How did you meet,
and what made you decide to work together?
Greg Malcolm: Chad and I met in high
school in the late 80’s, I was in 9th grade and
he was a year ahead in 10th. We were both into a lot
of the same music like, Skinny Puppy, Sonic Youth, a
lot of punk/garage, we both had Commodore C64 computers
and we traded games etc… also we both skate-boarded.
So even from the very beginning we had a lot in common
and spent a lot of time in the same group of people.
Chad was working with some other people in these weird
little music projects (all pretty lo-fi/garage guitar,
cheap tape field recordings on top of cheap drum machine
and synth, etc) and just from hanging out so much I
eventually started to take part in the practice sessions.
What brought you to electronic music? Were you
in other bands before starting Twine?
Greg: I think what turned
us on to the possibilities of electronic music was our
first experiences with the whole industrial scene of
the mid to late 80’s, specifically Skinny Puppy
and the Wax Trax stuff. It was like nothing that I had
ever heard and was very intrigued; after I saw Skinny
Puppy live for the Too Dark Park tour I was
hooked. The music seemed so otherworldly and spoke to
me on a lot of different levels. Then we both got into
a lot of the Brian Eno and Robert Fripp type stuff,
and then later the sounds that were coming out of Detroit,
the UK and Germany in the mid 90’s, jungle, the
early Warp stuff, UR etc...
Our first real band was called Deaf Blind Mute Penguins
In The Nude, we were all about making band shirts and
designing band logos back then, marketing people in
the making, ha. The first time we ever played out live
was with a band called the Free-School, and it was a
pretty hodge-podge of our influences at the time…
psychadelic 60’s stuff, noise/feedback guitar,
and punk/industrial, we were quite eclectic, shifting
from trippy folk ditties to guitar noise collages, but
the people at the local college liked us nonetheless.
Your music could be associated with people like
Autechre in the way you build atmospheres around sounds.
How do you react when your work is compared to that
of other people?
Greg: Well, first off I would consider
it an honor to be compared with Autechre… their
work in the mid 90’s was a big inspiration for
myself and Chad. I guess I don’t really have an
opinion in the comparisons, I feel that after my work
is done on an album, track etc, it’s out of my
hands and the music becomes part of other peoples lives,
thoughts, feelings and if they need to compare it to
something else to help them understand and relate the
work to other people then so be it.
That said, I find the comparisons pretty interesting…
well most of the time anyhow.
You both live quite far away from each other.
How does this affect the way you work together? Do you
ever meet to compose or record?
Greg: Yes, Chad lives in Boulder Colorado,
and I in Cleveland Ohio… it’s about three
thousand miles in between. The distance affects our
work in minor ways, since we both have cell phones and
broadband connections, so we can communicate pretty
easily. It does create a kind of disconnect though,
more in the moral support and “group” mentality
side of things. Doing shows and travelling with a partner
is a lot more fun than travelling alone etc.
Do you think that the internet has changed the
way people create music? How?
Greg: Most definitely, it really affects
at a lot of levels… from the vast amount of music
resources online, to many networking opportunities that
just did not exist a few years ago. In the early 90’s
for example I don’t think I had ever talked to
someone from Sweden much less releasing something on
a Swedish label. From fansites to bandsites and labelsites
people today are exposed to a much much richer diversity
of musics than previous and I think it is reflected
in the hybrid music forms that are proliferating today.
The internet is also a mean for people to get music
from all sorts of different sources. What is your point
of view on this?
Chad Mossholder: I think it's great.
One should use anything that one can find that works
well in the context of the piece she or he is creating.
Twine is a very active live outfit. How do you
transcribe your sound to the live environment?
Greg: Live is very different than the
studio environment, they both have their advantages/disadvantages.
In the studio, you can do exactly what you want in a
very sterile environment… live, is more anarchic,
but when all the elements come together it is also very
satisfying. Live I tend to be more of a collage artists,
than composer.
You play mostly in the US. Do you have any plans
to come over to Europe?
Greg: Twine has performed in Europe
a number of times actually, for the KRAAK3 fest In Belgium
last year and the Dutch Earational festival just recently.
We’ve also had a number of shows in Switzerland
and Japan as well. We both would like to perform in
Europe more often, but having day jobs puts limits on
travel time etc.
You sometimes perform as a duo, and sometimes
on your own, but always under the Twine banner. Why
is that?
Greg: Well we used to be roomates,
then when Chad got a job in Colorado, neither of us
wanted to abandon the name, which we both had a lot
of time/energy invested in. Because of modern telecommunications,
the internet and the way we worked together, we realized
that we didn’t have to abandon the Twine name,
and we could do it from opposing ends of the country.
I agree sometimes it does get confusing and issues arise,
but I don’t think I’d have it any other
way right now.
Apart from Twine, do you have other projects?
Chad: Yes, we are working with Mark
Amerika on filmtext (http://www.filmtext.com)
and a new work of video/surround sound installations
called Code Work.
Your sound combine electronic and real instruments.
Is it difficult to integrate both?
Chad: Well, to me, a soft synth is
a "real" instrument. But, I assume you mean
guitars and such. I really enjoy working with other
instruments that aren't based in the digital realm.
I really like the sounds of guitar and piano. I'm sure
you will hear more of them in future Twine releases.
So far, you’ve released each one of
your albums on a different label. Is that a way to retain
complete creative control over your work?
Greg: Not really, I think it more reflects
that fact that perhaps our stature in the electronic
music world is rising and we have more options…also
working with different labels allows us to reach different
audiences.
Chad, beside Twine, you work as a sound designer.
Does your day job influence you in your work with Greg?
In what way?
Chad: I would say yes. The music I
write for work tends to be more cinematic. This has
definitely filtered into the Twine sound.
Greg: For me it’s less direct…
I have the opportunity to do a lot of DSP experiments
in the studio at work, this really does spill over to
my music.
Until now, your music seems to have become more
and more complex with each release. Is that a deliberate
choice?
Greg: Consciously not at all, but I
think it might reflect the fact that both of us are
learning more about music and the digital-music process
all the time.
Your last record, Recorder, was in
many ways extremely abstract. Is the new album, which
is announced as lighter than your previous work, with
an emphasis on song structures and traditional instrumentation,
a reaction to this?
Greg: In a way yes, in a way no…
I think we both wanted to do something different than
Recorder, and we both have been listening to
a lot of other musics outside of purely electronic music.
Then at the same time, it is similar to Recorder
in other more esoteric ways… hopefully that makes
sense without hearing it first.
Does it denote a change in the way you work
together? Is this a way to be more accessible?
Greg: We have always strived to have
a “pop” sensibility in our sometimes very
abstract music, I think the new album is just a logical
next step with this in mind. People grow and ideas mature/change…
I just turned 30, Chad did last year, and I think at
30 you look at the world differently than when you were
say 20 years old.
Can you tell us more about the new album?
Greg: It will be relased on Ghostly
Int. Records in September 2003 and will be self-titled.
The new album has a much lighter mood than Recorder,
we used a lot more traditional instruments, some tracks
in more traditional ways, some in decidedly not traditional
ways. We also used a lot more female vocals on the new
one, both Chad and I worked with some very good vocalist
in the sessions. It is much more melodic, but still
has an experimental and atonal edge to it. Some people
who have listened to it described it as being very “modern
mid-western”, I’m very curious to get other
thoughts after the release.
On your website, you have included a series
of quotes from John Cage, Paul D. Miller, Nietzsche,
Stockhausen and Borges. Can you tell us more about these,
and why you have them on the site?
Chad: We are interested in their writings.
Many of their ideas directly influence the way we work.
I think some new authors need to be added. I think we
will need to add quotes from Mark Amerika, Philip K.
Dick, and Alfred Hitchcock.
How do you see Twine evolve in the future?
Chad: I can't speak for Greg, but I
see some possible branching into dance music styles,
such as Hard Techno and Deep House. Of course more sound
manipulation and audio experiments also.
Greg: Like Chad said, we both want
to explore more dance-type music, perhaps under different
aliases as well as push the Twine project further…I’m
not sure in what direction it’ll go, and we don’t
really plan things like that anyhow, basically we just
listen, talk and see where fate leads us.
What’s next for the both of you?
Chad: We are releasing new material
on Ghostly Records.
Greg: We have formed a new relationship
with Ghostly Int. Records, and expect to be releasing
a 12” prior to the new album, and then a follow
up EP early in 2004. I expect to work very closely with
Ghostly in the future, and as well with Bip-Hop and
some other labels we like. We have been talking with
Bip-Hop about doing a potential DVD/CD release in 5.1
surround sound as well as a remix CD with Janek Schaefer,
we’ll see how things develop.
Thank you to Greg and Chad.
Email interview April 2003. |
