interviews

Interview with Voltage - Issue 6

The nocturnal electro of Los Angeles duo Collide redefined the male-dominated world of industrial music with their 1996 release Beneath the Skin (Re-Constriction). The mysterious female vox and aggro dance beats broke open the doors of the genre to a horde of excellent electronic artists willing to forego typical macho angst in favor of more ethereal aggression. The transformation Collide ushered in doesn't surprise lead singer and multimedia artist, kaRIN.

"I think that the world of electronic music has hardly begun to be tapped as of yet, and that there is a world of possibilities," she says.

The collision of breakbeats, industrial samples and Gothic vox inspired the name of the project. Reigning in this electronic chaos is the job of Statik the technical mastermind behind Collide. "To me, using a sampler and a sequencer is just a natural instrument the same way a piano is to a pianist," he says. "I can hardly think of working any other way. At any point in the song, anything is possible ? rearranging, changing sounds, adding vocals, copying parts ... it's endless. From a creative standpoint, there's really nothing better than a well-behaved sampler and a computer."

Since the first release fans have been crying for more material from Collide. The duo are starting work on the long-awaited follow-up right now, but they admit it may be a while before a new release will hit the shelves. "We are only in the beginning stages of it," says kaRIN. "It is still to early to tell. I think it might have a slightly more exotic flavor. Things often go through quite a metamorphosis before they're done, and for us, creating is definitely a long process. It would be easy to make a song quickly, but to make a song that we are both really satisfied with takes quite a while."

In the meantime, fans will have to satiate their appettite for their unique mix of "country-techno-gothic-industrial-ambient-noise ... except without the country" with Distort, a 14-track collection including remixes by SMP, Das Ich, Crocodile Shop, Waiting For God, T.H.C., Alien Faktor and others. The CD also includes covers of Siouxie and the Banshees' "Obsession" and Devo's "Whip It", and the CD offers one new song, "Fear No Evil", a song that showcases their grinding industrial-tinged violence as well as their ethereal beauty ? the convergence of kaRIN's emotive lyrical imagery and Statik's studio expertise.

Statik's electronic wizardry is no mere chance of fate. "I've always been into computers and music," he says, "so putting the two together seemed natural. I was always making music at home on whatever I had to work with. When I got my first sampler, everything really took off. I ended up moving to Los Angeles (from Seattle, where I lived for two years) to go to a music/engineering school. The school ended up being kind of lame, but that's how I got my first studio job. From there it was just a matter of working and making contacts."

Those contacts have included engineering, remix work, and/or programming with a diverse array of artists such as (in addition to local favorites Christ Analogue) Tool, Love and Rockets, Michael Jackson, Machines of Loving Grace, Leonard Cohen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Marvin Gaye, B-52's, Diatribe, and his Whimsical Purpleness, the Eccentric Formerly Known As Prince.

"I got to play - and beat - Prince in a game of ping pong while we were working in Paris," Statik reminisces. "He is actually pretty good, and was really trying to win, but I wasn't about to let him, and ended up beating him. I kind of think that that was the end of a good working relationship, and after that it all went downhill."

"One of the best experiences was when I got to work with Trevor Horn for a while in London; it was working out of the studio in his house, and getting to eat dinner with him and his family - he was a totally great guy - very normal and down to earth, and very friendly. I've always been a big fan of his. Propaganda was probably my favorite record that he did...that and all of the Art of Noise stuff."

Collide's songwriting process is as eclectic as their music. "I keep a book of writing and write whenever I feel like it," says kaRIN. "Usually it's a free flow of thoughts and words at first, and later I may go back and work them into a song. Often I deal with some sort of conflict ... I like the possibility of things that have several different meanings that can be received on different levels by the listener. When I first work on a piece of music, I like to dive right in and just see what words come out. I may draw on something that I have written previously, but I really like to see how the music feels. I am a very visual writer...sort of like a dream, you will interpret it according to your own experiences in life. Then vocally, I try and use my voice for expression, sometimes treating it like a cello and attempting to hit those spots that move the core."

"The basic idea of a song usually comes pretty quickly, but after that we spend a lot of time refining it and tweaking it," adds Statik. "There's no doubt in our studio who the master of the machines is. They don't always want to behave, but one way or another they always do. I still use my Akai S-3200 sampler for most of our sounds, but lately I have been doing more work within my computer for sound design and manipulation. There are more and more (software) plug-ins that are being made, so there are a lot of choices out there when it comes to picking out interesting software. It's good that more of the manufacturers are rethinking what they do a little, and trying different kinds of effects..."

Although working on original music is his first love, Statik has been busy with "actually more outside work than Collide. I would rather work on Collide, but there are studio bills to be paid, etc., and Collide is still a very expensive hobby. At the moment, when we work, all of the expenses are on us, so if I want to take time off from other paying projects, it's something I have to consider. It gets frustrating working on records that use 50 times the budget that we would need to do a record."

So is there any chance of Collide visiting our corner of the Earth in the near future? "So far we're still a studio band," Statik explains. "Some bands start in the 'live format' with a guitar player, bass player, and drummer, and record that way, so it's easy to go on tour. We, of course, start all of our songs in the studio, and the more electronic a band is, the harder it is to get that onto the road. We could go out with just a tape of music and do vocals over the top of that, but that wouldn't be too exciting. We'll get to it at some point, and when we do, we will certainly come to Seattle."