Q. Please tell us where you are from and what kind of environment you grew up in.

I have lived in Arizona my whole life and at different points living in Tucson, Mesa, Tempe, and Phoenix. I grew up in both apartments and houses in residential areas. Though it’s been in a suburban landscape, desert nature is never far away, though I was indifferent to it for most of my life. It wasn’t until I started hiking that I gained an appreciation for the desert.

Q. How did you first become interested in music? 

I have always enjoyed music, but my interests didn't solidify until I was 12 or 13 years old. Video game soundtracks and sound design cemented my interest in electronic music. From more of a pop standpoint, I was always attracted to synths and songs with strong effects or vocoding. Electric Light Orchestra “Strange Magic”, Steve Miller Band “Abracadabra”, The Cars “Shake It Up”, Gary Numan “Cars”, Herbie Hancock “Rockit” and so on.

Q. What music communities were there in your home town?

There is a record store that has existed in the Phoenix metro area since 1987 called Stinkweeds that I first learned about in 1998 when I was still in school. It became a favorite spot for my friends and I to shop for records and special order all the music we couldn’t find anywhere else. In 2003, Kimber Lanning, the owner of the store, asked if I wanted to host an electronic night at a venue/gallery she owned called Modified Arts which I immediately agreed to. From 2003-2009 my friend Adam and I booked shows under the name “Thru the Wires” which was my first experience of there being anything close to a sense of community for experimental/electronic/IDM music in Arizona. Sometimes it featured all local performers and other times we would host people from out of town that were on tour or we would specifically fly people out to perform. It also became a bridge between Phoenix and the friends/artists I knew from Los Angeles and Tucson, Arizona. I can imagine there were more communities happening around that time I was not aware of, but this was our way of creating community due to the perception that one did not exist.

Q. What artists have performed at Thru the Wires? What was a particularly memorable event?

There are far too many to list so I'll include a picture of the back of a shirt that was made for our 4th anniversary with all the artists we booked up to that point. Any time Daedelus or Dat Politics came through was an incredible time and got the most response from people watching them, but it was a particularly surreal experience being able to see Richard Devine and Cylob on the same show being a huge fan of both for years. Another favorite memory is Kevin Blechdom doing a cover of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" but with a screaming breakdown that progressively gets louder over the span of four minutes. Performing alongside Xanopticon, Abelcain, and Duran Duran Duran was another highlight for reasons you understand and again, very surreal that any of this actually happened in Arizona.

2024.03

MDC Interview#59 " Terminal 11 "