Hello guys, thanx for doing this interview, how are you doing?
ALEX: We're great thanks! Having a studio session tonight, working on an idea for a track we had about 6 months ago – it's great to be writing again.
Apollos: Yes, far too long. It's funny how you spend ages desperate to get the chance to record your own music, as soon as you do, the promotional side seams to take over and you spend months not getting a chance to write any more. We're balancing it all out a little better now but it made for a hectic few months!
Can you give a brief introduction to Method Cell?
APOLLOS: We're an industrial synthcore band that formed in mid 2009. The band consists of myself and Alex, both based in Nottingham, and we've just finished our first full length album 'Curse of a Modern Age'.
How did the both of you meet and how did it lead to the forming of Method Cell?
ALEX: We actually met from going to the same clubs quite a few years before forming the band. It was when we were both members of another band that we realised we had very similar tastes in music and styles of working so we were very keen to start a project together. We worked on a remix of the other band and hit it off incredibly well in the studio so we decided to create Method Cell.
Apollos: We messed around with a few ideas for a while before getting to grips with exactly what we wanted to do. We've got early demo versions of 'Blame Me' and 'Rush' that bear little resemblance to the finished versions, but 'Scissors' was the first song we wrote that really defined what we wanted to do. The album version is pretty much unchanged from our original and set the benchmark for everything else we did.
Did you play in other bands prior to Method Cell?
APOLLOS: I was the singer/lyricist in the Darkwave band 'Intra-Venus', we released a few albums, toured Europe and America a couple of times, but that was a long time ago. Outside of that we've been in local bands together, but that just highlighted what we wanted to be doing... Oh, and Alex's French Tech-house unit..
ALEX: I almost forgot! I was one half of a tech-house group releasing on a Parisian tech-house label. We had some success around clubs in England, France and Ibiza and coverage on Radio 1. Good fun!
Finding the definite style of music is usually a path full of experiments, how did you find your style?
ALEX: That's definitely true! We spent quite a while leaning toward various genres trying to find what fitted us best. It was very interesting. We have a much better idea now, but I'd say we still don't try to write to a specific genre. Our style is mainly shaped by the bands we love and also by the synths we use. We're keen on trying new synthesizers to see what kind of sounds we can come up with.
Apollos: We've got a stack of early recordings that we loved as songs, but just weren't in keeping with the project. Maybe sometime in the future we'll release the synthpop song about sleep sex, it's a really catchy 80's melody which kind of makes it worse when you find yourself singing aloud on the bus to work.
Can you explain the band name, what is the thought behind it?
ALEX: We took a fairly bizarre approach to finding a band name! We had racked our brains for months to find a name but couldn't settle on one. I decided to write a computer program that let us build a database of words that we liked. The program generates random combinations for us and we bookmarked about 10 of them before we stumbled across Method Cell. I'm still not sure we've figure out what it's supposed to mean!
Apollos: Knowing that most bands pick cool sounding names then then try to convince people it has a deeper meaning, we figured we'd be a little more transparent and honest with our naming. We toyed with 'Cluster Bunker' for a while but decided we'd save that for our Agro-Tech side-project!
Before your debut album “Curse of a modern age” you released a promotional ep called scissors. What was your goal for this promo ep and did you achieve it?
Apollos: We'd spent a while quietly writing a few songs, the 'Scissors' ep was simply meant to show friends what we'd been up to. We really had no expectations for it, and initially only made 20 physical copies at home together. It was quite a surreal time for us, 2 weeks after the release on Myspace we had two record deal offers, international radio play and had been asked to support Scandy. We hadn't even tried playing live together and only had those four songs finished. It took a while for us to catch up at that point, we were focused on writing an album but suddenly there was a lot of pressure to commit to things we simply weren't prepared for.
How are the songs for Method Cell created, do you always follow the same path?
ALEX: We write everything in our own studio from start to finish. Traditionally we've both mainly written on hardware synths and samplers. Method Cell is the first project where we've both written purely using software. We don't really have a set method for beginning to write a song but it usually starts with laying down ideas on synths and building this up. We then separate everything in to a rough musical arrangement (verse/chorus etc). Writing is pretty much split 50:50 between us, though Apollos tends to lean more to working on the vocals while I concentrate a little more on the engineering side. We then record and mix the vocals, go through the whole track with a fine toothed comb, then do a final mix. We can spend over a month on one track.
Apollos: Sometimes we surprise ourselves, and mix it up a little: the original 'Blame Me was a totally different song. The lyrics are identical but Alex turned up with completely different song, melody and structure to our original, it was brilliant, so I rerecorded the lyrics to his vocal melody. We try not to get caught in a 'formula' for Method Cell songs, so the fact that we're comfortable switching who does what really works for us.
Are there any re-occurring topics or issues in your lyrics, what are your inspirations?
Apollos: We were determined not to fall into some of the obvious writing cliche's within the scene, and guess we both have have a strong tongue -in -cheek sense of humour. Song lyrics are a rare chance to say the things you wouldn't dare say in any other forum and I hope its apparent that while a lot of the subjects are a little close to the bone, it's meant in good spirit. Sometimes it's the inconsequential things that inspire whole songs, 'Call it Cutting' is a bitter sweet take on club politics, and 'Rush' was written after a listening to a friend rant for half an hour about a recent 'drama'. I guess we try to focus on wry observations, scenarios that on some level most people can relate to and recognise. There's usually a sting in the tail for the narrator, a consequence if you like, and we try to capture that bitter irony.
If I compare Method Cell to other bands the names of VNV Nation, Apoptygma berserk and Assemblage 23 come to mind, are they a source of inspiration and if so, in what way?
ALEX: We love future pop and have listened to these bands (and the genre as a whole) for a very long time. We definitely admire aspects of the writing and production behind these bands' music and I'm sure some of that creeps in to our own music occasionally. We're inspired by quite a wide variety of genres, including coldwave, progressive house and early industrial. Hopefully we've created our own sound that is something new we're adding in to the pot but still pays homage to bands we've listened to and adored for years.
What is more important in your music, a good melody or a good beat?
Apollos: We can lose days working out complex harmonies and arrangements in songs, it's one of our main distractions, but at the end of the day if the song's rhythm doesn't make us want to dance then we're doing something wrong!
ALEX: It's actually a balance we think about fairly often. We like both, but we tend to prioritise making sure there is plenty of thought put in to the melodic side of our music, both with the instruments and the vocals. We actually went a bit more nuts with dance-floor friendly tracks toward the end of writing “Curse Of A Modern Age” but made sure we had a good mixture over the album as a whole.
For the full length you signed a contract with Rebco Records, how did it come to this signing, how did you get in contact with them?
ALEX: We had interest from Rebco very soon after we launched the promo EP, which was very encouraging. They were pointed in our direction by a great friend of ours, Jay from Deviant UK.
The flagship of Rebco Records, Deviant Uk, left the label, do you think you can fill the gap they left?
Apollos: We're massive fans of Deviant U.K and really pleased they've secured their next release on Sony (Europe). I don't honestly think anyone could ever replace Jay, at the record label or otherwise, he's pretty damn unique! Method Cell offer something very different To Rebco's catalogue, and if we have something near Deviant U.K' success we'll be very happy.
ALEX: We'd also like to point out that it is Jay who labeled us “Electro-dandies” - a term we wholeheartedly endorse!
Now the album “curse of a modern age” is released, can you explain the title? In your mind, what is the curse of a modern age?
Apollos: Hmm, that's actually more difficult than I thought. I guess the pressures of social 'normalisation' are complex, the pull for us to conform to an average of those around us. History shows that for any given dominant life-view or political belief, there are pockets of resistance, of people who refuse to conform. They're often seen as mavericks, revelutionaries and dissidents. These days, that's us: we can't buy in to manufactured pop, celebrity endorsements or sterile entertainment for the masses. We're an extreme result of their stagnent expectations, the very thing that resists dilution of ideas and innovation.
ALEX: Oh! I thought it was about Google Maps' privacy policy!
What can you tell about the cd, besides the fact it’s a shiny silver disc? How did the recording go?
ALEX: As well as the shiny silver disc, all of the artwork was designed by us. I do freelance graphic/web design so we were fortunate to be able to keep every part of album design in-house right up to duplication. After brainstorming for gimmicks or concepts for the artwork we decided to keep it very simple with a clear declaration of who we are and what to expect from Method Cell as a project.
How are the reviews so far?
ALEX: We've been blown away with some of the reviews and feedback. Being awarded top marks in a couple of magazines was far more than we hoped. The reviews generally touch upon seeing the album as refreshingly original amongst a lot of similar sounding releases. This is great to hear as while writing we were very conscious to not write something that people would just see as “another version of that song”. Also we're glad that each review seems to have a different favourite track!
Did the album turn out the way you wanted it to be or didn’t you had a clear view when making it?
Apollos: It's our first full length album, and we were very much learning how best to work together and create the unique blend of styles we envisaged as we went along. I'm not sure either of us had clear expectations for 'Curse of a Modern Age', and the final tracks completed, which were supposed to be 'fillers', turned out to completely change what we had in mind overall. 'Believe' and 'Curse of a Modern Age' were the last tracks written and stand as some of our favourite works. It's funny - I'm really pleased and proud of each song and can't think of anything I would change given more time. I've not had that before. I don't think we've reached the full potential of 'Method Cell', and can't wait to see what else we're capable of!
What will be next for Method Cell?
ALEX: We definitely like to keep ourselves busy! We're currently negotiating a contract with a US label to release 'Curse of a Modern Age' and future albums specifically for the U.S market. We've had some great feedback from some US radio stations and clubs who have been following us and playing our music so we're pretty excited! Other than that we're back in the studio writing new material and rehearsing for a spree of upcoming gigs around the UK.
Any last words for the readers?
Keep following our website and Facebook as we regularly post free tracks for download and info about gigs!
Apollos: Oh, and Marmite mixed with Peanut Butter... Kids, just say no.