The bio on the Dead Voices on
Air web site proclaims, “Using improvisation and sound
layering as a source for their music, DVOA blends processed sound from primitive instruments and toys into rhythmic structures or dark clusters of ambient sound. The result is
music for the eyes. This is not ambient chill-out, nor is it music for
wallpaper. It is organic, eclectic improvisation, cut up and spat out. Either
framed into short pieces of music or rough blocks of noise. Panambience is the term coined that
perhaps frames this approach most adequately.” Usually most bios should be
taken with a grain of salt. But in this case, it is nothing but the truth. If I
could add one work to the above self-description, it would be evolutionary.
Dead Voices on Air is certainly a misnomer for the music, as
it is very much alive, fluid, pulsating like a heartbeat, flowing like a
mountain stream. Each album is different from its predecessor, yet at the same
time clearly evolved from the previous one. Who is the musical mastermind
behind such sounds? Mark Spybey.
I had the opportunity to speak
one-on-one with the genius himself before his Double Door show in Chicago.
NMD: What’s
the story behind the one month delay for the latest one?
Mark Spybey: We included a live track on it. There was a
sample on it that I wanted to get clearance for it. It’s the first time I’ve
ever used a sample. When we went to get clearance, it wasn’t as simple as it
worked out. So we decided to edit the
sample out. That took a little bit of time. Plus I was on tour, so it’s really
difficult to organize those things when you’re [going] from city to city.
NMD: You’ve been on tour since May, late May . . .
MS: Yeah, a month.
NMD: How’s it going so far?
MS: Really good, yeah, it’s been really positive. I think the
Pink Dots and I, to a certain extent, share the same kind of audience. And we
get on together very very well. We’ve known each other for years. It’s very
nice to tour with them.
NMD: What can the listener expect to hear that’s like the
previous albums of yours, or different. On the new one?
MS: It’s quite different really. What happened, is about a
year ago I started to work with some Germans, these guys called GAVOOM. It was
kind of audio/ visual, kind of computer project. I did some music for them
which I ended up using for this album, because I really felt that it was more
akin to where I wanted to go with DVOA. When I say that I did music for it, it
was just me. I was the only one doing the music. It’s really mine, ‘cause at
various points over the last year, I’ve worked on this record. And I’ve
included different people I’ve been working with. It features some of the guys
who I was touring with last year. And it also features people I’m working with
now, like Nils Van Horn from the Pink Dots, the saxophone player from the Pink
Dots. And a drummer from Holland called Bradley and Frank who is the sound guy
from Legendary Pink Dots. So Frank basically produced the records and we had a
lot of fun doing that in Holland.
It’s an electronic album,
really, but it included all sorts of
real instruments like saxophone, flute, drums, guitar, bass. But it’s
definitely got a very kind of electronic feel to it. I don’t think it sounds
like the album before that which was Piss Frond. It’s quite different.
When we were playing some of these
tracks live with the drummer, people said it almost got a jazzy kind of feel .
NMD: Oh, interesting.
NMD: Do you still work as a therapist in your downtime?
MS: Not at the moment. I’ve moved back from Canada to Europe.
And in the process, I’ve been doing music. So I’ve taken off six months
basically.
NMD: So when you do your won work as a therapist, do you
incorporate your own music into the therapy sessions?
MS: No, no, you know, the job sounds quite glamorous, but
it’s not. I think generally speaking, we have a sort of conception of therapy
as being kind of an analytically think. People on the couch, or whatever, and
doing very exciting things. But the reality of it is, I’ve always worked in
long term psychiatry. People I’ve [worked with] for many many years. I do the
sort of nuts and bolts kind of work. Getting people back into work, or getting
people back to a semblance of having a quality—a certain element of quality to
their life.
NMD: Do you foresee yourself going back into that?
MS: Yeah, I do. It’s a well-paid job.
NMD: How does your work as a therapist factor into your own
creative process?
MS: Well, [someone] once said, that I worked with, that their
kinda glad that I have an outlet, because it probably helps my work as a
therapist. It’ve always done music and I’ve always worked. So the two things
have gone together. But I think, if anything, it’s reinforced my view that many
people are very creative, very talented, but they don’t necessarily have an
outlet for that. So its reinforced my own belieft, my own creativity. It’s a
very sort of dynamic process.
NMD: Absolutely, I’m a writer myself. So I know how that
goes.
MS: It’s funny ‘caue being on tour is one of the most,
probably one of the least creative places to be. Because there’s so much
downtime, so much doing nothing time. I think to myself, Oh, I should be writing or doing this or
doing that, but you just end up looking out the window or sleeping. [laughter]
Or searching for food.
NMD: Yeah, foraging.
MS: Yeah, in truck stops, it’s kind fo hard.
NMD: Yuck. So where
have you relocated in Europe? Back to England?
MS: Well, eventually it’s going to be England, but I’ve been
in Holland for the past six months.
NMD: And I’ve heard a little rumor that you’re wanting to
move to the country?
MS: Uh, that’s very probable, yeah.
Because I’ve lived in the countryside before, but I’m going to be living in
London. So it’s a pretty big city. So I’m going to be urban for a while.
So what is it like to experience a live DVOA show?
Well, let me transcribe some of my notes hastily jotted down
at the Double Door on the 22nd of June, 2000.
Sound check and warm ups I’ve always thought to be a surreal
experience. Especially when they involved more than just drums and electric
guitars. There is something raw and naked, spontaneous yet not, about such
sound. I’ve been to many, but never have I felt such creative energy in the air
as tonight.
As DVOA sound checks, it becomes closer to play. There is a
levity on stage and in the air. Yet, soundcheck is still a serious time and it
is ultimately treated as such. Positioning of the lights is the final touch
before opening the doors. Now, the
stage is set and now we wait.
At 8:15pm, the faithful stream in.
8:40pm: The dub takes on a jazz fell despite the
ambient-fusion music in the background. The club is amply full. All the scant
bar stools are occupied, still plenty of room to mingle.
At 9:00pm, Dead Voices on Air attack the stage. Aimee Lane,
the femme fatale folk singer-guitarist, is the “opening” act. Just one little
song. Miss Lane has a wonderfully earthy voice as she strokes her well-traveled
acoustic guitar. Then Mark Spybey and his cohorts took on the intimate crowd at
the Double Door.
Nils Van Horn (saxophonist from the Legendary Pink Dots, yes!
Doin’ double duty on this tour!) sported an electronic instrument played with
the mouth. I don’t know if this is some commercially produced item, or if it is
a Nils or Spybey invention. The former would surprise me more than the latter
possibility. Spybey could barely be
seen as he played behind his mixmaster keyboard-computer, etc set-up in the
center of the stage. The bass was deep
and true, rattling my guts—oh yeah. Partial credit there goes to the wonderful
sound system at the DD. Aimee played
with a big jar of bubble soap. The concentration on Mark’s face was deep and
intense as the music progressed and grew in intensity. “Emulator”.
The next song was dark, electronic, techno, house—well, you
say, how in the hell could it be all that? Truly is there much difference
betwixt the latter 3 styles? – anyway, enter the saxes. Yes, two! A single note
blown from 1 mouth via 2 saxophones.
Nils also picks up the flute in the third piece, while Mark
does vocals. The chemistry is magic. The song is dark, mystical, gothic, with a
distinct new age quality—light and airy, akin to Dead Can Dance during their
more graveyard oriented moments.
Piece number 4/5, Aimee plays her acoustic for an interlude,
if you will. The flute soaring above, pure. Think Jethro Tull (for the
uninitiated to DVOA).
Number 6 was a dance tune with aural effect assaulting your
body.
Number 7 introduced the electric guitars into the vibe:
Scott, the touring guitar. and guest and good friend Eric Pounder. Nils wails
on the alto sax for this one. Heavy duty bass vibrates the club.
The eighth song features feminine vocals and Ryan Muir is
introduced as the drummer. Everything is fluid, symphonic, one might even say
improvisational. Noise, but with a purpose. Chaotic, yet controlled.
Yes, that describes DVOA and Mark Spybey.
The 2000 release by DVOA is rescheduled for August 8, 2000. I
can’t wait!
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