"Prosolar Mechanic" is a term from the indy comic, "Love & Rockets." A "prosolar mechanic" was a specialist mechanic, able to take anything apart and put it back together again in better shape than it had started out. And that's what production and mixing are all about, in my mind.

I have only played live a few times, and not recently at all. I'd love to do so, but to play my music live would involve equipment which I can't currently afford. Maybe someday.

The net allows independent musicians a marketplace inaccessible ten years ago. I've collaborated with people from Sacramento, CA, and Belarus. It's enlarged our market, and brought indy artists closer together, all at the same time. The MP3 controversy is just stupid. The recording industry tries to sell us Britney and Christina and mostly succeeds. The $1.98 they lose every time someone downloads that one Britney Spears track that they can't get out of their head, instead of running out and buying the CD it's on, is a deserved loss. Instead of pursuing lawsuits, the big record companies shoudl be pursuing quality music.

I would, if only for the money. The exposure would be nice, but it would be a wonderful thing if I was able to focus on nothing but day-to-day life and my music, without having to work a full-time job simultaneously in order to make ends meet.

Prosolar Mechanic started twenty years ago when I began my self-taught work on the keyboard (a POS Wurlitzer MLM). It only made one sound, and it wasn't pleasant; ironic, since I got into synths because I loved the fact that, with a synthesizer, a performer could sound like anything they could imagine. The more I learned about synthesizer-based music, the more interested I became. Throughout the years, as recorded and altered sound samples became more prevalent and technology moved out of the studio and onto a computer desktop, I got into that in a big way.

With Prosolar Mechanic, I have mostly focused on dark-trance and progressive drum 'n bass music. Other genres, such as acid and house, find their way through the mixer from time to time as well.

Now that I have a guitar, it's going to change my style quite a bit. I still love electronica, but composing on a different instrument leads to a very different feel.

I'm into just about everything, from Miles Davis and James Brown to Aphex Twin, Velvet Acid Christ, Kosheen, Hybrid, 12 Rounds, Lamb, Covenant, Delerium, Faithless, Gorrilaz, j.majik, Massive Attack, Sandra Collins [wonderful ear for ambient and tribal trance!]. I love ecclectic styles that blend genres or stand them on their ear.

London ... I wanna go back :)

I use a POS computer attached to a high-end sound card, Acid 4.0, Fruity Loops 3, Rebirth, SoundForge for mastering and tweaking. I love using packaged loops, but by the time I'm finished effecting and warping them they're something completely different. I also have a Telecaster guitar and an M-Audio Black Box.

Props to Nik Treadwell for featuring Prosolar Mechanic on his Homegrown Podcasts recently. His shows feature an ecclectic variety of music and spoken-word performance. Have a listen!

Also, thanks to Laura Cushing for inspiration and ongoing support. I've done backing music for some of her poetry in the past, and we've got further collaboration in the works.