Best known for the synth pop classic “Send Me An Angel” as wells as such club hits as “God Tonight,” Australian synth band Real Life is back with new covers CD, “Send Me an Angel: ’80s Synth Essentials.” As the title suggests, the release has the band covering songs for their own era, doing renditions of songs such as “Cars,” “Blue Monday” and “Tainted Love.” We emailed Real Life frontman David Sterry to find out more.

How did “Send Me an Angel: ’80s Synth Essentials” come about?

I got an email from Brian Perera head of Cleopatra records asking about a possible Real Life, Cleopatra project he had in mind. When I called him he outlined a cover’s album, which had never occurred to me. However Brian is such an enthusiastic music fan type person, I couldn’t say no.

In initially deciding whether to take on such a project, what did you see as being the pros/cons?

The pro’s were, there was a good budget (enough to totally upgrade my studio equipment), I could pick any songs I wanted as long as they were 80’s and would be known to most people, nothing too obscure. A great opportunity to force myself to do something all by myself for the first time.

The con’s were, the fact that I’d never been the one who midi programmed or engineered any of our records before. I didn’t have much confidence and thought I’d fail somewhere along the way, but found that there are some fabulous computer music magazines and online tutorials, so I was learning as I recorded. I also got advice from Danny Simcic and George Pappas, who previously provided those skills on Real Life recordings. Time was a factor as well. I was doing a lot of touring at the time and didn’t want Cleopatra to forget their offer. It took me about 3 or 4 months over a year between tours. The whole thing was done using Logic 9 in my home studio, though I did have it mastered at a proper facility.

What factors went into the selection of songs? Where there any that you’d perhaps wanted to do that did not end up working? Any that you were hesitant to do that you feel turned out better than expected?

Firstly they had to be favourites of mine that I could sing with my limited style and vocal range and I wanted to play all the guitar and bass parts ( the album credits are for fictional players) I had several failures including songs by the Cars, Iggy Pop and Alphaville. There were a lot of Australian artist songs that I would have done, but they weren’t hits outside Australia. There’s no way I’d try an INXS song. I’m pretty happy with most of the songs, but I’m really happy with both my voice and the guitar solo on Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime by the Korgi’s. Also really enjoyed playing the guitars and singing the vocal on Primary. Cleopatra wanted fairly faithful reproductions, nothing too different from the original. Covering a song forces you to look at how it was constructed and every song made me aware of just how clever the originals were in performance and arrangement. I was very wary that the original artist might think my version a pile of shite (as I do with 99% of Send Me an Angel covers).

Since cover versions are often used in film and TV soundtracks rather than original recordings, I’m curious as whether that kind of licensing was part of the intention behind the release? (from a business standpoint)

Now that’s something that never occurred to me, but a good observation I guess you’d need to ask Cleopatra if they try to place songs that way. I think it’s more in the writers and publishers interest than the cover artist.

What was the line-up for the making of this album?

The line-up of Real Life these days is just me and who ever is standing behind me playing at a live show. It’s just the way it’s ended up. With the amount of money I’ve had to throw into legal disputes over the years (never with band members) [read more about that in our 1997 interview] I feel it’s my brand, a bit like Underworld. I’m too old to think of changing it now. Danny, George and I still talk of working together on something in the future when the time is right.

Are there any songs that you’d really like to release a cover of, but weren’t able to include on this because they weren’t from the 80’s?

Hmmm… I think I’d rather be able to do something totally different to a song I was covering, not just a copy and it wouldn’t have to be 80’s, more likely 60’s or 00’s. I’d rather be a re-mixer (electronic dance music) and I’m always happier doing my own songs. No more covers from me.

When can we expect new music from Real Life? Any touring plans? Other news?

Let me look into my crystal ball. I have a new sense of inspiration, independence and freedom thanks to the learning process of the cover’s album. I’m writing new stuff at the moment, but I have no idea when or what’s going to come out. And touring these days for me is limited to 80’s type grouped tours. For once I come home with some money in my pocket.

“Repo! The Genetic Opera” co-creator Terrance Zdunich is launching a new comic. Titled “THE MOLTING” the first issue is due out in September, but in the meantime you can check out the cover art at http://www.themoltingcomic.com/. Zdunich is also selling a limited edition signed poster of the cover – visit his website for details. Be sure to check out the interview with did with Terrance last year.

Chris Burke was originally interviewed by Chaos Control way back in 1994, when he and his brother Dan comprised the band Glorified Magnified. Chris is still doing music, notably chiptune under the name Glomag, but he’s also doing a very unique ‘machinima’ series called ‘This Spartan Life.’ It’s a talk show where interviews are conducted within networked Halo games and shot by virtual cameramen. Guests on the show have included filmmaker/video artist Peggy Ahwesh, ‘The Raiders Guys’ (who as kids did a shot-for-shot remake of “Raiders of the Lost Ark”) and former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren. In an email interview, Chris told us about the show and the process behind it.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE INTERVIEW

From their more industrial early work to their later explorations of classical and ambient sounds, In The Nursery have always had a cinematic edge to their music. Comprised of twin brothers Klive and Nigel Humberstone, the group has taken this aspect of their sound to the next level in recent years with their Optical Music Series. This series consists of new soundtracks to classic silent films, which are released on CD  and performed live with screenings of the films. They recently did two such performances in CA, and Klive took the time to tell us a bit about it by email.

1) Are these your first performances in the US?

KH: We actually performed last November in LA, presenting ‘The Passion of Joan of Arc’ at The Silent Movie Theatre.
That show gave us the impetus to arrange some more. So this time we are playing at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco on 11th May and then ‘A Page of Madness’ at The Silent Movie Theatre in LA [on May 17th].  We are also quite keen to find the right venue in New York to take our Optical Music scores to – a show in NY is long overdue!

2) Can you describe the process of the “Optical Music Series” a bit?

KH: As with all OMS scores we view the film and log cue points for sections of music. Then we start putting together a collection or palette of sounds with which to write the music. It’s often useful to limit ourselves to a specific sound spectrum but the types of sounds, samples and timbres are usually dicatated by the film and what needs to be expressed. For instance, with ‘A Page of Madness’ we used samples of traditional Japanese instruments like the plucked Koto and expressive Shakuhachi flute. We edited and layered these sounds to give them their own identity within the compositions and combined them with other electronic and percussive elements.

Certain sounds obviously didn’t fit with the atmosphere that we were trying to create for film – for example symphonic strings. Instead we used a very thin sounding solo string harmonic.

3) Are these soundtracks generally comprised of completely new compositions, or do you perhaps look to previously unused/unfinished music/musical ideas that you think will fit on?

KH: Most of the latest scores are completely original compositions. I think the only exception was with the first soundtrack we did, ‘The Cabinet of Dr Caligari’ back in 1995. At the time we adapted a couple of tracks from our Les Jumeaux side-project. The score was originally intended as a one-off performance and never intended to be released on CD, or performed again. We have learnt a lot since then – The optical music scores are created and composed to exist on their own.

4) Have the film projects become the focus of In The Nursery? (as opposed to traditional albums)

NH: The film soundtracks add a variety to our work, but not a main focus – we generally alternate between studio album and soundtrack.

5) What else is in the immediate future for you?

KH: During the summer, we are putting aside some ‘quality’ time to record new material.
In August we head over to Hong Kong for a series of Optical Music score events and an ITN masterclass session

For more info on In The Nursery, check out this Chaos Control interview from 1993, as well as their official site.

2009 marks the 25th anniversary for industrial/electronic rock band KMFDM, but founding member Sascha Konietzko feels that it’s “really just another year in an ongoing love affair.” In a phone interview from Germany, the ever prolific Konietzko discussed the new KMFDM album (”Blitz”), covering the Human League, his creative process, and more.

Having done music for so long, do you ever listen to and perhaps get inspired by your older work?

I don’t really. For me, honestly, when I’ve made a record I’m usually so done with it that I don’t want anything to do with it for a long time! [laughs] Then it happens, after a couple of years–I’ll hear something and think ‘what is that?’ Then ‘oh, shit, it’s a KMFDM song!’ It’s interesting, but I don’t really look back at what I’ve done before in order to get new ideas. It’s exciting enough to really come up with new stuff.

Are there any older albums that new fans catching up on KMFDM seem to particularly get into?

Well the one thing that really comes to mind is something I hear a lot. ‘I got turned on to you guys by so and so, that was 2 months ago, and by now I own 5 of your albums. There doesn’t seem to be much of a middle ground. I don’t think a lot of people think of KMFDM as mediocre. You can only really hate it or love it. There is no middle ground – if you don’t like it then you absolutely dislike it.

Looking back, is there anything that you think KMDFM tried musically that didn’t quite work?

Well, I would say this. When I spend a couple of hours on something and I don’t think it’s going in the right direction, it usually means for me to abort it. Just like anyone else, I want to see results and I want to be rewarded. If I fiddle around with some idea and it doesn’t work to get, say, this triplet to work with a 4 on the floor kind of thing no matter how I try, it just doesn’t work, then usually it’s the trash bin. On the other hand there are sometimes tricky things that take some time, but I have a feeling they will work. I’m not sure how, but it’s not a dead end. Often times it happens in such a away that an ingredient gets made or found or whatever for one specific track or an idea, and it becomes the new focus of it. So I’m willing to throw the rest of the stuff overboard to accommodate the new idea. That happens actually quite a bit.
You’re calling from Germany – are you based there now?

Yeah, I left Seattle about a year and a half ago. I just wanted to have European soil under my feet.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW!

The full transcription of our recent interview with Ogre has now been posted. Check it out here!