Interview: Dead When I Found Her
Dead When I Found Her is a Portland based industrial project that harbors a uniquely old school sound. Recently signed to ArtOfFact Records, Dead When I Found Her’s debut full length album “Harm’s Way” is out now! I personally have known Michael Holloway, key manpower and frontman of Dead When I Found Her, for about a year now, and I am definitely looking forward to the follow up of “Harm’s Way.”
Your debut album “Harms way” on ArtOfFact Records is out now – Can you describe the inspiration for the album, or a general theme?
The music is (obviously I think) inspired by late 80’s – early 90’s electro industrial. That style seemed to have disappeared off the face of the planet, and I for one wasn’t ready to let it go. I figured if nobody else was making it, it was time to step up. Thematically, Harm’s Way is (loosely) tied together by a murder-mystery story involving a woman who is found dead in a house, and the subsequent questions, doubts and grief that follow from this. Those images and ideas are used to more broadly explore one main theme, which is the act of trying to find answers to unanswerable questions, and where that leaves a person, psychologically and emotionally, if they can’t give up the search.
You’re currently working on the follow up to “Harms Way,” will that also come out on Artifact Records, and has there been any talk about a single, or maybe remix EP?
If all goes according to plan it will be out on ArtOfFact Records in the summer of 2012. I’m deep into working on the album and it’s at the point where the shape has been mostly fully-formed and it’s more a matter at this point of finishing off many, many details. There’s a lot of material, so it’s either going to be a huge album, or an album plus an E.P; at the moment I can’t be sure. There will also be a video during the first quarter of 2012 as a teaser for the album.
How would you describe the new material that you are working on?
The new album is very true to the original concept of Dead When I Found Her— that is, it continues the exploration of old-school electro-industrial music in a contemporary context. I learned a huge amount about digital audio technology while creating Harm’s Way; in fact most of the software tools I was using to make the album were brand new to me when I was writing those songs, so creating the album was really a process of teaching myself how to make the thing that I was making. So doing a second album has felt like a different process; everything I learned during Harm’s Way has been internalized, refined, and sped up. At first this resulted in way too much material, and I started drowning in it. So now the skill I’m learning is how to organize my ambitions.
You do a lot of cover songs (NIN. Prince, Phil Collins,) - How do you choose them, and do you have plans for any more in the near future?
I started by posting polls on Facebook where I listed five songs from the eighties and fans voted for which song I’d cover. Then I just started doing things I felt like doing. They’re a way to just have fun—a sort of break from work on the album—while also allowing me to regularly provide new material to the fans between album releases, as a sort of “yeah I’m alive and kicking” reminder. I’m working on two new covers right now. The first is “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush, because I love her and that song is so dark and mesmerizing. The second is a very obscure Skinny Puppy cover, in fact the obscurity is the whole reason for doing it—it’s “Kill To Cure,” which doesn’t exist in any recorded form, it was simply played live on their 1988 European tour for Cleanse, Fold & Manipulate. I had to figure the music and lyrics out by listening to a very crappy Youtube video over and over again. But crappy recording quality or not, it’s an awesome song.
You recently went to Philadelphia for the I Love Industrial Festival – How was the Festival, and do you see Dead When I Found Her playing more festivals in the future?
Regarding doing more, absolutely. I don’t think I’ve turned down any invitations yet. Everyone in Philly was super nice, especially Joe Scott from Digital Ferret, so that made everything fun and easy. We had a great time out there, and it was our first non-west coast show, so it felt like a big step forward.
Do you see Dead When I Found Her being played in dance clubs, and while writing the music, did you consider the elements of a club-friendly song?
I’d love to have a dance-club hit, sure, but I keep writing these thick mid-tempo atmospheric pieces, because this project is ultimately about horror-industrial and texture and atmosphere, not about club riffs or whatever. So I think if it happens, it will happen organically, not because I designed it that way. But you never know, look at Worlock—it’s been a club staple for two decades and it’s a crawling 90bpm!
What are your top 5 albums of all time?
Oh man. They’re probably all Skinny Puppy albums, with Too Dark Park & VivisectVi probably up at the top. Outside of that realm, though, Disco Volante by Mr. Bungle, Louder Than Bombs by The Smiths, Where Angels Fear to Tread by Mentallo & The Fixer, Let Love In by Nick Cave…
What are some recent releases that you have been listening to?
The new Kate Bush record, “50 words for snow”, which is a gorgeous piano-based album all about winter. The new Tom Waits record. New Skinny Puppy and Ohgr, naturally. I want to list more ‘new’ industrial but, well, I don’t listen to Imperative Reaction.
What music did you grow up listening to, and do you think that it still has an influence on your musical taste/creation now?
This is hardly original, but Depeche Mode was one of the first bands I took interest in as a kid. My dad had a cassette of “Music For the Masses” and, well, I think him introducing me to that tape pretty much shaped my whole musical future. He also had these new age tapes, like Windham Hill stuff, that I played over and over. Honestly the melodic and ambient sides of industrial music are not far from that stuff, the use of pads and drones and textures, it’s very much in the same family.
What are some of your favorite movies of all time?
You know I’m going to say Blade Runner and Aliens….so it goes. After those…bad ones, mostly. Gritty 80’s stuff. I’ve been watching the Basket Case movies lately, those are…just wow. “Dead Heat” is one of the best of that era, and most people have never heard of it. I’ve got samples from it all over Harm’s Way. I like good movies, too, but honestly they are more likely to disappoint you. With crap movies you know exactly what you’re getting into (most of the time). Though lately, quite to the contrary, I’ve been on a big 40’s kick, old Bogie films and the like. I love Casablanca. I put it on at night and fall asleep to it.
What has been the most influential live performance you have ever seen?
Flaming Lips put on the most fun show I’ve seen. The energy is just so positive and infectious. That’s kind of rare; usually you just have people in an audience who are happy solely because a famous or semi-famous person is standing in the same room as them, and the songs are recognizable. The actual quality of the music seems secondary to that basic experience. Usually it’s too loud, and if people didn’t already know the songs, it would just be chaos to their ears. I hate that, really. It’s no fun and as I get older I’m kind of more and more done with it; but certainly there are exceptions that stand out. I saw Smog (now Bill Callahan) at the Doug Fir with Jim White drumming, it was amazing, and the first show I’d seen in years where every note played, every drum hit, counted for something. Electronic music is hard to sell, Live. I think it hasn’t been completely figured out, it’s still usually this weird cross between DJ’ing and live performance, by necessity. I’m certainly a part of that; I haven’t figured it out, either.
Dead When I Found her now stands as a two-member live crew, do you have plans to expand that and if so, what kind of changes would you make in the future for the live performance?
I have ideas for expanding it, but it’s just so hard to actually do, especially when the primary focus of the project is in the studio, and time is limited. So I’m not sure where that is headed. For sure we will be having more multi-media and other elements to the show; but there probably won’t be anyone else up there anytime soon.
What are you most looking forward to in 2012?
Finishing and releasing Dead When I Found Her number 2, just getting it out there and then supporting it in whatever way I can, shows, press, whatever. I’m also excited about the first DWIFH music video. Beyond the project…..well, Dark Knight Rises and Prometheus, of course.
Thank you for taking the time for this interview.
Thank you!
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