By Paul Graham / Trancine
July 2004

Q.1 First , a little background. What is your personal history
with regard to creating music? Did you learn on synthesisers
or more conventional instruments?

I started aged 5 yrs by learning the all-pervasive
wind-instrument for kids - the 'Recorder', then spent some
time (badly) messing about with a guitar but then had some
piano tution when aged 11 years, which took me to a
rudimentary level (sub-grade 1). Following that I just played
the piano without tuition and for a while experimented with
wacky sound recordings using old cassette tape-recorders
and a real assortment of acoustic sound sources...most of
them domestic! This was the way of things until I was 18 yrs old when I purchased my first synth (which I still have)...the Korg MS20.

Q.2 What kind of music do you personally enjoy listening to ? And how much does it influence your own musical creativity?.

I enjoy a moderate range of musical styles but in truth I notice I am often impressed by individual tracks or songs rather than necessarily a whole genre or category. That said, I was brought up on rock, progressive rock, metal and then stuff like the Tangs, JMJ, Vangelis and other bands (mostly German electronic artists). This is what having an older brother did for me in my younger years...i.e. bringing back all his and his friends' albums obviously influenced what I was exposed to. I remember buying Dark Side of the Moon when I was just 11 yrs old for example - my first 'proper' album purchase! I have and do enjoy classical music (especially Debussy, Mussorgsky, Faure to name a few), Hip-Hop and Rap (yes, I too like Eminem, the Fugees and other commercial rap artists), 70's rock (e.g. Led Zep and Sabbath). Heck, I have even got 'that' album by "Sash!" Any die-hard electronic music fan who saw my CD collection would be quite surprised to see some of the albums I have chosen to listen to over the years, although I believe the styles to be quite 'connected' in that I like music that tells a story, creates vivid atmospheres or invokes interesting emotions...no matter what the 'style is. I have got more electronic music and 'progressive rock' than anything else though. What has influenced my musical creativity? Ashra, Tangs, Cluster, perhaps Debussy and who knows else? Not Val Doonican though.

Q.3 Would you ever consider releasing solo material? And if so , how would it differ in style to Redshift?.

Yes I would consider it if I could be patient enough to learn how to produce music to a high enough sonic standard for public release. I know I have the creative ability but I do find the technical demands more than I am prepared to work at right now. I guess I don't have a strong enough passion to want to do this at the moment. Another issue for me is time.... there just isn't enough of it about! If I locked myself in a studio for a month and had some technical help then I believe I could turn out something interesting. The trouble is... I like people, so a solitary recording life is really not that appealing to me. Style -wise a solo release would be 'Germanic progressive neo-classical rap-electro' with subliminal dance influences. Ok, you got me, I just made that up. How would it differ in style to Redshift? Probably slightly more 'classically' influenced but in truth I wouldn't really know until I sat down and statred creating it. It's not like I hold a particular musical plan in my head - what comes out is what comes out...more spontaneously. I think I have leanings to the times when Ashra did 'New Age of Earth', Cluster did 'Grosses Wasser' and when Moebious/Roedilius (spelling?) were around doing... well.... their stuff together.

Q4. Given Redshift’s style of music , do you ever feel constrained by the weight of technology you have to control on stage?.

No. Never. Most of its quite light, especially when supported on tables. Analogue knobs and sliders don't exert much resistence to the human hand you know. Other than that, I don't feel constrained, even though I can commit errors occasionally, not that the audience would necessarily pick it up. The technology is to some extent what differentiates our style I think.

Q.5 If you could own and play and instrument , what would it be? , and why?

All I can say in response to your question is "castanets"! Oh, alright then....the real answer is I would like to be able to be a skilled singer, unaided by physical instrumentation. Are you surprised? It has got to be the ultimate musical skill. Other than that - if it had to be an 'instrument' then I guess it would be drums/percussion or guitar. The Icelandic Toe-Zither was just too much of a challenge you see....

Q.6. When playing live do you experience the emotional pull of the music you are creating as (hopefully) the audience does or is a very mechanical process?

Hmmmm...what's behind your question here exactly? And what do you mean "hopefully"?..damn cheek! I was under the impression that the audience only comes and listens because they want to feel something different as a result of hearing the music... I am serious about this.....what would be the point of coming to listen if you had no emotional benefit or reaction? Listening to music is hardly a solely intellectual pursuit devoid of feeling is it?! Not unless you are a music Grade Examiner but even then you would be listening out for 'feel'. Anyway, aside from counting the number of crotchets per bar or swooning over the knob-count of our analogue gear (only joking about the ......crotchets......of course) then there is nothing else in my book - emotion is what it is about...oh yes... and one other thing of course......our music helps people get into a trance...with their consent...and that is a big part of what our music actually does for people. I can see it every time and believe me I know about these things. Listening to music, watching a film, reading a book.....all have similar outcomes....and that is a change in 'state' in the individual. If you indulge yourself and focus on getting into Redshift music, you will go into a trance! Easy! Whether it is a melody, short phrase, sound effect or a deep and dirty rhythm, I say we all listen to music for a good reason....and this is likely to be emotionally driven or emotionally-related at least at some level!". Why go to a club and listen to music at huge volumes whilst gyrating around (OK, so you really call it 'dancing' do you?...) with other humans? Same thing....you want to feel something special and get yourself into an altered 'state', whether it is for its own sake or some personal preliminary stage to copping off with someone else (allegedly)! Do I feel the emotional pull when playing live? Yes I do, and sometimes it informs what I play, and other times not. Sometimes I am consumed with getting the technical bits right in order to let the music come forth...but bearing in mind that I personally like to keep things simple technically, and so I think it's accurate to say that Mark handles the complexities and therefore does what he does best.

Q.7 Redshift’s music seems to me to have a very “visual” quality , and by that I mean that it can convey very strong and often disturbing mental images. Do the band start a piece with a clear image or story in mind ? Or does it just come together as a “lifeform” in its’ own right?

I would suggest here that your question says more about how you personally process our music internally than it necessarily does about Redshift's creative process! "Hmmm...tell me about your childhood Mr Graham...."! Having said that you may accept that we do often start out with some great historic distaster or continued human plight in mind. We then could watch a video clip of it over and over again and then share our feelings about the experience. This can of course be very cathartic but we each (mostly) manage to make it through the session, given it is generally facilitated by a skilled chartered psychologist. Anyway the important part of this story is that during this discussion we use a piece of neat PC-driven brain-impulse software called 'Imaginote', which by way of external sensors on the forehead communicates our associated brain signals right into Logic Audio via some proprietry bridging software called 'SensorWrite'. Its unbeliveable! All manner of tracks are fabricated in this way! Aside from that complete fantasy, our real creative process is nowadays normally based on Mark generating some dark rhythms and themes and the rest of us adding our stuff like more themes, phrases, changes ..whatever. Sometimes, although less frequently, James or I will take the lead for the creative process. Mark no doubt has many demons in his psyche which force him to express all those dark sequences. Heck....call in the exorcist! .............."medic?!"


Q.8 What are your views on the state of Electronic Music these days? It seems to me to have mutated from the more “serious” , darkly Gothic styles into this general lightweight muzak (Redshift and a handful of others excepted) that most E/M bands seem to put out. Yet curiously , it seems to be shrinking as an appreciated artform despite many bands attempts to “dumb down” the genre.
Could it be that E/M was held in higher esteem when it was rather more dangerous and ethereal?.

Paul, what are you on exactly....and can I have some of it??? This question just isn't quite long enough for me! :-)) OK...here goes....What are my views on the state of Electronic Music these days? Well, given I probably have only heard a fraction of what's out there, and reviewing what I have heard in recent years......EM is generally in a bad state in my opinion! Sorry everyone! Brace yourself...be strong now.........OK, I think it's been hijacked by the beatbox Roland MC303/Korg Electribe (etc) brigade a while back, followed by the distinctive and rasping rumble into town of the Clavia Nord-Lead wielding herd. More recently the mouse-clicking Plug-In/Soft-synth twiddlers have insinuated their offerings into into our aural space...(you can spot them ...they have always got one huge forearm muscle and red eyes!). I used to listen to tracks on the free audio CD on the FutureMusic mag for a while....until I noticed this trend appearing where somehow that million-beats-per-minute 'jungle' style was fused with a home-spun rendition of JMJ impersonating a crazed loon running riot in a music-shop playing all the instruments before he was finally handcuffed by the culture-police. You know what I mean don't you?! More seriously then....to this extent EM is not what it was in the 70's/80's, i.e. experimental and breaking new ground, and heart-felt. Could it be that E/M was held in higher esteem when it was rather more dangerous and ethereal?. Yes it could be, although I wouldn't ever call it "dangerous" as that implies some kind of heavy risk...and its only music after all.....'dangerous' for me would be standing, blindfolded on one leg on St Pauls Catherdral Dome in a Force 8 gale....er..if you see what I mean. I do think that EM was held in higher esteem by those who could discern then between quality expression and the now often formulaic approach taken by the consumed agents of the Korg and Yamaha staff sound-programmers (of which I am one of course). So in summary, and having apparently taken a swipe at the whole EM world in my responses here don't be fooled, the fact is I do actually like and respect many tracks made by many artists, young or old, and despite my obvious bias towards the 70'/80's style, I do actually enjoy the shock of the new and unusual ...especially when it is expressive and 'takes me somewhere else'. There must be thousands of artists who are doing just that but have never had their work heard in public. "Get it out there dudes!.