After going to HELL and back....TO HELL again,
Ure Thrall has seen and heard it all. Laughing maniacally on his way like that General I saw on the news today who would have us slay with a smile on our face everything that he didn't comprehend in this world. This warrior may giggle only so long as he is incapable of feeling the pain of his fellow man. But when the drugs and the alcohol wear off, don't be surprised to find me drowning in a puddle of my own tears and piss blending together into lemonade, because ultimately, life gives most of us lemons, eh? ARABIAN KNIGHTMARES sings the fears of today while Bone Tree Soundtracks Volumes 1,2 & 3 take us beyond the limits of Time and Space. The wailing sirenlike caul of this URE THRALL has echoed through the substrata of the industrial and experimental music scene since the mid 80s, but it has only been relatively recenty that the power of the music transcended the man and conveyed a depth of meaning and intensity unheard of previously in much of the genre. Ure has just now completed the reformation of Asianova, his ages old onetime collaboration with "Wilhelm" and "Katkishka" (a.k.a. Jim Wilson and bonnie McNairn of VOICE of EYE) and there was even a European Tour for both groups in the Fall of 2007 resulting in new CDS from both Asianova and Ure Thrall as well as a live collaboration between TROUM, Asianova and Voice of Eye recorded onstage in Weingarten, Germany. All these recordings are either currently available at www.diskorp.com or are slated for near-immediate release. For a full roster of Ure Thrall and Asianova mp3s check out our artist pages on Soundclick.com. Also be sure to check out the ASIANOVA myspace page and the page for DISKORPOREALITY Recordings!
All CDS are $10 each and are available via e-mail from
[email protected]
BELOW IS AN INTERVIEW CONDUCTED WITH ME IN 2006 BY Mike Honeycutt--INNERview
[MH] = [Mike Honeycutt]
[URE] = [Ure Thrall]
{via email}
[MH] What inspired you to begin recording and to eventually produce CD's?
[URE] Dissatisfaction. Having an obsessive love of music and sound since birth, I naturally was constantly searching for musics that would not just entertain but moreover, EMPOWER me as a listener. My most joyous moments in life have always involved intense musical epiphanies. But having exhausted the listening power of all the intense music I could find by age 16, and now foraging through the blossoming genres of experimental and industrial music in the early 1980s, I was DESPERATE for music with consistent strength and power in it. It was difficult to find music with intense emotional content that would enable me to release my own personal demons on a daily basis, the same way that my most beloved musics from the past had done before. And though I liked a lot of what I found, the works almost always lacked consistency. I found it nearly impossible to find an album that I could enjoy from start to finish. To me, considering the heights that many artists would attain at one point in a recording, it was just a travesty to witness the depths they would sink to only moments later. It left me, the avid listener, feeling like some horny bastard who's been teased to the point of climax only to have a bucket of cold water thrown in his face. And so I kept waiting and hoping, and finally, in a fit of pique, I borrowed my friend's guitar and amp and proceeded to mutilate it with all sorts of kitchenware. It was a very humble beginning, but it began a pursuit that has since saved my life countless times.At first I began releasing very limited runs (25 copies or less) of home-produced cassette releases at Sound Exchange in Houston, Texas. I truly didn't expect a whole lot of it, but when Bliss Blood of the Pain Teens actually went to the trouble to print a glowing review of my first cassette in a local 'zine, my ego became instantly hooked on the "glamour and mystique" I now associated with being an industrial musician. What a rube!
[MH] You mentioned that there's "no overdubs" on your recordings.
Does this mean everything is recorded live?
[URE] In most cases, this is correct. especially with the Asianova and Smooth Quality Excrement material, as well as most of the stuff I've done with the Fruitless Hand. And I mean live as in "real time", not onstage, although there are quite a few releases that were recorded live and onstage or on the radio.
[MH] You have a load of collaborations listed in your catalog.
Do you prefer to work that way?
[URE] I prefer to work in whatever way gets me the best results. Although I have a very strong idea of what I want to realize in a particular composition, to be honest I'm certainly far from being an "accomplished" musician. Therefore I find it crucial to work with people who ARE accomplished in their instrument(s) of choice in order to attain my goals in music. Moreover, when I do improvisational work, of which the majority of my discography consists of, it only seems obvious that one man can only do so much by himself without relying on backing tapes providing the bulk of the sound in a live situation (which I find totally contradictory to the concept of "performing live"). So while I can say that my solo improvised Ure Thrall material is fascinating, sometimes I feel it's missing certain compelling and magickal aspects that result from a collboration with 2,3 or even just one other person. That's why all my solo works since 1998 are the result of a serious compositional approach, utilizing tracks I've recorded of other musicians to fulfill a specific role or function in the music. And of course I'm still working on honing this approach.
[MH] Why the move to California?
and has it opened up a lot more opportunities regarding your musical activities?
[URE] Two reasons: Primarily, the weather in Houston was getting hotter every year and living in a freon-based atmosphere 24 hours a day just to be comfortable was beginning to have a very negative effect on my health. But almost equally as important, the experimental scene in Houston had nearly dried up by '95, with the Fruitless Hand and I being among the very few sonic refugees yet to migrate to a more comfortable living environment.
San Francisco is the only city in America that I have any interest in living in since it is, in my opinion, a home for every variety of american counter-culture one could possibly imagine. This means that when I do a live performance or a radio show, I can be confident that I will have an audience that actually extends beyond my own little circle of friends. It also gave me the amazing opportunity to perform at Burning Man 3 years in a row, and be paid very handsomely for doing so! That just was NEVER going to happen in Texas.
[MH] Your work seems based on drones at times. It sounds like you're stretching the sound into sonic layers to create a deep flood.
A flood of sound that carries the listener to another place similar to using floatation tanks or meditation.
Am I on target with this interpretation?
[URE] Bullseye. My goal as a composer is to transport the listener metaphysically to a time and place they never dreamed existed. If I can create a depth of expression that DEFIES expression, I've done my job.
[MH] Are there any reference points? Any particular musicians / artist that inspire you in your work?
[URE] (Early) Zoviet France, Lustmord's second album, the guitar based harmonic works of Troum and Maeror Tri, Voice of Eye, the series of "Premonition" pieces by the Legendary Pink Dots, (Early) Current 93, and the darker edges of CHROME and bits and pieces of thousands of other obscure works too numerous to list. Notice how I've had to qualify most of my reference points with specifics? I guess even I have to admit that as a composer it's truly difficult to consistently release amazing works down through the years.
One naturally assumes that a musician grows in his ability to compose powerful works down through the years. But so often the reverse is true. When I ruminate on this paradox I'm often driven to the point of near madness trying to figure out why this is!
[MH] Your catalog is quite large. Do you plan to continue this kind of output?
[URE] Oh boy and how!! I've yet to complete the re-release of the remastered Discorporeality cassette series that resulted from a request by Anomalous Records in 1995. Also I'm still culling works from a massive amount of unheard recordings by Smooth Quality Excrement, Ure Thrall and the Fruitless Hand, and even some more Asianova. So expect more and more and more!
[MH] You mentioned the 2006 release from Asianova - a 10" record on the Drone imprint.
In this whirling digital age, why release records?
[URE] Experimental and Industrial music collectors are actually pretty much the last bastion of new vinyl buyers left. After a great response to my Ure Thrall 7 inch on Drone Records, (It sold out of it's first run in less than a month and is now slated for a second pressing this year) it was a no-brainer for me to agree to doing a 10 inch for Drone's brand new series. Moreover, it was an honor to be asked.
[MH] You also mentioned your solo works.
Tell us more about the "Bone Tree Soundtracks" Volumes 1 and 2, "Arabian Knightmares" and the 7 inch on Drone Records "Premonition 9/11".
[URE] The Bone Tree Soundtracks was my first commissioned work. I was asked by Dana Albany and Kaosmikitty to compose 12 fifteen minute pieces (one for each sign of the Zodiac) that would incorporate elemental sounds with dark harmonies as a soundtrack for a series of improvised Butoh-style dance performances that would end up lasting from dusk 'til dawn. The tree was actually a mobile soundstation that rolled across the desert floor on five wheels with the speakers hidden inside the trunk of the tree. This ritual was performed at the festival in 1999 and recommissioned for performance at the 2001 festival. The Bone Tree Soundtracks 1 and 2 (with a third volume on the way) mark the inception of a series of fully composed albums by Ur's truly and resulted in the most accurate realization of my personal vision for music as a source of personal power.
In 2000 I was also commissioned by Burning Man to create my OWN performance for the festival, which is documented on the Ure Thrall release "Alien Soundtracks from the Human Body" Cd. Never has anyone had their flatulence broadcasted louder than mine during the "ANUS" piece from this work. Actually, all the tracks incorporate actual sounds from the more sonic aspects of the human body, making for some very intriguing, though disturbing compositions.Arabian Knightmares is my most recent solo work and it incorporates recordings made by a wide array of collaborators specifically for the work. With Arabian Knightmares I tried to embody a dark reflection of the madness that's surrounded us all since Bush came into power. The title has a twofold meaning. America with it's devastating invasion of Iraq is making a nightmare of Arabia, while the fear engendered by the continuing Islamic Jihad against the West has turned a lot of our complacent, isolated and ignorant lives into an ongoing Arabian nightmare.
The work threads the sounds and voices of the war OF terror seamlessly into the music, which varies from rythmic and powerful to smooth trance-inducing sound constructions, all created within an Arabian context of course. I still get the same response every time someone hears "Premonition 9/11" from this release (a track that tells the story of that fateful day). When the final break is released, the listener most always tells me they feel like they've been sucker-punched right in the gut, and they are often moved to the edge of tears. THAT is for me the reason why I make music these days: to evoke a sharp and deeply intense emotional response in the listener.[MH] The "Bone Tree" looks like something one would find at the Burning Man Festival.
Any connection there?
[URE] All I can say is: Where else would you find a 30 foot tall tree on wheels made entirely of animal bones?
[MH] Are there any upcoming festivals or live perfomances?
[URE] I have dreams of touring Europe one day soon if I can only get the support necessary for such an endeavour. In the meantime, I have been invited to play a couple of shows in New York City with the FRUITLESS HAND as well as Alan and Tracy from the incredible Industrial Folk group ORCHIS sometime in the Spring.
In the meantime I'm working on a new release for Smooth Quality Excrement that will initiate an ongoing series. Also I'm excited to announce an exclusive CD-R release by TROUM on DISCORPOREALITY RECORDINGS, making it the first release by a group that I'm not actually in on my humble little label. And if I can get all the tech problems ironed out, I hope to begin a series of DVD releases including early live performances by CRUOR, Silva Mind Kontrol and a montage of the Bone Tree Performances. And so I sit cooped up in my little room on top of Nob Hill in SF, whittling away at my massive backlog of media yet to be manipulated. Pray for me...nay, pray for us ALL...if yer into that sorta thang. WEBSITES:
www.diskorp.com
- www.radiantslab.com/asianova
