ATOMSMASHER

Who is Atomsmasher?
Plotkin, Witte, Speedranch plus Ray Ahn at times. He's in Australia, you know!

How did the three of you get together? Was it difficult considering you all live quite a distance apart?
I've been wanting to work with Dave Witte for almost a decade, but we could never seem to find the time. I finally managed to bootleg his drumming and clone his persona. Speedranch was only too eager to send me his voxnoiz via snailmail. I do most of the work alone so the distance and scheduling problems are kept to a minimum.

What kind of stuff do you listen to? Any bands/artists etc do you reckon are underated or unheard of which need to be heard? Any embarassing stuff you listen to?
I listen to life happening before my ears. Everything under the sun and beyond. Underrated music? Bohren und der Club of Gore, Venetian Snares, and Boris. The last embarassing record I listened to was probably something from Jim Neighbors. It could have been the Flux CD for all I care.

I don't want to dwell too much on older projects but what happened to OLD? What else have you been involved with since OLD split up (if you have! I'm not dead certain)?
Eh? OLD split up? Who?! We broke up in 1995. I've done about 50 records since then so I'm not about to list them all - an almost complete discography is available at www.musiquemachine.com

What other projects are you all involved with at the moment?
KHANATE (Plotkin, O'Malley, Dubin, Wyskida) on Southern Lord records, LOTUS EATERS (Turner, O'Malley, Plotkin), THE BINGE AND PURGE (Plotkin, Liston, Newport). Dave Witte plays in Burnt by the Sun and is the current drummer for Melt Banana, and Speedranch records with Jansky Noise and Venetian Snares...

"Pokeman Gangbang" is quite a harsh song title. I take it you're not too keen on that particular childrens programme.
I've only seen it for the first time a few months ago. I really don't care either way, I definitely don't like OR dislike it - just picture the brilliance of pokemon creatures having frenzied groupsex.

How did you go about putting the songs together?
Waveform hacking, random arrangements that are tweaked until they sound planned, loads upon loads of digital processing, manipulation, and plug-in structuring, etc. Tracks evolve slowly or they erupt like a premature ejac.

Who is Yorr? The artwork he/she/it did on the CD is fantastic. have they done anything else?
YORR is Eric Choutov, russian brush manipulator. His origin is specualtive, as he remains somewhat of an obscurity. His art can only be described as a gift to thine eyes.

Seeing how most of you come from some sort of hardcore type background do you find that people involved with hardcore can be quite narrowminded as far as music goes?
Sure, but then ANYBODY involved with ANYTHING can be quite narrowminded as well. Would it not be narrowminded to think otherwise?

Is there any chance of seeing Atomsmasher live or is it just a studio thing?
I just opened 3 weeks worth of shows for FANTOMAS - the live incarnation of Atomsmasher will constantly shift to allow a new kind of improvised grind to emerge. Future tours are certainly being specualted.

What does the future hold for Atomsmasher? Any final comments?
Early next year will see our IPECAC full-length plus a 7inch on Hydrahead containing a fantastic remix by Venetian Snares. More shows, more glitching, more breakdowns. Able-bodied fractal enema.

* ATOMSMASHER * BOGDAN RACZYNSKI * CREATION IS CRUCIFIXION * DREAM THEATER * KNUT

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