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Experiment Haywire

Haywire: I started Experiment Haywire because nobody else would. If another pissed off chick wasn't up for creating harsh electronic sounds and screaming about the end of humanity, it was going to have to be me. This particular project was formed out of the ashes of 'the occult scene.' After being published in Generation Hex, it seemed like my old friends had turned into 'fluffy bunnies' or joined these retarded meditate-or-die cults. It was time to move onto something more independent and visceral. Since I was becoming obsessed with 'difficult music,' I decided to go around with a shitty tape recorder and take samples of myself banging, stomping, crashing, breaking, and kicking on random scraps of metal. It was all very old school industrial and silly, but from there things took on a life of their own.

The new EP has definite noise elements, but there's also a sense of really early EBM influences, like The Klinik or early Nitzer Ebb. Musically speaking, who are your biggest inspirations?

Haywire: Well, my first release, World War 23, was an avant-garde noise album that was honestly just a bunch of insane sound collages and distorted philosophical rants. These were first songs I ever recorded. I decided to go in a new direction with Cooler Than Genocide and release an EP that could be used to subvert the dance floor. Since I didn't want to be another generic terror EBM act, I would say that bands like The Klinik, Front 242, Skinny Puppy, yelworC, and even Front Line Assembly were huge inspirations in composition. Stuff like Portion Control, too. Yet, I also love Atari Teenage Riot and newer noise projects such as SINA, Proyecto Mirage, and Ambassador 21. I doubt I would be doing this today if it wasn't for early acts like Throbbing Gristle and Einsturzende Neubauten and SPK, though. Also, Linkin Park.

How do you create your music? Do you primarily use hardware or software? Do you come up with loops and beats first, or lyrical ideas?

Haywire: I have a few synthesizers and MIDI controllers, my favorite being the X-Station 25. I have a Boss ME-50, which I use for vocal distortion, even though it's meant for a guitar. Also, got to love my drum machines, analog and virtual. Of course, there are all those VST plug-ins and programs like Reason and Absynth to play around with. It's always a mixed bag until it goes into Digital Performer. Whatever feels right. First I come up with the lyrical ideas, then the beats, synth parts, etc., and finally I revise the lyrics to make them fit with the song.

Songs like 'Cooler Than Genocide' and 'A Game Called Life' suggest a preoccupation with the devaluing of human life, but there's also a spirit of fun in your music. Would you say you're an angry person? Do you scream more often than you laugh?

Haywire: You're right about me being preoccupied with the devaluing of human life. People say it's immature that I'm angry at 23, but I think that calling an emotion like anger 'immature' is juvenile in itself. I was kicked out of my home at 16 and placed in a violent 'behavioral modification' lock-down psychiatric facility. The way I was treated in there was more disturbing than any song I have ever listened to. Our lives were devalued to the point of us being reduced to objects that were used for breaking and remolding into nice and healthy little citizens. The abuse was literally traumatizing, something right out of 1984.

I scream a lot and laugh a lot. Everything is a joke that I am screaming at, maybe. I've learned to laugh at human atrocity from an objective standpoint, because there is so much of it in this world. I've learned to view horror in terms of 'fun,' if that makes any sense. We might as well explore it, as opposed to run from it, you know? I wanted the song 'Cooler Than Genocide' to be kind of like 'I Wanna Be Sedated' in that it's an angry upbeat song about a serious problem.

You've stated that one reason you started Experiment Haywire is because of the lack of female involvement in the hard electronic and noise scene. Do you feel like audiences have responded to you differently because of your gender?

Haywire: I am hoping that Experiment Haywire encourages other females to make hard electronic and noise. I'd like to see an end to the bimbo scenester girl thing. Where is the raw female aggression and power? Where is the riot grrrl attitude? Why is being a mindless sex object seen as cool? There is a general lack of education.

Some asshole came up to me once and asked if I had some guy doing everything for me. 'Girls don't know gear or technology unless they're fat and ugly.' That was the sort of attitude I was getting, yet I spent years alone teaching myself programs and gear, since I had absolutely nobody to hang out with. The club people were extremely vapid and insular; they weren't interested in talking about the same things as I was.

It doesn't matter what your gender is. What is social grace? If your individuality is severe to the point of it being antagonistic, you're not going to have a lot of friends. You're going to teach yourself how to make this sort of music because that's all you have. At least that's how it was for me.

Apart from the gender imbalance, what is your current opinion of the industrial scene?

Haywire: Honestly, I don't think very many people care anymore. It's better in Philly and L.A., but pretty much all the clubs in N.Y.C. have been shut down because of the hipster infestation. The COMA Festival in Montreal was fantastic, though—there were so many people from N.Y.C. and New Jersey I felt proud—and playing out in Denver was amazing. I do wish people would put on more entertaining shows that incorporate performance art, social and political commentary, stage installations, etc. That's something I'd like to bring back.

You have a Discordian tattoo that reads 'Eris is my bitch.' Do you consider yourself a Discordian? How does the Discordian philosophy inform your musical and other creative output?

Haywire: 'Eris is my BIATCH,' actually. If I considered myself a Discordian, I wouldn't be one. Instead of calling it a philosophy, I'd call it a lifestyle in which you run with nonsense and create chaos for the love—or entertaining hate—of the universe. I recently invented something ridiculous called 'Dark Discordia,' which is for people into the more difficult aspects of absurdity. I still need to finish that song, actually. Pyramid stomping. Fnord of doom.

Before you started Experiment Haywire, you founded Nuclear Riot Party, an all-female industrial performance group. Is Nuclear Riot Party still active? Do you ever plan on releasing an album of that material?

Haywire: The Nuclear Riot Party is currently dead. I did more work than all the members of the Nuclear Riot Party combined. It was heartbreaking, due to how much I wanted my vision to manifest, but nobody else in the band wanted to record or go on tour. They just wanted to fuck around and be a local Brooklyn act. They were good people, but they didn't want to take things far enough. I do have a DVD of one of our shows. Maybe I can release that eventually.

How do the two projects differ in terms of your creative process? Were you doing most of the songwriting for Nuclear Riot Party, or was it a collaborative effort?

Haywire: I might as well just be honest. There was no songwriting for the Nuclear Riot Party. We banged on a bunch of metal objects I found in local junkyards as I screamed about annihilation and slaughterhouses of humanity and uber-klit machines. I also had a bassist and a girl who pressed keys.

You've played quite a few shows recently, opening for people like Z'ev and God Module. Of all the artists you've performed with, do you have a favorite?

Haywire: I'm going to have to go with Z'ev, because he was one of the first DIY percussionists to be making this tribal yet incredibly powerful sort of music. He was doing this before people knew that industrial existed. Watching his show after opening for him was a huge honor and an incredible auditory experience. Playing with Boyd Rice was fun, because I've always been fascinated by his 'social terrorism.' I told him about the guy who wouldn't send me my promo material because he thought I wanted to blow up his city. He told me about his adventures in Disneyland. The Alter Der Ruine crew was really nice, too, and they were great people to share the stage with.

Are there any other projects or upcoming gigs you're working on at the moment? What's next for Experiment Haywire?

Haywire: I'm working on several different collaborations now, screaming vocals in collaboration with Necrotek, Cervello Elettronico, and Caustic. There's a gig in Vegas I'm supposed to be playing soon. Hopefully I can get one in Arizona, too. Being a new artist is difficult, because people are very hesitant to book you. I just want to get my music out there and play more shows. Write new songs. Scream. Release a new album. Break people out of whatever world they are stuck in.