Interview with Scott Heller of Øresund Space Collective from 2010
MSJ:
It's been a while since we chatted, can you catch the readers up on what's new in the world of OSC?
We have been on break since late November last year but are gearing up for some gigs in March, April and June this year. We have also just finished a new collaboration with Dan McGuire, who has used our music to make a cool spoken words-poetry CD called Glossolalia. This is due out any day on Facemop. We contributed 3 tracks to his last CD called Disjecta Membra but this CD, all the music is eastern flavoured stuff with sitar from KG from Siena Root. It is a mixture of material from the Good Planets are Hard to Find studio sessions and some new stuff we recorded in my home studio in October last year. It is a very psychedelic CD.
MSJ: If you weren't involved in music, what do you think you'd be doing?
I am a scientist for a living doing Diabetes research so if I did not have music on the side, that is what I would do full time. I have been doing music stuff since 1980, starting with recording concerts and trading tapes and this lead into doing my own music fanzine called Metal Madness from 1984-1988, etc. It was not until 2001 that I started playing with the Danish band Gas Giant. It took me a long time to actually get into playing music.
MSJ: You guys sometimes release albums on vinyl. What do you feel that format offers that isn't afforded by CD's?
Well, only our latest release, Dead Man in Space is out on vinyl but I think this is the start to getting our older material out as well. I really want to get our debut out on a double vinyl gatefold as it has been out of print for 3 years now. I really prefer a vinyl record. The sound is just so much richer for my ears, more organic, full bodied and plus you artistically can do so much more with the artwork size.
MSJ: Are you surprised by the resurgence of vinyl?
Not really. If you have a good stereo it sounds better. It is less convenient than playing a CD or MP3 but the quality is better and you own a piece of art and records are nice to collect. These days most records are pressed in limited numbers so if you take care of your records, they will not decrease in value unless it is a s**t band. The vinyl only stores in Copenhagen are doing pretty well. I was really surprised last time I was in Helsinki, Finland at how many stores had vinyl. They have a lot there!
MSJ: What's ahead for you?
We have a lot of things in the pipeline for 2010. We will have a new CD out in April on Transubstans called “Slip into the Vortex”. The basic tracks were recorded in October 2008 but it took us a long time to sort out the best parts and find people to mix the stuff, but I am very happy with this. We have another CD nearly ready as well called “Sleeping with the Sunworm”. It was one long 58 minute jam from the same studio session and the mix is great. We have a secret Japanese guest how might play violin on this track. We have no label to release this at the moment. Our vinyl only record, Dead Man in Space, will be released in Japan later this year with extra tracks from the same recording session. We have quite a few good gigs this year and we will for sure go into the studio with some new folks that have never played with us before in the studio and this includes, Mattias Danielson from Makalodama and Nickolas from the Univerzals. We have invited the bass player from Hawkwind to join us as well but we are finding a hard time to match up a studio with his busy schedule but we will see.
MSJ: If you were a superhero, what music person would be your arch-nemesis and why?
I would be the TICK. As for an arch nemesis…Chairhead Chippendale! It would be a strange match up…
MSJ: If you were to put together your ultimate band, who would be in it?
This is a pretty tough question as I am not sure these folks would all get along but the early 70’s Hawkwind line up would have to have been one of the ultimate but this will never happen again… I really hope that one day I can convince some of my favourite guitar players to play with the Øresund Space Collective and this would be people like Frank Marino, David Gilmour, Claus Bøhling, Ed Wynne, Ed Mundell, Warren Haynes, Zakk Wylde, but I have a feeling some of these guys would never be able to just let it loose and just play totally improvised music for the sake of making cool music that appears at that moment… We will see. I will keep trying.
MSJ: If you were in charge of assembling a music festival and wanted it to be the ultimate one from your point of view, who would be playing?
That is a really tough question but for me, it would be a very diverse set of music. It would have to have some Afrobeat like Seun or Femi Kuti or Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, some classic kraut rock like Amon Duul II (they were great last year) or Embryo or Birth Control; 70’s rock like Siena Root, Cactus, Pentagram; some heavy rock like Monster Magnet and Clutch, strange bands like Magma and Polytoxiconame Philharmonie, and then of course some psychedelic and space rock bands like First band from Outer Space, Stone Oak Cosmonaut, Circle, the Spacious Mind, Vibravoid, Dark Budda Rising, etc… My favourite Berlin band, Pothead would have to play. And some real underground people that I like and support like Robert Lawson, Rosetta West, and Nick Castro. I go to some cool festivals ever year like Sweden Rock, Roadburn, and Roskilde, which usually represent a wide range of music, which suits me well. Burg Herzburg is also a great German festival.
MSJ: What was the last CD you bought, or what have you been listening to lately?
The last CD I bought was the new Astrosoniq- Quadrant. I buy more vinyl records than CDs these days, though and recently got a bonus from work and just got these records in the mail today: the new Motorpsycho- Heavy Metal Fruit, Vibravoid-Triptamine CD/DVD release, Terraplane- Into the Unknown, Causa Sui- Causa Sui 2 LP, Grady- Yu so Shady LP, Candlemass- Lucifer Rising 2 LP, Vibravoid- Politics of Ecstasy LP, and US Christmas - Salt the Wound CD… but my current favourite release is the new Polytoxiconame Philharmonie- Go Ape 2 CD. This is really amazing spacey psychedelic rock and it comes in very inventive and unique packaging - great stuff.
MSJ: What about the last concert you attended for your enjoyment?
The last concert I went to was last Saturday night to see St.Vitus! It was an amazing concert but a bit too loud. I still go see quite a few concert for enjoyment from a wide range of styles of music. I saw YES back in December and that was also much better than I had thought it would be. These guys can still really play. I might go see Secret Oyster next week.
MSJ: Finally, are there any closing thoughts you'd like to get out there?
I just want to thank our fans for buying some of our material and not stealing it all and giving us such nice feedback. I hope that we can continue to make inspired music in 2010 and meet new and exciting new bands and fans.
MSJ: This interview is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2010 Volume 2 at lulu.com/strangesound.
