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An Interview with Chad Bishop, Blayne, and Bruce King of Idiot Stare
Posted: Sunday, September 16, 2007
By: Matthew Johnson
Assistant Editor

Idiot Stare is about as close as you can get to a royal family of West Coast industrial rock. Chad Bishop and Bruce King first formed the band out of the ashes of their previous project, legendary cyberpunk act STG, once known for some of the most violent shows ever to hit the L.A. scene. Vocalist Shane Talada left to pursue other projects (first death rock in Element, then rhythmic noise as The Operative), while Bishop and King tightened up and focused their coldwave sound, releasing a debut album, Blinded, on Bodybag Productions and Out of Line Music.

After a brief hiatus in the late '90s, the addition of Blayne and Brittain Alexander of Insight 23, another seminal California coldwave act, revitalized the project. Rounded out by Alan "Alien8" Premselaar and Chad "The Fin" Volpe, the band released the Ghost EP in 2003 and followed up with Welcome to Babylon, an abrasive but eminently danceable assault on Hollywood's culture and music scene. The band has also released numerous remixes, not to mention a host of covers ranging from from Chemlab's "Blunt Force Trauma" to the theme song from "The Brady Bunch." In a recent discussion with ReGen, Bishop fills us in on Idiot Stare's history and influences, Blayne clarifies what makes the L.A. shithole different from every other shithole city, and King delivers a philosophical critique on chugging.

Let's start by talking about the history of Idiot Stare. You've all worked in other bands previous to this one; can you fill us in a little about where each of you came from?

Bishop: Bruce and I were in New Wave and metal bands from about 1986 and formed STG together in 1989. That lasted until 1994, then we formed the 'first' version of Idiot Stare, and that more or less lasted until we formed the 'new' version of Idiot Stare around 2001. We're both Orange County kids—yes, it's just like the TV show—and we moved the 60 miles north to Los Angeles in 1991 to be closer to the industrial clubs.

King: Glad Chad remembers; my memory sucks as it is, but the '90s damaged my brain. Sometimes I listen to old STG or Idiot Stare songs and don't remember writing—never mind recording—any of those songs.

Blayne, you had previously worked with Insight 23 before joining up with Idiot Stare. How did that come about? Is Insight 23 officially over at this point?

Blayne: Chad and Insight 23 had obviously worked together on several things, most notably, of course, our album Obsess, which he produced. After a couple of writing projects and song collaborations, I kind of always had it in my head that I wouldn't mind doing a project with him. We flirted with a Junkie XL-inspired techno project for about 2.5 seconds before talking music in the summer of 2001, accidentally reforming the 'in hibernation' Idiot Stare. As far as Insight 23 goes, I wish I was the guy to ask that question to. Brittain and I both have laid our interest in doing more Insight material at John's feet. We got together and recorded a Chemlab song for the tribute album, and that was a lot of fun. He's just on his own sort of schedule, really, and Brittain and I don't hold our breath anymore.

Your newest album, Welcome to Babylon, is inspired in part by Los Angeles. Apart from being a constant source of anger, how has the L.A. music scene, and the city in general, inspired and affected your music?

Bishop: There's two things about Los Angeles that, for me, really imprinted themselves on Babylon. One is the 'me first' attitude that everyone has here. Everyone has to be the biggest and the best at whatever it is they do, which is mostly just sleeping around and partying at this point, all under the guise of being 'an entertainer.' Number two is that everyone here is so desperate. With the impending collapse of the entertainment industry, everyone is thinking 'Oh shit, now what do we do?'

Blayne: I like that answer; that's very well put. I've said it before and I'll say it again: it's the same love/hate relationship you have with the shit-hole city you live in. Ours is just more televised.

What's your opinion of the industrial music scene as a whole? Has the recent resurgence of coldwave, along with the rising popularity of newer coldwave bands like Cyanotic, helped you out in terms of audience response?

Bishop: The general feeling we're getting from the press is that it's nice to have us back, and that's very important to us at this stage in the game. We don't want to be that band that hangs around an album too long. It's also nice that some of the newer bands cite us as an inspiration. When we were coming up, we always thought we'd have to be commercially successful to inspire other musician, but it's great to know that a relatively unknown band like us can still have an influence.

Blayne: I'm the wrong guy to answer this question; I'm going to see Poison this weekend.

King: Um, chug chug?

You recently appeared on a Chemlab tribute album. Were they a big influence on your sound? Who else has influenced you?

Bishop: The song 'Blunt Force Trauma,' that we were fortunate enough to cover for the tribute, was one of those songs that we aspired to. Indie bands just weren't supposed to sound that good back then. They definitely set the bar pretty high with their debut EP. Other bands? I'd say Cubanate was probably the biggest influence on Idiot Stare version one. Regency Buck and Union of Knives have been the biggest influence for me in the last five or six years.

Blayne: David Bowie, Daniel Ash and Adam Ant as a singer. Lately it's been Baby Chaos, Deckard, Regency Buck, Union of Knives, Silversun Pickups, Simple Shelter, Skinny Puppy always, and the new NIN moves me.

King: Albums that changed my life? Styx, Grand Illusion. Rush, Moving Pictures. And Ministry, The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste.

You've done loads of production and remix work for other bands. What are your favorites among the remixes you have done? Are there any you regret?

Bishop: I don't have any regrets with remixes; they've all been so fun to do. The Jesus Jones remix was probably the one I was most excited to work on. It was a little piece of the payback we owe them for our band name. My biggest regret would be trying to jump on the techno scene bandwagon in the mid-'90s. I would have been better off putting that energy into Idiot Stare.

King: Um, 'Brady Bunch?'

You got back together with STG for a few shows a couple of years go. Is there a chance of that happening again? What about the possibility of new recordings?

Bishop: An STG show could happen. If the right club asked in the right way, I'm sure we'd all be down for it. But the reunion shows did what needed to be done, so there is no burning desire to keep playing. STG tried to get some new recordings going, but we got too mental about it and decided to put that away for a while. We sort of silently agreed that we function better in our new bands.

Blayne: A note to a few of you we encountered on tour: I'm not Shane. Shane rhymes with Blayne, but we have a different take on what constitutes as 'uniform.'

King: It's like breaking up with a girlfriend; even if you get back together, it's doomed. I just wish that we could just agree to disagree and rock!

You recently did a west coast tour in support of the new album. How did that go, and do you have any more shows planned?

Bishop: Tour was great. There's nothing better than getting to meet your fans face to face, and we met some really great people this time out.

Blayne: It was the first time this lineup went out, which is always an interesting situation, 'cause you never know if you're going to come home hating each other. I'm happy to report that we're relatively annoyance-free, in my book.

King: Touring is way better than reality. We met some great people and hooked up with a lot of old fans and forgotten friends. I look forward to touring again soon.

What else is in the works for Idiot Stare?

Blayne: Depends on who you ask, but essentially more shows, more videos, and another album that hopefully won't take us five years to make.

King: Wait for it...chug!