Interview: AudioAlysis
AudioAlysis are a four piece alternative, electronica, shoe gaze rock band from Glasgow, centered around Michael Oakley (vocals, keyboard). The total line up includes Stuart Scott (guitar), Colin Mackintosh (bass/guitar) and Steven McLay (drums).
AudioAlysis’ second EP “Cold September” was released earlier this year – and you can read the review here.
What’s the story of AudioAlysis?
AudioAlysis started out around 10 years ago as just myself in my bedroom with some keyboard synthesizers, a couple of samplers, effects units and a PC recording crappy demos. I think i was trying to be like Moby or Enigma in the sense of being a one man band in his bedroom, but i lacked that final punch on my own, i couldn’t play guitar and i wanted to work with other people to help cultivate my demos and song ideas into finished tracks. In 2006 i asked some talented friends that i thought would compliment what i was trying to do well to join me and made AudioAlysis a band.
What’s your musical background?
At high school in the mid 1990′s everyone around me were into Techno music, Take That, bands like Oasis, Blur and the horrible side of Indie music that time has now thankfully forgotten. I didn’t like any of the music that was about at the time and was drawn towards the back catalogs of Pink Floyd, The Police, David Bowie, NewOrder and practically the entire decade of 1980′s music. Early Duran Duran and Coldplay had a massive influence on what i perceived the first incarnation of AudioAlysis to sound like as a band. Certainly there are moments on the AudioAlysis 1 EP where that sticks out. I have always been attracted to electronic music that sounds organic and atmospheric like Vangelis and Enigma, however it wasn’t until i heard a German artist called Ulrich Schnauss that my whole perception about the possibilities of electronic music being an experience or an armchair journey if you will became a reality.
What makes your music special?
I ‘d like to think that it’s the honesty in the songs. Everything i write is all true story’s based on my own individual experiences and feelings about certain situations or people who have had an emotional effect on me. I also try to give each individual song an atmospheric character which sets the mood for what the song is about.
What can you tell about your latest release “Cold September”?
I started writing Cold September in the summer of 2009 and the first song i was working on was ‘Use Your Illusions’. All the other songs just kinda came out on the back of that. I felt i had a lot to say and talk about and i was feeling really lonely, isolated and nostalgic at the time of writing. ’1994′ kind of sums up the most how i was feeling at the time. I was working with a very large sound bank and merged lot of sounds together to build up electronic textures and landscapes as oppose to easily identifiable parts. I wanted to make something much more atmospheric and moodier than previous. It was originally suppost to be another 6 track EP but i ended up not liking two of the songs and cut it to a 4 track EP.
What is your favourite song you’ve written and recorded so far, and why?
Thats a good question… I’m really not sure. I like all the songs I’ve written in their own special way. I guess right now it would be ‘Use Your Illusions’. It’s a very personal song and i think the music perfectly sets the mood as a vehicle for the words and song’s meaning. I don’t like to reveal too much about what my songs actually mean because i think what a song means to you is what the song is about. At the time of writing it i was thinking a lot about my childhood and the nostalgic longing i have sometimes to go back there. A large undertone of the song is letting go of the past for the sake of your future which is something I’ve always found painfully difficult to do.
How can you describe your music-making process?
90% of the time it starts with me in my bedroom writing songs or coming up with musical ideas and demos which i take to the rest of the band and work on until something materialises or we realize collectively that it isn’t going anywhere and ditch the ideas.When i am writing i always start with the music. I try to set a mood and atmosphere and work it from there making electronic sounds, layering them up and from that a melody line usually just naturally comes to me. From then i find the words also just start naturally coming to me and my inner therapist puts my problems and disillusions on life down on paper!
How do you promote your music?
In terms of promotion, very little. We are not a regular gigging band and are primarily a recording band. We use online channels such as Myspace and have our music on iTunes, Last FM and Spotify and try our best to direct traffic to our sites and get as many people as we can to listen to our music. Apart from that it feels like a mountain to climb when it comes to promotion and i’m still scratching my head for ideas to get AudioAlysis out there and heard on a much wider scale. Ideas anyone?!
What are your careers highlights so far?
Biggest highlight is definitely all the kind messages of support from fans across the world who like our music and have went out of their way to tell us. I always said at the beginning if even a handful of people liked our music and were walking about listening to us on their ipods alongside other signed massive artists, i’d feel like i had succeeded at what i wanted to do. Playing with Peter Hook from NewOrder was a nice claim to fame because i love NewOrder and i got to meet him and chat to him briefly before we went on-stage.
What are your plans now?
To finish a full length album of all new material later this year sometime. Something special that is a real armchair journey and sounds even better on headphones. I’m building up a new sound bank and getting together with the guys to work on new songs soon. Apart from that i hope something good happens for us which gets more people listening to us and more exposure.
