V.M.U catches up with one of the most unique and creative Electronic/Rock units hailing from Illinois!
We get behind the scenes with I:Scintilla!
AND IT BEGINS!
BB =
Brittany Bindrim [vocals, words]
JC = Jim Cookas [guitar, synthesizer, programming]
VMU: Hey guys how are you?
BB: Good! How are you?
JC: Busy and tired as always!
VMU: Where are you from and who is the current
line up?
JC: We hail from Champaign, Illinois,
which is a college town
(University of Illinois) about two hours south of
Chicago. Our lineup
currently consists of Brittany Bindrim (vocals,
words), Chad Mines
(bass), Jason Allen (guitar, synthesizer,
programming), and Jim Cookas
(guitar, synthesizer, programming).
VMU: How many releases have you put out and who
produced?
JC: We released our full-length debut
CD, "The Approach", in July, 2004. It was completely self-produced and we did
all of the engineering, mixing, and mastering ourselves in my home studio. It
was also self-released without a label. We may release a live CD of a radio
performance from earlier this year sometime in the
near future.
VMU: Were the recordings done digital or
analog? (if comps what
programs)
JC: Our studio CD was produced
completely on PC. Our maintracking/mixing environment is Pro Tools LE
v5.3.1, but we use several other programs as well. These include Cubase SX
v1.01, Cakewalk SONAR v3.0, ACID PRO v4.0, and a metric ton of virtual
instruments and effects plugins.
VMU: How did the band form?
JC: I started writing and recording
songs as a solo project in my
bedroom in October, 2002. Only two of these songs,
"Fidelidad" and
"Imitation", actually made it onto "The Approach".
I quickly learned
that I was the worst singer in the world and I
needed some input from
external sources. Chad and Jason joined up in
January and March of 2003
respectively. We spent the next six months writing
and recording songs
while auditioning vocalists (both male and
female). We struck gold in
September, 2003 when we crossed paths with
Brittany. She brings an
amazing voice and oodles of artistic integrity to
the music.
BB: I met up with the guys when I first
moved to Champaign for art
school. I was looking to get involved in music and
had come across an
ad on a local music website posted from a band
looking for a singer. I
responded to their ad, but instead of hearing back
from them, Jim
responded first, if that's not confusing enough.
He told me how
i:scintilla was searching for a vocalist. I tried
out and everything
fell into place.
VMU: Do you prefer live or studio recording?
BB: When in the studio, so many
different layers can be woven and mixed. Recording is where you see the song
truly develop and grow. But then again, there is
nothing like playing live and getting caught up in
the moment and being completely taken over by the music. It's also an amazing
feeling to connect with an audience. So I'd have to say I love them both for
their own reasons.
JC: This is a saucy one. We've been playing
the same songs for about
fourteen months now, so we are really itching to
get back to recording
new material. However, it's difficult to go too
long without playing
live as well. I think they're both equally
satisfying.
VMU: Your video "capsella" how long did it take
and who
produced/directed?
JC: The video was directed/edited/etc
by student filmmaker Chris Folkens
(www.dualfilms.com). He directed/produced an
independent film, "Toxin",
that features two of our songs ("Capsella (Toxin
Mix)" and "The Bells").
I also worked on sound effects, mixing, and
mastering for his film so we
basically swapped services. The video was shot
over two unseasonably
warm days in early October with a whopping $50
budget (to rent the venue
for the "live" footage). Chris brought his first
edit to us about five
weeks later. I don't know the exact number of
hours he spent editing,
but I'm sure it was a lot and he did a phenomenal
job. He is
uber-talented for his age (22) and will probably
win an Academy Award
someday.
VMU: How's the local music scene in your home
town?
BB: There are a lot of dedicated and
talented bands in our town. The
local scene is doing well. Champaign-Urbana also
has some great venues
and radio stations that are really generous and
helpful.
JC: This town's music scene is dominated by
indie/college/garage rock
bands that, when within earshot, make me vomit
uncontrollably. There
isn't an ounce of originality between these bands,
yet college kids and
hipsters eat it up like crack-laced chocolate.
What do these people see
in four skinny guys in faded t-shirts playing
three chords through
archtop guitars while singing ear-bleedingly out
of tune? We are
definitely the only band of our kind in town and
we're happy with that.
C-U is not going to make or break us. I will say
that for a town of our
size (100,000), we have several fantastic venues.
VMU: What do you express in your lyrics?
BB: In my lyrics I try to express is
what is going on around me and
inside my head, and try to release my emotions in
to a sonic and written
form. Many times I will begin writing a song and
let it flow out of me
without a specific structure in mind and let it
take on it's own form.
Sometimes I have no idea what direction the song
will take or its entire
meaning until it is completed and it speaks to me.
Other times I have a
specific event in mind.
VMU: How do you feel about other artists
expressing their beliefs in
music? (Religious or political)
BB: I think it is very important that
artists continue to voice their
opinions and beliefs through their work. It seems
that freedom becomes
more threatened everyday and I think we all need
to stand up for our own
beliefs and not let the censors speak for us.
JC: Outside of exploring the unknown, one
of the major goals of art is
to convey commentary on the social, political,
religious, etc state of
the world. This is true for all mediums from
painting to film to music
to stand-up comedy (George Carlin _is_ an artist).
Chad often says, "I
don't want to be in a political band." I don't
think we have to turn
into Rage Against The Machine, but as artists we
have an opportunity and
responsibility to express ourselves. When we are
performing on stage,
we are given a platform on which we can scream out
about what we think
of the world. In the months leading up to the
November, 2004 Freedom
Heist, I conducted several on-stage antics that
expressed my distaste
for the ex-governor that was running for president
(these included
demolishing a full-size Bu$h cardboard stand-up
during a song).
VMU: Could you explain in detail the gear you use?
JC: We don't have a human drummer when
we perform live shows. Instead,
we have an ADAT player that has six tracks of
drums, synths, loops,
effects, etc. We are also all about Ibanez
instruments and Line6 amps
and effects. Specifically:
Chad - Ibanez bass guitar, Line6 Bass POD Pro Xt,
Crown power amp, SWR
4x10 cabinet Jason - Ibanez AX120 guitar, Line6
POD Pro, Carvin power amp, Carvin
4x12 cabinet Jim - Ibanez AX1220 guitar, Teese
RMC-200 wah, Line6 MM4 & DL4 pedals,
Line6 HD147 amp, Marshall 4x12 cabinet, Korg
Trinity Plus synthesizer
"Generally, the best music being
created today is
from independent labels and
artists." - JC
VMU: Who are your musical influences?
BB: The artists that have influenced me
the most would have to be Skinny
Puppy, Tori Amos, Collide, Wumpscut, David Bowie,
and Nine Inch Nails.
JC: Musical inspiration and ideas can be
taken from virtually anything.
Several ideas and passages on "The Approach" are
direct results of using
some of Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies (Google
it). Lately, I've been
on a huge Collide kick. Brittany is also getting
me into the Tori Amos
and Bjork side of things. I also absorb the studio
techniques of older
bands like Pink Floyd and The Doors.
VMU: Any tours in the works?
JC: No big tours are planned. We'll
probably do a couple three- or
four-day jaunts around the midwest before 2005 is
over.
VMU: Have you opened for any known acts?
JC: In November, 2004, we performed
with Celldweller, Deadstar Assembly,
and The Birthday Massacre. That was quite
exciting, but all was trumped
when we opened for Chicago industrial godfathers
Die Warzau a month
later. We will be playing with industrial old-schoolers
Cruciform
Injection in May.
BB: Opening for Die Warzau was such an
honor. They are incredible
people.
VMU: How did you do the recording process live
or 1 on 1?
JC: Our recording process is completely
piecewise with absolutely no
live aspect involved. Drums are usually laid out
for the entire song
and then various instrumentation gets piled on top
of it. We'll then
hand the song over to Brittany and she'll add
words and melodies. We
then tweak the song, if necessary, to Brittany's
additions.
VMU: How do you feel about the mainstream music
scene? (USA and overseas)
JC: I know it's been said a thousand
times by independent artists like
us, but mainstream music is so plagued with
shrink-wrapped, quick-lived, profit-driven garbage. Generally, the best music
being created today is from independent labels and artists. The music business
model is changing so much that major labels may soon be a thing of the past.
That is why you see so many big artists going independent after their
contracts expire. It is possible, although difficult, to make a living without MTV, Best Buy, and mainstream radio.
VMU: Any deals in the works?
JC: Without going into details, I will
say that we have been talking
with a few European labels to release "The
Approach" overseas. We have
also been talking with several U.S.
electronic/industrial labels to
release our upcoming CD, which will hopefully be
out in October or
November.
VMU: New recordings in the works?
JC: We have begun to doodle with some
of our many ideas. Jason has
about 60 snippets of potential songs, passages,
etc and I have a
collection of my own. "The Approach" was written
as a quasi-concept
album and, hence, the song lengths and textures
are all over the place.
A few weeks ago I was at a local bar that has a
juke box with our CD in
it. A girl was playing a couple of our songs. One
of them was "Logic +
the Lack Thereof", which has a running time of 18
seconds. Right then I
decided that we should create a song-based album,
rather than an
album-based album. Not that I want us to become a
juke box band by any
means. "The Approach" was meant to be listened to
in a 41-minute
session. I want our next release to have 10-14
solid, autonomous tunes.
VMU: Any advise to other indie bands?
JC: We're still at the advice-receiving
stage. We'll start dishing out
advice when i:scintilla becomes more profitable.
VMU: Do any of you own a home studio? (What
gear)
JC: As I mentioned earlier, I have a
fully-functional home studio based
around a Digidesign Digi001 hooked up to a 3.0GHz
PC. I have a nice
variety of dynamic, condenser, and tube
microphones and a small amount
of outboard gear (most effects are done with
software plugins). Most of
the drums and synths were created with virtual
instruments, but I also
have a Korg Trinity Plus synthesizer and a Roland
TD-8 drum machine.
None of the guitars were tracked with microphones,
but rather direct
with our Line6 amps' cabinet-simulated outputs.
Chad and Jason both
have their own project studios where they can
record their ideas and
bring them to the group.
VMU: Why do you do what you do in music?
JC: Creativity. It's my only artistic
output. I can't draw or paint or
write poetry well, but I can place MIDI events in
such a way that
(hopefully) makes sense.
VMU: Thank you so much for your time!! Any last
words?
JC: Thank you (and people like you) for
all the support. We appreciate
the radio airplay and were honored to participate
in this interview!
http://www.myspace.com/iscintilla
VM UNDERGROUND
JUNE 3 2005