Cesium_137

You guys are back with a new album called 'Intelligent Design'. It's really great. How would you describe it?
Isaac: - "Really great, just kidding. I will let Vince take this one, he loves this question, I'm sure. I can just say the vocals are very emotive and expressive, and the sound design is second to none. We really went crazy with these elements."
Vince: - "The idea behind 'Intelligent Design' from the outset was to create a melody intensive dance CD based on the principles of other modern day dance scenes that I studied over the past couple years. This mainly includes styles like Epic Trance, Techno, House, Psy Trance and twinges of our alternative roots. We made a conscious effort to break away from the Dark Goth/Industrial thing because it was just too stagnant to us. We took a risk and tied something that we thought would be fresh approach. Other bands in the past seemed to have made attempts at this but from what I heard always watered it down. We wanted to give the listeners the full affect and use every tool at our disposal. I wanted the songs to be just as strong as instrumentals as with words. I'm very happy with the feedback we have gotten so far."

How long did you work on it?
Isaac: - "Probably one full year, with a few breaks, some mental breakdowns, and at least one or two instances of complete fear of the outside world after being in the studio for more than 48 hours straight. There was a day I did not, in fact, experience natural sunlight upon my skin."
Vince: - "Isaac is right; it was roughly a year from the end of 'Luminous'. It was a very hard year of writing but also extremely rewarding."

A kind of regular question. From where do you get your inspirations?
Isaac: - "As a vocalist, I draw inspiration from a lot of 80's electronic music. People like Howard Jones and Martin L. Gore have truly made their mark on me. Some more modern influence on vocal styling's come from acts like Interpol and BT, as dynamic as that is, even James Brown is in that list somewhere, towards the top actually. As a sound designer I pull influence from BT, Astral Projection, Infected Mushroom, Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Depeche Mode, and pretty much anything Marc Bell or Vince Clark have their hands in."
Vince: - "Anything that is in the epic trance genre such as Tiesto, Airbase, George Acosta, Ferry Corsen, PVD etc. I also like old synthpop groups like Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, Depeche Mode, Red Flag... and my all time favourite band Nitzer Ebb."

New label mates for this release is Metropolis Records, from earlier Tonedef Records. What do you think of the changes?
Isaac: - "We love Metropolis. I can rest at ease knowing that my music will reach the masses effectively and on time. This was not the case with Tonedeaf."

More and more single-releases are nowadays released as "buy-and-download". You released your song "Hollow" on the web. What do you think of this method and how would it be in ten years from now?
Isaac: - "It's an effective way to get your music out there into the larger world without little physical or financial boundaries. Music seems so disposable these days. Just look at how many genres and sub-genres spawn on a near-daily basis. This makes me sad, actually. There used to be a certain myths that surrounded artists, and an exact feeling that came with a new record that you really love, and held on to, and listened to over and over until the tape wore out or the CD was scratched to shit. Ten years from now it will be direct download into your player, and it will be sad. Art and music will find separation and albums will only be faced by some bland avatar."

What will happen now? This year for example.
Isaac: - "Hopefully I will enter graduate school, spend more time with my wife and son, and finally grow up. With music, well, I don't want to say too much, but another chapter of this has already begun. I can say that we are both in pre-production, at the very least, and are delving into new software and hardware, homing our craft and abusing new tools. We do this a lot, to see what works and what doesn't so when true production time comes, we don't waste our lives on crafting ideas that have no relevant place in the airwaves. We are also working with a booking agent for the first time for the U.S. exclusively, and it seems to be going well. This is certainly a new experience as since we have joined Metropolis I am not forced to devote my time to the business end as much and have room to be more creative."
Vince: - "I have started writing for the next chapter using the principles and ideas from 'Intelligent Design', but this time as a starting point."

You have any plans touring Europe?
Isaac: - "Well, does Europe want us? We have yet to be asked, and have tried rather valiantly to come over, but with no good luck."

How would you describe Cesium_137 in five to ten years from now? Any other things you are anxious to do?
Isaac: - "Currently, I produce other bands and I'm a mastering engineer. This is something I love, but I often wish my creative efforts were more singular. If this band is to continue to such lengths we would require a sufficient amount of motivation. I don't think that is unreasonable at all. So really, what I am anxious to do is only work on Cesium, and build huge libraries of sounds and ideas and then hand them over to Vince to do what he wishes. It will go back and forth, like it does now, but we won't feel any pressure or time constraints."
Vince: - "I would like to do an all instrumental project at some point with Isaac using different kind of song structures, but as long as Cesium is successful all my time will be devoted to that."

Any last words for our readers?
Isaac: - "drink, feck girls, arse."

This interview was written 2005 and initially published on Neurozine.com