When Worlds COLLIDE : Feature & Interview

• 20th Oct 2008

Passion and integrity are two things that many bands find trouble grasping and holding onto throughout their careers. Compromises usually have to be made at certain junctures. Well, this is certainly true of mainstream music. With that level of exposure, artists tend to have to go against their own will from time to time to either appease the money people or the main core fanbase. None of this seems to be true of L.A based band Collide. They are not mainstream. They have no moneymen to keep happy. They have only their own artistic freedom.

Primarily associated with several different fields of music including Darkwave, Ethereal, Trip-Hop, Ambient and of course Rock, Collide consist of two people: kaRIN (Vocals and Lyrics) and Statik (Noise). They have the luxury that they have made their bed and decided to lay in it before tackling the world around them. This is a trick that many artists don’t think of as they are too hungry for attention or simply race down a career path without thinking of what may lay ahead for them, or even what they actually want out of it in the long run.Working in a genre of music that isn't quite the most popular, Collide have afforded themselves the will to tackle problems knowing fully well who they are and what they want their music to be. This of course has also meant many years of hard work, as they pretty much have to do most of the work themselves. In the span of the band’s life so far they have developed their own label (Noiseplus) and have strived to make their own music exactly the way they want it. This has included 4 Studio albums, 2 remix albums, a joint album venture with Dean Garcia from Curve. They have also formed a live band for which they recorded their first live DVD/album. On the side are various artistic pursuits from running the website, answering fans and press, setting up merchandise that seems to always be accompanied by some message of thanks and gratitude from the band. They also find the time for producing, painting, and hand made crafts among other things. It’s no wonder that they have grown considerably in reputation as well as artistically. Like many bands in the past decade, the use of the worldwideweb has been instumental in getting them noticed out there. There has been much in the way of inspiration that the band take from peers, artistic contacts they have made along the way as well as thanks to the support they are fed from adoring fans. They have apeared in many illustious photoshoots as well as many genre magazine covers (Gothic Beauty a stand out). They have also managed to work with artists from the likes of Nine Inch Nails producer Charlie Clauser to Faith and the Muse.

Although they originally formed back in 1993, the bands first EP was not released until 1996. Some of this material went on to form part of their first album 'Beneath the Skin,' which was a rough template of what the band would go on to become. Statik certainly made use of his technical skills as a sound engineer giving the album both dance and industrial soundscapes. kaRIN's vocal work was much more strictly gothic on this album. Be it in the slower more obvious darker tracks like 'Pandora's Box,' or the more pop friendly tracks like 'Deep.'

The band literally took huge leaps forward with their second full album 'Chasing the Ghost' in 2000. Every aspect of the work was more focused. The sound was lush, the mixing and distortion sounded much more crisp and kaRIN had mastered a commanding voice that equalled the music around her. The album is their most industrial album to date; made quite clear with the first notes of the opening track 'Transfer.' Elswhere on the album sees some much loved fan favourites as ‘Halo’ & 'Razor Sharp,' the gloomy and brilliant 'Frozen' and a industrial rendition of Jefferson Airplane's 'White Rabbit.' (Easily one of the better covers by a modern rock act).
'Chasing the Ghost' was an album where skills were honed and the hand of Collide literally was thrust out and grabbed audiences by the throat.

A common intesrest that Collide share with many other acts out there is the never wanting to find themselves being pigeon holed into categories; which is apt as their third album, 2003's ‘Some Kind of Strange’ delivered a more mellow and caring approach. Darkwave and ethereal fans got their biggest kick out of this album. Eleven sumptuous tracks of cross genre heaven. There are certainly still strong industrial and rock elements in place, but there doesn’t seem to be any rage behind the music. Many of the tracks are perfect formations of many sources. The opening songs ‘Crushed’ and stand out song ‘Euphoria’ are both soothing but with harder rock edges where it counts. In other areas of the album are more seductive songs to be found with ‘Inside’ and the almost epic ‘Tempted.’ There was much more of a worldly concern in their tones and lyrics. There was never much of a problem with the lyrics in their previous efforts, but as they took huge steps forward with their sound last album, 'Some Kind of Strange' saw them take advances in the songwriting. Suddenly everything matched perfectly. Style, Sound, Words, Art and Relevance.

This period would also mark the longest gap between albums. It would be half a decade before Collide would release their next and to date morst recent album. In that five-year gap they would have time to change again. Fans were not left for long without something new to play with. 2004 saw the release of their second remix album (The first being 1998’s Distort). ‘Vortex’ was intended to be a compilation of remixes from their second and third album’s material. The band managed to work on some of the material themselves, and even worked on a few more cover songs (For which their rendition of Love and Rockets ‘Haunted (When the Minutes Drag)’ deserves notice). What was suprising was that they sent out an open call to any fans across the world that wanted to send in their own remixes of the material. The quality was apparently so good that they decided to extend it onto a double disc remix album ‘Vortex’ acted as a lot more than just a bashed out remix album. (The second disc being known as Xetrov).
Their Live venture ‘Like the Hunted: Live at El Rey’ saw the band take to the stage. This was a commendable effort even if a straightforward performance. A fitting rock-looking live band, kaRIN looking like she has stepped out of one of the bands many photoshoots and a visual show behind the band to help emphasis the experience. It was released on both CD and DVD with extras in 2005.

What was a complete surprise was what followed in 2007. Collide are known for listing British industrial/alternative act ‘Curve’ as one of their many influences. (Curve being a similar duo combination of Toni Halliday on vocals and Dean Garcia on F/X). Collide contacted Garcia as fans and after he sampled some of their music they decided to work on some material together which turned into a full album. Their union was titled ‘The Secret Meeting’ and the album ‘Ultrashiver.’ The material itself was a combination of both bands previous working styles. The music was created in England, sent via electronic mail to Collide who laid down vocals who then sent the material back for polish by Garcia. The bands never met.
By this point fans were assured that a new Collide was forthcoming. The album ‘Two Headed Monster’ was finally released in the fall of 2008. It may have seemed like a long time since the previous Collide studio album, but the time was certainly full of artistic growth as well as output for the audiences. Continuing to be hypnotic in style, ‘Two Headed Monster’ presented us with a multifaceted piece of work exploring the bright, the breezy, the sinister, the burlesque and as ever on Statik’s part; the experimental.

With a new website; a host of music; merchandise; care and attention taken to each detail; and a future still ahead of them to fill with whatever they dream up – Collide have strived to make music as enjoyable and thoughtful as they can. Part of this success can be laid down to several aspects of the band. Being independent gives them artistic freedom and time on their side. Having a grasp on the world around them keeps the content of their music relevant, and not least of all is the simplicty of how this collision of talent equals a body of work that continues to evolve, morph and allure in all of its exquisite complicity.

Collide – Interview

So as the name Collide was meant as a fusion of both your creative minds and processes coming together, I take it Two Headed Monster is an extension of that?

kaRIN: Actually the name Two Headed Monster deals with my thoughts on the duality of life…the balance of things…male…female…good…evil. I was thinking about things like religion and how it starts wars and separates people and that although the idea of it could be good, people often do evil things and that if I were God, I would be very disappointed what people did in my name. I came from a background that didn’t tell me what to believe in…it just installed good values and said be a good human being. I find it baffling that people fight about religion…like I’ll kill you if you don’t see it my way. I feel that because my upbringing was pretty unconventional (being brought up by wolves and all)…just foolin…I see things differently and from different perspectives.

Statik: I thought the name worked well for us for lots of reasons. It could have been 10 headed monster for that matter, for all of the songs on the album.

Now although you have released a double disc Remix album, have been putting together an onstage ensemble and even released a Live DVD – it has still be 5 years since your last studio album. Has it really taken so long to do all of these other things, or have there been other hold ups?

kaRIN: Whoooooooooooooooosh…our lives are non stop working on stuff that we are totally passionate about. Doing everything ourselves and being perfectionists about it definitely takes time though. We did stop mid Monster to do a whole other side project called The Secret Meeting with Dean Garcia of Curve. We had no intention of getting side tracked at that time, but we could not resist working with him.

Statik: It does sound crazy that it took so long…and it doesn’t really seem like that long. But you finish an album, get a live band together, practice, book some shows, film a dvd, edit the dvd and figure out how dvd menus work and all of the other stuff that goes into a dvd, make The Secret Meeting CD and 2 singles, and before you know it the years just go spinning by. I guess it could go faster if we had more people doing different things, but 1. we’re perfectionists and like to do everything ourselves. and 2. There just isn’t the budget to hire other people to mix or do all of the other stuff that go with making an album.

I know you are probably both still getting your breath back after this one, but do you expect there to be a large gap between this and the next album.

kaRIN: We already have plans…too soon to talk about. We will break for a little while though and at least shift and do some other things.

Statik: I’ll say no. I hope to have another one done next year. I wouldn’t want to keep all of the illegal Russian websites and pirate sites waiting too long.

How has the Live band been? Are you happy with your results in terms of whom you have picked and how you have all performed?

kaRIN: We love our live band, they all played on the album.

Will you be ready to take your sound abroad anytime soon? Like the UK?

kaRIN: For us it seems that there is just not enough time in a day and creating has always been the priority. If an offer came up that we could not resist…we would see.

Statik: It would be fun though…I’m sure we could convince Dean to come up and play some Secret Meeting songs with us too.

So what is specifically new about Two-Headed Monster?

kaRIN: I live inside the creature, so I am not the one to answer as I have no perspective. I would say this album has more live elements due to our live band members playing on it.

Statik: My tastes are always changing and evolving in some way, so how I might go about making a song now is going to be different than how I made one from Beneath the Skin. It's still Collide, just not exactly the same. So it's all new I guess.

What themes have you been exploring with the material?

kaRIN: Life, religion, alienation, worry over the world’s present condidtion, wishing that people would evolve more in their understanding of the world, evolving my own thoughts. The list goes on…it’s really all the stuff that I deal with in my daily thoughts.

You have some guest players on the new album – does the live ensemble contribute at all to the recorded album as well?

kaRIN: Yes, we were thrilled to get our good friend Danny from Tool to play as well as Dean Garcia from Curve. As mentioned above all of our live band members play a part as well and one of the songs was co-written by Scott Landes, who is one of our live guitar members.

Statik: The album was still all started in Pro Tools, but there were a fair amount of live elements. Rather than punching up the drums with some drum loops and editing them to go with what I had going on, it was just a good to be able to have a live drummer do their thing on top. It was the same with the guitar. Some of the guitar parts were just guitar parts, but on a lot of the album, the guitar was treated a lot like a sample and manipulated afterwards. I tried to record everything direct, as well as processed at the same time, so that later I could always go back and really edit the parts and mess with the sounds.

Can you tell us if you are planning any single releases for the album yet?

kaRIN: No plans yet. We are taking a moment to have a breath.

Statik: Right after making the album, I wasn't sure which song(s) I was hearing for a single. I'm actually still undecided. It seems like everyone has a different opinion as to what their favorite song is.

So Dean Garcia is one of the people who have contributed. The other half of Curve, Toni Halliday, is releasing her new effort later this year – Do you follow her work at all? Have you had any contact there with her or only Dean?

kaRIN: Yes, I am aware of her current solo project and have always loved her voice. I have no contact with her though. I can tell you that Dean is an awesome guy, we really loved working with him. He now has a new project with his daughter and son called SPC ECO…loads of talent running through that blood I’ll tell you.

Statik: From what I've heard, she seems to be trying somewhat of a new direction…maybe a little more mellow-y? I'm actually interested to see what she does.

Speaking of Curve – they had a few of their songs appear on trailers such as Spider-man, Ironman and X-men as well as other movie soundtracks. The last few years have seen Collide’s name pop up on a couple of films as well (The Covenant & Resident Evil: Extinction). How do you feel about your work being used in other people’s mediums?

kaRIN: I love it…it feels like it brings it to a whole other realm. I love it when we hear that other artists use our work in their art…dancers, painters, photographers, writers etc. We hear that they feel our music inspires them…that to me is the ultimate… I love art. If I had a religion it would be art religion and people would be kind to each other.

Statik: I second the love. The more movies the better. TV isn't bad either. What else is left? Video games…um, workout dvds, How about Collide in some infomercials. I can see Razor Sharp selling the new ginsu knife.

How does this come about? Are you contacted by people who want to use your material? (I know Charlie Clauser used a remix of your White rabbit Cover on the third Resident Evil movie, and he also has remixed some of your own work appearing on your Vortex album. Maybe a case of who you know?)

Statik: Charlie Clouser didn't have anything to do with White Rabbit getting used. I think he just happens to work musically on a lot of stuff that uses the same styles of music. We were used on the trailer of the 2nd Resident Evil movie too, by the way. Charlie did the remix for Euphoria on Vortex. I actually wanted to work with him some more on Two Headed Monster, but I think he was just too busy with tv and movie stuff. He was the only one that I've actually considered to co-produce with. I know for him though that the movie and tv music is just way more lucrative. Anyway…I think getting music used is partly who you know and just getting your name out there more.

So what is there any other artists out there that you are thinking about or have contacted in terms of working with them (Producers, Musicians or even Vocalists)?

kaRIN: I would really like to do guest vocals for Massive Attack…I have had it in my mind for a while now…so if anyone happens to know them please let them know =).

Statik: See above with Charlie Clouser.

Do either of you currently have any other projects on the go at the moment?

kaRIN: No not at the moment….a nap maybe.

Statik: I'm thinking about recording my turtles and making a turtle album.

You also have a habit of doing some rather wonderful cover songs (White Rabbit and Haunted (When the Minutes Drag) being just a couple of examples). Are you working on any others… If not can you name a few songs that you think you could both do some justice to?

kaRIN: That might be part of a future surprise… too soon to tell.

See the Glasswerk review for Two Headed Monster here:
link

Collide Glasswerk Reviews:
Live at El-Ray Review:
link

Vortex Review:
link

The Secret Meeting – Ultrashiver Review:
link

Dean Garcia Interview:
link

www.collide.net

www.myspace.com/collide

www.myspace.com/thesecretmeeting