The name AlterRed should be a familiar one to many readers of Sinzine, with band members being regulars at Club Antichrist and their unique stage show being hotly talked about across the industrial/EBM scene. Having just released their debut album, it seemed like the perfect time to delve into the mind of Mr AlterRed himself.
Your debut album, 'Mind-Forged Manacles', was a long time in the making. What were the reasons for this and do you think the next album will take this long?
Yeah, I essentially went back to the drawing board a lot while the sound was developing with the live shows. Initially the album was finished at the end of 2009 but, as time went on I realised that the sound was evolving live and becoming a lot more stylised and individual. If the album had been released back then I don’t doubt I’d have regretted it shortly after. The second album is pretty much written and is about to go into mixing, so that should be out within a year of album one. The advantage now is that we’re playing live a lot and have a firm foundation with album one, so a lot of the development has happened along the way.
Did any of the early work survive the album making process?
Oh definitely. Songs like 'Sex, Death or Money', 'Amphetamine Chic' and 'One of my Mornings' didn’t change at all, but I think these were exceptions to the rule as they pretty much had their own, individual styles to them.
You've been in several bands previously. Is AlterRed the evolution of these bands or have you started from scratch?
I’ve pretty much been the principle songwriter in all the bands I’ve been in so, from a song-writing point of view, there’s a noticeable evolution from my first release through to Mind-forged Manacles. Also, I hate letting a good idea go! There are a few songs that I’ve taken back to the drawing board and re-written and reproduced, and they’ve worked out well for it.
Who are your biggest influences?
Wow, that’s a question with a very broad answer. My influences are as much from movies, novels and comics as they are from music. But if I had to make a brief list, I’d say Depeche Mode, Bowie, Jane’s Addiction, Mike Garson then Christopher Nolan, Zack Snyder, Darren Aranofski, Tim Burton & Ridley Scott then Clive Barker, Philip K Dick, Christopher Hitchens then Jeff Loeb, Mark Millar, Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. To skim the surface!
What inspires you to write music?
Mood I suppose. A friend once told me that an album is the soundtrack to a mood. Of course an album is so much more but I really love that notion. The songs themselves are based on extreme feelings and pushing one’s mind to the limits, be it with drugs, love, hate, ambition, science, religion… whatever it is that drives the individual.
The live experience is a very theatrical one. Do you have any particular reasons for developing such an original stage show?
I’m sure you’ll agree that there’s nothing more boring than a live show with nothing to see. I think about some of the best live shows I’ve ever seen and they’ve all been visual spectacles. Alice Cooper, WASP, Marilyn Manson, Jane’s Addiction then Erasure, Apoptygma Berzerk, CombiChrist, Rammstein…all brilliant live shows with a flair for the theatrical. Then there are shows like Rocky Horror, Repo: The Genetic Opera and Sweeny Todd. I really love the idea of our live show carrying a narrative all the way through the show whilst allow the music room to shine, too.
If you were only allowed to use five words to describe the band, what would they be?
Black, Red, Live, Electro, Insanity
You're a regular at Club Antichrist. What do you think makes it so successful and what keeps you coming back for more?
It just has something weird and wonderful for every brand of freak. I love it!
The world's ending and you can save AlterRed and one other band. Who would it be and why?
Hmmm, tricky (not Tricky… love him but he’s not top of my list… I mean that’s tricky!). Bowie I suspect. The man’s a total musical chameleon with a seemingly limitless capacity for style!
What do you hope to be doing in five years time?
Haha! I don’t think musicians should be allowed to think five years in advance… they might end up not bothering to do anything!
For music and more see www.alterred.co.uk
YouTube links :
Fleshbind
