A story behind every 'The Good Machine' song...sort of...!! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi my name is Joan and I am going to ask Dean from Machine Boy some questions about his new album The Good Machine!.... Q: The Good Machine – how long in the making? A: on and off about 18 months!...I tend to write & record in short spirts....erm....if you see what I mean, I write 4 or 5 tracks then go onto something else...then go back to them over time, then add songs to the list etc etc..mess with things, scrap stuff!, remix etc etc....I write & I'm constantly recording, but all the tracks on 'The Good Machine' were written & finished over the last 18 months I think!....I picked the 10 final from about 20 tracks that I actually finished .......so I've got a bunch of ideas for the next thing!...unfortunately this set of recordings has progressed slower than previous because over the last couple of years I have started making the animated video's to go with the singles and for anybody who knows anything about animation, even limited animation is a nightmarishly slow, painstaking process!!! so I suppose I have kinda created a animated rod for my back!!!..but its a very nice animated rod!! obviously! ;-) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: There's a new character we're hearing about within the Chronicles of Machine Boy and that's Jamie – a little more of a renegade bot-boy! What's the story on this one? A: hahaha...........sorry to disapoint you but it aint really a new character......its just my shiny blue robot who appeared in the action figures vid & the building a better boy vids...now has a name....HIS NAME IS JAMIE.......so now you know!...bot boy....erm...NO! that throws up some very weird & sick images in my minds eye! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: This new offering is (we feel) more experimental than Building a Better Boy. Were you seeking to go beyond any boundaries you had in the past? A: a few people have said that! erm....there's kinda no plan to machine boy tracks, thats why I like this project so much, I can do what I like and if somebody says its shyte, I smile and think wot do they know they probably hate kraftwerk too.....hahahaha!....thats my benchmark.....electronica, especially when its fairly minimal and simply structured, especially when its not dance based is pretty specialist, so in thoery machine boy shouldn't really get anybody listening to it....but thankfully they do..... mtv seem to enjoy playing the video's and radio one seem to be getting off on the more commercial fun songs we do at the moment!! so I'm pretty grooved with it all at that....in hindsight is it more experimental?....erm....I'm not sure, it doesn't really sound it to me....I think Jamie is probably Machine Boy's first pop song..........mmmmmmmmm..........so I suppose depends what you term as experimental....! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Jamie's Dad is ready to unplug him! Are there a few people you would like to unplug? A: yes many many many...............big brother.....erm..not a person, a show, but yeh that'd be unplugged for me!..............erm........a number of bands I would love to unplug... not really because I hate their music, my music tastes are pretty wide & varied and there are bands that I love but think they, as people are total F***Kwits!....what I dislike is when a band gets power & success and they suddenly get all loved up with their own self importance, I know some of it is just front, but it does happen, seen it!...I just wanna say jeez, don't you undertand you're just somebody who has got lucky, no more no less.... you're not important or anything in the bigger picture....its just music damb it......phew sorry, got a bit carried away there!! if you want names............erm..........na,its pretty obvious who they are for everybody to see, its just sad they don't see it themselves.....if you're looking for people that matter historically, but really shouldn't.....Robert Mugabe.............F***K should that twat should be unplugged....or something very similar!..........yeh thats all I can think of off hand! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Project Life – sounds like a timeline of life? Is that a fair description? A: erm........yeh its project life aint it.............the title kinda says it, me thinx!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Time Slog – one of our favourites. This one is atmospheric. What equipment did you use on this? A: yup great minds and all that, its totally my favourite on the whole album, plus the middle 8 or the synth break in the middle of the track is my fave bit I've recorded in aaaaaaaaaaaaaayges!! equipment, mmmmmmm thats a difficult one...that was the first track I finished on this set of recordings!!!..........so it was finished ages ago, I had a lyric/vocal on it for a while but i scrapped it...I much prefer it without, I only do a couple of vocal tracks on each album, i kinda like it that way...........oh yeh sorry equipment, the basis of most of these tracks are a apple mac running 'Reason', with extra samples imported, I usually do a basic mix and import it into my fostex 16 track then work on some live synth takes etc, then re import those live takes onto the track at final mixdown within Reason or sometimes within Logic Audio, so I get a nice mix of live playing as well as some nice tight programming...........but from what I can remember Time Slog has some live synth from my Alesis Micron which is my fave little synth at the moment!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: One of the tracks Revelation sounds minimalist to begin with and builds up a pleasant melody and you can hear those clicks in the background. It's a neat composition. What equipment did you use and what's the story behind this one? A: yeh very minimal I would agree, kinda different to the rest of the album in the fact that is has an ambient vibe....altho only for a short while....yeh this was my least fave track when I'd mixed the album, but I've played the whole album about 3 times now and this is a grower........having sed that I usually only play the stuff a couple of times b4 tiring of it so that'll probably be it!!..........equipment was basically a mac running reason again.... reason is the basis of all these songs....and a little bit of micron synth plus some Korg X5D synth in there too....and thats about it as far as I can remember! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Tape Scene – Starts off like Midfield General – Devil in Sports Casuals so it's a thumbs up from us. What's with the naming of the tracks in general? A: yeh I know wot you mean about the Midfield General.........mmmmmmmmmmm........yeh!!! thats not too shabby tho.......yeh I'm ok with this song!!!....the naming of the tracks are really just a feeling I get when writing & recording them, don't ask why!..........I was just in the zone of remembering when I was at school and swapping compilation tapes with friends....tapes of music you'd never heard b4...........it was just!!! a scene I suppose looking back! a tape scene....oh the memories... wow! I discovered montrose - 'bad motor scooter' that way! that was one life changing moment!! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Skeam – you're bringing in clicks and sounds that I've not heard in your work before? A: yeh I have done this a few times in the past 2 be honest I like booshes and clicks and clacks....look I'm a drummer random (out of time) noises are my job....hahahaha....kinda early squarpusher'esque!... if I was pushed to say where I think the track sits in the big wide world of electro'influence'land! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Decypher – sounds a little like morse code to kick off. Deliberate or just our interpretation of the title? A: nope sorry not deliberate.......I really should have sed yes shouldn't I, that would've made me seem very clever!...........but then again it probably was the groove i was in and I just haven't really realised b4 SPOOKY!! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Flange – terrified to ask you about the naming of this one! A: wow! how did you know!....an old girlfriend......yeh her name was Jemima Flange! wow, gulp! you don't know her do you.....? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Synthet – a driving track but with a gentle feel to it and instrumentation slightly off the beat? A: yeh this kinda meanders along........no really solid groove to it I feel, I think if somebody else got hold of this they would say it needs solid remix, it actaully lacks a solid groove, listening back now in hindsight as they say!! but I actually think thats why i like it......its one of those moments......where you look back and go why did that happen and you think...oh who cares it did and i like it..............mmmmmmmmm...........come on I'm sure we all do that in many aspects of this damb stupid life we are involved with.......... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Krash – this one floored us! You need to explain how you constructed this. The most cutting edge track on the album by far! A: this is the only track I recorded a while back, this I think I recorded about 5 years ago and it was totally written for the groove and nothing else.....its just few minutes of krazy stuff, if I was gonna write a train crash......this is it!!............so hell yeh should have probably been called train Krash!...............oh wotever!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Your themes with Machine Boy projects follow a humanitarian angle with Building A Better Boy and now The Good Machine. Can you tell as a bit about your thoughts behind this? A: yeh its just a nice change for me....I've been brought up on the beatles, slade, t-rex....bla bla bla all sort of nice pop songs....so I decided I was gonna make the machine boy lyrics a little bit deeper and meaningfull..............they are just lyrics from one persons perspective, most of them are more the questioning of things rather than any kind of personal (self- importance) plan,just a simple (don't laff) person trying to question who and what we are and generally why we do the stupid crazy things we do.........usually in the name of self importance!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: The Good Machine – sum it up in your own words? A: well i like it!!.....good job really aint it.............yeh anyways, we should all be good machines whats the point in not!!.............if you aint it will all come back and kick you in face at some point!............unfortunately we seem to be in that zone at the moment where hatred and war seems to be where its at....russia, georgia....iraq, afghanistan!!!.....so the sooner we get back to being good machines....the better..........amen! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- written & pandered over by machine boy, january too thousand & nine. Questions asked by: Joan Fleming. Machine Boy PR Enq: Joan Fleming. e : joan@8pr.co.uk w : www.8pr.co.uk Machine Boy Management/Booking Enq: George Bond. e : info@machineboy.co.uk