Dark and Horror filled 'Walls'
Foul
m[m] What are some of your earliest musical memoires and what was the first noise album or track that inspired you to make noise yourself?
J Some of my earliest musical memories are the tapes my dad used to play when we would go on trips, the Cars, Kiss, Van Halen...stuff like that. I remember listening to a Alice Cooper record that my mom had. I think it was "Billion Dollar Babies". Then in my teens I started to listen to a lot of punk rock. Like a lot of people, the first noise I heard was Merzbow. Then I started getting into the stuff on the Black Noise label, mainly Sailor Winters and Better People. What really made me want to start making noise myself though was Werewolf Jerusalem. I just happened to see his myspace page and I really got into what he was doing. I think Richard is an amazing artist, and I am really honored to be working with him.
m[m] last year you changed you main projects name from White Torture to Foul- why did you decided to do this? And do you think your work has changed since the name change?
J I didn't change the name, I ended that project. I had a few projects going on besides White Torture. I had I Spit on Your Grave, BDSM and Sette Note In Nero. I only put out one release with the last two projects though. I really don't have an answer for why I ended White Torture. I just wanted to do something else. I don't think the sound has really changed though, except maybe less dynamics going on, less changes.
m[m] Was White Torture your first noise project?
J Yes.
m[m] what was the first track you recorded under the White Torture banner? And how do you think it compares to your work now? And as you’ve now finished the White Torture project- have you out thought of putting together a box set of all the projects work?
J Oh God, I don't remember what the first track I recorded was. It seems like it was forever when I did that, but I'm guessing it was something off of the "Braindead" release. If you have ever heard "Braindead" you'll see that it is completely different from what I'm doing now. There may be hints of wall like sounds in it but for the most part it's a really busy release with a lot going on. It sounds nothing like what I'm doing now. I've never thought about doing a box set. There is a boxset coming out on Phage Tapes though that has some White Torture material on it. If I remember correctly, it's going to be Baculum, Willful, and White Torture.
m[m] Your sound with Foul is often very thick and darkly horror hued- how do you go about creating this sound?
J I use 3 or 4 pedals. I don't have a lot of pedals like a lot of people. I own 5 but I only use 3 or 4 at a time. I also have an optical theremin. I don't record with it much though. I've only recorded with it once or twice. I think I used it on a release coming out on Narcolepsia. There was a drone/doom project I was involved with called Laggardrone. It was a project started by Gavin Boyle. He's an awesome musician and a good guy. He gave me the theremin.
m[m] what are some of the source you use for creating your walls?
J Sometimes I use white noise. Sometimes I record a track and just add other layers of noise to it. I might eventually try different sources sometime. We'll see.
m[m] How often do you record ‘walls’? and do you release everything you record?
J I'm always recording stuff but I don't release everything. A lot of times I am recording and I think it sounds good until I go back and listen to it, and I don't like the way it sounds, so I trash it. There are probably more than a few recordings that people would probably tell you I should have trashed.
m[m] Do you ever perform live and if so do you have any backdrops or images playing behind you ? Also do you wear a mask or disguise on stage ?which seems to be quite common with a few HNW acts.
J I don't perform live. As far as I know I'm the only person in my area who is doing HNW, so I'm not sure if it would be very easy to find a place to perform. Plus I'm really shy and anti-social so I'm not sure if I would perform anyway. If I ever did I probably would wear a ski mask or something. That may be a good way to take away some of the stage fright, and I like the whole anonymity thing
m[m] You recently did a HNW version of the Halloween soundtrack- have you any thoughts about doing any others?
J Yeah, that was for a HNW tribute to John Carpenter that is supposed to be released sometime on Vomir's label. When I was doing White Torture I did a release called "The Shower Murder". I used a sample from the "Psycho" theme at the beginning of it. I don't know about others. I think maybe doing a HNW version of the Suspiria soundtrack could be interesting.
m[m] still talking about Halloween- what are your thoughts about Rob Zombies remakes and modern horror remakes in general?
J I personally think it's a bunch of shit. Obviously the movies were good the first time around or else nobody would be wanting to remake them. Watch the originals. Leave the remakes alone.
m[m] You’re clearly a huge horror fan- please name your top five favourite horror movies & why they are your favourites?
J 1 Maniac
2 The Beyond
3 The Prowler
4 Cannibal Holocaust
5 Suspiria
J They are just great films. If you haven't seen them you should. Savini's effects in Maniac and the Prowler are fantastic, really brutal stuff. What Argento did with Suspiria is beautiful. Everything about it is great, the music, the colors. Everything. I think someone was supposed to do a remake of Suspiria. I don't know if it ever happened or not. I hope not.
m[m] Do you like any more modern horror films?
J I really liked High Tension. I thought Let The Right One In was a really good film. There was a movie I watched a few weeks ago. It was called The Fourth Kind. I really didn't like the movie but there was one scene that scared the shit out of me. I was watching it on this portable dvd player with headphones. I had it turned up really loud. There was this one scene in it, I guess it was the combination of surprise and volume, but I jumped and nearly threw the dvd player across the damn room. It scared the hell out of me. It was pretty funny.
m[m] Is your work influenced by anything else other than horror movies?
J Yeah. I tend to do a lot of horror releated releases but that's not the only thing I'm influenced by. "The Mark Inside" was influenced by William S. Burroughs and I have an upcoming release on Absence Tapes that was based on a mountain near where I live where shady things have taken place.
m[m] Can you tell us a bit more about the incident that went on a mountain near you that you’ve based the upcoming tape on Absence Tapes?
J There are actually a few incidents. The most recent was a woman who had been missing for the last 20 years. She lived up around that mountain. Her body was finally found a few months ago about 20 miles from here. She was found in the basement of an old abandoned building. The place where they found her is about 5 minutes from my sister's house. Then there was this case where a woman turned up missing. There is a church up there that has a cemetary next to it. A search team was put together and the whole area was searched, around the church, the cemetary, everywhere. Nothing was found. The next day she was found dead propped up against a tombstone in the cemetary. Years ago there was a kid who was swimming in a pond up there after school one day. He was found face down in the pond with his clothes folded neatly and laying on the edge of the bank. Who knows how many bodies may actually be laying up there somewhere. It's a pretty big mountain.
m[m] What attached you to use William Burroughs as an influence for the Mark inside track? And are there any of his other works you think would make an interesting theme for your ‘walls’?
J I'm just a huge fan of his. He was a great writer. I think his use of the cut-up technique is genius. I've read a bunch of his books and there is not one I've read that I didn't like. I have a quote of his tattooed on my chest, "Nothing Is True. Everything Is Permitted". Those are words to live by right there. Yeah, I think you could pick any of his works and it would make an interesting theme for a HNW recording.
m[m] Do you enjoy reading horror novels or true crime books too?
J I like true crime stories. There is a website I like that has stories on serial killers, gangsters, etc. It's http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/ It has a lot of interesting stuff on there.
m[m] Talking about true crime cases are there any particular cases you’re interested in? and do you think you’d ever use these as a theme for a album or track?
J Basically any story on serial killers. I find all of that stuff really interesting. I came to find out not too long ago that my girlfriend's aunt lived a few houses away from where John Wayne Gacy lived. I thought that was pretty wild. Yeah, I actually used a crime scene photo of the Ed Gein case as the cover for the split I did with Earhate.
m[m] where do you see Fouls sound going next?
J I have no idea. Probably nowhere. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing.
m[m] You’re in ….Massacre with Sam Stoxen (owner of Phage tapes and in projects Baculum, ect). How did this project come about and how do you think it varies from Foul?
J Sam has always been cool about releasing my stuff. I think it was not too long after the "Braindead" release came out, he wanted me to mess around with a track that he sent me and it just went from there. I'm pretty sure that track ended up on "Sorority House Massacre". How do I think it varies from Foul? I think it's a better project. I always think projects I do with other people are better than the ones I do alone, and I love working with Sam. He's really talented and fun to work with.
m[m] Another project you’re in is Oasis Of Fear with the hugely prolific Richard Ramirez- how did this come about? And as you’ve only put out two releases thus far- do you have plans for any more?
J This was a huge honor. Like I said before, it was Richard's work that made me want to start doing noise, so I was blown away by the opportunity to do this. We had talked through email and stuff before when I started releasing work on Dead Audio Tapes, and he had told me that he was a fan of White Torture. One day he sent me an email wanting to know if I'd be into doing a project with him. As far as future releases, I certainly hope we do more. I sent him some source material not long ago for him to work with, and he told me he would be working on it soon, so I'm guessing there will be more.
m[m] Would there be anyone else you like to collaborate with?
J Anyone and everyone. I love making noise, and I would be into collaborating with anyone who would be into working with me. I have a friend named Nick and he writes a lot of poetry. We had this idea for him to do some of his spoken word poetry over some noise that I created. I really like the idea of that and I'm hoping that it comes together.
m[m] You talk about possible working with the friend Nick who’s a poet, what type of poetry does he write and how close to doing something with this project are you?
J Nick's a cool guy. I met him at a bar one night and we just started talking and we found out that we had a lot of the same opinions on art and stuff. He has a blog called Venom and Lust. You can see it here http://nixpoems.blogspot.com/ I'm not sure how close we are to making this happen or if it will even happen at all. I really hope it does. I bring it up to him every time I see him. I'm just waiting on him. I'm ready when he's ready.
m[m] 2010 saw you form Bane records label- why did you decided to do this and were does the name come from?
J I just thought it would be fun, no other reason. I'm not sure how long it will last but I'm hoping I can keep it going. Bane means death, destruction, ruin. I thought it would be a cool name for a label, and since this label may be dead before long I guess it's appropriate.
m[m] Do you listen to anything other than noise?
J Absolutely. I like everything from the Melvins to Townes Van Zandt, from Burzum to Dälek. I like a lot of stuff. It would take forever to list what I like and then after I did there would probably be 100 that I forgot
m[m] What’s lined-up next release wise on Bane Records and for Foul?
J I don't have any plans at the moment for Bane. I just put out the I Am A Slut release. As far as Foul goes, I've got releases coming out on Deadline/Dead Audio/H Series, Narcolepsia, Absence Tapes, HarshFuckedForLife, Dead Pope Productions, splits with See Six, Self-Inflicted Violence, and Namazu Dantai, and a track that's going to be on a compilation on Urashima.
Thanks to J for his time and effort with the interview. Foul’s Myspace can be found here and Bane records blog can be found here where you can find out how to pick-up any of his highly recommended titles.