page three
question: "how was it to play shows at the clinic? what was the active scene like?"
answer: "The Clinic and the places that Machine ran before the clinic are basically the reason I became a breakcore artist in the first place. For some background I started playing his shows when I was about 15. I had only really been making music for about a year and was a huge Aphex/Squarepusher/Mu-ziq fan at the time and was trying to make drill and bass. I used to post some of my music on a couple of message boards and one day I got a DM from Machine asking if I wanted to play a big show at his house with a bunch of people I had never heard of (Xanopticon, Dev/null, Duranx3, Enduser) all of whom would go on to be big mainstays in the scene. I had no idea what breakcore was but they embraced me after that show and because I felt like I had found a "home" I continued trying to make breakcore music even if it wasn't something that I knew anything about. He eventually moved to the house that would become the Clinic (which was in the basement). That was probably the height of the venue and the local scene. Basically anyone who played breakcore and came through the northeast would play at that venue. It never really saw huge numbers of people attending (it was pretty small) but when a bigger name was on the roster, like Drop The Lime, the place was packed out pretty well. A lot of the attendees were also musicians or label owners. NYC usually got the bigger names/shows like Venetian Snares (who I don't think ever played the clinic, possibly because Machine made fun of his Misfits cover on the Planet-Mu message board back in the day) and Otto, etc and those shows were more well attended just because it was a lot easier to get to than New Brunswick, NJ. When Machine moved the venue to a 3rd house the scene began to cool off a bit as people drifted away from breakcore in general. Drop the Lime was now doing dance music and ran a really successful party called Trouble N Bass with Math Head (one of my best friends in the world, RIP) and Star Eyes. It also doubled as a crust punk venue I think but I never went to any of those nights. There was a time where it was really exciting and fun to go to shows at the Clinic but ultimately it fizzled as the interest in breakcore faded."
page four
question: "what inspired your shift towards a more rock/folk inspired sound?"
answer: "To be honest I mostly made breakcore because it felt like my home after that first show. I always wanted to have a band and mostly listened to music with lyrics. I also grew up listening to a lot of music from the 60s and 70s like the Beatles, Velvet Underground, and a lot of early punk music like Ramones, Wire, etc and ultimately wanted to do something with more traditional "songs". I also played the guitar since I was in my early teens but rarely used it in my music. I think I ultimately felt like my breakcore music sounded kind of uninspired and that I couldn't really match the energy of my peers and decided if I was going to keep the project going I was going to do something I was genuinely excited to work on. Royal Invitation was my test to see if I could pull it off and it went over well enough that Stefan from Hymen Records offered to put out a full length. Up to that point I had tried and failed to release so many records on so many labels that it felt like this was my one shot to do something cool. I knew it probably was going to alienate the few listeres I had from the breakcore days but it was fun to make Royal We. Theres a lot on there I'm not super happy with but it felt so much closer to what I always wanted to do. I think if you want to be successful as musician there's something to be said for being really consistent but if you want to be happy as a musician it's more important to just express yourself honestly and I feel like I was able to do that pretty well on that record. My hope is that whatever I'm able to put out in the future is as fun to listen to as it was to make."
question: "how was it to play shows at the clinic? what was the active scene like?"
answer: "The Clinic and the places that Machine ran before the clinic are basically the reason I became a breakcore artist in the first place. For some background I started playing his shows when I was about 15. I had only really been making music for about a year and was a huge Aphex/Squarepusher/Mu-ziq fan at the time and was trying to make drill and bass. I used to post some of my music on a couple of message boards and one day I got a DM from Machine asking if I wanted to play a big show at his house with a bunch of people I had never heard of (Xanopticon, Dev/null, Duranx3, Enduser) all of whom would go on to be big mainstays in the scene. I had no idea what breakcore was but they embraced me after that show and because I felt like I had found a "home" I continued trying to make breakcore music even if it wasn't something that I knew anything about. He eventually moved to the house that would become the Clinic (which was in the basement). That was probably the height of the venue and the local scene. Basically anyone who played breakcore and came through the northeast would play at that venue. It never really saw huge numbers of people attending (it was pretty small) but when a bigger name was on the roster, like Drop The Lime, the place was packed out pretty well. A lot of the attendees were also musicians or label owners. NYC usually got the bigger names/shows like Venetian Snares (who I don't think ever played the clinic, possibly because Machine made fun of his Misfits cover on the Planet-Mu message board back in the day) and Otto, etc and those shows were more well attended just because it was a lot easier to get to than New Brunswick, NJ. When Machine moved the venue to a 3rd house the scene began to cool off a bit as people drifted away from breakcore in general. Drop the Lime was now doing dance music and ran a really successful party called Trouble N Bass with Math Head (one of my best friends in the world, RIP) and Star Eyes. It also doubled as a crust punk venue I think but I never went to any of those nights. There was a time where it was really exciting and fun to go to shows at the Clinic but ultimately it fizzled as the interest in breakcore faded."
page four
question: "what inspired your shift towards a more rock/folk inspired sound?"
answer: "To be honest I mostly made breakcore because it felt like my home after that first show. I always wanted to have a band and mostly listened to music with lyrics. I also grew up listening to a lot of music from the 60s and 70s like the Beatles, Velvet Underground, and a lot of early punk music like Ramones, Wire, etc and ultimately wanted to do something with more traditional "songs". I also played the guitar since I was in my early teens but rarely used it in my music. I think I ultimately felt like my breakcore music sounded kind of uninspired and that I couldn't really match the energy of my peers and decided if I was going to keep the project going I was going to do something I was genuinely excited to work on. Royal Invitation was my test to see if I could pull it off and it went over well enough that Stefan from Hymen Records offered to put out a full length. Up to that point I had tried and failed to release so many records on so many labels that it felt like this was my one shot to do something cool. I knew it probably was going to alienate the few listeres I had from the breakcore days but it was fun to make Royal We. Theres a lot on there I'm not super happy with but it felt so much closer to what I always wanted to do. I think if you want to be successful as musician there's something to be said for being really consistent but if you want to be happy as a musician it's more important to just express yourself honestly and I feel like I was able to do that pretty well on that record. My hope is that whatever I'm able to put out in the future is as fun to listen to as it was to make."