Hi Chris (and Andy), thank you for doing this interview. How are you doing?
Chris – I spent the afternoon naked and wrapped in plastic, with “choice cuts” of meat drawn all over my body for an art project of my Girlfriend’s. So... Yeah, great! Pretentious or what, eh? You’ll be pleased to hear I’m currently toning it down with a lovely cup of tea.
You are a member of the band 19ninetynine, can you give a brief introduction to the band?
Chris - Embroidery. Kebabs. Trains... we're definitely not like any of those things. Other than that, it's hard to say.
Google us!
I'd have to use words like “Electro”, but I'm very reluctant to do that... Syd Barret – who used to be in Pink Floyd – had this theory that lying in bed was the best thing to do, because your possibilities are limitless. Once you actually get up and commit yourself to any one thing, you're suddenly limited as to your options. Like, if you decide to go and get your head shaved, you can't then decide to braid your hair... whereas, were you still lying in bed, both of those options would be open to you.
It's like that, trying to describe your band. Some one once said that we sound like a cross between Marilyn Manson and The Prodigy. That made me really happy – but if I said that to someone who didn't like Manson and The Prodigy, they might never listen to us. Which would be a shame – because there are loads of other bands that we listen to, and plenty of other bands we get compared to. (Everything from Depeche Mode to KMFDM!)
So when you start saying things like “We're an Electro Goth Industrial EBM Folk Acid Jazz trio” - you're using such broad terms it could mean anything, and instead of persuading people to listen to you – you might end up putting them off because they don't like “Goth”, or whatever!
As the lyricist, I'm supposed to be a word-smith – so perhaps I'm failing miserably! - but I think some things just can't be described. They say you're supposed to have an “elevator pitch”. A magic sentence that sums up your band/novel/screenplay in the time it takes to travel between floors with a stranger. I'm afraid I don't have one yet. But the beautiful thing is – I don't need one! We've all got the internet on our phones these days, and it's all there after one click. What we sound like, what we look like... We live in a wonderful age! I should probably stop writing lyrics about how awful it is...!
Why did you pick this name, is the band named after the famous Prince song? Why is it the perfect bandname for you?
Chris - I've been avoiding answering this, and being all cryptic for a while. But what the hell...
Andy and I turn twenty-five this year, which means we were thirteen in the year 1999. Of every era in my life, 1999 stands head and shoulders above the rest because it had this amazingly apocalyptic and slightly surreal vibe. There was this incredible turn-of-the-century feeling; it was exciting but I also remember it with a great deal of melancholy: it was sad because everything was changing. You couldn't turn on the radio without hearing a top 100 songs of the century programme, everyone was scared of the millennium bug, and some people thought Satan was going to arrive and bring about the end of the world (Just look at that brilliantly cheesy Arnold Schwarzenegger film, End of Days!) And, of course there was a solar eclipse. How much more end-of-the-worldy can you get?
Obviously, my age had a big part to do with it. In many ways I think thirteen is probably one of the most important ages in your life. Possibly the most important in terms of shaping who you're going to become. Thirteen is the ultimate age between being a child and being and adult (well, maybe not an adult ... but you're definitely not a child after that point) so there's also this kind of inner “personal apocalypse” ... the sun setting on your childhood. I assume everyone feels like that – but maybe I'm just over analytical! You're more grown up, yet you still have a kind of innocence, and life can still be a bit magical. Like – you don't believe in Santa Claus, but Christmas still has a kind of childish wonderment about it. Which meant I was just young enough to, deep down, actually believe that the world might end or all the computers might crash on new years eve, and nuclear Armageddon would ensue!
But the whole death of childhood thing was timed perfectly to coincide with the global feeling of finality. The crazy manic street preacher “the end is nigh” finality – and the finality in mainstream culture. Everyone was counting down, from “Sexiest Women of the Decade” to “100 Best Movies”. Four days 'till Doomsday...
Back in the early days we were discussing band names and Andy was saying he thought the songs we'd done so far had “a post-apocalyptic vibe” and wanted a name that would capture that. The first thing that came into my head was “19ninetynine”, and I knew we couldn't possibly be anything else after that. It was too right. We could have chosen something a bit snappier, of course, but it wouldn't have meant as much. (I mean, how crushingly disappointing was it to learn that Apoptygma Berzerk picked their name at random from a dictionary?) It's an unusual name, but we're unusual people! I like to think that makes us stand out.
I'd never even considered the Prince thing until we were asked about it during our first radio interview! We write the name with a mixture of numbers and letters so it sounds like a “thing” as opposed to a number, I hope that comes across – much like “1984” is is generally synonymous with totalitarianism, rather than big hair and bangles! Our music appeals to a fairly broad age spectrum – some of them are too young to properly remember the 90s, and to the older ones '99 was just another year. (And probably to most of the twenty-five year olds, too.
Not everyone's as ridiculous as I am!) So, if you were to ask - does 19ninetynine mean the year 1999? I would say no. I don't know what it means, but I know that – to me – it sums up everything about our music, which is why it's the perfect name.
Who are the other band members and what triggered you to start a band together?
Chris – I live in Lancaster. We have an alternative club night, Dark Side of the Lune, where I met my friend Rosh, who introduced me to Andy...
Andy – I was looking to start a serious EBM/Industrial project for a while. I was writing solo, instrumental stuff but not getting very far with it. I needed an accomplished vocalist and lyricist that shared a similar vision to me, so luckily I met Chris who ticked all the boxes. Not to mention sharing a love of cider.
How would you describe the music and in what way has it evolved in the short history of 19ninetynine?
Andy - It’s evolved a surprising amount! The first original track we wrote together was ‘Restless Sky’ which you can hear on ‘Put Out The Sun’. It’s very futurepop influenced and I certainly thought that was the direction we were going to go in, but as the writing of the album progressed it took many twists and turns. Some more sinister than others. If you listen to ‘Terrornation’, our most recent release, it’s has a raw and dirtier feel, far from the fragile and ambient sounds that you hear in tracks like ‘Restless Sky’ and ‘After The Rain’. Perhaps ‘Terrornation’ is a hint of things to come?
Chris – That said, After The Rain is one of my favourite tracks of ours. I wouldn't like to be limited to any one particular style. I just hope that, in future, whatever type of song we write – people will hear the first few seconds and instantly say “That's a 19ninetynine song!”
You try to inject fresh blood into the ebm scene, can you describe this? What is that makes 19ninetynine stand out of the majority?
Andy - We don’t deliberately try to stand out but it’s in our nature to try different things. Before 19ninetynine, we hadn’t been in EBM bands or written this sort of music and we didn’t cite any one particular band as an influence. We just took elements from everywhere and did what felt right. A bit of Goth here, a bit of EBM there, some Trance, some Folk… whatever! Also the synth nerd in me tries to avoid using preset sounds and I get a lot of satisfaction from creating my own instead of just loading up ‘Vanguard’ or whatever (though I have done that once or twice!) So as well sounding different in those respects, we’re firm believers in the ‘song’ too, so a track might change key, or the beat might change depending on how Chris’s lyrics are progressing. It’s all about dynamics for us. As a DJ I love club music, but I have to admit a track can get a bit boring if it’s doing the same thing for 6 minutes and I think Chris feels the same way. That’s not to say all other EBM bands write repetitive music, obviousley!
Your music has elements of ebm and rock music, what are personal influences for you?
Andy – In my teens I was really into guitar music – metal especially. I then got into Nine Inch Nails in a big way which naturally led into KMFDM, Ministry, Skinny Puppy etc. The guitars in 19ninetynine were definitely inspired by NIN and KMFDM – and Apoptygma Berzerk’s live show! I mostly listen to electronic music now and have far too many influences to list here – but Rotersand, VNV Nation and Seabound are three important bands in terms of EBM.
Chris – I listen to absolutely all sorts of music. I grew up with my Dad playing Prog and Folk Rock, whilst my mum was into 80s pop! The first band I really loved were Oasis, which lead me to discover the Beatles. I listened to a lot of hippy music in my early teens, then did a bit of a U-turn and got into Goth! At the moment I'm really into Gallows – probably the greatest punk band ever, but I also enjoy a bit of Lady Gaga or Owl City! I don't care about genres or labels at all, I just love listening to music that speaks to me. I'm a human being – sometimes I want to listen to Combichrist, and sometimes I want to chill out and listen to Dark Side of The Moon!
It all inspires me. Every bit of it! The main attraction to electronic music for me was the possibility it offers... If you're playing in a rock band, you're going to sound like a rock band, even if you're covering a pop song! But having all these influences and ideas, it's great to be able to create a multitude of sounds to realise them. In fact, the track that won me over to EBM was “Structure”, an instrumental track on VNV's Futureperfect album. I'm generally not a fan of instrumental tracks in this scene, but the sounds and samples in the tracks were so evocative and otherworldly, I knew that was the kind of thing I wanted to be doing!
These days several bands try to integrate guitars in ebm music, what is the key to make it work in your mind?
Andy - I think I’m still trying to figure that out for myself! I suppose you either keep it simple and make the guitars blend in with the synths as an extra organic element, or you do the exact opposite and make the guitars a feature and build the electronics around them. I’d rather do the former because I’m not a guitar player first and foremost! I’m glad you mentioned it though – it’s almost like the ‘holy grail’ of songwriting and production for me.
Every new band has dreams and ideals when they begin, what were yours and how are you planning to reach them?
Andy – Mine was simple; to just write great electronic songs. Tracks that people will dance and sing along too at a live show but at the same time listen to at home and get absorbed in. I think the only way to reach that goal is to lock ourselves in the studio, dim the lights and just keep working! Also, I really want to put together great albums full of songs and no instrumentals or remixes, which I genuinely think should be kept separate from albums. Trouble is, we now we live in MP3 land which means the idea of an ‘album’ as a whole is dying out a bit. Songs get shuffled on iTunes playlists and all of a sudden the ‘journey’ of an album is lost. Who knows, maybe on an iPod somewhere out there ‘Terrornation’ is sat right next to ’99 Red Balloons’.
Chris – I don't really mind people downloading individual songs... But I'll always want to write albums. “The album” is just an amazing piece of art. The main idea from the start, I think, was simply to make the kind of music we wanted to hear. I've had amazing times at festivals, gigs and clubs... But my favourite musical experience is listening to the music at home, by myself. It's a very intimate thing, and you lose yourself in it. I suppose that's the wonderful thing about music – it's so versatile. It's such a powerful thing socially, and yet also deeply personal! You don't really get that with any other form of art. You can't dance to a painting!
I've only just learned to drive, and I'm about to buy my first car, so there's a whole new dimension for my appreciation of music waiting there! Tearing down country lanes listening to Method Cell...
There are so many different ways to experience music, and they're all great. All the important, inspiring, and memorable moments of my life have involved music. If our music does that for other people, then I'll be happy. Well, that and total world domination, obviously!
You have released your debut album “put out the sun” What can you tell us about it? How are the comments so far?
Andy - It was an experiment in everything – themes, songwriting, production, lyrics... a melting pot of all our influences, really. Generally though we wanted to try and paint a picture of a post apocalyptic landscape, but romanticize it a bit instead of just saying “IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AND THERE’S CHEMICAL SPILLS AND RADIATION AND… ARGGGGH!” It’s received some really good reviews, which is where we were described as a ‘Fresh Injection’ onto the scene. There were also compliments on the attention to detail we put into the production, which pleased me, of cause.
Chris, according the booklet all music was played by Andy, what was the role of you and Roisin on the album, did you just do the vocals and will this change for the future albums?
Chris – Basically, I just sat there drinking tea and eating crumpets whilst Andy wrote the album, and then took all the credit. Ha! No, I think the creative process is pretty much fifty-fifty. I play drums and a little guitar, but I've always thought of myself as a writer rather than a musician. Sometimes, like with iThink or Welcome to the Freakshow, I get a fully formed idea for a song in my head, which I sing to Andy, and he makes it happen. Andy's more technical than me. He's also a genius – because I say things like “It needs to sound like a window exploding – but pretty!” and then he perfectly recreates the sound or melody which previously only existed within my head. Other times Andy writes a song (or at least, the song's component parts), such as Consume or Terrornation, and then I put the words to it.
Andy – It’s the best way - I’m not a writer at all and I gave up trying to write lyrics years ago. Composing and producing is my thing. I’m supposed to be classically trained, but that’s debatable.
Chris - I know with some bands – The Smiths, or Blaqk Audio for example – that have a guy who writes the music, passes it to the singer and then he writes lyrics to it. I definitely couldn't do that – even when Andy has written a verse/chorus etc for a song I still like to have a creative input to the arrangement. Occasionally it's an artistic thing – like wanting to repeat the chorus at a certain point, or it could be a technical thing, such as needing the verse to be a couple of bars longer or shorter to match the lyrics.
We'd written most of the album before Rosh joined the band (Before we'd even played our first gig!), so we got her in at the last minute to sing backing vocals on “Everybody Knows The Ending” - as I wanted that track to have a Human League vibe about it! Eventually she became a rather integral part of our live line up. In terms of song writing, it'll still be me and Andy, although I'd like Rosh to record more vocals on the next album. I love the dynamic of male and female vocals, and Rosh has such a beautiful voice. Like syrup. Sonic syrup! Andy once described my vocals as “Icy”, so I suppose it's a nice contrast!
Andy – It’s fun to blend male and female vocals together. It’s one of the things I like to do alone – geeky stuff like mixing and figuring out chord progressions. No-one wants to sit and watch me do that, really.
Chris – I'm the same, I usually have to be on my own to write lyrics. Listening to a demo on repeat, and pacing around a darkened room with a glass of shiraz... Although I usually get my ideas in the bath, so I end up leaping out and running around screaming for a pen... Or inspiration strikes in the street, and then you have to accost strangers and demand the use of their back whilst you scribble it down. The police tend to frown upon that approach, though.
What are the lyrics about, do you stick to a certain theme? What kind of things inspire in writing lyrics?
Chris – Well, as I said, I think of myself as a writer. It's just something that comes naturally – by which I mean I'm constantly writing lyrics and poems in my head. It's the only way I can make sense of the world. You know how you'd sit down to write an essay or an article; you begin with an idea, and then you write a few drafts? Well, my mind does that with lyrics for most of the day! I don't really have any control over it. So I would say that absolutely everything inspires my lyrics, whether it's my general revulsion at humanity when I see the news, or the despair that comes with really wanting a cup of tea and realising you're out of soya milk...! Obviously most of it's drivel, and there's a lot of refining before I write anything down. I'd say I probably write two songs a day in my head... and in a month I'll end up using one of them! Well, one song made from the best bits of all of them.
The lyrics on Put Out The Sun are rather varied, although I like to think that the overriding apocalyptic flavour ties them together! Tracks like iThink and Consume focus on how the media is used to control us – persuading us to buy things we don't need - to necessitate the undertaking of jobs that we don't like - and bombarding us with stuff to be afraid of so we don't bother to wonder what's actually going on in the rest of the world. (A good example of this is the imaginary credit crunch Britain is currently suffering under. When you consider that the majority of people on this planet have never made a phone call, things really aren't that bad!) Whereas Loveless and Restless Sky are very much escapist anthems. The lyrics to those songs have very specific meaning to me, but I like the fact that their surrealism and ambiguity make them open to interpretation.
The new songs we're writing seem to have a bit of a conspiracy theme running through them., but that's not to say we'll never write a love song. Although it would probably end in murder...
Andy's Dad often asks when we're going to write a “happy” song! Our lyrics are very dark, I suppose that's the one common factor. That's not intentional, I suppose it's just an aspect of my personality. (I grew up watching Beetlejuice, what do you expect?!) But whilst they might be dark, I don't think they're depressing. I'm not interested in writing saccharin sweet pop songs that most people would deem “happy”, because they're bullshit, and not remotely sincere. We might often address the darker aspect of human emotion, but there's a great catharsis in that, which is actually quite uplifting.
There always the risk of disappearing up your own arse when you try to do something seriously! We're very serious about the music, but we don't really take ourselves seriously at all! I like to think that, for all our moody-ness there is an irony in most of our songs! Like in Terrornation – It's all about terrorism and surveillance, and yet we managed to sneak a sample from a comedy show in there. And, of course, the title is something of a play on words – but I'll leave you to guess that one!
A first album is often considered to be a learning process, what lessons have you learned and what will you do differently on the next album?
Andy – I completely agree, and as we’ve already mentioned, the album varies a lot stylistically. Luckily Chris has a unique voice which really ties all the songs together, or we might have been at risk of sounding like a completely different band from track to track! I’d like to “nail down” our sound a bit more on the next album but still keep the listener on their toes as the album progresses. There are a few things I would go back and change on ‘Put Out The Sun’ if I had the chance, but I won’t mention what they are. Perhaps after we’ve finished the next album I’ll leave it for a month and listen back to it again. It’s very easy to get carried away in the studio, especially when the red wine is flowing.
You also made a video, what made you decide to do this at such an early stage of the band? How did the making of the video go?
Andy – iThink was entered into Sonic Seducer’s 2010 Battle Of The Bands (you still have until the 31st of January to vote for us!) and we thought it would be a good way to promote it. The filming itself was an absolute riot! We only arranged the video shoot 4 days before we filmed it, so it was all done at really short notice and there was a lot of energy about the whole thing. It was shot in the old attic of an old building in Lancaster (that will remain nameless) and we managed to sneak about 50 people (with beer) up there. There was an important meeting happening just a few floors below us so we had to try and avoid being noticed, even with the music cranked up to full. Eventually the old 1970’s smoke machine we borrowed set off the fire alarms, and everyone had to be evacuated! I’ll never forget it.
You already did some live shows, how was the response of the audience? What is the strong part of 19ninetynine live?
Andy – Like any band, we get good crowds and bad crowds. Luckily they the good ones have outweighed the bad and most people really get into it. If they didn’t know the words before the show, they’ll know them afterwards! We did a strange one recently where we were on stage dressed as zombies. We had an audience of about ten people and they were all dressed as superheroes. They seemed to be getting into it but then left after 3 tracks, leaving us covered in fake blood on stage playing to the bar staff!
As for the strength of our live show, it’s the energy we put behind it. Chris and I have both played in rock bands in the past and one of the reasons we use guitars in the first place is because I really wanted to play guitar on stage again. Chris is a drummer and has a load of percussion on stage to hit at random intervals. It makes for a very visual performance, which can be difficult to pull off if half your band are stuck behind keyboards. Our shows can get messy… there’s a lot of sweat and things occasionally get thrown around!
Do you alter the album versions for live shows and if so, in what way?
Chris – I guess the most noticeable thing is the addition of the live drums. As Andy says, they get used occasionally during breakdowns etc... In my previous band I was the singer and the drummer, so I'm currently enjoying the freedom of being a “proper” frontman. I love drumming, but just as you can't “give an in your face performance on a keyboard” you can't really be the face of the band when you're stuck behind a kit, it feels like too much of a barrier between you and the audience, so I've got four years worth of pent up stage presence - hence the aforementioned sweaty mayhem . Eventually I would love to have an extra band member solely for percussion. That's not to say I wouldn't still pick up the sticks occasionally. Especially during Totality...
We really try to put on a “show”, so it's an entirely different experience from listening to the music in a club or at home. Our vast array of gadgets, glitter bombs and snow machines play a big part in that! But even those keep changing... I used to have a hand held camera with which I filmed the crowd during Terrornation – it's lyrics partially concerning CCTV – and then hurled somewhere. Unfortunately it was smashed irreparably during the iThink video shoot!
Andy – I wanted to make sure no two performances would ever sound completely alike. You’ll have to come see us one day and judge for yourself. The live ‘rig’ I came up lets us mess with individual sounds in different ways so it’s not just like playing the CD, but it means there’s loads of cables on stage… you might see me on stage before a show, with a torch frantically switching cables around if something isn’t working! Still, it sounds cool so it’s worth it.
How is the uk scene today, it seems there are surfacing more and more bands?
Andy – It’s small but growing steadily, and I think it’ll get to the point soon where the rest of the world starts taking notice. As well as ourselves, there are bands like Deviant UK, Method Cell and The Ladder who are making EBM accessible to a wider audience over here, and it won’t be long before they’re getting serious international attention. Deviant UK have been for some time!
What will be next for 19ninetynine?
Andy – Just keep track of us on YouTube and Facebook and we’ll present you with loads of digital goodies…
Chris: We might even send you an Easter Egg.
Any last words for our readers?
Chris – Get off your computer! Read a book! Nah, just kidding, go and “Like” us on Facebook...
Andy – Agreed. And keep watching the skies!
Vote for 19ninetynine in the Sonic Seducer Battle of the Bands here!