INTERVIEW FROM NI TECH TALK by BELA CANHOTO

How did you get into music way back when? Where did you study?
I started playing the piano when I was about five. When I was 16, I went off busking around Europe for a year, I’d had enough of school, and I started touring with bands. I formed my own rock band. I went on from there, signed deals, made records. I spent a lot of time with people I couldn’t stand, but it helped me to focus on what I wanted. I found electronic music in 1980 and I was euphorically happy that I could get rid of the bass and drums in one fell swoop.

You’ve gone through various styles of music over the years; your long-time project Juno Reactor used to be one of the major bands in the psychedelic trance scene. The days of Goa Trance seem to have been over for you for some time now, right? What kind of music are you focusing on now?
I’m still writing music with a psychedelic flavor, it’s just different to the older stuff. I’ve always been interested in the whole mixing *America. It’s just that when you’ve done so many of those parties you get bored of it.

What style of music are you producing now? Do you have any projects on the go?
I’m writing an album, it’s pretty varied stuff, and definitely not DJ friendly (laughs). Pretty much every track is different at the moment. I just write loads and loads of tracks and when I think I’ve got enough, then I will start seaming them together. I think I’ve got more variable singers on this one, from either Africa or from Europe.

So there’s an ethnic influence on this album?
There’s always been. You know, I’ve been working with a traditional African band “Amampondo”, traditional drummers from Capetown, and I’ve been working with them since ‘95. It’s a very visual show. I think around that time, I got bored of the DJs just turning on the same old trite sort of rubbish that they always play, crowd pleasing music, I got far more into playing music that didn’t really relate in any way to that sort of music.

How many people are on stage when you perform live?
Six. It’s like a real show because Amampondo dress up in their warrior dress with these really tall feather hats and animal skins, war paint. It’s refreshing to work with them, because you can do anything, you can top the computers, you can go completely acoustic.

What software do you use on stage?
I use Digital Performer, and I use Reaktor.

How do the programs fit into your setup?
Well, I have a load of audio stuff on the computer. I run about 20 channels of audio on my mixing desk. I also use analog synthesizers, I use electric guitars, and out of those I’ve got four hours of music that I could jump to at any time. I can go from one song to another, I don’t have to keep to a set, and I can incorporate Reaktor into any track as everything is time locked, so I can switch very easily from one program to the other.

How about your home studio? How has it changed since you started using software stuff?
I am still using both. I use the Alesis Andromeda for example, and I still use lots of old Korg synthesizers, you know, classics like the MS20, MS10. My favorite is still the Korg Mono/Poly, of which I have two, each broken in different ways. On the software side I use Reaktor a lot, and I use the Spektral Delay and Battery. Those are the main ones. With Reaktor I love building strange instruments that sound amazing, I built a few special ones for the freeway chase.

Do you see any advantages in using software over hardware equipment?
There are things in Reaktor that you can’t do with anything else. That’s why I use it. And obviously, I think that’s the thing with some of the soft programs, they are capable of doing some really neat things.

How would you describe yourself as a musician and what you want to express with your music?
In a lot of ways, I’ve always felt like a frustrated filmmaker. I know I can’t make films, so I make music, but I always put a story inside the music. I don’t write about myself, I write about whatever I see in front of me. The head of MELT 2000 was a guy called Robert Trunz and suddenly he introduced me to all these different musicians, like Cuban musicians, African musicians, Indian musicians, and suddenly my whole musical world broke out. And he really introduced me to a lot of things, you know, Robert Trunz changed my life.

Did the Matrix production team approach you because they were familiar with your music?
I think the Wachowski brothers were really into Juno Reactor’s music, mainly because it’s very filmic.

How long did you work on the soundtrack?
Two and a half months. I think I had like 3 days off. Yeah, it was a bit insane. When I came back, my body and my brain were just completely drained; I don’t think I’ve ever been that tired in my life.

How many tracks did you end up producing for the movie?
Five of the eight.

How did it feel to work on such a huge film? How much freedom did they give you?
The directors know exactly what they want. You go in and play them ideas. I came up with ideas based on their ideas, when they showed me the freeway chase they said they wanted a collaboration with the electronic and the orchestra so that it’s very much interweaving. That sort of Matrix classical style morphed with electronica. And to make it feel like it was made for each other as opposed to two worlds being stuck on to each other.

What was the working process like?
I did a lot of writing here and took it to them, and we talked about it. I’ve got a massive learning curve through going there. Then I’d go off and write with Don Davis, the guy who did the score, and we’d sit there, and I’d have a load of classical stuff prepared, and then he’d add to it or change it and make it more Matrix style. So we’d do that, and then we’d go back to the director and play it for them. Then they’d add their changes, and we’d go back and write some more. Sort of “ping pong”.

Was the soundtrack for Matrix your first work for the movie world?
I’ve done others, but nothing like this.

What other films have you worked on?
I worked on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Lost in Space, Mortal Kombat 1&2, Virtuosity, I did an electronic score for Beowulf But in that instance I never met the directors or the producers, they just took everything I did, and I wrote and recorded it in a month for that film. Matrix was a totally different thing, this was like going to college. It was like a massive, really massive learning experience. Everyone told me that the Wachowski brothers are very rare, because they really know what they want. It was brilliant working for them.

Is this something you’re going to do more often?
I’ve been asked to go back in July to write for the next one, Matrix Revolutions It’s exciting working with people that have got a lot of ideas, and I really like L.A, there are so many people who are either doing things or wanting to do things or trying to get things together. You know, it’s a great creative environment to work in.

How has this project affected the way you produce music?
I think it ’s going to take me about a year to digest everything (laughs). When I was writing on the film it made me think that writing tracks for albums is really easy. I shouldn’t scratch my head so much when I work on a track for an album.

What made it so different? Was it the timeline, or the pressure, or having people telling you exactly what they need?
The timeline is definitely different, you know, because generally it takes ages to do anything. And you have to get so many things done at the same time: organization, creativity, whatever. I think just the way when you’re working on that film, a lot of the time I do a lot of sound effect type noises, and writing for film you can’t really do that, because they’ve got sound effects going on top of the music anyway. So the more I wrote, the more I was stripping everything down and making things a lot simpler. What I really liked was working with everyone, meeting people, and everyone’s really buzzy and excited, and you know, when you’re staying up and working like 20 hours a day, the adrenaline is sort of addictive. I just loved it. I loved the atmosphere, and I’m realizing that I’ll more than likely never work on a film like this ever again.

What about your band Juno Reactor. When is that album supposed to come out?
I think it will come out early next year, early 2004.

Are you working on any other side projects?
Just the album and the next Matrix soundtrack, and just wanting to try and find somewhere new to live. Somewhere new like L.A., where there’s sun every day.