Category: Vintage Synth Trumps (Page 3 of 4)

Vintage Synth Trumps with JOHAN BAECKSTRÖM

31 August 2019 /

With a pair of excellent albums ‘Like Before’ and ‘Utopia’ now under his belt, Swedish synthesist Johan Baeckström has more than established his solo credentials.

Best known as a member of DAILY PLANET, Baeckström had been making plans to return to music on his own prior to an unexpected reunion of the acclaimed duo in 2014 with the appropriately titled ‘Two’. Since then, Baeckström has maintained a solo career in parallel with DAILY PLANET.

DAILY PLANET’s most recent album ‘Play Rewind Repeat’ saw a guest vocal from Mac Austin of WHITE DOOR on the sublime tune ‘Heaven’. Baeckström had already covered two WHITE DOOR songs ‘School Days’ and ‘Jerusalem’ for B-sides, so it was not entirely a surprise when it was announced that he would be joining WHITE DOOR for the recording of their long awaited follow-up to the 1983 long player ‘Windows’.

From his studio utopia via the wonders of online communication, Baeckström challenged ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK to a round of Vintage Synth Trumps and told a few interesting stories about his fabulous collection of electronic keyboards and much more.

The first card is the Roland Jupiter 8, so what have been your experiences with this?

I have almost none, I don’t think I’ve ever played one. I’ve seen them and it’s an important icon synth, that Howard Jones cover of ‘New Song’ with the Jupiter 8 made a huge impact and made me think synthesizers looked cool. But I always thought the Jupiter 6 looked better, it had a nicer design with a better colour scheme, I have one of those and that’s one of my favourites. I know what a Jupiter 8 sounds like, I’ve heard a million demos and it’s on lots of records, it defined the early / mid 80s polysynth sound.

So how close can you get a Jupiter 6 to sound like a Jupiter 8 aesthetically?

I think they are quite different because the Jupiter 8 to me sounds a bit softer and lush. The Jupiter 6 can be lush as well but it’s got a sharper edge to it, which suits my music better as it’s quite percussive and detailed; it’s warm but not as warm as the Jupiter 8. The Jupiter 6 can do harsh, crispy sounds which you can´t really do on the Jupiter 8 because of the multiband filter on the 6, for example.

Which recordings of yours are quite dominated by the Jupiter 6?

When I bought it, the first thing I did to try it was a cover of WHITE DOOR ‘School Days’! It turned out quite nice and I released it as a B-side as you know. Everything on that is the Jupiter 6, also a DAILY PLANET song on the ‘Play Rewind Repeat’ album called ‘Drown’, everything is the Jupiter 6 except for the bass which is a Pro-One.

You mentioned about how you saw the cover for Howard Jones ‘New Song’ when you were younger, but at the time of DAILY PLANET’s first album, you had very long hair… often that’s not a fashion requisite associated with synths? *laughs*

I probably didn’t want to be like everyone else, I started to grow my hair long when I was 14 years old, at first I had “synthpop” hair with everything standing straight up! Then I grew the hair from the neck like Nik Kershaw and then I grew it all very long, I think it was down to my waist at its longest!

Were you a rocker?

I had a time in a rock band when I was 16-17, more a pop rock band like TOTO! I’m not ashamed of it! *laughs*

It was good music, I feel stronger about this now when I heard Daniel Miller in an interview and he admitted he was a big fan of TOTO! If he can admit it, I can!

Of course, Daniel Miller had quite long hair when he started making music with synths…

… it’s the interest on TOTO that does it! *laughs*

So saving money on hair conditioner has enabled you to buy more synths? *laughs*

That is true! *laughs*

Next card, it’s the ARP Odyssey…

I have the reissue from Korg and I use it quite extensively. It’s the same as with the Jupiter 6, it has a sharp edge to it and this Korg one has all three filter types that it was released with. The first is a two-pole filter which is very crispy and has a lot of higher frequencies coming through. It can do everything from bass to percussion.

So when you buy a synth, are you influenced by the bands they are associated with?

I’m sure I am… for example to me, the Jupiter 8 IS Howard Jones and the Pro-One IS Vince Clarke, he basically built an album around that synth. The Odyssey I know Billy Currie of ULTRAVOX used it a lot but so did KRAFTWERK. So yes, to a certain extent.

Do you use the mini-keyboard on the Korg ARP Odyssey reissue or do you MIDI up another full-sized keyboard to it?

I have very few modules, most of my synthesizers have keyboards because when I create sounds and write music, I like to play the instrument I’m programming. So for that, mini-keys are fine but I would probably not bring it out to play live, I would miss a few notes here and there because it’s too small. I would have preferred a full sized keyboard but this was not an option on this reissue by Korg and I’m not prepared to cough up the money for an original one, or the FS version of the reissue.

Was the acquisition of so many synths what led to you building a new studio, or was it to allow for expansion possibilities in the future?

We actually bought a new house so we moved, and one of the rooms in the basement of this house was everything I needed to build a studio, it just needed a new floor, some paint and acoustic panels. The old one was getting a bit cramped so it’s nice to have a bigger studio and in this one, I can have a lounge with a sofa and table, so it’s a much nicer working environment.

The next card is the Korg 800DV…

It’s a good looking one with lots of wood on the sides, but I have no relation to it.

You said your B-side ‘Synth Is Not Dead’ was sort of tongue-in-cheek?

That’s true, I did it for fun which is why it wasn’t put on any album. On the other hand, I think it turned out quite nice so that’s why it came out as a B-side digitally. And thanks to you, some people seem to like it! *laughs*

Next card… oh, here’s an Octave Kitten!

I remember the Octave Cat was a competitor to the ARP Odyssey, I think John Davies from WHITE DOOR still has a Kitten, he used that on the demos for the ‘Windows’ album.

You mentioned the Octave Cat was a competitor to the ARP Odyssey, it had basically the same circuit design!

Yeah, it was a rip-off! That was the Behringer of its day! *laughs*

I think it’s quite interesting how there is so much litigation with song copyright now, but in the synthesizer world, copying is common, even back in the day. Like the circuitry for the Simmons SDS-V was based on the ARP 2600… any thoughts on this modern day cloning thing like with Behringer?

I’m having a hard time with this cloning of everything. If you take the Simmons example, if it’s a total rip-off, then that’s not a nice thing to do because there was probably some patent, but on the other hand, that was a drum module so it’s different from a synthesizer, so perhaps that doesn’t matter.

What Behringer is doing, I suppose it’s positive for people to buy synthesizers which are now largely unobtainable. I mean if you want to buy a vintage Minimoog, it costs a fortune, something like £4000 but a Behringer clone, which from what I heard sounds quite close, is what £250? *laughs*

On the other hand, it’s not their products, they “stole” it! But the patents are free, it’s nothing illegal, it just comes down to ethics and morals. Everyone has to make their own decision as to whether to support it or not, but I can see myself buying Behringer. I haven’t yet but if they do release an Oberheim OBX-a clone and it sounds as it should, I can’t see myself resisting! *laughs*

Talking of American synths, the next one is the Prophet 5…

That’s an icon, probably the one that has meant the most as far as how synthesizers look and behave today. The Minimoog was the first, but the Prophet 5 with its architecture, memories and five octave keyboard, the sound of it was amazing. Now you can get the new Prophets which sound pretty much the same and can do much more, so it’s still relevant after all these years.

I’ve never had one myself, I played it once or twice. I don’t think I would get one now as they are so expensive and I have the Prophet 08, and if I want to come even close to that sound, I can get the Prophet 6. It’s a beautiful instrument to look at as well, it’s a fantastic design in my eyes.

The next card is the Pro-One, tell us about your relationship with it…

I haven’t had my one for too long, I bought it in 2014 and I still can’t understand why I didn’t get one sooner, I should have had one in the 80s. It’s probably my favourite synth, at least my favourite monosynth. It sounds amazing and has superfast envelopes which make perfect bass and percussion sounds, sharp blips and blops, y’know *laughs*

It’s got a great modulation matrix, if you compare it with the Minimoog for example, you can do much more with a Pro-One. It’s always a reward to programme it because whatever you do, it sounds great. But the build quality is so-so, it’s quite plastic and the knobs are a bit flimsy, it’s not built like a tank, it’s more like a Trabant! *laughs*

It’s interesting that you mention the build quality of synths, a lot of these machines are quite fragile and not built to be taken on the road. But one vintage synth which is still around now that tends to end up on stage is the Roland Juno 60. Why do you think that one has been able to survive the years better than any others?

I think the reason the Juno 60 still gets used on stage is because it is quite stable as it uses DCOs. With a Jupiter 6 or Jupiter 8, temperatures can mess up the tuning. It was built very solidly, they seem to stand the test of time and it’s not like the Juno 106 which has these chips which go bad after 30 years. I’ve used my Juno106 live a few times, it’s no problem but you’re right, you see the Juno 60 more.

Another card, it’s a Korg Trident…

Oh! I had one! It’s quite a strange synth, because it’s three machines in one, a polysynth, a string machine and a brass machine, which you could combine. It had very fat sounds coming from it, it was huge and looked very powerful, I loved the way it looked. I got it very cheap after the first DAILY PLANET album ‘The Tide’, but I never used it on any records as it had no MIDI; as I sequence everything, MIDI is quite important for me.

Someone offered to trade it with me for a Roland D20!! It was not great but at least it had MIDI, so I traded it! I think you’d get £80 for a D20 today whereas a Trident gets £2500 so it wasn’t my best decision! I regret it still today, I wish I still had it and have been looking for one. Perhaps Behringer can clone one for me *laughs*

So synths that don’t get used much get traded in?

Not today, but back then I had no money. I could have installed a MIDI kit for the Trident but would have cost me £300 which I didn’t have because I was young and unemployed. So the only thing that made sense was to trade it for something I could use. A few of my synthesizers are not used very much but I don’t trade.

Saying that I did trade a Micro-Korg which I had not used for three years, although it was on ‘Synth Is Not Dead’ for the vocoder, that was probably the only time I recorded with it. I posted up on a Swedish synth forum and got offered a Roland JV1080 and P330 piano module, now I haven’t used them for two years, it’s probably time to trade those as well!

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK can’t imagine you using piano sounds much, but is that a possible direction for the future?

On the new WHITE DOOR album, there are a few piano sounds while on my latest album ‘Utopia’, they are on the cover song I did ‘Into The 80s’, there’s a CP70 type sound low in the background of the middle. But you won’t hear anything like CHICAGO piano! *laughs*

OK, the next card which will lead an interesting discussion, it’s the Moog Prodigy…

I’ve never had one but I’m told it’s great, it’s pretty much a slimmed down Minimoog with two oscillators instead of three, everything from Moog is great in different ways, because the newer ones are not the same as the older ones, but if I had to choose, the older Moogs are the ones that sound the best, Howard Jones, Vince Clarke and DEPECHE MODE use it…

Now this is where we’re going with the conversation. So the Moog Prodigy was the one that Fletch was “seen” with in early DEPECHE MODE videos and TV appearances, he later moved onto the Moog Source. So did you have any feelings or thoughts about Martin Gore getting the Moog Innovation Award?

I saw you had a rant about that! I best be quiet about it *laughs*

I actually don’t have an opinion. Exactly what that award is meant to represent, I’m not sure…

That’s ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s point, Martin Gore was never seen with Moogs, we could understand Gary Numan getting the award. We don’t question his ability as a songwriter during the imperial phase of DEPECHE MODE, but he was NEVER the synth innovator in the group, so we struggled with the title of that award; if it was a Moog Songwriter award, it would be different. The synth innovators in DEPECHE MODE were Vince Clarke first, and then Alan Wilder…

I agree, those Martin Gore song demos that leaked out, it’s not synthesizer virtuoso stuff so he is not the innovator, sound wise. He was a genius with his songwriting and one of the best there ever was, so what the hell? He can have an award just for the songs. But as an innovator, Alan Wilder would deserve it more, but more so Vince.

You recently covered DEPECHE MODE ‘It Doesn’t Matter Two’? Why that song and particularly a Martin Gore voiced one?

That is one of my all-time favourite songs and this will make me sound cocky, but the arrangement on the original is a shame, it’s such a great song but it’s got this silly “bop-boop-bop-boop” arrrangement. They could have done so much more with it. I guess I don’t like that kind of vocal sampling which they built it around. So my cover is what I wanted it to sound like, it’s an amazing song… that shows you how good it is if I can keep listening to it even though I didn’t like the original arrangement and production.

Did you do ‘It Doesn’t Matter Two’ because your voice is more Martin Gore’s key than Dave Gahan’s?

No, but you’re right, I’m more in his key than Dave’s, I just love the song and had this idea for a new arrangement, I think it turned out quite nice. I was asked to do a DM cover for a Swedish podcast called ‘Blå Måndag’, so I decided to do this one since it´s been one where, after a few beers, me and my friends use to singalong and do harmonies to by the piano!

And the next card is a Korg MS20…

Another classic! I have the reissue, it was one of the first I bought when I started rebuilding my collection back in 2013, I’d sold everything I had back in the 90s to go to software. After that, I got a Prophet 08 and a Moog Little Phatty. I still use it a lot but less with this recent album, probably because I had more synthesizers to choose from.

It’s good for noise effects, it’s got a great filter for bass and percussion sounds like on ‘Nobody’s Friend’ from the second DAILY PLANET album and ‘Talking In My Sleep’ on my first solo album. However, the envelopes are too slow for really good snappy bass and percussion. I think the Pro-One has a better low-end and has more powerful oscillators. With the MS20, I use the ring modulator a lot for metallic sounds, I used it for hi-hat type sounds.

How did you find your first ever UK gig at Synth Wave Live 3?

It was nice, the people who were there were very dedicated. I was very thankful for all who came to see the show.

It also saw you on stage with WHITE DOOR, you’ve joined the band now and there is a new album?

I hadn’t met the WHITE DOOR guys before, they’re really nice chaps and to have them do the show with me was a bit surreal as I was listening to them when I was a teenager. It was hard to imagine then I would be on stage with them! It was good but we hadn’t rehearsed so it probably could have been a more perfect performance, but I think people enjoyed it and we had a really fun time.

WHITE DOOR sprung from a prog rock band called GRACE who they still perform as, and a live video that came from a recent festival was fascinating, they were doing this track called ‘The Poet’ which started like WHITE DOOR, then mutated into GENESIS and before you knew it, it had turned into JETHRO TULL! *laughs*

Yes, there is the same “melody language” (as we say in Sweden) with WHITE DOOR and GRACE, although they are very different bands.

I would think that a lot of the way WHITE DOOR turned out is partly thanks to producer Andy Richards who later worked with FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD and OMD, he was the machine wizard. The demos for the ‘Windows’ album were electronic and John Davies had synthesizers but there was also guitars and real bass.

How is the WHITE DOOR album coming along?

It’s coming along nicely, it’s been a slow process but we almost have enough material for an album. I’ve played a few tracks to close friends who love WHITE DOOR and they say it sounds like WHITE DOOR. Now that’s important, when DAILY PLANET reunited in 2014, my plan was that we should not try something too modern, what people wanted was DAILY PLANET to sound like DAILY PLANET. The same approach is what I’m doing with WHITE DOOR although it will sound fresh and be better sounding because of the technology, but there will be a clear connection to the old stuff.

The final card is an ARP 2600…

I’ve never had one, my first connection with it was one of those early software emulations in the early noughties. It’s been used by a lot of artists that inspired me, Daniel Miller’s kick drum on the ‘Speak & Spell’ and ‘Upstairs At Eric’s’ is amazing, plus they also did the “voice” of R2-D2 with it!

But my friend Daniel Bergfalk who mixed my solo albums and joins me on stage sometimes, actually has two of TTSH clones and I’ve played a lot with that, it’s basically the same. It’s amazing and I will probably get one someday, but not an original and that would now cost the same as a car! Probably a TTSH although there are rumours that Behringer will be doing a clone!*laughs*

You’re performing at Pop+Synth Festival in Copenhagen this November with SOFTWAVE, TRAIN TO SPAIN and OCTOLAB?

I’ve never played in Denmark before so it’s gonna be great to enter a new market live.

Why do you think Denmark seemingly has not had an interest in electronic pop in the way neighbours like Sweden, Norway and Finland have?

There never has been, all the acts I know from Denmark are rock like GASOLIN’ but then, there’s not such a big music scene there at all, I can’t even think of many Danish bands in any genre…

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK knows one and that’s LUKAS GRAHAM, f***ing hate that song ‘7 Years’! Such inane childish lyrics! *laughs*

I don’t know them! It sounds horrible!

Oh and there’s TRENTEMØLLER who has been featured on ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK…

TRENTEMØLLER is Danish? I thought he was Norwegian! *laughs*

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Johan Baeckström

‘Like Before’ and ‘Utopia’ are released by Progress Productions in CD and digital formats, downloads available direct from https://johanbaeckstrom.bandcamp.com/

Johan Baeckström plays the ‘Pop+Synth Festival’ at Krudttønden in Copenhagen on Saturday 2nd November 2019, also performing are SOFTWAVE, TRAIN TO SPAIN, OCTOLAB plus many more acts, tickets available from https://billetto.dk/e/pop-synth-festival-billetter-365508

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Vintage Synth Trumps is a card game by GForce that features 52 classic synthesizers

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
31st August 2019

Vintage Synth Trumps with FAKE TEAK

15 January 2018 /


FAKE TEAK was founded by singer, bass player and synthesist Andrew Wyld back in 2011.

First name checked on ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK by Martin Swan of VILE ELECTRODES, the band has since evolved into a group of musicians whose ideas draw on diverse influences such as Krautrock, Afrobeat, funk, rock and electronica for a distinctive sound to soundtrack a dystopian present.

Completing the line-up of the London-based quartet are Alastair Nicholls on guitar, synthesizer, bass + vocals plus Joanna Wyld on synthesizer + vocals and Andrea Adriano on drums, production + vocals.

With a love of vintage hardware and a quirky new single ‘Post Office Tower’ b/w ‘Breathless’ just out, it was natural that FAKE TEAK would relish an opportunity for a round of Vintage Synth Trumps…

OK, first card, we have an Oberheim 8 Voice, does that spark any thoughts?

Joanna: There’s one in the Horniman Museum… I always ogle it even though it’s behind glass!

Alastair: They let you go into a side room where there are various instruments you can play, they have a thumb piano and some kind of tubes where you can whack them with flip-flops.

Andrea: My initial reaction was more notes, bigger chords!

Andrew: With the 8 Voice, it’s really hard to get it to do exactly what you want it to do because if you want to repatch, you have to do it eight times! It takes ages to do but it sounds amazing!

Andrea: Seven grand back in the day!!

Alastair: Isn’t there a HOT CHIP link here, because you played me ‘Flutes’ by them and you said it reminded you of the Oberheim?

Andrew: Yes, there’s a one line where an entire chord follows that line and it reminded me of what happened you play it set-up like a 16 oscillator synthesizer with 8 filters and 8 envelopes, or a chord using one note.

My first impression of FAKE TEAK as a band was that you were influenced by HOT CHIP?

Joanna: HOT CHIP is definitely one element, I actually prefer them live to their recordings.

Andrew: I think we have two strands, there’s the synthesizer sound from HOT CHIP, LCD SOUNDSYSTEM and CAN plus TALKING HEADS in the writing strand.

Alastair: I’d like to add THE CHEEKY GIRLS as well! *laughs*

Another card then, Gleemen Pentaphonic… even I don’t know what that is!

Alastair: My head is a blank!

Andrew: That sounds like something you would make up, if you were making up synthesizers!! *laughs*


OK, moving on… the next card is an ARP Axxe! *everyone cheers*

Alastair: We know a lot about ARP!

Andrew: This one is like the cut-down Odyssey… we have a full-sized Odyssey.

Joanna: Ours is the 1972 model…

Andrew: It’s the Mk1 before proportional pitch control came in and with the two pole filter. So seemingly it’s less desirable but I really like it.

KRAFTWERK used a Mk1 Odyssey, how did you acquire it?

Andrew: I’d been after one for a long time and a friend said there was one in Bedford, so I got the train up. There were keen on a quick sale and I mentioned that as it was a Mk1, could they sell it for a lower price and they gave me this figure… it was like the worst negotiation in the history of haggling! I took it home in a blanket that smelt of air freshener! *laughs*

Alastair: I don’t get to use it in the band but it can make some fantastic sounds, but it can sound horrendous too! And that’s the great thing about it, it can be beautiful and it can be horrific, you have to learn how to control it and I cannot!

Andrea: It’s like if someone took the autopilot out of a jumbo jet…

Andrew: I have a mathematical background so I got the hang of it after a while but there’s a lot of different things to it and quite complicated.

Joanna: It is key, especially with the Odyssey, that we have a good sound engineer because if the balance is wrong, it can sound really bad.

Alastair: We actually use a compressor live with the Odyssey to try and mitigate that problem so we try and make life easier for engineers.

Andrew: What I’ve found in the past is some engineers think the synths are used for decoration rather than a main part of the sound and that can be a problem. But music has changed a lot in the last 5-10 years, people are more used to the idea of synths as part of the backbone.

How did each of you first hear electronic sounds in music?

Andrew: When I was 6, a teacher of mine Miss Wickes played us ‘Autobahn’, this noise that I’d never heard before and I thought it was really cool. Then she played us ‘Numbers’!

Alastair: I don’t I’ve got anything as cool or fringe, but the first time I noticed electronics in music was ‘Bad’ by MICHAEL JACKSON, I was given a Walkman and a tape of the album.

Andrea: ‘Blade Runner’ and VANGELIS with the CS80, that was it for me. I’d always liked synths but Mellotrons were really cool for me and after my teens, I got heavily into APHEX TWIN and then later SQUAREPUSHER.

Joanna: It would be ‘Doctor Who’ and DELIA DERBYSHIRE, we went to see the talk and concert of THE RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP at the Science Museum but also, my dad’s collection of the ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA, on the back of one of these albums was the letters M-O-O-G and I became fascinated with Moogs and thinking “what is that?”

Andrew: VANGELIS and ELO used the CS80, so we just ordered a Deckard’s Dream which is a CS80 replicant, but we’ve since discovered we got to buy £1100 of components to build the thing!


Next card, it’s Roland Juno 106…

Andrea: We have a Juno 60 and I’m about to buy a 106… the Juno 6 didn’t have a memory patch pack, so the 60 had presets and when the 106 came out, they changed the output stage.

Why do you think the Juno, out of all the vintage synths, is still so robust?

Andrew: Because of the way it’s laid out, if you have a basic knowledge of analogue synths, it’s straightforward to use compared to the Odyssey. A lot of people say the Juno is not an analogue machine because of its digital control, but the way that the voices work, the actual oscillators are very similar to those in a Moog. The 106 was one of the first synths to have MIDI, so you have can have those wonderful warm sounds but controllable and easy to use.

Joanna: For me, it is straightforward to use and versatile, the practicality of playing on stage, you want to make it easier, not more difficult. On a Juno, the same voice will work in different contexts really well, there’s a ‘Chariots Of Fire’ sound I use…

Alastair: Oh, Patch 42? Every time you play something on Patch 42, it makes you kind of weepy! It’s got that quality of the Meaning Of Life!

Andrea: It goes very well with the Scottish Highlands!

When’s the FAKE TEAK album out?

Andrew: It’s recorded and Andrea did a wonderful job…

Joanna: It’s gone to Abbey Road for mastering…

Alastair: The band has been going a good while and the line-up has changed over the years, sometimes it takes a while to bring things together. With the four of us, we have the focus and found a sound and recording style that works for us. We’re releasing a few singles first and then the album should be out in 2018.

Your first single is ‘Post Office Tower’, why is this structure still so iconic?

Andrew: The Post Office Tower is an iconic part of the North London skyline and was bombed by the IRA in 1972, they were trying to destroy a publically visible monument… so my inspiration was the thought of “what if they had succeeded?”, would that have changed society in the way 9/11 did? The Post Office Tower is a brutalist piece of architecture and very idealistic, coming at the time of new towns and new motorways… of course, that was a very flawed ideal. What I wanted to do with the song was express admiration for the ideal of society as something you can improve, whilst saying it’s possible to make a mistake about the specific direction you’re at, and come back from that to move into a better direction, which is something I think we’ve lost sight of.

Alastair: Yeah, I went to an exhibition about the utopian ambitions of the 60s and how great the world might be able to be, that’s fallen away slightly and now people are just trying to figure out good solutions to problems, rather than great ideas and big pictures.

Joanna: It also had a revolving restaurant which was just amazing, why has it not reopened? People would flock to it! *everyone laughs*

How did ‘Post Office Tower’ come together musically?

Andrew: I wrote it in Durham and started with a fairly specific skeleton but it’s evolved.

Joanna: Right at the beginning, I do some ‘sample and hold’ which creates the atmosphere and all the connections with the Post Office Tower.

How did you go about producing your drum sounds?

Andrea: When it came to the album, we wanted to record the drums live. I wanted to use a particular interface because it had better converters etc but just 8 inputs, so we were restricted to 4 tracks with 2 overhead mics for stereo drums which got the toms, plus a snare and a kick mic. I don’t think we’d have got away with it using more modern pre-amps, they don’t sound big. Everything sounds bigger on the old ones plus we had the luxury of recording onto tape.

Alastair: There are great drum samples these days but the important thing was to get the whole sound of the band breathing, not to be locked down to a metronome. To have that little bit of breathing just makes the whole track feel natural and exciting.

Andrea: In the original incarnation of the band, there was this view that everything should be to ‘click’, and I strongly disagreed with that! It was only when we started playing together and I recorded the rehearsals, I was like “can we concentrate a bit more?”

OK, another card, it’s a Roland SH3a…

Andrew: We were in a studio with one once…


Tell us about the track ‘No Shame’ which got a good response online in its demo form…

Joanna: It started as an affectionate parody of HOT CHIP; I came up with a few lines and Andrew said it was quite catchy and that I should try and do something with it. The start was quite sarcastic, but I built it from there with influences from ‘Ready For The Floor’ and LCD SOUNDSYSTEM’s ‘Us V Them’ and that disco feel. The lyrics evolved from that slightly odd beginning to about when people pretend to socialise together so that they don’t look like they’re on their own. But then, there’s that strange unity where you come together on the dancefloor.

Alastair: Yes, you’re having a good time whether you’re going to speak to them again, it’s that moment.

Joanna: People do seem to quite like ‘No Shame’ because it’s catchy, we did a wedding and they did a conga to it, which was a sort of peak for me.

That’s why I said on Twitter that it was “delightfully odd”, it was weird but it was nice and fun to listen to…

Joanna: …“weird but nice and fun”, I’m going to put that on a T-shirt! *laughs*

The next card is an Elka Synthex, much loved by JEAN-MICHEL JARRE…

Joanna: We listened to ‘Oxygene’ a lot at home, and along with our younger brother, we used to pretend we were space people!

Andrew: Didn’t we do a radio play? We had a reel-to-reel tape recorder that we speeded up and slowed down to use for sound effects! *laughs*

Joanna: I don’t know Elka stuff, I have to admit

Andrew: Elka did great strings machines and we have a Roland RS-202, that’s like the Rhapsody…

Alastair: …yes, it’s a string machine that inexplicably has a brass mode! That inspired ‘101’ on our album! *laughs*

Joanna: So was that inspired by the 202 divided by 2, because that would be amazing!

Alastair: I wish it was… you know in America, you do a class for the basics of something, like ‘English Language 101’? So the song ‘101’ is like learning the basics… of relationships!

Joanna: So deep! Why did I ever ask? *laughs*


One last card… yes, it’s a Roland Jupiter 8!

Andrew: Yes please, but I don’t have £8000 spare! *laughs*

Alastair: Originally, they were only £4000!

One of the members of the DEPECHE MODE tribute band SPEAK & SPELL has Alan Wilder’s old Jupiter 8…

Joanna: …I sometimes wonder about our Odyssey that because they’re so rare now, when I see things like a photo of Brian Wilson with one… could it be the same one? I get really excited at the idea! *laughs*

You’re a bit of a Brian Wilson fan aren’t you?

Joanna: Yes, I love Brian Wilson, I think he’s a genius… I under rated him at first like a lot of people, because the harmonies are apparently so simplistic and cheery and nice. But you go a bit deeper and realise that he’s touching on more emotion… in fact, there’s times when I have to take a break from listening to it because it’s so powerful. Also structurally, what he’s doing, his layers are so sophisticated yet it appears so effortless and not contrived in any way. There’s something so spontaneous and sincere in his character and that comes across in his music.

So what would you like to achieve as a band?

Joanna: Realistically, we understand it’s a very competitive field but we’d like to go as far as we can… we love to make it and tour, but it’s taking one step at a time and building on that. All joking aside, we really believe in the songs and the sound we create. I think the album sounds amazing so I can’t wait to share it with everyone.

Andrew: It’s something we take very seriously, we think it’s really worth listening to… it’s been a complex road to get to that so we’re taking it one step at a time, we really do believe in it.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to FAKE TEAK

‘Post Office Tower’ is available as a download single from https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/faketeak

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Vintage Synth Trumps is a card game by GForce that features 52 classic synthesizers

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
15th January 2018

Vintage Synth Trumps with FICTION STUDIOS

18 August 2017 /

Fiction Studios is a boutique recording studio located right in the heart of London, fully equipped for recording, mixing and mastering while also available to hire for Voiceover and ADR recording.

The studio was set up by brothers Dominic and Nathan Cooper in 2016; Cooper is best known for his role in the film adaptation of ‘Mamma Mia’ while Nathan was a member of THE MODERN and today performs as KID KASIO.

Combining Dominic’s experience in the acting field and Nathan’s background in music production, the air conditioned studio caters for bands, musicians and voiceover artists. The studio also features an array of classic analogue gear which ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK decided would be a good reason to visit and challenge Nathan Cooper to a round of Vintage Synth Trumps…

First card today and it’s a Korg Mono/Poly…

I’ve got the plug-in! My friend’s got a Mono/Poly and he swears by it, we were in a band together when we were young…

…I thought you were young? 😉

Yeah! *coughs*

His name’s Gabriel Prokofiev, we both got into synths at primary school and we’ve both built up a collection over the years. I’m quite jealous of his collection, there’s a few he’s got that I haven’t and the Mono/Poly is one of them.

What was the first synth you owned?

It depends if you want the first good one or the first keyboard? My first keyboard was a Yamaha PSS-110, I found one again recently on eBay and thought I’d buy it on a whim… it’s awful! It’s got these samples of a dog bark and cat meow and what’s supposed to be a cuckoo! *laughs*

So it was more like a toy?

Yes, so I followed that up with a Casio SK1 when I was about 10-11 which had a sampling thing in it, so that you could burp into it and play ‘Happy Birthday’ out of burps! *laughs*

But my first proper synth was when I was 14, I begged my mum to buy me what I wanted, which was a Roland Juno 60. In those days, you went to ‘Loot’ magazine… this was at a time when they were really cheap because everyone wanted a Roland D50 or Korg M1.

I would say it’s the same one I own now, but it isn’t… sadly in the early 90s, I was recording in Ezee Studios with Toyah and MARILLION’s producer Nick Tauber. He told me to leave the synth there as we’d be back in a couple of weeks. But the session got put back and put back and we didn’t go back for nearly a year, so when I finally returned it was gone! I was heartbroken! A lot of people just stared blankly when I asked where it was, we couldn’t trace where it had gone. The one I replaced it with, I’ve had now for a fair amount of time.

The Juno 60 is a robust old thing isn’t it?

Every synth I have at Fiction Studios has at some point, needed to be completely refurbished, apart from the Juno. It never goes out of tune! The only thing that ever happened to it, was when I was touring with THE MODERN and I snapped one of the keys while I was loading it back onto the van. It was after a horrific gig at an indie venue called ‘Filthy McNasty’s’ which was where THE LIBERTINES were signed, so God knows what we were doing there! *laughs*

What I really wanted was an Oberheim or a Jupiter 8, but that was out of my range, so the Juno fitted in the budget for a birthday present. I know Howard Jones used one and it was analogue so that was it.

OK, next card!! What are the chances, it’s a Juno 60!!! *laughs*

When I set up Fiction Studios, I was lucky to be loaned some of my dream synths like the Oberheim OBXa. I also have the Prophet 5 which I saved up for ages for, but having said that, the go-to synth is still the Juno 60, it’s still used in my KID KASIO stuff more than anything else.

Maybe it’s because I know it so well and all the patches on it were programmed by me, but there’s something about the interface on it, it’s just so easy to manipulate, it does what you want it to do, to fit into the track. Having said that, you get less happy mistakes with it though. I guess because I know all the sounds on it so well, so it rarely does anything that truly surprises.

Now, here’s a monster on the next card, a Yamaha CS80!!

That’s the dream isn’t it? I’d love one! I have the Arturia softsynth version. I always think of VANGELIS, the ‘Blade Runner’ soundtrack and Stevie Wonder who used it a lot. It’s one of those synths that’s got a ‘sound’ to it with that ribbon controller.

The ribbon controller is an interesting point as the Polymoog had one too and I’m assuming that kind of controllability is very difficult to simulate using software?

Yeah, totally! It’s why I use as much hardware stuff as I can because when I’m using mod wheels, pitch bends and stuff, I’ll programme the part in MIDI and then have the part playing through the synth while tweaking it and then I’ll record the sound onto the computer, adding any kind of modulation manually. Because you’ve got that tiny bit of human touch to it, that is what people kind of connect to. Although it’s still synths, it’s got some human authenticity to it. You can use pitch bend and stuff with softsynths but you don’t get that same interaction. And I think that can make or break a sound sometimes.

I remember on one of my KID KASIO tracks ‘Full Moon Blue’, I was using a harmonica sound from a Yamaha DX7 but it wasn’t quite sounding right, and everyone said I needed to use a breath control; so you put this thing in your mouth and plug it into the back of the synth and it will change the sound as you blow. I love things being electronic and mechanical but sometimes if you add something like that, it adds that human element to it. There’s something about humans AND machines.

So why set up a studio when today, someone can grab hold of a laptop, get GarageBand and do everything there? Why does anyone out there need somewhere like Fiction Studios?

Good question… because many softsynths are now based on old analogue ones, it’s got people hankering after the authentic sound, even though softsynths do a really great job.

I think most people are aware the original sounds are better, but people can’t get their hands on them and they are expensive these days; a lot of people don’t have the room for them as well.

So in the current environment where synthpop is popular, there is a market for people coming in and wanting to play around with the old synths and run their ideas through some classic analogue flagship gear. It’s nice in that sense that people can do that. Some people often just want another pair of ears so if people want me to produce something, I can listen to what they’ve done and steer it in a certain direction.

Modern music has become very inward because of home recording…

Yes, it’s become very introspective. You can get something sounding good on GarageBand and get it up to a professional level but you always need someone else, that’s why all KID KASIO albums are mixed by Adrian Hall because I need that extra pair of ears, he can hear stuff that’s clogging up the track that I’ve been too entrenched in to notice.

So that’s why a studio with an in-house engineer or producer is great to make professional sounding tracks, or they can use the synths to produce their own stuff.

How did your most recent single ‘Drive (Some Kind Of Love)’ come about?

It was inspired by the film ‘Drive’ which came out in 2011; I’d just finished doing the ‘Tamara Drew’ soundtrack with Ben Todd and ‘Drive’ really blew us both away. We thought it would be great to write a song that could stylistically fit into the film. We performed it live and realised it went down pretty well. So that’s why I decided to release it.

When it was being mixed, I gave Adrian some reference points which were ‘The Boys Of Summer’ by Don Henley and ‘You’re The Voice’ by John Farnham. The track had this American vibe to it which a lot of my stuff doesn’t have, my sound is very Synth Britannia but for some reason, ‘Drive (Some Kind Of Love)’ just had this MISTER MISTER element to it!

I envisaged the video being filmed on an American highway in an open top car, but it ended up being done in London with me driving around in my Reliant Scimitar classic car and the video came out ok *laughs*

Looking at Fiction Studios, I’m amazed how spacious it is… what did you have in mind when you chose this location?

It is right in the heart of London, very few studios are now, normally you have to go to the East of London or the trendier parts, this is slap bang central. I was looking for a space with my brother and his accountants have got a firm on the fifth floor of this building. He mentioned to them he was looking for a location to set up a studio and they suggested their store room in the basement.

We came down to have a look and it was not what you would expect an accountancy firm’s store room to look… there were boxes of files but because this firm looked after actors, models and people in the entertainment industry, there was all this weird stuff there.

I was looking around and there were MTV and Nickelodean Awards for ONE DIRECTION!! The firm represented them! So there was a pile of their tour clothes and what was really sad was all their stuff that fans had given them was here! So there was this huge great portrait of Harry Styles staring at me that some fan had spent ages drawing! And it was down there gathering dust! *laughs*

Anyway, I noticed a library area that looked something out of Hogwarts from ‘Harry Potter’ and it was set up originally as a film set but never got round to being used. They offered to move it but I said not to as I could imagine bands hanging out in this bit because it had a really nice vibe.

The brickwork and features are all fake, but the 6000 old books are real! Occasionally you’ll pick a book out and it’ll be from the 1850s. So it’s great for inspiration, and what I’ve found I’ve done recently is I’ve been tidying up, looked up at the shelves and see the spine of a book that has the title of a song I’ve just written! It’s very weird!

And there’s no curfew or restrictions on the time of day an act can use the studio?

No, people have booked Fiction Studios until very late at night and it has 24 hour concierge so you can come and go when you please.

You have your synths but you are equipped to record acoustically as well, was this important in the viability of the studio?

Yes, the drum kit has been put near the library area. I would happily just set it up as a synth studio but I was looking into this as a business, so I didn’t want to close it off and make it accessible to everyone. And it’s worked the other way, I haven’t really had enough synth acts in here! I’ve had indie bands, opera singers and everything here so it’s been really interesting *laughs*

So, time for another card, an Oberheim 2 Voice…

I haven’t got a 2 Voice but I’ve been really lucky recently to accquire an OBXa, which was one of my dream wants because I’m a big fan of Richard Barbieri from JAPAN, where they used the similar OBX and Prophet 5. There’s just a sound about the OB series; since getting one I’ve actually come to really respect Richard Barbieri’s work because it’s not as easy as turning it on and having those sounds.

You can find them when you tweak but it’s hard, and makes me realise he was a bit of a genius when it came to that stuff. How I came to acquire it is one of those funny things, I was at a party and I got chatting to a guy called Ian Merrylees who is a TV Editor.

He said “I’ve got a few synths at home”. Now nine times out of ten with these types of conversations, it turns out the synth is a Casiotone… so I asked him what they were and he said “one’s an Oberheim” and I’m like “WHAT?”

It had been in his loft for fifteen years… so I went round to his house to have a look, and not only did he have an OBXa, but he had a Prophet T8 as well! He wanted to see them used, and he very kindly loaned them to Fiction Studios, although they needed loads of servicing… I needed about four people to carry the T8 into the car, it’s a real monster! *laughs*

What other synths do you have here at Fiction Studios?

As well at the Oberheim OBXa, Prophet 5 and Prophet T8, there’s a Crumar Performer which after the Juno 60 is my most used synth, the SH101, Yamaha DX7, Korg MS2000, Korg DS8 and a Korg Poly 800 which my band mate Chi in THE MODERN found in a skip!

My most recent addition to the synth armoury was from when Roland came down to the studio and were impressed with the look. So the deal is they will lend us anything if they can film in here every now and then, so I have been lent a Roland JDXa which Nick Rhodes of DURAN DURAN spearheads the campaign for. It has a really nice interface, it looks amazing.

It’s great for live because unlike the old analogues where you need a torch because you can’t see the controls, this has everything lit up really nicely and there are in-built effects so everything sounds nice straight out of the box.

You have two mixing desks here?

One is for bands to use when they rehearse in the live area, it’s an old Datum series made by Hill Audio who provided the desks for Live Aid.

I was keen on having an old analogue desk, so I got this Soundtracs IL36 32 channel mixer from a friend of mine who was downsizing. That’s the thing about these desks nowadays, no-one wants them, my friend just wanted it taken away, it took five people to lift it! But I love it because it’s got a great sound to the EQs, I run all my synths through it. I have a nice Focusrite pre-amp so that it sounds like those old Neve desks, it’s got a beautiful analogue sound.

I use Logic to record but if people want to use Pro-Tools, they can. I have a nice Neumann U87 microphone and an Avalon pre-amp so you can get a good vocal chain. The monitoring uses Genelec speakers so it’s all here for people if they want it.

Another card, an ARP Odyssey…

I was this close to getting the Korg remake last year and then the studio came up. So when there was the offer of these other synths and I was getting the studio set-up, I had to spend my money on other things. I’d like to get one because ULTRAVOX used it…

…you know Billy Currie’s just sold his?

Did he? Why would you sell it?

He did sell it for £8500!

Ah! That’s why you’d sell it! *laughs*

How much is the remake by Korg?

Don’t quote me on this, but I think it’s about £700 so it’s a lot cheaper than buying an old one and it’s got MIDI.

Now I see here you have a tape recorder AND a drum machine… *laughs*

The tape recorder is all rigged up and came into use recently. Dave Ball from SOFT CELL came in with some old ¼ inch tapes of demos recorded when he and Marc Almond were at Leeds Polytechnic. He wanted to find out what was on them in case there was any other stuff that hadn’t been heard before, and there was!

That was a great experience, he’s such a nice guy and one of my idols, so to sit there and go through this stuff first hand was amazing, This early stuff was almost punk and really out there lyrically, it was amazing how simplistic some of the synth lines were, that’s the beauty of them. The Oberheim DMX was kindly donated by a friend, I must give it back to him soon as I’ve had it for about ten years *laughs*

It’s got a brilliant kick drum, snare and clap sound which I use in almost everything I do but I tend to sample it rather than use it as a drum machine.

There are modern drum machines like the Roland TR8, but most people just use software, so is there a place for drum machines in recording today?

I think there probably is, but I still use loops quite a lot. Most people will use a programme in Logic for drum sounds called Battery where you can load up whatever vintage drum machine you want and play it on the keys of a synth, layering up the percussion framework into the computer.

I like the inspiration you can get from loops, I use a company that supplies them and you can pick one out by year. When you buy a particular year like say 1982, they send you a pack of a hundred loops played on the popular drum machines of that year in various tempos and stuff. So what I invariably do is use that as a basis and layer the sounds up with real ones from the DMX or a sample from a 12 inch single. The great thing about the DMX is that you can open it up and tune up each drum to the song via the dials inside.

When it comes to using a drum machine to programme, it’s quite fiddly and you end up recording it back into the computer anyway, so it’s a bit pointless. But it is nice to have it hands on.

Final card, it’s the Polymoog…

People say I haven’t got any Moogs in the studio but they’re one of those makes that I never got into. I want one, partly because Howard Jones had a Moog Prodigy but when I was young, I always associated Moog with the more proggy end of music and it sort of put me off *laughs*

It’s funny because Rodney Cromwell admits he’s “a Moog Snob”…

I guess it’s the difference between 1977-1980 which is more the lo-fi era of electronics where he comes from musically, while my stuff fits more into the more later end of synthpop 1982-1983…

Ah, the digitally stabilised analogue period…

Yeah, exactly *laughs*

Having said that, if anyone wants to donate a Moog synth? I do have all the Moog plug-ins but it’s just been one of those things.

So what are you up to at the moment musically?

Apart from producing an array of acts here at Fiction, I’m planning the video to the final release from my KID KASIO ‘Sit & Wait’ album. It’s going to be made up of old footage of me in bands from the 90s.

Also I’m putting the final touches to an EP of cover versions I’m releasing next year. And busy writing and recording for my third KID KASIO album.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Nathan Cooper and Fiction Studios

Fiction Studios is based at 22-24 Ely Place, London EC1N 6TE United Kingdom – for further information, please phone +44(0) 207 831 8177 or visit their website at http://www.fictionstudioslondon.com/

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Vintage Synth Trumps is a card game by GForce that features 52 classic synthesizers

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
18th August 2017, updated 11th February 2021

Vintage Synth Trumps with RODNEY CROMWELL

30 January 2016 /

The name of Rodney Cromwelly6 is comparatively new to electronic pop music.

But the man behind the persona, Adam Cresswell is a seasoned hand, having previously released an album ‘Navigation’ as part of oddball synth duo Arthur & Martha with Alice Hubley in 2009.

But a number of personal circumstances led to Arthur & Martha disbanding. While Hubley went on to form cult indie band COSINES, Cresswell laid low, at least until 2015. He re-emerged as Rodney Cromwell with ‘Age Of Anxiety’, a concept album of sorts chronicling his problems with depression and anxiety that had affected his life and creative muse.

The honesty apparent in Cresswell’s dissonant vocal styling, alongside crisp electronics and acoustic instrumentation, has made ‘Age Of Anxiety’ an unexpected favourite of both critics and online radio outlets. Echoing the spectre of acts such as SECTION 25 and NEW ORDER, songs like ‘Black Dog’ and ‘You Will Struggle’ embody the album’s concept perfectly.

Ever the synth enthusiast, he accepted ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s invitation to a round of Vintage Synth Trumps.

Your first card is the Yamaha CS60, does that mean anything to you?

Absolutely not… I always regarded Yamaha as people who made motorbikes! I’ve never owned a motorbike, I’ve only ever been on one once and it scared the sh*t out of me! I bought a Yamaha 4-track… when I got my student loan, I went out and spent it all on a Yamaha MTX4. And that is where I learnt to be a producer, by recording to tape.

4 tracks, it’s very limiting so you learn to be disciplined. I used to record 3 tracks and then bounce them all down to the fourth, and then start again. You’d be making a record using the same process they made ‘Sgt Pepper’ with, but you’re doing it in your own bedroom! *laughs*

Are you one who relishes equipment restrictions to provide the artistic drive?

Yes! To be honest, whenever I see a photo of people in a roomful of analogue synthesizers and loads of gear, I’m thinking “are you throwing in gear to fill a hole in your creativity!?”.

I have got 4 synths… 5 if you count the MicroKorg, which I don’t! And I’ve used them on the last three albums I’ve made, not because I’m a cheapskate but those 4 synths have become my sound. I like working within the limitations of what they can do. I say limitations, but the possibilities of just one half-decent analogue synth are almost limitless anyway! I love the fact you can plug it in, turn it on and it’s never quite the same as last time! It makes it interesting playing live with them.

Have you ever seen one of these, a Jen SX1000?

I saw one of those in the music shop at the end of my road last summer. I went in to buy a cable and there was a Jen SX1000… I was going to buy it, but my wife said “no, you’ve got enough synths in the house!” *laughs*

Next card, it’s a Moog Prodigy…

It’s a good synth, I always liked the white buttons on it but I don’t have a Prodigy, I have a Moog Rogue. They’re a bit similar in that they’re in the entry level bracket… all my synths are in the entry level bracket!

Were they like the Casiotones of their day?

That’s a bit too demeaning… my synths are a Moog Rogue, a Moog Opus3, a Korg MS-10 which is my stage synth and an ARP Quartet which has the string sound on it. I bought them all within 2 years. They all get the job done and they are my sound.

Why did you get a Rogue instead of a Prodigy?

Oh, this was in the days before the internet, and you would buy whatever you saw in a shop or the small ads. My mum phoned me up one day after looking in catalogue and said “Oh, I know you’re looking for a Moog Prodigy, but this shop in Croydon says it has got a Moog”. I drove over and there on the top shelf above rows of horribly plastic digital synths was this Rogue with a chip on one key, so it looks like it’s got a broken tooth! *laughs*

They got it down and dusted it off… it was like when Gary Numan discovered synths, it made this massive great noise and I thought “I’ve got to have that!” – it took a month’s wages to buy the thing and that’s really where it all started for me.

So was that in your early indie phase?

Yes, I was in a band called SALOON and I took this Moog through to Arthur & Martha as well. In fact I haven’t done a gig without the Rogue since 1998 and I can’t imagine getting onstage without it, it’s part of the family. We’ve been through an awful lot together from leaving it in the road and almost losing it the first day I took it to a recording studio, to climbing down a mountain in Spain in the dead of night with it.

What’s its main characteristic?

It’s got a dirty sub-bass all the way up to glass shattering whistles and pops. But what I most like about it is you can throw it about and bring a bit of drama to the stage performance; you can’t get out of little plastic digital synths… you know, twisting the filters, throwing the switches in an overly dramatic way.

Live though, you are a good mix of analogue and digital sequences via the laptop…

The reason we use a laptop on stage is I won’t ever work with a drummer again! Not because I have anything against drummers personally, but that whole lifting drum kits into the backs of vans… I’m too old for all that! *laughs*

Using sequencers can be a little restricting but equally, life is too short for too much freeform synth jamming, I just want to be playing pop music. I like the live thing to be controlled in terms of sequenced songs, but with the opportunity for some level of improvisation which the analogue synths bring, because they never sound the same… sometimes, I wish they were more the same, but you go with it.

A good example of your analogue / digital live mix is on ‘Black Dog’. How did the track musically come together in the studio?

I was playing with my brother’s Korg Prophecy, I hit a key and it made this pulsing sequencey noise and when I played another key, it sounded like a sequenced pattern. The song was made up by playing those sequences live… it sounded just about in time!

It reminds me of NEW ORDER and SECTION 25…

Funny you should say that! When you hit those notes and they sound a little bit like ‘Temptation’, you’re going to go with it aren’t you? *laughs*

What’s very characteristic about your sound is although you love synths, acoustic textures such as glockenspiel and melodica have always been part of your world, as well as the more traditional guitar and bass… what was your ethos behind this?

That’s a very good question… I think they just suit the mood. It’s nothing more than that, it just sounds right. I love electronics, but I like things that bring something else to it. One of the bands that switched me on back in the day was STEREOLAB, they had electronics but also glockenspiel and horns or whatever. I literally play what’s knocking about in the house. We have a glockenspiel that sounds pretty good so I use that, and I have a decent a bass guitar. I just use whatever, although there’s not much guitar on ‘Age Of Anxiety’ because I’m a terrible guitar player…

You prefer the bass?

Yes, I was a bass player for 6 years; I used to play in a Peter Hooky kind of style because I wanted people to know I was a songwriter too. So much of the time I would add a melodic counterpoint on the bass to go with the vocal lines. When it came to ‘Age Of Anxiety’, I was just enjoying myself playing the bass for the first time in years… I cranked the tone knob up, whacked on a bit of chorus and it sounds like Peter Hook! I thought “Sod it! Why not?”

Considering the album is called ‘Age Of Anxiety’ and about your experiences, fronting Rodney Cromwell must have been a challenge. What were your coping strategies?

To be honest with you, it has been a way of me showing to myself that I am able to cope. I can stand up in front of people and perform, I’ve always been quite good at that. It’s the other things… just don’t ask me to travel to a gig through The Blackwall Tunnel. I don’t like flying either!

But I have to do it, especially if people are listening to the record and coming up to me saying “I love what you’re doing, I suffer from anxiety and it’s really helped me”; I can’t then say “don’t talk to me” and huddle up in the corner, that’s not going to help them!

It’s been a very weird year becoming a front person in a musical act. I’m a middle-aged bald guy, I’m supposed to be at the back where nobody looks at you, not at the front with people throwing their underwear! *laughs*

How would describe the music environment from the time with Arthur & Martha in 2009 to today as Rodney Cromwell?

2009 was a very difficult period in terms of musical promotion because of the financial crash; for one people were very reticent about investing. We had ‘Navigation’ in the can for a least a year before it came out, with labels saying they would put it out and then not committing, and we missed the boat when things like LA ROUX and LITTLE BOOTS were happening.

People didn’t know what the right model was at all, they didn’t know whether to put out vinyl, CD or downloads. They didn’t know how to promote things, whether it should be blogs or newspapers and stuff like that. Distribution companies didn’t know what they were doing… we had two distribution companies, one doing the CD and one doing the digital! It was a very funny period! So that’s why we started our own record label Happy Robots because we got so fed up and thought we could do a better job ourselves.

Now it seems to be a bit different, in that blogs and websites are very much a big part of the model. You’re going to get a lot more traction on a specialist outlet like ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK, than a bigger general music platform or the Daily Express. 

In terms of distribution, people realise there’s no money in it anymore, so let’s not be deluded about it, you don’t press 1000 copies if you’re a new artist, you press 300 and hope for the best! Do I think it’s better or worse? I don’t know! I think things are more straightforward now in that it’s more clear cut. It’s easier to get a handle on the right thing to be doing and what isn’t. I mean, I never thought I’d play another gig again after ARTHUR & MARTHA ended, but if I want to sell CDs, I’ve got to go out and do some gigs.

Another card? A Roland SH-2… have you ever wanted a Roland?

No, not really! I think I’m a Moog snob *sniggers*

Me and my guitarist do have Boss pedals, which are built by Roland of course… I have five of them and one Moog guitar pedal and of all those, which is the one that plays up and doesn’t work? It’s not the blooming Boss is it! Hahahahaha! So maybe Roland is the way forward for me!

‘Cassiopeia’ is a great title, did you have a Casio? How do you see them in the pantheon of accessible technology and how it changed the landscape?

I think Casios are great, I love the Casiotones. The very first Rodney Cromwell track which I wrote in 2002 for a ‘Lord Of The Rings’ compilation was just the MS-10 and a Casiotone. They’re great for kids as well. My kids have got a Casio, but they just hit the Autosong thing and thump it a bit…

…I think a few bands do that! *laughs*

Casiotones are really cheap in boot fairs!

You have been a strong advocate of the instrumental with tracks like ‘Baby Robot’ and ‘One Two Seven’, there’s not enough of them on albums today… discuss?

I would have loved to have done a whole instrumental album to be honest, because of that whole not putting yourself forward as the singer, but I can’t help but gravitate towards vocals, lyrics and being pop, although there’s nothing better than a really good instrumental. With ARTHUR & MARTHA when that started, I thought we were mostly going to be instrumental, doing that ADD (N) TO X thing, sort of noisy and experimental, throwing synthesizers around all over the place.

Although your vocals are quite sombre, your synth melodies are quite bright and pretty like on ‘Baby Robot’?

Yes, ‘Baby Robot’ is the one track on the album that’s 100% upbeat as it is about the experience of being a father.

Some of the synth sounds even on ‘Black Dog’ are quite bright?

Yeah… the thing is, if you’re making a song about anxiety, if you’re not going to make the melodies hummable and the synths sound bright and happy, you’re just going to make a Goth record! And I don’t want to make a Goth record! *laughs*

Yes, you end up sounding like THE WAKE!

Exactly… although I like THE WAKE! *laughs*

It’s only recently since I’ve remixed other people that I’ve consciously realised that I have a formula, which is major key with an upbeat disco tempo.

The most favourite synth you’ve owned and why?

The Rogue is my favourite, but the ARP Quartet gets used more these days because it does great piano melody lines as well as the big string sound. This album is probably more MS-10 than it is Rogue. The Rogue is great for live or whatever… but this question is a bit like asking “what do you like about your Black & Decker Workmate?”… the MS-10 is a really good tool, to me it’s a workhorse, and it gets the job done.

But with the Rogue, there is more of an emotional connection there… we’re special buddies who is like your best mate who you see every couple of months, you don’t need to talk to each other but you know what each other are thinking.

The synth you’ve most wanted but never had, that use could use musically as opposed to having ornamentally?

I’d love to have one of those British Synthis like the AKS, they look and sound stunning., I remember Barry 7 from ADD (N) TO X throwing one about on stage. The VCS3 is cool too, I remember SONIC BOOM playing a gig with his EXPERIMENTAL AUDIO RESEARCH project with two of those on stage, going up and down the filters, it was just noise! I used to have a T-shirt with ‘Putney’ written on it, nobody got it… apart from me. The EMS Synthi 100, DELIA DERBYSHIRE and the BBC RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP… it’s the daddy of synths, one of the greatest bits of British Engineering. I also like the Wasp and the Gnat in their black and yellow.

How was it to reunite with Alice Hubley again playing live? I understand ‘Autovia’ is now part of the set?

It was brilliant, we’ve realised what good mates we are and she’s a really good synthesist, it’s great because she hasn’t been really using analogues in the COSINES live set. A few weeks ago we thought we’d dig out ‘Autovia’. When we hit the droney groove at the end, I felt like I was in NEU! It was just the best moment, it’s great to be working with somebody who is on the same wavelength, even though she loves Taylor Swift! *laughs*

How do you see the future of synthpop?

I hope it doesn’t become a retro thing… what I was trying to do with this record was to use retro gear, but use it in a forward looking way, in the same way that ‘I Feel Love’ did, it was about making records that sounded like the future. I think with that sort of instrumentation, you can still do that. But nobody has quite cracked it yet. I like the stuff that’s uplifting like CHVRCHES, but it’s about bringing enough new to the party, to bring the sound forward.

My thought is, it’s the people who are getting into CHVRCHES now, who will be inspired to make a synthesized form of music in the future…

I agree, and they’re the only band really who are at the right level to be inspiring a new generation. I really hope that happens. I think there’s a lot of good stuff going on, but we need young blood coming up and showing us old timers how it’s really done.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Adam Cresswell

Rodney Cromwell ‘Age Of Anxiety’ and Arthur & Martha ‘Navigation’ are both available in CD or download formats direct from Happy Robots Records at http://www.happyrobots.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/rodneycromwellartist/

https://www.facebook.com/happyrobotsrecords

https://happyrobotsrecords.bandcamp.com/

Vintage Synth Trumps is a card game by GForce that features 52 classic synthesizers

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
30th January 2016

Vintage Synth Trumps with MAISON VAGUE

28 December 2011 /

Living In A Dream Since 1983, MAISON VAGUE’s ‘Synthpop’s Alive’ was one of the surprise albums of 2011 and is possibly the best wholly independent release of the year.

It is the creation of Clark Stiefel, a German domiciled American with a passion and love for all things ‘Synth Britannia’.

A classically trained virtuoso who studied piano and electronic music at a conservatoire, his working knowledge of vintage synthesizers and modern technology has affectionately revived The Gary Numan Principle.

One of the few active musicians to have handled both the original Moog and Buchla modular synthesizers, he adds musicianship and a wry sense of humour to the quirkily authentic proceedings. The title track with its battlecry of ‘Synthpop’s Alive’! could be the result of an unlikely sexual liaison between DEVO and PLACEBO. Unbelievably catchy, its statement of intent is so profound that if you are a sceptic, you really will become a believer.

Chunky riff laden tracks such as ‘Pixelated Lover’, ‘My Situation’ and ‘Give Them Away’ allow the listener to have fun with their air synths and smile with a wonderful air of irony. Album closer ‘Living On Ice Cream’ apes ‘Replicas’ outtake ‘We Have A Technical’ but if that doesn’t appeal, there’s always the appropriately titled ‘No Show’ which is a fine example of Bette Midler gone electro and the reggae inflected ‘Tunnel Vision’.

Meanwhile, ‘Colored Glasses’ explores more cerebral depths via some terrific classical interludes as befitting Clark Stiefel’s eccentric Franz Liszt demeanor. In a genre where pretension can often rear its head in an over grandiose fashion, MAISON VAGUE are a bright light in modern synthpop.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK challenged Clark Stiefel to a game of Vintage Synth Trumps over Dim Sum and a few glasses of Altbier on a lovely evening in downtown Düsseldorf…

First card? It’s the Roland Jupiter 4

The Roland Jupiter 4, my favourite synth. But that’s a very difficult thing to say…

What inspired you to get one?

It was an accident. Around 2002, I purchased a TR606 drum machine on eBay and after I made the deal, the guy I was buying it from said he had other things for sale, one of them being a Jupiter 4.

I had never played one before but I knew it from Gary Numan as I’m a big fan. There’s lots on the ‘Telekon’ and ‘Dance’ albums.

I was always fascinated by that sound. There’s something so distinct about that sound. Up until then, it was not a synth I pursued. But the Jupiter 4, in a strange way, came to me. So I bought it on instinct and it was like fate. For the last nine years, it’s been a major part of my life.

Which songs have you used it for on the ‘Synthpop’s Alive’album?

It’s used all over but most notably on Colored Glasses. It’s pretty much 90% multi-tracked Jupiter 4. It’s best at making electronic sounds. You can literally feel the electrons. It’s got such a living, vibrant sound. It’s also very good at odd, other worldly sounds. I find it has an almost organic quality to it. On ‘Colored Glasses’, I’m playing it almost like I would a piano, in a Beethovien style, like an acoustic instrument. I plan to experiment more with the arpegiator and the CV trigger-in on the Jupiter 4 on the next album. One of the things I actually like about my Jupiter is that it has no MIDI or CV GATE interface, so basically, I have to play it.

Why do you think the Jupiter 4 isn’t as well renowned as the Jupiter 8?

I think one of the reasons is the styling and aesthetic. I’ve noticed people talking on the internet about the home organ styling of the Jupiter 4. Personally I really like it. I also have a Roland Promars which is like a monophonic version of the Jupiter. The sound is almost identical. They have the same styling: the same coloured buttons and everything. I love it. Very vintage. I guess people weren’t impressed by it at the time and with competition like the Prophet 5 and Oberheim OBXa, it didn’t stand a chance. It had only one programmable oscillator per voice and limited four-voice polyphony. Those would be some of the reasons.

The next card is coincidentally, the Jupiter 8! Have you got one?

No. For one thing, they’re too expensive now. You’d be lucky to find one for $8000. The Jupiter 8 is a legend. When I think of it, I think that’s a synth that I don’t have and probably never will! *laughs*

I’ve played one, though. It’s brilliant. No question about it. But it’s not a synth that I covet.

You know, I don’t think Gary Numan ever had one…

There you go, maybe that explains it. I have other synths that I think are very good and I’m happy with them. I just don’t have a relationship with the Jupiter 8. But still, it’s an amazing instrument.

The next card is a Sequential Circuits Prophet 10. Legend has it that Gary Numan bought one but never used it. JAPAN’s Richard Barbieri used one live though.

That’s funny about Gary Numan because I have this guilt complex; I own a Prophet 10 which I’m very happy to have but the problem is, it’s so incredibly huge! I live in Germany now but I’m originally from the United States where I had quite a big synth collection. One-by-one, I’ve been bringing them over (it’s much easier that way, especially getting them through customs). The Prophet 10 is the one synth that has not yet made it because the damn thing weighs 70 kilos! I like to joke that the Prophet 10’s flight case is going to be my coffin someday! *laughs*

I bought it in 1996 and have been intending to bring it over to Germany ever since but it’s 2011 and it’s still not here! But I will get it here!!

The Prophet 10 is basically two Prophet 5s on a double keyboard. Now I can see the point that you could get two separate Prophet sounds when you need them but it’s packing it all into a small space. Isn’t it likely to be more unreliable or the sound quality is lower, like an old tape-to-tape cassette machine?

Good question. I would say in theory that’s not true… but in practice, it’s absolutely true which is the reason why I have a Prophet 5! If I need a Prophet sound, I use my Prophet 5. I won’’t give up on the Prophet 10 though because it is such a monster, so legendary.

Is this where your classical thing comes in; that its a bit pompous and slightly over-the-top? *laughs*

I think it is. It’s the Quasimodo, the mad organist in me. You know, I’m a keyboard player: I like to play with both hands so I am happiest when I can use all ten fingers. And with the Prophet 10 having ten voices all ten fingers can be occupied, just like playing an organ. On the Prophet 5, I’m constantly running out of voices!

You said that the Jupiter 4 was your favourite synth, but some would argue that the Prophet 5 possibly was the greatest polysynth of its time. Would you agree with that?

Absolutely, without question. Even in this era, I still think its a fantastic instrument. I didn’t use it though on ‘Synthpop’s Alive’. The Oberheim OBXa unintentionally stole the show. In some ways they’re very similar instruments, though the Prophet 5 is a lot more capable. Still, they can cover similar ground… but given the sort of ground that need to be covered on the album, the OBXa got the nod.

Gary Numan used the OBXa as his main synth on ‘Warriors’

I didn’t know that. That’s good to know. Maybe it was subconscious?

Is the OBXa the one you use for the blistering solo on ‘Synthpop’s Alive’? Is it better for soloing than perhaps the Jupiter 4?

Yes, you can solo on the Jupiter 4. It has a mono mode to engage all four VCOs and it sounds pretty good. But it’s not as aggressive as the OBXa. The OBXa has more of a rock ‘n’ roll tone to it. I like that!

That’s funny because I always heard that the OBXa is a very American instrument and much favoured by rock bands whereas the Rolands and to a lesser extent, the Prophets weren’t. Any explanation for that?

There’s no question that the Roland and the Prophet are more sophisticated, finer instruments. The OBXa has an earthy, bluesy quality to it. It’s limited compared to a Prophet 5 but its very straightforward.

So you would try to construct atmospheres with the OBXa?

It’s not what I would reach for although it certainly can be done. In fact I recently pushed the limits of my OBXa by hooking up a Moog CP251 Control Processor to it just to try out some weird funky things. I was surprised just how weird and funky I could get it to sound. Still, its simplicity is what I like best. It’s a rocker’s synth.

Let’s draw your next trump card; it’s a Korg PS3300. Karl Bartos used it as part of his live set-up when he was in KRAFTWERK…

All I can say about Korg is: I like Korg. I respect Korg instruments. But for some reason I own very little of their gear!

Is it because Korg were the ones who cracked the budget synth market in the mid 70s and therefore weren’t seen as musical because synths like the Korg 770 and Micro-Preset were so competitively priced that people didnt see them as real instruments in the same way as when Casio opened up the market later on? Saying that though, the Korg PS3300 is pretty expensive!

I would admit to that about Casio but I wouldn’t say that about Korg because they’ve made some really nice instruments like the Mono/Poly and MS20. I’m not put off by Korg for any reason. The MS20 in particular is really great. I would love to have one. But somehow Korgs have never really come my way.

Maybe it’s because you’re American, because Korg was very popular with British synthpop artists?

That could be…

Acts like THE HUMAN LEAGUE, THE NORMAL, OMD and SIMPLE MINDS all started with Korg as their first instruments but then again, Gary Numan never used Korg! *laughs*

Really? Then there you go! Another unconscious decision, I guess I’m just not a Korg guy *laughs*

Next card; the ARP Odyssey, as used by ULTRAVOX and KRAFTWERK…

I’ve never played an ARP Odyssey but I have played an ARP 2600. I don’t actually own one but it’s still a special instrument to me because it’s one of the first synthesizers I ever worked on. It was one of the synths I used to learn synthesis. In the music conservatory where I studied, in the beginners’ studio, they had an ARP 2600 and a couple of VCS3s. From these you got to move up – we were not allowed at first in the big studio with the Moog Modular and Buchla! The ARP 2600 is a fantastic beginner’s instrument. It was essentially our text book so I have a special fondness for it as I ‘learned the ropes’ so to speak on that synth.

As a classical musician, how did you find originally the concept of sequencing with a piece of music playing all by itself almost like ‘Sparky’s Magic Piano’?

Interesting question. I think there was a certain reservation at first. There was a part of me that wanted to feel this abandonment in sequencing and aleatory music… music that has a life of its own. But there was also this feeling that sequencers were somehow cheating. I’ve long since gotten over it! *laughs*

Final one…

Ah! The Minimoog! Another classic which unfortunately I don’t have. It’s so legendary. I do have a Moog Little Phatty though. It’s not a Minimoog by any means but it’s satisfied my cravings for the time being. It’s a brilliant instrument because it’s so deceptively simple. It’s actually got a lot of power behind it. Its simplicity is one of its strong points because you can make sounds immediately.

It’s very accessible and it’s a very practical performing instrument. You can just pack up and play it anywhere. You’re not going to freak out about it being on stage. Granted it’s not cheap but it’s also not the most expensive instrument in the world. The Little Phatty is a synth that I could play on stage and not worry about it. If I had a more expensive Moog Voyager, it imagine it would just stay in the studio and never leave.

So was it the Little Phatty that you used for your Numan-esque buzzy bass monophonic sounds?

Actually, I bought the Little Phatty after I recorded the album. But I did want a Moog sound for the ‘Synthpop’s Alive’ title track. So I cheated and used the Arturia Virtual Minimoog — one of the most brilliant pieces of software ever. I’m not a huge fan of softsynths and virtual instruments but I’m thankful for the Arturia Virtual Minimoog because I needed that Moog sound and it delivered.

Any plans for MAISON VAGUE to play live?

There’s a chance, yes. The only hold up at the moment is that I haven’t got a band! It’s just me — and I don’t fancy the idea of cloning myself *laughs*

I’m working on it, though. I love to perform. Recording is a very different art from performing. I would like as much to be live as possible. I’m not a big fan of going out on stage with backing tracks or too much pre-sequenced stuff. A little bit is OK… but to substitute a musician by having a backing track, that I don’t really like so much. So I either need to find more players or simplify and re-arrange.

Where do you think you might take MAISON VAGUE in the future?

I definitely feel musically I’m heading in a more minimal and transparent direction. This is an extreme example, but if you could imagine Leonard Cohen playing synths. When one thinks of singer/songwriters the first thing that comes to people’s heads is a guitar. You don’t really think of a singer/songwriter with a synth. But if the song is strong enough, then maybe you could just have a minimal accompaniment — perhaps only a Jupiter 4 and TR606 drum machine? It’s only a dream at this point but this is definitely brewing in the back of my head.

Favourite electronic artists at the moment?

One act that I’m really happy about is LA ROUX. For one, I’m happy they exist. I first heard about them on an electronic music website where someone had posted a video of LA ROUX in actually what was a negative context. But what they’re doing is precisely what I would like to on stage as well. Watching their performance, it was electronic music, it was synthpop, but you could see what everyone was doing just like in a traditional band. I like electronic music that’s played like a band and not just a lot of knob twiddling. There’s a certain ridiculousness to all that knob twiddling I feel!

Remember that famous performance of Gary Numan doing ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ on ‘Old Grey Whistle Test’ in 1979? What is so striking about that performance is that it’s a band: you know precisely who is playing what and where it’s coming from. And I think that’s something very important in performing electronic music — even more important than people realise because even 20-30 years on, there’s something about electronic music that still puts people off, you know? There’s inherently something unnatural about it. But when you approach performance like a traditional musician, it just comes to life…

So synthpop really is alive?

Synthpop’s Alive!

‘Synthpop’s Alive’ uses the following synthesizers and drum machines: Oberheim OBXa, Roland Jupiter 4, Roland Promars CompuPhonic (MRS 2), Roland MKS 50, Roland JP8000, Roland XP60, Arturia MinimoogV, Digidesign Xpand, Roland CR8000 CompuRhythm, Roland TR606 Drumatix, Native Instruments Battery and Submersible Kitcore Deluxe

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its thanks to Clark Stiefel

‘Synthpop’s Alive’ is available as a download album

http://www.maisonvague.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Maison-Vague/43000159265

http://www.gforcesoftware.com/cards.php

Vintage Synth Trumps is a card game by GForce that features 52 classic synthesizers

Text by Chi Ming Lai
28th December 2011

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