Hi Erik & Otto, the Deaf Center krew ! So you were friends before creating Deaf Center ? Does this change something for you ? How did you start the band, in what state of mind ? What was your aim ? You’re from Norway, do you think this change something to your music ? It often seems that your music is not linked with any country...
both : We have known each other since primary school, but after junior high we went separate ways and didn’t have much contact for 4-5 years. Then we started contacting each other again, meeting up.
One day we just sat down and started making music together, and Deaf Center was born.
So the "band" didn’t start with anything in mind, it was just us making music together.
Although it has definatly also alot to do with John and Type records, since he was the one who approached us wanting material after he heard a track we did together.
otto : I don’t think beeing friends changes anything other than that it’s easier to cooperate.
Erik has a more experimental approach and i’m more on the melodic side.
When those two fused we got a beautiful and interesting result.
Since we make atmospheric and cinematic music, the norwegian scenery is definatly a big inspiration for us.
erik : I think for Neon city it was hard to define a spesific area or country of inspiration.
It was more based on cityscapes and general experimentation i think.
Tracks like Dial and Asia is pretty much inspired from mexican or asian culture, tho it was not like we tried to make them sound like that.

When did you start being interested in music ? Do you have any musical background ?
otto : I’ve been interested in music all my life and I’ve always had a drive in me to make music. I started playing piano when I was 6 but never took any lessons.
After my dad bought our first PC, I’ve used computers as a tool to compose since.
erik : Yeah i was always into music, had some years of piano lessons as a kid, although i wasent too found of it then :)
But it wasent until otto showed me trackers like sound blaster studio / fast tracker and pushed me into making music, that i really got into it.
After that i really did music all the time. I think the demoscene with musicians like brothomstates and lackluster really inspired me to make music. I was a big fan.

Did you wait a long time before sign with Type Records ?
Not at all, it was actually Type and John xela who kickstarted the whole project since he wanted us to do a EP after hearing the first track we did together (City).
That’s when we got the name Deaf Center and started working on Neon City.

Neon City EP was met with great critical acclaim. This first record has been “Single of the year” @ Boomkat. How did you react to this ? Does it change something for the creation of your upcoming first lp Pale Ravine ?
We where blown away with the response we got from Neon City.
We are very thankful to Boomkat for giving us single of the year.
Good feedback is always inspiering, and I think this had a very good influence on Pale Ravine. We just hope we deliver this time as well.

On Neon City EP, all tracks had short names. Why ? What is the drifting wire of Pale Revine ? What is important for you in this record ? Do you want to precise some things about it ?
Short track names.. that’s one of our many mysteries.
otto : With Pale Ravine we try to visualize scenery, or tell a story with scenes in mind.
Pale Ravine has more a drifting wire than Neon City did. The album art, made by Erik, was an inspiration for many of the tracks.
We try to include a certain atmosphere in the wholness.
erik : As written in the press release -> "One of the most stand-out influences on ‘Pale Ravine’ is theatre, or at least the romance of all things theatrical. Not so much theatre in all its pretentious excesses, but the childhood apprehensiveness and the sinister undercurrents."
I think this sums pretty much up what we want with the album. It’s the whole mystique and romance about old theatre plays and buildings. We dident want to do another Neon City.

Now, please tell us the way you work together ? Where do you pick up your acoustic elements, how you treat them and mix them together, how you add some noises on it etc ? How do you create the unique & pure Deaf Center sound ?
When we make music we usually do it in steps. First we gather samples/sounds/ideas, then make a rough draft or loop, and if it’s promising we finalize it.
The unique Deaf Center sound is just a result of us working together i guess. It just happends.

How do you analyse the evolution of your way of composing since Neon EP ?
To be honest, I don’t think we can analyse that. We just work better together now, and it was easier making tracks for Pale Ravine.
We knew our parts better. It’s hard to analyse own progress.

What are you waiting for in releasing your first album ?
With the response we got from Neon City, its hard to expect the same feedback with Pale Ravine.
We just hope this album will satisfy our listeners from Neon City, since we are trying out a slightly different sound. If we’re lucky we might get some new ones too.

Both of you have musical projects : Xhale for Erik & Supine for Otto, that released from your own weblabel Miasmah. First, does Supine exist today or not ? Then how would you define those projects, including Miasmah, how do you deal with those different musical things and do they influence Deaf Center ?
erik : I stopped making xhale material around 1-2 years ago, since i really dont like the name anymore, and dont wanna do that kind of electronica longer.
I feel ive done my part there, and im concentrating more on my upcoming solo stuff under the "Svarte greiner" alias.
That will definately be linked to the Deaf center sound, only maybe more experimental and darker. Working on my debut album as we speak.
And i will probably come up with tons of more sideprojects as time passes on.
Miasmah is still going strong (tho after a period of not too much updating), and is the base for my graphical side as well as Mp3 label. There’s lots of new stuff happening at miasmah.com now this fall, since ive been working hard on a new web, and there’s several new releases coming.
otto : Supine does exist still, yes. It’s just been too long since I’ve released something solo.
I am working on stuff continuous. I hope you’ll hear from me soon :)

What influences your music ? What do you feel your music could be interpreted as ?
We’re influenced from whatever comes in our path really.
Music, nature, movies, cities, people, culture & history.
Some big influences for us musically, is f.ex filmscore musicians as Angelo Badalamenti, Cliff Martinez, Yann Tiersen and Zbigniew Preisner.
David Lynch films (or atmospheres) is another huge reference. We both like watching movies, so picking up ambiences and moods on the screen is a true inspiration, and defines what Deaf Center is about.

interview stephane
by email
september 2005