Igloo :: Tell me a little about yourself, your background, how you got off the ground with electronic music; previous alias’, inspiration, your current surroundings and how they affect your music (if at all).
Keith Baker :: Well, I was born in a small factory town called Widnes, about 20 miles from Liverpool where I spent the formative years of my life. Not the best place in the world but on recent visits it has been done up a lot and has a lot more to do. Now I live in Leeds in Yorkshire which I prefer by quite a stretch.
However, growing up in Widnes was one of the things that got me into music because, well, there really wasn’t much else to do when you were a kid except hang around in parks or on street corners. I wanted out and I wanted to do something creative and back in 1989 I worshiped the gods of thrash metal.
Yes, I wanted to be in Metallica or Megadeth or Slayer but I was a kid and that’s what you do. So I picked up a guitar wanting to be my heroes but I wanted to write my own music as well as play other peoples.
Thing is I was rubbish (of course) but around the same time I discovered a program called Soundtracker 2.0 on the Commodore Amiga and over the course of the next 4 years I studied guitar and bass hard and wrote over 400 tunes on the Amiga in various styles. Then I went to music college, became a live session bassist for a while, wrote music for a game or two and then came back to electronic music.
As to other aliases and their influences, I’ve written in pretty much every style you can think of. I’ve had (and still have) many unreleased aliases in many different styles as well as released ones. There are a lot of times I want to experiment in ways that would not fit with “Keef Baker” including playing with dissonance, generative sequencing, hour long tracks, minute long tracks, comedy songs, normal songs, sonic blasts of noise. I’ll probably never bring these out as they’re just for me really, but I feel a need to do them as I enjoy doing music in general and would feel shackled doing just one thing.
Igloo :: I’m not sure how much you like to divulge into specifics regarding software and/or hardware you use to create your music. If you can, can you describe the studio you work in and how you’re able to come up with ideas for your music?
KB :: Hardware wise I don’t have much on the synthetic end of the spectrum. An Apple Mac, a Nord Rack 2, a Quadraverb, and SM58 and a Rode NT1. I monitor everything through a pair of Sennheiser HD600 headphones. I also have a broken Korg Trinity V3 and a broken Aphex Type C but you’ve not heard them on any records as they’ve been broken for some time.
Other than that it’s all instruments. Various percussion instruments, Acoustic Guitar, Fender Strat, fretless Fender Jazz, a mandolin, a custom made bass, a sitar, an accordian. Stuff like that.
Software wise I’m a Logic man and have been ever since I first discovered it back in ’94 in college. My Mac has Logic Pro 7.2 on it and it was worth every penny.
Igloo :: Tell me a little more about the ‘sharing’ of labels, that is, working with top labels such as n5MD, Ad Noiseam and now Hymen. How do you find the time to shop the labels (or do they find you)? What decisions go into figuring out where to release your music and does it affect the creative process?
KB ::It hasn’t really been a deliberate thing to be honest. What happened with Ad Noiseam is that I’ve known Nicolas for a number of years and always wanted to work with him. At the end of 2005 I had a lot of material that Mike (n5MD) didn’t feel was right for n5MD. However I felt that the material was right for me so I spoke to Nic who was into it and Pure Language happened. Then a few months went by and Stefan (Hymen) had emailed Mike asking “Do you have plans with Keef Baker as I’d like to release something of his?”
Mike passed this on and said that I should go for it. I’ve loved Hymen’s stuff for years so I did.
So I haven’t really shopped about, it’s just happened to be honest. I realize how lucky I am having released on my 3 all time favorite labels. It’s a pretty amazing thing for me.
As to does it affect the creative process. I guess it does to a certain extent. When I was doing The Widnes Years I got into a lot of the n5MD sound and that crept into the tunes as I was creating the album. And on the new one, Redeye, Hymen appeared halfway through and I was very aware that I now had to compete with the likes of Kattoo, Ginormous, Somatic Responses, Gridlock, Beefcake and countless other names new and old that have inspired me and continue to inspire me. So I think that inspired me to be better and to become more “me” I hope.
Igloo :: Most of the music I’ve heard from you has been infested with a dark layering of electronic distortion be it with the beats and/or atmospheric rhythms. On your most recent EP on Ad Noiseam you changed the style slightly and opted for a few vocal-infused cuts and a mellower sound. Do you create music based on how you feel or do you set out to accomplish a specific sound quality?
KB :: Well, when I wrote The Widnes Years I didn’t feel there were enough people around fusing the energy of breakcore with the melodic elements of the likes of Gridlock or mid-period Autechre and that’s what I wanted to achieve. Since then I’ve discovered a lot of acts doing just that so I kind of get my fix of that from other people. Also The Widnes Years was halfway through when the project took my own name and since then I’ve been trying to stay musically true to myself.
I guess the thing is that I’m trying to create without stylistic shackles. That’s why I’m pleased with Pure Language, as well as the breakcore, noise and IDM influences, there’s also jazz, straight D&B, metal, folk, bhangra, post-rock, lounge, funk, hip-hop, big beat and Indie rock in there. I think it blew a few preconceptions about what “Keef Baker” was out of the water and gave me what I needed to stop worrying about what people were expecting of me.
In a rather long winded way what I’m trying to say is when I write I just try to “write” rather than write with a specific idea or feel in mind (although that does happen). I prefer the feeling of being able to flow the way the writing wants to take me rather than worrying about doing something in case it won’t work or it will put people off. After all, the best experiments happen when you’re not trying to experiment.
And on another level I suppose you could call it a voyage of self-discovery. It’s the same reason all my live sets are totally improvised rather than just playing the tracks, you can try to channel feeling a lot more. Plus I think it adds better value because people are getting something unique and you can play off the crowd a bit more.
Igloo :: Expanding on your last comment about performing live; tell us more about the process and your thoughts about creating an actual “live” peace and how you might define it.
KB :: Well, with the live stuff the real key is preparation. I have to make enough available to me to create at least 4 or 5 one hour sets in order to realistically make a 45 minute set I can improvise with. There are usually 8/9 channels of drums, 4 channels of melodic sections all filled with many many “chunks” and lots of effects and alterations available at my fingertips with the midi controller.
I generally will know how the first 30-seconds to a minute of a set will go and from then I just fly in the moment. I will then make a set up on the spot lasting the duration I’m on stage and will alter the feel/speed what I’m going to do depending on what vibe I get from the crowd. They may be a fun crowd in which case they’ll get a really dancey set with bits of comedy thrown in, they may be a more chilled crowd in which case they’ll get more melody and chilled beats or a hardcore IDM crowd in which case they’ll get lots of manipulations etc.
It gives you a lot of freedom and basically means that every night you make something new. Also if something isn’t going down well you just change it. In my opinion it makes it better for both you and the people there. After all nobody wants to just sit there, hear “The Bingo Hall Murders” and see an overweight bald bloke flicking switches.
Igloo :: Most profile/interviews seem to tread similar paths, is there anything specifically you want to let your listeners know? Is there anything you really want people to understand when approaching and/or tuning in to your tracks? Is there anything listeners would be surprised to learn about Keef Baker? Feel free to expand.
KB :: I suppose the primary thing is that after the things that are scheduled to come out (The new album Redeye, tracks for the n5MD compilation, two other compilation appearances and a Detritus remix) I’m stopping creating music until at least 2008. I will however be trying to play gigs as much as I can, so if you want new Keef Baker after that then come to a gig. Hopefully I’ll be playing somewhere near at some point.
I suppose the main thing is with music in general. Always remember to keep trends out of it, to keep fashion out of it, to keep genres out of it. Enjoy what you enjoy for just that reason. Not because it’s cool or underground or so extreme or the band look cool. Music exists for itself and needs no other justification for its existence. Whether you enjoy Merzbow or Garth Brooks, if you like it because you like it then have no shame in it. Same goes for not liking something.
There are a lot of us (myself included) who put a lot of time into our music and leave a lot of interesting little things which the more dedicated or the more knowledgeable will pick up on but at the end of the day if it doesn’t get you in the heart then it’s not worth it.
Igloo :: Tell me about the new album on Hymen, what went into creating it, your initial goal for the album, theme et cetera.
KB :: It’s called Redeye and it’s out in February ’07. Musically it still sounds like me but as always it’s different again. It’s took just over 2 years to write and yet a couple of the tracks have only taken about 1 day.
There wasn’t really a theme or goal for this album except to write more honestly and write without anything in mind. So I guess the goal for this album has been to resolutely not have one. Except try and make it better. Hehe.
Yet again there’s vocals and real instruments on there but there’s also some very electronic tracks in there, some based on the old C64 SID chip.
Igloo :: The new album has emotional content yet it also feels a little rougher around the edges, music that propels and sound that translates into smooth sonic emissions. I know earlier you mentioned that if it doesn’t have feeling it’s not worth it, can you expand a little more?
KB :: Parts of the album are definitely rougher round the edges, especially the “Commodore 64” tracks but also there are parts that I think are a lot cleaner and smoother than before, I just think the dynamics have got a lot wider.
That said I think having at least some rough is part of being emotional. It’s like the band “The Fall.” The albums are badly played and badly
produced but if you put one on it’s like you’re being pushed confrontationally as if to start a fight from beginning to end. Compare that
with say “Dream Theater” where the playing is perfect and the production is perfect but there’s no heart there at all.
It is possible to sterilize the heart out of your music, one of your goals as a musician should be to make sure this doesn’t happen. Especially in IDM as IDM focuses so much on the production and weird noise aspect that it can sometimes lose sight of the music itself. In a lot of ways IDM is the electronic musicians equivalent of jazz. Jazz is where people who want to play really well go and some of them keep their heart like Miles Davis and some just turn into hyper-speed musical typewriters.
There are albums I’ve listened to more than 10 times and still felt nothing apart from “ooh, that bit was clever”, which was how I used to appreciate hyper-technical jazz when I was a session bassist. I even got to a point about 9 years ago where I thought that there was no such thing as feel at all and feel was just emulated in music. Thank god I got out of it and my playing and appreciation got better because of it.
Music shouldn’t be about appreciating skill, it should be about loving what you’re hearing for itself. If you then delve deeper and recognize there is a lot of skill there then brilliant! It’s extra added value not the value in itself.
Igloo :: Can you tell me more about the book you’re writing?
KB :: Well there’s kind of three. Two which are just in the ideas stage
still and one which I’m 15,000 words into so far.
The one I’m 15,000 words into is kind of a Horror comedy. The idea is that all of a sudden a lot of people in Leeds go extremely violent. They’re all from specific social groups. Students, teenagers, tramps and the like. Some people just from reading that will be able to tell what the cause is others may not. I’m aiming for a cross between Douglas Adams and cheesy horror.
The other two may end up being short stories. They are basically:
1) A man discovers he is indestructible but can do nothing with it as in the real world, people are rarely where the danger is or where crimes are happening so he cannot be a superhero. It’s about how he deals with that and what he can actually do with his gift.
2) Due to a cosmic event everyone on earth gets permanent amnesia at the same time so nobody can remember any of their past. It’ll be about how the world copes and how it sees itself with fresh eyes and how people cope on a personal level with it.
Of course, whether any of these get finished is another thing. Hehe.
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Redeye will be released February 15, 2007 on Hymen.
