Post by KJ Gould on Mar 29, 2009 16:58:46 GMT
Here's an interview I conducted with dB from November 2006.
KJ: What has dRAWBACKS been up to in the music industry over the last several months?
TJ: Well, since the last Shifter tour Dan & me got stuck into recording iBomb. Originally it was meant to be an EP but I had to take some lengthy time out, which meant the release date was way off target. We decided in the end to just go back into the studio and keep on recording an albums worth of audio-jihad.
We have kept in the sync game and scored an Xbox game as well as a big hook up in Germany this summer.
We gave Therapy? the Heat Treatment on their tune 'Crazy Cocaine Eyes' which is in storage pending record label butter fingers. And of course we've still got some secrets TBA'd.
KJ: A fair number of people are eagerly awaiting your iBomb release. Any further news on its release?
DR: Well as mentioned it's now a Long-Player. The dBs sound has moved on since Psy-Ops and it's a different sounding record entirely.
It's a really fresh sounding cut. There are no fillers on this baby and it is full-on and raw, electronic intensity. It has songs as opposed to tracks and that's what makes it stand out against the current electronic scene.
KJ: Can you tell us about any collaborations that might be on iBomb?
T: We had a few hook-ups penned in with a number of highly slick individuals. But when we made the decision to expand the iBomb sessions we really wanted to just concentrate on drawbacks being drawbacks and to seal the identity. Drawbacks is still a brand-new band for a lot of people so we didn't want to dilute the vibe at all.
That's not to say that the planned collaborations won't happen. There's plenty of time for cross-pollination.
KJ: You've been commissioned to remix tracks by artists such as pitchshifter, Fear Factory and NIN. How did these opportunities first come about?
T: Well the Pitchshifter hook up was a totally organic process. We are good friends with Jim D and we went out to NYC during the PSI sessions to meet our then label BML in Brooklyn and to do some beatwork on the Pitchshifter record. We did a Heat Treatment mix on 8 Days and soon after Dan was asked to join JS and the boys and the rest is history.
Other mix work is mostly down to hard-core networking and pursuing big league mega stars who may or may not have a 3 second memory. Mixes don't land on your lap unless you're some lameoid DJ.
KJ: Are there any artists you can tell us you're currently working on a remix for?
D: We have a mix in the pipes at present, which we're really looking forward to but I'm afraid it's classified on their part. Sorry…
KJ: Which artist would you most like to remix?
T: I think remixes end up more interesting when the two artist/bands involved are coming from different backgrounds. Zach de-la Rocha mixing Bombs over Baghdad for Outkast or Pendulum's Prodigy mix is where it's at.
Hip-hop is a good starting point so maybe someone like Mobb Deep or the Pharcyde. I reckon we could do a mean Heat Treatment for Sevendust as well.
KJ: Which artist would you most like to remix a dB track?
D: One of the French outfits would be interesting; Justice or Play Paul or BBS from Japan.
KJ: dB have done a lot of production and sync work for TV, Film and Videogames. How did you first get into this part of the music industry?
T: Well the music industry as a whole has changed completely since we first got involved. Major labels were approachable and not under the ownership of a couple of Mega-Corps like today. Then the internet crashed the A&R party and things changed. People were fired/dropped and industry was terrified.
D: So we decided to take a different route. We'd enjoyed moving around the indie beats scene and we'd had our fun whereas a lot of people stayed to the death.
We were approached by a number of agents who'd tracked our impressive press coverage of our internet activities (ironic I know) and indie releases, and we gradually built on our contacts. FYI our first sync royalty was £16.
KJ: Can you tell us about any projects you are currently working on?
D: IBomb's follow up is already in motion and we're looking to get back on the live tip. If you're talking sync then we just finished a couple of virals and are waiting on the xmas party invites.
KJ: Can you give any tips and advice to musicians wanting to put together their own licensing reel, and where best to submit them?
T: Well, as with any aspect of the music business, pursuing the sync game can be as depressing as playing in shit pubs for 100 years hoping that the chief A&R snot is gonna show up.
Listen to what's being used already and decide on your style. Make sure it's better than you could ever have imagined and tout it around to film students. Do the obligatory work for $0.00 and compile a slick looking reel. Hit the agents and be prepared to be robbed of your publishing. Don't say yes to everything and stay cool.
KJ: From entries posted on your website and your myspace, it's clear dB is quite conscious about global events and current affairs, whether its the US& UK governments wanting to 'liberate' the middle east or media moguls aiming for information domination.
What first sparked your interest in being aware of global goings on?
D: By noticing the vacuous lack of credible reporting on the BBC, ITN and obviously Sky News (same thing now). By the fact that Rupert Murdoch owns hundreds of newspaper titles, publishing houses and TV Networks.
Look at what he controls:
Wikipedia.org ... News Corporation (click)
And his values are thus;
T: How are you ever going to see objective war reporting on CNN when General Electric co-owns the network with Microsoft AND builds arms? Microsoft donated $2.4 million to help get GWB elected.
Check it out:
LA Indy Media Article - Who owns CNN? or MSNBC? ABC? (click)
If there's no separation between corporations, state and the media then the news is little more than disposable light entertainment but which has a drugging effect on those who trust it and the deluded newsreaders who present it on TV.
It will change the course of history; i.e. fabricate Western behavior as heroic and altruistic throughout the 20th/21st century for kids to read and believe about in history lessons. It is creating more hatred around the world making it a shitter place to hang out.
Corporations sponsor the media and governments in return for favourable treatment. Just because 'that's always been the way' doesn't mean we have to be ok with it.
Censorship by omission is pretty popular right now. If you don't mention the Israeli army blowing the fuck out of the Gaza villages everyday then you don't have to broadcast a bad-for-business, honest report and ruffle the lobbyists' dollar draped feathers, right?
KJ: What's on your mind at the moment? Any recommended reading or resources (books, magazines, websites) for others to find out more info?
D: What's on my mind right now is that:
Axioms control our world but are not understood.
For example, 'democracy' is bandied about like a brand name but it is a concept (and a flawed one) that has never been established anywhere, unlike 'economic democracy', corporatocracy or plutocracy which is what we in the minority world 'enjoy'.
Any relative democracy is judged by the volume of collective dissent permitted against it, ie patriotism is the antithesis of democracy. If you want to say that your country is the-best-in-the-world, at least discover its true role in the world. Context is always lacking. I think it was Albert Einstein who said that patriotism is the notion that my country is superior to all others by virtue of me having been born there. Pretty funny, pretty clever guy.
The untold story of the 20th Century is how enamoured of Nazism the corporate elite were; any time the US declares a regime to be 'the new Hitler' it is merely announcing its own Hitlerian move, as Gore Vidal said recently.
I would like to be a citizen rather than a subject of the realm (democracy anyone?).
Read 'Parecon' by Michael Albert, www.informationclearinghouse.info, www.medialens.org. There's a lot of truth out there but we have to get it onto the centuries-old agenda and remind our leaders that they are public servants.
Finally, all 'facts' come with a bias. The facts I chose to believe the most are those that by the telling of which, the teller stands to gain the least. Put another way, follow the money.
KJ: What has dRAWBACKS been up to in the music industry over the last several months?
TJ: Well, since the last Shifter tour Dan & me got stuck into recording iBomb. Originally it was meant to be an EP but I had to take some lengthy time out, which meant the release date was way off target. We decided in the end to just go back into the studio and keep on recording an albums worth of audio-jihad.
We have kept in the sync game and scored an Xbox game as well as a big hook up in Germany this summer.
We gave Therapy? the Heat Treatment on their tune 'Crazy Cocaine Eyes' which is in storage pending record label butter fingers. And of course we've still got some secrets TBA'd.
KJ: A fair number of people are eagerly awaiting your iBomb release. Any further news on its release?
DR: Well as mentioned it's now a Long-Player. The dBs sound has moved on since Psy-Ops and it's a different sounding record entirely.
It's a really fresh sounding cut. There are no fillers on this baby and it is full-on and raw, electronic intensity. It has songs as opposed to tracks and that's what makes it stand out against the current electronic scene.
KJ: Can you tell us about any collaborations that might be on iBomb?
T: We had a few hook-ups penned in with a number of highly slick individuals. But when we made the decision to expand the iBomb sessions we really wanted to just concentrate on drawbacks being drawbacks and to seal the identity. Drawbacks is still a brand-new band for a lot of people so we didn't want to dilute the vibe at all.
That's not to say that the planned collaborations won't happen. There's plenty of time for cross-pollination.
KJ: You've been commissioned to remix tracks by artists such as pitchshifter, Fear Factory and NIN. How did these opportunities first come about?
T: Well the Pitchshifter hook up was a totally organic process. We are good friends with Jim D and we went out to NYC during the PSI sessions to meet our then label BML in Brooklyn and to do some beatwork on the Pitchshifter record. We did a Heat Treatment mix on 8 Days and soon after Dan was asked to join JS and the boys and the rest is history.
Other mix work is mostly down to hard-core networking and pursuing big league mega stars who may or may not have a 3 second memory. Mixes don't land on your lap unless you're some lameoid DJ.
KJ: Are there any artists you can tell us you're currently working on a remix for?
D: We have a mix in the pipes at present, which we're really looking forward to but I'm afraid it's classified on their part. Sorry…
KJ: Which artist would you most like to remix?
T: I think remixes end up more interesting when the two artist/bands involved are coming from different backgrounds. Zach de-la Rocha mixing Bombs over Baghdad for Outkast or Pendulum's Prodigy mix is where it's at.
Hip-hop is a good starting point so maybe someone like Mobb Deep or the Pharcyde. I reckon we could do a mean Heat Treatment for Sevendust as well.
KJ: Which artist would you most like to remix a dB track?
D: One of the French outfits would be interesting; Justice or Play Paul or BBS from Japan.
KJ: dB have done a lot of production and sync work for TV, Film and Videogames. How did you first get into this part of the music industry?
T: Well the music industry as a whole has changed completely since we first got involved. Major labels were approachable and not under the ownership of a couple of Mega-Corps like today. Then the internet crashed the A&R party and things changed. People were fired/dropped and industry was terrified.
D: So we decided to take a different route. We'd enjoyed moving around the indie beats scene and we'd had our fun whereas a lot of people stayed to the death.
We were approached by a number of agents who'd tracked our impressive press coverage of our internet activities (ironic I know) and indie releases, and we gradually built on our contacts. FYI our first sync royalty was £16.
KJ: Can you tell us about any projects you are currently working on?
D: IBomb's follow up is already in motion and we're looking to get back on the live tip. If you're talking sync then we just finished a couple of virals and are waiting on the xmas party invites.
KJ: Can you give any tips and advice to musicians wanting to put together their own licensing reel, and where best to submit them?
T: Well, as with any aspect of the music business, pursuing the sync game can be as depressing as playing in shit pubs for 100 years hoping that the chief A&R snot is gonna show up.
Listen to what's being used already and decide on your style. Make sure it's better than you could ever have imagined and tout it around to film students. Do the obligatory work for $0.00 and compile a slick looking reel. Hit the agents and be prepared to be robbed of your publishing. Don't say yes to everything and stay cool.
KJ: From entries posted on your website and your myspace, it's clear dB is quite conscious about global events and current affairs, whether its the US& UK governments wanting to 'liberate' the middle east or media moguls aiming for information domination.
What first sparked your interest in being aware of global goings on?
D: By noticing the vacuous lack of credible reporting on the BBC, ITN and obviously Sky News (same thing now). By the fact that Rupert Murdoch owns hundreds of newspaper titles, publishing houses and TV Networks.
Look at what he controls:
Wikipedia.org ... News Corporation (click)
And his values are thus;
"The greatest thing to come out of this [war in Iraq] for the world economy...would be $20 a barrel for oil. That's bigger than any tax cut in any country."
T: How are you ever going to see objective war reporting on CNN when General Electric co-owns the network with Microsoft AND builds arms? Microsoft donated $2.4 million to help get GWB elected.
Check it out:
LA Indy Media Article - Who owns CNN? or MSNBC? ABC? (click)
If there's no separation between corporations, state and the media then the news is little more than disposable light entertainment but which has a drugging effect on those who trust it and the deluded newsreaders who present it on TV.
It will change the course of history; i.e. fabricate Western behavior as heroic and altruistic throughout the 20th/21st century for kids to read and believe about in history lessons. It is creating more hatred around the world making it a shitter place to hang out.
Corporations sponsor the media and governments in return for favourable treatment. Just because 'that's always been the way' doesn't mean we have to be ok with it.
Censorship by omission is pretty popular right now. If you don't mention the Israeli army blowing the fuck out of the Gaza villages everyday then you don't have to broadcast a bad-for-business, honest report and ruffle the lobbyists' dollar draped feathers, right?
KJ: What's on your mind at the moment? Any recommended reading or resources (books, magazines, websites) for others to find out more info?
D: What's on my mind right now is that:
Axioms control our world but are not understood.
For example, 'democracy' is bandied about like a brand name but it is a concept (and a flawed one) that has never been established anywhere, unlike 'economic democracy', corporatocracy or plutocracy which is what we in the minority world 'enjoy'.
There is only local politics; everything else is business.
Any relative democracy is judged by the volume of collective dissent permitted against it, ie patriotism is the antithesis of democracy. If you want to say that your country is the-best-in-the-world, at least discover its true role in the world. Context is always lacking. I think it was Albert Einstein who said that patriotism is the notion that my country is superior to all others by virtue of me having been born there. Pretty funny, pretty clever guy.
The untold story of the 20th Century is how enamoured of Nazism the corporate elite were; any time the US declares a regime to be 'the new Hitler' it is merely announcing its own Hitlerian move, as Gore Vidal said recently.
There are no good wars; all war is strategy.
I would like to be a citizen rather than a subject of the realm (democracy anyone?).
Read 'Parecon' by Michael Albert, www.informationclearinghouse.info, www.medialens.org. There's a lot of truth out there but we have to get it onto the centuries-old agenda and remind our leaders that they are public servants.
Finally, all 'facts' come with a bias. The facts I chose to believe the most are those that by the telling of which, the teller stands to gain the least. Put another way, follow the money.