Article TitleMicron 63 interview posted by P.i.X on the 04/09/08

Words: Billy iDle

Micron 63 make a brooding electroey/guitary racket which marries memories of the past with visions of the future to create something undefinable by the present. They're certainly cryptic sorts - on their myspace page band members are monikered by their initials only, while their grainy live photos conceal more than they give away. Duly fascinated, P.i.X caught up with the band and tried to peek beneath their veil of mystique…

P.i.X: You moniker yourself only by your initials on your myspace, why all the secrecy?
MICRON 63: The London music scene is built on nepotism and fashionable haircuts. By remaining anonymous for now means that we're judged on the merit of of our music.
P.i.X: How long have you all been making music together?
MICRON 63: We've been making music together for five months.
P.i.X: Your music has quite a 'dark' feel to it in places, is this reflective of you as individuals?
MICRON 63: Our music is dark, but unlike a lot of music we refuse to be self indulgent and self pitying. On the surface its dark but there's a lot of reference points, and it deals with the renewal of the self, through the destruction of the old self. If you dive into the abyss you may grow wings and learn to fly.
P.i.X: You declare on your myspace that 'Without an element of cruelty at the root of all spectacle, music is no longer possible'. Care to elaborate?
MICRON 63: We're interested in the theatre of cruelty. Not cruelty in the sense of being violent but an honesty that will show an audience a truth they don't want to see and shock them out of their complacency.
P.i.X: How does your music work in a live setting - how much is live and how much is programmed?
MICRON 63: Lead guitar and keyboard parts are played live with different machines used for live improvisation over rigid clinical beats. There's only so much we create that we can play live so it's more about the process in making and the intent live.
P.i.X: Your obviously not a standard guitar band, how does the song writing process work with your set up?
MICRON 63: We start with a strong guitar/ keyboard riff over a looped drumbeat. We'll then jam over this and build up layers of sounds.
P.i.X: What is your favourite sound?
MICRON 63: Our favourite sound is either John Carpenter film sound effects or eighties cock rock reverb-ed snares.
P.i.X: If you could be part of any musical movement or scene from the past 50 years which would you choose and why?
MICRON 63: It would be easy to say the late seventies post punk or eighties industrial scene but this is a pointless exercise. Artists who locate their work in linear time risk being dismissed as nostalgic. There is no place for the backward glance, except as a form of irony.
P.i.X: Do you feel part of any particular movement currently?
MICRON 63: No.
P.i.X: What would be the ideal venue or location for a Micron 63 gig?
MICRON 63: A warehouse in Eastern Europe or the final scenes in Dragnet.