7 Questions with...Out Out

7 Questions with...is Reactor 4s interview segment. Sometimes these will be done live via digital recorders, sometimes they will done via email or internet chat. Why only 7 questions? Really the answer is just, because. That was the number we came up with. Much like our show, these interviews will be serious and silly.

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Cylon78 of Reactor 4 interviews Mark Alan Miller of Out Out.

Question 1,
What was the drive to release Pepperbox Muzzle Demobox?

A - I digitized a large portion of my older cassette material from the late 80s back in 1988/89 out of concern that the tapes would eventually disintegrate..! I lost a bunch of noodly experiments from the mid-80s when my car caught fire - they tapes were in the trunk as I'd recently picked them up from my folk's house - and didn't want to see anything else disappear. Over the years since that I started to do the "hey, some of this is actually pretty good" thing. When I started Radio Valkyrie Records in 2004 the thoughts naturally turned to releasing things that another label might not, but now that it's my own label, now that I'm not doing it with profit in mind, but simply to get the music heard (and of course, to try and afford to keep doing it) things like this started to seem really do-able. Late last fall I started to think that the original Pepperbox Muzzle cassette version, along with demos from that same era, might make a really great set, and the idea to use it as a fundraiser to help Radio Valkyrie release some newer stuff followed shortly after that.

Question 2,
How do you feel about the "Industrial" movement as it is today, versus as it was in the 80's when you started Out Out?

A - Well, "Industrial" has always been a loose term as far as I've been concerned - covering a lot of different sounds, from pure experimental noise to heavy guitar rock with electronics to straight electronic beat-driven music. I think that it meant more about a vibe or an attitude than a specific style or sound. Now, as with pretty much every type of music, there are more sub-genres and hair-splits than one can shake a stick at. And to that end, that hyper-definition came to bite me in the butt a little. Back in 1997 or so, when my last record came out, I was still called "industrial" and marketed that way, but the public's perception of what that meant had grown to differ from where my sound was at. Subsequently, my record was met with mixed enthusiasm, as the audience it was marketed to was expecting more clubby electronica, really, and I was over in noisy rock-land. I can say with satisfaction, though, that over time that record has held up, and a lot of people did come to appreciate it. I should have been paying closer attention to what was going on in "the scene" - 'cause if I had been, maybe I could have suggested a different marketing angle, a different target audience. But for the record, I don't think Metropolis did one single thing wrong. They were terrific.

Question 3,
How do you feel about Pie and what is your favorite?

A- I feel strongly about pie. Favorites include apple, strawberry-rhubarb, shepherd's, pecan, banana cream, pumpkin, meat, and key lime. When you come back, bring pie.

Question 4,
Out Out had a recent release with Virtual Sound Images, what influences and motivates you these days?

A- What influences me? Tough. I think everything I listen to does. I have a really wide range of tastes - amounting to a little of almost everything - so who knows? Things I don't like are influences, too. I don't want to sound like The Killers, for example. My motivation for making and releasing music is out of need. I need to make music. I've always been driven to it, and drawn to it. Even when I took a hiatus before releasing 1989-1999 and Virtual Sound Images I was still very active in music making (I did several remixes and produced dozens of records for people in my studio.) These days, it's a newly-re-discovered enthusiasm for the completion of my own works, and the 'birthing' of them, if you will, to the world. A project isn't truely finished for me until it's released to the public. Once that happens, it's got to be finished. I don't like releasing half-baked projects.

Question 5,
Any thoughts about going on tour in the near future?

A- Yeah, actually, but don't anyone hold their breath... it might not happen as likely as it might happen! I'm working, slowly, on a new record. Back are some guitars, back are some vocals. Some of the 'rock' has returned, and plenty of the sounds from Virtual Sound Images and Assumed Outrivaling are around too. We'll see how it shapes up - it's a slow process, being done in what little spare time I have - and then we'll see if I can combine the new material with some of the more popular or more fun-to-play-live songs from the older material and see if we can pull it into a live band format. I don't want to be a 'laptop' musician onstage, checking my email or something, so it's gotta be a live band proper, with prerecorded tracks fleshing things out. Live drums, bass, keys, guitar, and vocals are all a must. It's rare an electronic band can make a minimal electronic setup fun to watch live, and I won't do it unless the audience will have something real going on onstage.

Question 6,
What do you do in your "spare" time?

A- Ha! Try to write more music. Oh, and hang out with my wife and son. Relax. Sleep more. Catch up on movies or series TV like Lost. Read. Did I mention sleep more?

Question 7,
Autobots or Decepticons?

A- I don't want to get involved. Now that the NSA can wiretap my internet connection, to display an affiliation to either the Autobot or Decepticon parties could get me on some kind of list. Oh wait. I'm probably on some kind of list.