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Last Sigh: What are your plans with Malignant / Antibody for the future in terms of releases? How do you feel about being on Antibody at this point?

Skincage: I may put out some short intermittent releases between now and another full-length release, I haven't really decided. I'd say that definitely my experience with Malignant Antibody has been positive.

Last Sigh: If you were asked to tour in 2001 do you think you'd be prepared by then for that situation?

Skincage: That's possible, I am going to try and do some shows on my own to get used to the situation.

Teknoeden: Is malignant allowing you to retain the rights to your work?

Skincage: Yes, and that's definitely a plus. I've gotten dozens of new listeners through Malignant which might lead to even more, which is exciting. A lot of people have posted reviews without even being asked and that's really done a lot for my confidence. These are things that I was getting through infin8ty.com and am still getting, it is just good to see more people are genuinely enjoying what I do. Getting something out of it besides background music. I think being the first release on this new division presents a unique opportunity to change people's perceptions about this kind of music (whatever it is) -- that it can explore negative things with a degree of honesty but still encourage hope.

Last Sigh: Is axon a conceptual release in terms of the music and ideas and if so could you give us a short overall view ?

Skincage: Oh definitely. If someone asked me what my religious or other views were I'd probably just hand them a copy [of Axon] instead of trying to explain verbally. It's a work of many layers, not just each track but each sound is a reference to something, be it conscious or not and the relationships and contrasts between them. I still pick out new symbolism that I put into it subconsciously every time I listen to it. I wish I could take full credit for whatever power it has, to be honest though I owe more to my dreams than to my technical skill.

Phalen180: Like the sound which seems to be a voice saying "AXON" in the opening track?

Skincage: Yeah, that's a good example.

Skincage: A lot of the voice samples on this album are not in english, and yet a lot of the layers end up creating a sort of accidental english. I guess they're obscured enough to be interpreted very differently. I've had people tell me that they heard "please don't leave" in "regenesis".

Phalen180: I usually hear "it's ok, son, day will find you", but I know a little bit about the story of the song, which may have affected the way my mind hears the "accidental english".

Skincage: Who can say how much of that is automatic and how much is biased by background information?

Last Sigh: So that leaves the sounds/music on Axon very open to individual interpretation, unlike some of the other "types" of music that are so often 'predictable' in terms of patterns and structure.

Skincage: I wrote that song during the later days of my mom's life on when I was sure she was going to die. "Relapse" was about watching her illness develop and so I sampled parts of it to make "regenesis", and I guess I was in a pretty thick emotional state where I could work in an almost involuntary way. I didn't notice the "accidental" messages emerging until someone pointed it out. I think my best work is done in these trance states I can't really explain how it works but I usually can't do it on purpose which is kind of sad in a way.

Last Sigh: Is it kind of like: the music makes you, you dont make the music? Maybe the zen of creating?

Skincage: That's a good way to put it. I think it's a lot like how people get into a zone when they improvise in groups.

Phalen180: Isn't that topic discussed on your website?

Skincage: Yeah... "I am" "through sound". I think of it kind of like insect calls. Those are built in. No cricket sits there and learns how to chirp, but they get the message across. "I am alive and I am here". It's very basic but I think that sentiment is in all of human music too.

Phalen180: Sort of like an "ohm" that reverberates through all of life?

Skincage: Yeah.

Phalen180: What do you have to say to people who bought the first CDR release of Axon? What can we expect from the Malignant release?f

Skincage: well, it's a different entity in some ways. The packaging which Phil Easter designed is still made up from my source images but aside from the cd label. It is all very different. I think it is appropriate though, it's aquatic and medical, it's decaying but has beauty.

Phalen180: yes, it's very elaborately designed packaging... I've got to say that phil did a great job on that.

Skincage: The music itself has undergone processing to clean it up. Phil was impressed with my original production/mix but there were definite issues and I think he resolved them quite effectively. It sounds more organic to me now, less threatening to a low end stereo as well. Some people who own the original cdr have expressed sadness about the omission of "ichor". And at first I was kind of sad about it too, but really the version of ichor that I really liked was lost in a hard drive failure a long time ago. So for me to present less than my best effort is a disservice.

Phalen180: In terms of other releases... an early version of one of the Axon tracks is on a compilation of songs inspired by the music of Coil, is it not? is that compilation still available and how would someone go about ordering it?

Skincage: That's right, the track "makkat bekhorot" appeared in an earlier incarnation as "return of the sennapods". this was on a coil fanbase cd called "Loved, Stolen, and Deconstructed". http://www.ultranet.com/~ekmoore/coil/order.htm You should probably email first to check availability. "Return of the Sennapods" originally was a tribute to the unreleased Hellraiser themes by Coil. Later I realized it was a good counterpart to "An Homage to Pestilence" which was already on Axon,. especially since it is constructed entirely by processing of the sample of flies buzzing from "Homage". In its new context I look at it as a fulfilment of the warning at the end of "Homage", about abusing nature. For those curious "makkat bekhorot" means "slaying of the first born" in Hebrew (at least this is what one of my professors told me.) So it was a good way to convey the subtle wrath motif.

Last Sigh: Do you have any suggestions for our readers in terms of what music they can listen to which might also inspire them as perhaps Axon has or can?

Skincage: I have a hard time listening to axon the way other people can because it's so close to me, so I'm not sure how to answer that.

Last Sigh: What do you listen to currently in your "off time" from your own music work? Any insight there for us?

Skincage: I like a lot of different stuff musically.

Last Sigh: Any preferences of music you enjoy that was done in the last ten years? teosp?

Skincage: teosp?

Last Sigh: the eyes of stanley pain

Skincage: This is a given but I like a lot of electronic music, be it old musique concrete or various styles of new work. I enjoy drone a lot but I also like more upbeat stuff at times. I like to keep silly music around because I don't think you can listen to harsh music all the time and stay very hopeful.

Phalen180:  Skincage web:  http://www.skincage.com and the skincage mailing list, skincage-list (at) infin8ty.com

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To read our review of AXON go HERE


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