ONE STEP BEYOND – Interview with Mad Matt Spencer

THE ORIGIN OF THE ORIGINALITY
a talk with Mad Matt Spencer (bass, vocals, fx)
of One Step Beyond

“Combining their eclectic influences from such styles as Grind, Rock, Dub Reggae, Funk, Jazz, Thrash, Ska, Punk, Industrial and Hip-Hop they have forged a unique sound and vision amongst the hordes of imitators currently congesting the music world.” – that's how they describe their music. I couldn't say more. The sound of One Step Beyond is really one (or even two) step beyond the others. If you have an open mind and if you aren't stuck in one specified genre without paying attention at any other music, then you have to listen to what these Australians prepared…

Let's start with the most obvious thing, which is the history. Could you please say few words about it?

We started out around Christmas '97 (thankfully none of that Christmas spirit is reflected in our music) in Adelaide of South Australia. Two years on we recorded our vastly unheard demo with our still current line-up which is Justin Wood on vocals, Jeremy Lammas on Guitar and myself “Mad Matt” Spencer on bass, vocals and programming. Two years again from there we recorded our debut full length Life Imitates Art and in late 2003 we released it. From there we have been promoting the fuck out of it worldwide and just trying to get heard.

You claim that “originality through diversity” is the idea of the band. What do you mean? Does it apply only to music?

I think that there is nothing completely original left to be done with music and that degrees of originality can only be achieved with new combinations of already existing styles. From this I think that the more diverse the combination of styles, the greater the potential degree of originality in the subsequent product. Also, the more of your own flavour you put into the styles you tax, the more potential again for originality. For example a band like THE BERSERKER have a really original combination of grind and techno, but their grind parts sound a hell of alot like CARCASS and their techno sounds equally like ULTRAVIOLENCE, so the originality largely ends with the combination. So what I try and do is to throw in everything from death to funk to reggae to rock to hardcore, but when we play death we don't play it like SUFFOCATION, we don't play reggae like BOB MARLEY and we don't play rock like VAN HALEN. I try to make our shit original from the ground up. Hopefully it's apparent. This whole theory can apply to any form of creativity from art to science. It's all the same.

And what about this diversity concerning vocals? They are all quite the same on the album.

I think there is an element of diversity in the vocals, I mean they are all extreme metal in origin, but there are parts that are death metal, parts that could be black metal and parts that are thrashy. So there is not the same degree of diversity as there is in the music but it's there nonetheless. There are a couple of reasons for this, one being that at the time of writing these songs our vocal abilities didn't extend much beyond what you hear, this will change a little on the next disc, but mainly it's a continuity thing. When music is as all over the shop as ours can be I think it's important to have a consistent reference point for the listener to identify you by. Our vocals are a big part of that so we will keep them largely in these styles for that purpose. That said, we will always try for a few surprises here and there.

Can you say that although the album is pretty eclectic one can point out the genre you make use of most often? It is – according to me – thrash/death.

Definitely, perhaps even grind a little more than thrash, but the death metal thing is definitely the foundation for our escapades. This again has to do with that whole reference point for continuity thing. That it is death metal rather than funk or rock that is the main focus is because death and grind were the first styles I learnt to write when I was beginning. Also because it's a relatively new style of music and has yet to be as thoroughly fused as many others have. We intend to put an end to that.

How do you come to such intriguing combinations like in Infinite Illusion?

I really don't know! I was probably listening to combinations of BILL LASWELL, THE WAILERS and MACABRE, amongst many others around the time of writing Infinite Illusion, so it's probably something of a logical fusion of these peoples music. I can remember wanting to write something with the guitar on the off beat and having a couple of new fx pedals to break in, but beyond that it's a mystery to me how it all happens.

Are you aware that you create a new quality in hard music?

That's very nice of you to say! We are definitely aiming to play something that has not been touched upon before and I think we achieve that pretty well. Hopefully we encourage more bands to be a little more brave in their songwriting too.

Tell me something about lyrics. What do they try to communicate?

The subject matter is as varied as the music. We cover greed, gore, stress, introspection, sex, the environment and more. Ultimately I look to encourage some positivety in the listener, whether they have a laugh at the gore shit or relate personally to the introspection. I want people to feel good about things. I can't write about killing and destruction in a serious manner because I'm just too busy having fun to get buried in that shit. There's undoubtedly alot of bad shit in the world but I think that being alive is ultimately a fucking great thing and that is not often communicated in extreme music. I'm no christian or any shit like that, I'm extremely anti religion. I just want to encourage people to have some belief in themselves.

You recorded and released the album yourselves. Why? Were the companies afraid of such unpredictable music as yours?

We just reached a point where the album had to be recorded. We had to document the band at that time and place and we had no intention of waiting on label interest to do this. Shit, we'd probably still be waiting. Labels have definitely been afraid of us. We get more positive reviews than the majority of signed bands but they're scared to even distribute the album. Respect must go to Steven Henry of NEURAXIS and NEOBLAST RECORDS in Canada for being the first to really help us out. Hopefully more will soon follow his example.

What is the Sound House Studios? Is it the regular recording studio? Why did you choose that one?

Sound House is a little backyard studio in a neighbourhood in southern Adelaide. The guy who runs it is great to work with as he has been there nearly every day for the past ten or so years recording endless bands and has developed just great knowledge of his gear. We needed someone who was inexpensive and could guarantee to keep up with us as we are very efficient in the studio. He made shit go off without a hitch and we're pretty happy with the mix. So much so that next march we are back in there for the follow up album. He's got $50,000 of new gear, two more years experience and is still priced very generously, so the next one should sound even better.

Why did you choose to produce the album yourselves? Do you have any experience in producing music? If not, how did it feel to be doing it for the second time? (as far as I know you self-produced your first promo)

Basically I'm a control freak with my music as I know exactly what I want it to come off like. I can't see ever collaborating with a producer for ONE STEP BEYOND. It's like doing a painting and then just handing your brushes to someone else and they paint over half of it!. That's probably an extreme analogy but I just can't work that way. Most of our songs take at least several months to develop to completion, so by that point I've put so much of myself into them that I see no more room for input. Most of the production happens in my head as I write the songs, then more as I listen to them demoed. so for me I use it more as a part of the writing process than a part of the recording process.

What about the distribution? Did you find the distributor?

Currently we have North American distribution lined up through NEOBLAST and that is all. Labels please get in touch.

You perform with many different groups? Do you have any criteria who to perform with? Or do you try not to stick to the metal scene?

For me, anytime, any bands, anywhere. Unless of course a band like OPETH or someone is in town the same night. It would be silly to go up against them and anyway I would want to go see them myself. Beyond that the above mantra stands.

Do you play any covers during the shows? I wonder what they may be?

Yeah we perform the occasional “interpretation” of other peoples songs, meaning that when we do a cover we try to turn it into a little bit of a ONE STEP BEYOND song at he same time. I've never been one to play someone else's song note for note as best as possible, because you can rarely improve on the original that way. The covers we have performed to date are Deadheads by an old aussie hardcore band called MASSAPPEAL, Rabies by another old aussie band OXYGEN, who were around ten years ago but broke up before they found an international audience. The third we've performed is Dancing Fool by the BUTTHOLE SURFERS who our guitarist and I are big fans of. We just thought it would be a trippy and unexpected song to whip out mid set. We've also been working on a version of Rebel Without A Pause by PUBLIC ENEMY which is my all time favourite song and I think we can do some pretty interesting things with it. Next up I'd like to cover something off the first SUICIDAL TENDENCIES album, but that will be a way off.

How often do you play gigs?

Monthly on average. We haven't travelled much so the frequency will obviously increase when we do.

Who would you like to play with? I mean, what band really fits to your music?

It's a tough question to answer. I guess in the metal world I could see an interesting bill being ONE STEP BEYOND, CEPHALIC CARNAGE, CANDIRIA and maybe AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED to balance out the drum machine to drummer ratio. I think CANDIRIA and CEPHALIC CARNAGE , both in their own ways are trying to take extreme music into new territories in a similar fashion to how we are, so that could be a pretty fucking sweet show!. Outside of metal I'd love to do a line-up featuring us again of course, BUCKETHEAD who is a master shredder on guitar and performs everything from metal to drum and bass, and YOHIMBE BROTHERS from New York who feature my all time favourite musician Vernon Reid on guitar and play same of the most truly original music I've heard. Then maybe I'd throw DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN on the bill just to get really crazy. These would be two very interesting shows indeed!.

What kind of music do you listen to? Does the music you listen to inspire you in any way?

I listen to and am influenced by so much different stuff I can barely keep track of it. I love alot of death and grind bands like CRYPTOPSY, VADER and MACABRE, jazz artists like MILES DAVIS and ORNETTE COLEMAN, rap artists like PUBLIC ENEMY, BLACK STAR and MOBB DEEP, alternative rock groups like SONIC YOUTH and THE PIXIES, thrash from SLAYER to SADUS, funk like PARLIAMENT and FUNKADELIC, techno like PLASTIKMAN and UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE, then artists like BILL LASWELL, FRANK ZAPPA and JOHN ZORN who tread so much territory as to avoid classification. I listen to alot of bassist VICTOR WOOTEN who is just fucking phenomenal. Every bass player serious about their craft should own a copy of his album A Show Of Hands. It will change your life!. This is really just the half of it, the list could go on. With inspiration, I find it in all of these and even in music I don't like. I can hear something that doesn't sound good to me and it can make me want to do something with the idea that does sound good to me, so yes, I am inspired daily by the music I listen to, whether it makes me want to tap my feet, write a song or just turn it off.

Where is metal music going to? What do you think? Do you like any new genres?

I really couldn't say where metal is going but I think in order for it to stay interesting it will have to amalgamate with other styles. Otherwise it will stagnate. I dig it when an extreme band brings in outside influences, like CRYPTOPSY with their hardcore, NILE with the Egypt thing and OPETH with their prog thing. I think those blends, along with their obvious technical proficiency are why those bands really stand at the forefront of the extreme metal scene. They really lay a path for bands like us to come through and crossover in a more eclectic manner. As for new genres all I can think of is the whole nu metal explosion. It's funny because I love rap and I love metal and I loved it when RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and URBAN DANCE SQUAD fused the two, but I really can't buzz on too many of these “nu” bands. There are only so many two note riffs I can be bothered listening to.

What does One Step Beyond's future look like?

Well you know, limos, models, cocaine……no I'm kidding of course!. At the moment the main concern is getting more distribution for Life Imitates Art as I very much want people to hear it. Beyond that we are recording the next album next March and April, hopefully with label backing but if no-one's interested we will do it all ourselves again. The album's already composed and is even more extreme and diverse than the first so hopefully the reception is as warm as it's been for Life Imitates Art.

What do you wish for?

I wish for the abolishment of god in all forms. God is a tool for repression and is designed to make people feel guilty about just being themselves and following their normal urges, and when these normal urges are suppressed abnormal urges come to the front and people do dumb shit like molest children or start wars. These are things we can do without. Also I wish that the concept of a five day work week be eliminated. What kind of shit is that when you have to spend 80% of your waking life working to fund the 20% that you have left when you're not working?. I refuse to participate and live like a pauper as a result, but I'd rather have time to do shit for myself than work some job I can barely tolerate.

And few last words for Metal Centre…

Thanks greatly for the interview and some challenging questions. Bands like ours could barely exist without zines like yours so I very much appreciate the support. Anyone wanting the CD can send $15 Australian ( approx $8 U.S.) to our post address listed below. Either that or just get off your asses and write. All correspondence will be answered. Cheers.

Email: gligster666@hotmail.com
url: www.geocities.com/onestepweb/
Post: O.S.B, POBox 40, Marden SA 5070, Australia