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An Interview with Klayton of Celldweller, DJ Lee, Earl Dixon of Audesi, and Needles Eye
Posted: Sunday, March 11, 2007
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor

When Klayton ended Circle of Dust in the late '90s and took on Celldweller as his main creative outlet, he initiated not only a new stage of his career, but what many could see as a new stage of artist/audience interaction. While on MP3.com, Celldweller made available the tracks to the early version of "Symbiont," allowing fellow artists and fans alike the opportunity to make their musical mark in remixing a Celldweller track. The results were rather impressive, with more remixes than one could count constantly appearing on the group's MP3.com site and solidifying Celldweller's reputation for pushing the envelope in terms of musical performance and production. Now, during the production of the second album, Celldweller began a new remix competition, giving people the chance to "take it or break it," this time with the song "Own Little World." Again, countless entries were submitted, but this time around, a handful of prizes were offered, including such goodies as software, magazine subscriptions, T-shirts, and a customized Celldweller iPod. The final winners of this first round of the competition were DJ Lee for his Empathetic Mix, Audesi's self-titled mix, and Needles Eye's Altered State Mix. ReGen speaks with the three winners, and even gets Klayton's thoughts on them, as these four artists guide us through their "Own Little World," a world where the boundaries between artist and audience are slowly breaking down.

DJ Lee

As can be seen on your MySpace page, you've performed quite a number of remixes for several high profile artists like Nine Inch Nails and Assemblage 23. What made you decide to create a remix for Celldweller?

DJ Lee: I have had a passion for the industrial, synthpop, and electronic genres for quite a long time. Years ago, my passion for the music led me to start my own online radio station, 99.9 The Electric Front. In the process of playing the latest and greatest while exposing new acts, someone sent me a couple tracks by this new band I had never heard of named Celldweller. The tracks were 'Switchback' and 'Frozen.' I almost lost my mind. How were these guys not all over the place? Their sound was so polished, the singer had great range and a strong voice, they had a cool name and image, and the final product sounded like a million bucks.

From that minute on, I was hooked. I have probably spun Celldweller at least once a day for years and years. The most recent track, 'Tragedy' reached number one on the Electric Front Top 10 on Jan 22 this year. With this being said, someone wrote me from the station telling me about the 'Own Little World' contest and I immediately entered!

While it was a dream come true to get a chance to mix a Nine Inch Nails track, it was also a dream come true to work on a Celldweller song. I have thought since day one that Celldweller should become a household name, deserving of accolades and attention. I was therefore even more excited to think that I could potentially take part in this contest and perhaps contribute something that not only made me happy, but others happy, and perhaps by sending in four separate mixes, show them from my own perspective how much I love their work.

Your mix is dramatically different from the original version of the song. Did you have a clear idea of what your remix would sound like? What is your process like when approaching a remix?

DJ Lee: Excellent question, one which would any other time have a simple answer, except this time I did something I have never done before. Even though I was a Celldweller fan, I had yet to hear the original version of the song when I completed this mix. I had no idea of its arrangement, sound, tempo, or feel. I just listened to the lyrics, the sound of his background vocals, which were outstanding, and went about putting down a few layers that seemed to fit, and it grew from there! After I had put down about 90 percent of the new instrumentation, I looked to incorporate a few of the sounds from the original version, so as to still maintain that relationship with the album version. Typically, I listen to a song and first lay down the vocal tracks on their own, and build up the instrumentation with a great baseline or beat as a foundation. Everything from there just seems to flow.

As the grand prize winner, you've received quite a number of goodies from Celldweller, including audio software and magazine subscriptions as well as early access to the remix files for Round Two. Do you have any plans to create another Celldweller remix? How would you use the software prizes to enhance your own music and future mixes?

DJ Lee: I am honored to have won the contest and can't wait to check out the magazines while taking breaks in the studio! I have already begun work on my first entry into the second round of the Celldweller competition. This time around they have picked 'Frozen,' a song that I have known and loved for years, so the process is a complete 180 from my experience in the first round.

As for the software prizes, I am a firm believer that great tools really help a musician express themselves. I have yet to use these new tools, but have read great things about them and they come from companies I already purchase from, trust, and use. I am excited and will be installing them the minute they arrive at my door. I'll go through an afternoon of trial and error with them and see how they work, both isolated and in conjunction with other tools in my rig. I have a feeling they're going to really assist in me being able to express the ideas in my head more accurately, and that is priceless! I'm sure mixing Round Two will not only be fun, but help me learn how to use these new tools, and hopefully I'll represent them well.

Round Two is one of my favorite tracks by anyone, and I'm sure everyone's results will reflect the same. This is an event nobody can afford to miss!

Audesi – Earl Dixon

Besides the remix for Celldweller, you've also produced a fair share of your own music. As Celldweller's sound is somewhat different from yours, how difficult was it to adapt your style of making music to fit a Celldweller remix?

Dixon: This one was a bit challenging at first. It took me about a week to come up with an idea I wanted to run with, but I'm always up for the challenge to work on something different and to take the chance to expand my musical palette. I enjoy taking an idea and twisting it around to play against peoples expectations. For example, with our 'Own Little World' remix, I added an erhu to the chorus, which is this crazy bowed two-stringed Chinese instrument. I had a lot of fun creating the remix, and I already have something laid down for the Round Two track, 'Frozen.' Ideas have been flowing from my mind before I even got access to the tracks stems!

Creating this remix could potentially gain Audesi's own music some exposure among Celldweller's fans. What are your hopes for Audesi? What are you looking to accomplish musically?

Dixon: We would like to share what we do with as many people as possible and in return, hope for the ability to sustain ourselves by doing what we love the most! I believe there are universal goals pertaining to both Celldweller and Audesi's music. We both enjoy blending multiple genres of music together to create something unique, as well as spending countless hours in the studio perfecting those amalgamations. I've noticed Celldweller fans have a wide array of musical tastes, both industrial and entirely outside. They're also into groups like NIN, Depeche Mode, Massive Attack, New Order, Aphex Twin, The Cure, BT, and Imogen Heap. These are also just a few of the influences that we mix together to create our sound and also some similar tastes our fans share amongst each other.

What's next for Audesi? In the past, the members of Audesi released CDs as Underground Bass Masters. What can people expect from your full-length debut in 2007?

Dixon: Our debut will encompass the gamut of electronic music while having a rock sensibility to it. I promise it won't be another boring dance record, nor quite what you would have expected to hear from a member of the Underground Bass Masters, either. You'll hear more vocals, guitars, bass guitar, breakbeats, straight beats, acoustic instruments, as well as some homemade synth concoctions of our own! We also hope to take the show on the road and to, in the future, venture into other avenues of music such as film scoring and producing other artists.

Needles Eye

As Needles Eye is comprised of three members, how did the whole band approach the Celldweller remix? Was it all a collaborative effort? Did each member contribute? How do the band members consolidate their roles when creating a remix?

Needles Eye: Typically, we're all making music whenever we feel like it. When one of us gets bored with a particular piece, we just drop it into a pile (a.k.a. our FTP server) and let someone else in the band take it and manipulate it. This process is repeated until the point that it becomes a fully fleshed out song. This remix was no different.

Needles Eye's own music is primarily instrumental, whereas Celldweller contains vocals. How did the inclusion of vocals in the remix affect your normal process of making music?

Needles Eye: We've done songs with vocals in the past, and we've always enjoyed working with them. Since we didn't have to actually sing the vocals—Klayton did a much better job than we could have, anyway—it really wasn't too different.

Are there any plans to release a CD of your own? What can people expect from a Needles Eye release?

Needles Eye: We self-released our first album in early 2005; two songs from this album are currently on our MySpace page. It was a spectacular learning process that allowed us to get a handle on exactly what works and what doesn't. Since then, we've been steadily working on our second album, which is focusing less on intricacy and more on creating smooth, seamless arrangements. Our second album will be done sometime this year, and we plan on re-releasing our first album around the same time.

Celldweller – Klayton

With so many remix submissions just for Round One, what guided your decisions as to the winners? How did you determine which mixes were the best? Were others involved in the decision, or was it all up to you?

Klayton: There was a team of roughly 10 people filtering the remixes. They would internally sift through the remixes. When they agreed on remixes they felt were quality enough to be posted live, I would then listen to each remix to be sure I agreed. Then the remixes were made live on the site for everyone to publicly hear and comment on.

The process was much akin to a nice pair of women's legs: smooth and painless. Quality remixes were determined on production quality and song structure, not necessarily musical style. I embrace the concept of 'take it and break it': mess it up, and do something totally different with the mix. I want to hear people doing things to my tracks that I can't do or wouldn't think to do.

As far as how we picked the winners, we didn't; you did. The whole part of this that made this cool to me is that I didn't have to make the tough decision of picking the best remixes, but let the Cellmates get involved in that process. Not everyone would have the ability to do a remix, but there were lots of those people wanting to be involved somehow, so it was an easy and obvious solution for me. This whole thing was meant to be a group effort. It wasn't meant to just be about winning prizes, although that is a plus. I wanted everyone to be involved on some level and let the best remixers win, and we get some new tunes and fresh perspectives on top of it all. Props go to DJ Lee, Audesi, and Needles Eye for taking the top three places and to everyone else involved, be it remixing, voting or both.

Remorse Code also created a remix of 'Own Little World.' FIXT Music released it through iTunes along with the Klayton Revision of 'Switchback.' Are there any plans to release the three winners as an iTunes single, or are they strictly on the FIXT Remix CD? What else can fans expect from the FIXT Remix CD?

Klayton: There will be roughly 25 tracks across two discs for the 'Own Little World' round of the remix competition, so all 15 finalists as well as some other mixes we wished could have made it will be on the disc. Remorse Code's remix of 'Own Little World' will also be available on the CD, which will be the first time it's been available on disc. As of right now, this will not be available on iTunes and other digital outlets. This will be released by FIXT Music exclusively for the time being. We may opt to release it digitally through the Celldweller site as well, but initially only the CD will be available. It was a good day when I realized the tracks I was picking weren't going to all fit on one CD. I am hoping for the same results and more for the upcoming rounds.

Do you feel that allowing the fans to remix your music has allowed for a greater interaction between artist and audience? Besides Round Two and live performances, what do you feel is the next step in this interaction?

Klayton: I'm not sure how to answer that. I think the Cellmates themselves are more qualified to answer that. I've never been very good at self-analysis. I just know overall, I've been more visible and approachable than I ever have been in my career to date. I do think to some capacity this is just an extension of that, and I'm glad people are getting involved. There were a few moments where I was ready to rip the whole site down and scrap the whole idea. I decided in those moments that I wasn't going to let the actions of sad individuals desperate for attention ruin this for everyone else. I figure they'll eventually disappear to go change their soiled diapers, and we can all just dig being part of this community without their smelly asses around.

As for what's next, I can't honestly say I have a master plan. I just do what I do and hope for the best. I will soon be heading into The Method House studio to begin recording the next Celldweller disc and am actively planning Cellout, an Internet-based TV show revolving around the making of the disc. Cellmates are directly invited to get involved in this, as we will be incorporating video footage that you are invited to send in. This could potentially be the most interactive I've allowed myself to be. Can't wait for it to backfire. Thanks to all the bad-asses who have been involved in the Celldweller Remix Competition on any level, and to all those who will continue to be involved. You are the wind beneath my wings.