Name originally was mangadethsquad back when it was all solid industrial stuff, and changed a bit to sound a lot less objective and random somewhat like the music itself as it evolved.... was also too much like "Megadeth"

I'm obviously a fan of high gore-action manga anime and the name is reflective of that, but it describes the mood and vibe that runs through my head when I'm working on a track. Lots of ninjas swinging swords and blood splattering on walls, check.

Remember too that the best anime is are actual movies, not just cartoons so there are some other emotional moments involved. Its more about imagery on whole, but yet... lots of ninjas and blood flying is fair! I've picked up a few fans that saw the word manga and came to the music. Wether they make the connection or not is up to them, but they seem to enjoy it.

Drive is pretty much a sense of motion or force that I like my tracks to have. The impulse to actually get up and do something or throw all your mental energy at the task at hand. Even in gaming which I'm admitingly a huge fan of. You every played a game and just been so into it that you felt unstoppable? I play a lot of competative online games and I really notice the energy of a track when you have a shotgun/sword and are asked to eliminate people systematically (or not). Its like a 4th dimension that gaming is struggling to figure out and they are playing it too safe.

One of my dreams is to score an anime movie and or video game. The name again is very reflective of the nature the music is intended for. It just happened to get a little more 'serious' than 8-bit melodies over the years.

I've played live in several bands as guitarist/bassist and there is no comparison. Mangadrive is a studio project but would never rule out live spinning, although it kinda goes against the grain of the music. I'd have to write material specfically for live because I don't exactly give too much respect nor props to some 'artist' on a stage with CD-decks waving thier arms around because there is nothing else for them to do. When I do tracks you think 'computer music' but you don't understand the amount of knob tweaking and analization thats required. Its impossible to do on the fly in some cases, but a lot of it could be reproduced.. so who knows.

I do respect live DJS in general but those that go out of thier way to at least attempt to create music instead of play it back are put before the 'dance compliation' spinner types.

My music just doesnt really fall into a 'live' catagory currently.




Personally I'm just attracted to the fact that music making me to me is a very isolated experience that does'nt require others invovlement. Thats not to say I don't enjoy remixing and working with others very much, but for at least 20 hours a week I'm in front of my PC working on something and if I'm working on an album that number multiplies drastically.

Well the mp3 can be seen two ways. First of all as Napster originally taught us it can be a very bad thing for the music industry. Lars and company just cried for the wrong reasons though. Second of all it has allowed artists to build huge communities and establish 'bases' all over the internet to help thier promotion. Obviously thats the thing these established 'hot shots' in the music biz couldnt indentify with it because they are already 'there' and want the rewards of thier hard work which is understanable but if you ever lose sight that music is a community with actual human beings behind it, then you need to take all your studio gear and burn it. You deserve NOTHING and you will lose fans over mp3/money related arguments, which is exactly what happened amirite?

I used to be really alienating and obsessive with music to the tune of ' its not good enough you can't hear it yet' then slowly started making mp3s and putting them on the ORIGINAL MP3.COM THAT WAS A GREAT COMMUNITY RUINED BY CNET, and people started commenting with feedback and it went from there.

Now today years later you have more communities with different audience bases that can probably ever be used to thier fullest extent. Myspace being probably the most popular because music is universal and there are so many people and profiles present of every walk of life, that any artist doing any type of music can find at least 100-200 people that would enjoy thier works. You just have to go find them, but that would be impossible without the mp3 aspect.

Major, probably not, but then again what I consider major (something like Metropolis for example) might not seem parallel with Columbia/Sony/ETC. There is no earthly way a label of the later caliber would be interested in mangadrive because they have pretty much forsaken underground electronic styles. Its up to independant labels to become bigger than those to their fans. Thats also something that an artist needs to come to terms with.

From an American buisness/marketing perspective you gotta know your role and sadly the mainstream world on whole only gets these bits and pieces of Electronica through Clearchannel or MTV and to them that is 'Techno'. Mainstream music just has'nt adapted to the abundance of Electronic music thats out there, because right now there is just an awful lot of it. They need to figure it out soon though because independant labels are dominating them as a cohesive unit. If you know anything about SMART buisness its not the other corperations that big buisnesses fear because a simple ad campaign and location choice can fix those problems. Its these DYI, "Mom and Pops" joints that will pull you under.

From a global perspective its really hard to say. ,but theres way too many tools avalible to independants now that can be used globally. You should be a LOT more concerned with promotion than a label because the services that record labels truly provide you are avalible to you. The means of distribtion through retail outlets and actual stores are not, but with the use of a computer (which a LOT of people own), your music can be purchased in anyones home from a multitude of sources.

Again its just a matter of perspective and how much you as the artist chooses to put into it. Some sit there waiting forever for that 'big break' or 'label' but theres so much you can do yourself if you just get out there and do it.

Theres really no huge story. Its simply a computer geeks outlet.

The Prodigy, Crystal Method, cut.rate.box, Tom Shear, Josh Wink, Dr Dre, Pink Floyd, Trent Reznor, D. Myer, .. and the list is quite expansive but basically anyone that looks past the ideals of others and trys to expand on thier own self.

If you make music then you are an artist. If you make music that inspires a whole culture to make music, then you are a legend.

Behind the mixer

I started with and MC-303 and P2 Hewlett Packard. The music software had'nt evolved into anything 'serious'. Computer music production was still quite laughable and the technology was actually quite 'Atari'.

Today I'm still using a computer, I just have a lot more plugged into it. I don't really divulge everything I use and when because one of the things that intrests me about music is the 'how did they do that!' mystery that is becoming harder and harder to find since anyone with a PC can make music. I try remain as elusive as possible but in certain areas impossible.