A23 frontman, Tom Shear, interviewed by Benny Hell
March 21, 2007, 11:41am
When I last interviewed Tom Shear, of Assemblage23, it was at the beginning of a very cold January and the snow was piled high around my home. He was very busy, hard at work creating new music, but courteous enough to grant his attention to an unknown and unfamiliar writer. Despite some major bumps in the road on my part,including a massive regional ice storm, the interview finally found a good home and appeared in Re:Gen Magazine. At that time, Mr. Shear was finalizing work on his forthcoming EP single, Binary, and an LP album, called Meta. Now, with the arrival of spring, production for the new additions to the A23 library is completed and both releases are set to hit music stores within the next two months. I was fortunate enough to catch up to the perpetually busy, and always gracious, Tom Shear to ask him about the excitement of releasing a new album, plans for future touring, and to discuss the effects of music piracy on his work.
BH: So Tom, when last we spoke Meta and Binary were still just plans taking shape from the drawing board. Works in progress… How do you feel, now that you have completed them and they’re both due out so soon?
Tom Shear: Of course it is always a relief to finish up an album, but it is also quite nerve-wracking to have to wait several months before it comes out to see how people react to it. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic, though.
BH: I know how often there are times that I would like to take something I wrote and rework it after it’s been published, and I bet it’s the same for you. Are there things about them you would like to change?
Tom Shear: There are things about everything I ever put out that I wish I could go back and do differently. I think that is kind of a universal experience for creative people whether they are writers, musicians, artists, etc. In fact, when I finish an album, I have what I call my 'post-partum depression' stage where everything I thought sounded great before suddenly sounds like shit to me and I am convinced that it's the end of the road for me. You'd think by now I would recognize this pattern from all the previous times I have put stuff out, but it happens to me every time!
BH: I go through that daily, nothing ever looks as good as it did in my head! So, regarding Meta and Binary, how has the music press acclimated to them?
Tom Shear: It's still a bit early, but what little feedback I have gotten so far has been really positive, especially for the album. I think it surprised a lot of people because it goes in some different directions I haven't really explored before.
BH: How do you think the fans will receive them?
Tom Shear: I can never predict that. Of course my hope is that they will love it, but no matter what you do, you are going to thrill some people and disappoint others. So the best thing is just to try and make it so YOU like it. All the rest is just the cherry on top of the sundae.
BH: Speaking of fans, I noticed you have a preview of Binary on VampireFreaks.com. On behalf of your fans, thanks!
Tom Shear: No problem!
BH: I am in the ideal position for an A23 fan. Metropolis was generous enough to send me promotional copies of your LP and EP, which I have listened to relentlessly. I noticed that you took a different approach to some of the songs on Meta and Binary. Madman’s Dream, and Dirt are really innovative. They have elements that wouldn’t have fit in with Storm or Defiance. They are fundamentally different in music, and in lyrical approach, but still great, better for their diversity… Would you attribute the differences to personal growth?
Tom Shear: Well, that and boredom. Heh. I felt like it was just time to move on and try some new things. It seems like the scene has grown really stagnant, and although I don't pretend for a second that what I am doing is amazing or going to change the world, I just felt it would be more interesting for me personally to stretch out a bit.
BH: Do you think that your recent return to work as Nerve Filter had any influences on the overall sound of the EP and LP?
Tom Shear: A bit. The "Binary" b-side "Flourescent Skies" definitely has some Nerve Filter elements to the drum programming. But overall, the experience of Nerve Filter really influenced the recording and mixing process more than the music itself. With the Nerve Filter stuff, I was after really weird sounds, so I approached the effects and mixing board as if it was a modular synth. In other words, a synth sound or sample would just be the beginning. Most of the actual shaping and manipulation of the sound came from using really weird effects, filters, and that sort of thing so that the end result sounded nothing like the source material did originally. Assemblage 23 is obviously not as weird in the sound design sense, but I still used that technique to shape the sounds, particularly using things like guitar amps and effects to dirty the sounds up and make them a bit more 'living', even if only in a subtle way. But the major influence from a musical standpoint was that I thought back to the bands that got me excited about music in the first place and what it was about those bands that grabbed my attention. So I think it was a mixture of the A23 sound people are familiar with, but adding influence from my early favorites in a way I really haven't done before.
BH: Who, or what, were you listening to when you made the albums?
Tom Shear: Honestly, when I am working on a record, I don't listen to 'outside' music too much for the most part. It's not unusual to spend 14-16 hours in the studio a day, and by that time my ears are pretty shot and listening to more music is the last thing I want to do. But some stuff I have really liked in the past year or so was the last Junkie XL album, 'Oneric' by this Irish guy who records under the name Boxcutter, Apparat & Ellen Alien's "Orchestra of Bubbles", Boards of Canada's "Trans Canada Highway", the debut Gabriel & Dresden album, and Burial's self-titled debut which is like a really dubby version of Massive Attack (sort of).
BH: You are notorious for veiling the experiences that fuel your songs. Your website says that you don’t divulge the meaning behind your work so the fan can make it an objective experience rather than going in with some idea of what the music is about. I do have one song that struck me powerfully, and as such, I am a little curious about the story behind it. What led you to compose the lyrics to Old, off of Meta?
Tom Shear: Well, about a year and a half ago I got married. I always had a sort of cynical look on relationships and wasn't sure if I would ever find someone I would want to spend the rest of my life with. But I did and it's actually eerie how much of a match we are. She really is basically the female version of me. And she's a musician as well, so she understands the touring and the studio time and the other stuff that can be difficult to manage sometimes in a relationship with someone who ISN'T a musician. Anyway, both of my grandparents on my mother's side suffered from Alzheimer's, and the basis of the song started as thinking about the possibility that it might happen to me some day, and all the wonderful memories my wife and I have had together would be gone to me. And if this happened, would she be able to help me remember those times and perhaps even improve on them a bit so I could drift into senility blissfully, heh... It sounds morbid, but I think it is actually quite a romantic song too. It's Ro-morbid-tic.
BH: Have you made any plans for a tour yet? If so, who is on your line-up for your live shows?
Tome Shear: We're in the real early stages at this point, so I can't really comment right now.
BH: As I mentioned in some of the email exchanges we’ve had, I am writing an article on music piracy for Vampire Freaks. How many of your songs or albums would you speculate have been bootlegged?
Tom Shear: They've all been bootlegged. Even the obscure stuff. It is flattering that someone cares about what I am doing enough to want it, but on the other hand, if they really care about what I am doing, one would think they would want to be supportive of it to ensure that there is more of it. But greed trumps conscience sometimes.
BH: I know that you have touched on it through your web page, but I’d like to ask you as well, how does the theft of your music affect you personally as well as in your role as the head of 23db Records?
Tom Shear: Well, 23db is a really tiny label. I formed it not with the idea of getting rich (anyone forming a label in this scene with that idea is seriously misinformed), but with putting out music I liked and helping out people I had gotten to know and believed in. So the piracy thing really makes it hard for labels as small as 23db. If you are a major label selling 100,000 copies of an album, losing 25 sales to piracy is no big deal, but with indie labels who sells a lot less, 25 copies can literally be the difference between losing money on a release or breaking even.
BH: What do you, personally, think it will take to change the piracy that is so rampant in our scene, before it kills all of OUR favorite bands?
Tom Shear: Well, I think legal download services such as iTunes are definitely helping. But right now we are sort of in a crossover phase where the increase in digital sales is not equal to the decline in physical CD sales. I think eventually we will get there, or close to it, but the real question is, how long will that take and how many bands and labels will disappear in the meantime? I don't know the answer to that. All I can ask is that if people really like a band, that they do the right thing and either buy the CD or buy it through a legitimate digital download site. Nobody in this scene is getting rich. In fact, 98% of the bands have day jobs just like you. There are a lot of expenses that go into recording, printing, and releasing an album, and if bands and labels are losing money, they are eventually going to have to throw in the towel.
BH: On a lighter note, have you seen the interviews I did with Matt Fanale of Caustic, and Jason Hollis of Endif? If so, what do you think of them?
Tom Shear: Actually, my deep dark secret is that I can't read. In fact, I am conducting this interview via my sense of smell. That did indeed lead me to the Caustic and Endif interviews... Don't get me wrong. Matt and Jason are nice guys, but they need to learn that Aqua Velva and Axxe Body Spray are NOT substitutes for a shower.
BH: What is the official position of A23 on Matt Fanale’s exploitation of the events following your recording for Unicorns, Kittens, and Shit?
Tom Shear: In all seriousness, Matt is an absolutely great guy with a very twisted sense of humor. So when he approached me about doing something for his opening album track I didn't have to think twice. He basically just wanted me to rag on him, but I like to think I took it that extra step further.
BH: That track is seriously affecting my relationship with Matt, I can’t listen to his music or talk to him without recalling how bacony he is. When you referred to him as bacony, what did that choice of comparison imply?
Tom Shear: Matt is very modest and doesn't like to discuss it, but he is actually a walking piece of medical history. Several years ago, he was in a car accident in which he was very badly burned. The damage was so severe that conventional skin grafting wouldn't suffice, so they decided to try an experimental procedure in which the damaged tissue was actually replaced with delicious, delicious bacon. And you can call me a liar, but I'll be damned if he doesn't smell just like ham when it gets hot outside.
BH: Do you think that Isaac(Glendening from Cesium_137) will ever recover from having Matt openly discuss their shared propensity for X-Men role-playing?
Tom Shear: Haha... I always joke that Isaac is like the Pakistani version of the Comic Book guy from the Simpsons. I'm lucky he hasn't kicked my ass yet. But seriously, if you want geekery in its truest and purest form, you should see when Isaac gets together with Brandon from SD6 (who actually happens to be a comic book writer). I wouldn't be surprised if they speak to each other in Klingon.
BH: Are you an X-Men fan?
Tom Shear: Nope. I honestly really can't get into the superhero stuff. I loved it when I was a kid (I was a big Spiderman and Incredible Hulk fan), but these days it doesn't really float my boat.
BH: Same here, I give it a nod when it pops up, out of respect for how much I loved it as a kid, but I don't really have time for it now, aside from watching my son get into it as I did...
Thank you for tolerating my hooliganism, Tom. Knowing Matt, you know how much fun it is to give the guy a hard time. Do you have any theories as to why that is?
Tom Shear: He's made of bacon - what is he going to do, throw hashbrowns at me?
Matt is very modest and doesn't like to discuss it, but he is actually a walking piece of medical history. Several years ago, he was in a car accident in which he was very badly burned. The damage was so severe that conventional skin grafting wouldn't suffice, so they decided to try an experimental procedure in which the damaged tissue was actually replaced with delicious, delicious bacon. And you can call me a liar, but I'll be damned if he doesn't smell just like ham when it gets hot outside.
haha xD thats great. :]
amazing job ♥
These nights I get high just from breathing. When I lie here with you I'm sure that I'm real, like that firework over the freeway.
All you did was wreck my bed
And in the morning kick me in the head
Oh maggie I couldnt have tried anymore
You lured me away from home cause you didnt want to be alone
You stole my heart I couldnt leave you if I tried
There are no words to express how your music is so good. You have not one bad song that I have heard. Even my friends who aren't into Industrial or Synthpop love your music. Keep up the good work.
(nice)
