Gridlock

Founded in 1994, Gridlock set out to carve a niche into the carcass of dark electronic music. Blending the thunder of industrial music with the intracasies of IDM and ambient. After their 4th album 'Trace' turned a few heads in 2001, last year's 'Formless' went one step further. Fusing ambient music with industrial rhythms and sampling, the American duo of Mike Cadoo & Mike wells have produced a stunning album of contrasting shades and undertones.

Which artists have inspired you to create electronic music, if any? Mike Wells: There were some electronic, and some that were not. There's the obvious ones that have been stated in the past, but some that I seem to always forget were Pierre Boulez, John Cage, and Phillip Glass. There was a book I had for some time (old roomate made off with it....damn!) that I'm still trying to find which showcased a number of deconstructionist composers that I found fascinating. At the origin of Gridlock I was more intersted in that extreme experimentation and find myself going back towards that now. But yeah, they were some other influences writing/making electronic music. Mike Cadoo: I would have to say someone like Neubauten... I know they're not electronic per se, but I've always dug them. Mike got me into Skinny Puppy a bit... latter day SP ...Last Rights era. I also grew up listening to New Order and the like, so i always had it in my bones somewhere. Later I really got into Autechre and the like too... good stuff. What sort of music did you listen to as teenagers? Mike Cadoo: Lets see... Joy Division/New Order, Neubauten, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry were favs of mine back in the day... The Chameleons, Swans, The Cure. Mike Wells: I grew up with Rock & Metal. Not the big-hair variety mind you, but lots of angry young men running around in circles. I think ’Formless’ was one of the leading albums of last year, how long did it take to create it? Do you work quite quickly? Mike Wells: It took about 2 years. There were a number of smaller releases in the interim between 'Trace' and 'Formless', but the work itself started immediately after Trace in 2001 and went through a slew of permutations to arrive at the final work. Mike Cadoo: On the surface, if you were to watch the 'Gridlock' writing process, you would think that we were extremely fast... but we re-work, re-sample, re-destroy everything. Some tunes are almost unrecognisable from the original. We could have done 25 more things to each track on Formless, we always stop just a few feet short of reworking the tracks into oblivion. The cover art is interesting, how does it relate to the content of the album? Mike Cadoo: It really relates to Gridlock. It's a contradiction of the name, it says 'motion', without 'saying' it of course.. Does Formless have a concept? Mike Wells: I would say that all of our albums share a similar concept. The concept of the band at its origin, which was simply 'heaviness through electronics', and a secondary theme we've always shared of 'state of motion'. In our full-lengths we always try to achieve these goals. Mike Cadoo: There are 2 meanings really, I kind've thought it would be a nice title as it has very little similarity to the styles and ideas we had on our first album, The Synthetic Form. But in retrospect, that really isn't true, as we did revisit some themes. I do think it's the album we spent the least time thinking about what we were doing and were we wanted it to go. The songs, in some places, literaly have no form... You appear to be toying with the contradiction between Ambient and Industrial music, were you deliberately trying to experiement within these opposing genres? Mike Cadoo: Toying? We do what we do naturally, no toying, no thought. Everyone has an angry side and a mellow side, I guess we are just able to display them in tandum. Mike Wells: Or you could say that it's our attempt at realising our conceptual goals now couldn't you? Why did you decide to drop the vocals for Formless? Mike Cadoo: We actually dropped them on Trace (well one track had a small amount). In the past, the vocals were really in songs that seemed to 'want' vocals, none of the tracks. other than 'Return' sounded like they needed them. How do you both work together, who is responsible for doing what? Mike Wells: At this point I'd say it's pretty-much a split. There's a few specific tasks that each of us is better at, and we allow eachother to do those things. Basically, we know eachothers strengths. Mike Cadoo: Sometimes Mike will get up and ask if i want a beer from the fridge... and some times i'll get up and ask mike if he'd like a beer from the fridge. You have been labelled with the Industrial tag. Is this something that bothers you? Mike Cadoo: Nope. it's funny we get Industrial, IDM, we had the Powernoise tag for a while... Mike Wells: Not at all. I've always been an Industrial fan. People who say "Industrial is out" are the same people who will say "IDM is out" in a year or two. Ambulance chasers. But you seem to be moving further away from your Industrial roots with ‘Formless'. Mike Wells: No, I wouldn't say that. Our style has been mutating since day one, and we just continue to try new things/etc... and this is where we are at the moment. Mike Cadoo: We're just doing what we do naturally. Mike and Ilisten to LOTS of different types of music, and those have an influence. Collectively, we listen to anything from Nausum to Swervedriver to Twerk to Dalek to Dan Abrams to Queens Of The Stone Age. We have musically gone where it felt like we should naturally go. Is Industrial music still a relevant genre in 2004? Mike Cadoo: Industrial like Neubauten... sure. In a way, some IDM/glitch projects are doing just what they did, recording found sounds, objects and making music with it. Industrial, like that crap they call 'Industrial' now, which is beefed up Synth-pop, that stuff is really no longer releavant. Mike Wells: I'd say that depends on what you call Industrial. Right now I see a lot of Synth-pop/Future-pop bands being labeled as 'Industrial'. That just doesn't do it for me, but probably does for a lot of other people. There seems to be a lull in the amount of experimentation right now (and I could write you a novel as to my opinion of why that is). But i've heard plenty of great new releases over the last year that I would call Industrial and relevant. Take 5F_55 for example. Do you feel that your music restricts itself from reaching a wider audience than you would like to have, is this something you battle to overcome? Mike Wells: With western culture, it has been my experience that music without vocals (exluding dance music) will inevitably be less successful than music with vocals. Remove the verse-chorus-verse pop song format and you've furthered yourself from the state of accessibility even more. Most people interact with music passively, and don't invest a lot of energy getting to know the inner-workings, theory, approach of an artist. "It has a good beat and I can dance to it" is the holy-grail of the majority of western music's approach and audience expectations. Now, when you step out of that realm, and get into the underground, here you have a collection of individuals who are not passive in their interaction with music. They are interested in musical exploration, hearing new ideas and approaches etc. But this audience is of course a subset of the majority, therefore no matter how wide a net you throw, your style dictates your level of success to some degree. Or: I don't care how much money you throw into promoting a glitch record, it simply will not appeal to bible-thumpers in the midwestern United States. Mike Cadoo: I know for a fact that if Mike and I wanted a large audience, and wanted to make money at music, we could. But we would not be happy, this music fulfills our needs as artists.

"Mike Cadoo: I know for a fact that if Mike [Wells] and I wanted a large audience, and wanted to make money at music, we could. But we would not be happy..."

Therefore, what level of success are you aiming for with Gridlock? Mike Cadoo: Success to me is really personal. Cash, and getting my ego stroked, mean nothing. It's all about the music. We have fans, and the fact that they like what we do is the icing on the cake. Mike Wells: I could always say I wish we were more successful, who wouldn't? However, what I will say is that the people we've reached and met, heard from etc... makes me feel that we are quite successful.Do you have plans to tour the album, and if so, do you think Formless will be a difficult album to interpret to a live audience? Mike Wells: No solid plans at the moment. As for interpretation, no. It is entirely possible in quite a grand sense, however it becomes a matter of promoters being willing to actually ante-up and pay for a show vs. flying a couple of computers around. What equipment can we find in the Gridlock studio? Mike Wells: Lots. Mike Cadoo: Lots. And the fridge that holds the beer is the most important peice of all that gear. Where does your inspiration come from, sounds or ideas? Mike Cadoo: Life. Mike Wells: For me it seems to happen in a stages. First there's an idea, based-on a musical or theoretical idea. Once you find something, the sound takes over. Have you any ideas of the direction you would like to take Gridlock in future? Mike Wells: Not really sure, ask me in a year :) Mike Cadoo: No, we never have a pre-concieved idea. Everyone will just have to wait and see. Are you currently working on side-projects, or are there any that fans of your music can look out for? Mike Wells: There's a new 02 remix coming on the next Displacer CD. Beyond that, nothing confirmed at the moment. Your web-site is very Autechre influenced, are they people you look up to? Mike Cadoo: Ah yes, I had a look at my CD collection, Anvil, Vapour... it does look a bit like that. I think my design is a bit influenced by Designer Republic's older stuff. The 'windows' stock fonts, bold, minimal...thanks guys. You have been making music for almost a decade, are you satisfied with where you’re at as musicians? Mike Cadoo: Yep. Mike Wells: Never. There's always a carrot or two to reach for. What artists do you admire that are currently making music? Mike Cadoo: Dan Abrams, The Funcken Brothers, and Mike Wells. Mike Wells: In electronic music, i'd have to say The Cinematic Orchestra is probably the band I admire the most. Mainly because they're primarily not an electronic band, but have managed to cross-over amazingly well into that space, and their writer/arranger is just brilliant. And Cadoo of course, as we have been able to constantly challenge each other musically without pissing each other off. Do you think it will be difficult to meet the high standards you did with 'Formless' on your next album? Mike Wells: Ask me in 2 years. Mike Cadoo: Wow, you think it's that good huh? Damn. you're making me nervous now. What do you do to relax? Mike Cadoo: Whatever it takes... Mike Wells: You buying the first round?

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