The dark electronic sound of Shiv-R

After hearing about the line-up that was announced for the UNDER THE BLUE MOON FESTIVAL I thought it would be great to catch-up with some of the acts performing on the night, luckily I was able to get my hands on "Pete Crane" from industrial act Shiv-R.

We’re going to see Shiv-R at this year’s UTBM Festival with it being it sixth year running how does it feel to be part of an event of this magnitude?

Well we hope it will be a big one! Of course UTBM is about an entire atmosphere that takes over the whole of Enmore and Newtown for the weekend of the festival. It's an atmosphere of expression and one that we embrace entirely.  It'll be amazing to experience once again that atmosphere of the festival leading up to the night of the performances at the Factory.

Could you tell us about the inception of Shiv-R?

The project was formed by myself and my bandmate Lee Bulig in 2008. I was living in London and Lee in Bangkok; 2 overpopulated, filthy and violent cities with extreme climates. We had our separate projects, me with The Crystalline Effect and Lee with Stark and we'd worked together on and off for many years beforehand.

I'd just done a mini-tour as The Crystalline Effect in support of Hocico in Eastern Europe and I really wanted to make some harsh, energetic music like that. So Lee and I finally started working together on this new project and we quickly set out a list of goals.

So when Shiv-R was formed what was the goal you set out to do?

We wanted to make extremely dark and energetic music. One of the main goals was that the music was unsettling even to those who were desensitised to dark music. With these musical goals in place we looked at what the best vehicle for our music would be and what our ideal label would be out of all the labels in the world, and we set our sights firmly on signing to Germany's Infacted Recordings for this.

Did you achieve those goals you wanted?

Amazingly yes, we ended up signing to our dream label, Infacted.  In addition to this, Infacted also hooked up a licensing deal for us with 2 other labels - Metropolis Records for the States, which is the same label as KMFDM, Combichrist, Front 242, Mindless Self Indulgence, Birthday Massacre and basically every major industrial band, as well as Deathwatch Asia for the territory of Japan.

So our goals have been blown out of the water already, and all for our first album. But of course now that we have this amazing platform for our music, we have to work harder than ever. So it's no time to sit back and relax, satisfied... 

How do you find the general response about your music?

Well between our album being signed by 3 excellent labels based solely on the music given that we had no pre-existing name or groundwork, as well as the reviews and chart-mentions of our album when it did come out, the response has been amazing.  I just hope we can deliver on all that buzz for our live shows!

What is your overall thought on the process when it comes to writing and composing?

Composing music is at the core of my life. As I write this interview I have Cubase open in another window and I'm working on our upcoming single entitled "Incision". So I'm constantly working on music and have done so my entire life. It's an absolute compulsion and I wouldn't be able to fathom existence without it.

 What are the influences that inspires the dark sound of Shiv-R?

We were confronted with a great deal of hatred and apathy in the environments of the cities I mentioned.  When you're in an environment where life isn't so easy it's much more conducive to vitriolic thoughts. And apart from that, dark music is the most cathartic, so we welcome these emotions.

You released your debut album "Hold My Hand" earlier this year how was the overall response from fans and the industry?

Pretty amazing, really. We've had mostly 9-out-of-10 reviews so far. The club play has been great as well. We made a humble entry on the all-important DAC (German Alternative Charts), and every other week I get sent videos of our songs being played by DJs in clubs in Europe and I get to see the dancefloors going crazy. I can't wait to get over to Europe in 2011 where all of this buzz has been happening and see it first-hand! 

You were also announced as supports for the up-coming Australian Combichrist tour what were your thoughts and emotions when you were selected?

Combichrist's "Everybody Hates You" and "Joy of Gunz" albums were somewhat of an influence on my music, and I've seen them a few times in Europe which was also inspiring, so it feels great to continue that association with their music.  It's really the ultimate support slot to get for the kind of music we do.

Now let’s go back to UTBM what are your plans for the night?

We just plan on having an awesome time and being in the element of the night. I won't talk about the show we have planned but it'll be a killer night!

Out of all the other performances on the night who would you like to see?

I'm definitely looking forward to DJ [VLRK] from the Netherlands. He is a label-mate and one of the bigger names on Infacted Recordings with his project Grendel. He's just finished another European tour headlining the official Infacted Tour and I know he's a superb DJ, so I can't wait to see how he plans to immolate the dancefloor at UtBM!

What are your thoughts on the UTBM festival as is?

I think it's a really important festival as there's nothing like it in Australia. The organisers also make an effort to bring the European scene to Australia, by inviting in the past bands like Covenant and Destroid to perform. I think it's incredibly important to keep a line to the current European scene open so that Australia sees its influence. By bringing in international DJs and bands we get to keep our finger on the pulse and not feel so isolated by our geography.

I also see that UtBM is heavily involved in the Steampunk culture - in my experience this appears to be a movement which is currently fronted by Australia! I don't believe there are any other geographical scenes on the planet which have so embraced Steampunk culture as Australia. So it's great that UtBM is fostering this culture as well as international trends.

With only 2 weeks left to go can you tell us your thoughts and emotions?

Honestly I'm just keeping my head down with my regular music work. Last weekend we played at the Proscenium Adelaide Zombie Outbreak party, which was absolutely incredible, and now I'm working hard on our new single, as well as DJing in the meantime... So I'm probably too busy to get nervous and I'm just really happy to have been invited to be apart of such an excellent festival!

What are the sort of things you would be doing to prepare for an event like this?

Well visually I'm hoping that some designs come through in time as the image of our project is an important element. Other than that, our live shows are largely about providing a stomping electronic rhythm and keeping the energy at a maximum and leading the crowd, so a lot of tweaking of the music and keeping my vocals in shape.

So what are Shiv-R's plans now and for the future after the UTBM Festival?

Our new single "Incision" will be released in December and will be ready in time for the Combichrist tour. It will include, apart from the title track and remixes thereof, a killer collaboration with our label-mates from Greece "Preemptive Strike 0.1" on a track called "Zeitgeist", and some more exclusive tracks.

It'll also include a totally new Director's Cut of our filmclip for "The End" as a data track, exclusively to this CD and will also be bundled with a t-shirt.  After that, we'll be concentrating on our 2nd album due for release in 2011, and then we'll head over for a European festival tour in August-September 2011.

Lastly do you think we'll see more of Shiv-R at future UTBM Festivals?

In some capacity I'd love to be more involved in this event, whether it's performing, DJing or otherwise. It's incredibly important for this event to grow and keep our scene alive so it can be seen on the scale of the European festivals. And if UtBM keeps up the quality it has of recent years, and if the members of our scene remain active and supportive, I see no reason why this can't happen.

www.shiv-r.com
www.underthebluemoon.org.au