myself and Steve Cobby – from Solid Doctor and Fila Brazillia – sounding really good. And the other project I’m currently doing is Wrangler – with Benje and Phil from Tunng – very electronic and much fun to do. I’m always open to stuff and when I get chance I collaborate – I’m sorting out doing some tracks with Celebratory Murder Party next.

Are you active politically in any sense ?

I’m in favour of direct action so give me a cricket bat and access to Rupert Murdoch, David Cameron and ... Is Margaret Thatcher dead yet?

Lastly,what are your views on the current electronic music scene? Any artists you'd like to mention or recommend?

Its all there in the present and completely subjective so I don’t think its possible to see things as new, just new to me. Yeah love a lot of the West Coast electronic stuff – Vibesquad – and Autechre still. But it's so vast and so available its hard to navigate. As David Toop said ‘an ocean of sound’ or perhaps sadly as Eno said ‘there’s so so much of it and it all sounds so familiar’. Still never be disheartened 'cos there’s so much more to hear and do.



c. ANDY BLACK FOREST for Black Forest, 2010

Interview with Ken Holewczynski of Epoch and Carbon 12 Records

Epoch is an American martial-industrial project which defies many of the expectations that label might produce. It's work is thoughtful and politically relevant and doesn't present illusions of a return to a glorious past in that way that much music in this style does. Epoch recently released the album Purity and Revolution, which bears traces of SPK, Front Line Assembly and other important artists, but updates the old styles to make them relevant to the current crisis. It uses historical samples to draw parallels between the previous Great Depression and the current day, illustrating the tragic potentials of the present and near future.

We spoke to Ken Holewczynski to get a better picture of Epoch's agenda and his thoughts on the continuing controversies surrounding the industrial scene.

Do you see Epoch as continuing the tradition of socially critical North American industrial associated with Front Line Assembly, Skinny Puppy, Die Warzau and others?

Very much so. One of the initial reasons I was drawn to industrial music and culture was the fact that many of the early the artists involved were writing lyrics and music that were geared towards critical thinkers. They didn't write traditional music with traditional pop sentiments. I came across FLA around the time Corroded Disorder came out at the original Wax Trax! Records store in Chicago. I live close enough to Chicago and I made plenty of pilgrimages to the store to get my industrial music fix. They played videos that were on the cusp of the MTV era, except they played good ones. Front 242, FLA and other European artists were featured, as they did most of the importing of industrial music into the US. I think the one video that really struck me on one visit was FLA's Digital Tension Dementia – the visuals were so striking.

This is also how I came across Laibach as I saw the video for Life is Life at Wax Trax! and immediately began to research and follow the band and more so, NSK . I'd say idealistically, Laibach had more influence on what I am doing content-wise, but musically I draw from all of my influences from EBM, experimental and 90's industrial.

I saw in Laibach a sense of showing a system for what it is, with their process of over-identification. However, I don't think that method would necessarily work in the US. Many Americans are already over-patriotized (is that even a thing?) and wouldn't recognize the sarcasm or irony of that method.

The album has a sense of epic tragedy that's reminiscent of early Front Line Assembly – was their work of this period an influence?

I have always been drawn to music that tends to have some sort of “melancholy” overtones, whether it's lyrical or musical. Prior to diving into the industrial scene, I followed bands like Ultravox and additionally, John Foxx with his solo material and everything they did had this grand sound that was both tragic and beautiful. Ultravox's early work had a sense of longing for a time lost, while Foxx sang both of great personal and cultural dystopias.

Luckily as the entire short-lived “New Romantic” period in music ended, I came across industrial to move on to.

FLA definitely was an early industrial influence. The dark sounds, deep vocals and open sonic spaces continued that epic electronic sound that I still try to project. I know that style of industrial music is still reflected in my compositions as Epoch and music I wrote back in the 90's was probably more directly influenced. I hadn't composed in a very long time and I think the distance now has allowed a development of a more personal style, but you can still hear that early sound in my work.

Epoch - Capitalism, from the Purity and Revolution artwork.

The“narrative”of the tracks is constructed from the samples, many of which seem to be from the era of The Great Depression. What is your approach to sampling?

At this point I feel it's so obvious that media, world leaders, politicians, what have you, primarily mislead and redirect everyone. Not that everyone lies (how can you really tell?), but even though we live in an age of disinformation, if you actually hear and understand what has been said and planned since the dawn of the media, you will see a linear path towards control of central banking, consolidation of commerce and finances, the destruction of the middle class – not to mention the indifference to the poor and the advancement of the extreme viewpoints that I believe are in direct contrast to most people I know, who tend to be moderates, whether they are conservative or liberal. Of course there have been periods where the lives of the average person are improved through legislation and the political process, but we're at a point where globalization of commerce and finance are pushing back hard and seemingly waging economic war on the common man.

So in sampling source material, I look for sound bites that show, in their own words, the way this has been shaped. Roosevelt, Bush, Truman and even Oswald Mosley among others are intertwined to illustrate that there isn't much difference between the political “isms” of our time. The samples are interpretive and used to accent, confuse, warn or inform. Using historical samples reinforce the fact that we should have all seen the current socio-economic crisis coming.

How does your audience perceive you politically?

So far I haven't been perceived of leaning one way or another politically. Since re-entering the industrial scene and specifically the sub-genre of martial industrial, I've actually been corresponding with other bands and individuals with varying viewpoints, so I assume that for now, people find me open-minded to alternative cultures and philosophies.

How do you respond to the inevitable accusations that Epoch is advocating a right-wing agenda? (if you have actually received these)

While I haven't been accused of being right –wing or left -wing, I suppose you're correct in that given the chosen aesthetic for Epoch, and the fact that I am working within circles that have some bands with ring-wing agendas, that this association may be made.

Groucho Marx said, “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”

While not entirely apropos, Marx's quote might apply here in trying to associate me with one view or another.

Perhaps my own agenda with Epoch is a bit ambiguous and people will read into what they want. I have a viewpoint that focuses on global situations and corporate fascism that may be based on my American experience, but translates globally.

Getting back to Laibach and over-identification and my chosen graphic representation of Epoch, I didn't feel “going over the top” in an American sort of way was going to accurately convey the music. If I did, the cover art may look like a typical country music album. However, I think the chosen style is accurate. I doubt most people realize that for longest time, the US dime had the Italian fasces on the back, a symbol used by the Fascist party, and that the symbol is still in several government buildings in Washington DC. I find things like this both entertaining and disturbing.

What are the differences you see between American and European audiences for this style of music?

I honestly am not sure how much of an American audience there is for this, although again, Laibach has its fans here but there aren't other US martial or neo-folk bands here that I am aware of. The “mainstream” American industrial scene, and I get the impression the same holds true for Europe, has been homogenized quite a bit and I wasn't even looking at the American scene when I started composing as Epoch. Present-day American folk is simply a regurgitation of hippie culture presented for the masses and I think I'm treading in a completely different underground arena here. It would be good to get more exposure in the US and I have had some of the poster art I submitted to, and was selected for, the First NSK Citizens' Congress appear in a few area galleries. This may be an avenue I explore further in both art and music to reach a larger US audience.

Ken Holewczynski - Just Say Nein, from the NSK Folk Art selection presented at the First NSK Citizens' Congress, Berlin, 2010.

However, in Europe, I have been lucky enough to gain the support of Casus Belli Musica in Russia, VUZ Records in Duisburg (an old friend from when I ran my previous label, Arts Industria in the 1990s) and Castellum Stoufenburc, also in Germany. They are distributing the CD and through networking I am finding my audience there.

I have always felt that the more interesting music was coming from Europe and I even made it a point to go beyond the obvious British/American music connection to seek out music from other parts of Europe. I have always been especially interested in finding artists from Eastern Europe – I suppose it’s some sort of vague connection to my Polish heritage.

So I guess the underground has maintained its interest to me. You get a more individual voice from those scenes and for good or bad, at least it's preferable over pop music.

So to your previous point, I think Europe may be a better audience for me, but I may end up being categorized within the martial scene. I just find there is an audience there for the type of music I want to pursue and a market that already exists for it. We will see.

Can you tell us more about the Carbon12 label, its other artists, influences and agenda?

Carbon 12 was basically set up as a collaborative type label. As I said earlier, I had created the label Arts Industria in the 1990s and gained a small amount of notoriety releasing international compilations though the mail and through newsgroups like rec.music.industrial. AI was created to initially release my own music but I created many contacts in those days and all told about a dozen or so comps were distributed.

With C12, I was approached by long-time friend, Paul Seegers who plays live keyboards for Assemblage 23 about starting something similar since he had music he was wanting to put out and I was wanting to get back into it myself.

As the music scene is even more difficult to market to now, C12 functions as a marketing co-op more than a label. The releases we've done so far are financed by the artists and we simply assist each other with cross-promotion.

The core of this new beginning was Paul with his project “Thy Fearful Symmetry,” and Laird Sheldahl – previously in the band Thine Eyes and later on ML and myself. Laird is another friend from the Arts Industria days. Analog Angel from Glasgow were a connection made though Seegers and Assemblage 23 and we'll see what else may pop up as far as the label is concerned.

As we all have vastly different styles of music, Paul and I discussed the label not having a specific agenda – it just wouldn't work they way Arts Industria was an “industrial” label. All the bands associated with C12 are electronic in a fashion, but that's the only common thread. This may in itself prove to be limiting for projects like Epoch, but I haven't hit that wall yet.

Perhaps the label in some way, exposes me as a musical socialist, if the label has any agenda at all.



For more information check the Epoch website.