MIXE1 Interview For Wicked Spins Radio

by Phlis – ALteria Anarchy

MIXE1 are a band I have seen flourish from a solo project started by Mike into a decent full blown band. Through Mike’s first EPs up until their recent full album MIXE1 has always managed to perk up my ears and strum the strings of my heart with their emotional yet downright brutal vibes. Wicked Spins Radio got to catch up with MIXE1 .

WSR – Thank you for giving Wicked Spins Radio this interview, can you please tell our readers just who MIXE1 is as concerns the band and what you do?

Mike – I’m Mike, I use my vocal chords to music and do synthy things!

Lee O’Brien – Drums + a bit of this and a bit of that. Apart from the instrument side of things we tend to have our own little niches. Lee T is good with video and wordage, Mike is good with recording and promo. I tend to do more of the graphics and printing. It’s not to say we don’t step over our boundaries and help muck in. We all do a bit of everything…. It seems to work nicely.

Lee T – Yep, the luxury of this little group is that we each have a certain skill set that we can all utilize for the band somehow, which is cool! Oh, I also make sounds with the guitar from Lights Out onwards..

WSR – To start MIXE1 was indeed Mike’s one with Mike being the only member of the band, at what point did it turn from Mike’s one to MIXE1 the band we love today?

Mike – I think it was late 2012 when we became what we are now! Lee T and myself have been in bands together for years and years, he’s one of my best friends so his involvement cranked up naturally.. From doing a lyric video for A Spark In The Air, appearing in the video for This Is Not Goodbye on guitar to now being a big part of the band and writing things! It was always gonna happen and it’s allowed us to revisit some song ideas from old projects we had that didn’t get off the ground so chances are you’ll see some of that in the near future. We met Lee O in… I wanna say August 2012 for some reason! First meeting was in the rehearsal room, he absolutely nailed the songs and added so many extra dynamics and personality to them, it was like… yep, this feels right! Lights Out was the first release as a full band and seems to have been a positive turning point. What I love is everyone has a big part in the band and the sound, you can hear everyone shining. I love it.

WSR – How has the writing of the music changed from the early days, do you still handle the creative side Mike or do you all have a hand in the music creation now?

Mike – Everyone in the band is pretty musical in their own right which is cool so everyone can come to the table with ideas! We played a couple of shows last year and the ambient intro track to walk on stage to was written entirely by Lee T. In the case of the songs on Lights Out and Starlit Skin since we became a band, there were demos of the songs already in existence. So there was something to work with and a lot of songs totally transformed with everyone’s input and got huge. Now we’re in new territory. There’s still some older demos floating about which could be revisited but really we’re now in a situation where it’s kind of fresh, we can just bring ideas in and see what happens. Who knows what we’ll come up with.
Lee O – I see that things are changing slowly and I’m happy with that. With Lights Out the songs were pretty much there it was just a case of adding my parts. Starlit Skin also had the majority done but felt I influenced certain things a bit more. I might have come up with an idea so the song would change slightly to fit round it. I think we were all very happy with how SS turned out. Maybe on the next album (spoiler alert) I’ll have more input to what goes in to a track…. So if you don’t like what we do next, I suppose you can blame me 😉

Lee T – It’s interesting writing specifically for this project now, as Mike and I have actually been writing music for years; trying out different genres and setups, rotating on different instruments and each doing vocals, etc. When it came down to getting to grips with MiXE1, I think having that existing rapport really helped the process along and made Lights Out, for example, a really comfortable and easy experience from day one. That of course spilled over into album writing too!

WSR – What attracted you all to MIXE1 when you all first joined?

Lee O – Great composition and tunes. The songs had feeling! I felt inspired and that I could add something to it all. It was the type of band I wanted to be in. Everyone is laid back and easy to work with… Perfecto!

Lee T – Other than simply enjoying the music for what it is; I think, again, it was that ease of having known Mike for years; it was literally a case of “you wanna try doing some guitar for this?”, “yeah, why not!”. Truthfully, that existing connection was what probably tipped the balance for me to say yes; I’ve said it before but guitar was never my primary instrument so if it was any other band I’d have probably passed!

WSR – How have you individually left your mark on the music of MIXE1, what do you feel you have contributed to the overall sound other than playing your instruments?

Lee O – If I have left a mark it would be very subtle. Being a band there are more influences/ ideas which contribute to the overall sound, this is what a band is all about! You can hear the subtleties from the Module EP’s to Lights Out. I would say it’s a little more aggressive and harder hitting.

Lee T – Yeah, agreed. I guess in terms of actual composition, I may have had my own personal influences spill over into MiXE1. I think, if anything, my touches on the music include providing a more organic sound, maybe? Which was interesting, actually, as when I joined we were still signed to Static Distortion and surrounded by all these awesome hard-hitting industrial acts, who are all very tight in their playing and have that distinctive pulsing sound – so for me to come along into an already very melodic and dynamic band and add MORE layers of that? I just hope I aided in helping it sound better! haha

WSR – In 2011 the concept of the songs of MIXE1 was that they were taking place in some semi-futuristic city called MIXE1, theoretically what role have you all taken in the city ie who is now law enforcement, president or things like that?

Lee O – Mike Swan is the local detective (Trilby, trench coat and a cigarette hanging out his mouth). Ornithod O’Megatron is the dark autobot that terrorizes the city. The Gunshy Martyr is the word on the street 

Lee T – I like to think I’d be the busker on the street, sitting under a street light by a river and playing my saxophone. That or vigilante. Always vigilante.

WSR – Mike a lot of your early work was about your love for your then girlfriend and now lovely wife Amie, just how hard was it for you in those early days before Amie became your wife when you had to say goodbye?

Mike – It was crazy! Coz it was exactly like I’d met my perfect girl, we were really happy and then it’s like we were torn apart. She had to leave the country as her visa was going to expire and thus began a year of long distance relationship. Every single day we would speak on phone, skype, yahoo messenger, facebook, whatever. It was hard, I remember a lot of teary phone calls and a lot of really happy ones too. I made some big life changes and moved into my own place. If you’ve ever dealt with immigration and all the documents and legal (and money) things involved, it’s not the most pleasant thing in the world. But you know what, we remained positive throughout. I knew we were going to get through it and we did. Some people can’t even last a long distance relationship in the same country for a few months, we managed a year February to February of uncertainty and determination 🙂
It’s interesting you mention ‘saying goodbye’ (was that intentional, Phlis 😉 as the song ‘This Is Not Goodbye’ was the turning point where I decided to actually directly write about it. It was leaking out into the lyrics of all the songs I was writing at that point – it was after penning the music for TING, I needed some intense so I decided to open up directly. It’s basically about the exact moment we were separated… It was surreal, it’s a big image in my mind now – really crowded busy moving airport, people rushing past every second, and we were there like statues – holding each other, crying, couldn’t even speak. But in writing up it, all the songs have a positivity to them. It’s positive music – there may be darker moments but the vibe is that you CAN do this. Turns out that year was my most creative year, the Module 02 songs and demos of the Lights Out and Starlit Skin songs were on the go then inspired by all this. It’s only now they are coming to light with the band input!

WSR – On the Beat version of Talking In Our Sleep Amie adds some vocals and makes the song very soft with her calmingly beautiful soft tones. Why did you decide to do the Beat version and what do you all feel Amie’s vocals changed the original version?

Mike – We love doing alternate versions of tracks and it made sense to one for the lead single. It was in the back of my mind for Amie to have a spot on a track – it’s almost like a celebration to me. The lyrics of the album songs are 99% about the journey to be reunited and now here we are together and happily married.. and the person I am singing about is now on the track. That’s pretty sweet. But yeah – while working on the Beat version, I wanted to keep it chilled and as the chorus is a high vocal, it felt like a female voice would hit it perfectly. So the opportunity presented itself to pester Amie to do it!

Interesting info about that track is it’s one where Lee O is all over it! It’s basically got two synth tracks – bass and a pad.. then the rest is Lee’s drums and loads of samples and sounds he added. Musically for me, he really brought that song to the next level!

WSR – Starlit Skin is one of the most amazing albums I have ever heard to say the least (My review can be seen in the reviews section of the WSR website), what are you all most proud of regarding Starlit Skin?

Lee O – Wow, that’s a compliment and a half… thank you! 

I don’t know if there is one thing in particular, I’m proud of the whole package. The songs work well together. The CD looks fantastic and the video came out amazing. It was all hard work, but very enjoyable. I look forward to cracking on with the next one.

Mike – Yeah! Thanks a lot man that means a lot to us 😀 Yeah as Lee said it’s hard to pinpoint one thing but for me.. the range of songs, the emotion, the songwriting.. All of it really. I’m proud of the whole band too, everyone’s bringing it. I’m happy get a more direct Law of Attraction inspired song on there in Airwaves.

Lee T – I think after a compliment like that, I can officially say that THAT is what I’m most proud of! The reactions so far have been great and it feels amazing to finally have the album out there and being listened to, finally. It’s great that there are people out there who actually feel a genuine connection to some of the songs; it’s pretty mind-blowing really.

WSR – Mike you tried some new vocal tones for Starlit Skin, why did you decide to add this new aggression and what has been the reaction? Plus have any of you tried new things musically that you have added to the music on Starlit Skin?

Lee O – Yeah, I tried the mouth organ. That was going to be the intro solo for the track Starlit Skin but the others didn’t like it… I don’t why!?! with a little bit of distortion and reverb it could have been the highlight of the album…. Pah!

Mike – It was a close call though! 😉 Yeah the aggressive vocals seem to have been received well – it’s been in my vocal arsenal for a while and just felt natural to do it.. I spose the bursts of growly stuff on The Show.. there’s hints of that on past tracks, mostly in the background, thought it would be cool to have a track with more emphasis on it but keep the melodic stuff. Similarly with All 4U which is quite a screamy affair – a nod to heavier influences. That said I like to mix it up with a good hooky melody.. It creates a good balance to the album for me as some songs are quite chilled, then you have others which are more aggressive and even the aggressive ones are still melodic.

Lee T – I seem to be doing more and more lead and/or solo type stuff in songs at the moment.. Which is kinda crazy, as before stepping into the studio for the writing sessions I’d never even attempted anything like that before. I guess that adds to that whole organic feel though; what you hear on last years’ EP and now on Starlit Skin (guitar wise anyway), a lot of the layers are literally “in the moment” type stuff that will just come out as we’re recording. A good example of that on the album is the solo guitar part on Here – up until 10 minutes before recording what you hear on it, there was no solo planned for that song at all!

You can see the single from Starlit Skin called Talking In Our Sleep here

WSR – Lee and Lee, what were you both doing musically before MIXE1?

Lee O – Stuff. I was in an indie/rock band called Load””. It was a difficult band to be in with so many line-up changes. We had some great times but it got tiresome, decided not to put any more time and effort in to it.

Lee T – This and that really; as I said earlier, I’ve been writing with Mike for years now – so naturally we’ve had a couple of cracks at bands before, obviously none as successful as this one! One of the positives of that though is now we’ve got this huge back-catalogue of songs that we can dip back into to toy with – which is exactly what we did this year with The Edge, which we submitted for Beat:Cancer Volume 2. We’ve spoken once or twice about maybe reviving some of the older projects that wouldn’t fit directly with this band, but that’s still on the horizon for now.

WSR – You say that Starlit Skin is an album that anybody could find something positive in, so for people who are 60+ years young what’s in it for them?

Lee O – The end… it’s not an incredibly long album so they won’t have to wait too long for it to finish 
Mike – Ha, well my ever-supportive parents love the album and they are in that demographic. And surely they would be unbiased, right!

Lee T -Haha, well my grandparents want copies, so there’s that! I think, though, that anybody who listens to the album can take something away from it that they enjoy; be it the positive lyrics, the dynamic music or simply because it makes a nice coaster. Whatever you make of it, make it yours.

WSR – Thank you so so much for giving Wicked Spins Radio this interview, is there anything you would like to add?

Lee O – Thank you WSR for giving us a platform to wash our dirty laundry 😀

Mike – Wicked Spins and you in particular (Phlis) rocks, thanks for the interview and positive vibes!

Lee T – Yeah thanks so much for this and the great review of Starlit Skin; and for making us feel somewhat important for ten minutes! I hope everybody enjoys the album!

https://www.facebook.com/mixe1

http://mixe1.bandcamp.com/album/starlit-skin

http://www.fixtstore.com/_custom_x.php?skin=fixt_fall2011&page_id=58&id=1041

https://soundcloud.com/mixe1