The 808 State Interview ----------------------- Featured in the special 808 State edition of The Partyzone. Broadcasted on August 4, 1994 on MTV Europe. Written down on January 8, 1996 by Soren Larsen (Denmark). Current e-mail account: 31sl@but.auc.dk Thanks to Markus Arnold. E-mail account: markus@euronet.nl Copyright 1996 Soren Larsen. Credited Reproduction Allowed. -------- A brief introduction: 808 State is a Manchester (England) based techno band. They started out in 1988 with the acidhouse album "Newbuild". What they built was an ability to make the electronic instruments sound alive. Through out the years they've increased the use of live instruments and vocalists in their productions. The result is unique and versatile music. I usually say: "They're Never the Same Twice". This is such a great interview! It tells a lot about 808 State. It's for 808 State fans all over the world. State to State. Communicate with 808 State: State to State - PO Box 808, Hook, RG29 1UF, United Kingdom E-mail account: 808state@feedback.com World Wide Web URL: http://www.feedback.com/808 -------- The interview. Persons involved: S: Simone - the host. A: Andrew Barker. G: Graham Massey. D: Darren Partington. Other explanations: The Partyzone - A two hour dance music show broadcasted once a week on MTV Europe. The Hacienda - A famous Manchester club. The first place where house music started in England. The catwalk - Bombadin received a world premiere as the finale music to the Todd Oldham Winter 1994 fashion show in New York. The 808 State radio show - It started in the late 80's on Manchester radio stations. Now broadcasted on Kiss 102 Manchester. For more information check MC Tunes: "The North At It's Heights" (sleeve information) and URL: http://www.u-net.com/kiss102/808.html -------- 1. Part - "next" trailer. (Music: Plan 9) S: "Right. Whatever you've got planned tonight, do not leave the house, because a very special Partyzone is gonna come your way with very special co-host - 808 State." -------- 2. Part - intro. (Music: One In Ten) D: "Hey we're 808 State -" G: "- and you're watching -" A: "- The Partyzone on MTV." -------- 3. Part (Music: Reaper Repo) S: "Right this is it. The Partyzone and a very special one because for the first time ever we've got co-host. Yes. Dance music will no longer be faceless. 808 State - getting pretty hot here in these lights." D: "Yeah. On the couch. Sat down - chillin' out." S: "Real couch potatoes. Listen. A lot of people probably don't know you guys. But you've had eight albums out, 15 singles. I never realised it was that much. Well - been pretty busy?" D: "Very busy." A: "We've been busy for 5 years." S: "So what about since the last album, since Gorgeous. By the way who's gorgeous? I mean, why Gorgeous?" A: "It was named after him." [pointing at Graham] D: "We've been busy. We hide a lot in the studio. We do a lot of production for other people and at the moment we're working on our own album. So. We're hidden away in little rooms. In Manchester - in Sheffield." S: "Excuse me. You're hidden away in little rooms, and you've got a suntan like that." D: "I fell asleep in the sun. Yeah - we do get days off. We should have sunbeds in the studio." [Laughing] S: "Well. How flash. Anyway there's a lot to talk about with these guys. And we will, so stay tuned for that. But first up to get in the mood and to have some 808 State videos. Here is Pacific State." Video showed: "Pacific" -------- 4. Part (Music: Plan 9) S: "Still here on the sofa with 808 State. Collaborations! You guys have collaborated with so many people right. Here goes a list, if I can remember the whole list. David Bowie, Quincy Jones, New Order, UB40, Bjork ehh..." D: "Yeah. We do a lot of remixes. A lot of them were collaborations on our own albums. We have been commissioned to do a lot of remixes in our time. And we've turned quite a lot down as well." S: "So you say. You're not busy in the studio with all these people." D: "Sometimes yeah. Sometimes no. The stuff with Bjork was on our own album, so we did it with her in the studio. A lot of times we just get the tape. We do the remixes and the people say: Yeah we like it lets go with it." G: "We prefer working in the studio because there's more like an exchange going on. It shakes you out of the normal routine." S: "It was brilliant you guys did that Bjork-thing because I was like such a big Sugarcubes fan and all the sudden she just jumped into the dance scene. Like 'yes - brilliant'. Loved that." G: "She just did it so instantly as well. We did about two tunes in one day." D: "She came into the studio. We gave her a walkman. She puts the walkman on. She walks out of the studio in the rain, and walked around this place near Manchester and came back with the lyrics. She took the stairs and said: I got the lyrics. She walks into the booth, and went bang." G: "It's often one of the elements that's missing in techno. Spontaneity. It's nice to put people like that in amongst it." D: "It was the same with Bernard from New Order. It was just like, walked into the studio. Let me here the tune. Right. What do you think? You throw ideas across, and he goes into the vocal booth and put the lyrics down. Bang - bang." "That's how we like to work. It's not like working with samples. When we borrow peoples samples and we play around with them. It's like borrowing a piece of that person, giving it a new environment and put it in a dance club." G: "And we pay." A,D: "YEAH. WE PAY!" A: "Heavily. Heavily. Big. Lots of money like..." S: "Is it difficult because it seems like people who make dance music - as soon as a singer comes in they're really lost, cause you can't just press a button and go: I produced this little note here. Is it sometimes difficult? Well you of course you..." A: "I think we're quite good at songs cause we don't have a vocalist. So when you put someone in to do a song it's like a really experience." D: "The vocalists we've used have been really good. We're talking Bjork and Bernard. We only work with people that we can work with. We have been asked to work with other people and we've said: Well maybe not. And we work on some of our own stuff. It's having the choice that have been the good thing. That's why we've been around so long. We've been able to choose the right thing. And hopefully we know what works in dance clubs." S: "Is it true that you had some troubles with David Bowie over a sample? That you had to pay an enormous amount of money. Is that a bit true or not?" G: "It's never been a problem with David Bowie, but a problem with David Bowies lawyer. We ended up after that with sort of remixing "Sound and Vision" for him and everyone was quite happy." S: "So what about your views on sampling?" D: "It's open, you know what I mean. There's a lot of people making money out of sampling now a days. And sampling are, when done properly very creative. You can really mess around with it and come up with something really good." G: "I think. It's still our main instrument. But there's like 1001 different ways of using it. It's not like that obvious corny way like "Pump Up the Volume" used it. It's gone way beyond that now." D: "And I think dance music now has gone global anyway. You can hear a tune and you don't know where it's coming from. You can hear a great sample. It could be a David Bowie sample or a Rolling Stones sample and you can use it in any shape or form. That's what makes dance music so creative." S: "And we're gonna have a look at it right now. I think it's the UB40 track you did that's gonna come up - first up though "The Only Rhyme That Bites"." Videos showed: "The Only Rhyme That Bites" "One In Ten" -------- 5. Part (Music: One In Ten (UB40 Instrumental)) S: "Right. My favourite part of the show where I can just completely shut up and sit back and relax and..." D: [Bugging Simone] G: "VJ. VJ." D: "VJ in the house. I chose a video for one reason. It's guy that runs our record label - owns our record label. And in this video - is one of our synthesizers." [sounding excited] G: "Three!" D: "It's this beautiful - lovely synthesizer with lots and lots of knobs on it. Check this video out, it's blinding! Buggles: "Video Killed the Radio Star"." [Graham and Darren are bugging each other] G: "I've chosen Beastie Boys ["Sabotage"] because it's the best album of the year, and it's a bit creative and it's very loose." D: "And they look like you in the video!" [bugging Graham] A: "I chose Sonic Youth: "100%". Only reason why is cause I like the video and it's got some top dudes and they are skateboarding. Here they are." -------- 6. Part (Music: One In Ten (UB40 Vocal)) S: "You are all really busy right now because you are doing something very special. You are starting a fan club. Now sorry, but isn't that a "Take That" kind of thing to do." G: "Well. We haven't got pillow cases yet." [smiling] S: "It's like. You have these little magazines with you as a two year old smiling next to your mum and dad." G: "No. It's more like a techno version of it." D: "We've been together for 6 years. And being signed to a major label like we are. And worldwide. We do tour a lot. You do get a lot of people asking you: Is there anywhere I can get information about the band. We took our time because we've been offered a lot of fan clubs along the way and we've turned it down because of just what you said. We're not an image band. We're about music. And we was approached with this really good idea that combined a lot of things. Not just a fan club with a magazine and a couple of pictures. It's a lot wider than that. And I'll pass it on to Andrew." S: "So." A: "The fan club will have a CD once a year, which is a second album. So as long as we go there's another album which goes with it. Cause we have lots of stuff in a big bin we've not put out yet." G: "There are always too many mixes and too many sort of things that don't get released. You can only release maybe about 12 tracks a year and we're doing about 40 tracks a year." S: "Workaholics?" G: "Well. It's just experimenting. We do a lot of experimenting and a lot of it only works in certain contexts. Plus a lot of people are interested. Whether the record company wants to sell the stuff we make is another matter." S: "Right. That's gonna happen when you become member of this State..." G,D: "State to State." S: "They get a special album. Yeah. As soon as you're full member..." G: "Yeah. It's got all kinds on it. It's got unreleased material, some live stuff on it and collaborations." D: "It's a lot more than a fan club. It's not the basic ones you know fan club. It's based on the Internet with the e-mail stuff and people can ask us direct questions. Because we're not an image conscious band and we don't do that many interviews in magazines and such." "People who are really into the music can ask us questions of how we make the music and why we make the music and what instruments we use. And you can do that by the e-mail stuff. All the information is in the package when you join. And you get to talk to the band direct. You don't get to hear what the band has to say through all the dance publications and all the sorts of music magazines. You get to talk to us direct. Through this fan club direct. There's a lot of time and effort we've put into it." S: "So you are full front again. That's good." D: "Hope so." S: "Hmm. I think so." G: "There's a few people with it now. I think it's a trend for the future. There's a lot of people working their fan bases that way. You know. You can't really rely on the casual buyer that much." "It's taking the responsibility into your own hands of the music you are doing, and be able to be more spontaneous with it. Cause you got more contacts with people who are actually generally interested rather than the sort of casual..." D: "Yeah. We got involved because of that reason. Because we can talk to people in San Francisco in the dance scene. We can talk to people in Japan, we can talk to people in the States very easy, just by sitting against a computer and throwing out messages and information. Lets say we go on tour, we know what raves and parties there're happening at that time and we know what music's happening. It's a communication center. Really." G: "Yeah, we're involved in a scene which is to do with a lot of discommunication. A lot of the times when there was like big raves going off, we were apparently playing all over the place. And people were misusing the name..." S: "Yeah. The same what happens Partyzone. We're supposed to be everywhere. Well listen, 808 State are here. Stay tuned for more with them later on. First up, some more music." Video showed: Plan 9 -------- 7. Part (Music: Nbambi) S: "Now. One more thing about this Internet, computer network thing you guys work on right. Because it's so new there's no kind of censorship on it at all. Are you gonna make any use of that?" G: "Yeah. That's one of the appealing things about it. It's not actually run by advertisers yet. It's one of the pure forms of communications left." S: "You know, in Britain you get censored like mad. You can't even have stuff like naked bodies on television and on these computer networks you can just send anything you want around." A: "We could have pictures of Graham naked." [laughing] S: "Not that I'm suggesting that's what you should do..." A: "What it's about. It's about that our fans will get it straight from us rather than going through a magazine. You can ask us questions, personal or whatever. Anything about the kit. And you'll get the answers straight away. Straight to you..." G: "We can talk to other people doin' music and exchange information." D: "Because dance music is a global thing! It's nice to pop up on a computer and see what's happening in Japan. And you can incorporate that into your music. It's gonna be a very big boost for 808 State, knowing what's going on globally." S: "So look. Err. Look what have you got there on your lap?" [looking at Andrew] D: "Don't give it away. Nooo." [shoutin'] S: "Now. What's gonna happen. The first person who's gonna write to your State to State fan club - is gonna get this. Just like that. You don't have to answer any difficult questions. What is it exactly?" A: "It's a Roland R8 human rhythm composer. A drum machine in a word." D: "As used by us." S: "And you get a t-shirt with it as well?" A: "Yeah. You get some of these." [pointing at Grahams football t-shirt with the butterfly logo] "And you might get some of these." [Graham is showing Bombadin US12", Newbuild LP, Gorgeous (Disco Disc edition) LP and Ex:El LP] D: "Freebies." S: "So easy one. You don't have to answer any questions. All you gotta do is just write to this address. 808 Sta... no 808. State to State. PO Box 808, Hook, Basingstoke, RG25 1UF, in England." "I bet there was something else I wanted to ask you, but I've just completely forgot. I know a video we're gonna watch. Great video. And you know this video: "Stakker Humanoid". Something must have happened in my past that's gone into my subconscious. Cause as soon as this tune comes on I just get the biggest grin." A,G,D: [laughing] S: "I love it. It's coming your way, right now." [smiling] -------- 8. Part (Music: Femme Deluxe) S: "Like The Grid, The Future Sound of London and The Orb. You guys are really in with this whole visual computer graphic thing, aren't ..." [Andrew looking suspicious] "Or am I completely wrong here?" G: "Yeah. To an extent." S: "To an extent. Where do you see all this going? Have you done certain projects? Like special video projects, that's what I was told anyway... Well my fabulous producer, you better be right about this one!" [shoutin' out of the set] D: "Not at all! A lot of other bands are. We're a dance band - what's about music. I mean, there's a lot of dance bands that put out these chill-out videos and ambient videos. We've never done that. We've never ever done that. That's one field we never really got into. Our videos have always been diverse and very weird. That's why no-one could ever follow 808 State - as a band, as a production team." S: "So is that through your own input that your videos have always been weird?" A: "Yeah. Cause a lot of the computer graphics there're around at the moment... It cost a lot of money to get the really good ones. So we've tried to avoid getting the bad ones." D: "Sometimes it can work in a very cold way. In our videos we like to use us and show people who are making the music. Cause a lot of these computer videos - a bloke walking down the road, turning and drinking a cup of tea [Darren is showing how :-)] is a bit limited to a degree. Unless you got a lot of money. Unless you're Peter Gabriel and people like that." G: "I think it's getting better now. It's getting more affordable. It's getting into the hand of people who can start messing it around. I mean initially, I think a lot of that early computer-generated stuff is gonna look like those sort of posters - like Jimmy Hendrix." D: "Yeah and the tennis game. [Darren is showing with the hands] You know what I mean." S: "Yeah. Yeah. Yeah." G: "And it's certainly developing now, cause it's in the hands of people who can twist it a bit." S: "Anyway we're gonna have a look at one band who like to use all these technologies. It's The Grid and "Flotation"." -------- 9. Part (Music: Lemon) S: "Now 808 State of course. In the beginning, played a lot at the Hacienda. I mean did you play there a lot or ...?" A: "Once." S: "Only once!" [surprised] D: "As a band. - We were there a lot. Dancing and prancing." S: "Is it true by the way that it's really getting better again, cause I heard that a lot of people are going back there now." A: "We might be playing there." S: "You might be playing there?" A: "Or we might have played there." [sounding suspicious] S: "So mysterious, ehh." D: "The Hacienda has always ... I mean if you look at places like Blackpool you've got Blackpool Tower. Manchester has got The Hacienda. You know what I mean. It's always been a focus point especially on the dance culture. It's nice to go there, they do get a lot of good guest DJs. But there are other clubs in Manchester that deserve a mention." S: "Like here you go." D: "Yeah. There's like Home and The Paradise Factory. There's new clubs coming up all the time. There's a lot of clubs there're pretty young when you look at Manchester. All doing different styles of dance music." S: "So what about globally, cause you toured US, Japan - Europe of course. What do you think about the dance scene in all these different places?" G: "We did Singapore which was really brilliant, cause it had such an innocence about it that we tend to miss now. Everyone is such an expert on clubbing, and you forget that there shouldn't be any experts on clubbing cause it's just about having a good time. And the good thing about playing Singapore was that it was really innocent and they were really up for it in a different kind of way. They saw it for what it was." S: "Yeah. It all gets a bit too serious." G,D: "Yeah it does." D: "Everybody is an expert." S: "What about Europe? What do you think about the differences between the countries?" D: "It's mutated a lot. If you look at the harthouse stuff. I mean when you look at England a lot of people at going for the garage and the disco stuff on a global scale. I think there's some great music in all terms of dance music. But you have to look at the Europeans for the hard strong Euro stuff. That's what they are very good at." G: "I think the English is a little more experimenting and wigged-out." S: "Well. A little bit more 808 coming you way. Here is "Timebomb"." Video showed: "Time Bomb" -------- 10. Part (Music: Purple Dust) S: "Right. We're at the end of the show now are you lost or OK there." [laughing] "Ohh God. The show is so long. Now. Your music has even hit the cat walks right?" A: "Yeah." S: "Would you ever produce them? Any sexy ladies in the studio is that your idea of fun?" A: "If they can sing, yeah." S: "If they can sing. Really. You're really interested in that." A: "If they can sing." S: "Oh well. So they better stay on the catwalks?" A: "Yeah." [laughing] S: "Anyway. Thanks for being on the show. Is there anything really special lined up that people should watch out for?" D: "The brand new album. We're really exited about it. And that is not a corny phrase. We are. We spend a lot of time on this new album. That's why we've come up today to do this. It's just to say like: We're still around, we're very busy. Hopefully towards the end of this year and the start of next year, the new album will be there and 808 State will storm in a big way." G: "New single out this week "Bombadin"." A: "And the new radio show starring..." D: "Domination of 808 State. Is on." S: "Radio show on what ...?" A: "In Manchester. It's a new station." S: "You guys are always in Manchester! What about us?" [upset] G: "How many listeners?" [pointing at Andrew] A: "Listeners. 65000." G: "We've been going on for five years now with the 808 State radio show and the radio station has just been overtaken by a new company." S: "OK now. As promised right, we're out of here. But you promised me a bit of your dance routine. And I know the new album is out [???] so I'm sure you guys have a brand new dance routine that you want to show the rest of the world. So - so." [The 808 guys are taking off their mics and getting up. Simone pretends not to notice.] A,G,D: "So. So. ON YOUR MARKS. GET SET. GO!" [They're running out of the set while laughing.] S: [crying] "Ohh. What are you doing. I was waiting for my routine. It will be all over. Oh well, I'll dance my own little bit then and if you like I'll see you back next week. I don't like this." [Simone is dancing and laughing in her chair as Purple Dust fades out] Video showed: The Partyzone Massive vs. 808 State "State to State" 0:00 Intro: Pacific & 10 x 10 0:35 In Yer Face 1:10 10 x 10 1:20 Sexy Synthesizer 1:40 Lift 2:10 Bombadin 2:40 Marathon 3:15 One In Ten 3:50 Marathon 4:25 Colony 4:35 Olympic '93 5:30 The Fat Shadow 6:00 [The End] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------