Ambient Visions Presents an Interview with Ian Boddy

AV: When was it that you discovered music as a means of artistic communication for your own talents?

IB: It was whilst I was at university studying, believe it or not, Biochemistry. I was very into listening to electronic music but other than a bit of messing around with tape recorders at home when I was a about 16 - 17 I hadn't given any thoughts to playing music of any kind. Apart from my science studies I was also good at art and was actively pursuing, in my spare time, some work using screen printing techniques - very Bridget Riley / Vasarely. This was at a publicly funded arts workshop called Spectro. Then in 1979 a friend told me that upstairs there was a sound studio - in I walked to be confronted by Revox tape machines, mixers and VCS3's. I had a fiddle and found myself coming up with some of the sounds I was hearing on albums such as Phaedra & Timewind. That was it - I was hooked - within a month I'd packed up my print folder and was upstairs as often as I could manage learning by trial & error how to use these wonderful audio toys.

AV: Is there any particular instrument that you feel is your "voice" when it comes to your music?

IB: Probably analogue modular synths and the VCS3. I mentioned the VCS above and really it was the first synth I ever learned to play. It can be a bit scary at first and is tough to get keyboard type sounds from it but both this and my large modular I have in my studio allow me to craft truly unique sounds that have a wonderful organic, evolving texture.

AV: What was it that drew you to electronic music instead of some other genre?

IB: It's related to my art really in that, in many ways, what I do with my music is to paint pictures in sound. I like the fact that probably more than any other music genre EM can often focus on the timbre & texture of sound and create atmospheres & images out of pure sound. Of course melody & rhythm come into it as well but for a lot of the imagery I am interested in synthesisers are the perfect audio "paint".>

AV: Did you ever have any formal training in music and how important is having or not having this training in the overall scheme of things for a composer of ambient music?

IB: No I never had any formal training at all - in fact I hated music at school - it was taught in a very regimented and boring way. Training in some ways is not important if you can find a way to express yourself and you have the means to put this into a concrete form. In many ways what you have to say is more important than any technical expertise. Of course technique can help a lot and allow you more options and over the years I have been able to both teach myself a certain degree of keyboard proficiency and also a knowledge of music theory that helps me expand my musical vocabulary. So I guess for me it wasn't important at the beginning, in fact it may have been an advantage in that I had a completely open mind.

AV: Tell me about your formative years in the European electronic music scene during the 70's and 80's.

IB: Well during the 70's I was mainly a listener having been bowled over by the music of Tangerine Dream & Schulze. Albums such as Atem / Phaedra / Rubycon & Timewind / Mirage are still some of my favourites even today. Starting up in 1979 at Spectro Arts Workshop I spent the first few years mainly experimenting with the VCS3 and tape loops - it was a gradual learning process. My first tapes were released in 1980 - 1982 and as my confidence grew and I started to perform some local concerts I moved up to my first vinyl release with The Climb in 1983. Two more vinyl records came out over the next couple of years and I started to appear at much bigger events such as the UK Electronica festivals. The 80's culminated in my first CD release, Odyssey in 1989 by which time I suppose I had evolved my first recognisabe Boddy sound which was very melodic in nature with dramatic classically inspired sections and rhythmic groove based parts overlaid with solo work. In many ways it was all quite low key - I had to balance up my musical activities with my full time jobs + family life of course.

AV: What was your first official release of electronic music as a solo artist?

IB: This would have been Images which was a cassette only release on the Mirage label in 1980. Two other tape releases followed called Elements of Chance & Options. This was the same label that Mark Shreeve released his early work on and was a source of contact between us when we first met up in 1982 when the planning for the first UK Elecronica was under way.

AV: Were you happy with the way that release went as far as sales and the feedback you received from your listeners?

IB: Sales were small - I really can't remember how many sold - maybe 100 or so. But it was a great boost to ones confidence to realise that people would actually want to part with their hard earned cash to but one of your own works. Some of the tracks seem really corny now but there's some tape delay work on there that I'm still proud of - and even with all today's technological marvels it would actually be nigh on impossible to reproduce how I did some of the pieces.

AV: In the pop/rock field performers tour to promote their latest releases. Do ambient performers feel that same need to get out and expose their music live to an audience?

IB: I can't speak for other musicians but I've always actively pursued live playing opportunities. I've lost count now but I've probably played over 100 gigs now - nothing compared with your average rock band but a lot I guess for my field. Of course there's lots of obstacles to playing this sort of music live not the least of which is the sizes of the potential audiences being as it is a niche genre. This therefore restricts the number of venues you can play at and how often. Then there's the technical considerations of moving big pieces of gear if you use modulars and just the general complexity of getting all this stuff to work seamlessly on stage.

Still despite these problems I still like to play live - there's nothing quite like !

AV: What are the challenges that you face to take your music on the road and faithfully recreate it in front of an audience?

IB: I've alluded to some of them above. Another factor when performing by yourself is how interesting visually it is for the audience to look at one bloke on stage prodding & poking at a modular or peering at a laptop. So you then need to get into the visual side of things which is a whole new ball game. I have always tried to use visuals when I play live to give a fuller experience for the audience although it's not so necessary if you perform with other musicians as there's then more for the audience to look at although a nice light show still helps. As for faithfully recreating album material live well that's a tough call. I used to, during the late 80's & early 90's try to do this. I was ably assisted on stage by a friend, David Berkeley, and we would rehearse for months to be able to play the pieces note perfect. We also had to play to a backing tape much of the time and to be honest this sort of lost it's appeal after a while. In many ways for the musician it can become boring and just a bit too safe. So as I my style evolved during the 90's I became more interested in a semi-improvisatory way of playing. This way I could reference album tracks if I wanted although they would often be radically reworked to work in a live set. I was also able to put a lot more spontaneity back into what I was playing which introduces that element of danger that can work so well musically when you get it right.

AV: When was it that you decided that you would like to release your music on a label of your own? Give me some background on DiN and the reasoning behind its formation.

IB: Something Else Records was really my first "label". I guess Phoenix on vinyl in 1985 was it's first release but it didn't get properly going until 1993 with the release of The Uncertainty Principle. I'd had releases on other labels such as Surreal to Real with Odyssey & Drive but to be honest at that time with the size of the markey for EM being as it's always been a niche market I was able to sell just as many copies myself as any of these other small labels. Something Else was never run on a particularly professional or full time scale though due to work commitments and so by the end of the 90's although there'd been quite a few releases on it I was dissatisfied with it's lack of focus. Thus I worked on the idea of DiN that was to be run in a much more professional way. I wanted it to have an image, to be collectable, to not only release my music but other musicians and to be a platform for me to pursue more collaborative projects. I also wanted it to break away from the central hardcore EM world and spread it's wings further afield to encompass other sub-genres in the modern electronica world.

AV: Did you have in mind at that point that you would eventually like to release other artists on your label as well?

IB: I guess I've answered that above. Indeed the label was launched with the first 3 releases all at once and DiN 3 was by a duo called Protogonos so I guess I nailed my colours to the mast from the start on that one.

AV: Was it harder than you thought to run the business end of getting your music out on disc and still keep up the creative end of it as well?

IB: It is hard but I've always had the ability to separate my mind into the business side and keep the artistic side separate. Unlike many musicians I think I have good business sensibilities. This is very much due to my old job where I worked for Akai for 12 years selling their range of samplers and eventually being promoted to UK sales manager before being made redundant in 2002.

AV: Your first release on DiN was Box of Secrets. How did that album set the pace for what was to come on DiN in the coming years?

IB: One of the aims for DiN was to work across the boundaries of the different sub-genres within modern day electronica. However I didn't want to completely ignore my analogue EM past and so I was looking for ways to combine these two approaches. Indeed many people have commented that they see DiN as a bridge between the early EM pioneers such as TDream/Schulze etc and modern day ambient electronica. So Box of Secrets was my first attempt at this approach. It was the first time that I'd used loops so much but as usual I was looking to treat the loops in unusual ways and almost at times to use them as textures. The result certainly divided opinion but in my books that's a good thing.

AV: Tell me about how it was that the artists who currently record for DiN found their way to you. What was it that drew them to you and how did you meld their vision and your vision of what DiN was going to be?

IB: Many of the artists I already knew although some where introduced to me. In the former camp there's Chris Carter whom I've known on a casual basis for years. I simply asked him if he wanted to do a collaboration and told him about my ideas for DiN and he immediately agreed. Of course I've known Mark Shreeve for a long while so recording as the duo ARC it was natural for us to release music on DiN. Protogonos who I mentioned above were released on DiN because I really loved their music, one of the members, Stefan Bojczuk was also an old friend from my college days and I used to work with him in my early years at Spectro. In the latter camp the most prominent is Markus Reuter who was introduced to me by a mutual friend. We found we worked together musically very well and since then Markus has helped me with several other projects.

So the majority of artists are people who I already know and "get" what I'm trying to do with DiN. They know it's not a huge label and so it's priorities are more musically based than business based. This sort of approach is very difficult to use when you're dealing with a complete stranger or new artist.

AV: What are the challenges of working with other artists during a collaboration on a joint project? How difficult is it to work on such a project when you are separated from the other artist by distance? What is it that you accomplish jointly that you could not do alone?

IB: I find collaborations fascinating and I've been involved in many - probably more than most. The first thing to say is that at some point in the project I always work physically in the same place as the other musician. Although it's tempting with the Internet to just trade files I really think it misses a lot of opportunities that a real meeting and composing together can provide. OK, we often do some pre-preparation work apart to save time but every collab has at some point in time involved working physically together, even the one with Robert Rich where we're 6,000 mile apart. Anyhow that's part of the fun, having a chat, going out for a beer n currry, arguing, watching movies after a hard day in the studio ;-)

As for the results well I liken it to a walk through the woods. It's a very big wood so you tend to go down familiar paths. Then one day at the cross-roads you meet your collaborator who says, Hey don't go that way try this way, I've been down here before and it's really cool. So you do and see & hear new things. Then after a while you come to another crossroads which you guess might lead back to one of your familiar paths but which is a route that neither of you have gone down before so what the hell off you both stride. You're now on a path that neither of you has trodden before. That's what I always like to try and achieve a mixture of what we're both familiar with combined in such a way as to bring up new ideas & music.

AV: Sometimes I think that those of us who are non musicians think that you as an artist do nothing but create music 24/7. Typically how much time during a regular day when you are in the middle of a new project do you spend actually composing, mixing or recording your music? Does it ever feel like just a job or is it always something more than that?

IB: Since I was made redundant at Akai in 2002 I have been working as a musician full time. The first thing to say is, of course, that's great. It's been an ambition of mine ever since I started out on music. Of course it can be a little scary at times as financially it's not as secure as a regular paying job. However it has many other benefits not the least of which is to spend more time with my family - I have been married for 20 years & have 2 boys, Karl who is 7 & Erik who is 5. My average week day involves me dropping the boys off at school @ 9am ( my wife works full time as a college lecturer) and then picking them back up @ 3pm. In between most days I work on music projects. If time is pressing I'll also do a bit of work on weekends & evenings it all depends on what I'm working on. Bear in mind that I have 3 musical personas. 1) I write library music for DeWolfe for whom I have done 7 albums for now. This music gets used on documentaries, commercials, films etc and is great as it's royalty based. 2) I'm a sound designer and I've released several sample CD's through Zero-G and more recently a couple of virtual instruments - again this is royalty based. 3) Then there's DiN and my own personal musical activities.

So I tend to do 1 or 2 DeWolfe/Zero-G projects a year and spend the rest of the time on DiN. As you can probably infer from my answer above I like to split my time between my music and family life but of course mentally I'm always thinking of stuff. I might be off for a walk with the kids on the hills on a Sunday when I'll hear a sound that makes me think, hey what if I did xyz? So once I get home I'll pop up to the studio to try it out !

AV: How has the Internet, the web and digital delivery methods impacted how you work the business end of being a musician? Marketing, sales, promotion etc.

IB: It's fantastic really. Firstly from a communication point of view it's so much easier ( and cheaper) to keep in touch with a whole host of people from all over the world. Then there's the fact that there's literally hundreds of sites all over the world promoting my music which has far more affect than what I could possibly achieve personally.

From a sales point of view I have a web store on the DiN site which ticks over quite nicely but I also have a presence on the EMusic.com web site. Most of my older catalogue is on here and as this is a legal subscription based site I get a regular income from them. It's impossible to know whether web downloads affect actual CD sales but as the genies out of the bottle you may as well get involved and try and earn some income from it.

AV: Tell me about your latest release on DiN and what new directions you have been exploring as of late with your music.

IB: As of February 2005 DiN 18 - Moiré by Boddy/Wöstheinrich is the latest release. The press release is as follows ;

DiN NEW RELEASE INFORMATION

Release date 28th February 2005
DiN 18 Moiré by Boddy / Wöstheinrich

One of the aims of the DiN label was to act as a community of artists who could interact and collaborate in different ways. DiN 18 is a perfect example of this with label founder Ian Boddy forming a new creative partnership with Bernhard Wöstheinrich. DiN afficionadas will recognise the latter's previous involvement as both one half of Centrozoon on DiN 6 - Blast and also Subsonic Experience on DiN 13 - Praposition. Furthermore Wöstheinrich, a trained graphic designer, has also been instrumental in the sense of design style that permeates the DiN artwork since DiN 10.

However the collaborative mesh involved in the creation of Moiré has further layers in that Markus Reuter, long time Boddy collaborator & musical partner to Wöstheinrich in Centrozoon was also heavily involved in the early editing of the pieces as well as guesting on bass on the track "Fractalise". Indeed the gestation of Moiré has been a long and complex process. Boddy & Wöstheinrich first got together in the DiN studio way back in April 2002 and played a number of improvisations utilising Boddy's mastery of his large analogue modular system with Wöstheinrichs quirky & organic approach to drum & arpeggiator patterns. These sessions were then locked in the DiN vault for almost a year until Reuter opened the lid and intuitively edited the performances into a number of arrangements that formed the basis of the tracks on Moiré. The baton was then taken on by Wöstheinrich who, over the summer of 2004, further added to and sculpted the pieces into more refined forms. The final lap was then for Boddy & Wöstheinrich to finalise the arrangements & mix at the DiN studios in December 2004.

The resulting music spread over 10 tracks captures both the detail & complexity of arrangement possible with modern music technology with the spontaneous nature & organic feel of the original improvisations. Sonically it effortlessly ranges from classic analogue sequencer lines to deep, metallic atmospheres through to full on drum & synth work-outs. The majority of the tracks employ organic analogue arpeggiations together with muscular & unusual percussive loops to form the backbone of the music . Ethereal ambient textures provide a suitably surreal counter-balance to the solidity of the rhythmic structure to create a constant sense of flow & change within the compositions .

In terms of new directions there's a constant evolution of ideas dependant on the artist I'm working with. Still it's sometimes fun to look back so DiN 19 is almost certainly going to be the ARC concert from October 2004 when Mark Shreeve and I played at the Hampshire Jam 3 event. It's chock full of great big slabs of Berlin school sequencing but we played such a great set it's nice to put this out as a record of what we played.

AV: When it comes to reviews of your latest releases how closely do you follow what the reviewers/press are saying about whatever project that you have out at the time?

IB: A bit but not a lot. The last release was Pure by myself & Markus Reuter. It got a lot of praise but then probably the single worst review I've ever had from some fool at The Wire who obviously really just didn't get it. After all these years you learn to shrug this kind of thing off. You've got to do what you believe in otherwise you'd never get anything released as you'd be second guessing all the time.

AV: Is DiN a closed family at this point or are you still looking for the occasional talent that might fit in with your vision of where your label is going? What is it that catches your ear when listening to artists that you feel might be a good fit with DiN?

IB: It's certainly not a closed family although it is starting to develop a community of artists who will appear on several releases in different guises. I've got at least 2 releases planned for the forthcoming year from artists who will be new to DiN.

One of the things I look for from the artists who appear on DiN is whether they have something musically interesting to say. Also the "sound" of the album is important - I've always been personally very interested in textures & timbres for creating atmospheres and I've tried to carry this across all of the DiN releases. I'm not interested in musicians who are just using the same tired old sounds and musical cliches. There's got to be something fresh. It's also nice when the music cross-pollinates between the sub-genres of electronica as I'm amazed at times at how closed some EM fans ears are to anything beyond their beloved teutonic sequencer album collection.

AV: Are there other styles of music that you would like to one day experiment with in your personal and collaborative releases?

Thinking about this for a second or two though leads me to the thought that I'd like to work with an orchestra - but that's gonna be tricky without huge financial resources. We'll see.

AV: When you finish up a project like the one that is coming out in late February do you take time off from the music to recharge or do you plunge right into your next project?

IB: I try to alternate between purely commercial work such as the library or sample CD work & my own creative projects. That way I get to pay the bills but also keep things varied. I think that's one of the main things I've personally got out of DiN - variety. I've been doing music for 25 years now and without this constant change I would have got bored years ago. I'm not one of those artists who can just constantly do the same thing again & again.

AV: I'm sure that like most artists you have the occasional dry spell. How is it that you break out of a block like that and get back into the creative swing of things?

IB: It hasn't happened that often as I mix things up so much. However a long walk in the countryside often helps. However with so much experience to draw on I'm fairly disciplined about sitting down and getting on with some work most days.

AV: After having spent so many years working in the EM field do you ever see the time when you will say I've said all I can say I'm retiring?

IB: Well not yet ;-) To be honest for me music is as much a part of my life as eating & breathing. It's just something I've gotta do. So I can't see myself ever completely retiring from creating music - whether I continue to release it into the commercial world is another question of course.

AV: Beyond Moire do you have anything in the near future that your listeners should be looking for?

IB: DiN 19 will be the Hampshire Jam 3 concert with myself & Mark Shreeve as ARC. It's probably the most retro we've sounded to date but it's a good record of that live event.

Then DiN 20 will be a sampler disc with a continuous mix of tracks from DiN 11 - 19. This will be a low priced release to help people get into the DiN catalogue.

I'm going over to visit Robert Rich in April to work on a follow up to Outpost and we're hoping to promote this in the autumn.

On the sample CD side of things the second virtual instrument called Analogue Sequencer Loops should be out very soon. I'm in the early stages of planning a third such product with Zero-G.

And then there's lots of nice family things to do such as take my boys to the Spongebob Squarepants movie :-) And a nice family holiday in Hungary in the summer.

AV: Finally during most interviews there are things that an artist would like to talk about but doesn't get asked. Is there something that you would like to share with AV's readers that never seems to get covered in interviews but you'd love to talk about anyway? Now's the time.

IB: Blimey - where to start. Well here's one for the readers - in the next few weeks just try and experience some different things. Read a book from a genre that you don't normally read - see a movie from a director you've never tried before - listen to some genres of music you've never listened to before - cook &/or eat a style of food you're not sure whether you like. Next time you're walking in the forest try going down that path you've never taken before - who know's where it'll lead.

AV: Thanks a lot Ian for your time and I wish you luck with that Spongebob Squarepants movie thing. Just kidding. Good luck on your new release coming out towards the end of this month and we will be keeping an eye on your upcoming projects.