Given the increase in popularity of vampires on both the big and small screens, the appearance of Blood Everywhere’s latest album, The Shift, couldn’t be more timely. Yet to suggest that the dance monster’s existence is down to the predilection of horrors fans is to do a grave disservice. The brain child of bedroom producer Ian Wade, Blood Everywhere has been something of a cult internet concern with his music being shared by the now time-honoured fashion of file-swapping, appearing on mix CDs and soundtracking some of the capital’s more questionable parties.
With The Shift, Blood Everywhere’s sound has stepped up several gears from the sampled delights of previous releases to deliver a spectrum of aural and physical moods ranging from the unashamed hedonistic and nipple-tweaking banging techno of ‘I Am Superhero’ through to the more introspective and afterhours smoking grooves of ‘Airport Soul’.
Uninhibited and gloriously upfront, Blood Everywhere combine the knowing thrills of the soon-to-be lamented LCD Soundsystem with a sly wink that stops just short of all-out sleaziness to create the kind of rush thought impossible without the aid of powerful chemicals and a prolonged sex-magick ritual…
Your new album’s rather splendid. Where does it sit in a world of beeps and bleeps?
Ian Wade: Why thank you. I’d like to think it stands like a monolith in a sea of lesser works. It’s probably the first album I’ve spent some time on. Initially at the start of last year I was planning to do a handful of tracks to go with the (cough) Best Of…, but after a few months I had around 60 tracks. I did think about bunging them out as I went, but thought I’d try and do things properly this time and try and live with them for a while and tweak them a bit more, to the extent where there’s something like 16 versions of ‘I Am Superhero’.
I also got hold of some new software that allowed for me to move away from the more Tetris-y approach of blocks and chunks so there’d be more flow to each tune. Everything will probably surface at some point, even the really harrowing stuff – ‘I Must Fear The Ice People’, the full 56-minute version of ‘Vibration etc’ – that I’ve been informed is genuinely terrifying.
Ideally in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame of our mind, we’d be between The Human League and Giorgio Moroder, or alphabetically we’re between Blondie and Blur (Bloc Party being the undiscussable).
Who are you and what’s the most interesting thing about you?
IW: I am Ian, I run Blood Everywhere. I was approached by a shadowy art organisation in 1992 to curate a musical side to their vision, and after the various projects and controversial elements that were carried out in its name – the exploding art, the notorious ‘day’ project and the forming of regional variations of Blood Everywhere – things got a bit too much, and around 1998/9 I set about making found music (various weights and suspension of stylus over vinyl to create accidental music) and thought about releasing our music as biscuits. Now, we’ve cut back on the excesses of the past to become something for everyone.
_Listen to ‘Home Perv’ here._
There’s blood everywhere at the moment. What does it for you: True Blood or Twilight?
IW: Definitely True Blood. It’s much more up my street. It’s dark, disturbed and very sexual. You certainly don’t get enough Satanic rituals, shape shifters and vampires shagging in the blood of a dying victim on television in my opinion
Whose teeth would you prefer in your neck: Robert Pattinson or Stephen Moyer?
IW: Neither. I prefer Alexander Skarsgård who plays Eric in True Blood. He’s more my area.
Where do you stand on black pudding: delicious breakfast treat or a culinary abomination?
IW: I’d never had them until a few years ago when I went to The Wolsely for breakfast, and found them to be really nice. Obviously I don’t dine on it daily – that would be mad – but as an occasional addition to a fry-up, they can’t be beaten. Still unsure about fried tomatoes though. Or poached egg.
Dub producer Scientist claims to have recorded his Scientist Rids The World Of The Evil Curse Of The Vampires album at King Tubby’s studio at midnight. Is there any particular time of day that’s conducive to recording?
IW: I’d say from midnight onwards. I try to keep slightly more sociable hours, but it’s more often than not the best time to get things done without interruption. I do get a little horrified when the ‘last saved’ is something like 4am. I usually mix during the day after listening back to bits and bobs to see if they’re not too mental or unpleasant. A lot of Blood Everywhere’s music was designed to be enjoyed at night, whether it’s meant for the taxi home or when you’re off your face, impaired and throwing a whitey near the speakers in some club. I used to go out a lot to certain clubs and despair at the DJ selections, and kinda wish they’d throw in some Velvet Underground, New Order or something more fitting to the surroundings and activities happening. But no.
Who’s blood would you spill and why?
IW: I don’t really have any enemies. Maybe I do, and they’re in hiding, or I do not wish to give them the oxygen of publicity by speaking about them. There has been the odd occasion in the past where I thought I’d write a song or title a track that alludes to a particular individual, but thought better of it. I’m the star here. Ahem. Apart from that, anyone who brings harm to me and mine, I will retaliate and they WILL be destroyed.
What compels you to make music?
IW: Initially it was the freedom to do what I liked, and without wanting to sound like an idiot, I just made music for myself and if anyone else liked it, it was a bonus. There’s no pressure what with not having anyone to answer to, and the entire output has been done on equipment that cost no more than a fiver, so why not try and be both Edgar Varese and an Asda LCD Soundsystem? Or to misquote Iggy: What you may think is a load of trashy old noise, is actually the work of a genius – me.
Where would you like to hear your music played and why?
IW: On the radio in Kathy’s Cafe in EastEnders, naturally. But that’s unlikely to happen. You know you’ve made once you’ve soundtracked a key scene where either light blackmail, family confessions or just someone shouting "You Cow" is concerned. If any advertising agency wants to bung some work my way, then I won’t complain. ‘Home Perv’ would work well as mobile phone soundbed.
Is love like blood or were Killing Joke talking bollocks?
IW: That’s a great tune. I have the seven inch of that somewhere, and remembered it sounding really amazing. It was a doorway into the house of Killing Joke, but I’ll admit I went no further than the welcome mat. Love relies on blood in certain situations be it literally or the power that activates reactions. Christ, now I’m talking bollocks!
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