Band: Flesh Field Interviewer: Jeremy Eckhart Date: 01/19/05

The new Flesh Field release has been generating a lot of buzz in the electronic music scene lately, and when I was asked to interview them, I jumped at the chance.

I fired of an Email Q & A session with founding member Ian Ross recently, and he sent me some very interesting responses to the questions I posed. Join me as I peel away the outer layer of this talented band and see what makes them tick.

GC: First of all, thank you for doing this interview. How has 2005 treated Flesh Field so far?

IAN: Thanks for doing one with us! So far, 2005 has been brutal. Not the best start to the new year. I’ve got some pretty rough classes this quarter, and I’ve had to start getting up around 8:30 AM or so. To me, that’s pure hell. And it’s been raining non-stop for days. It sucks walking around on campus in the pouring rain. I’ve only got two more quarters to go after this one. Then I’ll never have to worry about college again, unless I lose my mind and actually decide to go to graduate school.

GC: Can you please give our readers who have never heard of Flesh Field a brief history of the band?

IAN: I started Flesh Field around 1996 or so. I’d been in a few real bands before, but I’d always had this solo project that I worked on constantly. Being in a real band with other members was just too much of a pain in the ass for me. I really preferred to work on my own. Flesh Field was a solo project until 1997, when Rian Miller joined to contribute female vocals. We recorded two full-length demos together, and we had a few offers on the table from record labels. RAS DVA was the first label to offer us something, but the guy simply vanished from the face of the Earth. In 1999, we received offers from both Gashed and Inception Records, and we decided to sign with Inception. We released two full-length albums with Inception, and one EP. We left Inception in 2004 and signed with both Metropolis and Dependent to release our third album. Rian and I went our separate ways as well, and Wendy joined the band to replace her.

GC: The new release "Strain" is in my opinion the best album to date. I think the replacement of Rian Miller with Wendy Yanko was an excellent decision. Wendy brings an edge that was previously missing with the earlier releases. It just seemed to me that the Rian's voice was a bit too melodramatic for Flesh Field and the new album. With Wendy there is a stronger sense of balance between the music and vocals. What led to the split with Rian and was it amlicable?

IAN: I prefer Wendy’s vocals as well. She has more of an attitude, and she can sound both harsh and vulnerable, something Rian had a hard time with. Rian wasn’t very keen on trying new things, or singing in a way that she wasn’t used to singing. Wendy’s pretty open to trying different things with her voice. The split between Rian and I wasn’t a good one. She won’t even talk to me now because I replaced her. Basically, she ended up betraying me in a way that I just couldn’t forgive, and I was really uncomfortable around her. I didn’t feel that I could work with her any more. From what I understand, she’s pregnant, and expecting her baby in early March. And no, the kid’s not mine.

GC: How have the diehard fans accepted Wendy? Has there been any animosity?

IAN: I think there are a few people who still prefer Rian, but from what I’ve seen, most people have accepted Wendy and prefer her. If someone’s going to decide this album sucks just because Rian’s not singing on it, then I doubt if they were truly a Flesh Field fan for the right reasons in the first place.

GC: What is the story behind Flesh Field leaving Canadian label Inception Records and signing with Metropolis?

IAN: I hadn’t been able to get a hold of Inception for quite a long period of time, and I assumed that they had just given up. But that wasn’t actually the case. Metropolis had approached us before, after hearing that we’d left Inception, which at that point we hadn’t. I declined the offer originally, as I figured we’d eventually hear from Inception, and figured we were still with them. But I asked Metropolis to keep us in mind if that changed. When I thought Inception was finished, I contacted Metropolis again to see if they were still interested in releasing the 3rd album. They were. The split with Inception wasn’t a bad one. Switch was very helpful, and did his best to make the transition go smoothly.

GC: Metropolis is well known for giving their bands a lot of artistic liscense to express themselves in the way they want to. How has your experience with them been so far?

IAN: I have no complaints what so ever. They accepted the album as it was, and didn’t ask that we change a thing.

GC: Dependent Records is handling the European distribution of your music and you are building quite a fanbase there. How did you come to work with them?

IAN: When I was talking to Metropolis about releasing the album, they asked me if I had a European partner. We used to be on Trisol/Matrix Cube in Europe, but we were only licensed to them, so when we left Inception, the licensing was null and void. So we didn’t have a European label anymore. Metropolis told me that Stefan at Dependent had shown some interest, and that I should send him a copy of the new album, which I had already been thinking about doing. I sent the demo out the next day, and Stefan sent me an email about a week and a half later to let me know that he was interested. They’ve done a great job with us so far, and have been really easy to work with.

GC: The previous releases featured minimal guitars and focused more on the electronic aspect of the music. On "Strain" they are far more powerful and much more prevalent. What made you decide to bring the guitars into the forefront of the music on the new album?

IAN: Boredom, for the most part. I’ve written two fully electronic albums already, and wanted to add something else. The guitars used on the first two albums were sampled. The guitar on “Strain” is real, and all of it is played. Although I did sample myself playing a few notes on the guitar, and then sequenced them together for the beginning guitar section in “Reflect the Enemy.” I’m not worried about the “guitar taboo” of the electro scene. It was just something that I wanted to try. I’m not sure why people tend to focus on the guitar more than any of the other things I threw into this album that I hadn’t used before. I don’t really consider “Strain” a guitar album.

GC: To me it seems as if you are naturally more comfortable working with electronics versus organics. What was it like switching from electronic equipment to guitars? Due to the fact that you are not primarily a guitarist, did you find it difficult in any way during the writing process or were you comfortable with it?

IAN: It was a bit of a challenge, but that’s why I wanted to do it in the first place. I’m extremely comfortable working with only electronics, and I wanted to push myself. If I get too comfortable working a certain way, I see it as a bad thing, as it leaves open the possibility of stagnation.

GC: Do you think that the utilization of guitars adds to the aggressive and angry theme that both the vocals and music convey?

IAN: Bands can sound equally as hard without using guitar, but people tend to equate guitars with aggression. I think it’s just a matter of perspective. I didn’t consciously bring in the guitar to make the music sound heavier. It was just a side effect.

GC: Do you think that the next album will be similar in respects to the use of organic instruments, or will Flesh Field revert back to more of a pure electronic sound?

IAN: I’m not really sure what it will sound like yet. I’ll probably throw in organic sounds, as I like them, but I doubt the next album will sound too much like “Strain.” Maybe I’ll go in an even more organic direction. It really just depends on what I can find to keep it fun and interesting to write.

GC: What kind of impression do you hope that the fans come away with after seeing you live or hearing your music for the very first time?

IAN: I would hope that the aggression in the music would come through in the live show. We still have a fair amount of work to do to improve when it comes to playing live. I’m not really sure how I hope people feel after hearing the album. I haven’t really given it that much thought. I guess I’d just hope they would appreciate the effort I put into it. It takes a lot of guts to put all of yourself into your music and then release it for the public to rip to shreds. Even though I may agree with some of their criticisms, it’s not easy to hear people berate you like, “How DARE you release something that offends my delicate ears like this?” It’s almost like you’ve just released an album that gave them amoebic dysentery, when all you were trying to do was something that you really loved doing. So people can be unnecessarily harsh on bands, and you have to be prepared for that.

GC: With lyrics that show such an extreme level of disastisfaction with current politics and the Bush administration, did you worry that you might alienate any of your potential fans, or do you see this factor as more of a process of weeding out the people who would most likely disagree with the themes, ideas, and music on "Strain"?

IAN: It’s possible that people who are really pro-Bush would detest the disk for its stance, but I’ve got a friend who was pro Bush, and he loves the disk, even if he disagrees with the subject matter. I wasn’t really thinking about how people might be offended with it when I was writing. I just said some of the things I wanted to say. I made sure to keep the tracks pretty vague in terms of the lyrics, so you really have to pay attention in order to realize that a lot of them are written about the current U.S. administration, or how the U.S. is perceived by the rest of the world. I actually wrote the lyrics to have two meanings…so nearly every track on the album has a political meaning, and a personal meaning. So if someone disagrees with the political end of it, they may still be able to relate on a personal level. And if they’re going to stop listening to us because of our opinions on things, that’s fine. I’m not going to keep my frustration bottled up and forgo releasing it in the best way I know how just to refrain from offending anyone.

GC: "Strain" also features some impressive art design. Who did the layout and art for the album?

IAN: Switch, our old label manager from Inception Records did the artwork. I’ve always loved his stuff, especially the way he uses color. He’s always seemed to hit the nail on the head when it comes to doing artwork for us, so I was thrilled that he was willing to do the artwork for “Strain.”

GC: Ultimately, are you pleased with the way that the album turned out, or is there anything you would like to change now that some time has passed since it's release?

IAN: I’m usually never pleased with how a record sounds when I’m finished. I’d just say that I was satisfied enough with it to release it. I’m never really happy with anything I do, because I know that I can always do better. And I’m constantly thinking to myself “This should have been louder in the mix” or “This part disrupts the flow of the track…I should have done something else” or “Damn, I sound like butt when I sing this chorus.” I’m constantly second guessing myself. But at some point you’ve got to say, “Ok, this is finished.” If you don’t know when to do that, you run into the problem of never finishing anything because you’re always “polishing” or “reworking” it. There are a ton of things that I’d like to fix on “Strain,” and a ton of parts that I think are really flawed. But if I point them out, then everyone who reads this is going to listen for them…

GC: The redesign of the website is very smooth and visually a lot more pleasing to the eye. Who did you work with on that and what features or exclusives will you be adding to it in the future?

IAN: Thanks! I actually designed the new site. It took me about a week or so to do it. I hadn’t done any coding or designing in years, so I had to relearn quite a bit. After a few days most of it started coming back to me. (Although it looks pretty bad at any resolution other than 1024 x 768…I still have to fix that) I recently added lyrics to the site, and at some point we’ll get an online store up and running. We have a forum set up, and I’ve been giving the forum members a few bonuses for taking the time to stop in and say “hi.” I’m not sure what else we’ll be doing, though.

GC: With the impressive roster of bands that you have played with in the past, which do you think was the most important to you as a musician and how did it affect you?

IAN: The very first one. We were opening for C-Tec, here in Columbus. They were (and still are) one of my favorite bands, and opening for them with Jean-Luc De Meyer there was nerve wracking. I was completely terrified of playing live anyway, and opening for them made it that much worse. I was sick the entire day before we went on due to my anxiety. It was important because I really just needed to get over my fear of getting onstage. The first show just needed to be out of the way. I’m still terrified to play in front of people to this day, but it’s nothing compared to before that show. After the show I got an email from Jean-Luc. He wanted me to send him some material.

GC: I see that you are playing some dates in March 2005 with Imperative Reaction. Are these the only shows you have booked right now, or do you plan on touring more soon?

IAN: Those are all we have booked at the moment. I’m really looking forward to playing with Imperative Reaction again. I really love Ted’s stuff, and he and I have so much in common that it’s scary. I graduate from college in August, and these last few quarters are going to be hell. I really need to focus on finishing school right now. But once I’m finished, I’m sure we’re going to put together some kind of tour.

GC: In the past, other than a few appearances here and there, you have mainly toured Europe more than the states. Do you think this will remain the case, or will the American public finally get to see more of Flesh Field?

IAN: Actually, I think if you count up all of the one-offs we’ve played, and the small tour we did in 2003, we’ve actually played more shows in the U.S. We did do a tour with L’ame Immortelle in Europe. It was something like 15 shows. I can’t remember the exact amount. But between the 10 or so shows we’ve done in Columbus, the 5 we’ve done in Cleveland, and the 2 in Dayton, we’ve actually played more in Ohio than in Europe. We’ve also played in Florida, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Virginia, San Francisco, Chicago, twice in New York, and three times in Washington D.C.. We’ve played in Toronto and Montreal as well. The tour we did in 2003 was only 9 shows, so we haven’t done a real, full U.S. tour. If the interest is there from fans and promoters, maybe we can do one this fall.

GC: What can we expect from Flesh Field in the future?

IAN: Hopefully I’ll find the time to start working on a new album soon. I’m really anxious to get writing again. And like I said, depending on how warm the reaction is to the new album, we may be putting together a U.S. tour in the fall.

GC: Are there any bands out there that either of you think we should be on the lookout for?

IAN: I was hoping you could tell me that. I’ve been too busy lately with school, work, my girlfriend, FF stuff, and my puppy to listen to much new music.

GC: Once again, thank you for answering my questions. I really appreciate it. Any closing comments, last words, or shameless plugs?

IAN: Thanks for the interview! And thanks to those who took the time to read my rambling. I’m sorry, but you’ll never get those 10 minutes back.

Check out the Flesh Field website at:

www.flesh-field.com

- Jeremy Eckhart 2005