The following is an extended version of the Audio Paradox interview in Automata 1.0 print. Used with permission.
Audio Paradox
may not be an electro-industrial assembly line spitting out an
album or so per year, but followers of the band are well aware
that AP is constantly writing music, continually growing and
deepening their sound, more concerned with excellence in artistry
rather than quantity of product. After a slew of electro-industrial
compilation appearances, a standout self-produced cassette EP,
and various musical side projects by some of the band members,
Audio Paradox showcases their musical power and finesse with
their long-awaited debut album The Iniquity of Time.
AUTOMATA > You've just released your first full-length album.
How would you describe it?
AUDIO PARADOX > I would
describe it as electro-industrial. We borrow a lot of
different elements from various styles of music, and try to bring
it together into a sound that is uniquely our own.
Tell us about your experience at Cornerstone this summer.
This was
probably the best experience at Cornerstone I've had yet. It was
a special performance for Audio Paradox, because it marked the
first (and so far right now, only) time that Kris Rosentrater
played drums with us. Actually, it was the first time we've ever
played with a drummer. It was fantastic, as the groove was way
beyond any of our previous performances. Up until Cornerstone,
the live show had been Matthew, River, and myself, plus some
occasional assistance by guitarist Kane Kelly. After Cornerstone,
I don't think that we can go back to not having drums in the live
show. Kris and his wife Stephanie came down to Dallas from Alaska
the week before the fest, as we had a few days booked at a
rehearsal studio. My friend Dan Kueck also came up from Corpus
Christi to help out as well. He was a real lifesaver when things
got really hectic. He helped out with driving, merch sales, and
general moral support.
We managed to get most of our merchandise together at the very
last minute, and in the end, we didn't lose as much money as I
had originally accounted for. Our CD's arrived at the hotel the
morning of July 2nd, the same day as our performance. Due to
extenuating circumstances, each element of the CD arrived in
separate packages, so the entire AP camp (band members, wives,
girlfriends, and friends) spent the greater part of the day,
acting as a CD assembly line. The first 300 units of our CD were
put together BY OUR OWN HANDS - how DIY is that!
We met a lot of great people at the fest, and saw many old
friends as well. A lot of people came up to our table under the
impression that we were all the same members as Spy Glass Blüe,
minus Allan Aguirre. We had to explain to a lot of people that
Audio Paradox is a separate entity from Spy Glass Blüe and Eva O.
Kris and I used to play in Spy Glass Blüe, and River still plays
bass with SGB as well. The three of us also play with Eva O.
Matthew, however, was not involved with either of those projects.
He does play a major role in Audio Paradox though, helping co-write
many of the songs on the record, as well as playing keyboards in
the live show. I was the founding member of Audio Paradox.
Matthew joined in late 95. River started playing with us in late
97, and Kris joined up for the Cornerstone performance. The only
players on "The Iniquity of Time" are myself, Matthew,
and Kane.
We were all really busy during the festival. It got really hectic
because of some difficulties with hotel accomodations, taking
care of the merchandise, performing with both Audio Paradox and
Eva O practically back to back - not to mention loaning gear to
our friends in other bands, or going on panel discussions. We
managed to fill in for each other fairly well, especially at the
merchandise table, whenever somebody got too busy. For the most
part, we're all pretty good at multi-tasking. In addition to this
I also ended up playing keyboards on a song by the punk band
Headnoise during their set. However, the power supply on my
keyboard got fried in the middle of the song - so it sounded like
static was coming from my board. Nonetheless, they put on a
fantastic show which I think really spoke to people.
You were one of the most
anticipated bands at Cornerstone 99. How do you feel the audience
received your performance, and did you feel any pressure to live
up to people's expectations?
I was blown away
with the positive response we got at Cornerstone 99. I'm really
thankful that the people at Cornerstone festival asked us to play
there. I didn't feel any pressure to live up to any expectations
other than our own, and to make sure that we were doing it with
the right motivation.
In addition to c-stone, what
other significant shows have you played this past year?
As Audio Paradox,
we played our first show at Cornerstone festival. We've also
played a few local shows in Dallas, This year marks the first
time we've headlined at local venues in Dallas. Personally, I
have also done some shows with Eva O. Last November, Eva, her
husband Alan, and myself went on a two week tour of Europe
supporting the Shadow Project CD "From the Heart", in
memory of Rozz Williams. This past May, River, Kris and
went over with Eva to the Wave-Gothik Treffen festival in Leipzig,
Germany. We debuted the material from her CD "Damnation:
Ride the Madness" to a crowd of approximately 4000. The
response was fantastic. It was the biggest show I've ever played
in my life so far!
It seems that your fan base
consists of mainly "secular" crowds, given the venues
you play. How do non-Christians respond to your
Christianity?
People go to
concerts to see a band put on a live show, and I think we pull
off the job pretty well. Our beliefs come through in the music -
through the lyrical content, and the overall tone of the work. I
think that people can also tell there's something different about
us because of how we act offstage, the things we say, and the way
we treat others. People respond positively to that.
Are you a goth?
No.
The reason I'm asking is that
you are frequently compared to Sisters of Mercy and were asked to
appear on the panel discussion "What is goth?" at this
year's Cornerstone.
I think we get
compared to them because of my vocals on the album. I don't
really stick to one vocal style, but I do have a certain range
that I am comfortable with. We have been compared to the
Sisters, which I don't really mind too much, although it's not
very accurate. Our writing style is much different. I personally
enjoy Andrew Eldritch's music, as well as the music of artists
such as Fields of the Nephilim, Bauhaus, Siouxsie/Creatures, Joy
Division, etc.. but I don't think that makes me a goth. I'm more
into electronic music than anything else. That's the type of
music that really excites me. The bottom line is this: our music
lends itself to both the gothic and electro-industrial scenes. I
think that's great, and I'm glad that people are responding well
to our music.
The panel discussion about "what is goth?" at
Cornerstone never really answered the question. I was asked to do
it because of my involvement as keyboard player for Eva O. I was
on the panel with one of the senior editors and two writers from
Cornerstone magazine, as well as two professors from Wheaton
College. It felt sort of strange being on a panel with people
whose work I hold in high regard, and especially given the topic
at hand. There were a lot of interesting things discussed,
especially in light of the Columbine incident, pop culture, and
Christianity. In the end though, I don't think that the issue was
so much answered as it gave rise to more questions. Neither was
there any mention of the origins of what we now refer to as
"gothic rock" - the post-punk music of the late 70's,
under the influence of Bowie, T-Rex, the Velvet Underground, as
well as other glam and rock acts of that era.
I didn't have much of an opportunity to really get out what I
wanted to say, but rather, only a fraction of it. The part I did
mention didn't sit well with some people in the audience. I
mentioned the danger of well intentioned Christians going into
the gothic scene in hopes of witnessing - and coming away from it
fruitless or burnt out. I think it really just depends on the
attitude, and how secure a person is in their spiritual walk with
Christ. When I spoke about such things at the discussion, some
people misunderstood that as some kind of anti-goth position. It's
not true, but they can think what they want. It's not my chief
concern to try and make friends with everyone on the planet. I
just don't find my identity in it.
I personally don't feel a need to go in to any scene as some
undercover Christian. People may know I'm a Christian, either
they have a problem with it or they don't - it doesn't make any
difference. If the opportunity arises to talk about Scripture and
spiritual things, I will definitely do so. I sometimes go to
industrial or goth clubs, but usually only do so when either we're
playing shows, going to shows, supporting my friend DJ Virus, or
seeing friends from my old tech support job (usually all of this
happens at the same time). When you have a full time job and are
in two bands, it tends to cut back on social events.
Some people naively believe that musicians are solely influenced
by the genre they're a part of, but good musicians deepen their
artistry by drawing from a broad spectrum. Tell us about some
music that's been striking your fancy lately, and why.
We take our sound from many different influences. In the
beginning of this project I set out to do experimental/noise
music. That all changed during the early and mid-nineties, as I
took the project into a more electro-rock direction. With our
first record falling strongly into the electro-industrial sound,
it's obvious that we've changed. I really like experimental music,
and actually want to work in those areas again. That's partially
why we're doing the side project Aphorism.
Lately I've been listening to stuff like Autechre, Parca Pace,
Sonar, and Squarepusher. On the other side of the spectrum I've
been listening stuff like Pulp, Air, and Radiohead. Somewhere in
between I've also been listening to a lot of electro acts like
Covenant and C-Tec. I think that all of those artists have an
amazing way of creating intense moods and atmospheres in their
music. The other guys in the band also draw from a variety of
influences. Matthew is a big fan of Alan Wilder's (Depeche Mode)
projects, like Recoil. He also listens to a lot of film scores,
as well as jazz, big band, jump blues, and so forth. River is all
over the map
musically. He's probably the hardest to pin down out of all of us.
I could spend a while just talking about the diversity of the
various bands River has played in.
Rumor has it that Audio Paradox
has been working on a couple of side projects.
We've also been
writing original music for two independent films. The first one
is called "The Dreamer", a short film directed by
Thaddeus Matula, a student at Southern Methodist University in
Dallas. It's a futuristic drama about a man trying to escape from
an opressive society. It's very much along the lines of 1984, THX-1138,
or Logan's Run. The other film is "The Life of George
McGoogle", written and directed by Bill Sebastian, a recent
SMU graduate. The best way to describe it is as a comedic mock-umentary
about a burnt out ninja.
Some of the music from "The Iniquity of Time" may soon
be featured as soundtrack material as well. There is actually a
third film project, another locally produced film where the
producers may be using our existing songs in the soundtrack.
There is also a possibility that our music may be used as
soundtrack material for an online comic book on a website for a
major toy manufacturer. We're still in talks with the people
involved. If it's going to happen, it will be very soon.
How is writing music for other
types of media different than for a conventional album?
It makes us go
into musical directions we previously never thought of, which is
always a good thing. So far, the music we have written for these
projects has been extremely diverse. Some people have compared it
to our work under the name Aphorism, others have compared it to
soundtracks like the scores from "Akira" or "Ghost
in the Shell." On the other hand, it can be limiting with
regards to song lengths. Writing music for film often has to
follow extremely strict time constraints, specially when you are
working with a final cut without a score. That's what we're going
to be doing with "...George McGoogle".
If you could create the score to
any film, what would the film be about, who would direct, who
would star, and what other bands would appear on the soundtrack?
There's already
one film I know I want Audio Paradox to be on the soundtrack for.
I recently saw that Mike Myers is signed on to do a full length
"Sprockets" movie, and I know that they would love to
use our music for it. Perhaps it's more of a joke than anything
else, as I've always gotten a laugh out of that sketch on
Saturday Night Live. I would be pleasantly stunned though, if the
film's music coordinator contacted us to use our songs in the
movie. Maybe even if they asked us to do a cover, perhaps, of
"Weird Nun" by Schreibmaschine, or of "Cooking
with Pork" by The Value of Human Life Index. I think it
would be a blast.
Less seriously though, if we were to create a score for any film,
and I picked the principal parties involved? I don't necessarily
know what the film would be about, but it would certainly be off
the wall. Maybe it could be a surreal thriller/comedy about the
tenants of an apartment building in some large city. Either David
Lynch or David Fincher would direct, and it would star Cristopher
Walken, Crispin Glover, Samuel L. Jackson, Dennis Hopper, and
Jennifer Tilly. Janeane Garofalo and John Henson could star as
the wacky next door neighbors. Obviously, the film would be weird.
What other bands on the soundtrack? Cult of Jester, Replicate,
Killingtheoldman, Solemn Assembly, Tempestuous All, Cybershadow,
Autovoice, Eva O, and Spy Glass Blüe!
And what plans do you have for
the near future?
In addition to
all that? Well, I would like to say that the live show now
consists of myself, Matthew, River, Kane, and Mark Garza (Embodyment)
on drums. We are planning on doing a remix CD, but it probably
won't be for while. We may want to do an EP before the next album
comes out. We also will be doing two re-mixes soon, one for Soil
and Eclipse, the other for Deitiphobia. Aside from that, the
future is open.