A1: We are three; Julian Knowles has been doing stuff with us for 6
years
now.
Rik Rue and l met in January l984.
We were dubbing off 200 double cassettes with 3 cassette decks, in real
time for a cassette release titled "Lunakhod". At the time Alessio
Cavallaro presented the radio program 'Contemporary Editions' on a
community FM radio station in Sydney called 2MBS-FM. He did a series of
8
live to air sound performances in 1983. These were recorded and
packaged up
into 2 double cassette releases. Rik did a duo with wind player Jim
Denley
and I did a duo with fellow acoustician Joe Hayes. Rik and I were part
of
the second batch and agreed to do the dubbing for the release. The
dubbing
lasted three straight days. So we ta1ked a lot about the respective
music
scenes we had been connected with and what lay ahead
Q2: Why did you start making music and why this kind of music?
A2: Rik had been involved in non-idiomatic improvisation for several
years with maverick musician Jon Rose.
Rik played soprano saxophone and was becoming more and more attracted to
sound manipulation and construction. Access to such activity was made
personally possible and affordable with the Tascam 4 channel Portastudio
cassette recorder/mixer. Rik amassed a great library of music and sound
via
his own field recordings with a Sony Walkman, by combing the second hand
record (vinyl) stores for difficult and obscure albums and through his
prodigious international cassette correspondence with fellow musicians,
sound recordists and artists.
Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s music concrete and electronic
music was being adapted by other generations into a hip and readily
accessible currency with the embodiment of industrial music: tape cut-up
and cassette pause culture.
I had been involved with a pioneer independent music 1abel called M
Squared. I had been in two of their principal bands, sold their records
direct to retailers and did live mixing for some of their bands.
The seething infrastructure of the early 1980's music scene was
imploding
and Rik and I respectively felt like we had finished riding on something
small yet influential and were left to carry on with our own resources.
We
both shared an immense interest in field recordings of all sorts not
exclusively the natural environment. My early experience in acoustic
engineering led me away from traditional musical instruments to sound
fields, exterior and interior. Rik had an unusual fascination for
bodily
sound, ritual presence and non-human rhythms. Our mutual seeking for
the
multiple manifestations of sound particularly its expressive qualities
was
the impulse for us to make these imaginary audio works that are
narrative
yet logically incompatible with mundane sensibility.
Q3: How would you describe your music, how do you want it to be
perceived
by the listeners?
A3: We make listening music. By that I mean we do far more listening
than playing in the production of our music. All of us are constantly
hearing sounds. We are attuned to listen out for engaging sound
experiences.
Sound events are very important for us. Left unchecked, sounds are
generally perceived as transitory and displaced. When observed and
researched a bit they display particular attributes that expose the
habits
and routines of the locality from which they are generated.
Most sound we hear is considered as waste and appears to be meaningless.
We intentionally select sound events from their natural physical state
that
are raw and possess character, i.e. are expressive. The sounds we
select
lend themselves to being segmented and easily attachable with and to
other
sound events.
Through the power of transformation in the recording studio a continuous
evocative sound event is intuitively constructed from the many
individual
segments. This sound event is embedded with musical qualities by our
hand/ear treatment of its components. The sound event or musical
statement
also carries visual messages through the use of auditory spatial
information inherent in the raw sound and through normal associations
activated between two or more senses of the listeners.
We attempt to enrich the auditory ordering processes of our listeners.
We
want our music to be perceived as an operator for our listeners. The
operator in question is an active holding and letting go of the musical
possibility of sound events encountered by our listeners in their own
lives.
Q4: What's the meaning behind your name?
A4: The name Social Interiors has no direct meaning. It has an
inherited reference to the name of a radio program that I hosted with
two
cafe owner friends of mine. The program was meant to be topical with
current affair events and featured radio drama and interviews. When my
two
friends lost interest in presenting the program Rik stepped in and we
bent
the show around towards non-mainstream music and sound exploration
themes.
The name has stuck ever since.
Q5: That you are on the Extreme label is not surprising, since you
come
from Australia, but how did you get the contract, are you satisfied with
their work?
A5: Until the last few years it is actually surprising that a
contemporary Australian group is on the Extreme label. After Paul
Schutze
left there was no continuous Australian artist or group on the label
until
Soma.
Social Interiors did not get "the" contract.
The release of our material is carried out on the understanding and
execution of an agreement that we requested with Roger Richards. Our
terms
are simple and suitable to our needs. These terms have been duly met by
Extreme for both of our CD releases. Our relationship with Roger has
grown
as our group has advanced. We are now more active generally in
producing
music and working with artists from other media. Roger is open to our
particular ways of performing and screening audio-visual works and is
presently working with us to coordinate a promotional and production
schedule for our Australian activities. We find Roger very responsive
with
his communication and imaginative in his ideas for presentation and
packaging.
Q6: How do you feel about the Australian music scene?
A6: I feel monotonously disappointed by our Australian music industry.
The opportunity gap has widened between the signed working bands and the
unsigned upcoming new bands in the rock and pop scenes.
Australia has traditionally had a thriving vital live scene for new and
old
bands alike. This status has been eroded over the past decade with the
closing down of several important venues. The usual support for new
local
music by the national commercial and government FM radio stations has
been
systematically neglected by programming boards and policies. Many of
the
music scenes are fragmented and operate as isolated niche communities,
some
more territorial than others.
The perseverance of a handful of venues, community radio stations and
individual small time promoters/musical collectives has been the
lifeblood
of our music scene.
Many bands these days have zip confidence in major record companies
doing
anything worthwhile for their music or long term creative welfare.
However
what is poignantly clear from this morass is a healthy irreverence for
the
larger network machinery and a more "Do It Yourself" mentality. Many
bands
and musicians are self funding their recording projects, mastering and
manufacturing their own CD product and doing compilations with other
like
minded groups or labels.
This is exciting. Combined with multimedia crosstalk and internet
exchange
a renaissance of wide spiky musical growth is happening.
As a signing out directive I have this to say. People in the industry
who
control production and media facilities need to consider the long-range
significance of their continual investment of goodwill and resources
into
promoting new and unsupported musical groups and activities. It is more
than just our immediate livelihood surely.
Q7: You recently released a new album "Traces of Mercury", how has the
response been? Do you feel that you can reach out to other parts of the
world successfully?
A7: 'Traces of Mercury' has only officially been released last week.
The
CDs are here now in Sydney.
So far we have received fairly excellent responses in favour of this
album.
Social Interiors recently had a premier screening and performance of
their
Audio Visual piece called 'Spatial Circumference'. The venue was the
Domain Theatre at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. Some
promotional copies of the new album assisted us in securing the venue as
part of the high profile 1997 'Perspecta' Art Event.
Interest in the new album also helped to promote the performance and
attract a full house for that screening.
Also Extreme has been emailing us reviews from Europe and so far they
have
all been really enthusiastic.
We feel that our major listening/seeing audience is in Europe. How far
we
reach out to Europe will be measurable only after further planning,
juggling and commitment by Extreme and us.
Q8: What influences you?
A8: Most sensory feeling actually, chemical temperaments of the other
people in Social Interiors, habitual ways of working with sound in the
studio and the discovery of new acoustic and aural worlds particularly
ones
we have never recorded. The latter is how private memory is shaped. To
take that concept upstream is difficult. Occasions of sheer dedicated
sonic resonance are musical quests that lot me know that I am only an
aspirant.
Recorded music helps broaden my horizons of what is musically
permissible.
I record music in a recording studio as an occupation. I receive most
of
my real music experiences in this artifice. Also I am aware that I am
being educated musically through direct contact with some of these
artists.
Although I pick up quite a lot from these people very little of it can
be
applied to the musical practice of Social Interiors.
Q9: What's your plan for the future?
A9: You know, settle down and somehow get past the point.
