Inner Demons Records #13 - The Interview.

As many of you will know by now, I am a huge Inner Demons Records fan, I have a huge collection of their 3" CDRs that they have released. I spoke with label owner and curator Dan Fox. As well as Inner Demons, Dan has many projects including Fail, If, Loss and This is What I Hear When You Talk.

https://innerdemonsrecords.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/InnerDemonsRecords?_rdc=1&_rdr 

 

What was your intro to noise/HNW/PE?

ID: I'm not sure I had a proper introduction.  When I was a teen I started getting into punk and industrial rock and metal.  At the same time, I was starting to experiment with electronics and noise, but didn't have much money.  This was in the early/mid 1990s.  I had an Alesis SR-16, a child-sized broken bass guitar that my brother had given up on, and a small Crate practice amp that was given to me by an ex-girlfriend.  The amp was for guitar, and it had a fairly aggressive distortion that was triggered by a small switch.  I always had the distortion on.  The drum machine sounded great through the distortion, and so did the bass.  By the time I got the bass, it only had the 2 lowest strings left.  I tuned one of them down, so it was just flapping and scraping on the pickup and played simple bass lines.  I had no proper recording gear, so I used my stereo and a boom box.  I would record drums onto the boom box, put the tape into the stereo, and arrange the boom box, stereo speaker, and guitar amp so I could play the drums back while I recorded bass.  I'd place the boom box mic, stereo speaker, and amp so that the box would be able to record the stereo and amp at the same time.  And there you have broke-ass multi-tracking.

I guess the shorter answer would be that I started making it before I knew it was a thing.  i started getting into noise, pe and rhythmic noise a few years later.  I liked the sound of power electronics, but I really didn't care for the content and imagery.  At first, I thought it was just silly, or even parodic.  As I got to know some of those guys socially, I began to discover that it was not parody at all.  This was serious stuff that was being glorified by some seriously shitty people.  I soon severed my ties to those people and focused on creating and consuming projects with my own interests at heart.  Luckily, there's a ton of it to be found.

What were your motivations for starting Inner Demons Records, which I believe stretches back to 2004?

ID: I started IDR originally to release some of my own material without the potential regret I would have after working with someone abhorrent.  The first Loss and FAIL releases were on IDR I named the label after my lifelong battle with severe mental illness.  I sometimes refer to myself as "we" when referring to the label - my demons and I.  I didn't concentrate on my own material for long, as the 3rd IDR release was by a great noise project from Spain.  I put the label on hold for a long time due to some massive setbacks, and when I restarted it with a definite agenda.  I only want to work with good people from now on, and I want to release great audio by great people.  The label is very d.i.y. and transparent about any motives I may have.  IDR is a safe place to release ones art without fear of being judged for who one is, as long as one is not a scumbag.  I like as much diversity as I can get on the label.  I started by asking friends for material, but now most of the discs I release are from people that have sought me out and sent in submissions.  In order to work with the label one must agree to the (kinda lengthy) rules that I have.  I handle the art myself, keeping with a specific aesthetic.  I want great looking releases that can be skimmed through without having to skim overused pictures of naziism, WWII atrocities, rape, deadly accidents, or some dude eating poop.  It's everywhere, it's boring, and I have no room for that on my label.  I also think it's very important for new artists to have a place like IDR to get started.  I have some regrets about my past associations and made some mistakes early on, and I want to have a nice, clean, safe place for left-leaning artists to show what they can do.

Without using the themes you mentioned and adhering to the aesthetics you spoke of,, the label is still  interesting and unique, what sound wise, tends to make you give the ok to artists, what are you looking for sonically?

ID: I don't really "look" for anything.  I listen to each track of each submission, and if I like it and think the world needs to hear it, I'll release it.  It also makes a difference whether the artist has a strong connection to the material.  I like releases that were therapeutic in some nature to the person who created it, in the hope that it may help someone else down the line.

Inner Demons has a very strong visual aesthetic with the distinctive artwork and consistent 3"CDR format what were the motivations behind that?

ID: i have always liked the 3" format, and I think that's an excellent format for noise.  Personally, I tend to enjoy recorded noise in smaller doses.  Live shows are great and I rarely it's "too much", but when I'm listening, I like the harsher stuff in smaller doses.  My ears don't get as tired, and I tend to enjoy everything a little more.

As for the art, I do have a particular method.  I tried to design packaging that I could ship inexpensively, while still looking good.  I experimented with different coloured papers and painted the discs, but that became a ridiculously laborious process with a lot of steps that could ruin everything, causing me to start over.  I also had many problems regarding the quality of the paper and how well it held the toner.  I only have access to a single black laser printer, so that is why I don't print in more colours.  I try to make a product that's instantly recognizable as an IDR disc.  I start with a photo I have taken at some point, and screw with the image until it has more of a textural feel to it than a straight up image.  I don't want the focus on the art or packaging anyway.  I don't complete any part of the process without the approval of the artists.  If I don't end up with something that all involved parties are happy with then I just haven't done the right thing.

Of your own projects that I have reviewed Loss and This is What I Hear When you Talk really stood out to me. This Is What I Hear When You Talk seems to really get inside HNWalls and often deconstruct them. Can you tell me more about both projects?

ID: Well, Loss is by far the most complex and emotionally draining for me.  It's the most "serious" music I do, with every track being about something specific.  Most are about people, events, ways of thinking, and moods.  It takes an insane amount of work, but the temporary relief that comes upon completion of a track is nice.  I believe Loss is also the project one should listen to if one wants to get a peek inside my head.  It's ruthlessly emotional for me, and I believe that often comes across to the listener.  I started the project after a bad end to a long relationship, so the first Loss 3" is all about that.  Most of the Loss releases have a theme.  TIWIHWYT is entirely different.  While Loss is all multi-tracked and takes at least months to complete a song, TIWIHWYT is all done live to my DAW, with no editing.  These can be about anything or nothing.  The early tracks were just experimenting, then I decided to kind of go with my own definition of what a wall can be.  SOME of the stuff I do with the project can be classified as HNW, but I call them "Non-Interactive Texture Walls (Intense Topics)", or NITWITs.  One thing all of the tracks have in common is that once I get a setup that I like for a new track I don't touch it at all when it's recording.  Other than that, the actual style is all over the place.  I think of them as emotional walls while building them, and once I think I have a pretty good audible representation of the inside of my head at that given moment I hit record.  Lately I have been doing some ritual-type material in an attempt to help me through the grieving process after losing someone I love.

The label stretches right back to 2004 goes through to 2006, goes quiet for a decade and then in 2016 you returned with a good amount of solid releases each year, what was the story behind this?

Wow, that was a heck of a decade.  Essentially, my life was forced into a meat grinder.  I moved constantly, was usually in terrible relationships, suffered from severe mental health problems and poverty, and became disabled.  Also my house burned down.

How did the first boxes happen – Conure (2018) and Mai12 (2018) , I feel these were a massive expansion on the Inner Demons format. I was familiar with Karl of Mai 12 from previous reviews so I bought both and was amazed at having 4 discs of Mai12 and the complexity and scale of the Conure box.?

The first box set was for Nightmare Park.  I liked the material that he sent me, but I'm pretty sure there was too much for one or two 3"s.  I looked online at what I had for options, and he and I pretty much developed the box set idea together.  I always work closely with the noisicians while working on the art, so it was an easy process.

The Conure box set is nuts.  There's a ton of material in there, spanning a lot of noise genres, and it's all good.  Mark had tons of notes and specifics about most of the tracks, so it became this massive 12-disc set with a ton of information.

This is a cheeky side question that comes off question 1 - You said you started making noise before you knew what it was, I am always curious to ask anyone what were the gateway releases for you that hooked you into noise or peaked your interest?

I think the first album that really got the noise idea stuck in my head was probably Ain't It Dead Yet? by Skinny Puppy.  I know that's not a "noise" album, but they did use a lot of noise and ambience in their music, especially in intros and segues, and they usually had one track composed of chaos.  Many other albums have had major influence on me since, but that was the first one.

You have now done three Tuckfrump releases under This is What I Hear When You Talk, how do you feel now Trump is no longer the president of the USA.

I like the guy.  Did you get the impression I don't like him?

I think I just threw up a little.  I still despise him and eagerly await his death, which I hope will be painful, public, and extended.

What are your future plans for the label.

My future plans for IDR...  Well, more of the same.  I'm currently working on the next batch of releases after a long break.

Army of One 2021.