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Twilight Circus Dub Sound System


    TWILIGHT CIRCUS SOUND SYSTEM
    INTERVIEW BY CHRIS TWOMEY
    - EXCLAIM! MAGAZINE, CANADA. SEPT, 1998.


    CT: Is it Twilight Circus or Twilight Circus Dub Sound System that is opening this tour? Is there a difference in your mind between the two?

    RM: My plan is for the 'Twilight Circus Sound System' to be performing as the support act, which will, I hope, be sitting nicely stylistically in between TC and the TCDSS with a lovely, soothing blend of dub and more esoteric sounds to heal the minds of the young and old....ha ha - its madness, but really, I came up with the 'Dub Sound System' moniker after I did the Download world tour in 1996, basically to avoid any confusion in the mind of the concertgoer..you know, so people won't be expecting the usual trapeze act and herds of ballet-dancing elephants. I can't tell you how many young kids were turning up with their parents in tow before the name change..

    Whats cool is that the ever-morphing name idea lends itself to interesting possibilities such as having "Twilight Circus" be a platform for more esoteric sounds should i ever want to release say a 77 minute cd of 60 cycle hum. At the moment I'm planning to organise a truly freaky touring package consisting of live performers, jungle djs, rampant sword swallowers and so on, for a true musical and sound circus designed to keep people in the club all night long in a mega dub-a-delica-dance-o-partay-musical blast off!! I hope it'll happen next year.


    CT: You talk about loving the sound of dub when you first heard it - in particular the expansive echo soundscapes. What is your idea of the psychology involved with enjoying dub and how has it changed the other music you play?

    RM: When I first heard dub I was captivated by the sense of cavernous space created by the sparse instrumentation and the character of the echoes - I'm a tape echo freak! I just love that sound! Dub primarily features my two favorite instruments which are drums and bass. It's the ultimate remix music in which the studio itself becomes an instrument and the engineer literally plays the desk - sliding faders in and out of the mix. Its an amazing development in music which has totally influenced most facets of modern music in terms of mixing techniques and production. As far as influencing how I play other music - I guess that as a drummer and bassist, I really try to leave out any excess; I just try to play the most simple thing that completely supports the song. If it means playing only one note or even nothing at all - I'll do it. As far as my approach in producing or mixing music goes - I think that listening to lots of dub has probably made me more inclined to want to hear the rythmn instruments mixed up front. In a recording with drums - they're the foundation, and you don't want your foundation to sound weak cuz, it'll lend a lame, wet noodle vibe to the song at hand. Also, in a dub mix the songs tend to get really stripped down with the majority of the instruments actually out of the mix most of the time - so, I have to be fairly unattached to any of the parts I played - which is actually a very good frame of mind for producing any kind of record, this sort of objective approach of using only what works at enhancing the song and leaving the rest out. The art is knowing what works and what doesn't!


    CT: you talk about a 'roots' sound and working in the tradition of King Tubby - are there things you do with sound that are similar to their techniques?

    RM: The tradition of King Tubby is really to improvise - playing the desk and the studio apparatus like an instrument, to just let the tape roll and follow your intuition. So, in that respect my approach is pretty much similar - I'll have a master tape with all the instruments and musical parts on it, which are basically like the building blocks or raw elements for the mix - the mix is everything. Thats where the real magic happens for me. The finished songs you hear on the records have basically been 'sculpted' live on the desk according to the vibe in the studio at that particular moment. I have no preconceptions at all about how a piece should turn out - I just blast off into the dub-zone and start playing with the elements of the track while cranking every knob in sight! Of course, for a release I'd choose the mix that has the most magic in it, which is usually pretty much obvious at the time of mixing it. There's usually the sensation that it just feels like 'the one' as I'm doing it. If I would go into the studio today and remix all the tracks from "Dub Plate Selection" - it would sound completely different than what you now hear on the record. With dub, things are in a constant state of flux - anything is possible and space and time get stretched.


    CT: I saw you open for Download at the Opera House, what is your live set now? Material from Dub Plate Selection or newer stuff?

    RM: Well, the show has mutated considerably since those days into more of a fun-filled travelling relaxation therapy clinic. Its a thoroughly entertaining show the whole family will enjoy!! Bring grandma, your plants, cats, chickens and spuds - the Twilight Circus Dub Sound will scare, amuse and thrill you!

    As for the numbers I'll be playing live; I'll be mainly blasting away on new songs - basically, unreleased material from the upcoming "Horsie" album (which will be out in early 1999, by the way) and a few choice dub nuggets from Dub Plate Selection and Binshaker Dub. I've been playing the 'Dub Plate Selection Live Promotional Set' around the globe for more than a year now so, I want to have a fresh vibe happening and play some brand new material. Last week I played a few shows in Germany and tried out some of these new songs - which people reacted positively to so, I think the new set will go down well on the tour here.


    CT: How did doing the dub stuff live change your production of it?

    RM: Hmmm.. I guess you mean the actual studio approach right? Well, the main thing I discovered when I was playing over big p.a. systems was that I had to tone down the bass somewhat. Because I'm basically mixing on home stereo-style speakers and can't accurately hear what's going on in the low end, I found I was getting a bit too much sub low action when i was using synth bass - it was some serious rumble in the jungle!


    CT: You are calling your new material "cool 'rock dub'" - what do you mean on the rock side?

    RM: Well, about half the tracks sound like 'rock dub' to me. Thats pretty much the most fitting term I can find because there's lots of guitar and butt shakin' raawwwkkk grooves . I think its going to be a really interesting and diverse listen when its finished. My idea is make the record like a dj mix tape so that these rock dub tracks will be sprinkled liberally with heavy duty hard core reggae-style dub workouts and whatever more esoteric sounds that may develop. Some of the reggae style dub tracks are SO heavy, its unbelievable - its as if someone was looking for their ganja they dropped on the floor of a smoky recording studio in Kingston Jamaica, found a secret passageway, and uncovered some magical lost tapes buried underneath the dust - I kid you not! !! I really think it'll be the finest Twilight Circus record to date - chock full of heavy duty dub-seismic disturbances!!


    CT: Are the Dots the mystery guests on your cds?

    RM: Nope - but the Silverman played on a track once.


    CT: Do they love dub as much as you?

    RM: Ha Ha! Probably not..but then, who could?


    CT: How have you fit into the Dots writing process?

    RM: Like a glove! At the time I first met the dots, the idea of travelling around Europe making freaky music seemed like an interesting idea to me so, when Martijn of the lpds called me up out of the blue one day to see if I wanted to come over and jam - that's basically what I did. I flew over for a jam session thats been going on for 8 years now!


    CT: Was that a risk to be involved with the dots - an indie group without financial backing?

    RM: Well, I've been playing in bands since I was 13 and I've been a "professional musician" for most of my "adult" life so, I've gotten pretty used to living on a completely minimal income and in unsure conditions. If you want security - the music world is definitely not the place to be!


    CT: You term your family environment 'bohemian' - do you mean your parents were hippies? artists? It sounds like you didn't grow up in the city.

    RM: Actually, I grew up in the one of the first vegetable communes that sprung up in the city back in the early 70's. basically, the mayor at that time allowed a few city blocks to be cordoned off and the streets to be torn up in order to grow organic carrots. Thats why my eyesight is still so good - I go back every year and visit my ma, who makes a fantastic stuffed carrot souffle surprise!


    CT: Any other upcoming, to be released projects, compilation trax or remixes of other people on the way?

    RM: Hmm, lets see..well, aside from the upcoming Twilight Circus full length "Horsie" album, there's going to be a Twilight Circus track - an insane 'brain melter' remix I did of "Binghi" - appearing along with a bunch of Skinny Puppy tracks on a new Subconscious compilation . I'm also on some tracks on the new Dead Voices On Air release "Piss Frond" and I played on the upcoming Abintra album ( project from producer/musician Darryl Neudorf and Sugarpill of Vancouver's Miller Block studios ). I recently worked on a few Staalplaat releases and, on this side of the pond, there are plans for a Twilight Circus track to appear on the new Wordsound Crooklyn Dub compilation as well as plans for dub collaborations on a future "Dubadelic" release. The new pink dots cd which is called "Nemesis Online" should be just out by the time this interview appears and a new Tear Garden cd is in the works too!

    If I have any free time in the next while, I hope to work on some songs I've got sitting in the ever expanding stockpile, which you could say are more in the "experimental rock" realm. I've got a few albums' worth of ideas so far in the non-Twilight Circus pile that I can't wait to develop. I've actually been itching for more than a year to work on this stuff - there needs to be more hours in the day!