Interview: Illustrial

Illustrial and Strobegirl (read the interview with her here) just finished their collaboration for the track “Don’t look Back. The track was voted as track of the week on Reputation Label, and is a great introduction for further collaborations between these two talented musicians.

Get to know the man behind Illustrial here.

Who is Illustrial, and what’s your musical background?

Illustrial is Baz – originally from Crewe in Cheshire, now residing in West Yorkshire. I’m entirely self taught musically – I used to sing in a Electro Band called The Voice Inside, and also in a rock band called Nexus but decided to start making and producing my own stuff in late 2005, and have continued on to this day, redefining and developing as I’ve gone along.
Strobegirl is an honorary member of the band as well

Do you have a specific method to compose your work?

Yes…it usually starts with a beat and moves on from there. I like to work in sound layers and use apreggiators and heavy effects sequences. I like playing with sound – sometimes I can spend 4-5 hours just tweaking a sound to get it how I want it.

Where do you get your inspiration?

My main inspiration comes from listening to brilliant music from all across the world – I started off listening to a lot of electronic bands like Kraftwerk, Tubeway Army and Depeche Mode, and progressed from there into Industrial and Techno/House music. I’m also a huge 80′s fan so I have a soft spot for bands like Duran Duran and the Bangles. More recently I’ve been hugely influenced by bands like The Birthday Massacre, Paramore, Otep and Kill Hannah. I just love the individual sounds and beats.

What was the first song you learned to play?

I never did. I can’t actually read music as such, I just compose in patterns and sequences – I guess if I’m pushed I can play some of “Smoke on the Water” and did work out the top line to “Einstein a Go-Go”, but I’ve never learned to play anyone else music.

What are your favorite albums?

Oohh.. mixed bag… Anything the Birthday Massacre have ever done… Numan’s “Beserker” and “Strange Charm”, ZZTop’s “Eliminator”, Durans “Notorious”, The Bangles “Everything” and “Doll Revolution”. I pick up influences from everywhere…I would have to say that my all time fave LP’s are Depeche Modes “Violator” – they did something VERY special on that recording, and also Ultravox’s “Vienna”, which is a timeless piece of electronica.

Do you think it’s been easier for independent artists to be heard?

There is heard and there is “heard” – anyone can make a track and put it out on the ‘net – its taking the next step and getting it commercially produced and put out to wider audiences that is difficult – and thats where a lot of bands can fall down. Sites like Reputation are the new Indy Labels as far as I’m concerned – a movement will come out of them that will change the face of the music industry slowly. There is already a Reputation “scene” and its cool that the bands know each other, chat and hear each others music on the radio shows. It helps “raise the bar”.

You recently did a track “Don’t look Back” with Strobegirl – that also was voted as track of the week of on Reputation Label. What can you tell us about your collaboration?

Being the music junkie I am, I found Strobey on Reverbnation one day as I was flicking through the artists – I think it was her track “Touch Your Enemy” that drew me in, but when I heard “Daydreaming” I was sold on her voice. It took me a good couple of months after that to contact her, and I had the music track for “Don’t Look back” just about finished so I sent it over and said something like “what do you think you can do with this?” and just left it with her to write the lyrics and work out the vocal harmonies. I had no idea what she would come back with at all, but when she sent me the demo vocals I was blow away – so much so that I re-wrote and remixed the track into the format that everyone seems to like. The track took about 9 months to complete, but it was very much worth it.

Any plans for any upcoming releases?

Yep, Strobey and myself are back with a new collaboration called “Its Only a Moment” in the next couple of weeks, and after that I’ll be putting out a track with my vocals on called “Sympathy Machine” later in the year, maybe mid October time.

How do you promote yourself?

The usual…Myspace, Reverbnation Facebook, Twitter, Jamendo, Last FM, The SixtyOne…Reputation of course – there are SO many sites out there to get heard from, its hard to keep track of them all.

What your plans for the nearest future?

I’m working on a 10 track CD called “Darkness Falls”, which will have more collaborations with Strobegirl on, some tracks with my vocals on and maybe a couple of collaborations on the way. It should be ready for January/February 2011. Theres also a rumour I may be playing a live show or two next year with Strobegirl. …but thats speculation right now

Follow Illustrial on MySpace, Last.fm and Facebook.