Interview with IndusrtialLyrics.com: Also published in Musicwerks Magazine. Original interview here: industriallyrics.com/tce.html 1. How did you come up with the name The Crystalline Effect, and is there a meaning behind it? Pete: Elenor discovered the name when she was recording the vocals to one of our first songs. It comes from a preset on a vocal processing unit that she was using. So the effect on the vocal track on our song Primitive Line is literally "The Crystalline Effect"! I liked the idea of having our band named after a piece of studio kit or something, 'cause that technical/production thing is a part of where we're coming from. 2. When did you form The Crystalline Effect? Pete: We met and wrote our first couple of songs in late 2002. 3. Tell us how Elenor Rayner & you met, what convinced you two to work together? Pete: Elenor replied to a notice I posted on a webzine looking for a singer. I was really excited when Elenor first contacted me and said she wanted to work with me, 'cause she's been in some great bands and stuff. So I sent her a couple of tracks I'd made in my home studio that needed vocals, and she wrote and recorded the lyrics and vocals herself at her own home studio. We were both really chuffed with the first couple of songs that we made together so we decided to make our collaboration a full on project. 4. What can you tell us about the scene in Melbourne, Australia? Pete: Hmmm, mixed things! I DJ on the industrial level of a goth club here and it really feels like my second home, so generally I feel very affectionate towards the industrial/goth scene in Melbourne. We've already gotten a lot of club play thanks to some supportive DJs, which I really appreciate! And there are some really great, top-notch darkwave bands in Melbourne like Angel Theory, Tankt, Dandelion Wine, Ikon and Snog, among others. It's very much a club/DJ oriented scene at the moment though, so as a band in this scene you really have to concentrate overseas instead of locally. Most of the punters have proven to be pretty apathetic about seeing the live goth bands, they'd rather listen to DJs... Although we have proven that we can successfully bring out international darkwave bands, like the recent Covenant tour and the upcoming Iszoloscope tour. 5. How long did it take you to get signed and was it difficult? Pete: As soon as we wrote our first 4-5 songs, we put them as well as a remix and a video clip onto a CD-R and sent it to a heap of labels. Black Flames Records got a copy of this demo and that was all the convincing they needed to offer us a contract! So I guess that does sound like it wasn't too difficult, but I guess we were just ready. Our approach was not to waste time putting together an official EP and getting 'zine reviews and doing much internet promotion or anything, what we released was only for record labels and our DJ friends. We purposefully concentrated on just writing material and trying to get label interest. 6. Black Flames Records will be releasing your debut album "Glass" soon. Could you tell us a little about it? Pete: Glass will be available as a double-album, with 12 gorgeous remixes on the second disc by artists like Ivory Frequency, Implant and Skoyz, as well as remixes by our friends here in Australia like Stark, Tankt and Angel Theory, to name a few... The artwork was done by USERDX in Leipzig, and it looks hot! We don't have an official release date yet, but the album and artwork are totally mastered and completed now. I think Black Flames are planning for a premiere in November 2004, although that hasn't yet been confirmed by the distributor (Alive!)... 7. How would you describe your sound and which bands do you think have influenced it the most? Pete: At times our style is mainly coming from a Trip Hop and Lo-Fi influence, but I also listen to a lot of Dark Electro and EBM and that influence comes through in our sound too. I take a lot of inspiration from what I hear at clubs too - that cheeky club vibe! I'm into bands like Backlash, Die Form, Nebula-H, Hocico, Suicide Commando, Ivory Frequency and of course Portishead. 8. What is the line up for your live shows? Pete: Live, we add a third member and go out as a 3-piece. Just to make it feel like more of a "band", and just as a visual thing as much as anything. So I play guitar over some songs in our set, and in others I switch over to synth (my microKORG with a controller keyboard), Elenor sings and plays from her ASR10 sampler, and our third live member is Leonora, she plays synth and does backing vocals. We also always use our live engineer, Peter H, who we've used at every gig so far. 9. What has been your favorite live experience this far? Pete: We've done I think 9 live shows, including a live-to-air radio gig. But I think the most fun I remember having was playing at an event called "Dark Utopia 3". The other bands on the bill were Angel Theory and Ikon. It was just a kick ass night with a cool vibe, there were fetish performances going on while we were playing and 3 floors of music... We've also had fun playing alongside Tankt and some other local bands. 10. Are you planning on touring Europe or the United States? Pete: Yes, there's talk of a tour to New Zealand, Asia (Phillipines and Japan) and Australia, and our label has mentioned having us touring Europe if our album sells well enough. Not sure about the US though. 11. Besides Making music, do you have any other hobbies? Pete: Hmm, well I do that bit of DJing... I spend some time on forums, 'blogs and P2P sharing programs... I've got a rather respectable PC for games and I go out to LAN cafes occasionally. That sort of thing - nothing too deep and meaningful! 12. Any last words? Pete: Yeah, keep an eye out for an industrial/acid techno/EBM side-project from me called Plague Sequence, with guest appearances by Nebula-H, David Foreman from Tankt, Lee from Stark and Zoog from Angelspit, among others! And THANKS for the interview, industriallyrics.com looks great!