Interview with BILL T MILLER in Swedish Fanzine KISSAN PAIVAT (2011) 1. Can you talk about your first encounters with noise music? It depends on how one defines "NOISE MUSIC" ...like everybody I was exposed to the rhythms/sounds of the universe from the womb onward. I first made noise by banging on a red toy piano that I got on my 2nd birthday (May 1958.) Over the years I had fun with toys, AM radios, pots, pans, garbage drums, tennis racket and rubber band cigar box guitars. I remember always striking the low keys on my grandfather's grand piano and stretching to push the sustain pedal and plucking and scraping and muting the strings (later on finding out that it was similar to John Cage's prepared piano.) As I mentioned, on my 10th birthday (May 1965) I got an AM radio that I made noise with. Then in 1967, I got a Silvertone electric guitar and a Lafayette Reverb unit that I plugged into a Harmony amp. I would do feedback while cranking and shaking the reverb springs. Then my dad (who was a scientist and hi-fi stereo buff) brought home the "Switched On Bach" album and when I showed interest in the Moog on the cover, he borrowed a sine wave test oscillator from his chemistry lab. Later he brought home a reel-to-reel of a project entitled "Drone" that his students recorded with large metal garbage can drums that were slowed down. Accidently threading up Hendrix backwards on that tape recorder was also an ear opening for me. Of course via tons TV and film and cartoons I heard sci-fi scores and assorted sound fx. One TV moment that I especially remember was when comedian Bill Cosby was doing explosions with his hands cupping the microphone. Those are just some of the pieces of my puzzle. 2. When did you discover circuit bending? Of course, discovering "circuit bending" is like Columbus discovering the "indians" or DJ Allen Freed and "rock-n-roll"... all were existing long before being labeled. It is natural for electronic tinkerers to tweak, customize, mod and hot rod circuits. From Ben Franklin with lightning striking a flying a kite with a key attached, to a never ending list of the of electro wizards (like Thomas Edison, Tesla, Don Buchla, Bob Moog, Leon Theremin, Peter Zinovieff, Roger Mayer) that all explored circuits in some way. So circuit bending is just another step in the evolution of this tradition. As I mentioned, on my 9th birthday (May 4, 1966) I got a Mickey Mouse AM radio with an earplug that I would dial in static squelch on. The front cover popped off easily and noticed that when I touched the coil inside it went crazy (later on finding out it was like a theremin) ....but I didn't think I had discovered anything, it just seemed natural. As a recording engineer and musician (and kid at heart) I have always lusted for sound gizmos. I have had tons over the years, but my official first "circuit bent" toy was a CASIO SK-1 Keyboard that was custom modified by TABLEBEAST that I scored in 2002. Within a few months I had several more toys from other benders, mostly via Ebay auctions. Then I found out that a master bender genius artist named Reed Ghazala was the one who coined the phrase "circuit bending" that rebranded this ancient art and spread the gospel by tweaking toys and painting them and generously sharing his bending techniques with others. 3. Is there any special circuit bending creation that you are extra pleased with? My bending skills are at basic level. I am an early adopter and champion of circuit bending who helped share my passion while building up a nice collection of circuit bent toys. I have collected masterpieces by several different benders. Sort of like a race car driver who drives the car and has a team of ace mechanics. I am more into playing, than actually bending them. Many of the benders did not have their own web pages back then, so I would feature them on my site. [ http://circuitbending.com ] Since my site had several different benders and tons of bent links it was an early space on the net for people to discover the world of circuit bending from different perspectives. I would sometimes get benders to custom mod toys that had never been bent before and offer design suggestions. My peak bent collecting overload was from 2002 to 2006, by the time it started to catch on a bit, I returned to my earlier passion of building weird homemade instruments like my Spring-O-Caster electric tennis racquet guitar (flashing back to when i was a kid in 1966) and assorted junk percussion creations that I would play along with the electronic toys. The music I create is more precious to me than the objects that I play. I love each gizmo like children or colors or notes, but if I had to pick my favorite, I could narrow it down to three.... my TRON BOT (toy robot bent by Scott Campbell) and my GUTTAR (toy guitar bent by Thom Uliasz) and my WARPSPEAK (toy voice changer bent by Waterhed.) Those three along with my tennis racquet guitar are the core of my live Orgy Of Noise concert rigs. For live performance I look for toys that are reliable and don't shut down if you click the wrong switch and also toys that have some sort of visual performance art appeal. 4. How is it to live in Boston? How is the city different from other places in USA? Boston is great. In many ways Boston is spoiled and there is more music and other art being created than there are people with time and/or money to consume it all. I have lived in Boston for the last 27 years. Don't dig the cold of the north, but don't really dig the brutal heat of south and southwest either. I spent most of my life staying up until dawn in studios with no windows, so my view of the universe is abnormal. I mostly just go to NYC and sometimes the Carolinas to visit my family. I haven't been on mega USA tour since the 80s when I was a live soundman. I grew up in small college towns in Virginia and Carolinas and then when 18 I headed out to California to go to recording arts school in San Franciso and later ended up in LA. Then after a six years in California, I ended up back on the east coast. There is a parallel of Boston to New York City and San Francisco to LA. Those four places along with Atlanta and New Orleans are my favorite USA cities, but most of my perspective is from memories. It some way the smaller cities are probably more welcoming because they are hungrier for entertainment. BTM's SMILEY FACE COOL CITY GUIDE: BOSTON - flat line (just too cool or too cold to show real emotion) NYC - sneaky grin (you know you're gonna overpay, but it's all cool) SF - knowing wink (if you're in the know, then you are pure cool) LA - big smile (you know you're gonna be used, but it's all cool, man) In the end it is all about the PEOPLE wherever you are. I would luv to do an mega Orgy Of Noise concert tour and loop around the USA and visit friends and fans in England, Germany, Sweden, Japan and experience more cities and people. 5. You were the recording engineer/co-producer for most of the band Disrupt's recordings, what do you remember about those recording sessions? Disrupt is my favorite band that I recorded of that 1988-1998 heavy hardcore era. I worked on ALL of the Disrupt studio recordings (except for their earliest rehearsal space demo.) I had recorded their bass player (BOB) in a band called Subjugator and he recommended that Disrupt check out my Headroom Studios. In very first sessions they brought in an engineer to my studio (who was temporarily in Boston going to Berklee music school.) So I was more of a ghost engineer/studio manager on those. All the rest we did at several different studios over the years. When I engineer raw music, my co-production style is more like ANTI-PRODUCTION, trying to produce it in a live - what you hear is what you get - capture the energy style. I want the bands to get their sound. The early Disrupt budgets were so low that we cut it all live, mixing straight to stereo 2-track reel to reel. Then later we did sessions on 16-track tape machines at Headroom and The Lanes. My Headroom Studios is my private project studio and kinda small, so I always like to freelance engineer out of larger studios. When they got the big record deal with Relapse, we cut Unrest at the huge studio (One World) that was next door to mine. The studio was equipped with my favorite audio combination, a Neve mixing console and Studer 24 Track tape machine. The budget seemed decent for a thrash record, but a bigger studio with top notch gear, meant triple the rate and more tape costs for two inch tape. So there wasn't anytime to afford to do anything more than just set up and cut it live and mix, edit, master it super quick. Since the CD more time than the normal 40 minutes per album we really ended up tracking one and half records worth of songs. Jay brought in a tapes with sound bite samples to be added during mixdown/editing. L-R = BOB & PETE & RANDY & BTM Since I grew up in the 60s, by the time I was 12, I had a complete distrust of government, religion, corporations and was pro human & animal rights with a "live and let live" sorta thinking... so the messages in most of the hardcore/punk songs fit right in with my thinking. Vocalists Jay and Pete wrote the Disrupt lyrics and they had a passionate political view of the world, but for the most part the others seemed to be more about the music and a buzz and didn't seem to care that much about all the causes either way. I use to tease some of the lyric writers of some of the hardcore bands I recorded about how they were: "just like the 60s hippies with their great ideals and causes, but most did nothing." I would challenge them by saying that if they really wanted to help they should spend some their beer and smoke and instrument and recording money on helping feed people or teaching kids or old people how to read or something that actually helped the local community. Screaming in cookie monster grunts that nobody can understand without the lyric sheets was never really gonna change things that much. Really just taunting them a bit to get them to put some action behind their words. I think some of them listened and reflected some insights on future songs and a little bit of action, but most just let me rant on. All the sessions were so quick that there wasn't a lot of time to talk about lyrics and later when the records came out I would really read what they were saying. Four of the members (Terry, Jeff, Randy, Jay) of Disrupt started a side-project called GRIEF (with Disrupt drummer Randy switching to bass and they added a new drummer.) Grief was slow motion downer Sabbath... pure misery, no real politics... just pain. I called it SLUDGE. I remember the very first Grief session was on a Sunday and Disrupt had played a show in New York City the night before and had been up all night. Disrupt guitarist Jeff was now doing the lead vocals and when he started to sing and his normally deep thick crust heavy voice was even more destroyed. A reviewer of the first Grief record said the singer "sounds like he gargled with drano" (plumber chemical used to un-clog drain pipes.) On later sessions I would sometimes joke about getting that killer drano death throat sound again. In addition to Grief, I recorded several other bands that featured members of Disrupt... like Noosebomb, State of Fear, Chicken Chest, Disabuse and Subjugator. Plus, lots of other bands that loosely were part of that scene like: Dropdead, Discordance Axis, Nightstick, Monster X, Devoid of Faith, Coniption, Scapegrace, Dissension, Deformed Conscience, HellChild, Coleman, The Mind Parasites, WarHorse, The McVeighs, Disfuse, World War, Defcon 4, Melee, Toxic Narcotic, August Spies, Out Cold, Inflatable Children, Puzzlehead, Arise & more. Some are on the Heavy Hardcore Headroom compilation CD [ http://billtmiller.com/hhh/ ] that Profane Existence and my ExtraTerrestrial Discs label co-released in 1995. All were tracks were recorded dirt cheap at Headroom, but relatively high quality in that pure BTM anti-productions raw live style. Everybody in the same room, sometimes without headphones, all first or second takes with very little overdubs, except some guitar bits and vocals.... just nail it. [ http://billtmiller.com/disrupt ] 6. How do you view the current noise and circuit bending scene? It's great that instrumental music of all kinds is now more of the norm for live shows and releases. There are tons of shows here in Boston every month. Not really that many around Boston that use lot of circuit bent toys, but lots of instrumental noise. With this push a button, a flip a switch, click a loop world of today, everybody is a musician (and a recording engineer) these days. Most having no clue on how to actually play notes and beats in the formal sense, just pure instinct. Of course that can be good and bad as the glut of too many releases flood the world. I named my first Orgy Of Noise album "Plague of MP3s" (in 1998) has the deluge of MP3s was upon us. Now there is a "Plague of YouTube Videos". The NOISE scene has subdivided into so many different zones... experimental & industrial & harsh & library drone & jazzy & synthy & 8-bit & dance beat laptopers & etc. I tend to mix up all of those styles and shift constantly. Others are more purist and just focus on one zone, which (just like in pop music) makes it easier for the audience to grasp. I always find it funny when people think they have invented a completely new kind of music, especially when it sounds sorta like something I heard decades before they were born. A decade ago the cost of stock vintage toys was more reasonable, but they supplies seem to have dwindled as more people get into bending. One of things I noticed that if one bender bent a toy in a certain configuration, many would just copy that exact layout, instead of exploring new designs. I think it is great that some benders are very open source and share their knowledge, I just hope that after learning the basics, benders will forge their own style. I have linked some of my favorite benders at: http://circuitbending.com/links/ 7. You have had a lot of different projects going over the years, which one of your projects would you consider to be most active? I go through phases were I focus on one project for a few years, but always have something cooking with some of my other bands in the background (videos, remixes, lost tracks.) Most of my bands have don't really have a fixed line-up, so none of them ever break up. I am always juggling and flashing back and looking forward at the same time. I am working on a DVD right now that features my first bands Racquet Band (1966) and The Electric Onion (1968) which includes my two younger brothers, DAVID and GREG.) My Mom was a very creative pre-school teacher who cheered us on to try out various art projects and luckily she shot photos and super 8 film of our early adventures. She was part of Racquet Band 2006 40th reunion sessions as well. [ http://racqetband.com ] In 1989, after 15 years of me mostly recording other people's music, I created Out of Band Experience (OBE) - the idea being to have a core rhythm section with a bunch of guest stars. OBE had so many layers and people on it that it never played out live. OBE is the root of all my bands of the last two decades. There is a song on the first OBE album called: "Kings Of Feedback Present The Wall Of Noise" that was a spark for two spin-off bands. Wall Of Noise eventually was renamed ORGY OF NOISE (in 1995) and has always been the space where I would stick my too weird for OBE experiments. In 1991, Kings Of Feedback mode kicked-in as a vehicle to play out live and give me and my old friend VERNON (from when I was a teenager in North Carolina) a space where I would create the riff rock music and he would come up with most of the words. It was a basic raw stripped industrial blues slack sludge noise rock (with me on bass & guitar & samples and a few key drummers and guitar players.) We played eight live gigs and released several singles, albums (live and studio from 1991-98.) Then when I needed more SLACK than Kings Of Feedback could handle, I went out solo as KING OF SLACK with a living keyboard of slack sampler and ranted away live at various SubGenius Devivals (from 1994-1998.) I tracked a pure percussion album on full moon sessions in 1991 called "Drum Army - Wants You" that was finally released in 1998. That year I also released the last KING OF FEEDBACK CD and the ORGY OF SLACK compilation. With all those other bands sorta wrapped up (in 1998) I focused completely on ORGY OF NOISE. The roots of go back to my fun as a 60s kid and my 70s experiments with my ARP Odyssey synthesizer and Fender Strat guitar doing sound on sound recordings with my Revox A-77 tape recorder. The last fourteen years have produced four studio and four live albums and several DVDs by Orgy Of Noise. Plus, there is enough footage already shot to do several more DVDs that I am in the process of editing now. [ http://btmtv.com ] 8. Which of all your records to you consider to be your personal favorite? Out of Band Experience (OBE) - Call Now! [ http://OBETV.com ] Endless exposure to experimental music over the decades while working as engineer/producer recording others band's (sorta) normal music lead to me doing my Out of Band Experience (OBE) project starting in 1989 (which lead to the spin-off projects: Kings Of Feedback, Wall Of Noise, Drum Army.) When I dreamed up this concept OBE album I got a who's who of my favorite players to join in. Although OBE is cynical satire insanity, that era of my life and music in general was a bit more innocent and I was more excited about the future and present. OBE's 25th anniversary is coming up in 2014, so I am already in pre-production for a making of OBE un-classic album DVD and maybe some reunion OBE recording sessions. The original OBE drummer and I are doing some tracks together this spring for the first time in almost twenty years. 9. What is your personal relationship with DIY culture in general? I have always been in a do it all myself mode with a little help from my friends. I originally envisioned my first label (Moon Records) in 1975 as a recording school class project. Finally in 1989 I created Immortal Records (that eventually morphed to ExtraTerrestrial Discs in 1994) to release my OBE records/tapes. By 1998, I released ten albums of my music as an artist, so i put them all on one data disc full of mp3s called "MP3 ORGY". [ http://MP3ORGY.com ] Since I attempt to play any instrument, I can put on my musician hat and compose or improv a song or riff lay it down with my recording engineer/producer hat on and then mix and master it. With my multimedia hat on, I can shoot/edit video and photos and design the cover art and create photo books, stickers, dvds, web sites, zines, blogs, t-shirts, do live studio webcam broadcasts and upload, print, burn right from my studio. People can get my stuff for free on the net or get physical media with deluxe packaging. With my Mac computer's software tools: Pro Tools (audio) - Final Cut (video) - Photoshop (photos) - I can handle all the media post production myself. Even before the computer age, I would try do it all myself, but now there are so many more pro options. Years ago I would make sure my releases got to physical record stores, radio stations, music press, distributors and people directly via the postal service. Since 1996, I have almost completely depended on the internet for distro. I give away complete MP3 albums (with artwork.) [ http://MP3ORGY.com ] and encourage people to "Burn This Disc" [ http://BurnThisDisc.com] via my label - all long before the online digital label became the new biz model. I have always offered my music in as many formats as I could, from vinyl to cassette to cd to video to dvd to digital files (mp3, wav, aiff, au, mov, real audio) - even ESP (ExtraSensory Perception) beamed straight into your mind. Whatever it takes to share it with you. Best part of being completely DIY is that I can do anything I want with the music, lyrics, artwork, video, etc... the hardest part is not having enough cash to make it all happen. And worst of all, having to having to hype yourself with that... "hey look at me, listen, buy, worship me me ME." Even in this interview, I feel like I am selling something to you, even though I am giving it all away. When I post online to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, message boards I feel like I am bothering people who mostly just want ME to consume THEIR art. I have always tried to give back my support to others by going to shows and shooting photos/videos and recording/remixing bands at super deals or even free. It is sad, how few of these people that I have cheered on actually show up at my shows or take the time to listen to my music. Part of my problem is most of the people I know are other musicians who are obsessed with their music. But, there are a few really great people who have supported me and/or joined in on my sessions over the years that make it all worthwhile. Of course DIY has become easier with the internet. It is so great to have overnight international distro so I can connect with people like yourself and the readers of your zine in Sweden. I love how artists and fans can easily connect directly theses days. I got into doing live webcam broadcasts as another way share with people directly. Hope to crank up even more live BTM TV web broadcasts soon. [ http://BTMtelevision.com ] THE ELECTRIC ONION - L-R = GREG & JOHN & CLIFTON & BTM 10. What did you listen to growing up? I was born in 1956, right as the rock-n-roll beat was taking off. Despite all the noise I make, I have pretty normal mainstream tastes. Hendrix & The Beatles are still my all-time classic favorites. On X-MAS 1964 (at eight years old,) I scored The Beatles "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" record and proceded to devour everything in sight. I'll try out anything from various types of rock to blues, classical, jazz, punk, electronic, country, soul and so on. In the 60s, I was mainly into lots of english rock (Stones, Animals, Kinks, Cream, Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Jeff Beck, Humble Pie, Free, The Who) ...then into early prog rock (Pink Floyd, Genesis, King Crimson, Yes, Can) which I dug, since songs were longer and the singer got out of the way so the band could play. At the same time listening to american rock (The Monkees, Zappa, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin and much more.) It seems like 1964-1974 was really the golden era of rock, and by the time I turned 18 (1974) the biz had destroyed most of what was left. Growing up in small towns without an older brother or sister or much cash to buy stuff it was harder to find out what was going on. There was just a little bit of rock on television and very few concerts or places to buy records, which made each record or show even more special. Today with the internet, kids can dial in the world from their bedroom or from their phone, they are bombarded and spoiled. As far as specific early "noise" influences.... tons of songs like "Revolution 9" collage by The Beatles, "Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict" by Pink Floyd, and many of Jimi Hendrix's songs "And the Gods Made Love" and "EXP", and assorted jazz and classical music albums (that my Dad had) all helped destroy my perception that a "song" had to have a verse/chorus with a melody and a 4/4 beat formula. The first mega concert I witnessed was The Monkees with opener Jimi Hendrix (on his first tour, two weeks after Monterey Pop) who mostly played songs, but at the end of his set with his guitar squealing he held it up and the tossed it high into the air and walked off leaving the teeny bopper's minds blown. Later on, records from radio sound fx masters Firesign Theatre and Lou Reed's "Heavy Metal Machine Music" four sides of pure noise opened me up further. By mid 70s, I was a professional recording engineer still seeking out new sounds. SEE 360 Panoramic of previous HEADROOM v5 It's always funny when a new generation thinks they re-evented the world and they are the first to discover something new. I remember when punk kicked in seemed like it was gonna be just what was needed to stir up the bloated excess. Johnny Rotten would jump all around putting down Pink Floyd acting like punk was the new future, but when i first heard it I was like, who are they kidding, this is just wound up Chuck Berry rock-n-roll and classic 60s garage rock with more hate. I thought a lot the "angry young white boy who can't get a break" was more of a clown-like marketing fashion persona that had been sold to us before. I dug the energy of a lot of those "punk" bands, but when biz came in and added a skinny tie, a new haircut with a punky disco beat and called it new wave, it was over. Sad truth is, people don't want their bands or actors to change or evolve. A person's tastes seem to be formed in the teenage years (or earlier) for life. In the end I still love the stuff I heard a kid the most, but at least I am willing to try out new sounds or rediscover old ones. Variations of the (guitar bass drums keyboards vocals) rock combo are almost 60 years old... I attempt to play all of those rock instruments, but I still kinda love/hate the 12 tone note scale, 4/4 beat formula of civilized western man and crave more adventures in music. 11. What bands do you think are worth checkin out these days? I tend to love and support the people that I have recorded, photographed, and played with... way too many too list here, so poke around my sites and blog for more. [ http://billtmiller.blogspot.com ] * some of my favorite bands that I have shot photos/video of: Neptune, Magik Markers, Chris Corsano, ToyDeath, Silver Apples, Wolf Eyes, Lightning Bolt, Major Stars, Dreamhouse, John Eye, Secret Diary, The Mars Volta, NIN [ more at: http://billtmiller.com/photos ] * some friends (who have active bands) that have been part of my band's adventures: Deftly-D, Wisteriax, Ajda the Turkish Queen, Melt-Banana, Roger Miller, Axemunkee, Michael Knoblach, Rich Gilbert, Reeves Gabrels, Reg Bloor, Glenn Branca, Ed "Moose" Savage, Glenn Jones, Burnkit 2600, Joker Nies & more * favorite not so guilty pleasures: Can, Einsturzende Neubauten, Hawkwind, Rush, The Residents, Small Faces * classic vintage Boston bands: Think Tree, The Zulus, Bentmen, Mission Of Burma, The Slaves, OBE * and of course, my bands: Orgy Of Noise, Out of Band Experience (OBE), Kings Of Feedback, Slackbangers, Drum Army, King Of Slack, The Electric Onion, Racquet Band, Zonkulator 12. Final thoughts? I love CATS, so I am really into the name your zine.... KISSAN PAIVAT (Finnish for CAT DAYS.) My cat TIPPI CAT (R.I.P.) co-produced on my studio tracks (for 15 years) and these days ZIGGY CAT is helping out. I really dig handmade cut and paste old school hard copy paper labor of love fanzines like yours and really appreciate you and your readers being interested in what I am up to. The paper version is a limited printing, so if you have one of these, please save it or pass it on to your friends. Readers of KISSAN PAIVAT can snail mail/email me directly via: http://billtmiller.com/contact/ and/or BTM - PO BOX 1045 - ALLSTON, MA 02134 usa. THANKS ----> BTM * Questions for interview by ALEX OLOFSSON of KISSAN PAIVAT fanzine. * Photos by Sheri Hausey, Marlene Miller, Jon Strymish, David Ackerman, Disrupt, Twink, BTM. back to: billtmiller.com