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all-purpose nuclear bedtime story, interview

Love Spirals Downwards Interview on KUCI 88.9 fm

The All Purpose Nuclear Bedtime Story Phone-In

Projekt Records hooked us up with Love Spirals Downwards’ mastermind, Ryan Lum, to –ostensibly– discuss next weekend’s first-ever ProjektFest LA show at the El Rey Theatre hosted by Coven 13. As Ryan lives within walking distance of the venue, it makes for the perfect choice for this chill, go with the flow musician, who apparently was reluctant to leave his neighborhood as he opted to phone-in his interview rather than drive over for an in-studio conversation. None-the-less, Justin and I had a fun, informal chat with the composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist, who is currently on the verge of completing the band’s fourth full-length album for Projekt. But first he has to figure out the lineup of musicians for next weekend’s concert and whether or not he should strip on stage or set himself on fire. Read on to find out more

Interview by Anji Bee & Justin Jay with intro written by Anji.


Anji: Gosh, this is really weird doing a phone interview. It’s weird not having the person in front of us. Are you there?
Ryan: You can imagine I’m there. I’m just a few miles away, so I’m kinda there.
Justin: What, you’re in a phone booth a few miles down the road right now?
Anji: (Laughs)
Ryan: Basically I got lost trying to find the station, so… No, actually I’m at my place about a half an hour, an hour away.
Justin: Don’t give away the location!
Ryan: (Laughs nervously) LA, somewhere.
Justin: LA. Okay. That’s good and general.
Ryan: (Chuckles)
Justin: That should protect you.
Ryan: (Chuckles) I dunno. I’ve never had any, like, psycho fans or devoted freaks try to find me.
Anji: You haven’t?  

Justin: Well, you know, if you wanna give it a shot you can always give out your home address right now.
All: (Laughs)
Ryan: And my phone number.
Justin: There you go. You can at least get some crank calls.
Ryan: (Laughing) Yeah, no, I don’t want that. It’d probably be people that don’t even like us, they just wanna crank call us.
Anji: You’re a pretty visible figure as it is. I mean, I see you at clubs and stuff.
Ryan: I’m tall. I guess I’m easy to spot and stuff.
Anji & Justin: Yeah.
Anji: You really are.
Anji & Justin: (Laughs)
Anji: Yeah, in fact, I saw you at Coven 13 the day. They were filming for some Gothic underground thing on Fox, or whatever.
Ryan: Oh, is that what was going on?  

Anji: Yeah, we inadvertently got filmed and put on TV. We didn’t even know what was going on.  

Ryan: Oh, like a few months ago? In January?
Anji: No, it was just last Sunday.
Ryan: Last Sunday?
Anji: Yeah, last Sunday they were filming there.
Ryan: Oh, they were filming that?
Anji: Yeah, you missed your big promo shot.
Ryan: Nah. They probably wouldn’t have put me on. I wouldn’t have had anything sensational to say. 

Anji: Plus, you’re just like a regular guy. You don’t have any, like, spiderwebs drawn on your face or anything.
Ryan: Exactly. That’s a prerequisite to be on those Fox Underground specials. You have to be a freak, or like a major loser on heroin or something.
Justin: So wait a minute, we were on there — so what are you saying?
All: (Laugh uproariously)
Ryan: I live really close to there. I heard a freak was going to light himself on fire and I wanted to see that.
Anji: Well, did you see the guy spinning around with all the needles through his flesh?
Ryan: Yeah, he was supposed to light himself on fire. I don’t know if you noticed the reference to that when they played the Jimi Hendrix song?
Anji: I was wondering why they were playing Jimi Hendrix.
Ryan: That’s why, because he was supposed to burn himself. Even though I got in free, I felt like I wanted my money back.
Anji: Two of my friends were there because they wanted to see Joel take his clothes off so they wanted their money back.
Ryan: Who’s that? The guy that was spinning around?
Anji & Justin: No!
Anji: No, this is Fate Fatal, the singer of Deep Eynde.  

Ryan: Oh the singer was going to take his clothes off?
Anji: Well, he usually kinda strips down to, like, a loin cloth and a razor blade vest.
Ryan: You had friends that wanted to see that? He’s wasn’t exactly Brad Pitt. Should I strip down then? Is that the way it works out?
Justin: Yes.
Anji: You’re going to be playing there next Sunday, right?
Ryan: Mmm hmm. Yeah. Maybe we’ll strip? I’ll try to get all of us to strip, if that’s what people are into. We’ve never done that before while playing live.
Anji: “All of us“? How many of you are going to be performing?
Ryan: I dunno. Anywhere between 2 and 4. (Laughs nervously)
Anji: Really?! Oh, I didn’t know that.
Ryan: We have a guitar player who’s, he played on a song or two on the new record we’re working on.
Anji: Oh cool.
Ryan: So the idea kind of extended out of that — “Hey, why don’t you play the song that you played on the record with us?” And we’re going to try to do a few more songs. The only setback for Rodney being there Sunday is that his wife is expecting a baby right around that day. Hopefully the baby won’t be coming that day.
Justin: Oh, wow, yeah, that wouldn’t be good.
Ryan: So, I’m just taking it all as it comes. You know, I want him to play because we got together a few nights ago and it sounded great. I really loved what it added to the songs that he played on. And then another friend coming out who might be —we’re going to see — we’re just trying to work him into either drums or another guitar. I don’t know, he’s bringing both pieces of gear out. I don’t know what will happen. I have no idea. I know we’re playing, but I don’t know if it’s going to be two, three or four people yet.
Justin: Have you ever played live before with more than just the two of you?
Ryan: We have, but just for like a song or two. Like, yeah, just one song. We had friends that do percussion.
Anji: Cool. I think last time I talked to you about the live experience, you were kind of complaining that you were bored with the set you’re doing. So, this ought to throw a lot of excitement into it.
Ryan: Oh, yeah, totally. Yeah, it’s kind of painful to play the same songs over and over and over again. I mean, the way to make it less painful is to pump a new kind of life into it by doing something different to it. I started working with Rodney on guitar, and it’s like, “Wow, this is cool!” It brings this whole new… you know, I thought it would just be adding something to what Suzanne and I do, but more than that, it’s like a whole ‘nother human adding a whole ‘nother layer to it. So, it’s cool.
Anji: Yeah. It’s something for you to react against too.
Ryan: Yeah, then we could jam. We could rock out too.
Anji: Ooh you should.
Ryan: We’re going to, like, do our poses and stuff that we, you know, always wanted to do, but I couldn’t do before. So now I can rock out.
Anji: Hot licks.
Justin: Have you been practicing those?
Ryan: Practicing the poses? They’re already working out how we’re going to destroy our guitars at the end of the set.
Anji: Aww, yeah. Well, maybe you could be the man that sets himself on fire?
Ryan: Yeah, I’ll strip, I’ll light myself on fire, put needles in myself, and spin around on a wheel like a freak.
Anji: Oh, I better contact Fox so they can get down there.
Ryan: Oh, yeah, they’ll wanna film that. (Chuckles)
Justin: Oh, you know they’re listening right now. They’ve already got their tipsters calling it in.
Ryan: Yeah, I hope so. Yeah, come film us. We’re all freaks, Fox, come film us.
Anji: Oh my God.
Ryan: We’re just four nice people. If we tell them that, they won’t come. So, we’ll tell them we’re freaks.
Justin: Yeah, we’ll keep this secret.
Anji: That’s funny. So, you know, I don’t know if you want to talk about this or not, but you kind of mentioned to me earlier that you were going to be asking a KUCI DJ to come up and spin a little bit?
Ryan: Oh, yeah. Well, just before our set, I kind of consider it like a part of our set, like the 20 or so minutes that immediately proceed when we come on, it’s a critical, important time. So, yeah, I like to have music play that I like. Often I’ll bring CDs and stuff at our shows and play something that I’m into, or I think kind of sets a good mood for us to come on afterwards. So, I know Daniel’s kind of music he plays on a set would be something I want to have played, anyway. So yeah, I think it’s going to work out good.
Anji: Wow, that sounds really great.
Ryan: I’m keeping it a secret from Projekt though, so… I think they might get mad that I’m not playing the kind of music that I officially should, or I don’t know… they’re kind of dogmatic about certain things. So, I dunno know. I just don’t tell them all my crazy ideas about like, you know, how I’m going to burn myself and stuff.
Anji: Yeah. (laughs)
Ryan: All this is going to be a total shock to them. (laughs)
Anji: I love it. Yeah, you’re going to go beyond just wearing the psychedelic shirt on stage.
Ryan: (Chuckles) I don’t think I’m gonna wear the psychedelic shirt for a while.
Anji: Oh, you learned your lesson, huh?
Ryan: (Chuckling) Yeah, yeah, no. Only at our own shows will I wear the psychedelic shirts again.

“Love Spirals Downwards’ Ryan Lum reported that his un-gothic orange psychedelic shirt got mocked by vampires” per the Alternative Press review of ProjektFest Chicago in 1996

Anji: Aww yeah, I’m sure you’ll be seeing a lot of black lace and stuff.
Ryan: Yeah, that’s cool. See some cute goth babes?
Anji: Yeah.
Ryan: That’s why I was there in January. I was a judge for a “Goth Babe” show there. Yeah, they asked me and I said, “Well, sure, I’ve seen many goth babes in my day. I can definitely tell you a goth babe when I see one.” In fact, I kind of appreciate the goth babe look. It’s cute. It’s sexy. It’s nice. But it sucks though, like, the girl who won was not goth, though. She was somehow more of a fetish or industrial kind of chick.
Anji: Oh.
Ryan: I think why she won is she was like — oh, it comes back to fire! She was, like, eating fire.
Anji: What?!
Ryan: I think she’s just friends with a lot of the people there, too, the judges. I don’t think the judging was right. It was kind of biased. I dunno know. After it got started, I thought it was stupid. I thought it was gonna be really cool, but I thought it was really hacked.
Justin: You know, any contests like that is just a popularity contest.
Ryan: Yeah, basically it was like, yeah, like high school, basically.
Justin: Yeah.
Ryan: I told the girl that I voted for with the highest points later on, I said, “You know, I gave you the highest points because you were the best Goth Babe there.” She goes, “Well, your vote didn’t count.” I said, “Yeah, I was one of the judges.”
Anji: Oh, you know…
Ryan: I didn’t have my fangs on again.
Anji: You should remember the needles in your eyelids.
Ryan: Oh, yeah, I got to do something next time to stand out more. You guys noticed me because you know me, but if you don’t know me, I’m just some tall guy that you don’t notice.
Anji: Well, I dunno. You’re so tall, it’s hard not to notice you “Who’s the tall friendly guy that’s smiling over there?”
Ryan: Here’s a guy that’s tall, smiling, laughing, drinking a beer.
Justin: He’s having a good time here.
Anji: He looks relaxed and happy.
Ryan: Yeah, I guess you’re right, I guess I do stand out there.
All: (Laughs)
Anji: That’s funny. You know what? I better tell the people that they’re listening to KUCI in Irvine. This is Ryan from Love Spirals Downwards, and we’re talking to him about the Projekt Fest —ostensibly— that’s coming up this Sunday. What time are you guys going on at?
Ryan: At 11.
Anji: That’s a good time.
Ryan: Yeah, not too late, not too early.
Justin: Yeah. So what did you mention who else is going to be playing with you there?
Ryan: Black Tape for a Blue Girl from Projekt, and us —Love Spirals Downwards— and Faith and the Muse — I have no idea what label they’re on anymore, they were on Tess.
Anji: Yeah, it’s kind of odd if it’s a Projekt Fest?
Ryan: Yeah, it’s kind of weird. Like, it’s a Projekt Fest, but there’s only two Projekt bands.
Anji: Yeah, if its a festival that’s a little…
Ryan: I should try to pump it up, but to me, it just seems like a Projekt Fest by name, you know, because the other ones are usually two days and there’s a whole bunch of Projekt bands, maybe one or so non-Projekt artists, I don’t know.
Anji: Yeah, I thought originally there was supposed to be a couple other bands?
Ryan: Yeah, well, originally it was supposed to be just a Thanatos and Love Spirals Downwards show.
Anji: Oh, is that how it started?
Justin: Hmm.
Ryan: That’s what I agreed to when they first asked me to do it. Padraic from Thanatos was going to bring his band out west.
Justin: Right.
Ryan: I don’t know. They wanted to have a bigger show than what would have been if they just played. So, you know, piggyback onto a Love Spirals Downwards show and that would be a nice little show. But it kind of got morphed and twisted. Thanatos is no longer playing, now it’s a Projekt Festival.
Anji: That’s really odd. And then when I talked to Lisa, she said that Coven 13 is actually putting it on, not Projekt, so I was really confused.
Ryan: Yeah, it’s weird.
Anji: Yeah, it’s very odd.
Ryan: I mean, if anyone’s ever gone to the Projekt Festivals in Chicago, this will be completely different. That’s why I say it’s more of a Projekt Festival by name, because other ones, it’s like a big thing. People travel from all over. There’s a hotel where a lot of people stay at. It’s an event of sorts, you know? It lasts for several days. This will be one that just lasts for several hours, you know? It’s kind of communal in a certain sense, the Chicago ones. You know, there’s all these people all together. You see them all around.
Anji: Yeah, well, hopefully we’ll get a real one out here sometime.
Ryan: Yeah, I don’t know. I wouldn’t count on it. This is probably the closest you’ll get. So go, people, if you want to sort of see one.
Anji: Yeah.
Ryan: As far as I know they are not going to have a Chicago one this summer. So, maybe that’ll all change, but I don’t think so, because they’ve really got to start planning it now. So, this is probably it, that’s my best guess.


Anji: So, hey, tell us about your new album you’re working on. I’m really curious about this.
Ryan: Oh, it rocks. It’s really good.
Anji: It rocks?
Ryan: I hate talking about something like that. I mean, I don’t hate it. It’s hard. It’s difficult to do, just because, I don’t know… I never know what to say. I know what it sounds like. I’ve heard all the songs a ton of times and I’m really jazzed about it, but to describe it… That’s always difficult for me. That’s why I just like to make records and just let people describe it themselves or something. But it’s a little more, I don’t know… Each of our albums change. We’re not, you know, frozen in place since our first record or anything.  And, you know, as we progress through life and, you know, age and experience different things, you know, you change as people and your aesthetics change a little bit, and your art changes a bit. This album’s another kind of change, I guess. I don’t know, it still sounds like us. It’s very, you know, pretty and sensual and spacey. But it has more, I don’t know, more electronic stuff than acoustic guitar.
Justin: Oh, nice.
Anji: That’s what I was wondering!
Ryan: Ethereal Breakbeat, is what I said a couple times.
Anji: That works! Yeah, I was going to ask you if it had more beats, like you were starting to work with beats on the last one.
Ryan: Yeah, the last one is more of a straightforward kind of trance beat. This one is much more, I don’t know, it’s more funkier beats, I guess. Yeah, breakbeats, you know.
Anji: So, speaking of beats and electronic stuff, I think, you were telling me that you have kind of a solo, more techno type thing that you’re working on as well?
Ryan: Ummm… No?
Anji: What were you saying about what you were going to do up on Dan’s show?
Ryan: I was going to play some of our stuff.
Anji: Oh, okay.
Ryan: Yeah, without Suzanne. Just like, come and play the music, and samples of her –and other stuff– and kind of rock that all together live.
Anji: Oh, I hope you’ll still get a chance to.
Ryan: Yeah, I hope to. Yeah, after the show’s done and after our album’s done next month, then I can start doing other fun things that I’ve been putting off –just out of necessity– because I’m just trying to direct all my momentum to finishing this record up. I’ve been working pretty hard on it for about a year, really hard since summer, and I just want to finish it.
Anji: Wow, so where are you recording it at, at home?
Ryan: Yeah, my studio.
Anji: Oh, you have a studio.
Justin: Nice.
Ryan: Yeah, I always do everything at my studio. I would spend like $100,000 —no, more than that— if I had to use a real expensive, you know, real studio.
Anji: So, have you worked alone or do you have someone that helps you?
Ryan: I  work alone.
Anji: Really?
Ryan: I mean, other than the people I record —like Suzanne’s voice and stuff —  but I work alone.
Anji: Wow, so you just…
Ryan: I do everything.
Anji: You produce and everything.
Ryan: Oh, yeah, that’s the only way to do it.
Anji: Yeah, I agree.
Justin: I do, too.
Anji: Yeah, that’s what we do, too. But sometimes it gets to be a little bit difficult, you know, when you’re like playing guitar and then also trying to push the buttons and everything.
Ryan: Yeah, you get used to it, I guess.
Anji: Yeah. So, hmm, anything else that you wanted to let us know about?
Ryan: Um, I don’t know. Love Spirals Downwards, buy them. Go down to Tower, buy them.
Anji: You could promote the website.
Ryan: Oh, yeah, um, there’s the project site, which is projekt.com. Projekt is spelled with a K, not a C.
Justin: That’s helpful.
Ryan: And from there, you can just click on to our page, which is a really long, I don’t know, well professionally done page. Not just like a hacked together thing or anything.
Justin: Like ours.
Justin & Anji: (Laughs)
Ryan: I haven’t seen your guys.
Justin & Anji: (Laughs)
Ryan: Yeah, we got a lot of stuff there, actually. I update the news on there regularly, like every month or so. There’s not always something to talk about, but whenever there’s something going on like, you know, a show, or album progress or something I want people to know, I’ll put it on there so they can know what’s up. Um, you can email us, there’s a way to do that on there. And we have a guest book too, so you can, you know, read with other people all across the world have to say. So you’re not the only one that likes us, if you happen to like us, you’ll find a whole bunch of other people — and you can add your comments. And I have some reviews of some of our records — in case you’re kind of wondering more or less what it sounds like. And also we have audio for some songs on Ever, our most recent album, which is about a year and a half-old now.
It requires a plug-in, a shockwave plug-in. And I don’t know, check it out. There’s a lot of stuff there.
Anji: Cool.
Ryan: Yeah, projekt.com
Justin: That’s nice and easy to remember.
Ryan: Yeah, very easy.
Anji: So do you have any requests or something we might play right now?
Ryan: Um, of mine?
Anji: Of yours or anyone else.
Ryan: I don’t know, I won’t be able to hear it, so…
Justin: We’ve actually got Ever in the player right now, if you wanna pick a song off of there.
Anji: Oh, yeah. What’s your favorite song off of Ever?
Ryan: A favorite song? Oh, man. I was just out with someone last night and she kept asking me questions like this that put me on the spot.
Anji: Oh, no.
Ryan: Like a whole bunch of times! I think she started doing it after a while just to, um, watch me squirm.
Anji: What?
Ryan: Because I would freeze. My brain just freezes, you know?
Anji: I’m like that, too.
Justin: That’s great. Now we’ve got a recording of it.
Anji: Squirming.
Ryan: Of my brain freezing?!
Justin: Ryan squirming.
Ryan: Can you hear that? My brain freezing.
Anji: Sort of.
Ryan: Um, off Ever. Let’s see. That was kind of like, um, um, let’s see. “Madras,” song 3.
Justin: Yeah.
Anji: Alright, we’re gonna do an instant request now. Can you give us a station ID first?


Ryan: This is Ryan from Love Spirals Downwards, and you’re listening to KUCI.
Anji: In Irvine.
Ryan: Damn it. So I have to say “KUCI, in Irvine.”
Justin: That’s right.
Ryan: Okay, I’ll try to learn to, I’ll get it right. I have a good memory.
Justin: Good.
Ryan: If I did, I would’ve got it right the first time. Okay, um, this is Ryan from Love Spirals Downwards, and you’re listening to K-U-C-I in Irvine.
Justin: Oh, that’s so amazing.
Anji: All right, thank you.
Justin: Yeah, that’s going to be our next station ID that we make up here.

all-purpose nuclear bedtime story, interview

Clan of Xymox Interview on KUCI 88.9 FM

The All-Purpose Nuclear Bedtime Story In-Studio

Ronny Moorings proved to be a quietly charming interviewee. He is polite, gracious and intelligent, with a soft-spoken manner that is very appealing. He has none of the rock star attitude you might find in someone who’s been in the business as long as he has. Mr. Moorings holds himself with an understated confidence that puts one at ease when talking to him. Nevertheless, we were a bit nervous having him up to our humble studio, particularly since we were not as well-prepared as we could have been. Both he and Antrome were very patient and cooperative with us. They graciously donated two CDs and posters to our listeners, as well as provided us with a copy of the new CD single for our show library. The following is an edited transcription of our conversation from the show.

JUSTIN: Tonight we have a special guest in the studio with us.
RONNY: Hi, I’m Ronny Moorings, from Clan of Xymox.
JUSTIN: And we also have Antrome, from Tess Records, in the studio. So…
RONNY: Fire! You’re still trying to get your breath from running into the studio, right?
JUSTIN: Yes, the joys of caffeine! So, tell us what’s been happening with Clan of Xymox… The last thing I remember you doing was as Xymox actually, with the album Phoenix. But I saw on the bio sheet that you’d done a few albums since then.
RONNY: Yes, well, that was just basically Xymox experimenting with a new direction. The most important thing is that now Clan of Xymox signed to Tess Records, which is based in Santa Barbara. We just recorded a new album, called Hidden Faces and a sneak preview, of course, is this EP, Out of the Rain.
JUSTIN: And when was this released?
ANTROME: Two days ago, on the 8th.
JUSTIN: And when will the album come out?
RONNY: This September.

Continue reading Clan of Xymox Interview on KUCI 88.9 FM →
all-purpose nuclear bedtime story, review

The Linked Dreams of Lonely Moons V/A Review

People generally don’t seem to have much respect for taped music, but this is one cassette-only release that’s certainly worth looking into. Of course, being the rare little gem that it is, you pretty much need to know that it exists before you can secure yourself a copy via mail order.

Vuzh Music is run by c. reider, who has been involved in the mail art and tape exchange scene for years. This is a fairly new endeavor for him, and I believe this is the first release he’s done with other people’s music. Before Vuzh was begun, he released several cassette-only albums of his own material, lovingly dubbing each cassette one at a time as the orders came in. He also has had his music released by a number of other cassette-only labels, which likely gave him the idea to finally start his own.

the linked dreams of lonely moons comes in a fetchingly understated, but gracefully hand-painted tape jacket with hand dyed cloth labels. Undoubtedly each tape is also hand dubbed, but the sound quality is clean enough. The tape itself is an hour long, featuring “a handpicked selection of the underground’s finest music,” as Vuzh puts it in their ad.

c. reider sent out letters to his favorite independent music makers to request their inclusion in the project with exclusive cuts, keeping the theme of the tape in mind. In two years time, he had complied a nice variety of acts, with a fairly smooth transition between songs. Largely instrumental, the tape glides from one track to the next, weaving a spell of strange, melancholic atmospheres with tinges of darkness and undertones of the disturbing.

The prize offering of the tape is a collaboration with Jarboe (of Swans fame) and Brian Castillo, called Phrenz-C. Their track, “Vomit Veritas (v.2)” is the scariest offering of the bunch, with Jarboe’s despairingly bleak spoken word over an eerie backdrop of distorted guitar noise and piano. This tape is sure to be a collector’s item for the inclusion of this track alone.

The second best-known act would likely be Dust, which is a side project of Lycia, with Mike Van Portfleet and John Fair. Unfortunately, this wispy little guitar number blows by in less than a minute. But it’s a beautifully brief tease of a song.

c. reider’s solo project, Luster, provides a strong vocally-centered song with wonderfully simple, but emotional, bassline and guitar riffs. The drum programming is subtle, but driving, and I might hear some understated keyboards and noise mixed into the background as well. This is one of Luster’s melancholy pop masterpieces, to be sure.

Luster also collaborates on one track with Eyelight, which is a one woman project consisting solely of voice, as I understand it. This is one of the longest songs here, meandering along with Jennifer’s lovely vocal textures and c. reider’s ambient keyboard textures, slowly building steam.

Then there’s Datura, which is how we came to know about this cassette, being my and Justin’s band. Of course, it’s hardly fair for me to critique this cut, but I can say that c. reider told us it was one of the more structured and lively songs of the compilation. I would say it’s just a bit more pop than Luster, falling further to the melodramatic than melancholy side of sad.

Other acts include experimental noisesters The Tall Bald Grandfathers, from Massachusetts, dream droney The DrowningBreathing, from Louisiana, and two foreign artists I’m not familiar with, Kirchemkampf and Klimperi (who do another song under the name Deleted).

Over all this is a very interesting cassette which grows on me more and more with every listen. I’ve found it makes for an interesting background while I’m puttering about the house, being on the computer, reading a book, or simply dreaming out the window with eyes half closed, thinking of other times and places.

Vuzh Music / P. O. Box 1204 / Lyons, CO / 80540-1204 / USA

— Review by Anji Bee of The All Purpose Nuclear Bedtime Story

UPDATE: this album is now available via Internet Archive

interview

Ravensong Interview in The Black Chronicle

This interview was conducted at the Denny’s in Seal Beach, CA at a time when Justin and Anji had named their band, Ravensong. By the way, we have a review of their promotional tape in this issue. In later Black Chronicles we would like to run an update on this exciting and breathtaking band!

BC: Could you tell our readers of any compilations or collection that the band has or will perform on, or works with any other bands?

Justin: There was someone from New York who did a fanzine called Graceless Passion and she was talking about a couple of comps that I was supposed to be on. I did the songs and got them ready.

Anji: That was months ago.

Justin: We haven’t heard from her since.

Dark Marc: They may have just moved?

Justin: I don’t think so because we sent two postcards. I don’t think it’s going to happen.

Continue reading Ravensong Interview in The Black Chronicle →
interview

Datura Interview in Descent Fanzine

Datura are: Justin Johnsen, sequencing, guitar and vocals, and Anji Bee: vocals and guitar. Justin has been recording under the name Ravensong, having released two limited edition cassette singles and a full length cassette entitled Exorcism. Joining hím ís Anji, who appeared on one track from that cassette with vocals. Datura is composed of two independent voices: there is harmony and discord, ascent and descent, cleanliness and dirtiness, pushing and pulling… This is what they have to say about themselves.

Interview conducted by Christ Reider of Concept: Personality via mail.

Christ: What made you decide to work together as a new band, rather than continue on as Ravensong?

Justin: Hmm… The music we were beginning to write together took on a different character than the material I recorded as Ravensong. Even if Anji didn’t actually contribute musically to the newer songs, they were influenced by her in subtle ways.

Anji: We have been working on songs based on my guitar lines to some extent. I am not really a guitarist per se, but I like to work with it when I’m in that certain mood. I’m a bit reluctant to get too involved with the instrument as far as playing live, because it tends to distract from my vocals by making me nervous. We’ll see. I think that my influence, as far as guitars, especially, is to make the music more noisy, more layered, and less keyboard reliant.

Justin: Ravensong is definitely more electronic than Datura.

Anji: We still use the synth as the backbone of the compositions, certainly, and all our percussion so far is electronic, but it sounds a bit warmer now. Particularly with the addition of a bassist.

Justin: The actual bass gives us a sound that that keyboard could never achieve. More of a groove.

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interview

Ravensong Interview in Bathory Palace Act Four, Summer-Autumn 1993

RAVENSONG: an interview with composer/musician Justin Johnsen.

BATPAL: How and when did Ravensong get started?

JUSTIN: Ravensong really got started in January of 1989. For the winter holidays I had been given a cassette player that could do overdubs. I began writing songs on it. So from the start, Ravensong has been more of a “studio” band than a live band. On those first songs I used a primitive Yamaha keyboard with some neat sounds and a few painfully simple drumbeats along with my main instrument –guitar– and my first attempts at singing. Actually, I still use the keyboard in some of my songs, although now they’re mostly done on the elaborate MIDI keyboard I have access to at school. The incarnations of “Butterfly Wisdom” and “The Jackal” that appear on Exorcism are reworkings of some of those early songs, and I intend to redo a few more of them. Ravensong eventually became dormant as I spent time with a few live bands, having tired of working entirely by myself. “The Calling of Bacchus” was written while I was in a band called The Watchmen (now defunct), and I have performed it live with two bands that I have been involved in.

Gradually these bands fell apart, and my sole musical outlet became my Ravensong music once again. By this time I had started attending Long Beach City College and was doing most of my writing on the sequencers and 8-track machines there. The sequencers allowed the music to become more elaborate, but l think it lost a little of the dark, raw minimalism of my original recordings. I’m working now (after Exorcism) on recapturing some of that feel by using more guitars and live keyboards. It’s important to retain the human element to the music. The name Ravensong, incidentally, didn’t suggest itself until sometime during 1992. I felt that I needed a “band” name to work under, and Ravensong was the only one that seemed appropriate; it was generic, but had a certain mystique to it. Raven is my guiding animal, and songs are what l create.

BATPAL: I was especially struck by the poetic virtue of the lyrics to songs like, “Solitude” and “Butterfly Wisdom”. Where do you find your inspiration?

JUSTIN: I try to make my music an expression of my self, so just about everything in my life influences it to some extent. Of the songs on Exorcism, I feel like “Solitude” is the best expression of me. It is written about a morning spent alone in nature, a morning full of realizations about myself and my life. A “spiritual” experience. My spiritual (metaphysical, supernatural, whatever word you care for) beliefs and experiences are sources of inspiration for much of my poetry, but so far that hasn’t really become a significant part of Ravensong. I’d like to incorporate a little more mysticism into my music. I have also been inspired to write poems/lyrics about negative feelings and experiences, and that is more of what you find on Exorcism. Somehow writing down these things and putting them into songs is a way of cleansing myself of them, turning destructive thoughts into creation. An exorcism. You mentioned “Butterfly Wisdom”; that was written about a friend who did a tremendous amount of LSD and began to hear voices in his head.

Musically I have numerous inspirations, though I honestly think that Daniel Ash’s older work has been the greatest. I listen to many different styles of music, and they all affect what I write to some degree. Some of the ones I feel have shown as influences in my songs are Tones on Tail, Coil, World of Skin, Dead Can Dance, Legendary Pink Dots… l used to play guitar in a jazz band in high school, and even that has affected my songwriting. I learned a couple of chords for “The Calling of Bacchus” in jazz band.

BATPAL: I know you and Anji are both fans of Twin Peaks (hence the song “Into the Black Lodge”) I’d love to hear any comments you might care to make about this particular television program…?

J: “Into the Black Lodge” was written by accident. It was during a time when I was first becoming interested in –might I say obsessed with?– Twin Peaks. As I watched the first seven or so episodes, I was collecting a tape of samples from the series. I had the beginnings of a song that didn’t seem to be going anywhere, so for fun I took some of the scarier samples and put them to the music. I didn’t really intend to do anything with the composition, but as time went on I grew fonder of it and ended up including it on Exorcism. I am still a devout fan and hold to this day that Twin Peaks is the best series ever to have aired on American television. David Lynch is a genius. His work must be taken both literally and symbolically: on one level, Twin Peaks is a somewhat fantastic story of otherworldly entities meddling with the affairs of humans; but it can also be taken as a story of the horrors of physical/sexual child abuse and the neuroses that spring from such matters. Twin Peaks is a statement on humankind in general; Lynch brings to light all of the surreal and unexplainable things that happen in real life but are too often ignored out of apathy, fear, or misunderstanding.

BATPAL: In California (distinct in comparison to Kansas) there is a concentration of “Gothic” subculture and image among young people. Can you reflect on this? Any thoughts on the “scene” in general in comparison to, and in relation to, the artists, writers, musicians, etc.. who provide the substance behind it?

JUSTIN: Ah, the Gothic scene. I’m not much a part of that,though I have become more so lately. I think there are a number of weaknesses to that scene. The problem is that many of the people involved in it are immature or lack depth. It operates, on the large scale, the same way that society as a whole does. People are conforming to something just like the rest of society, it’s just that what they conform to as goths isn’t accepted by the rest of society. Too many gothic club-goers are concerned mostly with looking good when they dance, fitting the image that they feel is what makes them a goth, having emotionally traumatic soap operas, and catching up on the latest gossip. I’ve heards stories where good bands were playing at places like Helter Skelter and most of the club goths just stayed in the other room dancing and ignored them. There are certain bands everyone feeis obligated to like, and there is an element of closed-mindedness to anything that isn’t acceptably gothic. It seems like the ideals of the movement give way to the image. Actually, I don’t even know that the gothic scene has any ideals. I used to think when I was very young that it was comprised of people banding together because they felt out of place in Western society. As I grew. I realized that it was my own misconception.

But here I am, bitching about the scene, and not talking about the good aspects. Although there is some shallowness to be witnessed, there are a lot of really interesting people involved in the gothic subculture. I’ve met some of them, and because of California’s gothic culture, there will always be more to meet. Recently there has been an abundance of good shows by local bands., and that is another benefit of the size of the scene. I have to say that people who create the music, art,etc., are in a different category than the genral club-going/music-listening types. Many of the originators aren’t as concerned with being perceived as gothic, and so they bring more variety into the scene. Of course, there are a few bands (I will mention no names) who are no different than the shallowest conformist goths that I mentioned earlier, but one must expect that in any movement.

Justin Johnsen
Anji Bee

BATPAL: What projects are you and Anji planning for the future? Additional works from Ravensong? Any more fanzine work?

JUSTIN: Anji and I plan to continue writing songs together. Whether this will turn out to be Ravensong or another project, I don’t know yet. I want to have either another Exorcism-length release or else a split 7-inch single with another band out by the end of the year. My plans could change tomorrow, though. I am studying recording in school, so this summer I may be doing some recording for a local band called Praise of Folly. I’ll be recording more Ravensongs during the remainder of my studio time. As far as fanzines go, I am assisting Anji with two at the moment. The first is a continuation of her last zine, Substitution, and the second zine is a project that Anji is doing with a friend. It will be called Descent, and will focus more on dark (gothic etc.) music. Both should be high-quality publications.

Bathory Palace thanks Justin Johnsen for his time and effort.

RAVENSONG: EXORCISM
The first demo for this musical project from Long Beach, CA, Exorcism is an inspired collection of ethereal and experimental tracks. Keyboard and guitar, layered over a moving drumline, are given articulation through poetic lyrics touching on dark themes such as isolation and insanity. Ravensong features two members. Justin Johnsen and Anji Bee; together, they’ve created a remarkable beginning with this album. I hope there will be more from Ravensong in the future.

interview

Ravensong Interview in Virtute et Morte Issue 3

RAVENSONG IS:

JUSTIN JOHNSON – all instruments, lyrics & vocals

ANJI BEE – sings & writes lyrics periodically

INTERVIEW BY LYNNEA, CONDUCTED BY ANJI. PHOTOS BY ANJI.

VEM: How did RAVENSONG form?

JUSTIN: It started in 1989 as a Christmas present where i got a tape recorder that could do overdubs on so i used that opportunity to start writing music by myself on the multi-track recorder. i’d never really written songs before so they’re all fairly simple and kind of dark because of my state of mind at the time. As time went on I’d been in other bands so i started accumulating songs that i’d done by myself, by college i took up the recording arts so eventually i wanted to release my collection on tapes. The name Ravensong seemed to fit because of the raven’s significance so Ravensong formed by accident really.

VEM: What projects are you working on now?

JUSTIN: Ravensong is my main focus. I’d like to keep releasing material.

VEM: Any live performances?

JUSTIN: I’ve thought about it a lot; it would be great fun, a lot of energy than sitting in the studio recording one instrument over and over. There’s something you can’t get that you can when playing with other people. i’ve had problems with playing with other people — cause everyone’s playing style is unique and no one can really play all my parts to my satisfaction. I’m going to put out more ads.

VEM: What philosophies and spiritual beliefs interact with your music?

JUSTIN: My music is all very personal…my own experiences. The name Ravensong is saying it all; the raven for me –dare I say a totem animal? –its a connection I have with. I have a deep set of cards similar to tarot cards called Medicine Cards. They’re based on Native American associations with various animals that live in this area, it’s basically used for finding insights into yourself through these animals. Nature has always played a large part in my life. My music reflects animals & nature.

VEM: Have your dreams and goals changed since past bands?

JUSTIN: They’ve changed significantly! My first band was when I was still a youngster in high school and it just seemed like a good thing to play in a band. It was mostly cover songs but finally we wrote original songs. The best music I ever wrote with anybody else was in a band called The Watchmen. It never worked out but had a lot of potential… I’d like to get one of the members from that band to record with me in Ravensong, if I can get a hold of him again. Ravensong is sort of intended as a personal satisfaction for myself. But I like the idea of sharing it with other people if there are people that will appreciate it.

VEM: What are your influences musically or in general?

JUSTIN: Numerous! Everything I listen to has an influence on me. The one person i could say has a real influence over me is Daniel Ash. I’ve interpreted his style into my own. I listen to everything from Projekt and 4AD music to upbeat noisy local LA bands. I like to experiment. Exorcism, I think is alittle one-sided. Its darker as a whole than I intended it to be. I love it but the future Ravensong stuff will be different.

VEM: Is what you do a reality to portray to others or an advocation of fantasy?

JUSTIN: My music doesn’t deal with a whole lot of reality as other people see it. It’s my interpretation of experiences. Its a fusion of reality and dreams.

VEM: Any bizarre experiences you’d like to share?

JUSTIN: Oh yeah… a few days ago when i was leaving for Phoenix from the LA airport this rasta/hippie person was in front of us, and judging from how red his eyes were guess its fair to say that he was very stoned, and when he got up to the ticket counter he got so confused that the ticket person was having trouble figuring out what flight he was on, and said “What are you on?!” and the guy looked at him and said “What am I on???” And the ticket person realized what he thought he was asking and said, “What flight are you on!” He was really annoyed with him.

VEM: What gives you ultimate fulfillment?

JUSTIN: I still have yet to experience that with Ravensong.I find that every time I write and record a song I want to keep going over and redoing it over and over again. I don’t think that any song could ever really be complete, I guess that’s true with anything you create; there’s always something more you can do for it, but you have to find a point that you can stop and be happy with.

VEM: What do you wish to give your audience?

JUSTIN: My ultimate goal would be to trigger feelings & emotions, ideas in other people, so that the person listening would have their own interpretation of what I was writing — regardless of whether it had anything to do with what I was thinking when I wrote it. The best music has to be something that each person can get something out of personally. That’s what I’d like to give.

VEM: Thoughts on eternal struggle of Life & Death in humamity — does it inspire anything?

JUSTIN: I don’t really think that that struggle exists except in people’s minds. If people just let go and live life as they want to, things would be a lot easier. Its just that we’re hammered with thoughts from the day we’re born that life is this constant struggle and its so fragile and death is waiting might around the corner, that people will become paranoid about it and will cease to live their life meaningfully out of fear of dying. Some become so afraid that they kill themselves and that’s just uttter hypocrisyI think its silly to go like that. Men create all these struggles and dramas to give themselves some sort of meaning because they haven’t found any higher meaning for themselves. Once people become a little more involved and start finding personal meaning that they won’t have to take all these things out on each other and live with this feeling of….

ANJI: Impending Doom!

JUSTIN: Ah, yes, thank you… if anything it inspires me to write about my frustrations in seeing people believing this-I really think that life could be alot easier than people make it. And its my goal to make it as easy & enjoyable as possible I don’t feel any gratification from living out these struggles & difficulties, I feel the most gratification from when I’m able accomplish something smoothly and easily.

ANJI: What are some of the ways that ya have??

JUSTIN: Magic is the most effective way to accomplish what you want-not black magic because that always backfires in your face, and not magic that controls other people because that, too, backfires, not the sort things Aleister Crowley talks about –summoning demons and such– but just good basic constructive magic that instills a sense of power in yourself and allows you to get what you want without harming othersand without harming yourself, Successful magic gives me more satisfaction than anything else. Really, if I were to throw away all parts of my life at once, the magic would be what remains, cause that’s the one way to create the reality that you want for yourself.

Magic has been a significant part of my life since I was young. I started off studying Wiccan traditions and from there I moved on to study to small degrees all kinds of systens taking whatever was meaningful to me out of the system and incorporating into my own system of beliefs — my own system of practice. In addition I also worked to varying degrees with Norwegian Rune Stones, Tarot Decks, of course, Quija Boards, studied different New Age philosophies, varying practices of ritual magic, and more recently Astrology. and I find that the more I use all of these different philosophies, religious, spiritual and magical systems, you find that there are certain underlying beliefs that cross-cut all of them, and you can take those beliefs and use them to gain what you want from life in a very effective manner. I suppose that eventually I should find a way to incorporate magic into Ravensong’s music.

In closing I’ll mention what I’m working on right now; I’m looking to do a few collaborative efforts in addition to my own material. If all goes well I hope to have this done by end of ’93, early ’94. But life is fluid and things could change.

review

Dewdrops Reviews Ravensong ‘Exorcism’

With Dewdrops Fanzine, you get not just one, but TWO reviews! Check out what Brant and Pat had to say about about the newly released Ravensong cassette.

The first song on this demo tape will quickly have you doing a double take. And you thought you had all the songs Tones on Tail ever did… Seriously, “The Calling of Bacchus” has the same odd, playful melody in minor chords characteristic of that post-Bauhaus, pre-Love and Rockets band. The vocals are even creepy in a Peter Murphy kind of way. I’d welcome more in this style, but the rest of the tape mostly dabbles in electronic ambiance experiments, phantasmagoria (what else would you expect from the title?), and the supernatural aspects of Twin Peaks (lots of samples from the TV show). Some of their influences that become notable later obviously include O Yuki Conjugate, Lycia, and Dead Can Dance. Nothing wrong with that at all!

7 lilies – bn

Dark gothic chants or Friday the 13th, Part 18 incidental soundtrack music? Perhaps a little of both as they come together in a rather unsettling blend of foot-tapping/demon summoning fare. These are the ruminations of one Justin Johnsen, whom I envision as a guy with several keyboards and a walk-in closet full of black. I do have to hand it to him, though, because he has the distinction of being living proof that Peter Murphy lives! And can Justin write haikus and sonnets that not only comprise the entire lyrics of “Exorcism,” but fit amazingly well with the music? Yes, just call him the Master of Meter from Hell! This brings a new meaning to the term “iambic penta(gon) meter.”

“The Calling of Bacchus,” from the first listening, conjured visions of walking through a dark, cold forest and approaching a strangely bright bonfire where animals, women and men dance in an arcane ritual. The really odd thing is that I envisioned all this before reading the lyrics, which just happen to be talking about some of those very same elements.

“The Jackal” is a carnival ride in the dark, with more than just a hint of Tones on Tail. “The Hanging” and “Lament for Ileysia” combine metallic horror, sirens and synths. “Capuchin” sounds like George Harrison doing Halloween’s soundtrack, while “The Long Road to Bellgrave” reminds me of Ryuichi Sakamoto doing the same. And to top it all of, “Into the Black Lodge” drags us back to the set of Twin Peaks for another bout with the Dark One, this time with tons of samples straight from the last episode of the series. Gothic? Umm, oh yes, I think so…

8 lilies —pm