TWPT: You were born in Bangladesh. Tell me about
the music
scene there and the kinds of influences a person growing up there would
be
exposed to.
AL: I was too young to get involved
in the music scene when I
was there. I don't know if there even was a scene other than traditional
music
at that time.
My older brother was into British and American hard
rock/heavy metal fan when were growing up though, and I gravitated to
that a
lot more than traditional Indian or Bengali music. I later got involved
in
electronic music after I left.
TWPT: Tell me about when
it was that you first felt that you wanted to be involved with music as a
performer and not just as a listener.
AL: There's no real definitive
moment that I can recall. As far
back as I can remember, I always enjoyed singing. That was my first love
more
than anything. I always knew I wanted to be involved in music in some
capacity.
I was in a couple of rock bands before I started
AL, and
those just lost steam as the personnel got involved in other things and
"real lives" and lost interest. I found myself not wanting to deal
with people anymore and formed a solo project.
TWPT: Who were
some of
the musicians or bands that you used to listen to and say to yourself,
“That’s
pretty cool I want to push the musical boundaries like they do except
with my
own music.”?
AL: I've always been a huge Bowie fan. I love
the way he has changed
styles from album to album, never staying true to any one style, and has
done
them all brilliantly! So if I had to name only one artist for inspiring
me I
would have to say Bowie.
TWPT: Did you have any
formal training with your voice or an instrument before deciding to
pursue
music as a career? How important is formal training to a person wanting
to make
it in the music business these days?
AL: I had some voice training, and
someone showed me how to tune
a guitar and how to hold a few basic chords. The rest I taught myself
out of
necessity.
As for making
it in this business, there are varying levels
of “making it” of course. Some people can be happy making a decent
living, and
others may want fame. But as with everything else, it’s who you know
that
counts more than anything. Talent and training may get you farther once
you get
noticed, but it’s damned hard to get noticed based on talent alone. Once
you’re
there though, talent and training will help you stay in the business.
TWPT: Did you write your own music from the beginning? Where
do
you draw the inspiration from for the subject matter that you cover in
your
songs?
AL: I’ve always written my own
music. The stuff I write about
come mostly from experiences and people I know. Which doesn’t speak very
well
of some of the company I’ve kept. :)
TWPT: Tell me about your first professional gigs and how you
felt about the first live shows you did for an audience.
AL: It was with one of my first
bands in the early 90s, called
Strange Fruit. It was a guitar/bass/drums set up. We were based in
upstate NY
and practiced in a humid studio converted form a barn. Everyday the
dehumidifier there would pour out buckets of water. The guitar player
got us
this gig at a local bar and we played the only four songs we had at that
time.
I had played some open mics before that on my own, which was just me
with an
acoustic guitar. But this was totally different. Having a band behind me
doing
the songs I wrote was exhilarating. I was nervous before going on stage,
but
once we went on I felt like I owned it.
TWPT: When did you form Android Lust? Tell me about the where
the name came from and what it means to you?
AL: After Strange Fruit broke
up, I was in a duo for another
year or so before starting Android Lust in the mid nineties.My ex-boyfriend came up with the name
actually. I have to credit him with that. It's meant to show the
dichotomy of
one's nature. The contradiction that exists in us.
TWPT: How difficult is it for an indie band such as Android
Lust to grab some attention and get the word out about the kind of music
that
you create a perform to your target audience? Tell me about some of the
ways
that you were able to connect with your audience and get yourself heard
by your
fans?
AL: We’ve found online
promotion to be the most effective for
us. Promoting through our web site, forumsand myspace has been invaluable. We also have a couple of videos
out,
and those have been very good promotional tools. We very much depend on
word-of-mouth from our fans as well, and nothing beats a personal
recommendation from a friend. Also, we are a touring band. So catch us
live
when we’re in your city next time!
TWPT: Tell me about your first official CD release and how you
connected with the label that released it? Did you have to shop your
music
around a little bit before you got this deal?
AL: The first CD
"Resolution" was released on a very
small label, Tinman Records. I knew the owner of the label from the
local scene
and he had come out to see some of our live shows. I had given him a
demo and
he expressed interest. We started talking and a few months later signed a
deal.
I
did shop around to a few labels and had gotten offers from
Tinman and another small German label, and decided to stick go with a
stateside
label.
TWPT: Was the
getting the first CD out the hardest part of
taking your music to the next level or is the hardest part following up
that
first CD with another new one with expectations that it will be better
than the
first?
AL: For me the experience has
been that people expect you to do
the same thing over and over. Following up is definitely harder because
you no
longer have a clean slate and there are always comparisons to be had. I
also
challenge myself more, trying to exclude things so as not to repeat
myself and
thus tread the same ground. It's more interesting to try different
things and
see what you can come up with.
TWPT: What was it that drew you to electronic music in the
first place and how would you describe the music that you make as
Android Lust
compared to what comes to mind when you think of electronic music?
AL: Having come from a traditional
guitar, bass, drums line-up,
it was the independence, and freedom from band democracy that attracted
me
first. Of course I still needed a bandto perform my ideas live, but that's different. I also really
liked the
idea of being able to play with sounds that was completely different
than what
I was used to, and not being constrained to a traditional rock sound
palette.
I think of Android Lust as a predominantly
electronic band,
that is to say the backbone of the songs are based in electronics, but
it is
not constrained to just electronics by any means. There are live
instruments,
as well as just sampled environmental ambience that all work together to
create
a song structure.
TWPT: Your last
CD was called Devour, Rise and Take Flight.
Right off the bat I’m curious as to the title. Any meaning for you and
does it
indicate a theme for the CD as a whole?
AL: It's more about the artist
than the art for this one. I feel
this CD encompasses a lot of my influences that are combined to present a
hybrid sound. Also,I've shed some of my
lyrical inhibitions with this album. I'm a very quiet, and somewhat shy
person,
and with this disc I think I've shed some of that in my lyrical approach
at
least.
TWPT: Is Devour
just a continuation of what you did on your
first 2 full length CD’s or are you breaking some new ground with the
material
that you recorded for this CD?
AL: It's closer to "The
Dividing" than
"Resolution". "Devour" is a more aggressive and confident
album than either of the last releases, however.
TWPT: What are
some of the subjects that you tackle on this
latest CD and what were some of your inspirations for these songs?
AL: My inspirations pretty much
all come from personal
experiences, events and people in my life. Although i did break from
mold this
time for a couple of songs. They address some of the political issues
that we
have faced lately. I never much cared for political lyrics. They usually
come
across very preachy to me. But I found myself writing some of these
things down
and decided not to censor myself.
TWPT: Typically how long does it take for you to write a set
of
songs for a project like Devour? Is writing something that you work on
in
between touring or do you set aside some blocks of time just to write
and work
on new music?
AL: Devour took a year and a half to write, where as
The
Dividing took almost 3 years. There hasn't been a formula or strict time
frame
forAL
yet,
so it's been flexible in that respect. When I write I usually just like
to
write with no distractions, and not tour or play live. In the past that
was
more of an issue as I usedto haveto stop the recording process, now it's not
so much the case as I've separated my equipment for live and studio use.
TWPT: Once the writing
was done how long did you spend in the studio recording Devour? Do you
go into
the studio as a band and do the recording together? Are you involved
with the
engineering and mixing of the music as well?
AL: Android Lust being a
heavily electronic based project, I
tend to record and produce as I write.And also, sinceAL
is just a one person project there's no "band" really.I've
had guest musicians on certain songs,
but otherwise the writing and recording process is basically just me
alone in
my studio working on everything - from synth programming, to
engineering, and
so on.
For Devour the only exception was at mix time,
where I had
assistance from Christopher Jon of the band I, Parasite.That was a new experience for me, but I
wanted a second pair of ears for mixing after being so close to the
material
for so long.The only other thing I
don't do is mastering.I've worked with
my mastering engineer, Alan Douches, since Resolution, so we have a good
relationship and he understands where I'm coming from.
TWPT: When it comes to your vocal stylings who are some of
your main influences and if you had to compare your music to an
existing band whowould come closest to the sound that Android Lust
produces on stage and on CD?
AL: I have admired singers of
many different styles, so
it's hard to say for me who I may sound like. You would probably have
better
luck asking people that listen to AL. As for my musical style, it
varies. AL's sound is a hybrid of different influences and moods. From
aggressive to mellow introspective. The instruementaions vary as well.
It's
probably a combination of 90s NIN, PJ Harvey, glitchy era Bjork,
and some Kate Bush.
TWPT: Tell me about your work with the band Cradle of
Filth and what it was that you brought to the sessions that you worked
on
with them.
AL: I did some digital editing
for "Thornography". My
friend Chris from I, Parasite was doing some synth programming for them,
they needed someone to work on some editing. So I went up to this studio
in
upstate New York where Dani Filth was cutting his vocals for the album.
It was a fun time. We got to hang out and work in a really cool
environment, while watching some really shitty B horror movies on
TV.
TWPT: Do you find it as interesting to work on someone
else's projects as it is working on something for Android Lust? How much
input did you have on your contribution to Cradle of Filth's CD?
AL: As I mentioned, I just did
technical work for their
disc. It's different working on someone else's CD. I don't feel quite as
close to it. While I do enjoy working on it, in the end it's not as
rewarding.
CEV: Do you enjoy performing live for an audience? Tell
me what it is like getting up there and becoming the voice of Android
Lust for the duration of the concert?
AL: I love playing live. It's a
bit of a personality shift
from my day to day self. I tend to be quite shy normally. I think some
people think I am rather stuck up. But the truth is, I am really a
social retard. On stage I don't feel any such inhibition strangely
enough.
TWPT: Are you able to reproduce your sound pretty
faithfully in concert? Do you consider a good performance one where you
improvise with the pieces from your CD's or do you like to recreate the
CD
on stage for your fans as close to the original as you can?
Why?
AL: Well on stage it is live
really. I play with a band, so
it's not 100% faithful to the CD. Nor would I want it to be, because
that would be boring. We take the basics and transform them in a way
that is close to the CD, but re-worked in a way that we can play night
after night. Some elements that are not playable, like certain sounds
effects, are triggered from laptops. But on stage AL is an
electronic Rock outfit.
TWPT: Tell me about some of the best venues/gigs you can
remember in the recent past and what made them so special to you and
the fans.
AL: Few gigs that come to mind
are Blacksun festival,
sadisco in Phoenix, and Bar Sinister in LA. They were all memorable for
different reasons. Blacksun by far was the most well run and
professional
event we played at. Everything ran on time and the event crew were very
courteous, professional, and competent. Which is unfortunately
rather uncommon in the underground scene. In Phoenix and LA the fan
support was fantastic. And we were treated really well by the promoters
as
well. So that holds a special place too.
TWPT: What is down the road for you and Android Lust? Any
new things you'd like to try or new ground you'd like to break with your
music as a group or an individual?
AL: Making some money from
music would be nice. Although
people love to tell you that you should just do it for the love of the
music. Those people somehow forget that it actually costs money to
produce
music and tour.
Other than that, we'd like to get over to
Europe at
some point, and do a tour there.
TWPT: Well thank you Shikhee for taking the time out of your
schedule to share some thoughts about Android Lust with our readers. I
wish you the best of luck and I do hope that you are able to make enough
off your music to keep on bringing us your unique talent and your great
music in the years to come.
