D.S.W.A.C.V is one of the  key projects in the recently growing & blossoming  UK walled noise scene. It’s  based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, and started in late 2012; and has so far  has putting out around  20 plus releases that take in CDR’s, splits & digital releases.  It offers up HNW/ doom wall sound that mixes  in elements of ritual ambience. The projects one & only member is L.M, and he kindly agreed to give M[m] an email interview.

M[m]:What was your first introduction to the walled noise form? And is there any particular release that inspired you to want to make HNW yourself?

L.M Stumbling upon the blogspot "Harsh Noise Wall Graveyard" which opened my eyes to the genre. After looking into it more I came across "A View From Nihil" who was highly influential and "Death of a Robot" by Bad Algorithm.

M[m]:What was it in particular that stood out to you in both A View From Nihil & Bad Algorithm work?

L.M For A View From Nihil, it was the over whelming bass, themes and cover art.

With Bad Algorithm, the use of the sample taken from an interview with the black metal project "Xasthur" which I am a big fan of.

The sample is short yet brings across the idea of misanthropy, then the listener is blasted with an utterly full wall of sound. When I first heard this track I was blown away.

M[m]:Your project D.S.W.A.C.V ( aka Distorted Souls Within A Corrupt Vision) started in 2012- tell us a little bit about how the project first came about? And what made you select such a lengthy name for the project?

L.M At first. Distorted Souls Within A Corrupt Vision was actually the name of a blog, in which I used to upload "mixes" I created of drone and noise on a DJ emulation program. These mixes would include industrial, drone and a lot of HNW releases which I had downloaded from various blogs and bandcamp pages. Usually the tracks would be layered 3-6 tracks at a time, Slowed down and heavily distorted.

L.M After an about 6 blog posts of mixes I had made, I decided I would like to get more into actually creating noise. Particularly distorted bass drones. At this time I decided it would be a good time to come up with a new alias, But nothing sprung to mind.

I originally picked the name for the blog after some artwork I had made, which consisted of a glitched background with the words "distorted minds for a corrupt world" scrawled in black biro.

When I wrote this I imagined a busy city centre, where people would be rushing around to their 9 to 5 minimum wage jobs. Or spending their time off being sucked into a world of consumerism. This vision would then zoom out and show the world around stricken with poverty, starvation and exploitation caused by this consumerist society.

At the time, I was also listening to a lot of the band Corrupted. Whose visual aesthetics inspired me greatly. I tinkered with the name to create more of a mystical sound. and thus D.S.W.A.C.V was born...

M[m]:What do you see as the main themes running through D.S.W.A.C.V work?

L.M Throughout my first releases to bandcamp, themes where very much based upon the general cliché which surrounds harsh noise wall; nihilism. Artwork and aesthetics where kept monochrome using artworks from Gustave Dore.

I then started adding the idea of ritualism and cult themes into the project. As I have always found Harsh Noise Wall is trance inducing and has meditational qualities. With some releases in this era of recordings I added dark ambient soundscapes to accompany the walls. My albums "From Agartha" and "Conjunction in the Etherical Twilight" would be highlights of this style.

L.M  More recently I feel as though my themes have moved on or evolved from its nihilistic roots. Incorporating themes of nature and beauty. I have stopped strictly using black and white artwork and started using artwork which reflects this beauty, albeit still melancholic and morose. I like the contrast, as nature is not just beautiful, but also ruthless and brutal.

L.M  Sound wise, I have always sought after bass. The deep churning and rumbling in which some may call "Doom Wall," focusing more on the lower end of the frequency spectrum than the higher. Although, more recently I have branched out and focused on more minimalistic static crackling. Whether amongst the lower wall, or on its own.

M[m]:Tell us a little bit about your set-up, and has it changed in the years since the project started?

L.M  The very first releases recorded as D.S.W.A.C.V were made using very minimal gear and were created digitally by manipulating sound sources, be it a recording of a vacuum cleaner or didgeridoo. I would not consider these releases to be HNW as such, but an attempt at this.

After experimentation and collecting more equipment I recorded my first few wall albums. "Abyss, Dark Void, The Chasm, Dissonance and Nihill I,II & III" All of these releases where recorded using a no input DJ mixer set up, with minimal pedals.

After these releases I experimented with a lot of different sources. From contact mics on scrap metal, blank cassettes, basic oscillators and no input pedal chains. With varying pedals and recording methods.

Of late I have decided to fine tune my set up. To be able to get the most diversity out of my sound without having to unplug and swap gear.

Currently the basis of my set up is using a RMA crustacean, an octaver. a yamaha 31 band stereo EQ, US bigmuff pi and a sovtek bubble fonts bigmuff pi.

M[m]:In 2013 you started up your own label Tera-AntiQu- tell us a little bit about how & why this came about?

L.M In my history of early releases I have had a few things which I had never received even one promised artist copy.

I thought that it may be better to start doing things myself. I came up with the idea of Tera-AntiQu after being heavily inspired by the concept of it not only being a label, but having the aesthetics of a cult. With a small following of artists who contribute releases, which would be shared amongst the rest of the artists who take part in the label.

To start off the label I decided it would be best to create a compilation to showcase various artists whom I would like to work with in the future.

I created a facebook event, and accepted enough submissions to fill up at least 3 cdrs, around this time I had some problems within my personal life and had to put my noise work on hold, including the label. A few months after I had got back on track, I decided I needed to continue the label, for my own gratification, and so I wouldn't be letting down others, which I started due to my own let downs.

As it was my first release I thought that a multi disk set would be too much of a grand task, so I spent a long time listening to, choosing and cutting down alot of the material to fit onto one disc.

M[m]:So far the label has put out around 13 releases- please select you five favorite release thus far & explain why?

L.M in chronological order I would say:

V/A - compilation volume 1

Vulthoom - Azoth

Asleep in the Lake - Maze of forgotten Ghosts

Black Matter Phantasm - Persian Black Magick

Cursed Aether / D.S.W.A.C.V - Split

Not only I thought the material on these releases are superb, but I also think that the artists have themed their work to fit in with the label, and that they had understood what I have been trying to create with Tera-AntiQu. I will usually have a connection on a similar wave length with the artist before releasing their material.

M[m]:You started up the now very popular HNW facebook group, which  has nearing 2000 members- why do you think there has been a resurgence in interest in the walled noise scene in the last year or so?

L.M haha! I didn’t actually create the group. A friend of mine did so, and then left it over to me.

Personally as a fairly new comer to the scene I don't know why there is resurgence. Although I have heard from longer reigning wallers, that the scene is a lot more active than the old days. I think this is a good thing. Although one might say its can cause an over saturation, where new comers will try to copy some of the big names with sound and themes, not creating anything original. But I feel the opposite; I think Harsh Noise Wall is now opening up to new themes and ideas, and not stuck in its nihilistic phase.

M[m]:You recently played a live show in London with the D.S.W.A.C.V project- can you tell us a little bit about what you did for this live show & did your set-up vary from your normal set-up?

L.M  I have never been a very outgoing and interactive person on stage, on top of this; to a listener I don't think Harsh Noise Wall is a very captivating genre when along side more frantic harsh noise acts. So I decided combine this with the idea of a ritualistic performance. Where the listener was encouraged to zone out. apposed to "rock out."

The lights where dimmed and I wore a black robe. A lot of the audience chose to sit on the floor which I thought was a very successful outcome.

To start the set I played a recording of a reading from HP Lovecraft's short story - Memory. Which I have used previously for a track on my bandcamp. The track takes its title from a line in the story.

Gear wise I played with my current standard set up which I mentioned previously.

M[m]:What’s next for D.S.W.A.C.V & Tera-AntiQu?

L.M for D.S.W.A.C.V I am pretty much constantly working out new ideas for themes. I will mention a few physical releases from various labels in the making;

The Garden [CDr] - La Serie Noire, 6 tracks titled after wild flowers.

Tempest [Cassette] - Cuboid Slab Gallery, using source material of recordings of wind

Split with Cherry Blossoms At Night [Cassette] - Signora Ward Records, my track based upon lace fetishism

Split with Big Hole [Cassette] - Needle And Knife, both tracks named after poisonous plants

For Tera-AntiQu, I have a fair back log.

I will be releasing Tera-AntiQu Compilation Volume 2 as the 10th and possibly the last CD release. As I personally dislike CDs for this label.

New cassette releases will feature artists; Cherry Blossoms At Night, Uitgeschakeld, A Raja's Mesh Men + More

I also have material and plan on creating more under the alias "The Static Doom Cult Of Tera-AntiQu" which is an anonymous collective collaboration project, inspired by the act "Phurpa" which uses a collected of vocalists reciting mantras, in the tradition of Bon Buddhism.

I have also recently let the public know about a new Harsh Noise Wall project of mine. Named "Tarot" in which I aim to release small quantities of cassettes entitled and based upon each one of the 78 Rider Waite tarot cards.

M[m]:Can you tell us what to expect from the Tera-AntiQu Compilation Volume 2? And whose going to be on it?

L.M My vision of the finished compilation has a very ritualistic theme around it. It will contain the CDr. Incense cones. A slab of wood engraved with the Tera-AntiQu logo. A Tera-AntiQu t-shirt limited to this release and other artifacts. All housed in a black box.

Featured on the compilation will be;

A Raja's Mesh Men, Asleep in the Lake, Belphegore, Blood Eagle, III, Uitgeschakeld, Willowbrook and myself.

M[m]:Why do you think you’ve gone off the CDR as a format for the label, and does this mean in the future you’ll be releasing purely on tape?

L.M  Personally I much prefer tapes to CDs and feel as though CDrs don't get the appreciation that a tape would. I prefer the packaging of tapes and the sound. My opinion is that tape is the perfect format for HNW.

This won’t stop me releasing CDs which are not under the Tera-AntiQu banner!

M[m]:What can we expect sound wise from the Tarot card project? And what attached you to this theme?

L.M  Junk metal HNW. I plan to use a very similar set up for every one of the tapes, yet keep the sound of each one pretty varied. Although I expect they will all be fairly bass laden...

I was attracted to this theme due to multiple reasons. The artworks on the cards of the Rider Waite tarot deck have always appealed to me, and I had planned to use various cards as album covers cover, but I couldn't quite decide which..

I had also been meaning to do a big series of tapes, with very similar artwork for quite some time. The two ideas amalgamated, and the new project was created.

On the other side of things. With an interest (yet skeptical) in mysticism and other paranormal events, I knew very little about tarot. But researching for this project has taught me a few things about the history of tarot cards.

Thanks to L.M for his time & effort doing the interview, and here are some links:

links:

Distorted Souls Within A Corrupt Vision:

https://d-s-w-a-c-v.bandcamp.com

Tera-AntiQu:

http://tera-antiqu.blogspot.co.uk

Tarot:

https://tarot-hnw.bandcamp.com