[Interview - Zillo Magazine, Germany, March 2007]

Where is the name-giving sample on „Skullfuck“ from?

It comes from the Stanley Kubrick film, Full Metal Jacket.

Why did you choose it as the name for track and EP?

I actually wrote the track to fit in my DJ sets and there seemed a few tracks at that time that were using samples from Full Metal Jacket (Combichrist – My Rifle & Grendel – Soilbleed) but I hadn't heard any that used that particular line. And I think Skullfuck can be interpreted in various ways. I think it's interesting that despite massive exposure to profanity, sex, violence etc that certain words still maintain a certain power. People seem to react to it.

What came first, the sample or the track?

The track. I think it started with the big kick drums, then the riff and the sample was the final part really. I knew I wanted a sample but that was the last piece to be added.

Geoff, you originally started out as a DJ – what made you want to start your own musical project?

It was actually the other way round. I started playing around with music when I was 14-15 on the Amiga. It was pretty basic but you could build tracks out of little samples so I kind of played around doing that but it was all fairly amateurish. I didn't know what I was doing really. The DJ'ing I started at university, I shared a house with Mark Eris (part of the Wasp Factory Records crew now) and he was DJ'ing a night and borrowing half my records...so when he left I started DJ'ing my own nights. Then I ended up DJ'ing full time when I came back to Manchester so the music making took a back seat for a few years. It wasn't until the technology advanced to the point when all the software and synths could be run from my PC that I really started picking the music back up again and by this point the sound quality had got so much better. I could actually make professional sounding tracks using just a PC without needing a studio or banks of expensive equipment. So I don't think there was ever one moment that inspired me to make music, I just liked messing around on the computer making noises and it grew from there really.

Does it feel very different performing with Modulate than doing a DJ gig?

Totally different! I've played well over 1000 DJ gigs and about 2 with Modulate so they are at totally different ends of the experience spectrum. The band is a completely different discipline and I think there are more things that can go wrong but it's great to get outside of your comfort zone and do something new and challenging. Plus you are playing your own music to a crowd that has probably never heard you before so there is always that feeling of not knowing how an audience will react to you and hoping you can win them over. Making sure everything is technically good, musically good and then giving a performance as well. So yeah, the two feel very different.

You’re from Manchester – a town that is more renowned for it’s Brit Pop and New Wave bands than for hard Electro, although, in the late 80s/early 90s, it did become famous for the Manchester Raves... please tell us something about the Electro scene in your town...

There isn't one really! There are a few club nights that are general 'goth' type nights that might play some EBM, VNV, Combichrist, Covenant, Apop etc and then places that specialise in hard house, trance, breakcore, noise etc, but nothing much for the EBM/industrial/electro side of things. There is a broader scene if you take a triangle between Manchester – Leeds – Sheffield. All those cities are about an hour away from each other, so people tend to travel for clubs/gigs. I mostly DJ in Leeds at a club called The Wendy House on the Mutate floor, which is EBM/industrial/hard dance, so that acts as quite a focal point...we'll probably get 1000-1200 people per event. Then there is the Infest festival held every year in Bradford (near Leeds) which always has a good lineup. We also get quite a lot of the bigger name EBM/industrial bands playing live either in Manchester or Sheffield. There are quite a few bands breaking through from the scene now, ESA, Keef Baker, Autoclav, Dyspraxia, Coreline, Prototype etc but (apart from Prototype) they tend to be more noise/IDM style. So while Manchester isn't particularly great for industrial electro within an hours travel there are plenty of things going on, so the scene in the North of England is actually quite good. It's pretty close knit, everyone knows each other, supports each others nights etc.

Your music blends Trance with Industrial, and is thus aggressive and catchy at the same time. Would you categorize your sound more towards the Techno- or the EBM-scene?

I never really think about categories...it's just chunky aggressive dance music, call it what you like. How do you describe The Prodigy or Chemical Brothers? I think there are a few artists now that are blurring the genres between one and the other, Combichrist, Soman, C/A/T, SAM, Modcom etc. Are they techno? Are they EBM? TBM? I don't particularly like TBM as a name but I do think people are pulling influence from both schools at the moment and making a big chunky aggressive sound.

You started Modulate in 2002 – why did it take 5 years until the first CD-release?

I think the early stuff was ok, but I needed some time to figure out what Modulate sounded like. There were some very noisy tracks, then some very EBM tracks, it was all a bit too eclectic. It took a while to find our sound. Plus I guess you spend time developing your production techniques and figuring out what you are doing. I didn't really go after a record deal until I thought the material was good enough to put out....summer 2005. The Hellektroempire compilation was due out in Dec 2005 but got delayed, then we signed a track up to Endzeit Bunkertracks Act II in early 2006. Most of 2006 was spent trying to get the band signed, building up contacts and networking, which I'm glad I did as it has really paid off now, but I ended up not writing much music.

What made you choose a German label for the European release?

Ronan (VNV) actually recommended Infacted to us, and us to Infacted. I liked the roster they had and after talking to Torben I liked what he was saying and his ideas for Modulate were the same as mine. A lot of the music I play in my DJ sets is German, it is a much bigger scene in Germany and Infacted are one of the best labels in that scene, so it made sense really. I think for the music I am making Infacted were the ideal label. That I am in the UK and they are in Germany doesn't matter that much, we talk over email almost daily, I can send tracks and files online, Torben can send me ideas/artwork etc over so it works well.

The last track on “Skullfuck” is called “Electronic Battle Weapon” – the term seems like a perfect description of your music... would you agree?

: )

It also sounds like a homage to the Hypnoskull album title “”Electronic Music means War to us”... was this intentional?

It is actually a homage to the Chemical Brothers. They used to release DJ only white label tracks called “Electronic Battle Weapon” 1, 2, 3 etc. I just thought it was a nice idea to pay homage like that...it's not an obvious reference.

The EP contains remixes by Neikka RPM, ESA, Phantom West and Combichrist. How did you choose the remixers and what do you think of the mixes?

Neikka RPM came about because Richard mailed me ages ago saying he liked our sound...I ended up doing a mix for their 13th Serpent album so he did a mix for me in return. ESA is my friend Jamie's project, he's signed to Hive Records so I thought it would be good to have a noisier mix on there. Phantom West was a surprise really, I didn't know them but they are signed to my US label, Sistinas, and they have done a really great old skool style mix, it sounds like Front Line Assembly, I really love it. And Combichrist? What can you say? It's COMBICHRIST! When Andy's drummer left a while back I offered to help out so we stayed in touch through that. He is friends with German, our US label boss who also does the artwork for Das Bunker, and so we managed to get him to do a mix for us.

I think all the mixes I chose for the EP tend to show off a slightly different angle of the track, and a different aspect of the Modulate sound. The Neikka RPM mix is quite techno sounding, the ESA mix is quite noisy, the Phantom West mix is quite old skool, almost a breaks mix and the Combichrist mix is a massive stompy dancefloor killer. I think they all blend well together to make the whole EP listenable, so they all have their differences but they all fit together well. So I'm really happy with how it all turned out.

Track two sports a German title “Kommune 1”. What inspired it?

The sample is from a documentary I was watching on the Baader-Meinhof group/Red Army Faction. It basically explores one of the themes that runs through Modulate of dystopian societies, of ever increasing state control, gradual erosion of personal liberties and the veneer of democracy. While it isn't advocating terrorism, it is highlighting the frustration I think many people feel with their governments.

You will be on tour with VNV Nation ... with VNV being more on the melodic side, how do you think the audience will react to your much harder sound?

I think VNV can be pretty hard themselves, and we have some more melodic tracks, so I think they'll react fine. The MiG-29 mix of Cold was quite an influence on my sound, then things like Electronaut, the techno influenced tracks on Matter and Form and Burning Empires took things in a harder/dancier direction too. So I think they'll find enough similarity in our sound to enjoy. Apparently Ronan DJ'ed Skullfuck in The Hanger at Mera Luna in the summer and a few friends said the crowd loved it, so hopefully they'll be into our sound. I think VNV appeal to a very wide section of people so I'm really looking forward to it.

Will you be performing alone or do you have other musicians accompanying you for the live act?

We'll be doing the VNV tour as a 2 piece. For the first leg I'm borrowing Marc from Grendel on drums. He then has to join up with Grendel for their tour so for leg two I'm playing drums and Martin Fay (Manikin/Monosect) will be playing keyboards.

What are your next plans?

At the moment I'm just finalising everything for the VNV tour, then off for Leg 1, then I get a month off so that is earmarked for working on the album, then the Dark City festival in Edinburgh with Grendel, XP8 & Solitary Experiments, then Leg 2 with VNV, then more work on the album, then off for some dates in the summer in America. So pretty busy up to September.