Zwaremachine - Be A Light
RELEASED: April 11th 2018
LABEL: Phage Tapes
FORMAT: CD/Cassette/Digital
Minimal Hypnotic Industrial Body Music
Minneapolis MN (USA) EBM project Zwaremachines first full length album.
Be A Light contains 7 original tracks and 7 remix tracks making up almost an hour of industrial electronics.
Zwaremachine is heavily influenced by early electronic artists such as Klinik and Front 242.
With an eerie hum Zwaremachine embraces ebm/industrial soundscapes while honing their persistent darkwave experimental approach.
Intent on trashing your sense of disbelief with eerie, deranged soundscapes and menacing grooves the album has artwork that depicts the strange world these songs live in.
The digital release includes an additional 7 bonus remixes(21 tracks total), artwork, photo and poster art by Paul Gerrard.
The artwork for Be A Light is a collaboration between Paul and his brother and fellow artist Mark Gerrard.
Paul Gerrard is a concept artist and illustrator from the United Kingdom currently working in the film and video game industry.
Paul has worked on feature films such as Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Wrath of the Titans and Battle: Los Angeles.
The band is honored to be able to feature Paul’s artwork on Zwaremachine-related projects.
INTERVIEW :
Mach Fox from Zwaremachine
1) DECADENCE: So,tell me about the
U.S. EBM scene?
It's hard to speak for the whole US
scene from firsthand experience since we haven't started any touring yet. I do
see alot of bands all over the U.S. embracing the industrial and ebm
soundstyles and adding to them or paying respect and feel like there is a bit
of resurgence or maybe even first wave for some in this style of music. Right now in our hometown of Minneapolis,Mn.USA
we have alot of local and national acts doing midsize clubs and underground
venues which is very encouraging. I think there is much wider acceptance of
electronic driven musics now and there seems to be a fair amount of local
interest in industrial, ebm, harsh noise and dark electronic live acts. We also
have several DJs spinning that sound and hosting monthly events locally and all
over the U.S. with live acts and DJ sets. So I think
this time is exciting to emerge with our sound and style of live set.
2)
I would like to know more about your new album?
Our
album "Be A Light" was just released by Phage Tapes on April 11th
2018 and we started recording late 2017. The tracks that would become the album
were written and sequenced in the summer of 2017 and I formed a live band to
play monthly sets thru end of year to work out sounds and arrangements for year
end recording sessions. When we were performing these songs live in summer and
fall 2017 I added longer intros and outros to allow for more improvisation with
sounds and let the band members stray from the stiff quantized sound for a bit.
This was good for the live set but the experimental jams were cut out before we
did final tracking to give us tighter album track arrangements. During the early mixing stages I was
approaching some midwest U.S. labels with demos and getting feedback on
roughmixes from friends who were giving us kind words and encouraging the
process. The local label Phage Tapes had approached us right before we bagan
recording with a fair offer to put out the release when we were ready. Phage is
mostly known for putting out harshnoise/PE releases and wanted to release some
industrial/ebm styles too. We decided that would bet the best choice rather
than wait for a larger label to take interest and be at bottom of roster
releases. With Phage we were able to move the release out quickly and working
with them has been smooth all thru the release. It was approximately 2 months
of mixing before we had the final masters in mid feb. 2018 and the label sent
off for duplications soon after. The band Adam01(synthesizer) and Ryan
Ruckus(electronic percussion) and myself tracked live instruments and vocals
and mixed our strongest and favorite tracks first so we could get remix kits
out. All of the sounds on the record are electronic and we used rompler sounds,
modular and analog synths/samplers/fx often layering the bass 3 or 4 times. We
also stacked drum machines and used live drum triggers/samples. One of the drum
machines is an X1L3 circuit bent Roland TR505 which is the prominent kick drum
and reverb drums heard on the tracks. I tried to maintain a tight focus on the
sounds used and have driving basslines and hard quantized drum machines be the
prominent part of each track. Once the tracks were laid down there was some
editing and arrangement with most of the EQ on the tracks being done by Adam01
and then I would do some more edits and mixing and after a few passes this way
we were on final mixes.
The
artwork on this release is very special and important part of the vibe and world
we created. I even fed of it a bit for some lyrical inspirations. I had worked
with the U.K. artist Paul Gerrard on other release artworks for my solo project
and the first Zwaremachine EP and we had been online friends for many years so
I asked him to listen to some roughmixes and consider offering artwork for the
project. Soon after he sent amazing art for us and we were moving forward with
him and His brother Mark Gerrard becoming the art/layout team.
3)
Did you do some gigs? I would like to know If these or this gig(s)were just in U.S. or in another country
too?
So
far all of the Zwaremachine performances have been local venues only. Our first
EP release was 2011 on German netlabel and we were not able to tour for that
release. We have played regularly from 2012-2016 with a changing line up and
with more shows in the last year to get ready for new release. My goal for the
band is to visit other countries and tour when ready. We are working hard on
release shows and midwest U.S. dates in the summer/fall 2018 at the moment. We
also look for a label in another country to consider our release for vinyl and
help start the momentum to travel farther.
4)
Do you have contacts here in Brazil? What do you know about Brazilian EBM?
We
do have some really great support from friends in Brazil! I'm amazed how
intense and dedicated they are for EBM and our type of sounds. I listen Marcos
Garcia and join chat for his show Antena Zero
Programa Tense and have really great times with new friends who live ebm
forever. Marcos and also Fabio Pereira with his program Electronation have been
strong early supporters spreading our music around Brazil and the world. We are
very thankful to them and have a great time being part of their programs. I
look forward to meeting more EBM fans from Brazil.
5)
What do you think about EBM scene around the world?
EBM
is a massive type of music but not so many bands doing it and not so popular so
the most explosive and exciting ones become known well and we can all relate to
those sounds together. I do feel like the whole world supports this sound and
each country has venues,promoters and DJs supporting the old and new sounds.
6)
Do you have other projects?
I
do visuals and VJ gigs as Mach Fox supporting DJs and Live acts for clubs and
venues in my hometown. I also display videoart and build installations using
video and CRT monitors. Sometimes i post my video art online.
I
also do the visuals and stage/lighting design for live Zwaremachine shows
From
approx. 2005-2012 I recorded and performed as Mach FoX. This band was synthpop
based with guitar riffs and heavy sci-fi theme. Adam01(Zwaremachine Synthesizer
player) was also a guitarist in this band.
7)
Would like to know what are your favorites 10 EBM bands?
Nitzer
Ebb
Skinny
Puppy
Fad
Gadget
Klinik
PTP
Front
242
Manufacture
DAF
Alien
Sex Fiend
Spit
Mask
8)
Now you are free to say what you want...
We
want to thank Jean for inviting us to the Decadence blog. Zwaremachine and
Brazil already have great connection with the support and friends online. We
hope to visit and bring our music live and until then vist our websites and
write us to stay in touch!
You
can order Be A Light CD/Cassette and other merchandise via Phage Tapes website
-
and digital release of Be A Light
here -
Band website -
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