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NOTE: this interview was recorded in the summer of 1994, and was then placed on the backburner until it was transcribed by edward luna in december 1995. Keep in mind that some of what is discussed in this interview (especially with respect to dan's associations with submerge and plus-8) have changed significantly, and that the interview takes place months before 7th city distribution was begun. look for a more recent interview soon!

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t-what started you out, and what got you into creating music?

d-well, i guess...i played piano and everything when i was a kid. you know, my mom made me take lessons...so i had that. i was doing that for a while.

t-(chuckling) you weren't into kiss or anything...

d-(laughing) no, i was never into kiss...

t-i was...(laughing with embarrasment)

d-well, you know...when you're a kid you're just into everything, you know... but i was probably into things just as goofy as kiss, you know? but um...dont put that in the interview...

t-alright...

d-i didnt mean to call kiss "goofy."

t-like they're going to SEE this, come on...

d-(laughs) what i'm saying is that what really hit it for me was gary numan...and that was sort of like the beginning...and some stuff like that...i really latched on to gary numan and devo, and then i really latched on to kraftwerk.

t-couldn't tell. (laughs sarcastically)

d-yeah. definitely kraftwerk has always been the biggest influence for me.

t-were you kind of like backtracking with numan or where you there when the albums were coming out?

d-i was there when "cars" came out and everything...i was big into that...i was like 13 years old at the time. and i was really big in with devo, i was just automatically attracted to that stuff. i don't know why. i listened to a little bit of disco earlier on, and stuff like that, but i was just automatically into that for whatever reason.

t-were you ever into hip hop?

d-heavily into hip hop...in fact that's how i sort of started...doing that stuff. i was sampling old breaks and everything, and at the time i had some guys that i worked with...i was living up near toronto, and they were called "poetic justice"-

t-that sounds familiar...

d-...long time before the movie...(laughs). anyways, i did some stuff with those guys and they were real cool, but then...um, i gotta backtrack a little...i'm sorry i'm making this confusing. you threw that hip hop thing in too early.

t-oh, sorry...(laughs)

d-the thing that really, really, REALLY did it for me was...um, my grandparents had a cottage on the canadian side of lake huron...and, i would stay with them over the summer, and you could get all the detroit radio stations. when i first started listening, around 15 or 16, there was one guy i started listening to, his name was electrifying mojo. he did this show on, i think it was WJLB at that time... the stuff he used to play...just really opened my eyes because i had heard kraftwerk, and knew all their stuff, i had heard "planet rock," and then one night when i was going round...he used to start his shows at 12 o'clock midnight, and one night i came across it and i was like, "holy shit." he was playing cybotron, afrika bambaata, a LOT of kratwerk, a lot of model 500, and stuff like that, that i had never heard before. plus, he played a lot of parliament, funkadelic, and a lot of funk like zap and all that stuff. i really wanted to do music after i heard those shows...i listened the whole summer. and the reception was kind of weak, so i had to hook the back of the radio, the antenna, up to a clotheshanger and everything...so i could get the station (laughs). but it was just...man, i loved that show. and it influenced a lot of people.

t-so that was like 10 years ago?

d-yep. you talk to a lot of people, and it was an influence on a lot of guys here in detroit...especially the guys who came up after juan [atkins] and derrick [may] and all of them.

t-right.

d-anyways, i was in college, i was still working on hip hop-

t-where did you go to college?

d-niagra college...canada. i took film...that's what my major was. but...finishing off high school and college, that's when house music started to get popular...and i had bought this little "tb 303"-

t-he he...

d-back in 1985, when i was fooling around...

t-so that was the first? or, one of the first, instruments-

d-yeah, it was, surprisingly enough, this beat-up old-

t-mine was the sh 101...

d-yeah...but i bought this in '85, before i had heard any acid trax from chicago, and then when i did, i was like, "damn! well, i know how they did that!" so i did the same thing, you know. i did some tapes up...i used to do like a hundred, two-hundred tapes up and sell them to my friends and put 'em in stores and stuff, and i eventually started going to detroit and everything coz i started hearing some of derrick's stuff, started going to the clubs down there, and that's how i met richie and-am i going too...?

t-no, this is perfectly fine!

d-i'm just going through the whole-

t-you should...i mean, people need to have this explained to them, because some people dont know...why there's a new school and an old school, and that kind of thing...

d-ok...and so, i finally met up with this guy richie...and it's really funny because, i had gone down there with my girlfriend and everything, and we were kind of bored because there wasn't much to do in detroit, and so we went to this club kind of early like around 10 or 10:30, just to get a drink or whatever and wait for the music to start, and at that time-well, it's still called the shelter...it used to look a lot different than it does now-we went down there, and met this guy, and surprisingly he was a white guy...there were hardly any white guys into this at the time-like techno stuff-and went up and said, "hey what's up, my name's dan." he said his name was richie. we just talked, and...just agreed on everything, like we were both really big into derrick's stuff, and some of the stuff overseas and all that. we just really hit it off...and then, two weeks later...

t-you met john [aquaviva]?

d-yeah, i met john, i went up to the studio, and i started working on stuff because i gave richie one of these tapes i did, and he loved it because it was acid stuff, and no one else was doing stuff at the time...you know, it sort of had peaked and already came down and richie was still really big into it...

t-was this about 88-89?

d-no, this is about 1990 we're up to...

t-how old was richie then?

d-richie was just a...kid. like 20 or so...i was 22, i remember that. naw, he was younger than that...

t-like 18?

d-young...i remember that. 18 or 19, i was really surprised. and so i went up and did some stuff with john, didn't really hit it off with jon, uh...musically, so the next week i came up, richie and i worked on something, and that was "technarchy." our very first thing we worked on. that was by cybersonik. the 3rd plus-8 release.

t-right...what was the 1st?

d-um, "states of mind." and then the second one was kenny [larkin].

t-"we shall overcome?" yeah. so, pretty much, you weren't involved with plus-8 more as a label than just an artist, or-?

d-well yeah, because...i was, but it wasnt in any "official" capacity or whatever...(laughs). it was more or less...i was there, and the three of us were good friends...so, they'd ask me...but i never made any decisions for them or anything like that. but i was there at the beginning. kenny dropped out rather early and i stayed with them...

t-he went to transmat?

d-yes, then he did the record for transmat, after he left plus-8...he went to do some stuff for derrick, derrick at the time was looking for people...but, you know...i stuck with plus-8, because we were touring as cybersonik, and everything was going well.

t-can you tell me about what shaped the tone of plus-8 at the time? because if you listen to it now it's like sort of industrial, sort of acid...

d-yeah, that was...when we started cybersonik, that's exactly what we wanted to do because, at that time, there was some really hard stuff --which doesnt seem so "hard" today--but at that time...like kevin [saunderson]'s record "force field," and there was a couple other ones...some of jeff [mills]'s stuff..."final cut"?

t-oh yeah...

d-we felt like a part of that...

t-so where did the abrasiveness come from?

d-we just wanted it hard...at that time that was what was "cool"...you know...that's what got the best reaction at the clubs. but at that time "hard"...it wasnt really that hard in retrospect, but it was... "technarchy" was a super hard record at that time. and we wanted a break...because all the records that would play at the shelter or anywhere else in detroit, everybody would cheer when the break came on...you know? all the drums...

t-do you think that the beginning of plus-8, it was kind of...more of a "white" sound, as opposed to a smoother electro-jazz "black" sound?

d-yeah. well that's true up to some points...because there's some stuff on there, like psyance, some of speedy [j]'s stuff, and kenny's stuff...that would fall into that "jazz" or "deep techno" category. but, you know...everybody had their own sound. cybersonik was always supposed to be the hardest thing.

t-like "red alert."

d-we were all into all different types of music at the time, but we wanted each group to have a specific sound.

t-so from there...the first accelerate release was, what...91-92? and why did you start accelerate?

d-well, rich and john had told me they wanted to branch out, and do some more labels...and fred was interested...from psychic t.v....

t-oh, "telepathic"?

d-yeah...and also definitive...i also had a label. me and another guy, claude young, had a label, called "seventh city," which was a sub-label of 430 west...and we did one record called "planet earth." claude did one side, i did the other side (i did it under dbx) and it did really well, but 430 west wanted something different...something a lot more commercial-sounding than what we were willing to do [ed note: dan now works very closely with 430 west and the submerge collective]...so claude went and started DOW records, and i said to rich and john, "hey, i'm interested in starting a label with you guys." they were like, "ok, cool." so we did it. then i released three records, "silicon ghetto" vol's 1, 2, and 3...that was originally a compilation that was supposed to be on seventh city, because that's what i was doing all during that time, was trying to compile a compilation...but when they started getting goofy, i said to rich and john, let me try this label and put out these records...so that's what i did. i divided it into three separate parts--

t-you had a track on each of them?

d-yeah, yeah...it was originally supposed to be one pack but i decided --because some people were being late on their tapes and everything--to release them individually. so i had rich do a track, speedy j did a track, i did a track--

t-"repeat."

d-"repeat." nico did a track, and just everybody I was hangin' out with at the time contributed a track: richie, speedy, maurits paardekooper from holland. ..

t-not the other one that we know, right?

d-he did "exposure," on DOW...stuff like that...which one do you know?

t-i was just thinking when you said "maurits," i was like, "mauritzio"? von oswald?

d-no.

t-yeah that's a different guy...which you also worked with.

d-yeah. one of the guys that does drexciya did a track, oh, there's a bunch of people on there. but then i ended up doing a few tracks on it. claude was going to do a track, but he never got around to it...blah blah blah blah...(laughs)

t-i was told at one time that you were not into...like the reason that you pulled "silicon ghetto" was because you weren't into it, and you wanted to do something different...which is what "ghetto trax" was...

d-well, yeah, at that time-

t-like "third rail," i still think that's one of your best songs...

d-yeah, i like that one...i like it, but just...i like everything on there, you know...but the thing was, i found it was too close to some of the plus-8 projects, with like probe and everything...and i was getting more and more and more into a different...sound.

t-what was influencing that sound?

d-lot of the chicago stuff...which i was listening to for a long time, but at that point, techno really started getting a little too...i dunno, it just wasnt happening for me, not as much as it was previously, and you know...

t-what kind of equipment were you using? i think your setup now is one of the most minimal things i've seen...

d-it was sort of a means to an end, because 75% of my equipment was stolen...

t-really.

d-yeah...so...

t-when was that?

d-that was when i started living in detroit...which was around '91... richie was busy doing his f.u.s.e. stuff, so i had to make what i could out of what i had, you know? i really couldn't go over to the studio because it was in canada, and there was no way for me to get over there, so i just...my original setup was like a 909 and a 101, and that was it. i did a lot of stuff with that. (laughs)

t-were you doing multitrack recording, or-?

d-no, a 909 and a 101, and that was it.

t-wow. did you still use analog tape?

d-no...

t-you used DAT?

d-yeah, i did at that time. and i just kept working, and then eventually, after a certain amount of time i just became comfortable with that setup, with not hardly anything there. i found that when i went to richie's studio i was just like "woah," you know. couldn't come up with any ideas because it was just too overwhelming...so much stuff in there, so...

t-do you think that that limitation of equipment...i mean, in some ways it helps your song, but also do you think that there are things that you want to do but can't, because your equipment isnt capable?

d-no, i feel exactly the opposite. even though i have hardly anything, i dont feel limited at all. i still feel there's a lot of stuff i can do. a lot of people say i should get a new keyboard or something because i only got a couple, but i'm just trying to keep up with what i could do with just two keyboards.

t-and 3 or 4 drum machines?

d-yeah, i got a few drum machines. i got a lot of drum machines... (laughs) i actually got about 4 or 5.

t-909, 808, 606, rz-1?

d-i'm not saying...

t-i know what it is...(laughs)

d-you got the "eyewitness report."

t-he he he, right.

d-(laughs hard)

t-i guess what i think about that is i started collecting what i could find, and i feel like i know what sounds i want to hear...i've kind of had to go backwards, i've accumulated a lot of stuff in the long run.

d-yeah, i think even richie found that also. that's what he was telling me recently. he found that he had too much stuff, he had to pare down to the bare essentials.

t-right. so, do you know much about graphic design? like in the past...bauhaus influences, that kind of thing? do you pull any type of influences from that kind of thing with your music? i mean, i see parallels with using the bare essentials, and that kind of thing. doing the most with the least...

d-yeah...well, to tell you the truth i don't really like talking about it too much, because i don't want to take away from what it is, and what i do is just trax, you know? and i don't want to make it sound more important than it may be...but, i took all art history and everything throughout college, so i know a lot about it...so, like in college, when i first started getting into house and techno and everything...i was also really big on the artsy side of stuff...it's not really influenced but i know it's there, so in a way some of that stuff can prove to be a guide at times, because there's always cycles in everything, and as far as anything creative, there seems to be cycles...and whenever anything seems to build up or get too gaudy or too overextravagant for what it is or whatever, there always seems to be a period after it where everything is brought back to the basics. you know they had it with rock 'n' roll, where they had the original '50s stuff, and then the beatles...

t-it escalates to a point of "overwhelmingness"...

d-yeah, and it started getting more and more into studio records, and then just big arena rock bands like genesis, 25-minute guitar solos, and then they had punk which was sort of like a back-to-basics approach...a bunch of people realized it's just a bunch of bullshit...and had to go back to what it really is, instead of making it more...i dunno. (laughs)

t-don't be so discouraged to say this...

d-i'm not saying what i want to say, the right way...but that's what i mean. it's the same thing in any type of art, i think...but i see what you're saying with the bauhaus and all that...and kraftwerk was really big into italian futurism and stuff like that...you know, because the whole italian futurist movement (it was like 1912 or whatever when it happened)...it was all about adoration for all things technological or mechanical, you know? kraftwerk was really the first band to bring that into music...you know, those sort of ideas. i don't really think there is...i could be wrong, i'm not any music historian or anything, but kraftwerk, at least for this generation...when they sang about stuff they sang about their calculators or computers or whatever (laughs)...and it was funny, but at the same time it was-

t-very indicative of what was going on...

d-yeah, because i just loved all the gadgets, star wars, and all that shit...it's just "cool," and here are these guys into the same things but they did music...and i think techno, when it originally started in detroit, they brought those same ideas from kraftwerk, and they had their own...you know, juan always brought up "future shock" and everything, that was-no, it was called "third wave," alvin toffler's "third wave," where it talks about the "techno-rebels," something americans could identify with becasue they talked about how the manufacturing base of a lot of american cities are just going to fall apart to pieces, and it says in the book that it's up to these people who are sort of like "techno-rebels" to utilize technology to escape from what's gonna happen. and that's exactly what happened. and detroit is like... (laughs)...the whole manufacturing base just fell apart here and like the whole "rust belt" through here, and everything came to a standstill...and the music was a way to escape or a means to an end to move on from that whole era.

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