Rockezine.com interview with Frames A Second on May 04, 2002

with Gert and Chris on May 04, 2002

After their live show on Sounds From Down Below and their release of “Disorientated Xpress” (see the review on this site) we give you the chance to know more about this Belgian band. Gert and Chris did all the answers. The result: industrial soundscapes in words…
		Can you tell me more about the history of FRAMES A SECOND? I started experimenting with sounds about 10 years ago. At that time I recorded a lot of sound material on tapes, just to have a souvenir of what I created. I never had the intention to release something but when Patrick Stevens (Escape3, Hypnoskull) asked me for some sound material for his tape compilation “INDUST WE TRUST”, the game was started. I did not even have a name for the project so I had to find something very fast, just to have a band name for the tape. It became “FRAMES A SECOND” from an old Simple Minds track “30 frames a second”. I also decided to compile a full demo tape named “ACHIEVED BY LOW DISTORTION”. I received a lot of reactions from all kinds of people and after a while Dirk Ivens (Daft Records, Body Records) contacted me for hearing some more stuff. He used the track “FRAMED THEME” for his EVEN DOGS IN THE WILD CD- compilation and afterwards he decided to release a full CD of FRAMES A SECOND named “NATURE IN REVERSE”. Meanwhile I also started playing as a guest-musician for SUICIDE COMMANDO. Most of the time I was doing the vocals and sound effects during their live shows. To be honest, after a few years it became too much; it was to difficult to combine those actions together with my regular job and my family life. I even considered stopping all F.A.S. activities. In a certain way Tom of SPECTRE and some other people convinced me to carry on with F.A.S. A few months later, the second CD “DISORIENTED XPRESS” was assembled and recorded!
		Your last album “Disorientated Xpress” seems to be inspired by communication. Is that right? And what are the other inspirations you used in your music? I think music is more than just something to listen to or to dance on. It must contain a message or a concept. Our latest album is indeed inspired by communication because it’s a very easy subject to work on (haha). No, communication and technology are beautiful things and it’s becoming very easy to gather mass-information. But due to mass-information it’s also becoming difficult to divide useful and useless (gossip?) data. The Internet is an example, everyone can publish whatever they like. On a certain point valuable information will get disoriented! On the Disoriented Xpress CD, we used a lot of sound samples from fax-machines, telephones, movies, speeches and of course chaotic rhythms and noises just to give the listener a feeling of disorientation.
		Is it difficult for you to translate your feelings into (electronic) music? Not really. It would be easier when we used lyrics in the songs but none of us is a good singer so ... we’ll keep it instrumental.
none of us is a good singer so ... we’ll keep it instrumental.		You use video images when you play live. When do you think: ‘That image is something I can use for my live show’? We use the video images to put an extra dimension in our music. On the other hand, it makes our show more ‘active and alive’ because we both have to stand and stay on the same part of the stage, just to control the electronic instruments. Friends who are really into video editing mostly assemble the video images we use. Afterwards we go trough the images and compile them into some kind of movie.
		If you see a concert like Sounds From Down Below and the existence of a label like Spectre, it seems that the Belgian scene for industrial soundscapes is pretty healthy. Is that true according to you? I don`t think soundscaping is a Belgian thing. And music labels like Spectre, Daft?records, EE-tapes also represent a lot of bands from other countries. But it’s true that the people behind those Belgian labels make a very typical choice so they create a musical wave without compromises. The Sound From Down Below concert in Brussels was really a very nice combination of bands. I hope the organiser will set up a new festival within some time...
		What bands/ acts should we keep in mind according to you? What bands/ acts influenced you? And why? Of course I’m influenced by the bands I often listen to like SEVERED HEADS, CABARET VOLTAIRE, SKINNY PUPPY, KRAFTWERK and BLACKHOUSE. Most of them are electronic bands but I also like punk or garage-rock bands like CRASS, CRAMPS and FUZZTONES. It’s strange that I translate this all into FRAMES A SECOND but I can’t help it, haha ... No, I really like the concept and the sound of those bands!!
		What are your future plans with FRAMES A SECOND? Tours? New material? Other stuff (like solo-projects)? Because I don’t have a lot of time to make music it takes some to have a new product. But I already have a few new ideas to work on, so be patient and we’ll be back with something new. I don’t think we’ll go on tour with FRAMES A SECOND for the moment ... a few concerts, yes.
		Is it difficult to find places outside Belgium to play live? Or to sell CD’s? It’s not too difficult to get in contact with organisers outside Belgium, especially when there’s a new release. Thanks to the Internet (website of the band) it’s also easier for the organisers to get in touch with the band.
		Something you always wanted to tell, but never was asked… This is a difficult question! Maybe one thing: I hope that more industrial- soundscaping projects will show up in the future and that they will not be too dance influenced. More experimental stuff, that’s what we miss in most of the bands today. Please, make noise without compromises!!
		(Beautevil )