In Strict Adherence To The Manifesto: Metamono Talks

With their second long-player Creative Listening just out we sat down to chat with South London electronic DIY super group metamono to let them talk and find out more about their work ethos of keeping things and sounds original. By now, they are 9 releases young, containing four cassette tape releases as well as a couple of 10“ a 7“ and two LPs yet keeping things offensively underground under their own Instrumentarium label – working by strict adherence to their self-imposed manifesto. The band are three individuals coming from different but complementing fields – there is composer Jono Podmore who, besides his professional work at the Cologne University of Music keeps a low profile although being more or less heavily involved with the likes of Burnt Friedman, Jaki Liebezeit and Irmin Schmidt of CAN to name only a few. There is Paul Conboy, not just another electronic musician, but one who has been around since the early 1990s, and fine artist Mark Hill, who brings in an anti-consumerist ethos to the group. 

Tell us about your backgrounds, where you come from and what you do aside from your collaborative efforts. Is there a head of metamono, or are you all heads?

Jono:

There is no head of metamono. I’m Jono and I’m 33% of the democratic republic of metamono. We all have equal input and responsibilities but different areas of expertise and concentration. I tend to deal very much with the edits of the tunes for example although every aspect is up for discussion and every decision is mutually agreed before moving on.

Mark:

Background. Primarily as a visual artist, particularly in Print, Painting, Sculpture and Installation. The thesis around most of my work has been around art povera/found objects and general use of available resources. The idea of making something out of what most people would consider 'nothing' or rubbish still appeals to me and sits very comfortably with the way metamono go about things musically, and very obviously is where the artwork for the tapes/vinyl/t-shirts and the overall look of the band comes from. Similarly this ethos applies to many of the bands videos, often using found and reclaimed footage as part of the films. At present I also run a second hand record shop in the Junk Emporium that is Bambino in Crystal Palace. The shop is a sort of spiritual home for metamono, where we often play gigs within the store itself, and use the basement as a rehearsal/recording space. Is there a head of metamono? -three heads are better than one. metamono is an old style collective, one man one vote!

Paul:

I started making music when I went to Manchester Uni in 89. I went there wanting to start an indie guitar band but very quickly discovered the joys of acid house and the crazy Manchester scene of the time. When my student house got burgled, as was obligatory at the time, I used the insurance money from the nicked guitars to buy a JUNO60, and never looked back! I spent most of the next decade in collaboration with Adrian Corker with whom I released a bunch of albums as APE, Corker Conboy and Soul Circuit. We also produced a number of scores for film and TV. After that I did a 3 album stint with Tim Simenon as part of Bomb The Bass which involved a lot of touring. It was in that period I got into building synths and collecting odd bits of analogue gear. Jono I met on my first proper studio recording for Dorado Records who APE signed to in about 94. He was thrust upon us as our recording engineer and we all hit it off fairly straight away. Jono then engineered and sneered his skills on just about everything I recorded since. Jono’s good to work with as he generally tells it as it is … i.e. “that is shit record it again”. 

So I understand Paul and Jono had been collaborating in the past already. How did you guys meet and decide to form metamono? I mean the manifesto gives some hint on that and if read between the lines you can easily interpret some sort of disapproval with the current general approach and state of music production. Even though it is pretty much self-explaining by its intro, can you go a bit into detail on how it came to the manisfesto, preferring mono to stereo – I don‘t want to exaggerate the analogue vs. digital part because that seems to be discussed anywhere else. I really find myself in the „kick against the pricks“ line, what is behind all that?

Jono:

I met Paul when I was hired to produce his first album back in the 90’s. It was so sloppily programmed that I clearly remember punching the wall in frustration before getting it under control. Since then he has come to me to comb through the disparate strands of his creative mess. As regards disapproval – yes. I DO disapprove of the parlous state of current popular music. There are many reasons for this but none of them are the responsibility of the artists. They are restrained and restricted by corporate pressures which are so pervasive it’s hard to see beyond. Mono, Stereo, Quad etc. are irrelevant – what counts is ideas and application of learning. Do not be afraid of mono. I was. For ages I didn’t have the courage as a producer and engineer to mix in mono. Taking a step away from the consensus is tough – but when you do, the clouds part for you and you see your previous restrictions as trivial.

As regards Kick against the Pricks that’s a line from the bible (Acts Ch. 9 v.5) used in English to mean fighting back against attacks on you, not “taking it lying down” as another English expression would have it!

Paul:

Jono and I originally started when I first got my modular working. It just started for fun we didn’t plan to make a record or anything. Then I think we thought we’d annoy the shit out of each other if it was just us two so we roped Mark in ‘cause he had a Korg MS20, and it’s a great synth! 

So as an actual band, when rehearsing and performing live, is there a set list of knobs to turn and parameters to change at a particular point during your real time playing or do you rather improvise in order to make these instruments come alive with a „mistakes welcome“ attitude? Is there always a general plan before meeting in the studio or will you just jack in and jam? How do you set up and plan your live shows?

Jono:

The word is Serendipity. We program basic structures – sequences in fact – and then improvise the music from this simple material. “Mistakes Welcome” has it’s most complete manifestation in that Mark has his radio running throughout recordings and gigs, pulling on the random and finding a space for it. As for gigs we have a set list of sequences – in fact only last week we attempted to play a gig that reproduced the album Creative Listening. It was a lovely show to a sell out crowd but needless to say, other than the order, it was pretty different to the vinyl. Good job too – we were responding to the audience and they knew it.

Mark:

Rehearsing and performing live – happy accident is alive and well with metamono. Not least because of the 'live' radio situation, where whatever we use depends exactly what we can find on the radio at the time!

Paul:

There’s a general shape to the settings and the way the arrangements are made but within that plenty of improvising with the sounds. If anything just out of boredom I’ll re-patch the synth halfway through a tune for a completely different sound, or shift all the MIDI channels up so all the instruments are playing the wrong part – which can go either way success wise but those bits are often the most interesting in the final edited recording. 

Perhaps the strongest base and focus in your work is the used, self-built and some hard-tofind old gear. Synths, ring-modulators, an old Arp and the „arcane“ art of playing a theremin. Can you name some more of the equipment you use and since it is so old maybe some witty anecdotes? I can hardly imagine all of this equipment was not in use by someone else before you.

Jono:

I use an MPC 2000, purely as a sequencer. This sends MIDI (which is converted to Control Voltage) to some of Paul and Mark’s gear, but also to my Arp 2600, my Roland MC202 and to various modules on our Doepfer A100 system which is on long term loan from our long term pal George. On top of that come the instruments and modifiers that are free of the sequencer – the theremin, my Dirty Electronics Mute synth, Ring mod, filter, mutron, spring reverb etc. This is where a big part of the spontaneous magic of our sound lies with these devices that are off the grid, interacting with each other and generating new sounds to respond to.

Mark:

I mainly use a Korg MS20 which to my parents horror I spent ALL my accumulated money on when I was in my early 20's, I only had to wait 25 years to meet the right people to be in a band with! Also an indestructable valve radio which I pulled (covered in snow) from a skip. I stood it next to a radiator for a couple of days, switched it on and we've never looked back.

Paul:

The main synth I play is my hand built modular. It‘s a bit rough and ready in terms of the build quality I can’t be arsed to make it look all posh and shiny like a lot of the DIY synth nerds out there. But when it‘s on form it can sound ace. Generally it’s used for most of the bass lines – which anyone knows is the most important part of any tune!

So, the new album is out since the special date that is 29th February. Creative Listening is made up of a few pieces that had been recorded for the Secrets Of Nature silent movie soundtrack which premiered at the Bradford International Film Festival some time ago. How did that collaboration come together, how do these early groundbreaking Percy Smith films translate to your music and vice versa?

Jono:

We were commissioned to create a soundtrack for silent films for the festival by Tom Vincent on the basis of our live shows and the sound world we create. Tom is a very astute guy and it’s no surprise he’s moved on to be a curator at the Perth International Festival. We looked at a number of options, concentrating on UK films with one eye on getting funding from the British Council, but when Tom lead us to the Secrets of Nature series it clicked immediately. The films are so close to our ethos of homespun, science oriented creativity that the match was instant.

Paul:

The album is really born out of the Secrets of Nature project. We sort of purposely wrote new material that would sit with our favourite pieces from those sessions. The other major factor was that the SON music had been played live many times before we recorded it. We sort of had to rethink the whole thing in terms of an album without the films to accompany it and make it work. 

Having followed closely your first 10“ and 7“ releases – great take on Bowie‘s Warszawa by the way – up to the process of crowd-funding and self-releasing your 2013 debut album With The Compliments Of Nuclear Physics and basically going full-on DIY from sound production to cover art, now comparing both LPs there has been a shift of some sort, maybe because Creative Listening is stripped down to eight tracks, but this could also be a personal impression only. Have you tried to do anything different this time?

Jono:

With the Compliments of Nuclear Physics is very much a statement of intent. A demonstration of who we are and what we can do within the restraints of the manifesto: from trippy ambient to banging dance floor – from melodic comfort to musique concrete. But of course that leaves little space for a second album – a new angle. That’s why we jumped so wholeheartedly into the Secrets of Nature project, to some how sidestep the “difficult second album”. But we were so happy with what we created that it had to find a more permanent way to the public. A DVD was out of the question – the BFI, who own the rights to the films, had already released one and it was against our manifesto ethos. So we decided to take the pieces for the film and re-record them without the pictures, so they would stand as pieces in their own right. After doing this we realised we had the core of a new album. We wrote a few new tracks, put them all together into a playlist and made a new album from there. 

How and what does each of you bring in to each project when it comes to production and decision making, perhaps about your set-up – how you connect and have all your gear play together – but not only about the music but also about artwork?

Jono:

The composition and performance process is quite different. For gigs we have quite a fixed system which we know works – when we’re writing we often strive to deliberately disrupt that to find new sounds and techniques. We all bring what we can within the restrictions of the manifesto, which functions at the writing stage as an aesthetic. What tends to happen is that one of us will have an idea of the sort of tune we need, or would like to have, or something we would like to try. This then becomes the seed of an idea that we can improvise around together and develop into a piece. When this has got to a certain point we hit record and develop it further in real time as the master. These can be up to half an hour long. Then – after a couple of days grace – we edit that down to a workable piece of music rather than an extended jam.

The great thing about self-releasing your music is that you can make all your own decisions without having to convince any label heads of your own visions. For example, you chose to work together with a certain Kevin Metcalfe for the mastering and the cutting of your records, a man who has quite a big portfolio. Now, I always had the feeling that mastering engineers and the one cutting the record play an essential role in adding, let‘s say, the last ingredients that give the record its final sound, so I think you just can‘t credit them enough even though most of them seem to be preferring to remain behind the curtains. Was there a peculiar reason why you wanted to work together with Kevin? And please explain the benefits (not so obvious to everyone) of attending a mastering session instead of just sending your music out and not really caring who is working on it and how.

Jono:

I first worked with Kevin on the Can remasters back in 2006. We struck up a great working relationship and I’ve taken all my masters to him ever since. Mastering is a vital part of the whole process but for metamono it takes on an even greater significance due to our working method. The masters we take to him are, by most standards, really raw. We don’t have a flash mixing desk with compression on every channel or even professional standard monitoring or recording environment. We mix while we are playing which keeps the music extremely fresh but can lead to wild swings in level and sound quality. All this is then left to poor Kevin to sort out – which he does with a minimum of swearing or reference to our parents. The result is often such a dramatic improvement that we’re amazed at what geniuses we are … Attending the mastering session is vital as otherwise Kevin would have no-one to pour scorn upon for dubious professional standards.

Mark, so you are mainly responsible for the artwork as far as I understand. I really liked the Warszawa 7“ artwork, were each record actually does have a unique handmade cover. How do you choose the material you work with, where did you learn your craft? Is there any general vision behind cover artwork-to-music, especially considering the manifesto which seems to apply to the music only?

Mark:

Yes, each 7" single has an individually hand-made cover, which really makes the object an artwork in itself, at a ridiculously low price! The collaged covers comprise old pianola rolls/tape & pencil. ^. The titling of most of the tracks also fits in with the overall ethos. I spend a long time listening to the tracks over and over to try and glean the titles from what they suggest through particular sounds and the feelings/ideas that they evoke. Hopefully the listener can pick up on this important connection.

As far as I understand you got your covers for the new LP printed not at the pressing plant but at a seperate printing house. Is this about finding a particular type of cardboard, what is behind the decision to seperate production process?

Mark:

As regards the seperation of printing the covers and production of the vinyl, the idea is simple. Although more expensive having the covers printed locally at Senol in Croydon, it means we can can go down there on the day of printing, adjust colours, print on the perfect type of paper for the job etc The devil is in the detail when it comes to the final product, it needs people to feel like they've really got hold of something special when they first encounter the object.

Paul:

We try to make our lives as difficult as possible …

Which ones would you deem your general influences during your teens in the early 80s? I mean, your press release says you have all grown up during the, golden age of cartoon animation“, which really makes me smile looking at the pink Creative Listening cover art now – you just can‘t miss it! Your deeper roots would be interesting to know about, since you sound original, unlike many younger musicians nowadays where you could get the feeling they quote the 80s and 90s just a bit too much, not trusting themselves and unwantedly losing their originality, also considering the manifold and unstoppable mass of re-issues from that time coming out on vinyl these days again.

Jono:

I was already active as a musician and producer in the 80’s and what I hope I still retain from that time is not a sound or a method but an attitude towards my music. In the underground scene then, both in UK and internationally was a sense that what we were doing was VITAL. Our societies were unfair, corrupt and on the brink of nuclear annihilation, and we had to demonstrate to each other through our art that we would not succumb to the control of social norms which perpetrated this condition. This is not only still the case today, but in many ways even worse. Class war is being perpetrated against the poor under the guise of “austerity” and the means to create in art is utterly circumscribed by software and exacting restrictions of convention. When young people look at music and culture from the 80’s that’s what excites them and that’s what they cannot achieve – the liberation to step out of the confines of the marketplace and to use all of their knowledge to express something peculiar to themselves. Young people's creativity is very much restricted these days, either by the software they use or the restrictions of genre, or as it is in London, the fact there's nowhere to rehearse!! So what excites people about music from the 80's is that they can hear the lack of restriction in it. They get excited hearing people doing what has become off the map for them.

Mark:

General Influences – engaged with the punk ethos of D.I.Y. at a very early age and have stuck with the attitude ever since. Music influences would be UK punk bands, but also early Human League/ Fad Gadget/Clock DVA and general oop north Sheffield electronic scene. The 70's and 80's for us was not about mimickry or giving a nod to your heroes – more an attitude of being yourself and doing it for yourself was gleaned from it.

Jono, digging the crates in a record shop I have found an early 1986 collab 12“ called Kitchenette / The Unknown Industrial Fatality and I enjoyed a certain kind of lyrical humour in the record. Listening to metamono for some time I can‘t deny finding that same humour in its atmospheres and sounds. Is this only a personal impression or did you keep that up over time and transfer it to the metamono world? I mean sometimes your pieces tell me not to take things too seriously – especially when it comes to music making.

Jono:

Ha! Well there is a natural lightheartedness about lots of music I’ve worked on over the years. Being po-faced and taking yourself too seriously is definitely anathema to British working class culture. Pretentiousness is just the most toe-curlingly embarrassing thing for us – unlike other european cultures where the grandiose is often positively encouraged. I still can’t handle it! But by the same token I really dislike “joke” records. The problem for me is that a good joke needs only to be told once. If it’s repeated it becomes laboured and unfunny. But music is to be cherished and enjoyed over and over again, revealing new facets with each new play. That’s why I don’t have any Frank Zappa records. I’ve tried, believe me, but once I’ve got the joke I just discard it. Strangely though I do love Spike Jones….

You have received great reviews so far on Creative Listening, but neither can you find it nor the earlier releases on the hyped up online mainstream blogs, how does it feel not to be on everyone‘s radar?

Jono:

Well we’d LIKE to be more recognised outside of our direct sphere of influence, but our DIY ethic means DIY budgets so we simply can’t afford to hire a press and promotions company to service all those other outlets. BUT we do pretty well with the reach we have and each release gets us further and further organically.

Jono, you are professor and lecturer at the Cologne University of Music and you have also lectured one of the early RBMA in London about a topic so essential and basic in music engineering. Lately, there are many sessions where long standing artists and musicians share their personal stories to sort of teach the younger fans mere history lessons. Can you share an academic thought about a music history lesson-to-basic music production ratio?

Jono:

The 2 areas go hand in hand. What I tend to do is to work on a purely practical basis with my students, especially if it’s one to one as it largely is on the Masters course I run in Cologne. As we work on a student’s mix or recording, historical or cultural issues will crop up and we investigate them there and then – often integrating what we discover directly into the work in hand. In fact, outside of teaching, that’s how artists and producers often work in the studio. The studio has always been a place for sharing and developing ideas. Some great and long lasting friendships of mine have developed from chatting and comparing artistic, social and political ideas with fellow musicians in the studio. It’s one of the advantages of working in a social art form, rather than being the “lone genius” of the romantic ideal. Sadly, as studios close and artists get locked into their Ableton Live this aspect is diminishing.

Is there any piece of advice you could give out to all of the young producers and artists out there to keep things original?

Jono:

By definition we are all originals as human beings, so whatever you can offer that is directly from your experience and concerns will be original. So, although “be yourself” seems like a tired platitude, in this case it means if you stop trying to fit into conventions and look to your own resources you’ll develop a sound no-one else can.

Mark:

Advice – If anyone says you can't do something, creatively, just ignore them – and get on with it you lazy bastards!

Paul:

I try to keep any really good advice if I have any to myself. Thanks!

Creative Listening is out on Instrumentarium since 29th February 2016 and distributed by Juno. Find out more about metamono HERE and make sure to follow their Instrumentarim imprint on Soundcloud.