For Jack Dangers’ Meat Beat Manifesto, it’s been a twisty road to musical reverence. First a fire destroyed their debut tapes, then the subsequent release (Storm the Studio) on Chicago’s infamous Wax Trax label tagged them an “industrial” act, though MBM fluidly incorporates dub, hip-hop, acid house, jungle, electro, and even jazz as well as the nihilistic noise associated with the punk-laced musiq concrete subgenre.
Since MBM’s formation in 1987, its line-up has shifted almost as much as the sound and subsequent label of each album. At one point MBM was signed to Trent Reznor’s Nothing imprint (1996’s Subliminal Sandwich double CD); since then they’ve been released through a few independents. In addition to the creative challenges, a few years ago Dangers was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, affecting his ability to walk and play certain instruments comfortably.
Yet Dangers and that mutant, psychotropic, dystopian Meat Beat funk push on. Tracks like “I am Electro”, “10 X Faster Than the Speed of Love”, “Asbestos Lead Asbestos” and albums like Satyricon, RUOK? and Autoimmune remain essential to the electronic canon and reacquired a fresh immediacy during the Bush Era, Part Deux. Over the years, Dangers has remixed and collaborated with everyone from David Bowie, DJ Spooky, Chuck D and The Orb to Orbital, Coil, Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails. He’s also contributed to soundtracks for the Matrix and Underworld:Evolution. Most notably, MBM has effectively used video in its live performances, working it like an extra instrument that syncs with the music as well as projects their socio-political views.
URB rang up Jack Dangers in his longtime San Francisco home/studio shortly before the release of his latest album Answers Come in Dreams (Metropolis Records, October 12) to discuss gear collecting, political pigs, the best way for emerging producers to get his attention, what keeps MBM going after almost 25 years and how a socialist Brit from Swindon became one of the locals in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
URB: Video has always been a big part of the Meat Beat Manifesto experience. What are you working on for this album and tour? What kind of gear are you using for the video making?
Jack Dangers: For finished videos I’m using After Effects, for editing I’m using Final Cut. But for live playback, I’ve got software that works basically like turntables. It’s like CD/DVD but you need a video mixer to cut the signals on and off. You need an audio path as well. And we incorporate all of that into the live show, so we can play back these samples live.
[Check the exclusive video from MBM "Penultimate Bass Test" here]
URB: Who’s going to be touring with you?
JD: The same as last time most likely, we won’t be touring until next year. Last year it was Ben Stokes, doing video playback live; Lynn Farmer’s playing drums; and Mark Pistel is running Ableton live and mixing the stuff on stage.
URB: Sounds like a solid crew. You’ve been going for a while.
JD: I’ve been working with Ben since 1990. Mark used to be in Consolidated, we’ve been working together for about the same time, 1989/1990. At this point, I can’t really imagine anything changing. After 25 years, I’m not really good at anything else.
URB: The album covers a range of styles but you still get plenty of classic MBM dub throughout.
JD: More than techno, more than anything, the dub thing was always omnipresent from the start, so it’s been interesting to see how that’s morphed into dubstep lately. A lot of Acid House, that’s in a few of these tracks too – “#Zero” definitely is an acid house tune.
URB: You’re dropping a digitial EP first, Totally Together (Metropolis Records, September 14)- all original tracks?
JD: Yeah, those are all different tracks. The remixes for the album will come later. I’m making videos for those as well. These are all fresh tracks that don’t appear on the album, didn’t fit. I think the video’s going to be bundled with the EP, so when you download it from iTunes, you’ll get video as well as tunes.
URB: Do you still have your recording studio in Mill Valley?
JD: Yeah, I’m all bricked in. There’s one brick missing so I can get some air, some water. I’ll smash the wall down when we’re ready to hit the road.
URB: How’s SF treating you, you’ve been there for a while. Seems like a good place a vocal socialist like you.
JD: It’s like New York, constantly changing. I can’t say I’m in the middle of anything. I’m 45 now, I’m not hanging out in any clubs. I’d probably be asked to leave if I was, or arrested. “Security! Who’s that old man lurking in the corner?” I’m still a vegetarian, I’ve been for a while. But I’m not standing on a soapbox or marching in rallies. I have my views on things but I tend not to thrust them down people’s throats. The whole political climate changed over the last few years. The shows we were doing in 2005 or so, we were using a lot of George Bush video samples, and that worked out brilliantly. We won’t be using those anymore.
URB: Have you swapped them out with Obama ones?
JD: A few, but he doesn’t have as many good quotes as Bush. There’s not much to laugh it. Feel sorry for the guy and the mess he’s got to clean up.
Great interview!! Jack Dangers sounds like an awesome guy!