The Hardcore Techno Overdogs are excited to present an interview with Michael Wells of Technohead. The mastermind behind Technohead, and other electronic music projects such as Greater than One, Church of Extacy, Elvis Jackson, and Killout Squad, discussed his artistic and musical career, studio setup, and what’s next for Technohead with interviewers Low Entropy and GabberGirl.
Q. You went to the Royal College of Art and hold a doctorate in Fine Art, and a BA in graphic design. You met your late wife at the college, and you did art shows together, set to music you two created together. Were you surprised that it was your music that took off and launched you into fame, as opposed to art? Were you always as interested in music as you were in art?
A. I got into music through Art. When at Art College I started making 'Performance Art' physical happenings involving sound, action and film so I needed a soundtrack for these shows. The soundtracks were created by scratching records, making tape loops and creating rhythms on anything from banging metal tables to using children's toys. This is how my love affair with sound began.
In the beginning it's not what people would normally call music. Early Greater Than One releases are a testament to this.
After college Lee and I started buying musical equipment and slowly built a studio, learning from scratch the basics of recording techniques. The earliest releases were very experimental but it was the influence of Acid House and the emerging underground club culture that focused the music towards the dancefloor.
Q. You also created your own album art. Do you still make physical art for fun or professionally?
A. I still make most of my own artwork. I worked as a commercial artist after I left College and made illustrations for book covers and magazines. In the early days We made music in our spare time as a hobby even when the music took off I was illustrating, but eventually it became a full time thing. I am lucky now that after more than well over thirty years I can live from making music.
Q..You have been known to say that Detroit was not the birthplace of techno; that techno’s roots were formed in the 1960’s experimental music movement of Germany. Is this where your earliest electronic music influences came from?
A. For me personally my influences come from a mixture of sources which range from Kraftwerk, Throbbing Gristle to Stockhausen and The Sweet. Electronic music for me started with the sound of the Moog and the work of Stevie Wonder, The Monkees, Wendy Carlos etc.
Q. You are one of the original creators and innovators of hardcore and gabber; who were some of the bands or artists you were listening to and possibly emulating in those earliest days of hard music?
A. For me Gabber was just a harder faster version of techno, made with similar equipment but containing a more irreverent attitude. At the time living in London it was the antithesis of House Music and represented a spirit of rebellion. No radio shows played it and most clubs were scared by it, so that's what made it attractive.
The Hardcore that emerged from the 90's took no prisoners and was a great experiment in sampling and assimilation. Samples came from everywhere Horror Films, Cartoon Shows or cheesy pop. There was Hardcore coming from everywhere Australia, New York, Holland, Vienna and we were playing and listening to it all, so the music was a reflection of this.
Q. Let’s talk about your most famous track as Technohead, “I Wanna be a Hippy”. Who sang the lyrics? Did you and your musical partner Lee Newman write the lyrics? This track has sold a million copies and has been remixed and remade, officially and unofficially, dozens of times. How do you feel about making the most famous gabber song of all times? A lot of bands get sick of playing and discussing their most famous songs; do you feel like this, too, about “I Wanna Be a Hippy”?
A. Unfortunately amongst probably thousands of tracks we released this is the most famous. It represents a few hours of cutting up a sample from a film the unique factor being that it is a great funny song about Marijuana. It was a great idea that worked and as soon as it was released on Mokum Records many Hardcore Deejays told us that the audience response was crazy. We had experienced this before when Pure and Tricky Disco were hits, so it wasn't such a big surprise. In the end though for me it represents a very difficult and sad time because it was successful at the time when Lee was very ill. And when it was a hit both Lee and my Mother died. So it is a track I really don't associate with anything good.
Q. You were infamously widowed at a young age. It breaks my heart thinking of what you must have gone through, watching “I Wanna Be a Hippy” top the charts week after week, and not being able to share that with your late wife Lee Newman, who created the music with you. On a personal note, were you able to find love again?
A. As the above answer can show it was a very difficult time. On a personal and professional level I eventually moved on but you never really recover from such a thing, it is a part of you.
Q. What is your current studio setup like? Are you mostly using analog equipment, DAWs, or a combo in your recent music productions? How does your current method of production compare with your historical approach?
A. Yes maybe ten years ago I changed my studio to fully digital. No mixing desks no synthesizers. All plug ins etc.
So it is radically different to the early days of tape recording and physical boxes and units but it allows me the freedom to work more streamlined. Technology has moved on. We were probably one of the first people to buy a sampler and now the virtual samplers and effects are so sophisticated that to move with the times is a good thing. So my set up is Logic Pro and lots of fun plug ins and Synths my favorite is always a sampler, then a Spire synth and a great free reverb and delay plug in called Valhalla.
Q. What do you think about the current sound of hardcore and its new subgenres—will you incorporate any of the new sounds into future Technohead releases, or can fans possibly expect a new hardcore project?
A. The Sound will always evolve as new producers and new technology goes hand in hand. Art and music is reflection of our society and therefore as society changes so will the art. We are experiencing at the moment a radical polorisation of politics and society and art will react to this.
Q. What is next on the horizon for TECHNOHEAD
A. Recently I released 'Acid Head ' on Mokum Records a collection of Hardcore Acid style tracks. And coming is an E.P. called Taxi also on Mokum incorporating Middle Eastern sounds. And I continue with techno releases as Michael Wells a.k.a. G.T.O. and my more experimental work as Greater Than One.
Interview Questions by Low Entropy:
Q.The "Technohead 4" CD compilation was the biggest exhibit of experimental and underground hardcore in the 90s. With labels like fischkopf, praxis, artists like somatic responses and alec empire on it. Way different from the gabber mainstream. What was the intent and inspiration behind this release?
A. Simply, Technohead 4 just represented for me a selection of the direction of Hardcore at that time. It's use of speed, rhythm, distortion and humour. People ask me why you say humour, it's because for me humour is a specific kind of intelligence like irony. If you look at great Art, literature or Cinema the real subject is Human and Humans are full of contradiction and ultimately humour no matter how dark it is. I also love invention and the Avant Garde is the mother of invention.
Q. You were already very active in music long before the advent of hardcore. How were those days? And is there a connection between your industrial output in the 80s, and your later "industrial" hardcore?
A. Yes the seeds of Hardcore were sown in the early tracks in New Beat, EBM, Electro and Hip Hop. It's an involvement in alternative culture underground films, art etc. I also draw from the 'Do it Yourself' idea of Punk culture. I still make my own artwork, promo videos etc and create alone in the studio. I think there is a connection between the older music, in that I still want to add elements that surprise or maybe don't seem obvious. In that sense I approach each new project as an opportunity to experiment and try something new.
Q. Your signs ov chaos release on kill out was one of the hardest, fastest and most insane audio outputs ever - already back in 1993. What is the background to that production?
Q.The "Technohead 4" CD compilation was the biggest exhibit of experimental and underground hardcore in the 90s. With labels like fischkopf, praxis, artists like somatic responses and alec empire on it. Way different from the gabber mainstream. What was the intent and inspiration behind this release?
A. Simply, Technohead 4 just represented for me a selection of the direction of Hardcore at that time. It's use of speed, rhythm, distortion and humour. People ask me why you say humour, it's because for me humour is a specific kind of intelligence like irony. If you look at great Art, literature or Cinema the real subject is Human and Humans are full of contradiction and ultimately humour no matter how dark it is. I also love invention and the Avant Garde is the mother of invention.
Q. You were already very active in music long before the advent of hardcore. How were those days? And is there a connection between your industrial output in the 80s, and your later "industrial" hardcore?
A. Yes the seeds of Hardcore were sown in the early tracks in New Beat, EBM, Electro and Hip Hop. It's an involvement in alternative culture underground films, art etc. I also draw from the 'Do it Yourself' idea of Punk culture. I still make my own artwork, promo videos etc and create alone in the studio. I think there is a connection between the older music, in that I still want to add elements that surprise or maybe don't seem obvious. In that sense I approach each new project as an opportunity to experiment and try something new.
Q. Your signs ov chaos release on kill out was one of the hardest, fastest and most insane audio outputs ever - already back in 1993. What is the background to that production?
A. It's interesting that the Killout releases were totally instinctive and spontaneous and recorded almost 'live' in the studio. Real experimental Hardcore. But it's only after many years that I realised that people played and reacted to them.
Q. PS: Last question from GabberGirl: Is there anything else you would like to tell our readers?
A. Only that when people talk about music or art it's only a construct to perception. It can be anything it's not a system, it's not a law or a rule and if it breaks the rules it's a good thing.
For me the worst music, art or film is 'middle of the road' pop and rock. Commercial radio has killed music with it's playlist garbage. To a great deal of people art is not an important part of their life, for me it's vital.
Thanks Michael 🤖
Q. PS: Last question from GabberGirl: Is there anything else you would like to tell our readers?
A. Only that when people talk about music or art it's only a construct to perception. It can be anything it's not a system, it's not a law or a rule and if it breaks the rules it's a good thing.
For me the worst music, art or film is 'middle of the road' pop and rock. Commercial radio has killed music with it's playlist garbage. To a great deal of people art is not an important part of their life, for me it's vital.
Thanks Michael 🤖
Bandcamp
https://dataflow.bandcamp.com/artists
Beatport
https://www.beatport.com/artist/michael-wells-aka-gto/830509?srsltid=AfmBOop9hluaAWOLMnW0Mtf97sL94XgFuvxrJDa_zccMlR75TgRR7yrA
https://www.facebook.com/share/1DEirPY2f2/
Also check our earlier in-depth feature:
The 1000 Heads of Technohead
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