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Rough version of an interview that will appear in the Overdub magazine, based in Greece. Also an unreleased track will feature on the accompanying CD. Questions posed by Chris Carras.

Why, until now, have you preferred the CD-R format and self-released works instead of releasing your music on a label?

I would like a 'proper' label to put out 4tRECk material, its just that the energy I would put into finding a label that would do that is probably better spent on putting it out myself - and perhaps, if nothing else, it’s a good way for labels to pick up on my work........anyway, hopefully by the end of the year the label Pickled Egg will be putting out a 10” compilation of 4tRECk (including some unreleased tracks).
There are great advantages to the CDR format in that you don’t have to go to pressing plants, and you can produce your ‘product’ entirely under your own control and, most importantly of all, on demand. Doing this I do consider myself a label, but a label whose priority is organising my backlog of recordings, and in putting them together as albums and 7” ep’s. I would definitely like to become a more established ‘label’ myself. It’s just hard when I don’t have much time, man-power (it’s just me doing everything), have restricted finance and no real distribution (Cargo UK will be distributing the 7”). But with the move to 7” vinyl releases, this means I can now concentrate in more detail on new pieces without thinking that I have to complete a whole albums worth of new material…which would take a while, and also it’s a more acceptable format for distributors.


Is recording your music at home a choice of yours or is it something that just happened because of limited resources?

Definitely, it would be a choice of my own. I would hate to be under the pressure of a big studio, as the way I approach recording is usually always on the spur of the moment: I just do it when I get an idea and for quite intensive short periods, also I tend to leave things for a while before coming back to them, almost to the point of forgetting the track in order to listen back with fresh ears. All this and the fact that I might have an engineer looking over my shoulder (its quite a private experience) puts me off studios completely.

To your opinion, what are the qualities of the homemade sound and music?

I quite like the audio qualities of tape: if it distorts a bit it’s not too painful as with digital recording. There is also the fact that you are very limited as to what you can do on a 4track, so it forces you to find new methods of recording and that once you’ve mixed down a few tracks, it is pretty final. Also when you come to add more things on top or to mix down afterwards, there is only so much that can be changed, and your options are narrowed down. This takes a lot of the dilemma out of recording and especially mixing down, which can be a bit of a headache (so many things that could be tweaked here and there, etc, etc. endless choices) - although it’s probably quite good to have a bit of conflict in the decision-making process.

What is your music background? (Music studies, bands you have played with...)


I have quite a musical family. My Mum plays the piano and used to play the oboe, she was at first a soloist and then joined an orchestra. My Dad is a violinist, playing in various orchestras and quartets, so I’ve always had music around me. I remember going to quite a few classical concerts from a very early age, but I couldn`t say I particularly enjoyed it. I played the violin when I was a child then decided to try the guitar later on, and in my late teens I eventually formed a band with some friends called Mariachi. Musically, we were in a kind of post-hardcore, Jesus Lizard/Fugazi influenced vein and did quite a few gigs and released a 7" single. We stopped functioning when people started to go their separate ways, and also when the songs started to dry up. Whilst I was in the band I recorded things on a 4track, roughly recorded tracks that became Mariachi songs when interpreted by the group (1 guitar, 1 bass, 1 drummer & vocals). These recordings slowly became more focused, and less sketchy, developing a bit more when I taught myself the drums (our drummer left his kit at my place) and eventually became what you can hear today.

What attracts you in attempting humorous cover versions?

The cover versions just happened by accident really. The first ones I did were just for Caroline - my French girlfriend - for whom I did a few cassettes for when she went back to live in France - just kind of cheesy songs Phil Collins, The Carpenters, Michael Jackson… A bit later I tried a few ideas where I recorded over the original songs to create a, kind of, ‘traced’ direct copy of songs, such as the John Fahey cover (on 4tRECk No.3), which came about by trying to learn that particular way of playing the guitar. As a series of overdubs, I sang the different notes that were played simultaneously by Fahey in his picked guitar style . I recently did a similar thing with a Jesus Lizard song ‘Slave Ship’, except on accordion, drum machine and piano. There has been no real intention to make them funny, I quite enjoy doing them so I think that maybe this comes through a bit.

What instruments do you play to record the 4treck music?

All of them. Except for a track on 4tRECk No.1 called ‘RobSam Medley’ and the ‘Airwolf Theme ‘on 4tRECk No.3 which features Rob Chidell on drums, voice and guitars (as well as myself)- he played the bass in Mariachi too.
Sometimes, through a painstaking process of editing I manipulate the instruments in to sounding like its being played in real time when in fact it’s a series of short edits - a mixture of cut and paste methods and live overdubs, so it might sound as though I can actually play the accordion quite well, when in fact in reality I can only make fairly basic chords and melodies.

Is there something that disturbs you into simple straightforward sound?

I think I’ve always considered a time signature as interesting as a melody and am interested in making music that’s pushing the limits of what I can do - hopefully this doesn’t sound too ‘muso’ or prog-rock, but I feel the are new routes to take in music that is not really being explored elsewhere, maybe.. I think that is also why I do cover versions: to remind myself of how a song should be constructed and of traditional song craft, which is something I admire - but don’t think I’d be able to do well. I would be hopeless at lyric writing for example (the only lyric I wrote was for ‘ French Song’ [4tRECk No.1] which was: “ Je ne sais pas chanter sur cette melodie avec ma bouche [repeat]” which translates very badly from French as “ I don’t know what to sing over this melody with my mouth”!).
The music I make just comes naturally and I don’t think it’s a conscious decision do deviant for normal song structures.

What are the facts / musicians that have influenced you music wise?

I think the fact that I’m willing to try out other instruments, and am open to any possibility is a big influence on my music. Quite a few songs have come from learning a new way to play something, or using something new as a starting point, such as recently the accordion, or using basic sound editing on a mini-disc. I suppose a big discovery for me was a Japanese band called Ruins, who played seemingly impossible music and were shockingly tight and precise, and also John Fahey in his guitar style. My musical tastes, as I was going through my teens was quite varied too (Prince, Led Zeppelin, Soundgarden, Acid House/break beat in the early 90’s, Jimi Hendrix, Jesus Lizard, chart pop….. erm.. loads of things really)

Which are your 10 favourite records of all time?
Perhaps the following:
Jesus Lizard - "Liar"
Led Zeppelin - ‘I’
Ruins - “Refusal fossil"
Brigitte Bardot & Serge Gainsbourgh - “Bonnie and Clyde”
Gastr Del Sol - “Camofleur”
Daniel Johnston - “Hi How Are You”
Prince - “Purple Rain”
Francis Lai - "Une Homme Et Une Femme" (film soundtrack)
Ween - "12 Golden Country Greats"
Zeni Geva -"Freedom Bondage"

What is your take on the "MP3 revolution" and downloading music?

I haven’t really been involved much in this, perhaps due to the fact that my computer is very slow and crashes a hell of a lot. I think in principle its quite a good thing: the fact that you can discover music outside of mass media and obtain music instantly (well not in my case….damn computer!). I still much prefer a whole package to come with the music, and I think the whole design and tangible element of owning someone’s record is important.
I’m a bit of a technophobe so I can’t really comment much about it, I’m afraid.

If I am right (and please correct me if I 'm wrong) you are continually attempting to mingle music styles in your work. Why do you prefer this kind of sound?

I suppose I am trying to mix things up a bit to some extent. You could say 4tRECk very loosely consists of four styles, or perhaps a better way to view this would be as four ‘personalities’. There are tracks that are more acoustic guitar or accordion led; there are the heavier impov-based tracks; there are the light-hearted, ‘funny’ tracks (covers etc.) and the loop-based tracks. I do sometimes have a fixed preconception of what a track will be like, and try to come up with something that might be described as a certain style of music, for example ‘Socasam’ which is what I imagined Soca music to sound like (although with hindsight I got it completely wrong!), so yes I think I sometimes aim for different styles but on most occasions miss completely and come up with something different, which I much prefer as I’d hate to be restricted, or categorised as one particular genre - this is one of the perks of being a one man band, I suppose: you can just go in whatever direction you feel.

What are you dreams about 4treck?

I’d like to sell all my 7”’s for a start! After that perhaps continue with another 3 ep’s with all new tracks. It would be great also to get a bit more exposure, and hopefully get a 4tRECk live thing going - although this will take a while to organize. A dream I’ve had in the back of my mind would be to move to another country (maybe France) and be able to concentrate solely on 4tRECk and organize things better, but perhaps this dream is more related to personal matters. In a real flight of fantasy I’d like to provide the backing for a Daniel Johnston recording, if he ever had plans for a new album??
Getting an interview and a track on the CD in Overdub is like a dream come true anyway, cheers!