Somatic Responses Interview

It was 14 years ago that Somatic Responses opened up my palette to a richer and broader taste in electronic music. Up until that point I was only interested in straight-up rave and hardcore tracks. The first time I listened to Augemented Lines I had a hard time grasping what I was hearing. but the album kept pulling me back in and before I knew it I was wading into the darker depths of the web to find out more about things like IDM, broken beats and breakcore. I never stopped exploring since.

Somatic Responses aka Paul and John Healy

Throughout the years Paul & John Healy traversed many different electronic subgenres, pumping out albums and EPs at a frightening rate. The brothers seem unstoppable, never settling down, never conforming to the status quo, always finding new sounds and influences to push their music forward. 2015 is the year when they celebrate the 20th birthday of their Somatic Responses project, the perfect opportunity to ask them a couple of questions about their past, present and future.

Niels Matthijs: Let's start with an impossible question. Twenty years of Somatic Responses: out of all the albums and EPs you've made, pick a favourite and explain why that particular one?

Paul Healy (P): I suppose the first few were pretty special because of the new experiences of underground exposure and connecting with people far and wide when the internet or sending digital files wasn't so easy. My favourite ep/record is usually the last thing we did. I personally don't reflect so much on the past other than to start to re-connect with the concept of physical manipulation of sound through analogue gear. So depending on when you print this it's the last release we did :)

John Healy (J): For me, I'm really proud of what we've done with our net label Photon Emissions, especially a charity compilation we did back in 2014. Each release is still exciting, however, some of the stand out releases would be early IST, Drop Bass Network & Praxis coupled with what we've done on Hymen and Component.

Similarly, out of all the gigs you did, which is the one that stood out the most?

(P): It's usually about the whole experience: cool organisers, cool crowds and interesting places. We've been very lucky to experience some great (and some not so great) places and people. We continue to enjoy travelling together as brothers and have some chilling time together as well as being noisy bastards. Each time it feels quite unique. What excited and amused us before e.g. Sleeping in a huge bass bin in Austria isn't what we would enjoy now e.g. being treated to nice food, a comfortable hotel and Belgian beer. Some stand out places would have been Dead by Dawn Brixton, Various gigs in Belgium, Rome/Italy and Playing in the States (especially the West Coast). Being on a roster with friends or artists we respect is always an attraction.

(J): Two gigs stand out to me and both couldn't be more opposite. First there was an experience just outside Rome where we were basically lied to in order for us to play in the most horrendous free party I've ever been to. I lost a massive amount of money as expenses and fees weren't covered and we didn't sleep for something like 30 hours, fucking horrible. The flip would have been a gig in LA for Dark Matter a few years ago, it was so cool being back on the US west coast and hooking up with friends in SF & LA, however, the LA party just had that edge and it was mental fun. Loud, busy, full of familiar faces (and a few famous ones) and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Ah, how can I not mention the Detroit Hotel Rave, but that's another story ...

Somatic Responses is a pretty peculiar project. It's part of many scenes, at the same time it's part of no scene at all. You guys have done hardcore, acid techno, IDM, broken beats, breakcore, dark ambient, at one time even incorporating traces of dubstep in your work. Even so, the Somatic Responses sound has always come first, borrowing from different genres rather than bending to genre's conventions. Was this something that came naturally or was it very much intentional?

(P): I think it's natural, it's a mutation of sound that happens as we experiment. I suppose a genre/influence as an input is almost intentional but the output is organic and hopefully without a border.

(J): What he said.

How does it feel to be an outsider in an outsider's niche? I mean, even though you guys are respected throughout the underground electronic scene, I get the feeling you don't end up in many favourites lists. Is that the price you pay when you do your own thing rather than conform to a particular scene?

(P): The last thing I think of when I am writing a track is being on someone's favourites list. The amount of "well known" artists that state they loved our early work or continue to follow us but just write the same old shit track after track is something that bemuses me. Some people get on a hype machine and ride it but I don't think that's for us. We started listening to music as outsiders, searching for new sounds and going against the grain, long may it continue.

(J): It feels normal, it still amuses me that we're seen as quite leftfield as we don't fit a particular genre, quite a few people can't relate to the fact that you can write music on how you feel not how you'd like to make people feel.

Hymen, Ad Noiseam, Component, Sublight, Dark.Descent, Zhark. If I would have to come up with a list of labels that would represent the harsher side of experimental electronic music of the past 20 years, that'd be a pretty great start. You guys have releases on all of those labels. Do you care about things like that or are you just glad to put stuff out there, no matter what label it appears on?

(P): It's always good to have a mutual respect, if the label has a good approach and they are friendly we tend to make it work. We aren't in the habit of hunting down labels for cool points. We combine with people usually because we are on the same page at a given time.

(J): The older we get the more important it is to work with people we connect with and I feel that we do try to achieve this as much as possible. On saying that it's still exciting to be approached by a new label looking for a vinyl release.

Are there any labels you wish you had a release on? Any regrets in that regard?

(P): Initially I would say No, we may regret some of the ones we have worked with though. I think we move too quickly to chase a specific label, I personally don't have time for sending a demo and a label asking for it to be more X or Y.

(J): I always wanted to release on Industrial Strength (back in the 90s) but we did the next best thing with IST so that's cool. Also, Warp or Rephlex (again MANY years ago now) would have been nice but it wouldn't have changed our flight path in life.

Somatic Responses has always been very productive, often releasing multiple albums and EPs per year. You guys both have regular jobs and I assume you do spend some time listening to other music, watching a movie or generally doing stuff besides crunching sounds. Where do you find the time to make so much music?

(P): I'm a constant fiddler, maybe bordering on having a short attention span. Usually I turn the gear on just to try something out and ideas just flow. I am also not much of a perfectionist so the output is a direct link to ideas and wanting to move onto the next thing. I'm usually tired of the track I'm working on before it's finished, because during the process I've found another idea.

(J): For me it's a mix of writing music on my lunch break, in my car or grabbing a wee hour here or there in the studio. It feels like I'm not writing enough :). However, I can see this improving going forward.

Do you have many unreleased tracks lying around? Can we expect post-career Somatic Responses albums or is that too much to ask for?

(P): I'm not sure we can be arsed :)

(J): If we're releasing we're Somatic Responses.

After 20 years you'd think that your output would slow down a little, but the opposite seems to be true. In 2014 you released no less than 4 full-length albums. Has this something to do with the move back to traditional hardware, or is there another well of inspiration?

(P): Yes, pretty much so. Each track is a learning experience, a trial of something. There have been some cool changes in the last period.

(J): Hardware, especially Modular Synths have inspired me to the point that I've rediscovered the art of creating new sounds via real synthesis and have fallen in love with it all over again.

The abstract nature of electronic music lends itself perfectly well for movie scores, even so it's not a very common choice. Apart from some recent horror films that seems to have discovered droney dark ambient, there aren't many films out there who dare to go full electronic with their soundtrack. Is that something you'd be open to?

(P): 100%. There are some great soundtracks being made, we would love to do one, one day.

(J): This is one of my unfulfilled objectives in writing music, so YES!

If you had complete carte blanche, what existing film would you like to rescore.

(P): That's a hard question because I guess I need to pick a film that I like but dislike the soundtrack. Some of my favourites films are directly because of the soundtrack and link to imagery: Blade Runner, Drive etc. I would probably pick a scifi with crap soundtrack, Let's go for Edge of Tomorrow for now! Actually I don't want to associate with Scientologists, forget that. On second thought, lets go for Elysium, cool film, shit music!

(J): 2001 and all of David Lynch's films as well.

Are there any official music videos for Somatic Responses songs? I found a few but they looked unofficial to me. Chris Cunningham is probably a bit expensive by now, but I'd see that working out for your music. Or do you prefer a different kind of music video style?

(P): Yes his style is great, the more abstract the better! There are no official videos, it's not something we have made the time to venture into to be honest.

(J): I'd echo the above, we're so busy with writing music we don't really focus on video and other avenues of multimedia. We really ought to though :) and are open to ideas.

Do you still live in the same industrial miner's community? If so, do people over there know who you are and what you represent, or are people completely oblivious of the music you make?

(P): Yes we are still local to our original home. Our friends and family know what we do even if it's not to their taste, but generally it passes people by.

(J): I'd say on the whole oblivious which I'm really quite comfortable with.

About 25 years ago electronic music finally started to make headway into the commercial music scene through various forms of electronic dance music. I often feel that many people still can't accept it as a valid form of music though, especially the more complex variants. You think it just needs more time, or is electronic music simply too abstract to appeal to a large crowd?

(P): There will always be resistance, that in itself is good. I remember making music 20 years ago because I hated something, or thought something was lacking. Unless music divides opinion it's worthless in terms of creativity.

(J): Electronic music has seeped into modern culture over the last 20 years, albeit the nicer and more commercial genres. If you're talking about the sort of thing we do I doubt it as it's just too abstract and harsh for most "normal" people.

For the first time in 25 years or so I don't see anything particularly new or fresh on the horizon of the electronic music scene. Somatic Responses has always had a pioneering function, so tell me, where are we headed in the next couple of years?

(P): When we know, you will know.

(J): We'll be using more hardware again but in different ways than we did in the past, especially via Modular Synths. Other than that who knows, I personally don't want to know as sometimes it's the journey rather than the destination that is the memory and most important event.

Is there a certain appeal in pioneering for you guys, or is it just a part of who you are and what you like to make?

(P): I'm not sure, which leads me to the answer that it's part of who we are and what we like to make. I should be more self aware.

(J): It's who we are, we're lucky that we've built a construct of total creativity in our music, there is no failure only creativity and an end project.

Final question: does Somatic Responses have any specific goals for the future? Things you haven't done yet and would still love to do?

(P): Close the cupboard doors more often in the kitchen (one for my wife) and get a modular setup (although I doubt I will catch John up).

(J): more live hardware gigs would be great and I do miss that satisfaction when you're jamming and everything just clicks together - such a great feeling! Also doing a film score would be the realisation of a life long dream for me.