This is a chat with Interzone – shortly after the release of Wings in early 2008.
Hello there and thank you for taking the time for this.
No worries mate.
May I start with asking you to describe what Interzone Inc actually is?
Well, Interzone is a process to explore different sonic and harmonic landscapes, their attributes and the energies within. It’s also about an area - an interzone – between the necessity to create and the final product, and how the artist relates and interacts with it.
Interzone is not just me making noise; it includes all the artists I have collaborated with that have embraced the guiding concept behind Interzone.
And for how long have you been doing this?
I stopped making what we would call conventional music in the early 1980′s, and have been on this path ever since. The Interzone concept first came to my mind in the late 80’s, and has been and still is taking shape.
Wings is a very ambient album. Have you produced that kind of music all the time?
First…it’s not an album, it’s a release. And no …well in a way, yes. Ambient music is just one of the fields I am exploring. It has been a part of the Interzone output from the very beginning.
And what other fields are being explored?
Umm, a good example could be how noisy darkness sounds.
Look, it’s not like I can say that “I make this-and-that style music”. I respond to whatever ignites the spark to create something. And the final output is – of course – related to that. So it’s just as natural for me to make warm and lush ambient soundscapes as it is to make brutal and disturbing noises or focusing on arrangements.
Where did all this lust to explore and experiment come from?
When I was a kid I was at the Library here in Stockholm and flipped through their vinyl collection. (Yes, in those days – late 1960′s – you could go and borrow a vinyl record.) I saw an album named “A Rainbow in Curved Air”. I thought –”Wow, an album with such a cool name must sound just great!”
I brought it home, listened to it…and that’s how my love affair with exprimental music begun. I think I was seven years, and I since then that kind of music have always been a part of what I listen to. So it’s pretty natural that I at some point started to make my own versions of it.
So what tuned you on to ambient music now?
And about a year ago I realized that I had made attempts to explore the ambient landscapes, but only attempts. It was time to do this in the proper way.
And the final result can be heard on the Wings release. There is a second ambient release in the making. But it’s too early to talk about it now.
Internet is the place you have chosen to publish your music. Can people find stuff from you in a record store at all?
Yes and no. What I have published on Internet is the public output from 2000 and forward. Now there is lots of old unreleased material from 80-95 – tapes and so – but for now that will stay unreleased.
Mind you, there are some rare stuff floating around; a vinyl single with a de-constructed disco hit called Bettan (1000 copies), a vinyl LP compilation of noise music (300 copies) …and of course all them cassettes.
What are your future plans?
I have taken an interest in concepts as ‘live’ and ‘improvisation’. There is software available that enables a DAW, or host software, to connect over the net, giving artists the opportunity to improvise using synth software in real-time.
I am much exited in the possibility to explore those areas, those interzones. So I’m looking into doing real-time, live electronic improvisations on the Internet.
Isn’t that done on your previous release Live Zones?
No. That album is just me alone. It connects in some way to the live improvisations in the way that every track is recorded in one take, without overdubs and no post processing. By the way, I heard that Live Zones was referred to as a Dark Ambient album. God I loathe labels and boxes.
Anyway…another interzone is to be acknowledged here, that is the area between the artists’ desired output and his ability to realize it immediately. Or to put it bluntly, you can spend days on end in a studio, fiddling around until you get whatever output you want. In a live situation you must be able to respond on an impulse instantly, and that implies that you are very well versed in the software you are using. It’s a bit like learning and mastering a new instrument.
Well, I thank you for your time. If someone has more questions, can they contact you?
Sure – interzone AT live DOT se, and then of course I’m here and on MySpace, Twitter Facebook and so on….
Anything else you want to say?
Of course: Peace always.
